Incan (Civ6)

The Incan people (or Inca(s)) represent a civilization in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. They are led by Pachacuti, under whom their default colors are brown and yellow.
The Incas' civilization ability is Mit'a, which enables their citizens to work Mountain tiles (each of which provides +2 (increasing to +3 when they reach the Industrial Era), and +1 for every adjacent Terrace Farm). Their unique unit is the Warak'aq (which replaces the Skirmisher), and their unique tile improvement is the Terrace Farm.
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: Tier 2 towards Mountains on Plains, Grassland and Desert; tier 5 towards Mountains on Snow and Tundra
The Incan empire under Pachacuti returns to Civilization VI with a very similar concept to its previous iteration: an isolationist civilization who prefers to go tall with Terrace Farms and hide itself behind a bastion of sprawling mountain ranges. With a massive bonus from s, Mountains and Terrace Farms, Inca can sprint quickly towards a Scientific Victory, or even a surprising Religious Victory.
=== Terrace Farm ===
The entire Inca empire mounts on the shoulders of this improvement - without the Terrace Farms, the Inca have very little going for them. Terrace Farms, if employed correctly, can give an enormous early game boost to the Inca player. They will significantly boost production, while also increasing , the two yields that are required for every prosperous empire.
Make sure to place your Terrace Farms next to Mountains and, if possible, Rivers, Lakes, or Aqueducts to gain the greatest and yields possible. This will give you both populous and productive cities, and many Terrace Farms will provide you with to support the enormous Population that your cities might have if situated near Mountains. Don't forget that each Terrace Farm will also improve the yields of the adjacent mountain tile. Since Terrace Farms are the engine of the Incan empire, all Hills tiles next to Mountains should be reserved for them, s that gain adjacencies from Mountains (Campuses, Holy Sites, also Theater Squares, Industrial Zones and Commercial Hubs if you have Machu Picchu) should only be built on flat tiles.
Without Mountains, Fresh Water or Aqueducts, Terrace Farms are just basically regular Farms (with twice the ) on Hills that you can build from the beginning of the game instead of after researching Civil Engineering, which is handy but nothing too extraordinary. Since you cannot control the map generation of Mountains, you should rely on placing Terrace Farms next to Aqueducts, which will give you a large amount of . Considering you are playing as the Inca under Pachacuti, his leader ability will guarantee your empire will never starve for , and since your is only slightly better than a regular civilization if you own a lot of Hills, it is more beneficial in the long run to focus on maximizing the output of Terrace Farms. When settling, your City Center should allow a good Aqueduct spot, which, ideally, should be totally surrounded by Hills that can be improved with a Terrace Farm later. If there is a flat tile next to your Aqueduct, reserve it for a future Industrial Zone. Aqueducts are so important to the Inca that every city should get one, since your empire will definitely run into problems with your massive influx, and also Engineering is a prerequisite technology for Machinery, the technology that unlocks the Warak'aq, so it is not like you have to go out of your way to build these Aqueducts anyway.
A less prominent feature of the Terrace Farm that the regular Farm does not have is that Terrace Farms can be built on Desert (Hills), which allows Inca to thrive in hilly Desert areas. If you spot a Desert area that has a lot of Hills, you can send over a Settler to establish a city there, improve all the Hills to grow the city as quickly as possible and then try to rush for Petra. Thanks to the fact that an Incan Desert city can grow incredibly quickly if there are enough Hills, the construction of Petra is a lot smoother than other civilizations.
Note that Terrace Farms also enjoy adjacency bonuses with Feudalism and later with Replaceable Parts; however, these are triggered only by other Terrace Farms, not normal Farms. Also, Terrace Farms do not provide adjacency bonuses to normal Farms, nor can they unlock the for Feudalism (either alone or in combination with normal Farms).
Lastly, each mountain tile adjacent to a Terrace Farm will get +1 , along with the inherent ability of the Inca to get +2 from mountains. This works great with Earth Goddess, allowing your mountains to provide great yields throughout the game.
=== Warak'aq ===
The idea of having a unique Recon unit is often scoffed at, due the underwhelming impressions made by the Okihtcitaw and the Highlander. However, the Warak'aq is surprisingly potent at dishing out a huge amount of damage, making them a reliable tool for the Incan to advance towards a Domination Victory if they wish so. This is the only unit in the game that can attack multiple times per turn without any , so it has basically twice the firepower of the Crossbowman, the premier military unit of the Medieval Era and a lot higher maneuverability, at the cost of its . With a little bit of preparation, the arrival of the Warak'aq can be the harbinger of downfall to all unwitting neighbors of the Inca.
