Zigzagzigal's Guides - Macedon (GS)

Macedon dominates the classical-era battlefield, but they also offer an unconventional military-centric route to scientific victory. Here, I detail Macedonian strategies and counter-strategies.

Introduction

Following this guide requires the Gathering Storm expansion.

It also assumes you have all other Civ 6 content, listed below, though it is not necessary to have these to utilise the key strategies of each civ.

• Pre-Rise and Fall content packs
  
  • Vikings, Poland, Australia, Persia/Macedon, Nubia, Khmer/Indonesia
• Rise and Fall Expansion
  
• New Frontier content packs
  
  • Maya/Grand Colombia, Ethiopia, Byzantium/Gauls, Babylon, Vietnam/Kublai Khan, Portugal

These content packs include exclusive civs, city-states, districts, buildings, wonders, natural wonders, resources, and a disaster, but not core game mechanics - all you need is the base game and the Gathering Storm expansion for those.

Through great leadership, the powerful armies of Macedon shall conquer to the edge of the world! Combining training of the body and mind, our armies are as well-versed in mathematics and philosophy as they are in tactics. Though our people are always ready to see our realm expand, our soldiers may tire of constant warfare. That is, until we take one of the wonders of the world and inspire all who fight under Macedon's banner. Let us never cease from our fight - for there are always new worlds left to conquer.

How to use this guide

This guide is divided into multiple sections explaining how best to use and play against this specific civ.

• The Outline details the mechanics of how the civilization's unique features work and what their start bias is if they have one.
  
• The Victory Skew section describes to what extent the civ (and its individual leaders where applicable) is inclined towards particular victory routes. This is not a rating of its power, but an indicator of the most appropriate route to victory.
  
• Multiple sections for Uniques explain in detail how to use each special bonus of the civilization.
  
• Administration describes some of the most synergistic governments, government buildings, policy cards, age bonuses, pantheons, religious beliefs, wonders, city-states and Great People for the civ. Only the ones with the most synergy with the civ's uniques are mentioned - these are not necessarily the "best" choices when playing as the civ for a given victory route.
  
• Finally, the Counter-Strategies discusses how best to play against the civ, including a consideration of leader agendas if the civ is controlled by a computer.

Note that all costs (production, science, etc.) mentioned within the guide assume a game played on the normal speed settings. To modify these values for other game speeds:

• Online: Divide by 2
  
• Quick: Divide by 1.5
  
• Epic: Multiply by 1.5
  
• Marathon: Multiply by 3

Glossary

Terminology used in this guide and not in-game is explained here.

AoE (Area of Effect) - Bonuses or penalties that affect multiple tiles in a set radius. Positive examples include Factories (which offer production to cities within a 6 tile radius unless they're within range of another building of the same type) and a negative example is nuclear weapons, which cause devastation over a wide radius.

Beelining - Obtaining a technology or civic quickly by only researching it and its prerequisites. Some deviation is allowed in the event that taking a technology or civic off the main track provides some kind of advantage that makes up for that (either a source of extra science/culture or access to something necessary for a eureka or inspiration boost)

CA (Civ Ability) - The unique ability of a civilization, shared by all its leaders.

Compact empires - Civs with cities close together (typically 3-4 tile gaps between city centres). This is useful if you want to make use of districts that gain adjacency bonuses from other districts, or to maximise the potential of area-of-effect bonuses later in the game.

Dispersed empires - Civs with cities that are spread out (typically 5-6 tile gaps between city centres). Civs with unique tile improvements generally favour a more dispersed empire in order to make use of them, as do civs focused on wonder construction.

GPP - Short for Great Person Points. Districts, buildings and wonders generate these points and with enough you can claim a Great Person of the corresponding type.

GWAM - Collective name for Great Writers, Artists and Musicians. All of them can produce Great Works that offer tourism and culture, making them important to anyone seeking a cultural victory.

LA (Leader Ability) - The unique ability of a specific leader. Usually but not always, they tend to be more specific in scope than civ abilities. Some leader abilities come with an associated unique unit or infrastucture.

Prebuilding - Training a unit with the intention of upgrading it to a desired unit later. An example is building Slingers and upgrading them once Archery is unlocked.

Sniping - Targeting a specific city for capture directly, ignoring other enemy cities along the way. Typically used in the context of "capital sniping" - taking a civ's original capital as quickly as possible to contribute towards domination victory without leading to a drawn-out war.

Start bias - The kind of terrain, terrain feature or resource a civilization is more likely to start near. This is typically used for civilizations that have early bonuses dependent on a particular terrain type. There are five tiers of start bias; civs with a tier 1 start bias are placed before civs of tier 2 and so on, increasing their odds of receiving a favourable starting location.

Super-uniques - Unique units that do not replace any others. Examples include India's Varu and Mongolia's Keshigs.

Tall empires - Empires that emphasise city development over expansion, usually resulting in fewer, but bigger, cities.

Uniques - Collective name for civ abilities, leader abilities, unique units, unique buildings, unique districts and unique improvements.

UA (Unique Ability) - A collective name for leader abilities and civ abilities.

UB (Unique Building) - A special building which may only be constructed in the cities of a single civilization, which replaces a normal building and offers a special advantage on top.

UD (Unique District) - A special district which may only be constructed in the cities of a single civilization, which replaces a normal district, costs half as much to build and offers some unique advantages on top.

UI (Unique Improvement) - A special improvement that can only be built by the Builders of a single civilization. "UI" always refers to unique improvements in my guides and not to "user interface" or "unique infrastructure".

UU (Unique Unit) - A special unit that may only be trained by a single civilization, and in some cases only when that civilization is led by a specific leader.

Wide empires - Empires that emphasise expansion over city development, usually resulting in more, but smaller, cities.

Outline (Part 1/2)

Start Bias

Macedon has no start bias.

Civilization Ability: Hellenistic Fusion

• When capturing a city for the first time, receive a eureka per Encampment or Campus district present, and an inspiration per Holy Site or Theatre Square district.
  
  • Eurekas and inspirations skew towards technologies and civics you can research before filling out the rest of the respective trees.
    
  • This does not function against free cities.

Alexander's Leader Ability: To the World's End

• Never suffer war weariness.
  
• Capturing a city with a world wonder causes all of Macedon's units, regardless of location, to heal to full health.
  
• Grievances created against Alexander decays at double the usual rate.
  
  • This is technically part of Alexander's agenda, but it does function even if Alexander's Macedon is controlled by a human player.

Alexander's Unique Unit: Hetairoi

A classical-era heavy cavalry unit which replaces the Horseman

Research	Obsoletion	Upgrades from	Upgrades to	Cost	Resource	Maintenance
Horseback Riding Technology Classical era	Stirrups ** Technology Medieval era	None	Knight (250 20 )	100 or 400 or 200 *	10	2

*Purchasing units with faith requires the Grand Master's Chapel government building, which requires either the medieval-era Divine Right or renaissance-era Exploration civics.

