Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass — Vietnam deity guide

Vietnam is the newest nation to join Civilization VI‘s roster as part of the New Frontier Pass. It’s led by Bà Triệu, also known as Lady Triệu. Here’s our guide to help you get started with your deity difficulty runs.

Note: For more information, check out our Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass guides and features hub.

Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass – Vietnam deity guide

Vietnam’s uniques

• Bà Triệu‘s leader ability: Drive Out The Aggressors – Units gain +1 movement and +5 combat strength if they’re on woods, rainforests, or marshes. The bonuses are doubled if these hexes are within Vietnam’s territory.
• Vietnam’s unique ability: Nine Dragon River Delta – Specialty districts on land can only be built on woods, rainforests, or marshes. Buildings on these features receive additional yields (+1 culture in woods, +1 science in rainforests, and +1 production in marshes). Builders can plant second-growth woods once you have Medieval Faires.
• Unique unit: Voi Chiến – Replaces the Crossbowman. It has higher combat strength, movement, and sight, but it has a higher production cost. The unit can move after attacking.
• Unique district: Thành – Replaces the Encampment. It’s cheaper to build and it doesn’t have a population requirement. Likewise, it’s not a specialty district, which means you’re not restricted based on terrain type. Moreover, it provides +2 culture per adjacent district. Lastly, it gives tourism from its culture adjacency bonus after you research Flight.

Note 1: The Thành removes terrain features. The actual specialty districts (i.e., Commercial Hub, Campus, etc.) do not due to the Nine Dragon River Delta ability.

Note 2: Ideally, a Thành should be surrounded by multiple districts (plant second-growth forests if you want). You should get a maximum of +12 culture, as well as +12 tourism once Flight is researched.

Starting out with our Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass deity run

You can see the settings I’ve chosen in the image below. I usually play against four deity AI opponents with eight city-states active. While I didn’t enable any special game modes, I did select “wet” rainfall level in order to have more woods, rainforests, and marshes.

These are extremely important in your deity runs as Vietnam. Lacking these terrain features could make you feel hobbled from the get-go.

An ideal starting location would be one that places you on a hill and adjacent to a river. Your surroundings should have lots of woods and/or rainforests (marshes aren’t as useful as these two). Likewise, you’ll want to be as far away as possible from deserts.

Build order

My preference is Scout -> Slinger -> Slinger. If you have a couple of aggressive civs as neighbors, you’ll want to focus more on your military. If everything seems peaceful and quiet, you could go ahead with your builders and settlers.

Techs

Machinery is an important tech to beeline since it unlocks the Voi Chiến unique unit.

Civics

Medieval Faires is integral to your success when doing deity runs since this allows Vietnam’s builders to construct second-growth forests. You’re looking at a versatile capability whether it’s used to plop down forests for district adjacency bonuses, tile appeal boosts, or that extra combat strength.

Religion

I personally wouldn’t focus on a Religious Victory. However, getting your faith game rolling can assist your playthrough.

• Pantheon -Religious Settlements, Earth Goddess, or Sacred Path.
• Follower – Reliquaries, Work Ethic, or Choral Music.
• Worship – Wat.
• Founder – Stewardship or Lay Ministry.

Wonders

Assuming that you’re going for a Cultural Victory that’s slightly bolstered by faith, I would suggest building Chichen Itza (if surrounded by rainforests), Cristo Redentor (depending on how many relics you have), and St. Basil’s Cathedral. The Hanging Gardens and The Oracle are also useful and are often ignored by the AI.

General tips

We’ve seen some ridiculous factions since Civilization: New Frontier Pass came out. We’ve got Gran Colombia, Byzantium, and Babylon racing ahead to see which civ lets you steamroll opponents faster. That’s why Vietnam’s quite different since Bà Triệu/Lady Triệu requires more careful planning.

For starters, make sure you’re scrutinizing your district placements. Wantonly chopping down everything might be a bad idea, thus production could take a hit. Personally, I’d go with a Holy Site, Campus, and Thành before worrying about other districts (second-growth woods from Medieval Faires would get those sorted out if need be).

Moreover, turtling effectively with Vietnam is a given (hence why the turtle is the emblem of the civ). If you have aggressive opponents, Slingers/Archers on chokepoints (combined with forests/rainforests/hills within Vietnam’s territory) can hold off most early-game AI rushes thanks to Bà Triệu‘s Drive Out the Aggressors ability. Adapt accordingly as you slowly reach the Medieval Era when you’re likely to get the Voi Chiến.

Versatile turtle power

From here, you can choose whether to pursue a Cultural Victory or a Domination Victory. The Thành helps with both, but it’s your Nine Dragon River Delta unique/Medieval Faires civic that increases versatility:

• Forward-settling on bad positions would be a terrible idea due to loyalty flipping. However, if you find a good spot, then a couple of newly-planted woods can provide that bonus combat strength. Play defensively and beat down the initial wave, then advance toward the cities on your way to a Domination Victory.
• Alternatively, planting several forests in your lands would ease your troubles when it comes to district placements (i.e., plant woods around an area and drop multiple districts). Likewise, you can use second-growth woods to help improve appeal. If you’ve got some extra faith, then reaching Conservation (Naturalist + National Parks) provides a chunk of tourism. Once you’ve got Cold War (Rock Bands + Concerts), you’ll get more tourism for the Cultural Victory.

Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass is available on Steam. The Vietnam & Kublai Khan Pack, already included in the season pass, can also be purchased separately. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.