Cree (Civ6)

The Cree people represent a civilization in Civilization VI: Rise and Fall. They are led by Poundmaker, under whom their default colors are dark blue and green.
The Cree's civilization ability is Nîhithaw, which provides them with +1 capacity and a free Trader after researching Pottery and gives them control of any unclaimed tiles within 3 tiles of their cities when a Trader passes through them. Their unique unit is the Okihtcitaw (which replaces the Scout), and their unique tile improvement is the Mekewap.
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: None
The Cree are a strong Ancient Era civilization and should have no problem going into a Golden Age in the Classical Era. However, some of their bonuses wane just as quickly as they come, and their generalist approach requires adept and focused leadership. Otherwise, the Cree might find themselves disoriented when the game transitions into mid- and late game.
=== Nîhithaw ===
With very few exceptions, Pottery should always be your first technological research, regardless of your starting position and surroundings. Not only does it unlock the Mekewap, your incredibly powerful tile improvement, it also provides you with a , and most importantly, a free Trader to go with it. Immediately send this Trader to a nearby civilization or City-state to earn at least 3 extra per turn (since you do not have another city at this point to run an internal ). This Trader will also help you tremendously in expanding your territory by claiming at least 2 extra tiles. Since each has a fixed and uncontrollable route from point A to point B, in order to claim more tiles with your Trader, prioritize s that finish in a short amount of time, meaning send s to the closest city you can find. When a finishes, you can send it to another city to expand your own city in a different direction, or move the Trader to another city of yours to start expanding that one. Beware however, Traders are very vulnerable to Barbarians in the early game, so use your starting Warrior or your Okihtcitaw to clear the way for your Trader to make sure the path is safe.
When you have your second city - so that you can send internal s, it is advisable that you settle cities about 6 tiles away from one another. That will maximize the number of free tiles you can gain from this ability. Also since the Mekewap is a brilliant tile improvement and your Victory vessel, you will want as much space as possible to put this improvement down. Since the Cree is a trade-focused civilization, it is quite obvious that you should prioritize Commercial Hubs and Harbors in every city. Internal s are generally stronger in the early game, since they help build up your cities a lot faster. With Poundmaker's leader ability, internal s become even stronger, giving you more incentives to settle cities at least 6 tiles apart and send s among them.
In the later eras, it becomes possible to use your Traders for offensive purposes. Found some cities along a rival empire's borders, then send Traders to their cities to claim nearby tiles and block further expansion. Afterward, you can declare a War of Territorial Expansion to capture their border cities (and, if you managed to establish a religion and chose Defender of the Faith as one of your beliefs, potentially use it for offense as well as defense). Once they become available, use the Logistics policy card and Supply Convoys to move your troops into enemy territory and surround their cities faster.
=== Favorable Terms ===
==== Extra yields to s based on Camps and Pastures ====
Since this ability benefits both ends of the s (similar to how the University of Sankore works), it is hugely beneficial for the Cree to send internal s. With this ability, the normal weakness of internal s, which is a lower output, is alleviated. 
Under Poundmaker, s grant 1 to the origin city and 1 to the destination city for each Camp and Pasture present in the destination city. To maximize this ability, you can seek out a fertile piece of land with a lot of possible Camps and Pastures, settle down, and quickly improve all of those resources. This city should preferably be placed in the heart of your empire, meaning you should surround it with other cities later, first is to protect it, and second is to facilitate s sent to this city, since the amount of extra yields depends only on the destination city, not the origin. For even better yields, you can promote Magnus to Surplus Logistics and have him stationed in this central city.
Later in the game, international s will become more and more lucrative, thanks to Alliance bonuses (which you definitely want as Poundmaker). Your cities will still earn extra thanks to being the origins of the s, and the you send away to other civilizations will be more than made up for just by the nature of international s.
