Zigzagzigal's Guides - Gaul (GS)

Gaul overwhelms enemies with sheer numbers of units and can work their way through civics quickly as they train them up. Here, I detail Gallic 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.

You can understand my position. You have a garrison, an army; I have but a small tribe. And yet they're trying to push me into battle. Now, I can assure you that my troops are no threat to you, but they have friends over in Germania. I don't wish any ill will between our peoples, so I will warn you ahead of time. If you don't leave now, the Germans will make you.

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

Gaul has a tier 2 start bias toward copper, diamonds, iron, jade, mercury, salt and silver - in other words, resources that can be mined. The Gallic civ ability in particular benefits from having plenty of mines around, and iron can help boost Oppidum production considerably.

Civilization Ability: Hallstat Culture

• Cannot build speciality districts adjacent to city centres.
  
  • You can still place new cities adjacent to existing speciality districts of other cities, or keep the speciality districts of cities you capture.
• Speciality districts do not receive the standard +0.5 adjacency from other districts.
  
  • This does not affect specific district-to-district adjacency bonuses, like Government Plazas providing +1 to other districts' adjacency, Harbours receiving +2 gold from an adjacent City Centre or Theatre Squares receiving +2 culture from Entertainment Complexes and Water Parks; these are still in effect - though you can only get these bonuses from other civs building districts.
• Speciality districts receive +0.5 adjacency from mines.
  
• Mines provide +1 culture
  
• Mines provide +1 tourism with the modern-era Flight technology.
  
• Mines culture bomb adjacent unowned tiles when built.
  
  • Only tiles that are within the workable range of the tile's city will be granted (in other words, they must be within a 3-tile radius from the city centre).

Ambiorix's Leader Ability: King of the Eburones

• When training any military or support unit, gain culture equal to 20% of the unit's production cost.
  
  • You do not receive culture if the unit is purchased.
• Melee infantry, anti-cavalry and land ranged units receive +2 strength per adjacent military unit.
  
  • This applies regardless of whether the adjacent units are owned by you or not.

Unique Unit: Gaesatae

An ancient-era melee infantry unit which replaces the Warrior

Research	Obsoletion	Upgrades from	Upgrades to	Cost	Resource	Maintenance
None	Apprenticeship ** Technology Medieval era	None	Man-at-Arms (210 20 )	60 or 240 or 120 *	None	None

*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 Gaesatae even beyond researching Apprenticeship.

Strength	Ranged Strength	Moves	Range	Sight	Negative Attributes	Positive Attributes
20	N/A	2	N/A	2	Deals -85% damage to city walls and urban defences	+5 vs. anti-cavalry units +10 vs. units with a higher base melee strength +5 when attacking city centres and other districts

Negative changes

• Costs 60 production, 240 gold or 120 faith, up from 40, 160 and 80 respectively (+50%)

Variable changes

• Obsoletes at the medieval-era Apprenticeship technology, instead of the classical-era Iron Working technology
  
• Upgrades directly to Men-at-Arms instead of Swordsmen.

Positive changes

• +10 strength vs. units with a higher base melee strength.
  
• +5 strength when attacking city centres and other districts.

Outline (Part 2/2)

Unique District: Oppidum

A classical-era speciality district which replaces the Industrial Zone

Research	Terrain required	Required to build	Base production cost	Maintenance	Pillage yield
Iron Working Technology Classical era	Any passable land tile within your territory not adjacent to a city centre.	Workshop Factory All Power Plants	27 * or 108 **	1	None

*All districts increase in cost based on your technological and civic progress. If you have more or the same number of speciality districts as speciality district types you have unlocked and the former number divided by the latter is bigger than the number of copies of this district you have, you will receive a 40% discount.

**Purchasing districts with gold requires the governor Reyna (the Financier) with the Contractor promotion to be present in the city. Purchasing districts with faith requires Governor Moksha (the Cardinal) with the Divine Architect promotion to be present in the city.

Adjacency bonuses	Other yields	Great Person points	Other effects
2 per adjacent strategic resource 2 per adjacent quarry	None	1	Completing your first Oppidum instantly completes the medieval-era Apprenticeship technology, regardless of whether or not you have the prerequisites. Enables the Industrial Zone Logistics city project Domestic trade routes to this city provide +1 International trade routes to this city provide +1 Adjacent tiles suffer -1 appeal. Has its own health and defence; automatically pillaged when health is depleted to 0. Gains ranged attack and defensive capabilities from Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance walls as well as urban defences, unlocked at the modern-era Steel technology

Negative changes

• Does not gain +2 production adjacency from Aqueducts, Canals or Dams.
  
• Does not gain +0.5 production adjacency from districts or lumber mills.
  
