Mayan (Civ6)

The Mayan people (or Maya) represent a civilization in Civilization VI. They are led by Lady Six Sky, under whom their default colors are light blue and teal. They are available with the Maya & Gran Colombia Pack, which was released on May 21, 2020.
The Mayans' civilization ability is Mayab, which prevents their cities from gaining extra from being adjacent to fresh water or coast, but grants their Farms additional and , and additional if adjacent to an Observatory. Their cities also gain from Luxury Resources adjacent to the City Center. Their unique unit is the Hul'che (which replaces the Archer), and their unique is the Observatory (which replaces the Campus).
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: Tier 1 towards Grassland, Grassland (Hills), Plains and Plains (Hills); tier 2 towards , , , , , , , , , , , , and ; tier 3 towards Desert, Desert (Hills), Tundra, Tundra (Hills), Snow, Snow (Hills), and Mountains on Desert, Tundra, and Snow
Masters at building a clustered empire surrounding the using their outstanding technological advancements, the Maya returns to Civilization VI in a dominant fashion. Led by Lady Six Sky, the Maya presents an interesting new challenge on how to build a tall empire in a game that favors going wide.
=== Mayab ===
==== Cities receive no from water, but extra from Farms ====
For the Maya, rivers are not exactly your best friend. They do not receive any from water, so settling next to a River only brings you destruction from Floods. Of course, you do not have to run from it either, but settle just one tile away from rivers, far enough to avoid Floods but close enough to benefit from the extra Flood yields. This is incredibly helpful on Disaster setting 4. Settling one tile away from rivers also creates a perfect spot for your Aqueduct, a district that you will want to build in every single city as the Maya, as it will always provide the maximum number of and a major adjacency bonus for your future Industrial Zone. When putting down a city, it is important to keep this in mind and always look for a spot where it is possible to construct your Aqueduct. An extra note, the city-state Mohenjo-Daro doesn't benefit the Maya at all, since they don't receive any from water.
When putting down cities, you would like to avoid Coast, Tundra or Desert, and try to look for an area with a lot of flat Grassland or Plains tiles, ideally with Plantation resources as well. These flat land tiles will be improved with Farms later, which are the source engine for the Maya to build up their tall empire, since each Mayan Farm provides 1.5 , triple the amount provided by a regular Farm. Plantation resources are just a cherry on top, since Plantations give major adjacency bonuses to the Observatory, which will translate into a huge amount of boost.
The two specialty districts you should absolutely build in every single city of yours are the Observatory and the Industrial Zone, together with the Aqueduct, which is a non-specialty district. You can slide a Dam in as well, if you can create a spot for your Industrial Zone to be adjacent to both the Aqueduct and the Dam, but overall, the Aqueduct is more important, since it provides more , is cheaper, and gives your Industrial Zone the same amount of bonus . All of this leads to the next point: Military Engineers. In Gathering Storm, this unit is strong but often forgotten by players, but you should not forget about it when playing as the Maya. Since the Maya don't have a lot of incentives to build Encampments, you should still have at least one, so that when you unlock Armory, you can train Military Engineers to hasten the of engineering districts. A fully developed Encampment gives you +4 Era Score and raises your Resource Stockpile cap by 30, which is valuable for every -focused empire, since you will have to burn resources to power up your buildings later in the game. For the non-domination-focused Mayans, one Encampment is enough. The Encampment should be built in the ; since it is in the middle of your compact empire, Engineers trained there will have an easier and faster travelling time, not to mention your is most likely your biggest city with the most available district slots. As with every other civilizations, Commercial Hubs and Harbors are also crucial to sustain your income, so getting them in every city after the Observatories and Industrial Zones is recommended.
==== Extra from luxury resources adjacent to the City Center ====
A bonus that is often forgotten about is the bonus when settling next to a Luxury Resource. This bonus also applies if you settle directly on top of a Luxury Resource. However, if the spot is adjacent to multiple Plantation Resources, it is better to settle nearby and save that spot for your Observatory.
At first, this may sound like an important bonus to couple with the tendency with grow tall cities of the Maya, but in practice, settling cities next to luxury resources is always less of a priority than trying to pack as many cities as possible around the . This is one of those bonuses that is nice to have, but very rarely will it be at the forefront of your mind.
