Polish (Civ6)

The Polish people (or Poles) represent a civilization in Civilization VI. They are led by Jadwiga, under whom their default colors are dark red and pink. They are available with the Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack, which was released on December 20, 2016.
The Poles' civilization ability is Golden Liberty, which allows them to claim all surrounding tiles when they build an Encampment or a Fort in their territory and changes one of their government's Military policy slots into a Wildcard slot. Their unique unit is the Winged Hussar (which replaces the Cuirassier), and their unique building is the Sukiennice (which replaces the Market).
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: None
Complex and versatile, Poland led by Jadwiga is a challenge to play properly, especially for new players. Poland possess many bonuses with seemingly little synergy, therefore they require good decision making to succeed. They can be very powerful if you choose one path to specialize in, but trying to leverage all of their bonuses in one game is the perfect recipe for disaster.
=== Golden Liberty ===
Golden Liberty brings back the "Culture Bomb" of Civilization V and allows you to steal territory from your opponents, making city placement less crucial for the Poles as long as you build Encampments and Forts strategically. You can steal tiles up to 3 tiles away from the City Center, but cannot steal tiles with completed districts or Wonders (tiles with districts or Wonders under construction can still be stolen, the unfinished structures will be destroyed in the process). When combined with Jadwiga's unique ability, the Culture Bomb also allows you to instantly convert enemy cities, thus saving you from having to spend on Missionaries and Apostles. Obviously though, you must have a religion. 
The above combo makes Crusade an almost must-have belief for Poland, as you can capitalize on this advantage by waging wars against your neighbors, converting and capturing their cities one by one and edging closer to a Religious Victory (or a Domination Victory). Winged Hussars are an absolute menace in the Renaissance Era, especially if you can unlock them early on the Civic tree, as they can push back enemy troops and clear a path for the rest of your army to advance on a city. After making peace with your opponent, build Encampments and Forts to convert any cities near the one(s) you captured, reorganize your forces, and go to war with your opponent again if you need to spread your religion to more of their cities, and if you're worried about the warmonger penalties, wait until you've discovered Diplomatic Service and declare Holy Wars instead.
An understated side of Golden Liberty is that it converts one Military policy slot into a Wildcard one. This gives Poland, along with Greece, access to a Wildcard slot from the very beginning of the game. Although not as strong as Greece's ability, it allows Poland to effectively race for an early religion by discovering Mysticism and running Revelation afterward. In contrast, other civilizations have to discover Political Philosophy to run a Wildcard policy, which slows their discovery of a religion and may cost them the opportunity to add the beliefs they desire to it. This is very powerful especially for a civilization with Religious power, since it almost guarantees you will have a leg up in the race for a Great Prophet. Plus, you gain the ability to run God King for an early pantheon without sacrificing crucial early with Urban Planning, an advantage Poland shares only with Greece and Kublai Khan - however, unlike these two, you have to sacrifice Discipline to get this, so watch out for early threats!
=== Lithuanian Union ===
If you prefer a more peaceful approach to victory, you can play to Jadwiga's other strengths. Build Holy Sites and Theater Squares in all of your cities and focus on maximizing your and generation - later on, you can use your accumulated to patronize Great Artists, Musicians, and Writers, whose Great Works will generate vast amounts of for you. Polish Relics are also more powerful than anyone else's, as Jadwiga's ability grants them an extra 4 , 2 and 2 . For this reason, you might want to build an extra Scout in the early game to maximize the chances of discovering a Relic from a Tribal Village.
A Polish Relic-based strategy can be improved by adopting the Reliquaries belief and building the Mont St. Michel and Cristo Redentor later in the game. Mont St. Michel will grant all Apostles the Martyr promotion, so on death, they will grant you yet another powerful Relic. You can maximize each Apostle's usefulness by using all of their charges except for one, then intentionally sending them deep into an enemy's religious territory where they will certainly die, giving you a Relic at little cost to your religious pressure. Otherwise, you can just send these Apostles straight to their deaths, while also considering the Monastic Isolation belief if you also want to have a backup in Religious Victory path. Another often-overlooked method to gain Relics is via trading other empires for it. Though the trade may be costly, Poland's buff to Relics is well worth it over the long run.