==== Share visibility with all Alliances ====
The Cree's prowess at exploration is sustained well into mid-game thanks to this ability. The Civil Service civic allows you to form Alliances with your friends, and the Cartography technology allows your units to cross oceans to meet remaining empires that you have not encountered. Coincidentally, both of these dramatically improve your Mekewap, so these will be the two checkpoints you should aim to reach as soon as possible. Every time you form an Alliance, regardless of types and levels, both you and your Ally will have shared visibility of each other's empire. Providing that there are total 5 types of Alliances, you will have clear vision on huge parts on different corners of the map, a privilege no one else can have until they launch their Earth satellite. There are a lot of things you can do once you can see inside another empire: you can estimate their power level, find cities with a lot of Camps and Pastures to send s, identify targets for your Spies, discover new City-states and survey surrounding territories. The possibilities are endless.
Remember, your ally can see inside your territory as well, so you should consider the ramifications for this carefully in multiplayer games (in single player games, the AIs would not be able to take advantage of such information anyway). Furthermore, you will sometimes be involuntarily dragged into wars declared on your allies. This normally will not be a problem against distant empires, but if two of your next-door neighbors decide to go to war and you are unprepared, that might be an issue to take into consideration when you agree to Alliances.
Also, since the more allies you have, the more you can see, that means your later allies will be able to see what you have explored on top of what your previous allies have explored as well. Just for visualization:
* First, you form an Alliance with A, you and A both share visibility.
* Later, you form another Alliance with B, B will be able to see inside your empire and what your units currently see, and reveal everything A (your other ally) has revealed. Now, B cannot clearly see things A sees, but the portion of the map which has been uncovered for A will be uncovered for B as well.
* If you form another Alliance with C later, C and you will share visibility, and the portion of the map that has been revealed for A and B (your other allies) will be revealed for C as well, even though C cannot see clearly into these parts of the map.
=== Okihtcitaw ===
The Okihtcitaw has the same Combat Strength as a Warrior and greater maneuverability, making it ideal for both defense and scouting. What is even more important is that it starts with a free promotion, which will enable it to move freely over one difficult type of terrain from the moment it's trained! When chosen wisely, this Promotion alone will grant it a massive speed boost; explore the prevailing terrain with other units before you churn out your first Okihtcitaw and choose whether to have it move freely over Hills or in Woods and Rainforests. Then the Cree will be able to explore their surroundings much faster than other civilizations, and reap the benefits of early discoveries.
Don't rely too much on this unit, however - being a recon-class unit, the Okihtcitaw does not possess the Warrior's Bonus versus Anti-Cavalry and combat-oriented s. Therefore, in the grand scheme of things, the Okihtcitaw is more resilient against damage in the early game but in no way exceptional as a military unit, even when dealing with Barbarians. Furthermore, a huge downside of this unit is that it is 33% more expensive than the standard Scout. On Standard speed, this will translate to at least 2 more turns of production. Considering the chief purpose of a Scout is to explore the surroundings and its role will quickly become less of a priority, and the fact that the Okihtcitaw can never fully replace melee units in your army, it is not recommended you invest too much into this unit. All in all, a unique Scout that is more expensive than the standard one is not all that impressive, and hardly any other bonuses can justify building an army of Okihtcitaws. One is the standard number, two if you are being very generous.
=== Mekewap ===
The Mekewap is a solid tile improvement, as it provides extra , , , and from the very beginning of the game yet still scales incredibly well into mid- and late game. As the Cree, it is vital that Pottery is the first technology they research, since it unlocks a free and a Trader, altogether with this improvement. Afterwards, there are two main checkpoints that the Cree should aim for quickly, Civil Service and Cartography. With Civil Service, a Mekewap provides as much as a Sewer, and with Cartography, each Mekewap also provides for each adjacent Luxury Resource (both of these will also synergize incredibly well with Poundmaker's ability and the Cree's tendency towards exploration in general, so you would want them unlocked as quickly as possible anyway). Specifically, a Mekewap will provide 3 if adjacent to 1 Luxury Resource, 5 if adjacent to 2, 7 if adjacent to 3, etc. Overall, since most of the Cree bonuses wane quickly in mid- and late game, the Mekewap stands out as an exception. This is the vessel of victory of the Cree, albeit not very obvious. High Population allows them to pursue a Scientific Victory while high output makes a Diplomatic Victory possible. Cree players should seek out resource-rich areas in which to settle and put their Builders to work right away.
