Civ 6 Australia Guide

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Stefan Stevanovic

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There's no other game that can compare to Civilization for Stefan. Putting the epic music that comes with this game aside, Stefan loves feeling like an explorer while he's sitting in his computer chair. Plus, Stefan likes how he's able to face the harsh realities of the world inside of the game without the fear of failing IRL. He's always analyzing the consequences of his actions, which is a transferrable skill he thanks Civilization for!

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• Civ 6 Australia Guide - February 4, 2022

Australia is a nation that was introduced with Australia Civilization and Scenario Pack released on February 21, 2017. This is the nation’s debut appearance in the series, which makes it that much better.

Australia is very flexible and can win in many different ways. However, they are especially powerful if you have a lot of Pastures in the vicinity. By upgrading these resources, you can culture bomb surrounding tiles, which would allow quick expansion. Later on, you can build Outback Station to increase growth and production.

The civilization is especially powerful on island maps. Digger, your advanced military unit, benefits greatly from coastal tiles. The same goes for cities that get extra housing when close to water.

Civilization 6: Australia Background

“Prime Minister Curtin, you will lead Australia through challenge after challenge, and your people will emerge all the stronger for it. Others will seek friendship for your strength.

If these friends prove loyal, your might and protection will carry you far but stay vigilant for aggression is not your natural cause.” – Civilization 6 Australia Introduction

Australia Background

The Australian continent was first inhabited 45,000 years ago when people from the Indonesian archipelago descended to its north coasts. Native Aboriginals made the basis for its modern culture. In 1770 AD, the continent was “discovered” by James Cook, who claimed it for Great Britain.

John Joseph Curtin was regarded as one of the nation’s greatest leaders. He served as the prime minister during World War 2, protecting the country against the Japanese onslaught. According to many historians, he set up the grounds for the creation of modern Australia.

In Civilization 6, the country is represented by a green flag with a yellow kangaroo on it. They have default green territory and border color. As an endemic species, the kangaroo is the symbol of the continent.

John Joseph Curtin Background

Many contemporaries consider Curtain’s governance as a triumph of the “ordinary people.” During his life, Curtain did lots of different jobs being a policeman, warder, soldier, and hotel manager. In 1911, he joined the Political Labor Council and the Victorian Socialist Party, starting his slow political ascend.

In 1941, Curtain became the nation’s 14^th prime minister and was instrumental in defending against the Japanese offensive. He served his country until 1945, dying just before The Great War’s end. We have a few photos of Curtain, where he is represented as a slender man with round glasses (similar to how he is represented in the game).

In the game, Curtain speaks Australian English. Here are all of his voice lines activated by certain actions:

• “I commend your perseverance. We share a common interest in protecting those who often cannot protect themselves.” – The line is activated when John Curtain approves your agenda
• “War can only bring us loss. Loss of lives, loss of productivity, loss of our very humanity!” – The line is activated when John Curtain disapproves of your agenda
• “We will mobilize every means of resistance to stop this transgression against our nation!” – The line is activated when you attack John Curtain
• “After thorough deliberation, Australia finds itself at a crossroads. Prepare yourself, war is upon us.” – The line is activated when John Curtain attacks you
• “The principles for which we have fought will survive longer than any nation you could ever build.” – The line is activated when you defeat John Curtain
• “John Curtin, I speak for the people of Australia as their Prime Minister. We seek sympathetic allies in the fight against the hawks of war.” – The line is activated when you meet John Curtain
• “I believe that there is in Australia today an intense love of country, greater in its expression than has yet been called forth at any previous period in Australia’s history.” – Real John Curtain quote from March 1942.

Australia and John Curtain Abilities

Australia Ability: Land Down Under

“Land Down Under” provides several significant boosts to the player.

As a nation mostly settled on the shores of the Australian continent, it makes sense that the civilization would get some sort of an island/water benefit. Each time you settle a city on a coast, it will receive +3 housing. This allows you to quickly increase the population without having to worry about Farms, fishing boats, or granaries.

Furthermore, you culture-bomb adjacent tiles whenever you build a Pasture on top of horses, sheep, or cattle. This unique ability synergizes with tile improvement called Outback Station (gains extra food and production for being adjacent to Pastures).

Lastly, Campus, Commercial Hub, Holy Site, and Theater Square districts will gain +1 to their respective yield if placed on top of a Charming tile and +3 appeal when placed on a Breathtaking tile. Keep in mind that coastal tiles get +1 to their appeal, so this ability can synergize well with coastal housing traits.