• Does not inherently gain +0.5 production adjacency from mines (this is instead provided by the Gallic civ ability).

Positive changes

• Arrives at the classical-era Iron Working technology, instead of the medieval-era Apprenticeship technology.
  
• -50% production cost
  
• Completing your first Oppidum instantly completes the medieval-era Apprenticeship technology, regardless of whether or not you have the prerequisites.
  
• +2 production per adjacent strategic resource, up from +1.
  
• +2 production per adjacent quarry, up from +1.
  
• Has its own health (akin to an Encampment). Gains outer defences and can perform a ranged attack if the city has walls or urban defences.
  
• Grants no yield to pillagers.
  
• May only be pillaged by having its health reduced to 0 or by enemy Spies using the Sabotage Production mission.

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
Ambiorix	7/10 (Good)	6/10 (Decent)	10/10 (Ideal)	4/10 (Acceptable)	7/10 (Good)

Gaul has an edge in cultural victories, making it a good backup path. While some Theatre Square adjacency is lost, Gaul more than makes up for it with an exceptional culture output from producing units as well as culture from mines, which ensures Gallic progress through the civics tree shall be swift. Oppidum production is ideal for constructing wonders as well, though the emphasis on them as well as mines will cause your tile appeal (and hence tourism from National Parks and seaside resorts) to suffer. Still, tourism from mines helps make up for that loss.

Diplomacy is a reasonable route for the Gauls. Faster civic progress helps with getting envoys before other civs, and more suzerain city-states means more diplomatic favour, and the high production potential of Oppidums can help with Carbon Recapture projects later on.

Domination is the Gauls' best route, and they can push for it from the very start of the game. While they don't have the same instant punch that the likes of Sumeria and the Aztecs can have, they make up for it with more lasting power in their initial rushes. Even after Gaesatae obsolete, the immense strength advantage Ambiorix offers makes Gaul exceptionally good at the domination path, and a good production output helps too.

Religion is a weak route for Gaul. Stricter rules on where Holy Sites can be placed may have an adverse effect on Gaul's faith output, though faith adjacency from mines may help make up for that slightly. Gaul's main advantage here is getting to key civics like Reformed Church faster.

Science is a fine victory route for Gaul, largely thanks to their good production. Many eureka boosts rely on a strong production output, as does the Spaceport district and space race projects. Fast civic progress can also help with getting certain eurekas as well.

Unique Unit: Gaesatae

The Gaesatae unique unit arrives at the start of the game, and much like Sumeria's War-Cart or the Aztec Eagle Warrior, is ideal for early rushes. While weaker than either in base strength, the Gaesatae has a wider window of usage thanks to its considerable +10 strength against units with a higher base strength and the boost from Ambiorix's leader ability.

Starting Out

Once you've settled your capital, it's a good idea to either train a Slinger or another Gaesatae. Scoring a kill with a Slinger provides you with the eureka to Archery, and you'll want Archers soon enough to provide a powerful second line for your Gaesatae armies. It's also important to train additional Settlers soon enough, as two or three cities can produce units collectively much faster than just one can.

On the technology tree, both Mining and Archery are worth heading for first. Mines can be used to grab a lot of land (and hence good tiles to work) quickly. After those, go for Writing (for Campuses) and Iron Working (for Oppidums). If you're having trouble with enemy walls, pick up Masonry so you can support your Gaesatae units with Battering Rams.

On the civics tree, head towards Military Tradition first so you can use flanking and support bonuses. They'll stack nicely with Ambiorix's strength boost to units adjacent to each other. After that, head towards Political Philosophy so you can take the Oligarchy government and make Gaesatae units 4 points stronger.

Going to War

As with any early rush, the sooner you launch your Gaesatae-led forces, the more effective they'll be - so long as you have enough units. At least three Gaesatae units and at least three Archers is a reasonable starting point. Keep the units in close formation when attacking enemies for the maximum strength boost via Ambiorix's leader ability, and ensure Gaesatae units form your front line while Archers are safely behind them.


Gaesatae have a +5 strength bonus against cities. If the city is garrisoned, they'll get an extra +2 thanks to Ambiorix's leader ability, as it provides strength based on all adjacent units - not just ones you own!


Gaesatae have a +10 strength bonus against enemies with a higher base strength. This gives them the upper hand against Heavy Chariots and a very strong edge against Spearmen.

Beware civs with a strong early production output. Gaesate units are considerably costlier than generic Warriors, yet both fight each other at equal strength. This can wear you down in a prolonged war. Where you have the choice, target less productive civs first so you can capture their cities and get a production advantage for yourself.

