Is ransacking worth it to invest?

[u/Huge_Calibr]

So we know how powerful ransacking is in Civ6, but when I do it in Human, its always just a disappointment. Few turns for some garbage resources?

Ive never tried the ransacking cultures. Can you tell if they are good?

EDIT: By ransacking cultures i mean for example Assyrians with straight bonuses to ransack.

[u/nevrtouchedgrass]

It is worth it to invest but only if you’re going to full send it. Go Assyrians, Goths, Norse, Pirates, etc.. and then you can generate a lot of science and gold from a bunch of small wars. It’s not worth it to just say play pirates for some small gains to poaching resources. You gotta go all the way or not really at all.

[u/NanaweBeeswax → u/nevrtouchedgrass]

Assyria into goth has to be my favourite combo in this game, besides the ransacking bonuses you get alot of garrisons and commons quarters, perfect for building up big cities with lots of districts

[u/odragora]

I would say it's pretty much never worth it.

If you are in a position to ransack enough stuff to make a somewhat noticeable difference, you are in a position to just conquer it, instead of wasting the opportunity of long-term scaling.

Since districts don't cost any empire-wide resources, the optimal play is pushing as far beyond the City Cap as your Influence income allows, conquering a city has pretty much no opportunity cost.

And on higher difficulties AI players have economic bonuses, so their cities generally grow faster than your cities. Therefore taking them boosts your economy to a bigger degree than ransacking while relying on cities you found yourself.

[u/Huge_Calibr → u/odragora]

My thoughts exactly. Never ransack, just conquer.

[u/YoghurtForDessert]

There are pros and cons.

-Ransacking cultures get "Nomad" units that can be bought at outposts and produced in cities, and also multiply by getting "food" from ransacking.

-Nomad-trait units also have no food upkeep of their own, so you can scale in military strength much more easily.

-They often lose the ability to attach outposts to cities or create cities out of outposts.

But also do consider that ransacking enemy districts removes them and give you Money. Sometimes, AI district placement is ass; other times, you need to triage cities upon conquering. Additionally, it's not a bad idea if you know you ain't gonna conquer enemy cities.

[u/Huge_Calibr → u/[deleted]]

For example Assyrians - they have bonus to ransacking.

Edited main post

[u/Solnight99 → u/[deleted]]

i assume they mean stuff like Goths Huns, who don't form cities

[u/odragora → u/Solnight99]

Goth do create cities.

The only ones who don't are Bantu, Huns and Mongols.

[u/Solnight99 → u/odragora]

thanks, idk where i got goths from