Malian (Civ6)

The Malian people represent a civilization in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. They are led by Mansa Musa, under whom their default colors are dark red and light yellow; and Sundiata Keita, under whom their default colors are reversed.
The Malians' civilization ability is Songs of the Jeli, which provides their City Centers with additional and for each adjacent Desert and Desert Hills tile. It also allows them to purchase Commercial Hub buildings with . Lastly, it increases the output of their Mines at the cost of and gives them a 30% penalty to units and buildings. Their unique unit is the Mandekalu Cavalry (which replaces the Knight), and their unique is the Suguba (which replaces the Commercial Hub).
== Strategy ==
Starting bias: Tier 1 towards Desert and Desert (Hills); tier 5 towards , , , , , , , , and 
Mali is able to establish a bustling commercial center of the world in the middle of a desert and grows their cities tall in the blink of an eye by their religious and purchasing power. Being one of a handful of civilizations with a unique asymmetrical design, Mali is not much of a builder but a buyer. Thanks to this distinct gameplay feature, Mali's reliance on and purchasing power allows them to quickly build up their new settlements once their economic machine starts going.
=== Songs of the Jeli ===
==== Extra and for Desert tiles next to the City Center ====
Mali's cities can grow very fast in the middle of a desert. If surrounded by 6 Desert tiles, Mali's can grow with +6 starting and , making them uncontested when trying to establish a pantheon. The best part of this bonus is that both and are granted straight to the City Center, so you don't have to dedicate a Citizen to work a tile. Do not go out of your way and find a spot with 6 Desert tiles around the City Center, at least not for your ; otherwise, your won't be able to produce anything. Considering that Indonesia and Russia are the other civilizations that can generate 2 from turn 1, 3 Desert tiles next to the City Center should be sufficient in most cases to get you the first pantheon (unless there is someone spawning right next to a natural wonder that supplies ).
Religious Settlements is always worth considering, of course, a free Settler in the early game is always amazing. However, choosing Desert Folklore is a wise decision which is more beneficial in the long run - you want to construct Holy Sites in every city to boost the yield of your Suguba, the backbone of your civilization. Having both high income and reduced buying costs will help you overcome your penalties by spending . You can put your accumulated to good use by purchasing Suguba buildings and religious (if you manage to found a religion), military (via the powerful Grand Master's Chapel), or Naturalist and Rock Band units.
==== Mines provide less and more ====
This is the first sneak peek into Mali's asymmetrical design. Malian Mines won't provide any until Apprenticeship, instead, each of them will provide 4 . The biggest downside of this ability is of course the early game, where every early settlement will be very unproductive and take forever to produce something. This will be further amplified if you make the rookie mistake of trying to maximize the amount of and you can get by putting your cities in the middle of a vast desert, before you get access to the Suguba and have a decent economy. 
In terms of value, 4 and 1 are equivalent, as the purchasing cost of buildings and units is always 4 times the production cost, but there are key differences that make 4 better than 1 in the long run, despite being a bad trade off before the Suguba:
* is an empire-wide resource, while is a city-level yield. In the early game, since the number of cities is small, it is better to have cities with good output. However, after you have the Suguba, especially when taking into account the last penalty of this ability (30% penalty to units and buildings), is a lot better to instantly build up new cities, but a few cities with strong cannot do much to help new cities.
* can be accumulated indefinitely, and purchasing buildings, units, and districts with allows you to immediately benefit from their effects.
* has a lot of other uses that cannot fulfill:
** Many diplomatic actions (delegates, embassies, give gifts, trade and exchange, etc.)
** patronage
** City-state diplomacy (levying, buying districts and units to complete a quest, etc.)
** Change policy cards and governments when needed
** Pay maintenance cost for your empire
With that being said, there are some buildings that have to be built with and cannot be bought, city projects, repairing districts, and other early development goal will require good output.
==== penalty towards buildings and units ====
If you play your cards right, you most likely only feel the impact of this penalty in the first two eras, especially during the time of expansion. It is especially crippling when you have to hard-produce your Slingers and Warriors to protect yourself, as well as Settlers and Builders. Save up your to purchase a Trader after unlocking Foreign Trade, establishing this can jumpstart your economy and trigger the for Currency. Try your best to clear Barbarians off the route of your Trader with your army. Your s will earn extra if sent from cities with many flat Desert tiles.