Window of Usage

Because Gaesatae have a +10 strength bonus against units with a higher base strength, they essentially have 30 strength when fighting any classical-era units. While this still makes them weaker than Swordsmen and Horsemen, promotions or keeping them close to other units can make up for that. More importantly, Gaesatae cost just 60 production to the 80 needed for Horsemen or 90 for Swordsmen, without a resource or maintenance cost. This allows you to stay strong through the classical era relying on strength in numbers.

However, you might not need to rely on that! Building your first Oppidum will give you the Apprenticeship technology for free, and if you have sufficient iron, you can then immediately start upgrading Gaesatae to Men-at-Arms, which are significantly stronger and can still benefit from the likes of Battering Rams and Siege Towers to help deal with city defences.

Summary

• Bring some Gaesatae units and Archers to start an early rush.
  
• Keep your units in close formation for strength bonuses
  
• Try to locate iron so you can start upgrading Gaesatae units to Men-at-Arms as soon as your first Oppidum is built.

Ambiorix's Leader Ability: King of the Eburones

Ambiorix's leader ability rewards you for producing a high quantity of units, both with culture and with extra unit strength.

Culture

Early On

Every time you train a unit, you will receive culture. This is most helpful early on for getting to key civics like Military Tradition (for flanking bonuses) and Political Philosophy (for the Oligarchy government and its +4 strength bonus for melee naval units).

The exact culture you gain for key early units is as follows:

Unit	Culture
Slinger	7
Gaesatae or Archer	12
Battering Ram, Galley or Spearman	13
Horseman	16
Swordsman	18
Quadrireme	24

If you train a total of six Gaesatae units and/or Archers, it will entirely cover the cost of the Political Philosophy civic (assuming you also have the inspiration boost).

Advanced Usage

By default, Ambiorix's leader ability allows cities to covert 20% of production into culture by training units. This is favourable to the 15% production-to-culture conversion offered by the Theatre Square Performances district project, though the latter also generates Great Artist, Writer and Musician Points. Nonetheless, through the use of policy cards and other effects granting production bonuses, Ambiorix's leader ability can grant even more culture for your production.

Here are some key bonuses to unit production:

• 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 the Agoge policy card, you can train Gaesatae and Archers (among other units) in a third less time. This essentially means you'll generate 30 culture for every 100 production you spend on them.

The best early outputs can be found with Quadriremes, though that comes at the cost of neglecting key units like Archers and Gaesatae. 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 culture output via building Quadriremes. Every 100 production spent on those units will be worth an impressive 49 culture!

Later on, you can combine the Fascism government, a naval production-boosting policy card and the To Arms! Golden Age dedication. When producing naval units with this combination, you will receive 53 culture for every 100 production you spend.

Strength

A Gaesatae unit rivalling a Swordsman for strength against cities.

Ambiorix's strength bonus is perhaps Gaul's most powerful asset, and gives them a huge military edge throughout the game - with the caveat that it's tied strictly to slower land units.

When a Gallic melee infantry, anti-cavalry or ranged land unit fights, it will gain +2 strength for every military unit adjacent to it when it initiates combat, whether they be friend or foe. This amounts to a massive +12 bonus if the unit is fully surrounded!

To make the most of this ability, think carefully about positioning your units before you initate fights. Even units that are out of range of enemies this turn can still contribute positively to your damage output if next to one that can attack. As such, consider having a front line of melee infantry units (like Gaesatae or Men-at-Arms), a second line of land ranged units, and use the line behind the ranged units for injured units to heal. If the third line runs the risk of being picked off by enemy cavalry or ranged units, you can instead use cheap disposable units like Scouts to reinforce it.

Keeping your units tightly packed will not only offer your units strength bonuses via this civ ability, but also via support bonuses, making them defend particularly effectively. Meanwhile, the strength bonus for having adjacent enemies next to you cancels out their flanking bonuses, making it harder for your enemies to respond with large armies of their own.

Because this leader ability does not extend to siege units, it is a good idea to rely on Battering Rams or Siege Towers instead to help capture cities until Renaissance Walls or urban defences start appearing. Don't be afraid to surround enemy cities in order to siege them, even if it means breaking the optimum formation for strength bonuses.

Summary

• Culture from training units helps you get to flanking bonuses and Oligarchy sooner.
  
• Naval units offer the best culture as their policy card production bonuses are stronger.
  
• Keep your units in close formation to maximise their strength bonus, but don't be afraid to break formation to siege cities.
  
• Gallic melee infantry, anti-cavalry and land ranged units are essentially immune to enemy flanking bonuses.

Civilization Ability: Hallstat Culture

Most civs can gain consistent adjacency bonuses by clustering districts next to the city centre. Gaul, however, is different. With a few specific exceptions, placing districts next to each other does not generate extra yields - instead, Gaul can get extra adjacency yields from mines. This should be taken into consideration when working out where to position new cities - you might need to move your Settlers along a tile from where would be optimum for other civs.