The first step is to accrue and train Scouts en masse from the Classical Era to prepare for the arrival of the Warak'aq. Scouts are the cheapest units in the game with no maintenance cost, standing at only 30 , combined with the growth and early power of the Inca, this should not be a problem. The problem is how to save enough to upgrade all of them, since at this point, you most likely have not researched Mercenaries yet. A Warak'aq is 135 more expensive than a Scout (equivalent to 540 ), but it only takes 280 to upgrade a Scout into a Warak'aq! Although Pachacuti's ability incentivizes you to send internal s, it is recommended that in the first two eras before the Warak'aq, you should dedicate all of your s to generate as much as possible, since your Terrace Farms will do a much better job than you ever need in growing your cities. It is also recommended that you establish Victor with the Embrasure title in the main Scout-producing hub, so that all of these Scouts will start with a to boost their ability to traverse terrains. Since in the Classical Era, you probably have explored every Natural Wonder and Tribal Village around you, and Scouts do not fight Barbarians, so this is important to get them off to a good start. Meanwhile, you should beeline Mercenaries to get access to Professional Army, which is not very hard, since it only has 2 immediate prerequisites, one of which is Feudalism, an important civic that you would want to beeline anyway as the Inca.
With the Survey policy card and the fact that the Warak'aq can attack twice, it mathematically benefits from 4 times more XP than an average Recon unit, helping it reach the Ambush quickly and reliably. With a 60 Ranged Strength unit with a 40 Combat Strength defense, combined with 3 and advanced maneuverability from his Ranger and Alpine promotion that can run far away after attacking, a high-level Warak'aq is no longer a glass cannon, but now simply a maneuverable cannon that is impossible to deal with. Just for a better visualization, this is a unit that is unlocked at the same technology as the Crossbowman, a standard unit with much notoriety on the Medieval battlefield, and a Warak'aq with the Ambush has twice the damage output of a Field Cannon, the upgrade of the Crossbowman that comes 2 eras later. A timing push with an army of Warak'aq can be deadly, even to the most aggressive civilization who focuses a lot on building an army, so even if you have no plan to win a Domination Victory as the Inca, make sure to claim some crucial neighbor territory. Like it is mentioned above, as long as your Warak'aq can earn the Ambush , which is very easy to do with the Survey card, its cheap price (compared to units of later eras) and its ridiculous firepower mean its relevance can last until you are done with conquering and not because your enemies manage to research a way to deal with it.
=== Mit'a ===
The Incas thrive near Mountains and Mountain ranges. This ability allows your Citizens to work Mountain tiles, each Mountain tile is worth 2 , which is, frankly, worthless on its own. Also, Mountain tiles with Ski Resorts cannot be worked. The only time you would want to work a 2 tile is when your cities are too big and you have so many leftover Citizens that you do not have any other stronger tiles to work, which can happen with the Inca but this is not something you would want to go out of your way to take advantage of early on. However, the yields of Mountain tiles can be augmented in a couple of different ways. First, as mentioned above, Terrace Farms benefit tremendously from being built next to Mountains, and Mountains also benefit from adjacent Terrace Farms: Mountain tiles receive 1 extra for every adjacent Terrace Farm. With that being said, Terrace Farms and Mountains are like an inseparable couple, they mutually benefit a lot from one another; therefore, again, Hills tiles next to Mountains should always be reserved for Terrace Farms, and only flat tiles should be used for s. If there are no flat tiles next to Mountains, fill them all with Terrace Farms. It is understandable to sacrifice good adjacency bonuses for Terrace Farms, as the entire Incan civilization is mounted on how many Terrace Farms you manage to fit into your empire.
A surprising and unorthodox way to make use of the fact that the Incas can work Mountains is to aim for the Earth Goddess pantheon. Since Mountains perpetually have Breathtaking Appeal which cannot be lowered by surrounding features, coupled with the fact that the Incas can work Mountains, every Mountain tile inside Incan territory will always grant 2 and 1 , with potential from adjacent Terrace Farms. Considering that the Incas have starting bias towards Mountains, their Holy Sites can gain very high adjacency bonuses, and since Mountains grant bonus Appeal to adjacent tiles, the Earth Goddess pantheon can truly work its magic and grant the Incan empire a huge amount of from very early on, which then can lend itself to an unexpected Religious Victory or augment the Scientific and Cultural path.
In the early game, spend Builder charges to harvest and clear features off Hills tiles and construct Terrace Farms to catapult and output. This allows the Incas to bring basic infrastructural improvements online much faster than any other civilization. Settlers can also be hard-produced (the loss of Population offset by massive yields from Terrace Farms), making expansion straightforward. Along with their impressive city , harvesting resources and removing features can be utilized to construct the strong early game Wonders like Apadana, Colosseum, Oracle, and Temple of Artemis to further their early-game edge. While the Incas lack inherent and advantages, they can quickly construct Campus and Theater Square districts as well as their respective district buildings. Their Population advantage can also be used to work these districts as Specialists and maintain steady, impressive and outputs throughout the game.