**If you have insufficient iron, you may continue to train Hetairoi even after researching Stirrups.

Strength	Ranged Strength	Moves	Range	Sight	Negative Attributes	Positive Attributes
36	N/A	4	N/A	2	Deals -85% damage to city walls and urban defences	Ignores Zone of Control +5 if adjacent to or sharing a tile with a Great General +5 when it kills a unit Starts with +1 promotion level

Negative changes

• Costs 100 production, 400 gold or 200 faith, up from 80, 320 and 160 respectively (+25%)

Variable changes

• Classified as heavy cavalry rather than light cavalry, providing a different set of promotions.
  
• Upgrades to Knights instead of Coursers
  
• Obsoletes at the medieval-era Stirrups technology instead of the medieval-era Castles technology

Positive changes

• Requires 10 horse resources, down from 20 (-50%)
  
• +5 Strength if adjacent to or sharing a tile with a Great General
  
  • The era of the Great General does not matter.
    
  • This strength bonus does not stack if the unit is adjacent to multiple Great Generals
• +5 Great General Points when it kills a unit

The following is kept when you upgrade the unit:

• Starts with +1 promotion level
  
  • This works as if the unit got enough experience for the first promotion; subsequent ones are not any cheaper than they would be for other units.

Outline (Part 2/2)

Unique Unit: Hypaspist

A classical-era melee infantry unit which replaces the Swordsman

Research	Obsoletion	Upgrades from	Upgrades to	Cost	Resource	Maintenance
Iron Working Technology Classical era	Apprenticeship Technology Medieval era	Warrior (130 5 )	Man-at-Arms (130 20 )	100 or 400 or 200 *	5	2

*Purchasing units with faith requires the Grand Master's Chapel government building, which requires either the medieval-era Divine Right or renaissance-era Exploration civics.

**If you have insufficient iron, you may continue to train Hypaspists even after researching Apprenticeship.

Strength	Ranged Strength	Moves	Range	Sight	Negative Attributes	Positive Attributes
38	N/A	2	N/A	2	Deals -85% damage to city walls and urban defences	+5 vs. anti-cavalry units +5 when attacking city centres and other districts Receives 50% more support bonus

Negative changes

• Costs 100 production, 400 gold or 200 faith, up from 90, 360 and 180 respectively (+11%)
  
• Costs 130 gold to upgrade to from a Warrior, up from 110 (+18%)

Positive changes

• Costs 5 iron, down from 20 (-75%)
  
• 38 strength, up from 35
  
• +5 strength when attacking city centres and other districts
  
• Receives 50% more support bonus
  
  • This means when defending, the unit gains +3 strength per adjacent friendly unit rather than +2.
• Costs 130 gold to upgrade to a Man-at-Arms, down from 150 (-13%)

Unique Building: Basilikoi Paides

An ancient-era Encampment building which replaces the Barracks

Research	Prerequisites	Required to build	Cost	Maintenance	Pillage yield
Bronze Working Technology Ancient era	Encampment Must not already have a Stable in the city.	Armoury Military Academy	90 or 270 or 180 *	1	None

*Purchasing Encampment buildings with faith requires you to be suzerain over the Valletta city-state.

Fixed yields	Other yields	Citizen slots	Great Person points	Miscellaneous effects
1 1	When a military or support unit is trained in this city, gain science equal to 25% of its production cost.	1 Commander (1 and 1 )	1	Melee infantry, anti-cavalry, land ranged, siege and Hetairoi units trained in this city gain 25% more experience in combat. Increases strategic resource stockpile limits by 10.

Positive changes

• Experience bonus also applies to the Hetairoi unit and siege units.
  
• When a military or support unit is trained in this city, gain science equal to 25% of its production cost.
  
  • You do not receive science if the unit is purchased.

Victory Skew

In this section, the civ is subjectively graded based on how much it leans towards a specific victory type - not how powerful it is. Scores of 3 or more mean the civ has at least a minor advantage towards the victory route.

Leader	Culture	Diplomacy	Domination	Religion	Science
Alexander	5/10 (Decent)	1/10 (Discouraged)	10/10 (Ideal)	4/10 (Acceptable)	9/10 (Ideal)

Alexander is reasonable at cultural victories. Free inspirations from warfare helps you to get through the civics tree hence getting you to things like archaeology sooner. The science bonuses can also help you get to Flight, Radio, Computers and other key technologies faster.

Diplomacy is a bad victory route for Macedon. With grievances from other civs decaying twice as fast, Macedon is more likely to create grievances themselves in warfare with the subsequent cost to diplomatic favour. And both Macedon's UUs typically arrive too early to be useful in emergency wars. Playing a diplomatic game as Macedon not only means giving up most of Macedon's advantages, but taking a disadvantage most other civs don't have.

Domination is obviously the best choice for a civ with bonuses entirely built around war and the military. Hypaspists are great against cities, Hetairoi are great against units, while the Basilikoi Paides, the civ ability and Alexander's leader ability allows you to carry out constant warfare without falling behind in other ways.

A religious game as Macedon is tricky but possible. Free inspiration boosts from warfare can help with getting to civics like Reformed Church sooner, while the full heal when you capture a wonder could give you an edge in theological combat.

Finally, Macedon is very strong at scientific victories. The Basilikoi Paides UB offers an additional source of science which significantly better than the Campus Research Grants project (aside from the lack of Great Scientist Points). Combined with the eureka boosts from conquests, you can cut through the technology tree at a rapid pace.

Unique Building: Basilikoi Paides (Part 1/2)

The Basilikoi Paides building offers excellent support to Macedon's warfare advantages by granting you plenty of science as you train new units.

Starting Out

Macedon is a civ that can pull off near-constant warfare, but for the first few turns, you'll need to lay the groundwork.

It's a good idea to start off with researching Animal Husbandry while training a Slinger in your capital. Animal Husbandry reveals horse resources, which you'll need to train Hetairoi. Then, beeline Bronze Working while using your Warrior and Slinger to get the eureka for it. While making the beeline, you should be able to train a Settler in your capital and settle a second city near horse resources.

Once you have Bronze Working, get an Encampment and Basilikoi Paides up quickly. Aside from the obvious reason of accessing your UB early, it also helps get your Great General Points generation off the ground which will help a lot with making your Hetairoi UU stronger. There's only four classical-era Great Generals, and too much delay will mean your whole early army will be weaker. You may also need a third city to secure iron for the Hypaspist UU.