==== Extra and from Farms ====
Every Mayan Farm grants 1 by default, and if it is next to an Observatory, each Farm will grant 1 as well. Since Farms are the source engine of the Mayan empire, these yields may sound little on paper, but they can quickly add up considering how many Farms you will be constructing, and the fact that you are already incentivized to put Farms next to Observatories to boost their adjacency bonus. Of course, since these yields do not scale, they will quickly taper off later into the game, but in the first two eras, these extra sources of income can help you upgrade Slingers into Hul'che and maintain an army of Hul'che to conquer neighbors or city-states who are a little bit too close for comfort, or purchase and train Builders to quickly get your cities off to a good start.
=== Ix Mutal Ajaw ===
==== City planning around the ====
This is the most complicated aspect of the Maya to master, considering it heavily relies on map generation. The maximum number of cities that can settle within the radius of six tiles around the is 12; however, this number should be treated as a guideline, since any of these cities can be in Tundra, Snow or Desert tiles where you cannot build Farms, or one of the cities in the inner ring is already too close to the Coast to settle another city in the outer ring in that direction. The minimum number of additional settlements you should have is 6, shaped like an equilateral hexagon whose side is 6 tiles each, surrounding your . In the beginning of the game, after settling your , you should send your Warrior and Scout to survey the 6-tile radius around your (ideally 8-9 tile radius since you want to see the land you can grab for the cities in the outer ring as well), and immediately put down 6 map pins marking the City Center placement for the 6 cities in the outer ring. This will establish clearly for you the area you have to work with and where the bonus/malus boundary is. Despite going tall instead of wide, your first Government Plaza building should still be the Ancestral Hall, as your goal is not to train many Settlers, but you have to pump them out quickly to claim land. Land and location are of the utmost importance and the crux of Maya gameplay; losing out on this may force you to go into unwanted conquest, which eventually will cost more than just a few Settlers.
When beginning the settling process, always remember to put down the six cities in the outer ring first, as this will allow you to claim all the land that can benefit from your leader ability. If you want to cram more cities into the inner ring later, that is up to you, but in the early game, claiming all the land within six tiles of your is of utmost importance. If you stumble upon a City-state or an unwanted neighbor that block a potential location for one of your cities in the outer ring, you may want to consider a war. Early wars are often expensive but you are aided with your Combat Strength bonus around your , your strong Hul'che and your Observatory as a catch-up mechanic just in case things do not go as planned. Things are a little bit more complicated when that city does not directly block your spot, but is settled just outside the 6-tile ring so that when you capture that city, you still have to raze it and build another Settler to put down a new city just to avoid the 15% yield penalty. Obviously, it is still up to you to make the call, even if you are down with a city with 15% yield penalty in order to save the on a Settler, but more often that not, it is preferable to go to war if it is a city of another civilization and let it go if it is a City-state. Nearby City-states are easier to be the Suzerain of, and they start with Ancient Walls on higher difficulties, which make it incredibly tough to take down with just Hul'che and Warriors. Therefore, instead of putting a city in the outer ring, in the land area next to that particular City-state, move into the inner ring and put down your city there instead. Of course, now you will have a city that is a bit too close to your , but since you do not have a city in the outer ring in that direction anymore and the City-state is outside of the six tile radius, this city still has plenty of room to grow. If the city is from another civilization, go hamper their process, your Observatory will be more than enough to make up for lost time in infrastructure thanks to its output. The only other civilization in the game with as much potential as you is Korea, and if they are in your game as your next door neighbor, you should definitely take them down, as they have next to none in terms of early game defense.
The biggest downfall of any empire with little land area comes in the Industrial Era, when you suddenly realize you lack plenty of important late game Strategic Resources; the two most important ones for Maya are and . This is why the Ancestral Hall is definitely the tier 1 Government building you should go for, and not the Audience Chamber just because you are building a tall empire. You need to build a few extra Settlers to claim land to secure these Strategic resources, the two most important are , for the huge power spike in the Industrial Era, and to move Magnus with Vertical Integration to the as soon as possible, and for the Lagrange Laser Station later. and are good, too, obviously, but if you have to choose, consider the other two Resources with a little bit higher in priority. Your new settlements are most likely in subprime positions where you cannot build Farms to gain and with the 15% yield penalty, but it should not matter. The only point of these cities is to provide you with a steady source of Strategic resources, they do not need to produce anything, and they will come with a free Builder from your Ancestral Hall to improve these resources, which is very handy, since you do not have to spend on buying one.