Mine Bonuses

Mines are particularly important for Gaul. You'll receive +1 culture from them in addition to the standard +1 production, and thanks to your first Oppidum granting you Apprenticeship for free, you'll quickly be able to enjoy the technology's additional +1 production boost to them. Furthermore, they'll produce a culture bomb effect, albeit one that only takes unowned tiles.


When Gaul builds a mine, they will receive all unowned adjacent tiles so long as they are within three tiles of a city centre.

Given Gaul cannot build speciality districts next to their city centres, it's useful to be able to get extra land for a cheap cost so you can get the spaces you need as soon as possible. You can build mines on any tile with mineable resources, hills or volcanic soil, so most cities can benefit this way.

With the modern-era Flight technology, these mines will also offer +1 tourism each. You don't need to work these mines for the tourism, which is rather helpful if you've been positioning them specifically for adjacency bonuses.

Changes to Speciality Districts

Gaul's civ ability complicates city planning by replacing a reliable adjacency bonus - adjacency from other districts - with a more inconsistent one - adjacency from mines, while also forcing you to rely on the second and third rings of cities for placing speciality districts.

Remember that this ability does not affect non-speciality districts (Aqueducts, Canals, Dams or Neighbourhoods) and as such they can still be placed adjacent to the city centre. Encampments are also unaffected as they neither gain adjacency bonuses nor can they be placed next to the city centre anyway.

Otherwise, here's a summary of how speciality districts are affected:

• Aerodrome - Positioned largely as normal. You can help defend them with well-positioned Encampments and Oppidums.
  
• Campus/Holy Site - Mountainous regions are among the best for Campuses and Holy Sites, and tend to also have lots of hills for mines. While you might lose out on some potential science or faith in flatter regions, the fact mines are easier to build than districts can somewhat make up for it overall.
  
• Commercial Hub - Hilly river areas are ideal for Commercial Hubs as Gaul. You can most commonly find that near a river's source (follow a river's course away from the coast to find it).
  
• Diplomatic Quarter/Government Plaza - Aside from the fact you can't place them next to city centres, position these districts as normal. Government Plazas still offer +1 adjacency to districts next to them, while Diplomatic Quarters help protect adjacent districts from enemy Spies.
  
• Entertainment Complex/Water Park - Positioned largely as normal (try to get as many city centres as possible within six tiles of Entertainment Complexes, and within nine tiles of Water Parks). It's a good idea to build them next to existing Theatre Squares if possible for an easy +2 culture bonus.
  
• Harbour - Being unable to place Harbours next to city centres means you'll lose out on a key source of gold adjacency. This alone discourages the use of Harbours unless you otherwise can't build naval units in the city or would benefit from better water tile yields there.
  
• Oppidum - See the Oppidum section of this guide for details.
  
• Theatre Square - Theatre Squares are best-positioned in a city's second ring, adjacent to two tiles which are adjacent to the city centre, and preferably next to as many hills as possible. The reason for such a placement is that your tiles adjacent to the city centre will be prime locations for building wonders. Still, with culture from mines and from Ambiorix's leader ability, it may be unnecessary to build Theatre Squares.

Conclusion

Gaul's city planning emphasises terrain more than many other civs. Without the typical fallback of district adjacency, you'll need to look for hilly areas to settle for the best adjacency bonuses and for plenty of potential mines. It's easier to surround a district with mines than with other districts if it is suitably-located, but finding that suitable spot is harder. Thankfully, Gaul's emphasis on conquest means you won't need to think too hard about city planning.

Ultimately, the main benefits of this ability are a cheap way to grab land and an easy source of extra culture and tourism via mines.

Unique District: Oppidum

The Oppidum offers Gaul some reasonable early production, but where it really excels is in its defensive capabilities. You'll only need the Iron Working technology to start building one, so head there after you're done with Archery and Writing.

Building your first Oppidum will immediately grant you the medieval-era Apprenticeship technology for free. This will allow you to immediately start building Workshops for even more production and Great Engineer Points, as well as granting +1 mine production and giving you access to the powerful Men-at-Arms units. You won't be able to use this jump in technology to research further ahead, with the exception of being able to research Stirrups without Currency.

Positioning Oppidums

Oppidums produce +2 production per adjacent strategic resource and quarry, and +1 production per two adjacent mines. Strategic resources do not have to be improved to provide the adjacency bonus, but quarry resources do have to be. As such, don't simply look at the adjacency numbers for your future Oppidum districts, but look for the maximum number of adjacent quarry resources (stone, marble, gypsum) as well as strategic resources (horses, iron, nitre, coal, oil, aluminium, uranium) you can find. Hilly areas suitable for mines are a reasonable fallback option if all else fails.