With your Basilikoi Paides ready, it's time to research Horseback Riding and then Iron Working for your two UUs. If you train a few Warriors in your capital, you can gain a bit of science to cut down the time needed to research those two, as well as providing you with some units you can upgrade to Hypaspists later. Don't have enough gold to do so? Keep those Warriors at home to repel Barbarians while your main army conquers the world.

Note that while regular Barracks don't offer experience to cavalry units, this UB makes a special exception for the Hetairoi UU. As such, until Hetairoi obsolete, or you want to make siege units that gain experience faster (siege units benefitting from Stables is a hidden feature of the building), there's no reason to build them. Even then, you shouldn't bother - the science boost is far better.

Golden Age Timing

Macedon has three early-arriving uniques which all provide 4 era score each when complete. Producing them all in the same era can secure a reliable Golden Age - but consider carefully how you time it all.

Maximising era score in the ancient game era for a classical-era Golden Age provides you with access to Free Inquiry (for stronger eurekas) or Pen, Brush and Voice (for stronger inspirations), as well as stronger loyalty pressure from your own cities - helping you to hold onto cities you capture. However, especially on higher-difficulty games, this can be hard to achieve.

Alternatively, try holding off from completing your uniques in the ancient game era (you can build them to near-completion, then switch to something else) and keep your era score low for a classical-era Dark Age. This gives you access to the powerful Twilight Valour wildcard for +5 attack for both your UUs, and allows you to enter a medieval-era Heroic Age - letting you use both Free Inquiry and Pen, Brush and Voice. However, you'll have to be fast in your conquests to account for the loyalty penalty associated with Dark Ages.

Making the most of Basilikoi Paides

The Basilikoi Paides UB offers science equal to 25% of a unit's production cost when you train them. Purchasing, whether through gold or faith, doesn't count. That's already better than the science on offer from Campus Research Projects (15%), although you don't get any Great Scientist Points from it. Still, while district projects have relatively few production boosts (the Hong Kong city-state being the main one), there's quite a lot of powerful boosts to military unit production. Here are some key examples:

• The God of the Forge pantheon offers a 25% production bonus to ancient and classical era units
  
• The classical-era Great Admiral Themistocles and the atomic-era Great Admiral Chester Nimitz grant +20% production to naval ranged and naval raider units respectively.
  
• The classical-era Statue of Zeus grants +50% production to all anti-cavalry units.
  
• Militaristic policy card bonuses to land and air units boost production by 50%
  
• Militaristic policy card bonuses to naval and support units boost production by 100%
  
• Militaristic city-states offer production boosts to units trained in cities with Encampment buildings.
  
• The Warlord's Throne government building adds +20% production in all cities for five turns after capturing an enemy city.
  
• The Golden Age dedication To Arms!, first available in the industrial era, boosts military unit production by 15%.
  
• The Fascism government boosts all unit production by 50%.

With just Agoge (for Hypaspists) or Manoeuvre (for Hetairoi) you can train units in a third less time, essentially giving you a 50% boost to science output from that method. In other words, while you'd be getting 15 science out of every 100 production via Campus Research Projects, here you'd be getting 37.5.

The best early outputs can be found with Quadriremes, though that comes at the cost of not working on your UUs as much. There, if you can get Maritime Industries, God of the Forge and Great Admiral Themistocles, you'll have a 145% boost to production, and hence a 145% boost to science output via building them. Every 100 production spent on those units will be worth an impressive 61.25 science!

To look at it a different way, here's the science you can expect to gain from various early units:

Unit	Science
Slinger	8.75
Warrior	10
Archer	15
Battering Ram, Galley or Spearman	16.25
Hypaspist or Hetairoi	25
Quadrireme	30

For comparison, early classical technologies like Iron Working and Horseback Riding cost 120 science, while late-classical technologies like Construction and Engineering cost 200. You can easily get eureka boosts from conquest, so just five copies of your UUs will get you the equivalent of a late-classical technology for free.

While purchasing units won't offer you science, it's possible to purchase Builders, cut down woods or rainforests to provide production, and complete the training of units that way. Be sure to use Governor Magnus (the Steward) in the city to boost the production you receive from that.

Unique Building: Basilikoi Paides (Part 2/2)

Going towards a scientific victory

If you want to use this UB to support a scientific victory, or just to maximise your science output in general, you'll want as many cities as possible with these four districts:

• Encampment
  
• Harbour
  
• Campus
  
• Industrial Zone

The other districts are fairly obvious, but let me explain why you want lots of Harbours. Firstly, naval units have better production policy cards than land ones. Secondly, Harbours add trade route capacity, which can be used for additional production. Finally, Shipyards make Harbours offer additional production which is something you can't get out of Commercial Hubs.

This does carry with it the downside that you won't have many Commercial Hubs offering gold, which is important for supporting your military. As such, you'll need to decide whether to focus more on conquests (in which case, build more Commercial Hubs) or maximising science output (in which case, build more Harbours).

To get up to four districts, you'll need to get a city to size 10. New cities will probably benefit from building Harbours first, as Lighthouses offer extra housing and food. Basilikoi Paides buildings offer housing as well, thanks to them replacing Barracks, though you might find it more useful to go for an Industrial Zone before an Encampment for the superior production bonuses which will help you set up everything else in the city.

Once you've got a properly developed city, start churning out naval units for science. If you end up with too many for you to manage, you can start a war against a civ with coastal cities and take some risky manoeuvres to try and take them over. Losing units normally increases your war weariness, but Alexander's civ ability ensures that won't be a problem. Any cities you can take - no matter how weak - will boost your production even further via the Warlord's Throne government building.

Later on, there's a couple of major bonuses to help unit production even further - the Fascism government (which offers a massive 50% bonus to all unit production) and the To Arms! Golden Age dedication, available from the industrial era onwards, which offers a 15% boost. Combining both of these with a naval policy card and training naval units will provide over 65 science for every 100 science you spend.

Maximising production is the key to getting lots of science as Macedon. Thankfully, production is already useful for scientific victories as it helps you build space race projects. Having Encampments in a lot of cities means the Integrated Space Cell policy card is easy to use, helping maximise your production late in the game.

Summary

• Research Animal Husbandry first to find horses, then beeline Bronze Working to get this building ready for your UUs
  
• Try to get the God of the Forge pantheon for faster unit production and hence faster science
  
• Naval units offer the best science as their policy card production bonuses are stronger.

Alexander's Unique Unit: Hetairoi

Introduction

Macedon comes with two classical-era unique units which can work together to conquer huge amounts of land. Although you'll generally be using them both together in war, I'd advise researching Horseback Riding and training Hetairoi first for three reasons. Firstly, you can use them to fight Barbarians for Great General Points prior to starting a war. Secondly, Iron Working has a trickier eureka than Horseback Riding, so leaving a little more time makes it easier to achieve it. Finally, Warriors can be directly upgraded into Hypaspists so you'll have a complete army sooner if you leave Iron Working to last.