The Industrial Era should be a major spike in for every empire who wants to be viable from this point onward, as this is the time when , Factory and Coal Power Plant are unlocked. You should build the Factory in every single city of yours, cities within the 6 tile radius of your are a must, other cities are optional, depending on whether or not these cities are required to be major players in your empire, but most of the time, they are not necessary. At this point of the game, you should grab Magnus and his Vertical Integration title and put him in the , turning it into a massive hub that will guarantee building everything in just a few turns. However, remember, Coal Power Plants give you the most out of the 3 types of Power Plants, but its is localized; therefore, if you build Coal Power Plants in every city, Magnus' Vertical Integration will not do anything, since there is no area-of-effect to be had. It is suggested that the city where Magnus is assigned should have a Coal Power Plant but everywhere else should either get an Oil or a Nuclear Power Plant to truly benefit from his titles. For this reason, you should build 2 Spaceports, 1 in your and 1 in the city with the highest outside the , to benefit from both Magnus and Pingala's Space Initiative. For a detailed guide on city planning surrounding the Industrial Zone, head here.
A Wonder that will make a strong combo with this ability is the Colosseum. This is one of the best Wonders in the game, and it is even better if built in the of the Maya due to the compact nature of their empire. The Jebel Barkal works in the same fashion as the Colosseum, but provides instead. is not exactly the most useful yield for the Maya, and this Wonder should only be considered if you decide to go on a Religious path.
==== Free Builders for cities within 6 tiles of the ====
The April 2021 Update introduced an incredible buff to the Maya: every city within 6 tile radius of the now starts with a free Builder. If you build the Ancestral Hall, that will be 2 Builders granted to such cities! Considering how reliant the Maya is on Builders, since their cities start with a pathetic amount of and growth, this buff instantly eliminates a lot of their issues when before you would need to spend or many turns languishing with low to train one. The free Builder should build at least one Farm to raise the limit of the city, allowing growth to be at normal level, and then improve luxury resources, with Plantation resources having the highest priority.
=== Observatory ===
Considering how important and the Campus are in Civilization VI, just having a permanent 50% discount on building Campuses alone is really impactful. The Mayan Observatory, instead of gaining adjacency bonuses from Mountains, Reefs, and Geothermal Fissures, gains a major bonus from each adjacent Plantation and a minor bonus from each adjacent Farm or . This is the true winning condition of the Maya, since they will race towards a Scientific Victory in a pace that can be matched only by a few other civilizations. Since the Maya have a Tier 2 starting bias towards Plantation Resources and Tier 1 bias towards Grassland and Plains, it is quite simple to get an Observatory with at least +4 adjacency in every city, since just 1 Plantation and 5 Farms surrounding an Observatory will give it +4 already. This district is also a good reason why the Maya are not afraid of waging early wars to claim land around their , since its potential will help you tremendously in catching up in scientific advancement. The raw potential of this district even eclipses the Seowon, since it is easy to get it up to the starting adjacency bonus of the Seowon, and it scales upward dramatically with each adjacent Plantation.
=== Hul'che ===
With higher Ranged Strength than the Archer and a bonus against wounded units, the Hul'che is similar to the Pítati Archer with part of Tomyris's leader ability. However, its use case generally differs from that of the Pítati Archer or the Scythians' ranged units in that it is best used for fending off early aggression and capturing cities of enemies who settle within the Maya homeland, rather than as a tool for early aggression itself. To this end, the Hul'che also receives Lady Six Sky's bonus of +5  Combat Strength within 6 tiles of the Mayan , which can result in the Hul'che rivaling the Crossbowman when firing on injured enemies close to the ! Generally speaking, Hul'che are best used in pairs or trios, with one Hul'che delivering the initial blow and the rest killing or severely wounding the target with their enhanced Ranged Strength.
Despite the in-game description stating that the Hul'che receives +5 Combat Strength when fighting wounded units, the bonus only applies in the form of Ranged Strength on offense without extra Combat Strength on defense when it gets attacked by a wounded unit.