Besides the obvious thematic association, you may think that the Inca have a great incentive to build Machu Picchu, since it boosts Districts adjacent to Mountains, which the Inca can find in great number. But the opposite is actually true. When playing as the Inca, Machu Picchu-boosted Districts compete for space not only with Campuses and Holy Sites but also the Terrace Farm and the Preserve. What's more, the Inca have phenomenal output and Population growth, so they have little need for Industrial Zones and they can rapidly build low-adjacency Commercial Hubs and Theater Squares elsewhere. As a result, there are few civs who would be better off avoiding Machu Picchu.
==== The Preserve and its synergy with the Incas ====
The Vietnam & Kublai Khan Pack brought a new addition to the list of : the Preserve. With the possible exception of Bull Moose Teddy, Inca has to be the civilization that can make the best use out of this , since they can work Mountains and all Mountain tiles are guaranteed to be permanently Breathtaking. It also requires no expertise to use this efficiently with the Inca. You can just treat it as a Campus or a Holy Site: you put it on a flat tile (so it will not compete for space against your Terrace Farms) next to as many Mountains tiles as possible. Combined with the Earth Goddess pantheon and the Grove, each Mountains tile can generate 2 , 2 , 2 and 3 as early as the Ancient Era, and that does not even count possible Terrace Farm adjacency. If there is a good spot next to a lot of Mountains, even if it is a Hills tile, don't be afraid to put this there, as it will give you far superior yields to anything one Terrace Farm can ever manage. Therefore, Mysticism should be heavily prioritized, maybe even before Political Philosophy. With such great yields this early into the game, Inca's path to victory is a lot wider and more versatile.
=== Qhapaq Ñan (ability) ===
Incan cities will rarely run out of Population to support additional districts, making Commercial Hubs an easy choice for new Incan settlements, especially if surrounded by Mountains. Domestic can be augmented by Triangular Trade and Qhapaq Ñan improvements for rich and yields in the mid-game. However, one cannot help but feel that this aspect of Pachacuti's leader ability is a bit redundant: considering that Incan cities can already grow massive on the shoulders of the Terrace Farms, adding extra on top of it does not help cities grow any faster, since the Inca do not have any other bonuses toward . As outlined above in the Warak'aq section, considering the yields and from Terrace Farms are more than enough to sustain your cities (unless you deliberately settle in an area with no Hills for some reason), getting from international is better for your mid-game military rush should you choose to do so.
If there are cities in a region without any or few Hills for other strategic reasons (to secure Strategic Resources, a coastal city to facilitate trade, etc.), you can pick a city with a lot of Mountains in its territory to send out internal s from there, to ensure fast growth for all cities in your empire.
=== Qhapaq Ñan (improvement) ===
The effects of the Qhapaq Ñan are identical to those of the Mountain Tunnel. It can be placed in neutral territory, providing permanent vision on that Mountains tile and every adjacent tile to the civilization that builds it, even if that tile later gets taken over by another civilization.
With Qhapaq Ñan, land units are able to traverse Mountains at the cost of 2 . Qhapaq Ñan do not, however, allow units to end their turn on Mountains, so they cannot be used if units have too little left or the exit is blocked. If more than one Qhapaq Ñan is placed on the same Mountain range, they will act as connected portals, allowing units to go in and out from any of these gates at the cost of 2 . Since units cannot occupy a Mountains tile, this improvement cannot be pillaged, but it can still be removed by volcanic eruptions and nukes.
Additionally, s going through Qhapaq Ñan will have increased yields in . A Qhapaq Ñan tile grants 15 "efficiency" points to any Trader passing through, which is a lot more substantial than water tiles, Railroads, and Canals. More details are available here.
Although their effects are identical, the Qhapaq Ñan has a few traits that make it superior to the Mountain Tunnel. It's available in the Ancient Era rather than the Modern Era, which makes s sent to and from the Inca much more fluid and effective and facilitates exploration (since they cannot be blocked off by a long mountain range). Qhapaq Ñan and Mountain Tunnels can be built on Mountains in neutral territory, but since the Qhapaq Ñan is available much earlier, the Inca can utilize this to launch a surprise attack on empires that are surrounded by mountains. Even when Chemistry is unlocked, there's no reason to build Mountain Tunnels over Qhapaq Ñan, since the Qhapaq Ñan is built by Builders rather than the more expensive Military Engineers. However, the cost of a Builder scales upward for every Builder you have trained while that of a Military Engineer stays constant, meaning that a Mountain Tunnel built by a Military Engineer always costs 85 , while a Qhapaq Ñan built by a Builder may cost more depending on how many Builders you've trained throughout the game and how many build charges each one starts with.