One problem with Macedon's double-UU setup is that it can cost an awful lot of gold to keep it running. Once you've started your first war, you should focus on constructing Commercial Hubs or Harbours to keep your economy healthy.

Resource Requirement

Every Hetairoi unit requires 10 horses to train. If you researched Horseback Riding first at the start of the game, you should generally be able to settle a city near horses and accumulate a sufficient quantity. Even a single improved horse resource is generally enough to support all the Hetairoi units you need.

Heavy Cavalry Promotions

Hetairoi start with a free promotion and are classed as heavy cavalry rather than light cavalry. This means, right from the start, you have a choice between the Charge promotion for +10 strength against fortified enemies, and Barding for a +7 bonus against ranged attacks. Alternatively, you can hold off promoting the unit so you can use it for a quick heal later.

As far as the promotions go, generally Charge and Rout are better against enemy units while Barding and Maurauding work more effectively against cities. Unless you're up against a lot of Heavy Chariots or Knights, Reactive Armour will generally be a better choice than Armour Piercing.

Great Generals

Every kill you make with Hetairoi gives you Great General Points, and building lots of Basilikoi Paides buildings will help with that as well. You can usually secure at least one Great General.

Sharing a tile with a classical-era Great General, or being within one tile of one, will give Hetairoi a total of 46 strength - nearly as high as a Knight! If you chose the Charge promotion as well, you can take down fortified Warriors in a single hit.

Creating Great Generals is also an effective source of era score. The first time a Great General is in formation with a unit that kills another, you'll gain 2 era score. This is in addition to the 1 era score you'll gain for gaining the Great Person in the first place.

Upgrade

Hetairoi upgrade to Knights with Stirrups. Once you have a good-sized force of Hetairoi fighting your enemies, don't hesistate to grab the technology and spend some gold and iron to upgrade them. Knights start with a massive 48 strength, still benefit from any classical-era Great Generals you may have around and will still have the promotions they started off with or earned as Hetairoi. The only real loss is the fact Knights don't get Great General Points on kills.

Conclusion

While Hypaspists take on cities, Hetairoi tear enemy units apart - though they can still perform reasonably well against city defences as well. It may be more expensive than a Horseman, but the ability to secure an early Great General will make your entire army more effective.

Unique Unit: Hypaspist

Hypaspists are excellent at taking down cities, especially those without walls yet (though if that's a problem, just build a Battering Ram or Siege Tower). While Hetairoi handle enemy units, cluster together Hypaspists on the front lines so they can start sieging cities.

Iron Requirement

Hypaspists need just 5 iron a time to train. This is cheap enough that a single improved iron resource should be sufficient, but securing that iron resource can be tricky. It's a good idea to train a Settler after researching Bronze Working to pick up a spot with iron, assuming you don't already have a city near it.

+3 strength generally, and +5 more strength against city defences

Hypaspists get a +3 strength bonus in general (38 rather than the normal 35 for Swordsmen), and a further +5 strength bonus against cities. Combined with a classical-era Great General (which the Hetairoi UU makes easier to obtain) and the Oligarchy government, and Hypaspists attack cities at 52 strength!

+50% support bonus

Support bonuses help units to defend more effectively if they're clustered together. Units gain +2 defensive strength for every adjacent other unit you control. For Hetairoi, they provide +3 instead. This means if you keep your army close together, it becomes much harder for enemies to attack you, especially when you add the easy Great General Hetairoi and your UB can provide.

Keep in mind that to access support bonuses, you need the ancient-era Military Tradition civic.

Conclusion

Hypaspists are great at taking down city defences and should be kept together so they can resist enemy attacks effectively. You'll generally use them in a similar way to a Swordsman with siege support (a Battering Ram or Siege Tower) and should be able to take over quite a lot of cities by the time they obsolete.

Civilization Ability: Hellenistic Fusion

So, you've got your UUs together. Now it's time to go to war. Hetairoi smash through enemy units, Hypaspists peel apart city defences, and this ability gives you more out taking enemy cities.

Choice of Target

Be careful which civs you target. Although the four districts affected by this ability (Encampments, Campuses, Holy Sites and Theatre Squares) are key to four different victory routes, some civs are more likely to build them than others. Japan for example can construct Encampments, Holy Sites and Theatre Squares faster. As another example, Arabia has a University-replacing UB which encourages them to have a lot of Campus districts. As yet another, Germany starts with a higher district capacity in every city so they're more likely to give you multiple boosts each time you take one of their cities.

If you have multiple possible targets, it might be best to target whichever civ is likely to have a lot of appropriate districts early on first, giving the other civs more time to develop the ones you want.

Rewards

Capturing enemy cities will grant you eurekas and inspirations, skewing to the left-hand-side of the respective trees. In other words, you won't end up with eurekas and inspirations for technologies far later than your current research unless you've filled up the eurekas and inspirations up to that point. Having all these free boosts means you don't need to dedicate as much production to meeting them - you can instead just train more units in Basilikoi Paides cities for science. Alternatively, you can work towards the easier boosts to more reliably get the harder boosts from this ability.

You can complement this ability during a classical or medieval era Golden Age with either the Free Inquiry or Pen, Brush and Voice dedication bonuses, which boost the amount of science and culture you get from eurekas and civics respectively.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the Macedon civ ability is simple but powerful. It ensures a heavy emphasis on war won't make your research suffer, though it'll help to have a good base science and culture output as well.

Alexander's Leader Ability: To the World's End

No-one at home minds that I've been engaged in an endless war.

Alexander's leader ability makes prolonged wars considerably easier to manage, while also allowing Macedon to continuously start new wars once the previous ones are over - so long as you can manage the diplomatic penalties.

No war weariness

Every round of combat and every unit lost produces war weariness, which eventually starts cutting into cities' amenities. Not for Macedon. Fight as much as you like, and you'll never lose amenities that way. Taking over cities will still harm your amenities as your luxury resources will need to stretch over more cities, but it'll be less of a problem for you than it is for other domination-focused civs.

Aside from preventing your cities' yields being reduced by negative amenities, it'll also prevent the negative hit to loyalty from amenity deficits. As such, Macedon is able to hold onto captured cities for a little longer than most civs before they flip into free cities - though keep in mind that the loyalty penalty from grievances with the civ's founder is still in effect, so you'll still need some means of mitigating loyalty loss.

Against trickier foes, you can exploit this bonus by drawing out the war as much as you can. Use ranged units or hit-and-run attacks to increase the other civ's war weariness (as it's increased every round of combat) and once their economy starts suffering, you'll have the upper hand.

