How to Win a Science Victory with Japan

The Approach

Cluster districts tightly around your Campuses rather than spreading them out — because Japan gets a full +1 bonus per adjacent district instead of the usual +0.5, dense city planning pays off far more than it does for any other civilization. This makes small, tightly-packed cities genuinely more efficient for Japan than the sprawling empires that usually define a Science game elsewhere.

Key Steps

• Plan district placement in tight clusters from the very first city — Japan's core advantage is entirely about adjacency density.
• Don't feel pressured to settle as wide as other Science civs — a smaller number of dense, well-planned cities can out-produce Science from a sprawling empire.
• Samurai give Japan a genuinely strong defensive option if you need to protect a tightly-clustered, less-expansive empire from aggression.

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