=== Victory Types ===
Obviously the Maya are heavily skewed towards a Scientific Victory with their unique Campus and its absurd output, along with their high from their clustered cities. The Maya can technically compete for other victory conditions as well, but each has its own drawback. The Hul'che can be an effective domination vessel for snowballing, but conquered cities most likely will receive a 15% penalty to all yields if they are not close to the . High allows the Maya to construct Wonders quickly for a Cultural Victory, but a compact empire means there will be less space for cultural improvements. A Diplomatic Victory is not out of the question either: high means they can complete World Congress projects faster to compete for Diplomatic Victory points. This is especially easy in Apocalypse mode. Religious Victory often demands a wide empire with a lot of Holy Sites, since the cost of purchasing scales rather quickly, so it is more reasonable to go on this path if the map is not too large, and the Jebel Barkal is highly recommended in this case.
=== Counter Strategy ===
The Maya are a solid civilization with very few exploitable weaknesses, since during the time they need to reinforce their infrastructure (Ancient and Classical), they basically have a unique Archer which is almost as strong as a Crossbowman (and the Hul'che is not even more expensive than the regular Archer!) when defending close to the , so trying to invade them is almost impossible. The key to unravel a Mayan empire is to harass them with fast-moving Light Cavalry units, most likely your Horsemen at this point of the game. The amount of each Mayan city starts with is pathetic, and they have to build up a lot of Farms and Plantations, meaning they will rely on (and will train a lot of) Builders. Use your Horsemen to quickly steal their Builders and immediately retreat before they get blown up by just a team of Hul'che. If it can be safely done, they can pillage their Farms and Plantations just to add extra pain. Remember, in order for the Observatory to gain adjacency bonuses, Plantations and Farms have to be built, with those two improvements pillaged, this district is so much worse than the regular Campus since they cannot gain adjacency bonuses from anything else other than a minor bonus from adjacent districts.
The Maya are very reliant on good map generation, due to Lady Six Sky's ability being a strength just as much as a liability. Since every city founded outside a limited boundary of six tiles will receive 15% reduction in all yields, they would like to found as many cities within this radius as possible. By settling cities 7-8 tiles away from the Mayan , you deny the Maya from good city locations yet preventing them from easily retaliating with Lady Six Sky's Combat Strength bonus.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males 	Modern females
Bound-stone Jaguar	Twelve Baby Macaws	Spearthrower Owl 	Batzek
Smoking Squirrel 	Star House 	Stokes-the-Sky 	Great Flower
Scroll Serpent 	Lady White Quetzal	Eighteen Rabbit 	Lady Green Quetzal
Moon Jaguar 	Baby Jaguar 	Cauac Head 	Lady Shield
Shield Skull 	Lady Skull 	Jaguar Smoke 	Earth Shark
Turtle Tooth 	Scroll-in-hand 	Tree Branch Rain God	Binding-K’inich
Lord Chocolate 	Waterlily Hand 	Moon Centipede 	Heart of Wind Place
Bird Claw 	Eveningstar 	Smoking Frog 	Yohl Ik'nal
Storm Sky 	Shell Star 	Moon Zero Bird 	Bird Jaguar
White Hilly Gopher	Lady Crocodile 	Monkey Star 	Full Flower
== Trivia ==
* The Maya civilization's symbol is the head of the Feathered Serpent, a prominent supernatural entity found in many Mesoamerican myths.
* The Mayan civilization ability is the Mayan name for the Yucatán Peninsula, the central area of Mayan civilization.
* Before the Mayan civilization was released, the Mayan city of Palenque was a city-state. After the Maya's release, Palenque became one of the Mayan cities, and it was replaced by Mitla.
* Mayan Knights have a unique appearance, wearing helmets in the shape of a jaguar head.
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Civ6 Hul'che In-Game.jpg|The Hul'che, the Maya's unique unit
File:Civ6 Observatory In-Game.jpg|The Observatory, the Maya's unique district
== Videos ==
thumb|center|300px|First Look: Maya
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* Mayan in other games
== External links ==
* https://civilization.com/news/entries/civilization-vi-first-look-lady-six-sky-leads-the-maya/
ru:Майя (Civ6)
Category:Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass
Category:Mayan