Civilization VI · Civ-Specific Strategy

How to Win a Domination Victory with Scythia

Scythia's People of the Steppe ability effectively halves the Production cost of every light cavalry unit it trains, giving it the fastest early-game army-building speed of any civilization in the game.

The Approach

Rush light cavalry and Saka Horse Archers from the moment Horseback Riding is available — getting two units for the Production cost of one means Scythia can field a war-ready army earlier than almost any rival, and the resulting tempo advantage is usually enough to snowball into a full Domination run before other civilizations have finished their early infrastructure.

Key Steps

Beeline Horseback Riding harder than you normally would — Scythia's entire advantage window is largest in the Ancient and Classical eras.
Use the doubled unit count to overwhelm early neighbors before they can build defensive infrastructure, rather than saving units for a single decisive battle.
Transition into later cavalry lines once the early-game window closes — the core ability keeps applying to every light cavalry upgrade, not just the Horse Archer.

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