However, adjacency bonuses are not the only consideration when placing Oppidums. Their ability to defend themselves (and conduct ranged attacks if the city has Ancient Walls or you have the modern-era Steel technology) makes them excellent as a barrier to enemy attacks. Positioning Oppidums on chokepoints, such as on thin strips of land, on hilly areas or between mountains and/or lakes, will slow down counter-attacks allowing you to dedicate your armies elsewhere. This also helps cover the general weakness of Ambiorix's leader ability in chokepoint regions, where it's hard to get units next to lots of others.

Remember that the melee strength of cities, as well as Encampments and Oppidum districts, is tied to the strongest unit you own. Forming corps, armies, fleets and armadas of your strongest units will also help. The ranged strength is tied to the highest ranged attack of any unit you own.

A city with an Oppidum and Encampment together can be even more effective. You can place them next to each other so their ranged attacks can support each other, place them a tile apart so their zone of control blocks most enemy invaders, or use them to secure two different chokepoints at once. Placing Governor Victor (the Castellan) with the Embrasure promotion in the city allows it to attack six times per turn!

Conclusion

Oppidums are cheap to build and are a great source of production in new cities, but because their adjacency requirements are largely out of your control, they lack the yield potential of many other unique districts. However, their ability to defend themselves gives Gaul a massive advantage when it comes to securing land - particularly once you have the modern-era Steel technology and captured Industrial Zones immediately receive a ranged attack and outer defences.

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 enhances the combat ability of Gaesatae units even further, and is hence the ideal choice.

Complement it with the Warlord's Throne to gain extra production every time you make a conquest.

Tier Two

Merchant Republic is a versatile government type with a gold bonus (helpful for unit maintenance) and a district production bonus (nicely amplifying mine and Oppidum production).

Build the Intelligence Agency for an extra Spy to defend your Oppidum districts from being pillaged, or else use the Grand Master's Chapel if you've captured a few Holy Sites and need a use for that faith.

Tier Three

Fascism's bonuses to unit training and strength both go well with Ambiorix's leader ability. Faster unit production means more culture, and more strength means you can get an even greater strength advantage.

Complement it with the War Department so your units can recover health when scoring kills.

Tier Four

If you don't mind the loss of some science, Corporate Libertarianism's production bonus to cities with Commercial Hubs or Encampments goes well with the production of Oppidums and mines.

Policy Cards

Ancient Era

Agoge (Military, requires Craftsmanship) - Cut down the time to train Gaesataes and Archers, alongside some other early units, by a third.

Conscription (Military, requires State Workforce) - Removes the maintenance cost for Archers. Note that Gaesatae units don't have a maintenance cost, so you might find a different policy card more useful in this slot.

Ilkum (Economic, requires Craftsmanship) - Training Builders faster will help you get more mines, and hence more land, production, culture and district adjacency bonuses.

Maritime Industries (Military, requires Foreign Trade) - While you shouldn't be emphasising them too early, naval units are nonetheless a great source of culture via Ambiorix's leader ability as the policy cards boosting their production are more effective than those for other unit types.

Classical Era

Bastions (Military, requires Defensive Tactics) - Boosts the defence and ranged strength of your cities, Encampments and Oppidum districts.

Equestrian Orders (Military, requires Military Training) - You'll need a lot of iron to upgrade your Gaesatae units to Men-at-Arms, and this policy card helps you get more of it.

Limes (Military, requires Defensive Tactics) - Oppidums lack outer defences and a ranged attack until you either have urban defences (requiring the modern-era Steel technology) or have Ancient Walls built in a city. The latter is your only option for much of the game, so this policy card is useful to get them built faster.

Veterancy (Military, requires Military Training) - Helps boost Encampment production, which together with cheap Oppidums is highly effective at locking down an area.

Medieval Era

Craftsmen (Military, requires Guilds) - Doubles Oppidum adjacency bonuses.

Feudal Contract (Military, requires Feudalism) - Boosts production for the three classes of unit Ambiorix provides bonus strength to.

Professional Army (Military, requires Mercenaries) - Gaul's emphasis on quantity of units means that upgrading an army can be quite expensive. This policy card will help save gold.

Retinues (Military, requires Mercenaries) - Notably helps you save nitre when upgrading Gaesatae units to Musketmen.

Serfdom (Economic, requires Feudalism) - More Builder charges means you can get more mines built, and gain more of the associated benefits.

Renaissance Era

Logistics (Military, requires Mercantilism) - The three unit types that gain strength from Ambiorix's leader ability all have in common a low movement speed. This policy card helps cover that weakness somewhat, saving precious time in wars.

Press Gangs (Military, requires Exploration) - Helps you maximise culture generation from your production.