=== Victory Types ===
The most distinctive hallmark in the Cree's gameplay is that they do not have a significant skew towards any Victory; in other words, they are generalists, they have a lot of options but they do not specialize in any, but that also means you can spend the first few eras building up your infrastructure and then decide your Victory path later depending on your empire's current shape. 
In a quick glance, Religious Victory is the weakest path, as they have no tool that helps with founding, defending and spreading a Religion. The only thing that can aid the Cree on this path is that they will most likely receive a Golden Classical Era, with which they can then choose Exodus of the Evangelists Dedication. Domination Victory is slightly better, but also unusual: Okihtcitaw is underwhelming, unless you manage to reach Ambush, which is totally impractical to earn on multiple units. The Cree has high output that can support a large army to serve your conquests, but that is pretty much everything you have going for a Domination. They are equally good at Scientific and Cultural Victory, thanks to their populous cities, decent , intensive network and high output to purchase quickly important pieces of infrastructure. In Gathering Storm, they skew quite significantly towards a Diplomatic Victory, though they may struggle against civilizations with actual Diplomatic bonuses, like extra or earning faster. Good exploration helps you discover City-states earlier, allowing a better diplomatic foothold with them, and you will meet other civilizations faster as well, maximizing the number of Emergencies and Aid Requests you can participate. Plenty of and decent help a lot in Competitions and in building the Statue of Liberty, too. And of course, the Cree naturally wants to befriend and form Alliances with everyone, which generates . 
=== Counter Strategy ===
The Cree may have an advantage in exploration and trading, but they lack a victory focus, meaning no matter what victory you are going for, the Cree should not have much of an advantage over you. Therefore, most of the time, you should focus your energy and resources on winning your own game rather than countering them. 
Instead of trying to eliminate the Cree, you can try to benefit from them, thanks to Poundmaker's ability. Whenever Poundmaker sends a , the origin city will receive and the destination based on the number of Camps and Pastures at the destination, so you can gain quite a hefty amount of from his s if you have a city full of Camps and Pastures right next to his borders. His shared visibility from any alliance also works both ways. You will benefit from their exploration (as well as the exploration of any of their previous allies), so make sure you are not the first one to form an Alliance with Poundmaker. This benefit will be amplified even further when Poundmaker, or at least one of his allies, is going for a scientific victory and you are not, since the moment he finishes Launch Earth Satellite, the entire map will be revealed for you.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males 	Modern females
Ayimasis 	Asikiwkiyatotaw	Ayimasis 	Astina
Kisikawasan 	Danis 	Kahkewistahaw 	Ayamis
Mahikan 	Kahpayekoot 	Kisikawasan 	Kahpeaysewat
Mistahi-Maskwa	Kaseweetin 	Kupeyakwuskonam 	Kamenna
Mistawasis 	Keasik 	Minahikosis 	Kika
Papewes 	Minuskipuihat 	Mukitou 	Kisikawacahk
Peechee 	Nawapukayus 	Payipwat 	Matisoon
Sehkosowayanew	Osamuskwasis 	Petequakey 	Mosomin
Tantoo 	Paskus 	Saswaypew 	Ochapowace
Wapiy-Mostosis	Yaskuttsus 	Hihkasko-Kiseyin	Peepeekisis
== Trivia ==
* The Cree civilization's symbol is a traditional Cree Eagle Mask.
* The Cree's civilization ability is the name that the Woodland Cree call themselves in their own language.
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Okihtcitaw concept art (Civ6).jpg|The Okihtcitaw, the Cree's unique unit
File:Mekewap in-game (Civ6).jpg|The Mekewap, the Cree's unique improvement
File:Cree capital.JPG|Cree capital in Medieval Era
== Videos ==
thumb|center|300px|First Look: Cree
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* Cree in other games
== External links ==
* https://www.civilization.com/news/entries/civilization-vi-rise-and-fall-poundmaker-leads-the-cree-nation
ru:Кри (Civ6)
Category:Cree
Category:Civilization VI: Rise and Fall