This penalty doesn't apply to districts, thankfully, so new settlements should start working on Holy Sites and Sugubas immediately. Later in the game, when you have Reyna with Contractor title, and Moksha with Divine Architect title, you can instantaneously put down Holy Sites and Sugubas in new cities. Thus, this penalty can be easily bypassed down the road, since almost all the key units and buildings can be purchased. A few notable buildings you cannot purchased are walls and Flood Barriers (unless you are the suzerain of Valletta), and Government Plaza buildings, so these will be prime candidates to be hard built. Playing Mali is similar to playing Babylon, it is about balancing which items you want to use your ability/spend your resources on to get immediately, and which one you would want to get in the traditional way.
==== Suguba buildings are purchasable with ====
Buildings in the Suguba are important, especially the Market, and you would want to get the Market immediately after the Suguba is finished. Having a third, affordable option to build Markets is quite amazing. A Market costs only 190 , after taking into account the 20% discount of the Suguba, almost as cheap as a Missionary. Afterward, you can use to purchase a Trader in the same turn. By having this option of purchasing Markets, you can divide the financial burden equally to both types of currencies, instead of having to wait turns for one of them to stock up while the other is underused. Later in the game, you can spend on Banks and Stock Exchanges, although these two buildings are a lot more inconsequential than other tier 2 and 3 buildings in other districts, since they only grant a bit more . However, s are strong and impactful, and the fact that Mali prefers Commercial Hubs even in cities where Harbors can be built means they will dominate the race.
=== Sahel Merchants (Mansa Musa) ===
==== capacity increases for every Golden or Heroic Age ====
Whenever Mali under Mansa Musa goes into a Golden or a Heroic Age, their capacity increases by 1 permanently. Theoretically, that is equal to 8 extra s, but considering the landscape of the game, that is pretty much an impossibility. An extremely powerful tactic to use as Mali is to achieve a Dark Classical Era, and then a Heroic Medieval Era. In a Dark Age, you can run Monasticism, which grants 75% extra in every city with a Holy Site, a district you would want to build everywhere to compliment your Suguba. With a Heroic Medieval Era, you get access to both Monumentality, which allows you to buy Settlers, Builders and Traders with , leading to rapid expansion, and Free Inquiry, which grants based on the adjacency bonuses of your Suguba. If you get a Golden Classical Era, not only will you miss out on one of these two incredibly powerful dedications, you probably won't even have enough or Suguba to make the most out of either of them. If you accidentally cross the Dark Age threshold to a Normal Age, try your very best to avoid it. Normal Ages are terrible, since you don't have any extra perks that Dark and Golden Ages have. Normal Ages are even extra painful for civilizations with bonuses for Golden Ages like Mali or Georgia. If you reach a Golden Classical, it is not the end of the world, pick Monumentality over Free Inquiry.
Of course, the most outstanding Golden Age dedication for any trade civilization is Reform the Coinage, which is available in Renaissance, Industrial and Modern Era. If you happen to reach a Golden Classical Era, you can try to aim for a Dark Medieval and a Heroic Renaissance, just to get access to this dedication. Also, by hitting a Golden Renaissance, you are likely to be in a Golden Age again in Modern Era, allowing you to use this dedication in two eras. Besides the vast amount of , this dedication offers a global protection to all of your s, incredibly helpful yet underrated.
From Industrial Era onward, there is powerful Dark Age policy for Mali, Robber Barons. Cities with Stock Exchanges generate 50% extra and with Factories 25% extra , at a cost of 2 every city. Since Mali can quickly purchase Stock Exchanges with , this card can tremendously bolster their economy.
Overall, this ability is more helpful in early eras when your number of s is low, but gradually becomes less important as your capacity expands. Try your best to earn Golden Ages, but don't worry too much if you miss out one here and there.
==== Extra to s for each Desert tile in the starting city ====
This aspect grants 1 to international s per flat Desert tile in the origin city. By having one city settled in the middle of a vast Desert (ideally your Petra city), your empire will have a central trading hub where every sent out will receive a large sum of bonus . In the early game, you can use Reyna or run Land Surveyors to expand the city borders quickly, since this ability alone can more than double the of every sent from a city with a lot of Desert. Also, by focusing all s on one starting city, this city will be your main output, thus will attract foreign Spies on Siphon Funds mission, so do pay attention to counterespionage.
As Mansa Musa, you may want to settle your cities close together. While this will give you less per city (a problem that is compounded by the penalties of Mali's Mines), this will allow you to place more Sugubas and Holy Sites, which will increase the number of s and amount of you will have. When founding a city, building a Suguba should be your first priority, followed by a Holy Site. By building such an empire, you can drown yourself in and , the two versatile currencies that allow you to buy the vast majority of in-game items.