This ability also has the effect of making any bonus that reduces war weariness useless (such as the Propaganda policy card), which may free up some military policy card slots for unit production bonuses instead. That'll help with making the most of your UB.

Finally, any excess units you may have produced in a Basilikoi Paides city can be risked in war without any real consequence. You'll want to get rid of them anyway to keep your maintenance low, and having no war weariness eliminates a penalty from losing them. Try to fight one unit at a time so you can eliminate them without giving your enemy experience in the process.

All units heal when capturing a world wonder

Thank you for building Machu Picchu, France - you just made my conquest of your empire easier.

Being able to take good wonders without the effort of building them is one of the best bits of warfare. Macedon gets the added bonus of healing up all their units when they take a wonder city - regardless of where the injured units are located! That eliminates a few turns needed to heal up ready for the next city capture, while also ensuring you can defend the captured wonder city against being recaptured.

Early on, capitals of other civs are the most likely cities to have wonders. You can dedicate the main bulk of your army to taking the civ's capital out, while dedicating a small number of units to keeping other enemy cities weak and intercepting any units that might be trained there. Usually, you'd have to retreat those units after a few rounds of combat, but taking a wonder allows them to be healed right up again letting them hold the line until the bulk of your army can reinforce them.

Later on in the game, once you have a strong enough economy to support a really large army, you can attack multiple cities simultaneously and use the empire-wide healing from capturing a wonder to keep going further. Fighting two different civs at once allows you to be unpredictable in regards to when you'll be healed up, making it hard for your enemies to know how to counteract it.

Double decay rate for grievances against you

Now for the downside. Anyone generating grievances against Alexander will see them decay twice as fast, which means that other civs are less likely to cross the grievance threshold allowing Alexander to call a military aid emergency, and Macedon will have fewer opportunities to declare war or take cities without generating new grievances.

Keep in mind, however, that grievances do not decay between civs if they are actively at war with each other, so if a civ is permanently at war with Macedon, they'll never get any benefit from this.

This, coupled with Macedon's incentive to take a lot of cities, means that Macedon is plainly awful at playing the diplomatic game. But if you've conquered enough early on, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Summary

• No war weariness gives you an advantage in long, drawn-out wars
  
• Aim for capital cities both to help with domination victory and because they tend to have wonders; it'll heal up your entire army.
  
• Macedon is extremely weak at the diplomatic game and will struggle to pass favourable resolutions in the World Congress.

Administration - Government and Policy Cards

Note that the Administration sections strictly cover the options that have particularly good synergy with the civ's uniques. These are not necessarily the best choices, but rather options you should consider more than usual if playing this civ relative to others.

Governments

Tier One

Oligarchy makes your Hypaspists stronger while helping both your UUs gain promotions faster.

Complement this with the Warlord's Throne building. Getting extra production from warfare will help you get more science out of the UB (by training units faster) or just help with general empire development.

Tier Two

Use Monarchy for its extra military policy cards to support a versatile army. It also unlocks faster than the other tier two governments, allowing you to get to key civics like Nationalism faster.

The Intelligence Agency will be a useful government building as it grants you an extra Spy, letting you have one more counter-Spy to protect your Campuses and prevent your eurekas from being stolen.

Tier Three

Definitely go with Fascism. Stronger units built faster is great for warfare, but a bonus to all unit production can also be a great help for science via your UB.

Complement this with the War Department if you're going for a domination victory, or the Royal Society if you're after a scientific one.

Tier Four

Corporate Libertarianism is ideal with its high number of military policy card slots (allowing you to take multiple production bonuses to complement your UB) and production bonus for Encampments and Commercial Hubs alike.

Policy Cards

Ancient Era

Agoge (Military, requires Craftsmanship) - Helps you train Hypaspists faster, and also helps you get more science from the Basilikoi Paides UB.

Conscription (Military, requires State Workforce) - Having two early UUs you're encouraged to build in decent numbers costs a lot to maintain. Sooner or later, you're going to need this policy card.

God-King (Economic, requires Code of Laws) - It might seem an odd choice at first, but this really helps you get a better shot at the God of the Forge pantheon for extra military unit production.

Manoeuvre (Military, requires Military Tradition) - Helps you train Hetairoi faster and also helps you get more science from the Basilikoi Paides UB.

(Scientific) Maritime Industries (Military, requires Foreign Trade) - Offering a better production bonus than Agoge or Manoeuvre, this is a great policy card to pick if you want to maximise your science from the Basilikoi Paides UB.

Urban Planning (Economic, requires Code of Laws) - Every point of production counts when you're training an army, especially when it gives you science via your UB as well.

Classical Era

Equestrian Orders (Military, requires Military Training) - While the relatively low resource costs of your UUs means this policy card usually isn't necessary, extra iron and horses can still be helpful to ensure you never run out.

Veterancy (Military, requires Military Training) - This saves time setting up your UB in new cities.

Medieval Era

Feudal Contract (Military, requires Feudalism) - Train melee infantry, anti-cavalry and land ranged units up to the renaissance era faster, helping you get more science out of them. This is preferable to taking the Chivalry policy card because the Basilikoi Paides UB doesn't offer extra experience to new Knights and later cavalry units.

Professional Army (Military, requires Mercenaries) - A large army costs a fortune to upgrade. Use this policy card and it becomes a lot more manageable.

Retinues (Military, requires Mercenaries) - Helps make resource upgrade costs of your army more manageable.

Renaissance Era

(Scientific) Press Gangs (Military, requires Exploration) - Another great boost to production for those who like making the most of Basilikoi Paides science.

Industrial Era

Colonial Taxes (Diplomatic, requires Colonialism) - Once you conquer your way onto new landmasses, you can use this policy card to boost your production there, helping you train new units even faster.

Force Modernisation (Military, requires Urbanisation) - Halves both gold and resource costs of upgrading units.

Grand Armee (Military, requires Nationalism) - While Press Gangs makes your coastal cities better at training units for science, Grand Armee is good for your inland cities. You'll get bonuses to melee infantry, anti-cavalry and ranged unit production up to the modern era.

Military Research (Military, requires Urbanisation) - Taking a government like Fascism and have more military policy card slots than you know what to do with? This will give you a small amount of science for every Renaissance Walls, Military Academy and Seaport you have, making it useful whether you're at peace or war. Seeing as your UB is on the way to Military Academies, you'll find it more useful than most civs. Scientific victory-inclined Macedonian players who like to build naval units for extra science will find this card especially useful.

National Identity (Military, requires Nationalism) - This policy card allows you to take slightly riskier manoeuvres when trying to capture wonder cities, which can cut down the time it takes to make conquests.