John Curtain Ability: Citadel of Civilization

During the Curtain’s reign, Australia was on the back foot defending itself against Japanese aggression. So, it makes sense that John Curtain would get a bonus when being attacked.

“Citadel of Civilization” is an ability that provides +100% production to all cities after the enemy declares war or when Australia liberates a city. The effect lasts 10 turns. This effect is especially great for emergencies, as it would allow you to liberate a city and get a sizable reward without receiving the warmongering penalty.

Although this ability doesn’t last for a long time, it is very strong, and you might be able to sustain it during a war. For example, if an opponent has already defeated one of the major civilizations, you can prolong the effect by returning cities to their previous owner.

Ideally, you should utilize the ability to free city-states. Not only will you get the production bonus, but you will also receive extra envoys, potentially making them your ally. So, Australia’s effect would be two-fold compared to the regular liberation.

John Curtain did a great job cooperating with allies, recruiting soldiers, and keeping public morale high during World War 2. Unfortunately, the heavy dose of stress eventually took a toll on his health. John Curtain didn’t live to see the fruits of his labor as he died just 6 weeks before the war ended.

Australia Unique Unit and Infrastructure

Australia’s Unique Unit: Digger

Digger is Australia’s replacement for Infantry unit. You unlock it with Replaceable Parts technology, and it is the only variant of the Infantry unit.

These foot soldiers are much stronger than their counterparts. Diggers are especially potent when fighting on coastal tiles, which goes well with Australia’s city placement bias. They get +10 combat strength when fighting in these spaces and additional +5 combat strength when fighting outside the home territory.

This makes them really potent when attacking enemies on island and continent maps. The unit is ideal for “Citadel of Civilization” ability, allowing the player to liberate a bunch of cities during this particular era.

Unlike the regular infantry units, Diggers don’t need any resources. So, if you have enough gold, you can simply create several of these bad boys and start attacking enemies. Besides previously mentioned bonuses, they also have slightly higher combat strength compared to the standard infantry (78 vs. 75).

Diggers can be an extremely strong ground unit. What makes them so great is that they don’t require additional gold or production compared to the default unit.

In fact, you can start building them right away, even if you don’t have access to oil. This is especially important if you’re already in war and have Line Infantry. In other words, you can quickly upgrade the existing army and continue the push.

Their only issue is that they’re highly situational and map-dependent. Even though they will always have that small combat strength advantage over the basic units, they can only shine if you play them on ocean maps.

Yes, the +5 bonus on the enemy territory is nice, but without +10 on coastal tile, the unit may feel a bit underwhelming (especially compared to other civilizations’ special units).

Australia’s Unique Tile Improvement: Outback Station

Outback Stations were made in the Australian wilderness. They allowed farmers to breed cattle and other animals by relying on limited resources. Based on that, it makes sense that the improvement would get a bonus when placed adjacent to Pastures.

Like all other tile improvements, Outback Station is meant to increase the production of a particular resource. In many ways, the improvement resembles Farms. It gives you 0.5 housing, +1 food, extra +1 food for every 2 adjacent Outback Stations (available with Rapid Deployment), and it restores health to pillagers.

However, this is where the similarities stop because, as you could expect, this improvement is much more powerful.

From the get-go, you will get +1 production, which is something that Farms don’t have. When you research Steam Power, you will get +1 production for every 2 adjacent Outback Station. This is the same as the food adjacency bonus, but it is unlocked with a different tech.

Another major difference between Farms and Outback Stations is that this improvement can be built on deserts and desert hills (besides plains and grassland). This would allow Australians a rapid, aggressive growth over otherwise inhospitable areas. It is especially awesome if you have Petra wonder.

As mentioned, Outback Stations also gives you bonuses when adjacent to Pastures. You will get +1 food and +1 production on top of everything else.

These tile improvements are great if you wish to quickly grow your city. They are like Farms on steroids. The only issue is that Outback Stations are available relatively late, with Guilds technology. Then again, if you could get them earlier, they would feel overpowered.

How to Win with Australia in Civilization 6

Utilizing Land Down Under

Like with most other civilizations, Australia’s abilities and units synergize well with one another. However, there are also a few discrepancies.

The best example of this is Land Down Under. The Pasture culture bomb is primarily focused on land tiles. However, as you need coast to increase housing, you won’t be able to expand as quickly. So, you usually have to sacrifice one of these two effects.

Ideally, you would want to find a small patch of coast to settle the city while trying to get as many land tiles as possible. Having lots of Pastures will also help you with Outback Stations later on.