Poland benefits strongly from other game modes that provide or boost Relics. This includes Secret Societies, where the Voidsingers allow for easy creation and storage of Relics of the Void, starting in the Industrial Era; Heroes & Legends, where each Hero creates two Heroic Relics, starting from the beginning of the game; and Monopolies and Corporations, which provides large bonuses to from all sources when a player controls most of a Luxury Resource.
In the later eras, keep a few Military Engineers on hand to build Forts for protection from aggressive neighbors and steal their territory if they settle dangerously close to your cities.
The Culture Bomb aspect also works with Burial Grounds (although you most likely should take Crusade as your Enhancer Belief), Great Engineer Mimar Sinan and the World Congress' Border Control Treaty Resolution. In Gathering Storm, the Burial Grounds belief was removed and its effect got incorporated into the Warrior Monks belief, meaning now Poland can take both Warrior Monks, which is a Follower Belief (for the unit and the Culture Bomb) and Crusade, which is an Enhancer Belief. However, Reliquaries is a Follower Belief, so Poland should pick Warrior Monks when they decide to go for a Domination/Religious Victory (not for the Warrior Monk unit itself, but for the Culture Bomb ability) and pick Reliquaries when going for a Cultural Victory. The Culture Bomb pairs very well with the city-state of Fez, which grants +20 for each Citizen in a converted city. This is both much faster than using Missionaries or Apostles to convert others while also preserving your yields for other purposes.
Lastly, Lithuanian Union provides your Holy Sites with a +1 adjacency bonus from districts, instead of +0.5, easily helping to increase your yields.
==== Important note on victory paths with Poland ====
The pitfall of most inexperienced players or ones who have never tried Poland before is the lack of focus. Since Poland's bonuses are all over the place, trying to maximize all of them at once can backfire horribly. Let's compare Poland to other civilizations which are also considered versatile: Cree and Japan. Regardless of which path they are going, the Cree will always send s and Japan will always place s close to each other to maximize yields; these are core mechanics of the game that anyone will take advantage of. 
The difference here is, for Poland, in order to choose a path over another, you have to commit hard to it. Want Relics? You have to build Mont St. Michel and have high output. Want a military push with powerful Winged Hussars in the midgame? You have to focus on generating . As with anyone else, you may also want or need some output to keep up with the AI, or some Commercial Hubs because you can never have too much and the allure of the Sukiennice, or even to put down Encampments to claim a bit of land and increase Strategic Resource stockpile. This is how most players fail, since they try to do too many things as Poland, and nothing comes to fruition. 
Out of the three districts above that supply neither nor , you only typically need a few Commercial Hubs for your income and your unique building, and to a much lesser extent, one or two Encampments, not to claim land, but to increase your Strategic Resource stockpile and aid the and power of the Winged Hussar later. Poland generally does not need to waste time on Campuses after their capital and perhaps second city, as for them is mostly only used to get to important defensive units such as the Crossbowman. 
Unlike other versatile empires, Poland requires you commit and stick to one path, as any path requires a lot of build-up and investment. You can win a Domination game from Medieval Era onward solely by an early unlock of the Winged Hussars without getting a single Relic the entire game, or win a Culture Victory without building a single Fort or Encampment to claim land. There are two main paths for Poland: Domination/Religion (these two go hand in hand) and Culture, which is reliable. If you fail in one of these two paths, switching to the other Victory path will not be as smooth as if you were playing Cree or Japan.
=== Sukiennice ===
Regardless of whether you plan on playing offensively or defensively, you should develop Polish cities for commerce. Build Commercial Hubs in every possible city, then fill them with Sukiennice and enjoy the extra (from domestic trade) and (from foreign trade). Be sure to augment your via policy cards to provide further boosts. Some, like Triangular Trade, are good for both types of routes, while Market Economy only impacts international routes. If you're aiming for a Culture Victory, international trade will speed you along by further increasing your output. In Gathering Storm, the University of Sankore has good synergy with this building since it makes domestic even more powerful for Poland.
