Pericles in Civilization 6 is one of two Greek leaders you can play with. The real Pericles was a great leader of Athens in Ancient Greece who inspired great architectural projects and promoted the arts. His devotion to architecture, arts, and culture made Athens the epicenter of the Greek world. He formed the Athenian Empire after an effective defence against Persia. In Civilization 6, Pericles offers players bonuses and infrastructure enhancements that reflect his cultural and architectural legacy.
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Pericles’ Bonuses: Surrounded by Glory and Plato’s Republic
Surrounded Glory is a Pericles Civilization 6 leader bonus that increases your civilization’s overall cultural output by five percent for every city-state you establish Suzerainty over. For example, being a Suzerain of three city-states when playing with Pericles will give you 3 x 5% cultural output bonuses, amounting to more like a 15 percent increase. This is one of the more valuable leader bonuses in the game because it can considerably increase culture output when you’re the Suzerain of multiple city-states.
Pericles in Civilization 6 also has a wildcard policy slot bonus (Plato’s Republic) for any government type. That is among the best leader bonuses because policy cards are very important. It enables you to select one more economic, military, or diplomatic policy card than other civilizations throughout the game.
Pericles’ Unique Unit: Hoplite
Hoplite is a unique Greek unit for the Ancient Era you can unlock with Bronze Working. This unit replaces Spearman and has a melee attack of 28. However, placing two or more Hoplites side-by-side increases its melee attack by +10 to 38. It’s most effective at countering barbarian and enemy civilization cavalry units during the early game period.
Pericles’ Unique Infrustructure: Acropolis
The Acropolis Theater District replacement is the unique infrastructure you can build with Pericles in Civilization 6, which reflects this leader’s architectural legacy. That offers an extra +1 culture yield adjacency bonus when built beside city centers. It’s also much quicker to build than standard Theater Districts with a lower production cost.
However, note that you can only build the Acropolis on hills. That’s a relatively small restriction because hill tiles are prevalent. Try to establish cities beside hills so you can make the most of this district’s unique city adjacency culture bonus.
How to Win With Pericles in Civilization 6
Pericles is arguably one of the best, if not the best, civilizations in Civ 6 for securing the Culture Victory. So, focusing on culture and tourism is the best way to win with Pericles in Civilization 6. Build lots of Acropolis districts by your cities and stuff them with Amphitheaters, museums, and Broadcast Centers to maximize cultural output and create great works for tourism.
You’ll also gain an envoy for every Acropolis district built. Thus, building more Acropolis districts will enable you to send more envoys to city-states. More envoys will enable you to establish more Suzerains at city-states, further boosting culture output with Pericles’ Surrounded Glory leader bonus. First, focus on cultural city-states to increase your civilization’s culture yields from them.
Pericles’ considerable cultural advantages enable you to unlock civics and new governments quickly. Focus on unlocking and switching to new governments sooner rather than later when playing with Pericles in Civilization 6. More advanced governments generate envoys faster, enabling you to establish Suzerainty in more city-states.
However, you’ll need to find city-states to send envoys to them. Set aside some units to explore the map and find city-states. You’ll also receive an extra envoy for every city-state you discover first.
The Hoplite is a good unit for fighting barbarians and cavalry in the early game. So, unlock its Bronze Working technology ASAP. If used correctly, it’s extremely strong against early horseback units. Keep your Hoplites close together and place them side-by-side in combat to maximize their melee attacks. Recruiting a few of them will certainly enable you to flush out barbarian outputs more easily during the early game if nothing else.
Culture isn’t necessarily the only victory condition for which Pericles is good. His additional wildcard slot is one of the most flexible leader bonuses in the game. That wildcard slot will enable you to immediately select the Revelation policy card with Mysticism unlocked. This will give you a headstart for a Religious Victory by establishing a Great Prophet before other civilizations.
Alternatively, you can utilize Pericles’ additional wildcard slot to select an extra policy that provides some form of scientific bonus. You can increase science output by selecting cards like Five-Year Plan, Rationalism, International Space Agency, Trade Confederation, or Natural Philosophy for that slot. This will help you get ahead on the tech tree, which is crucial to securing a Science Victory.
Overall, Pericles in Civilization 6 is an amazing cultural leader for establishing a Greek tourist industry that’s the envy of the world. He doesn’t offer the most extensive military advantages, but his Hoplites certainly come in handy for early-game warfare. His wildcard policy bonus is also extremely useful for all victory conditions.