Bear in mind that your opponents can use Qhapaq Ñan built by you, which may work to your detriment if you go overboard with this improvement. If an opponent declares war on you, immediately place your military units to block entrances and exits that lead to your core territory, or your cities may fall in one fell swoop. Qhapaq Ñan can also be captured by other civilizations or city-states, just like Mountain Tunnels.
=== Victory Types ===
The Incan civilization is one of the more versatile ones: their bonus is geared towards building populous and productive cities, which can lead to any Victory type. However, the most obvious route for them is a Scientific Victory with ease. Surrounded by mountains, high Population and decent output, a Scientific Victory seems to be written in the stars.
However, as outlined above, high Population allows you to work more tiles and even assign more Specialists, a rather forgotten aspect of Civilization VI. Depending on which types of you build the most, these Specialists can give you a lot of corresponding yields, leading your empire to another Victory route. If you manage to get the Earth Goddess pantheon and grab a lot of Mountains, your outstanding output can put you as a frontrunner for a Religious Victory, or give great assistance to a Cultural Victory.
Also, if the map size is Standard or below, the sheer power of the Warak'aq can lead you to a Domination Victory; nevertheless, this is a lot less reliable. Civilizations with an incredibly powerful unique unit but no other bonus towards wars like the Incas have to rely on their ability to snowball off of the time window of their unique unit, so whether or not you can pull this off depends on how well your first few conquests go, and also, the smaller the map, the better. On larger maps, experienced players can still manage to edge out a Domination Victory, considering how powerful the Warak'aq is, and you can use that unit to build a huge momentum to roll over anyone else. Aim for the Earth Goddess pantheon as usual, but pick Crusade as your Enhancer belief with the Grand Master's Chapel as your Tier 2 Government Plaza building to assist you on your quest to conquer the world.
=== Counter Strategy ===
The Incan game hinges almost entirely on having mountainous terrain to develop. Needless to say, if you can choke off their expansion with forward settling, that will slow them down a lot, whatever their intended win condition. Helpfully, if they do try and claim that land off you, it will naturally be easier to defend, though you should watch out for a Warak'aq rush - this is a Medieval Era unit that can attack with the power of late-game units if sufficiently promoted! Make sure to focus on killing Warak'aq rather than merely wounding them, which isn't the hardest task - they're as weak defensively as a Warrior, and will reliably die to just two Crossbowman shots and sometimes to just one Knight attack. Also, city walls of any kind, even Ancient Walls, will be more valuable than usual against this glass cannon of a unit. Watch out specifically for a Warak'aq moving after it attacks; that means it has the Guerrilla promotion, which leads to Ambush.
The Inca are harder to counter when met later (assuming they have been able to secure the terrain they need), but if you don't have Mountains near you it will be easier to befriend an AI Pachacuti and he can be a good ally.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females	Modern males	Modern females
Anco 	Asiri 	Amaru 	Huayta
Anta 	Chimpu 	Mallku 	Inkasisa
Chuki 	Mamap 	Manqu 	Palla
Kuntur	Pacha 	Pacar 	Qispi
Kyunya	Raymi 	Ruqa 	Quyullur
Inti 	Qayara 	Sumaq 	Quri
Puma 	Quya 	Tupac 	Sami
Rimaq 	Palla 	Ullanta 	Sisa
Ruqa 	Qispi 	Uturunku 	Taki
Uchu 	Uqlllu 	Waman 	Urpi
== Trivia ==
* The Incan civilization's symbol is the chakana, which is thought to represent Cusco and the Southern Cross.
* The Incan civilization ability is named after the mandatory public service in the Inca Empire.
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Civ6 Warak'aq In-Game.jpg|The Warak'aq, the Incas' unique unit
File:Civ6 Terrace Farm In-Game.jpg|The Terrace Farm, the Incas' unique improvement
File:Civ6 Qhapaq Nan In-Game.jpg|The Qhapaq Ñan, Pachacuti's unique improvement
== Videos ==
File:Civilization VI- Gathering Storm - First Look- Inca|First Look: Inca
File:Civilization VI Gathering Storm - Inca Gameplay Premiere|Inca gameplay premiere with Sarah Darney, Anton Strenger, and Brian Feldges (beginning at 4:57)
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* Incan in other games
== External links ==
* https://civilization.com/news/entries/civilization-vi-first-look-inca-pachacuti-pc-release-date-february-14-2019/
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Category:Incan
Category:Civilization VI: Gathering Storm