Since s are integral to Mali's strategy, your policy Card, Wonder, and city-state Suzerain choices should focus first and foremost on increasing their yields. Caravansaries may have too little impact to warrant a place in one of your government's Economic Policy slots early on, but Triangular Trade and Ecommerce absolutely do. Trade Confederation and Market Economy will allow your international s to provide you with valuable and , and Wisselbanken and Online Communities will give you a good incentive to stay on friendly terms with your neighbors and send a steady stream of Traders to their lands. Free Market and Simultaneum are also highly useful, as they will increase your cities' and output and give you more purchasing power. Similarly, Mali benefits most from Wonders that provide bonuses to their s or other aspects of their economy: the Colossus, the University of Sankore, Great Zimbabwe, and Big Ben should always be high on your priority list, and the Casa de Contratación can be helpful if you have an intercontinental empire. Where city-states are concerned, Antioch, Bandar Brunei, Hunza, Singapore, and Kumasi all have Suzerain bonuses that will further enhance your s, and you should make every effort to become the Suzerain of Valletta and Ngazargamu if they appear in your game. Being able to use your abundant to purchase discounted City Center and Encampment buildings in any city with a Suguba will be a great boon to you, and the percentage discounts from multiple sources stack additively instead of multiplicatively, so further purchasing discounts from the Suguba and Democracy can give you a whopping 95% on all land units - an exceptionally powerful combo. Mali is rather weak militarily, but you can still benefit from this by buying units to defend your territory.
=== Sogolon (Sundiata Keita) ===
Sundiata Keita shifts Mali's focus towards a cultural playstyle whilst still leaning into the asymmetric civ design. A 20% discount on patronage with is a useful bonus that synergises well with the rest of Mali's kit, but don't overestimate it; the cost for patronising a Great Person is 200 plus 15 per required Great Person Point, and even a Classical Era Great Person costs 60 GPPs at Standard speed, so that is another 900 for a total of 1,100 which this ability reduces to 880. Even Mali will take time to get 880 this early in the game, plus you will still need the relevant districts to activate most Great People and those districts will provide Great People Points.
Sogolon provides a particular incentive towards patronage of Great Writers. With this ability, Great Works of Writing can be placed in Markets (2 slots in each), which you will want to build in every city anyway, and will themselves provide 4 - but even better than that, 2 , a bonus equivalent in value to 8 ! Of course, Songs of the Jeli will nerf the latter bonus when applied to construction of buildings and units, but this can be a useful bonus towards Wonder construction to reinforce your cultural path. Consider targeting Valmiki, Rumi, Beatrix Potter, and Gabriela Mistral with your patronage - their Great Works of Writing offer twice as much and as others (under the Gathering Storm ruleset).
In what appeared to be a bug that became integrated into the ability's description, the Markets in cities Mali did not found do not receive their Great Works of Writing slots.
=== Suguba ===
This unique district is similar to the Hansa and can be placed in the same way. If you found your cities only 4 tiles apart, you can easily place each Suguba between two Holy Sites and receive a +5 bonus (+2 from each Holy Site and +1 from having two adjacent districts). Place them on riverbanks for even better results. The guaranteed high adjacency bonus of the Suguba makes Mali one of the few civilizations that can truly make use of Free Inquiry dedication in Classical or Medieval Era, granting a huge amount of . Of course, this dedication should only be chosen if you are in a Heroic Age, since in almost every circumstance, Monumentality is the better choice in the early eras. The Suguba is the backbone of the Mali empire, as it is evident that the weakest point of Mali during the game is before Currency is unlocked. Aim for this technology as soon as possible and get up multiple Suguba so your purchasing strategy can finally begin.
It is important that you promote either Reyna or Moksha (preferably both) so that you can straight up buy districts using and as soon as possible, even though the -30% does not affect building districts. In new settlements, the Suguba should always be the first district to be put down, so that it starts applying the 20% purchasing discount immediately toward other items.
The best thing about the Suguba is undoubtedly its purchasing discount, but you can make it even better by combining it with other discounts. Remember, these discounts stack additively, not multiplicatively, so stacking 2 discounts will retain the efficiency of both (except for the last discount on this list). Below is the list of other percentage purchasing discounts in game:
*Suzerainty of Ngazargamu offers a 20% discount per Encampment building present in the city, meaning it can scale up to 60%. Despite the tooltips, Ngazargamu actually does affect purchasing of land military units, making it an incredibly overpowered city-state when combined with the Suguba and the Grand Master's Chapel.
