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Civilization 6 Maya: Lady Six Sky leader bonuses, unique units and buildings detailed

All the info you need on the Mayan leader Lady Six Sky in Civ 6.

Maya is one of the first two new Civilizations added to Civ 6 as part of the New Frontier pass. Returning to the game from previous editions, Maya's leader is Lady Six Sky, who brings some interesting new units and buildings to the game.

Here on this page we'll be detailing all the essential info about Lady Six Sky and her Mayan civilization, including all of the unique units, buildings, and bonuses she brings. For more like this, it's worth taking a look at our guide to Gran Colombia and Simón Bolívar, who was introduced at the same time.

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Civ 6 Maya: Lady Six Sky's bonuses, unique units and buildings explained

Lady Six Sky is a Science and Military-focused leader of the Mayans. Here's a rundown of the key info before we get into some playstyle tips below.

Lady Six Sky Unique Ability: Ix Mutual Ajaw

  • Non Capital cities with 6 tiles of the Capital gain +10% to all yields.
  • Other non Capital cities (ones further than 6 tiles way from the Capital) gain -15% to all yields.
  • +5 Combat strength to all units within 6 tiles of the capital.

Maya Unique Ability: Mayab

  • Settling adjacent to fresh water and coast does not provide extra housing. Instead, Farms grant an additional +1 Housing and +1 Gold.
  • +1 Amenity for every Luxury adjacent to a city centre.

Maya Unique Unit: Hul'che

  • Ancient Era ranged unit that replaces the Archer with strong ranged attack.
  • +5 combat strength when attacking a wounded opponent.

Maya Unique District: Observatory

  • Unique science-focused district that replaces the Campus, and is cheaper to build.
  • +2 Science bonus for adjacent Plantations.
  • +1 Science bonus for every two adjacent Farm or district tiles.
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Tips for playing as Maya with Lady Six Sky in Civ 6

Lady Six Sky's Mayan civilization is of course a Science-focused one, but interestingly it's all about building "tall", as opposed to "wide". In other words, you need to focus on developing a small number of high-population cities, instead of a large number of low-population ones spread across the map.

Take great care in where you place your first few cities, especially your initial Capital, and make sure they're suitable for gaining scientific bonuses - so, they're near a good number of mountains or jungle. Try to fit as many as you can within 6 tiles of your capital, and then focus on growing their population.

That means ensuring you have lots of excess Food, Housing, and Amenities in your core cities - which should mean your Mayab-boosted Farms stack nicely.

Use the bonuses from those farms to rush for Science-based gains early on. Combat-wise, rush for Archers so you can get your unique Hul'che out early, and then get aggressive! When you do capture cities, it'll usually be better to simply raze them instead of taking over control, because their yields will be significantly hampered by the Mayab ability - aside from the odd strategic location you want to get locked down just in case.

Scientific Victory or Domination Victory should be your goals. You can use your Scientific prowess to facilitate more advanced military units or do the reverse, using a strong early-game military to establish a good, defensive position early on and turtle your way to a Scientific win.

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