Industrial Era

Force Modernisation (Military, requires Urbanisation) - Makes it easier to keep your large military up to date.

Grand Armee (Military, requires Nationalism) - Provides a production bonus to the three unit types Ambiorix boosts the strength of.

Modern Era

Five Year Plan (Economic, requires Ideology) - Doubles Oppidum and Campus adjacency bonuses.

Levee en Masse (Military, requires Mobilisation) - Saves a lot of gold on unit maintenance.

Atomic Era

Cryptography (Diplomatic, requires Cold War) - Helps defend your Oppidum districts from enemy Spies.

International Waters (Military, requires Cold War) - Still need more culture? This policy card will help you train naval units faster, granting you a better ratio of production input to culture output.

Military First (Military, requires Rapid Deployment) - Allows you to train any unit Ambiorix provides combat strength to faster.

Future Era

Integrated Attack Logistics (Wildcard, requires Information Warfare) - Helps you make up for melee infantry, anti-cavalry and land ranged units' low base movement speed.

Administration - Age Bonuses and World Congress

Age Bonuses

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

Monumentality (Dedication, Classical to Renaissance eras) - Thanks to cheap Oppidums, this is a fairly easy source of era score.

Monumentality (Golden Age, Classical to Renaissance eras) - Extra movement for Builders allows them to move onto a hill and build a mine in the same turn.

Twilight Valour (Dark Age, Classical to Renaissance eras) - Can make Gaesatae even more effective at attacking, though at the cost of having to retreat to friendly lands to heal.

To Arms! (Golden Age, Industrial to Information eras) - Extra production towards units means more culture for your production.

Collectivism (Dark Age, Modern to Information eras) - For the harsh cost of half of your Great Person Points, you can double your Oppidum adjacency bonuses.

Cyber Warfare (Dark Age, Information to Future eras) - Helps your melee infantry, anti-cavalry and land ranged units stand up to Giant Death Robots.

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) on Sabotage Production

Makes your Oppidum districts immune to Spies, meaning the only way they can be pillaged is by having their health lowered to 0.

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 a very good culture output for your production.

Military Advisory - Effect A (Units of the chosen land promotion class gain +5 strength) on melee infantry, anti-cavalry or land ranged units, depending on whichever you have more of relative to other civs.

Extends Ambiorix's advantages.

Patronage - Effect A (Earn double points towards Great People of this class) on Great Engineers

Having a lot of Oppidum districts will grant you a good supply of Great Engineers; passing this resolution enhances that further.

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

Allows you to develop Oppidum districts faster.

Administration - Pantheons, Religion and City-States

Pantheons

God of Craftsmen - Oppidums work well near strategic resources, incentivising you to seek them out. This pantheon rewards you for that effort.

God of the Forge - Gaesatae units, Archers and the like can be trained faster, making your early rushes even more effective.

Religious Idols - Enhance some of your mines with bonus faith.

Stone Circles - Enhance your quarries with bonus faith.

Religious Beliefs

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

Defender of the Faith (Enhancer) - Together with Encampments and Oppidums, this makes Gallic cities incredibly hard for enemies to take on.

Tithe (Founder) - Helps you support unit maintenance.

City-States

All militaristic city-states are useful as the production on offer helps you train an army faster and get more culture via Ambiorix's leader ability.

Akkad (Militaristic) - A very powerful city-state for Gaul, as it allows you to ignore siege units altogether and use Ambiorix's considerable strength bonus along with melee infantry units to tear down city defences.

Mexico City (Industrial) - Combined with Governor Magnus (the Steward)'s Vertical Integration promotion and plenty of Oppidum districts, you can gain huge amounts of production in one city.

Taruga (Scientific) - Emphasising strategic resources for the Oppidum district will pay off with a boost to science yields.

Valletta (Militaristic) - Allows you to purchase walls with faith, which means you can reinforce Oppidum districts faster.

Wolin (Militaristic) - Helps you obtain a Great General early in the game without needing to dedicate production and district capacity to Encampments.

Administration - Wonders and Great People

Wonders

Pyramids (Ancient era, Masonry technology) - A rather helpful wonder to capture early on, or to build later if no-one else grabs it. It provides +1 build charge to all Builders, allowing you to get more mines (and hence land, culture, production and adjacency bonuses) early on.

Machu Picchu (Classical era, Engineering technology) - Mountainous areas tend to also be rather hilly, making them good places for Gaul to place districts. With the Machu Picchu wonder, mountains themselves offer +1 adjacency to Commercial Hubs, Theatre Squares and Oppidums.

Petra (Classical era, Mathematics technology) - Desert mines become particularly powerful with the Petra wonder, and Gaul's extra culture extends that advantage further.