Modern Era

Levee en Masse (Military, requires Mobilisation) - Spamming units for science can cost a lot in maintenance, so use this policy card to make that more manageable.

Third Alternative (Military, requires Totalitarianism) - Especially useful for a scientific-inclined Macedon, this will offer you plenty of gold from Research Labs, Military Academies and Power Plants to support the huge armies you'll end up training.

Atomic Era

Cryptography (Diplomatic, requires Cold War) - Helps you defend against enemy Spies stealing your eurekas.

(Scientific) Integrated Space Cell (Military, requires Space Race) - A scientific Macedon player will already have Encampments in key production cities, so it's easy to make use of this bonus. It offers +15% production to space race projects in cities with Military Academies or Seaports.

(Scientific) International Waters (Military, requires Cold War) - The last policy card offering a powerful boost to naval unit production, which can be an excellent source of science for Macedon.

Information Era

Ecommerce (Military, requires Globalisation) - This policy card offers a great boost to production from trading. That'll be great for unit training for science, or for space race projects.

Administration - Ages and World Congress

Age Bonuses

Only bonuses with notable synergy with the civ's uniques are covered here.

Free Inquiry (Dedication, Classical to Medieval eras) - As you'll get plenty of eurekas from conquering, this can be a good source of era score.

Free Inquiry (Golden Age, Classical to Medieval eras) - Make those eurekas you get from conquests even better! You'll also get science out of Harbours and Commercial Hubs to help your raw science output keep up with all those boosts.

Pen, Brush and Voice (Dedication, Classical to Medieval eras) - Free Inquiry is often a slightly better source of era score, but it depends on who you're fighting. If you're up against a civ with lots of Holy Sites (e.g. Russia, Khmer) or Theatre Squares (e.g. Greece, Kongo) then this one will often work out to be stronger.

Pen, Brush and Voice (Golden Age, Classical to Medieval eras) - Makes the inspirations you get from conquests stronger, and all the districts you capture will grant more culture. If you're getting a lot of science from your UB, this may be a better complement to ensure your civic progress doesn't fall too far behind.

Twilight Valour (Dark Age, Classical to Renaissance eras) - Stuck in an early Dark Age? It can still be quite an opportunity. This policy card makes both your UUs attack more effectively, and the inability to heal outside your own territory isn't too much of a problem if you can capture cities with wonders present.

To Arms! (Golden Age, Industrial to Information eras) - The bonus for unit production helps you squeeze more science out of your UB.

World Congress

How you should vote in the World Congress will often be specific to your game - if you have a strong rival, for example, it might be better to vote to hurt them than to help yourself. Furthermore, there may be general bonuses to your chosen victory route or gameplay which are more relevant than ones that have stronger synergy with civ-specific bonuses. Otherwise, here's a list of key relevant votes that have high relevance for this civ relative to other civs.

Espionage Pact - Effect B (The chosen Spy operation is unavailable) for Steal Tech Boost

You'll get plenty of eurekas from conquest, and you won't want them to be stolen.

Mercenary Companies - Effect B (Producing, or purchasing military units using the chosen currency type, is -50% of the cost until the next World Congress) on production

Allows you to get even more out of the Basilikoi Paides UB.

Public Relations - Effect B (The chosen civ generates 50% fewer grievances, and other civs generate 50% fewer grievances toward this civ) on yourself

Constant warfare generates a lot of grievances - declaring war on civs that already have a lot of grievances with you allows them to call a military aid emergency. That will result in other civs giving them gold, making your war harder. By limiting the number of grievances you generate, you reduce the risk of this happening.

Urban Development Treaty - Effect A (+100% production towards buildings in this district) on Encampments

Helps you build new Basilikoi Paides buildings faster.

Administration - Pantheons, Religion and City-States

Pantheons

City Patron Goddess - A possible backup option if you don't manage God of the Forge, this helps you build the first district in a city faster - such as an Encampment so you can get a Basilikoi Paides building up and running.

God of Craftsmen - To use both your UUs, you'll need both horses and iron. This pantheon enhances both resource tiles.

God of the Forge - Train both your UUs faster, and also get plenty of science sooner. This is a great choice to have as Macedon whether you're after a domination or scientific victory.

Religious Settlements - You may need to found two additional cities beyond your capital to secure horses and iron. This Pantheon saves you production doing that, allowing you to prepare more directly for war. A good backup if you can't get God of the Forge.

Religious Beliefs

You can have one founder, one follower, one enhancer and one worship belief.

Cross-Cultural Dialogue (Founder) - Extra science to help you keep up with your eurekas.

Defender of the Faith (Enhancer) - Makes cities you capture which contain a wonder even harder to flip back. Crusade is another good belief, but lacks direct synergy with Macedonian uniques.

Divine Inspiration (Follower) - Considering your incentive to capture wonders, this belief offering bonus faith for them is appropriate to take. You can use the faith for Great Person patronage or purchasing units.

Meeting House (Worship) - More production can only be a good thing for a civ encouraged to train lots of military units.

Tithe (Founder) - Gold is in short supply for a civ with two early UUs encouraged to build them in large quantities. This belief will help you manage that burden.

Wat (Worship) - Get some extra science to help keep up with your free eurekas.

World Church (Founder) - Extra culture to help you keep up with your inspirations.

City-States

All militaristic city-states are useful as the production on offer helps you train an army faster and get more science out of the Basilikoi Paides UB.

Akkad (Militaristic) - You don't need Battering Rams or Siege Towers for Hypaspists to deal with walled cities if you're suzerain over Akkad.

(Scientific victory favoured) Auckland (Industrial) - Get even more production (and science via the Basilikoi Paides UB) out of your coastal cities.

Johannesburg (Industrial) - Can be a precious source of early production, building on the yields of iron and horse tiles among others.

Kabul (Militaristic) - With this experience bonus, Hetairoi can get to the mighty Breakthrough promotion even sooner.

Wolin (Militaristic) - Helps Hetaroi to secure an all-important classical-era Great General.

Administration - Wonders and Great People

Wonders

Colosseum (Classical era, Games and Recreation civic) - A great source of culture so you can keep up with all the free inspirations you'll be getting from city captures.

Colossus (Classical era, Shipbuilding technology) - An extra trade route means more production or gold, and the wonder itself offers extra gold. That's really useful for supporting your large early military.

Statue of Zeus (Classical era, Military Training technology) - An excellent wonder for Macedon due to its 50% production boost to anti-cavalry units, helping you squeeze more science out of your Basilikoi Paides UB.

Terracotta Army (Classical era, Construction technology) - You'll need to build this wonder yourself to get the free promotions. Do so, and your entire army will be substantially stronger. All your existing Hetairoi units will have at least two promotions, and it won't be hard to go even further.

