Australia
John Curtin
Uniques and adjacency effects read from the game data.
Victory focusScienceCulture
Kit at a glance
Curtin's Australia is the comeback civ: being declared war on (or liberating cities) doubles your production, coastal cities get generous housing, and high-appeal land pumps up district yields. It thrives on hostility it did not start.
Opening: the first 60 turns
Curtin's start is about finding coast and appeal in the same place. Scout, warrior, settler, settler, then a builder whose first charge goes on a pasture, because Australian pastures claim surrounding tiles and grab contested land without buying it. Every early city should touch the ocean for the housing bonus, which lets you delay Aqueducts and Neighborhoods for a very long time. Techs go Animal Husbandry first, then Sailing and Writing; the Campus gets placed on a breathtaking coastal or mountain-side tile even if that means skipping a mountain adjacency. Civics head to Early Empire and Foreign Trade, and Games and Recreation earlier than usual because an Entertainment Complex lifts appeal in its ring. Expect four coastal cities by turn fifty.
Unique to this civilization
Unit
Digger
Replaces Infantry
Technology: Replaceable Parts
Adjacency effects
No adjacency bonus — standard district rules apply.
How to play it
Settle the coast, place Campuses and Commercial Hubs on breathtaking tiles, and don't fear war declarations — each one is a production festival. Outback Stations fill the interior late; keep an upgrade fund so the war bonus turns into an instant army.
Victory paths
Science is the cleanest finish. Campuses on high-appeal tiles produce Classical-era research that other civs only reach with mountain and reef adjacency, and Commercial Hubs on the same kind of ground pay for the buildings. The production doubling that arrives whenever someone declares on you is the accelerator: keep a queue of Universities, Harbors and later Research Labs half-finished so ten turns of doubled output completes an era of infrastructure. Culture is the second route, using Theater Squares on the same appeal-rich coast and Outback Stations to feed large cities for tourism-era wonders. Domination appears only opportunistically, when a liberation war both doubles your production and frees a city-state whose suzerainty you want; Diggers are the late tool for that.
Synergies: city-states, wonders, policies
Auckland is the single best suzerainty for Australia, adding production to shallow-water tiles that every one of your cities works; Nan Madol adds culture to coastal districts for the culture branch. Liang's Aquaculture and Reyna's Harbormaster suit the coastal empire, and Magnus with Vertical Integration turns the war-production burst into completed wonders. Wonders that fit are Great Lighthouse and Colossus for the harbor cities, Eiffel Tower to push tiles into breathtaking territory, and Huey Teocalli on lake starts. God of the Sea and Earth Goddess are the pantheon candidates, the second one paying faith from the same tiles that already pay science. Policy cards Natural Philosophy, Free Market and Naval Infrastructure line up with the district plan.
Weaknesses and counters
Landlocked or pangaea starts strip away the housing bonus and much of the appeal, leaving an ordinary civ with a late unique unit. The production surge is reactive, and experienced opponents simply never declare; they let Australia sit at normal output while they build. Players also fail to prepare for the surge and spend ten doubled turns building walls and archers instead of the spaceport or wonder they should have queued in advance. Placing districts for appeal instead of adjacency can backfire in the Ancient era when a Campus needs a mountain more than a view, and chopping woods for early production destroys the breathtaking tiles the whole plan needs. Outback Stations arrive late and need Steam Power to shine, so a food shortage in the interior is common before that.
Similar civilizations
Related guides
- Science Victory City Planning: Roles, the Production Core, and the SpaceportA city-by-city plan for science victories in Gathering Storm: which cities carry research, which one carries the spaceport, era checkpoints to measure against, and what to do when the plan stalls.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Which Civilization Should You Play? Picks by Victory TypeThree to four leader picks for each victory type — science, culture, domination, religion, and diplomacy — with the reason each one teaches that victory well, plus flexible all-rounders and a guide to matching a civilization to how you actually like to play.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Early District Planning: The First 100 TurnsHow to read city sites for future adjacency, decide between settling for yields now or reserving tile clusters, and know when a planned layout should be abandoned.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- City-States and Envoys: Where Your Influence Should GoWhere envoys come from, how to spend the first handful, which city-state types match each victory plan, how to win and keep suzerainty against the AI, and when conquering a city-state is the right call.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
Last reviewed: 2026-10-03