Anyway, Land Down Under is great if you can find Breathtaking tiles. As they are usually near mountains, you can get a major early game boost to your science and faith when building Campuses and Holy Sites on these squares. Basically, nice city planning can provide an enormous boost to the yields.

Land Down Under ability can help you in several ways. Map layout will have a major impact on how you utilize this trait. Sometimes, you will focus on territory spread through culture bombs. In other cases, extra housing will help your cities grow while additional yields from Charming and Breathtaking tiles can increase different yields via district building.

So, if we just focus on this ability, you quickly realize that Australia has enormous flexibility and several routes to victory.

Utilizing Citadel of Civilization

Citadel of Civilization is a trait that combines production and military aggression.

Although this one seems like a defensive ability, it works even better when you’re on the attack. Increased production is unlocked in two ways: either by liberating random cities on the map (whether it’s city-states, your cities, or enemy cities) or by computers declaring war on you.

If you wish to liberate cities, you will have to wait until mid game. Unless we’re talking about higher difficulty levels, games tend to be slow, and there is not much city conquest between AI enemies.

A military nation might conquer a city-state here or there, but there won’t be any major civilization to liberate. In other words, you likely won’t have the opportunity to chain liberate cities.

The ability works much better on higher difficulty levels, not only because enemies destroy each other, but they are more likely to conquer your cities. While it might not be as easy liberating own cities on a higher difficulty, the close proximity will make it easier to reinforce the army.

The alternative way of using the ability is to continuously antagonize enemies. Rack up as much grievance as possible by attacking opponents, breaking promises, and in general, by being a really nasty guy. Sooner than later, AI nations will start declaring war upon you, which is the second method of getting the production bonus.

The great thing about Citadel of Civilization is that it helps you during conflicts. So, when someone declares war, you will be able to produce units at a faster rate. If you’re on the offense, the first place you liberate will provide a major bonus allowing you to either keep pushing or fall back and utilize this advantage to boost economy, culture, or science.

Unlike first Australia’s ability, winning the game with Citadel of Civilization requires you to be much more active on the map and focus on the military.

Utilizing Digger

Digger goes really well with Citadel of Civilization. What’s even better, it is available during mid to late game, when the lines between nations are somewhat blurred. As mentioned, this is the optimal time for you to strike because there will be numerous occupied cities on the map.

If we look at the basic stats, the unit is just a tad bit stronger than the regular infantry. What sets it apart is the fact you don’t need oil. This is especially great if you’ve already started a conquest and don’t wish to stop it to accrue strategic resources.

So, you can hit a really nice timing if you start your push during the industrial era. Keep in mind that the majority of your army should consist of Line Infantry to make this strategy viable.

Quickly switching to Professional Army policy will provide a 50% gold discount, and if we also consider that Digger doesn’t need resources, this would allow you to upgrade Line Infantry much quicker than your opponents.

Digger is especially potent on the enemy territory and close to the coast. As mentioned, the unit can simply storm through the island and continental maps. If you manage to accrue all the bonuses (+3 bonus to base combat strength, +5 combat bonus in enemy territory, +10 bonus in coastal tiles), you can get a whopping +18 combat bonus advantage over your enemies.

Utilizing Outback Station

I personally love any tile improvement that provides extra food and production. Although they don’t help with any specific victory condition, such as culture or science, they provide enormous city growth. That increased growth will allow you to do just about anything on the map and pursue various victory types.

When playing with Australia, you should never harvest Pastures. Cattle tiles, in particular, are not the most potent, and you will often remove the resource during the game. This is a big mistake if you’re playing with Australia, as you can create several Outback Stations around it.

Keep in mind that the tile improvement gives food and production for every adjacent Pasture. While you might be forced to block certain tiles around single Pastures, you should always be on the lookout for tiles adjectent to two or more Pastures. These are extremely potent as they can double the Pasture adjacency yields.

Although you will get Outback Station somewhat late in the game, especially compared to other improvements, it can still help you. When you research Guilds, it will provide an instant boost to all your cities even if they don’t have Pastures.

Outback Station is not conducive to any particular victory type. However, it will help with growth and production, making all other efforts easier. What’s even better is that sheep, horses, and cattle are common resources, so you can always be certain that you’ll get adjacency bonuses.

How to Win Against Australia in Civilization 6?

To conquer Australia, you need to understand its policies. Here is John Curtain’s agenda, including likes and dislikes.

John Curtain Perpetually on Guard

John Curtain is perceived as a liberator. He will be friendly towards nations who have liberated cities in the past and will be hostile towards anyone currently occupying foreign territory.