This is a great building, since every strong empire requires a strong network of s, so Commercial Hubs and Markets are a must every game. With the Sukiennice, you do not have to think too much about whether or not you should send domestic or international s, as you will have the best of both worlds with extra and it supplies. It is recommended for the early game that you send domestic s to improve new cities' growth. The extra 4 for every domestic completely nullifies the economic downside of this strategy. Also, try to at least get 3 Envoys at all the Commercial City-States available in your game to further boost the Sukiennice. 
However, keep in mind that this is not CivRev, Economic Victory does not exist. Building Commercial Hubs and the Sukiennice should be your second priority after whatever Victory Path you are committing to, unless you're on the verge of bankruptcy. 
=== Winged Hussar ===
With its mighty lance, high mobility, and intimidating stature, it's easy to understand why enemies want to flee from the Winged Hussar. It has higher Combat Strength than any of the other units of its era by a long shot, and its ability to push back the enemy lines makes it a powerful weapon if Poland decides to go on the offensive. A force of 2-4 Winged Hussars can drive enemy units away from a besieged city and allow other Polish units to attack it without fear of retaliation. It's also great at clearing Barbarian outposts, since it can force the defending unit off the tile and capture the outpost in one fell swoop.
The Winged Hussar is superior to the Knight in conquest and becomes available much earlier than the Cuirassier it replaces, meaning that other civilizations have virtually no counterplay to this unit beyond training Pike and Shots en masse, which still barely have more Combat Strength with their bonus against cavalry. Because of this, the only civilization that can reliably defeat a horde of Winged Hussars is Sweden, with their unique Pike and Shot replacement.
When attacking, if the Winged Hussar deals more damage than it takes, it can push the enemy back to 1 of the 3 tiles behind the enemy, not just strictly the tile directly behind. This unique dislocation mechanic allows for really cool tactics. You can go around the enemy lineup and break it by pushing a unit (ideally a ranged or siege unit) towards your line of defense, push enemies out of their Forts or other defensive tile improvements, or push enemies out of formation to capture or kill civilian units, or to simply reduce their flanking and support bonus. You can even push units onto water tiles, which either forces them to waste at least one turn disembarking or makes them easy prey for your navy (and inflicts additional damage if the opponent hasn't discovered technologies that enable embarkation). The possibility for messing up is also there though, since players who forget about the knockback risk sending their Winged Hussars into the midst of enemy lines or within firing range of City Centers and Encampments.
One more uniqueness of the Winged Hussar is that they are unlocked via the civics tree, making early generation essential for Poland. Try to pump out as many new cities as you can, build Monuments, go for a pantheon that supplies (or Religious Settlements in Gathering Storm), appoint Pingala with the Connoisseur title immediately, and beeline Mercantilism. You should detour on the religious branch for Mysticism so that you can unlock the Revelation policy card. If you want to go a step further, pick Choral Music as your Follower Belief instead of Reliquaries (unless you're determined to go down the cultural path, in which case you still need to discover Mercantilism before other civilizations unlock Pike and Shots). After unlocking Winged Hussars, discover Divine Right to unlock the Chivalry policy card, then slot it and train as many of them as you need. The best part is that and Campuses no longer matter for Poland at this point - once you start conquering, will naturally pour in.
=== Victory Types ===
If you are playing Poland for the first time, Domination with a Religious backup is a sound choice, and it is the easiest one to pull off, as long as you accumulate early on, pick up the Crusade belief and avoid detours and distractions. Once the Winged Hussars come and start conquering, they will give you everything you need, whether it is or , as detailed above.
