Scythian (Civ6)

The Scythian people represent a civilization in Civilization VI. They are led by Tomyris, under whom their default colors are light orange and dark red.
The Scythians' civilization ability is People of the Steppe, which gives them two units instead of one for each light cavalry unit or Saka Horse Archer they train. Their unique unit is the Saka Horse Archer, and their unique tile improvement is the Kurgan.
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: Tier 2 towards , tier 5 towards Grassland and Plains 
Scythia under Tomyris is able to quickly field a massive fast-moving and hard-hitting cavalry army. Once their domination machine starts moving, there are few who can hold their ground against a Scythian push.
=== People of the Steppe ===
Scythian units and strategy favor early game conquest and exploration. By specializing in Horsemen and Saka Horse Archers early on, and taking advantage of Tomyris' leader bonus to heal rapidly, you can launch a very early offensive and take over a number of cities before the opposition has a chance to build up a force of their own.
In your cities, research Animal Husbandry to take advantage of Pastures as early as possible for sources of and place adjacent Kurgans to gain extra and (keeping in mind you cannot place Kurgans on hills). The will help to maintain the costs of your armies, and the bonus can give an early edge in the religion game. s to city-states near the enemy will give you an advantage of tactically controlling quick transport to and from locations of convenience, as well as establishing city-state bonuses.
The Scythian unique ability applies to five different units in the game: the Classical Era's Horsemen and Saka Horse Archers, the Medieval Era's Coursers (in Gathering Storm), the Industrial Era's Cavalry, and the Atomic Era's Helicopters. This means that the Scythians' ability to produce massive forces is not limited to the early game. And keep in mind that a Level 5 light cavalry unit gets access to the Escort Mobility , which makes any units in formation with the light cavalry move at the same speed. As this means any support unit or Great General can keep up with the exceptionally fast cavalry, getting at least one light cavalry unit to this level should be a priority. (Note that Saka Horse Archers use the ranged units' promotion table, so they will not be able to get this promotion.) Rushing out these units is the best way to optimize this ability, but do not get carried away. This can easily be countered with anti-cavalry units, making invasion difficult. While churning out cavalry can overwhelm an unprepared opponent, you will need a more diverse army to take care of any counter-strategies.
=== Killer of Cyrus ===
Since Scythian units excel at attacking enemy units that are already damaged, it's advisable to use a ranged unit (Slinger, Archer, Saka Horse Archer, etc.) and follow up with melee attacks. Additionally, injured units should finishing off enemies to heal themselves.
The Saka Horse Archer is a decent tool of Scythia. As they can attack without being counterattacked, multiple Saka Horse Archers can move into position and take down individual enemy units without getting seriously injured. However, due to their short , their ability to focus fire one unit is limited, and they will have to expose themselves in the process. They become even less effective when outnumbered. Four to six of them are strong enough to take down early-game cities with no walls without siege support, making them quite efficient at conquering large amounts of land. Remember that you need at least one melee unit – even a Scout will do – to be able to take the city once its health is depleted.
Prior to the September 2019 Update, this ability worked on religious units. But even without that bonus, the income from Kurgans gives a hand in making a Religious Victory possible for Scythia.
=== Saka Horse Archer ===
The Saka Horse Archer is a Classical Era hybrid between the Horseman and the Archer. It uses the ranged units' promotion table, it benefits from Agoge instead of Maneuver, and it is vulnerable to anti-cavalry units. Compared to an Archer, it has the same Ranged Strength, +5 Combat Strength, -1 , and +2 , making it as fast as a Horseman. As a unit of the Classical Era, it can also be boosted by Great Generals.
Units with 1 have a different scope of use in combat, since they cannot focus fire as well as units with greater and need to expose themselves to the front line when attacking, where their lower Combat Strength makes it easier for enemies to kill them. The Saka Horse Archers rely on their outstanding mobility and the terrain to avoid being picked off. With 4 , Saka Horse Archers can outrun almost every other unit from the Ancient and Classical Era and can easily pick when and where they wish to engage in a fight. Their high also makes them good at pillaging, though not as good as light cavalry units with Depredation. Pillaging costs 3 by default, so a Saka Horse Archer on flat terrain can move and pillage (or vice versa) on the same turn.
Apart from their stats, there are some additional differences that set Saka Horse Archers apart from both Archers and Horsemen. They don't require strategic resources, so the Scythians can train them even if they don't have (or are using them to train Horsemen). Scythia's civilization ability also gives them two Saka Horse Archers for every one they train, effectively reducing their cost to 50 each and making them more cost-effective than Archers (which cost 60 each). Timing, however, is important in the early game - while a single Archer can be trained faster than two Saka Horse Archers, two Saka Horse Archers can be trained faster than two normal Archers.
With a maintenance cost of 2 each, a large number of Saka Horse Archers can create a huge economic burden on an early empire. Slotting Conscription will reduce this to 1 and allow each Kurgan to pay the maintenance cost of three Saka Horse Archers.
Since this unit upgrades to the Crossbowman, you can train a few Saka Horse Archers before discovering Machinery, then immediately slot Professional Army to upgrade them. You will instantly have an army of Crossbowmen for a cheap cost, thanks to the Scythian civilization ability.
=== Kurgan ===
For a long time, the Kurgan was, by a wide margin, one of the worst unique improvements in the entire game. Its pitiful yields made it a total waste of a citizen slot, and its only use was to secure an early pantheon. Thankfully, the April 2021 Update breathed new life into the Kurgan. Although at times the Kurgan may feel out of sync with other Scythian abilities, it adds extra dimension and versatility to a civilization that is otherwise very straightforward.