*The Democracy government offers a 15% discount on all purchases. If combined with the Suguba and Ngazargamu, you can purchase land military units at a whopping 95% discount with .
*Monumentality Golden Age dedication allows you to purchase Settlers, Builders and Traders with at a 30% discount, rising up to 50% when combined with the Suguba. This is the reason why Mali can expand absurdly fast in an early Golden Age, and no matter how much you can get out of Free Inquiry, Monumentality is always the top priority.
*Holy Order Enhancer belief grants a 30% discount for Missionaries and Apostles.
*The Theocracy government grants 15% to all purchases. When combined with the Suguba, Grand Master's Chapel and Ngazargamu, you can purchase land units at a 95% discount with .
*Winning first prize in the Nobel Prize in Literature (a scored competition available through the World Congress whenever Sweden is in the game) grants 20% discount when purchasing Rock Bands.
* The least important, the Meenakshi Temple grants a 30% discount when purchasing Gurus.
*Mercenary Companies (World Congress Resolution) can grant 50% discount to either or purchases. Note that this discount is an anomaly, as it applies before every other discounts, so you will not reach 100% discount when purchasing. In other words, this discount stacks multiplicatively with other discounts.
**For example, when you have this Resolution active to give you 50% discount on purchases, the Suguba will raise the discount to 60% only (not 70%). If you have Theocracy and the Suguba, you can have a 67.5% discount.
**Having this Resolution active (in either or discounts), the maximum effect from Ngazargamu, the Suguba, and the appropriate government (either Theocracy or Democracy) will raise the maximum level of discount in the game to 97.5% when you purchase a land unit using the supported currency.
=== Mandekalu Cavalry ===
The Mandekalu Cavalry was a fearsome unit to face back in Civilization V - its bonus to assaulting cities, as well as its superior synergy with the Songhai's kit in general, made it dominant. Its glory days are long past, but this iteration is still quite usable in Mali's hands.
The only true advantage the Mandekalu Cavalry has over the Knight is 5 additional Combat Strength, making it the strongest unit of the Medieval Era. This is enough for a full-health Mandekalu Cavalry to kill a Crossbowman in two hits, provided it doesn't heal in the meantime. It will also usually take only 10 or so damage from Crossbowman fire. Considering that the Crossbowman is the premier defensive unit of the Medieval Era, this edge in a matchup is pretty significant. By itself, however, it doesn't contribute too much to Mali's offensive game. The really important factor to consider is Mali as a whole in the Medieval Era. By now, Mali will have their Sugubas up and running in most of their cities, probably making a couple hundred each turn, and may have even built the Grand Master's Chapel. With this unparalleled purchasing power, Mali can pump out a ton of units during this era, and they will have enough to maintain a large army. The problem here is if you don't beeline Stirrups, there is a chance your neighbor will have advanced Walls, which necessitates the use of Trebuchets (which, again, costs you even more and investments). If Mali is terrible at producing units and has to buy them, if this domination tactic doesn't gain you any territory, you will waste a lot of and that can be used for infrastructure. Therefore, if you are thinking of conquest, beeline Stirrups to maximize the window of opportunity for this unit. This is far from being Mali's most consistent strategy, but if you are looking for a change from the gameplay of Religious Victory it can be an enjoyable change of pace.
A significantly worse aspect of this unit is that it can earn from kills, which is the theme of Mali as a civilization. The problem here is that it replaces the Knight, so it will not come into play until the late Medieval Era. By this time, Mali's economy must be already solidified such that a few from kills most likely does not matter too much. Of course, you can still gain from killing Barbarians, but in the Medieval Era, Barbarians are not as rampant, killing them to earn is like adding an extra drop into the ocean. When you consider the fact that you most likely have to buy this unit, earning on kills helps you recoup parts of its original cost. A Mandekalu Cavalry can be bought with 704 with the Suguba, meaning one unit can kill 14 Knights and still cannot totally recoup the cost. If the earned by the Mandekalu Cavalry actually contributes a significant percentage of your treasury, you are probably not playing this civilization to its fullest potential. The ability to protect Traders is clunky and impractical at best, because you will never be able to move your unit around to follow s, especially with the number of s that Mali has.