Alhambra (Medieval era, Castles technology) - Macedon often benefits from having military unit production cards available at all times, seeing as their UB makes military units offer science when trained. The Alhambra ensures that won't be a problem.

Angkor Wat (Medieval era, Medieval Faires civic) - Make your empire considerably stronger by adding a point of population to every city. In a huge conquered realm, that means an awful lot. Requires the Khmer and Indonesia Civilization and Scenario Pack.

Forbidden City (Renaissance era, Printing technology) - Also can help with ensuring Macedon has enough military policy cards to work with, or for balancing military and economic policy cards if you're playing for a scientific victory.

(Scientific) Venetian Arsenal (Renaissance era, Mass Production technology) - Naval units have good production-boosting policy cards, making them the best source of science from Macedon's UB. If you're building a good navy anyway, you might as well make that a ridiculously strong navy with this wonder. Just make sure you can handle the maintenance costs.

Big Ben (Industrial era, Economics technology) - Allows you to have a good array of economic policy cards even when you're taking a military-heavy government like Monarchy or Fascism. That's especially useful if you're after a scientific victory.

Ruhr Valley (Industrial era, Industrialisation technology) - A production bonus can be made into a strong scientific advantage via the Basilikoi Paides UB.

Great People

Great Generals and Admirals are only mentioned if their retirement bonuses have specific synergy with the civ; not merely for providing a strength bonus to a unique unit.

Classical Era

Hypatia (Great Scientist) - Permanently boosts all your Libraries' science outputs, making it easier to catch up with all your free eurekas.

Themistocles (Great Admiral) - Grants a +20% production bonus when training naval ranged units. Quadriremes with the God of the Forge Pantheon and the Maritime Industries military policy card can be produced with a +145% production bonus - add a Basilikoi Paides building on top and that's an excellent source of science.

Zhang Heng (Great Scientist) - Picked up the eurekas for Celestial Navigation, Mathematics or Engineering from conquests? You can instantly get their research completed!

Zhang Qian (Great Merchant) - An extra trade route means more production or gold - either way is good for supporting your large army.

Medieval Era

Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi (Great Scientist) - While useful for any warmongering civ, the fact Macedon blends warfare with the scientific game makes this Great Scientist especially relevant. He helps your units heal up faster.

Marco Polo - An extra trade route to help support your continuing warfare with.

Renaissance Era

Isaac Newton (Great Scientist) - More science to help catch up to your free eurekas.

Leonardo da Vinci (Great Engineer) - Adds culture to all Workshops, helping you catch up to your free inspirations.

Industrial Era

James Watt (Great Engineer) - A production boost to all Factories means a science boost via Macedon's UB.

Nikola Tesla (Great Engineer) - Another production boost to Factories.

Modern Era

Albert Einstein (Great Scientist) - Makes Universities stronger, which helps you catch up with eurekas from warfare.

Atomic Era

(Scientific) Chester Nimitz (Great Admiral) - Like producing naval units in conjunction with production-boosting policy cards for science? This Great Admiral boosts your production, making that even more effective.

Dwight Eisenhower (Great General) - Though the bonus is small, any bonus to military unit production means more science via the Basilikoi Paides UB.

Margaret Mead (Great Scientist) - Science and culture to help you catch up to your free eurekas and inspirations.

Counter-Strategies

Macedon has a lot of early military strength, but so long as you keep them away from your cities, they should be reasonably manageable. The double-UU combination Macedon has can really drain their treasury - pillage some Commercial Hubs of theirs and they might seriously struggle to maintain everything. The need for two different strategic resources early on can also be a major limitation.

Civilization Ability: Hellenistic Fusion

If Macedon never takes a city, they never gain a boost from this. It goes without saying a good defence is important. Putting off building Campuses, Holy Sites and Theatre Squares in new, vulnerable cities that are in the vicinity of Macedon might be a good idea - and Encampments should be backed up with walls.

Alternatively, as a desperate measure, you can gift cities you feel you're at great risk of losing to other civs. That comes with the downside that you can't recapture them if the war flips in your favour, but it denies Macedon boosts.

Later in the game, consider using Spies on Macedon's Campus districts, as they'll tend to have more eurekas you can steal than other civs.

Alexander's Leader Ability: To the World's End

No war weariness

Because Alexander's Macedon suffers no war weariness, they'll have quite an economic edge in prolonged fights. As such, it's important to end a war against them early or seek out ways of minimising war weariness. Fighting in your own territory rather than in theirs or neutral territory produces lower war weariness, though if you can take a city off Macedon, you might be able to encourage them to cut their losses and accept peace.

Alternatively, try pressuring Macedon in the World Congress. They'll generate a lot of grievances from warfare giving them a weak position to secure diplomatic favour.

Health from wonder conquests

This is quite a nightmare to play against, so you'll need to take preventative steps. Always make sure that your wonder cities are either far away from Macedon or heavily fortified with defensive buildings and units. If Macedon's at war with two civs at once, check they're not taking land off the other civ. If they are, be sure to finish off Macedonian units rather than letting them flee on low health.

Grievances decay against Macedon faster

This attribute is officially part of Alexander's agenda, but it actually applies even if Alexander is being controlled by a human player. Any grievances you generate for Macedon will decay twice as fast. This is particularly helpful if you've been fighting Macedon, as once you declare peace your penalties to diplomatic favours will decay faster. In singleplayer, generating fewer grievances for Macedon allows you to keep good relations with them more easily.

Alexander's Unique Unit: Hetairoi

If Macedon can't get horses, they can't train Hetairoi - which are generally the more dangerous of their two UUs. If you start near Alexander, consider researching Horseback Riding quickly so you know where horses are. If he doesn't already have any horses, settle cities to take those spots before he can. Even if Alexander can secure horses from trade, delaying training Hetairoi means he has less time to fight Barbarians for Great General Points, and hence is less likely to secure a classical-era Great General.

Without a Great General, Hetairoi are basically just Horsemen with a free promotion and a different promotion set. With a classical-era one, however, they become on a par with Knights, and are devastatingly effective against your fortified units. Thankfully, they're more expensive than regular Horsemen, limiting Macedon's ability to spam them in excessive quantities. Archers can perform reasonably well against them, as can Horsemen of your own, and eventually Pikemen.

Killing Hetairoi stacked with a Great General and occupying the Great General's space won't destroy it, but it will send it back to one of Macedon's cities. This opens up an opportunity for you to kill as many of Macedon's units as you can while they lack the strength bonus.

Alexander's Agenda: Short Life of Glory

A computer-controlled Alexander likes civs that are currently at war - so long as they're not at war with him. He hates it when civs are at peace.