Statue of Zeus (Classical era, Military Training technology) - A perfect wonder for Gaul. Aside from granting plenty of units which work well with Ambiorix's leader ability, you will also receive a +50% bonus to producing anti-cavalry units. Together with an appropriate policy card, you'll be able to train those units as quickly as you can train naval units with their corresponding cards, giving you an alternative way to efficiently generate culture from production.

Terracotta Army (Classical era, Construction technology) - With a large early army, this wonder can grant you a considerable boost in power.

St. Basil's Cathedral (Renaissance era, Reformed Church civic) - Tundra hill mines will produce a strong yield in a city with this wonder.

Venetian Arsenal (Renaissance era, Mass Production technology) - If you're producing lots of naval units for a high culture output, you can get a pretty strong position on the seas. However, with the Venetian Arsenal, you'll produce twice as many naval units, and can dominate there. You won't produce any more culture than before, but it's still a powerful bonus to have.

Ruhr Valley (Industrial era, Scientific Theory technology) - Gaul's mine-heavy approach complements a wonder that boosts mine production beautifully.

Amundsen-Scott Research Station (Atomic era, Rapid Deployment civic) - Builds upon mine and Oppidum production.

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

Boudica (Great General) - Barbarians tend to skew towards generating melee infantry, anti-cavalry and land ranged units. Converting a group of them grants you an instant army that Ambiorix can enhance, though be warned that Barbarian Warriors will not be converted to Gaesatae units.

Themistocles (Great Admiral) - Permanently boosts your production towards naval ranged units, allowing you to get even more culture for your production.

Trưng Trắc (Great General) - Losing units in war costs a lot of war weariness, and Gaul's emphasis on quantity over quality can leave the civ vulnerable to amentity deficits. Trưng Trắc's retirement bonus should help here.

Medieval Era

El Cid (Great General) - The strength of cities, as well as Encampments and Oppidum districts, are tied to the highest melee strength of any unit you own. Forming an early corps is an easy way to increase that strength and ensure your cities can defend more effectively. Alternatively, form a corps with a land ranged unit to increase the strength of their ranged attacks. Forming a Gaesatae corps is generally a bad idea due to their low default base strength and the fact they'll gain no strength advantage against units between 21 and 30 strength.

James of St. George (Great Engineer) - Give three Oppidum cities outer defences and the ability to conduct ranged attacks.

Renaissance Era

Mimar Sinan (Great Engineer) - Allows your Oppidum districts the ability to culture bomb, much like your mines can, only this culture bomb can steal land off other civs. Handy for securing strategic resources for yourself.

Santa Cruz (Great Admiral) - If used on a Frigate or Ironclad, Santa Cruz can considerably boost the defensive capabilities of your cities, Encampments and Oppidums.

Yi Sun-Sin (Great Admiral) - Gain a unit with a massive 70 strength early! This will make your Oppiums considerably better at defending.

Industrial Era

James Watt (Great Engineer) - Instantly develop an Oppidum district with a Workshop and Factory.

James Young (Great Scientist) - Revealing oil early allows you to make use of its adjacency bonus to Oppidums sooner.

Modern Era

Nikola Tesla (Great Engineer) - Boost your Factory and Power Plant production and range, helping all your Oppidum cities.

Atomic Era

Chester Nimitz (Great Admiral) - Allows you to train naval raider units faster, boosting the culture you gain per point of spent production on them.

Dwight Eisenhower (Great General) - Boosts production towards all military units slightly.

Georgy Zhukov (Great General) - Increases the flanking bonus for all land units, allowing you to use Ambiorix's leader ability even more effectively.

Information Era

Masaru Ibuka (Great Merchant) - Makes all Oppidums provide 10 tourism each. Useful if domination isn't working and you need a backup victory route.

Counter-Strategies

Gaul is at their strongest when they are able to train plenty of units and keep them packed together. They fight best in open terrain for that reason, though they tend to prefer more rough terrain for settling. That distinct difference between where they want to settle and where they're best invading is a vulnerability you can exploit.

Civilization Ability: Hallstat Culture

Gaul is fairly dependent on mines, and as such will suffer if forced to settle in flat areas. By taking hilly areas for yourself, you can weaken their start. Try if possible to position your cities near chokepoints so Ambiorix's leader ability can't as easily be used against you.

District mechanics

This section of Gaul's civ ability is as much a liability as it is an asset. The closer Gallic cities are settled next to each other, the fewer spaces they have for districts and the fewer mines they can build. This can weaken their district adjacency bonuses in a way that wouldn't affect other civs. As such, settling cities in a way to squeeze Gaul into a small space can be quite effective - so long as you can withstand their very powerful armies.