All in all, what you have on your hand is a slightly stronger Knight which can you field en masse in an instant thanks to your generous treasury. If you want to wage a war, make sure you purchase enough of them. Also, don't expect you will be able to farm with it, there is no amount of killing can recoup the cost you invested in the first place. After the April 2021 Update, the Mandekalu Cavalry is a decent unit thanks to its outstanding Combat Strength compared to other units of the same era, but quite plain, since the abilities that set it apart from the basic Knight are meaningless.
=== Victory Types ===
Mali is pretty flexible, since can help in any victory, but they are skewed towards Religious and Diplomatic Victory more than anything else. Religious Victory is the most obvious path, since Mali has good output from the very beginning of the game, and this victory largely does not rely on , as you can buy districts, buildings and religious units relatively freely. In terms of Diplomatic Victory, your large income allows you to dominate Aid Request and Military Aid Request competitions, buy , and buy districts and units to complete city-states' quests, and their peaceful nature will lead to easy Alliances. However, they may have a hard time competing for Wonders, as Diplomatic Victory is more Wonder-reliant than Religious Victory.
Sundiata Keita's leader ability makes him slightly weaker at these paths (because he loses Mansa Musa's specific trade bonuses), but instead stronger at Cultural Victory. Cheaper patronage can help with any win condition, but Sundiata Keita has particular incentive towards Great Writers, and the extra from their Great Works can feed into wonder-building to reinforce this path.
=== Counter Strategy ===
Mali's early game is absolutely dreadful, even worse than late game-oriented civilizations. Before unlocking Currency, most specifically before they have their first Suguba up and running, not only do they not have any great powerful bonus, their asymmetrical design makes it almost impossible for them to have a standing army to fend off invaders. Remember, takes time to accumulate, while a penalty in is felt instantly, so slightly higher compared to a regular civilization and decent output definitely does not make up for terrible early game . Should you spawn next to Mali in a game, they are a prime target for early expansion, since their design will leave them high and dry. To make the matter worse, even when they become richer, Walls cannot be purchased, unless Valletta is available. If you declare a Surprise War on Mali, it will be a struggle for them to raise some defensive layers for their cities. Also, Flood Barriers cannot be purchased either, so Mali will have even more troubles if the environment deteriorates rapidly. 
Later on, Mali is heavily dependent on s, and although the Mandekalu Cavalry has a function of protecting nearby s, the possibility of having these units following s around to protect them is almost none. Cutting off this lifeblood by plundering their s, giving you a healthy income while starving Mali. Since they can quickly purchase units with both and , try not to engage in all out wars, unless you know you outnumber them, and just focus on plundering instead.
== Civilopedia entry ==
== Cities ==
== Citizens ==
Males 	Females 	Modern males	Modern females
Alou 	Adiaratou 	Amos 	Aurelie
Boubacar	Bibatou 	Ali 	Binette
Esaie 	Déni 	Dango 	Dissa
Moctar 	Djen'hai 	Ibrahima 	Estou
Kader 	Mounaissa 	Makane 	Fatima
Kassim 	D'jhello 	Salif 	Germaine
Salif 	Hamsetou 	Konaté 	Hawa
Seydou 	Tatiska 	Laurent 	Micheline
Tahirou 	Kadidiatou	Vaughn 	Kadidia
Wahabe 	Zahra 	Zakaria 	Rama
== Trivia ==
* When the Malians were first added to the game, their default colors were dark red and dark yellow.
* The Mali civilization's symbol is an adobe mosque (possibly the Great Mosque of Djenné).
* The Mali civilization ability references the West African keepers of oral tradition (and often royal advisors).
==Soundtrack==
== Gallery ==
File:Civ6 Mandekalu Cavalry In-Game.jpg|The Mandekalu Cavalry, Mali's unique unit
File:Civ6 Suguba In-Game.jpg|The Suguba, Mali's unique district
File:Malian capital in Classical Era.png|Malian capital in Classical Era
== Videos ==
File:Civilization VI Gathering Storm - First Look Mali|First Look: Mali
File:Civilization VI- Gathering Storm - Mali Gameplay Premiere|Mali gameplay premiere with Pete Murray, Dennis Shirk, and Brian Feldges (beginning at 20:07)
== Related achievements ==
== See also ==
* Malian in other games
== External links ==
* https://civilization.com/news/entries/civilization-vi-gathering-storm-first-look-mali-mansa-musa-pc-release-date-february-14-2019/
ru:Мали (Civ6)
Category:Malian
Category:Civilization VI: Gathering Storm