Being military neutral is a good thing. You don’t want to conquer cities left and right, as John Curtain will notice the behavior, and your score towards him will instantly diminish. Acting during military emergencies or helping allies liberate their cities can go a long way in improving your relationship.

If you want to start a war with this leader, the fastest way to do so is by declaring surprise war and by quickly conquering cities. If you focus on diplomacy, culture, or science victory, there is a good chance Australia will never attack you.

General Tips

Like every nation, Australia has its strengths and weaknesses. Waging an effective war against the nation is predicated on timings. Here are the things you need to consider prior to attacking them:

• Although you might think that civilization is weak in the early game, this isn’t quite true. Land Down Under provides a few perks that Australia can benefit from the get-go. Settling cities on the coast would allow faster growth, while Pastures help increase the territory. If the enemy gets lucky with Charming and Breathtaking tiles, they can receive a major boost to either faith, science, culture, or gold. This can make them very dangerous if they continue settling new cities. Make sure to check the placement of their districts and respective yields. If they are getting a lot from these tiles, you should attack them as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will allow them to accrue a massive advantage early on. Alternatively, if they’re not getting a lot from Land Down Under, you don’t have to invade them.
• Playing against computers is usually much easier than playing against humans, as they don’t utilize these benefits as efficiently. So, your game plan can be very different depending on the opponent. Keep in mind that Australia is regarded as one of the best civilizations, but it can feel very weak in the computer’s hands.
• Declaring war on Australia is the last thing you want to do, especially on higher tiers of difficulty. Instead, if you wish to attack them, it would be much better to declare a surprise attack on other major civilizations and start conquering their cities. Get as many warmongering points as possible, and wait for them to attack you.
• Australia is highly dependent on its tiles. Whether we’re talking about districts built on Charming and Breathtaking tiles or Outback Stations, they get a major boost by relying on all these squares. Strategic pillaging can set them back a lot. You don’t necessarily have to conquer their cities, but just reducing their overall yields would do the trick.
• The good thing about this nation is that they’re Jack of all trades, master of none. In other words, they don’t have anything that would help them win the game straight up. Instead, if they wish to pursue a certain type of victory, they would need to focus on a specific district. For example, Australians can go for culture or science victory if they focus on Campuses and Theater Squares. In other words, you can continue playing your gain and simply try to overwhelm them with your civilization’s abilities.
• No matter what, do not attack them during the industrial era or prior to it! While Diggers are not the best unit for defending home territory, they can commence vicious counter-attacks. Instead, if you’re want to destroy them, do so when your units are at their peak.

Common Mistakes As Australia

Australia is a well-balanced nation that heavily relies on city planning. It is a skill-based nation, and you need to be very knowledgeable to get the most out of it. Regardless of the map and its layout, you should get always get some benefits from its abilities.

• No matter what, it is very hard to get all the civilization’s tile bonuses. Instead, you will have to focus on specific things. For example, you will likely be forced to choose between settling on coasts or building Pastures and Outback Stations. Alternatively, you would want to build in mountainous areas as their surrounding tiles can boost your science and culture output. The same goes for natural wonders, which provide Charming and Breathtaking appeal to surrounding tiles. City planning is especially important for the first 2, 3 cities and can dictate the rest of your game.
• Out of all the resources you can pursue, I suggest that you focus on getting as many Pastures as possible. Although this will not help you meet a specific victory condition, it will boost all other economic efforts. Given that Outback Stations and Pastures provide housing, they can help you grow cities without coastal housing bonus (although this effect is nothing to scoff at). No matter what, do not remove these tile features!
• Citadel of Civilization bonuses are great, and you should try to get them whenever possible. However, that doesn’t mean you should play passive, as this increases the odds that your enemies will never attack you. Getting warmongering penalties is not a bad thing, and you can try to continuously attack, make peace, attack, wait for enemies to attack you, etc. Having a dynamic game is much better for your growth.
• Similarly, when you get Digger, it is time to attack. Playing passive during this phase is completely counterintuitive, although John Curtain is presented as a defensive character.
• Although you should protect your city-states, you don’t necessarily have to help them immediately. Instead, wait for the opponent to conquer them so you can liberate them.
• While liberating cities of other major civilizations seems like a great way to boost your production, make sure this is the right thing to do. This is especially true for capitals and larger cities with wonders. It is better to keep some of these in your possession.

Frequently Asked Questions

Overall Assessment and Conclusion

Australia is a formidable opponent. They can win in several different ways, and the nation is especially potent when in the hands of human players.

They are much better in coastal areas, and when they have access to Pastures, Breathtaking and Charming tiles. In my opinion, they are a very fun civilization to play with, as you never know how the game will develop.