The chief purpose of the Kurgan stays the same: first, to found an early pantheon without forcing you to run God King, and second, to support your cavalry army. Fortunately, the improvement becomes significantly better at both tasks after the buffs received in the April 2021 Update. The first technology to research is always Animal Husbandry as Scythia, as it reveals and allows you to build Pastures. A Kurgan next to 2 Pastures is three times as strong as God King, and it indirectly allows you to run Urban Planning instead! As a matter of fact, Kurgans provide more base than any other improvements up until Industrial Era when Polders earn 5 each (other improvements have the potential to surpass Kurgan's output, but they rely on luck with adjacencies to achieve that, most notably the Mekewap), but the Kurgan can be built in large numbers next to each other, since they have very loose restrictions. The Kurgan generates even more from Pastures with Stirrups, allowing Scythia to be even more competitive religiously. Later in the game, with Flight, Kurgans can generate from , adding an additional dimension to Scythia which didn't exist before. With both a healthy generation, extra and a wide empire claimed in the early game from conquest, Scythia can push for a cultural victory.
Unless you want to go for a religious victory or a cultural victory, don't go overboard with this improvement. Even though it is much better than before, working too many improvements that don't grant or stunts the growth and productivity of the city. Only pick out the best spots with multiple Pastures nearby for maximum output. After the Classical Era, if you want to pivot completely to a religious or a cultural game, you can always build more Kurgans, but for the sake of a domination game, you only need just enough to generate , and a bit of to purchase units with the Grand Master's Chapel.
=== Victory Types ===
Scythia is overwhelmingly good at a Domination Victory. Considering how powerful cavalry units are in Civilization VI and Scythia's ability to amass them quickly, the Scythian domination machine is difficult to stop. If you want a different gameplay experience, try to push for a Religious Victory. Not only can Kurgans provide masses of , but Scythian Apostles are stronger and can heal outside friendly territory, and if your Apostles fail to spread the good words, use your cavalry army to enforce your Religion. Finally, the Kurgans' and strong potential allows Scythia to push for a Cultural Victory, especially when mounted on a vast empire claimed in the early game. 
=== Counter Strategy ===
Scythia is a very solid domination civilization thanks to its powerful civilization ability and Tomyris' leader ability, but it has a terrible unique unit that doesn't do much to support domination, so their two abilities are the only two out the four you need to pay attention to. When you spawn next to Tomyris, immediately beeline for Bronze Working (for Spearmen) and Masonry (for Ancient Walls). Anti-cavalry units are generally underused in Civilization VI, because the unit class they are meant to counter can always outmaneuver them. Therefore, the best way to use Spearmen against Scythia is to surround your cities with fortified Spearmen. Scythia will practically go for their own death if they will just slam their cavalry into your wall of anti-cavalries. If they use Saka Horse Archer to attack, the unit will expose itself to your Spearmen, you can kill it easily thanks to your +10 Combat Strength against cavalry and the Saka Horse Archer's low melee Combat Strength. You can also combine this with ranged units and district defenses to immediately kill a unit within a turn, so that it cannot heal back up.
Different from other domination civilizations, Scythian prowess is not well sustained if they cannot achieve much in the Ancient Era. This is the only period where the light cavalry unit is stronger than the contemporary heavy cavalry. Scythia is even worse as a civilization before the release of Gathering Storm, because there is such a huge gap between the Horseman and the Cavalry it upgrades to, rendering the civilization ability useless for almost 3 eras. Even in Gathering Storm, later in the game, you always can build Knights to deal with Coursers and Cuirassiers to deal with Cavalry. Heavy cavalry units are so much better at direct battles thanks to their s dedicated strictly to combat. Also, it is worth mentioning that since Scythian armies favor quantity over quality, pillaging and plundering their sources is always a good strategy.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males	Modern females
Argimpas 	Agathyrsi	Aabir 	Baheejah
Arimaspu 	Apia 	Cheragh 	Delkash
Artimpada	Artimpasa	Deepak 	Fawza
Katiari 	Enaree 	Ghufran 	Huzuz
Kolax 	Hestia 	Isar 	Khirad
Leipoxis 	Issedo 	Javeed 	Lale
Scopasis 	Kollippi 	Mallalai 	Nuzha
Szererce 	Lewlelil 	Mujtaba 	Parivash
Tarxuta 	Oirpata 	Raafi 	Sumera
Turxu 	Temarun 	Warid 	Teeha
== Trivia ==
* When the Scythians were first added to the game, their colors were tan and red. They were later changed to light yellow and dark red in Gathering Storm, and then light orange and dark red, the latter of which now applies to all rulesets.
* The Scythian civilization's symbol is a deer with spiral antlers that gallops to the right, resembling the Deer Plaque, one of the most famous examples of Scythian art.
* The Scythian civilization ability references the Eurasian Steppe on which they lived.
== Soundtrack ==
== Gallery ==
File:Civ6 saka horse archer.png|The Saka Horse Archer, Scythia's unique unit
File:Civ 6 Kurgan.jpg|The Kurgan, Scythia's unique improvement
File:Scythian capital.JPG|Scythian capital in Medieval Era
== Videos ==
thumb|center|300px|First Look: Scythia
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* Scythian in other games
ru:Скифия (Civ6)
Category:Scythian