Civilization 6 includes numerous city-states to which you can send envoys. Sending envoys to those cities increases your civilization’s influence on them. You can also establish Suzerains in city-states by sending the most envoys to them. All city-states offer special Suzerain bonuses that can help your civilization, but some are better than others. So, it’s better to send most of your envoys to those states with the best Suzerain bonuses. These are eight of the best Civilization 6 city-states in which to establish Suzerains.
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Antananarivo
Antananarivo is a cultural city-state available within the Vikings Scenario Pack. It offers a Suzerain bonus that increases your civilization’s cultural output by two percent for every great person it has earned. This bonus makes Antananarivo one of the best Civilization 6 city-states for obtaining a Culture Victory since Theater Districts and their buildings provide plenty of great person points. It can increase your civilization’s cultural output by up to 30 percent (for 15 great persons), which is one of the biggest reasonably obtainable potential percentage increase bonuses in the game.
Geneva
Geneva is one of the best Civilization 6 city-states because its Suzerain bonus increases your civilization’s science output by 15 percent. This bonus, combined with Geneva’s science yield boosters for envoys, makes this city-state the most important one for players pursuing a Science Victory. You’ll unlock new technologies somewhat faster when you’ve established a Suzerain at Geneva. The only catch is that your civilization must not be at war with anybody to benefit from the Suzerain bonus, which can make it less valuable for players seeking a Domination Victory.
Geneva
Kumasi
The cultural Kumasi city-state has a Suzerain bonus that offers a +2 culture and +1 gold trade yield increase for every speciality district in a route’s origin city. For example, starting a trade route in a city with three speciality districts will increase its culture and gold yields by six and three with this Suzerain bonus activated. This is a great bonus because it enables you to considerably increase your civilization’s culture and gold output by building more districts and establishing international trade routes from cities.
Kumashi
Johannesburg
Johannesburg from the Civ 6 Babylon DLC has a Suzerain bonus that gives your civilization one of the strongest general production boosters in the game. It provides a +1 production for all improved resource types within a three-tile radius of your city centers. This bonus increases to +2 production after unlocking the Industrialization technology.
Such a Suzerain bonus is beneficial for all players since everybody improves resource tiles and needs higher production. That bonus itself can feasibly boost production in multiple cities by 2-6. Johannesburg can also increase production at some of your cities by more than 10 with an additional +6 Industrial Zone production boost for envoys in this city-state.
Zanzibar
Zanzibar is among the best Civilization 6 city-states because it offers a strong amenity bonus from its unique luxury resources. This city-state’s Suzerain bonus gives your civilization the Cloves and Cinnamon luxuries not available on the map that provide +6 amenities each for a combined total of +12. That’s an un undeniably generally useful Suzerain bonus that will keep more of your citizens content for better population growth within your civilization.
Zanzibar
Brussels
Everybody loves Civilization 6 wonders, right? You can build your favorite wonders more quickly by establishing a Suzerain in Brussels. Brussels’ Suzerain bonus boosts the production of wonders in your cities by 15 percent. This city-state’s production yields for envoys will also speed up the construction of wonders in cities with Industrial Districts even more. The substantial cumulative wonder production-time reduction Brussels can give you makes it one of the best Civilization 6 city-states.
Brussels
Yerevan
Yerevan is one of the best Civilization 6 city-states for players going for a Religions Victory. It offers a Suzerain bonus that enables you to choose any possible promotion for Apostle units. That’s a game-changing bonus when playing for a Religious Victory because it ensures you can always select the best Apostle promotions, such as Debater, over the worst ones.
Yerevan
Hong Kong
I include Hong Kong here because it’s one of the best Civilization 6 city-states for obtaining a Science Victory. Hong Kong’s Suzerain bonus boosts the production of city projects by 20 percent. That bonus, combined with a +6 Industrial Zone production increase from this state’s envoys, will enable you to complete all five space projects more quickly. That 20-percent production difference could be decisive for securing victory when in a Science Victory construction race with another civilization.
Hong Kong
So, prioritize establishing Suzerains at those Civilization 6 city-states sooner rather than later. City-states like Yerevan, Hong Kong, Antananarivo, and Geneva offer Suzerain bonuses that can be invaluable for obtaining specific religious, cultural, or scientific victory conditions. Brussels, Johannesburg, Kumashi, and Zanzibar have good Suzerain bonuses all players will generally benefit from.