For warmongers, this agenda offers the opportunity of a friendship - something you might not normally have. Having a trading partner can help you to get plenty of luxuries and keep your amenities high, which is great for handling war weariness.

For peaceful civs, this might make you prone to a declaration of war by Alexander, but on the other hand, he's less likely to attack you if you're already at war.

Furthermore, Alexander can't have the City-State Protector, Darwinist, Paranoid and Turtler hidden agendas. City-State Protector would discourage him from warfare against city-states, Darwinist overlaps with his main agenda, while Paranoid and Turtler conflict with his main agenda.

Unique Unit: Hypaspist

This Swordsman UU is mostly dangerous if it gets up close to your cities. Their support bonus helps Macedon's army to defend if packed together, but chokepoints can minimise that problem. If you can lead Macedon's army into a narrow pass between mountains or even just a bit of open terrain surrounded by rough terrain, Hypaspists will defend about as well as regular Swordsmen. Considering they're slightly more expensive to train, that will work in your favour.

Ranged units ignore support bonuses, so Archers will perform reasonably effectively against Hypaspists, and Crossbowmen even more so.

Unique Building: Basilikoi Paides

Being an Encampment UB, it's not easy to pillage Basilikoi Paides buildings. To make matters worse, it allows Macedon to have both a good science output and a strong army. The solution? Make sure Macedon's economy is weak by avoiding giving them gold in deals, and in war-time, pillaging their Commercial Hubs.

The Basilikoi Paides UB is strongest in coastal cities. If Macedon can be denied coastal city spots, you can weaken their science output a little - though make sure you're not just letting them settle in rainforest or mountain-heavy areas instead!

Other Guides

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Gathering Storm

Compilation Guides

• Civ summaries (Start here for an introduction for all civs)
  
• Civ-specific tricks, secrets and clarifications (Ideal for more experienced players)

Individual Civilization Guides

• America - no additional content* (Cultural/Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• America - all additional content* (Cultural/Diplomatic/Domination/Scientific)
  
• Arabia (Domination/Religious/Scientific)
  
• Australia (Domination/Scientific)
  
• Aztecs (Domination)
  
• Babylon (Cultural/Domination/Scientific)
  
• Brazil (Cultural/Domination/Religious/Scientific)
  
• Byzantium (Domination/Religious)
  
• Canada (Cultural/Diplomatic)
  
• China (Cultural/Domination/Scientific)
  
• Cree (Diplomatic)
  
• Egypt (Cultural/Diplomatic/Religious)
  
• England (Cultural/Domination/Scientific)
  
• Ethiopia (Cultural/Religious)
  
• France (Cultural/Domination)
  
• Gaul (Domination)
  
• Georgia (Diplomatic/Religious)
  
• Germany (Domination/Scientific)
  
• Gran Colombia (Domination)
  
• Greece (Cultural/Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• Hungary (Diplomatic/Domination)
  
• Inca (Religious/Scientific)
  
• India (Domination/Religious)
  
• Indonesia (Cultural/Domination/Religious/Scientific)
  
• Japan (All)
  
• Khmer (Cultural/Religious)
  
• Kongo (Cultural)
  
• Korea (Scientific)
  
• Macedon (Domination/Scientific)
  
• Mali (Diplomatic/Religious)
  
• Māori (Cultural/Religious)
  
• Mapuche (Cultural/Domination)
  
• Maya (Scientific)
  
• Mongolia (Domination)
  
• Netherlands (Scientific)
  
• Norway (Domination)
  
• Nubia (Domination)
  
• Ottomans (Domination)
  
• Persia (Cultural/Domination)
  
• Phoenicia (Domination)
  
• Poland (Cultural/Domination/Religious)
  
• Portugal (Diplomatic/Scientific)
  
• Rome (Domination)
  
• Russia (Cultural/Religious)
  
• Scotland (Scientific)
  
• Scythia (Domination/Religious)
  
• Spain (Domination/Religious/Scientific)
  
• Sumeria (Diplomatic/Domination/Scientific)
  
• Sweden (Cultural/Diplomatic)
  
• Vietnam (Cultural/Domination)
  
• Zulus (Domination)

*The Teddy Roosevelt Persona Pack splits Roosevelt's leader ability in two, meaning the game with it is substantially different from without - hence two different versions of the America guide. Lincoln was added later and is only covered in the latter guide.

Other civs with alternative leader personas are not split because the extra personas added in later content do not change the existing gameplay - as such the guides are perfectly usable by players without them.

Rise and Fall

These guides are for those with the Rise and Fall expansion, but not Gathering Storm. They are no longer updated and have not been kept up to date with patches released since Gathering Storm. To look at them, click here to open the Rise and Fall Civ Summaries guide. The "Other Guides" section of every Rise and Fall guide has links to every other Rise and Fall guide.

Vanilla

The Vanilla guides are for those without the Rise and Fall or Gathering Storm expansions. These guides are no longer updated and have not been kept up to date with patches released since Rise and Fall. To look at them, click here to open the Vanilla Civ Summaries guide. The "Other Guides" section of every Vanilla guide has links to every other Vanilla guide.

[Zoltan]

I believe Macedon does actually have a start bias 90% of the time I play him i start by a lake or coast rather than river.

[Zigzagzigal]

I find getting to at least three cities early on is a big help as Macedon before you start conquering. More cities means you can train more units, and have a more effective rush.

[Kevin James Hot]

should i go for a lot of cities in the begginig? or should i build up cities before getting more or just get cities from taking them

[mustachewarfare]

Yeap I did in fact. As a test, I even put two classical era general adjacent to Hetairoi.

Quick google search shows i may not be the only one experiencing the issue. https://www.reddit.com/r/civ6/comments/gt5zb1/alexanders_hetairoi_unique_unit_bugged/

[Zigzagzigal]

The unit has to be adjacent or sharing a tile with a Great General; being within the two-tile range doesn't work. If you can't see the bonus, try hovering over the unit's portrait. Alternatively, hover over an enemy unit with your cursor for a few seconds (not sure how this works in non-computer versions of the game) to see all the stat bonuses in play.

[mustachewarfare]

Does Hetairoi actually get that additional +5 great general combat buff? My current Macedon game doesn't seem to get the bonus.

[Astro]

No worries, I'll find something. Thanks again!

[Zigzagzigal]

I'm not certain at this time. I do intend to eventually make a civ summary guide for Gathering Storm once I've done all the other guides (including links to all the bits where I explain game mechanics), but that could take quite some time yet.

[Astro]

Thank you for this guide! I played Civ games in the past but am feeling lost in this new one with both major expansions. Is there a general guide you would recommend?

[Zigzagzigal]

Definitely a good combination! I'd dive into natural wonders more if there was a civ that explicitly affected their bonuses (akin to Civ 5's Spain)