Tomyris was reputedly the queen of Massagetae, an ancient Scythian confederation in Central Asia. The only official record of this somewhat mythical leader was kept by Greek historians who document Tomyris defeating Cyrus the Great of Persia. Tomyris is also the leader of Scythia in Civilization 6, a civilization that offers players some notable military bonuses for fighting wars. Thus, war and conquest are very much the name of the game when playing with Scythia in Civilization 6.
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Tomyris’ Bonuses: Killer of Cyrus and People of the Steppe
Killer of Cyrus is the leader bonus for Tomyris that will always give your military an upper hand when playing with Scythia in Civilization 6. This bonus gives your units +5 combat strength when attacking wounded enemies that don’t have maximum health. Any unit attacked that doesn’t have maximum health is at an even greater disadvantage than usual because of Killer of Cyrus. The Killer of Cyrus bonus also enables your units to replenish 30 health points after killing enemies.
Skythia’s People of the Steppe civilization ability enables you to recruit twice as many light cavalry units. You’ll receive one duplicate light cavalry unit for each one recruited. For example, recruiting five light cavalry units will give you five more, amounting to 10 in total.
The Tomyris leader description page
Tomyris’ Unique Unit: Saka Horse Archer
The Saka Horse Archer is a unique Classical-era unit you can recruit during the early game when playing with Scythia in Civilization 6. This unit has a melee attack of 20 and ranged strength of 25. It’s also a fast-moving unit good for map exploration that can move across four tiles per turn.
Saka Horse Archers
Tomyris’ Unique Infrastructure: Kurgan
Kurgan is a unique infrastructure with which you can improve dessert, grassland, plains, tundra, and snow tiles with Scythia in Civilization 6. This unique infrastructure gives tiles that include it a +3 gold yield increase. It offers a base +1 faith yield for any tile that includes it. However, the Kurgan has a +1-faith yield adjacency bonus for pastures it is next to, which increases to +2 with the Stirrups technology unlocked. Kurgan’s faith yields also generate proportional tourism for your civilization after unlocking Flight technology.
The Kurgan unique infrastructure
How to Win With Tomyris of Scythia in Civilization 6
Scythia in Civilization 6 is, for the most part, a purely militaristic civilization. This makes it one of the best in the game for securing a Domination Victory. An early-game Scythian push against one or two nearby civilizations will give you considerable momentum for a Domination Victory. This means focusing more on early-game expansion by capturing other civilisations’ cities with military units rather than pushing out Settlers.
Animal Husbandry should be one of the first technologies you unlock when playing within Scythia in Civilization 6. This will reveal horse resources on the map and enable your builders to improve tiles with pastures. Then research and unlock Horseback Riding from there ASAP. Establish some settlements near horse resources if necessary to ensure you can recruit cavalry during the early game.
The Animal Husbandry technology
When you’ve secured horse resources, you can implement a Scythian push by recruiting light cavalry units. The People of the Steppe ability will double the number of light cavalry units at your disposal, enabling you to overwhelm enemy civilizations with more units. This, combined with your Killer of Cyrus combat bonuses, will make it easier to bring enemy civilizations to their knees.
Although not the strongest of unique units, Saka Horse Arches will come in handy for dealing with anti-cavalry like the Spearman. Use their ranged attacks to kill off Spearman units that can be tricker to eliminate with direct cavalry melee assaults. You can later upgrade them to Field Cannons, with which to shoot down anti-cavalry units.
You’ll need more gold to maintain a large military. To increase your civilization’s gold, add Kurgans to settlement tiles. Selecting the Levee En Masse policy card for reducing unit maintenance costs is especially important when playing with Scythia in Civilization 6. Free Market and E-commerce are also good policy cards for boosting your civilization’s economy.
A Scythian city
Remember that Helicopters are also light cavalry units in the late game, even though they aren’t horses. Recruit plenty of choppers to expand your military further with duplicate units when you’ve unlocked Combined Arms. Unlock the Manhattan Project ASAP to get some nukes to finish off remaining enemies and secure Domination Victory in the last two centuries.
A nuclear blast
Beyond a Domination Victory, Kurgan’s faith yields can come in handy for pursuing a Religion Victory. They can generate +3 or +5 faith placed beside one or two pasture tiles. So, place Kurgans beside pastures to boost faith output, with which you can purchase more religious units.
So, Tomyris of Scythia in Civilization 6 is often the leader of choice for players who want to win games by capturing capital cities. It’s a no-nonsense civilization ideal for smashing enemies with light cavalry units. Stuff your military with light cavalry and settlement tiles with Kurgans to win your games with Scythia.