Culture Victory is within reach as well, but a lot trickier. Out of the two civilizations that make use of Relics, the Kongolese have impactful and powerful Relics the entire game but have trouble generating them reliably. Poland's Relics are weaker, but easier to acquire. The only problem with this route is that Mont St. Michel is a must, and it is a Medieval Era Wonder unlocked with Divine Right, a total detour from the Mercantilism Civic since it lies on the Religious branch of the civic tree. Not to mention, The Enlightenment Civic comes right after in Renaissance Era, which will cut religious in half, so you do not have a few eras to accumulate religious for a quick Cultural Victory. Of course, you can back it up with regular from Great People and Theatre Squares, which is slightly easier, since Drama and Poetry is not a detour on the Civic tree, as it is required for the all important Mercantilism Civic, meaning your timing push with the Winged Hussars would not be pushed back. However, even if you do follow this path, you have a Wonder to build and Theocracy to unlock to maximize the purchase strategy. This route is recommended when you already have a feel with this civilization, not when it is your first playthrough. Again, it is all about commitment to a path when it comes to Poland, as they are versatile but not flexible.
=== Counter Strategy ===
Most of Poland's weaponry relies on you settling right next to their border, from the Culture Bomb to the instant religious conversion, so when you put down your cities, pay attention to the distance between your City Center and theirs to see if they can steal land from you or not, and if they can, how many tiles at maximum. It is worth pinning those tiles and avoid building tile improvements on them, instead, try to build districts. Poland cannot flip tiles containing Wonders as well, but if they can see that you are building a Wonder on these "flippable" tiles, they may try to ruin it. The most effective way for Poland to initiate Culture Bombs is through Forts, which are built by Military Engineers. If you are in a war with Poland, targeting and capturing (or quickly razing) cities with Encampments should be a priority, since Engineers require Armories to be trained.
In terms of the Winged Hussar, just avoid attacking Poland during the time this unit is relevant. On defense, Pikemen should be a good frontline against Winged Hussars, since with their +10 Combat Strength against cavalry, they can reach high Combat Strength especially if you fortify them for a few turns, so they do not get pushed around. Not to mention, Pikemen are cheaper, which means you can have strength in number with this unit, compared to the Winged Hussar, and it can benefit from Oligarchy or its legacy card with even higher Combat Strength. Also, try to secure civilian units inside an Encampment or City Center to avoid getting them captured by Winged Hussar's pushback. Fighting close to the coast should also be avoided, since a Winged Hussar can force your units to embark, making their counter-attacks much less potent if done from water.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males	Modern females
Alojzy 	Adelajda 	Bartosz 	Angelika
Blazej 	Aldona 	Cyryl 	Brygida
Czeslaw 	Berta 	Feodor 	Danika
Dobrogost	Franciszka	Flawiusz 	Ewa
Grzegorz 	Jagoda 	Janusz 	Kaja
Janusz 	Katarzyna 	Kacper 	Lucja
Jaroslaw 	Milena 	Maciej 	Magdalena
Lech 	Patka 	Szymon 	Pola
Slawomir 	Radomila 	Tadeusz 	Wiktoria
Zbigniew 	Waleria 	Wilus 	Zofia
== Trivia ==
* When the Poles were first added to the game, their colors were rose and white. They were later changed to pink and white and then dark red and pink with the release of Gathering Storm, the latter of which now applies to all rulesets. 
* The Polish civilization's symbol is a white eagle with a crown, which also appears on the Polish coat of arms and the Order of the White Eagle.
* The Polish civilization ability is named after a political system in which all nobles were afforded extensive legal rights and privileges.
* Poland is also playable (as the "Polish Nobility") in the Jadwiga's Legacy scenario, in which it is led by Stanisław Potocki.
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Civ6 - Winged Hussars Up Close.jpg|The Winged Hussar, Poland's unique unit
File:Sukiennice in-game (Civ6).jpg|The Sukiennice, Poland's unique building
File:Polish capital.JPG|Polish capital in Medieval Era
== Videos ==
thumb|center|300px|First Look: Poland
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* Polish (Civ6)/Jadwiga's Legacy
* Polish in other games
ru:Польша (Civ6)
Category:Polish