Culture bombs

Gaul can take extra land via mines, but they can't steal land off other civs from it, unlike other culture bomb mechanics. This means you can buy valuable tiles on the border with Gaul (such as quarry resources they need for Oppidums) and they won't be able to easily retaliate.

Ambiorix's Leader Ability: King of the Eburones

Ambiorix is encouraged to keep a large army, but aside from early on where maintenance costs can be mitigated entirely, this will cost Gaul a lot of money. Cutting off Gaul's supplies of gold such as pillaging their international trade routes or Commercial Hubs, or refusing to trade them money, can limit their ability to support more units. Similarly, limiting Gaul's access to strategic resources (particularly oil) can restrict how many units they can train.

Ambiorix relies heavily on melee infantry, anti-cavalry and ranged land units to the exclusion of other types. Cavalry units can outrun them and pillage Gaul's unguarded improvements, while naval ranged units and air units can hit them without the risk of being hit themselves. Try to split Gaul's forces where possible - fighting them in chokepoints (such as mountain passes) or forcing them around Encampments should be effective, and splitting their army by attacking Gaul from multiple directions (especially by sea) is also a good idea where possible.

Don't bother trying to use flanking bonuses against Ambiorix unless you have a specific bonus that boosts its effectiveness, as his strength bonus will cancel out any benefit you get from flanking. Attacking from multiple angles to try and split up his forces (and to pick off the more vulnerable units at the edge of his army) will be more effective.

Ambiorix's Agenda: Scourge of Rome

A computer-controlled Ambiorix likes to raise a large army and likes civs that have lots of military units. He dislikes civs with few military units. The strength of the units do not matter; only the quantity.

This agenda can be met with the use of cheap, low or no-maintenance units such as Scouts, but otherwise this is an agenda that largely favours warmongers over peaceful civs. If you're failing to meet the agenda as a peaceful civ, it might be a sign your defences are inadequate against Gaul and you could do with training more military units.

Unique Unit: Gaesatae

Gaesatae receive a +10 strength bonus against units with a higher base melee strength, making them very strong against Spearmen and effective against Heavy Chariots. However, they have no such advantage against generic Warriors and Archers. Generic Warriors and Gaesatae units fight each other on equal footing, but Gaesatae units are more expensive to train. As such, you can potentially wear Gaul down in a war of attrition.

Archers are an even better option, as you'll be able to deal damage without taking it yourself. Archers positioned as city or Encampment garrisons are particularly effective as they'll be safe from counter-attacks.

While Gaesatae units receive a +5 strength bonus versus cities, they still have an 85% damage penalty against outer defences. As such, building Ancient Walls will greatly help to secure your cities in the time before Gaul can bring Battering Rams to the front lines.

Try to cut Gaul off from sources of iron if you can, as Gaul's Oppidum district will rapidly get them to the Apprenticeship technology, which allows them to upgrade Gaesatae to the considerably more powerful Men-at-Arms.

Unique District: Oppidum

Denying Gaul hilly areas with stone, marble, gypsum or strategic resources will deny them the best yields from this district, but perhaps a more important consideration to make with the Oppidum district is its ability to defend, much like an Encampment can.

Thankfully, Spies can use the Sabotage Production mission to pillage Oppidums, circumventing your need to bring additional siege support against the Gauls. As the Gauls have a weak incentive to keep districts clustered together due to the mechanics of their civ ability, Gallic Oppidums are particularly susceptible to Spies. Don't forget to use a Spy to boost your diplomatic visibility in the Gauls as well, for extra unit strength!

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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.

[Zigzagzigal]

Ah, I realise I made it unclear. Gaul cannot build Harbours adjacent to the city centre. However, you can capture a city with a Harbour adjacent to a city centre.

[TURAMBAR]

CAN you build Harbors next to City Centers? (Outline1)

[Natia Adano]

Oppidums can also grant up to 6(!) Era score for the first time you build them. Four for building it and 1 to 2 for researching your (or the world's) first Medieval tech. On the down side, Oppidums do NOT gain adjacency bonuses from Aquaducts nor Dams, so there's a chance you will LOSE production as the game goes on, unless you're lucky and discover resources like Coal, Aluminum, or Uranium next to your Oppidums.

[will]

that's cool it's understandable with the amount of stuff you've pumped out

ty for all the hard work you do

[Zigzagzigal]

I'd like to eventually; I've just had trouble with motivation of late.

[will]

Are you doing babylon or the new one - vietnam?

[Jac]

It's good to see you making guided again, Zig. Now go update your old ones.

[Zigzagzigal]

Fixed; thanks!

[breezy]

in the King of the Eburones section it says science instead of culture

[Zigzagzigal]

Ah, I must have assumed they had a cost of 25, not 35. Thanks for the correction.