Scythia
Tomyris
Uniques and adjacency effects read from the game data.
Victory focusDominationReligion
Kit at a glance
Tomyris leads the steppe swarm: Scythia builds light cavalry two at a time, her units heal on kills, and wounded enemies take extra damage from her riders. The horde outnumbers, outpaces and out-sustains everything the ancient world can field.
Opening: the first 60 turns
Tomyris does not build a Settler first. The opening is Scout, Warrior, Warrior into Animal Husbandry as the very first tech, then Horseback Riding by turn 25, and only then a Settler, because every Saka Horse Archer or Horseman queued after that point arrives as a pair. Two Kurgans on pasture-adjacent tiles give the faith and gold that keep a horde solvent, and the pantheon should be locked in by turn 30 through those tiles. Civics are Code of Laws, Foreign Trade, then Military Tradition for the Maneuver card; skip Early Empire until the neighbor's capital is already yours. Six paired horse units by turn 45 is the benchmark, and they should already be moving toward the rival before the sixth pair finishes. The second city exists to hold the horses' home Encampment later, not to grow.
Unique to this civilization
Unit
Saka Horse Archer
Technology: Horseback Riding
Adjacency effects
No adjacency bonus — standard district rules apply.
How to play it
Spam saka horse archers early and swarm — focus wounded targets so your riders heal as they kill. The power curve peaks ancient-classical: conquer your continent before musketmen ruin the party, then convert the land advantage into any victory.
Victory paths
Domination is the only serious first choice, and its clock is brutal: Saka Horse Archers are one-range units that shred Warriors and Slingers, but Archers behind walls and Spearmen on hills already blunt them, so the first neighbor must be broken before Ancient Walls go up. Wounded targets take extra damage from Tomyris's riders and every kill heals, which is why picking off damaged units in sequence matters more than city sieges; starve a city of defenders and it falls to horsemen alone. When conquest hits a walled wall, the pivot is religion, oddly enough: Kurgans have been feeding faith the whole time, and a horde civilization with a dozen captured cities and a founded religion spreads it by sheer weight. Science and culture come later only as the natural output of a very large empire.
Synergies: city-states, wonders, policies
Militaristic city-states are less useful than usual because Scythia's own production already doubles cavalry, so envoys go to religious and trade city-states instead: Kandy for relics from natural wonders found by the fast scouts, and Yerevan later. The one wonder worth diverting from horses is Statue of Zeus, which grants free units, and Terracotta Army if it is uncontested; everything else is better captured. Victor's promotions for the frontline city and later Moksha for the faith engine are the governors that matter, with Amani placed in a captured city to steady loyalty. Policy cards are Agoge for early Slingers only briefly, then Maneuver for cavalry production, Conscription for upkeep, and Raid to profit while passing through enemy land. Pantheon choice is God of the Open Sky if pastures are plentiful, otherwise Religious Idols where mines dominate.
Weaknesses and counters
Scythia has a hard expiry date. Once Pikemen, Crossbowmen and Medieval Walls appear, the horde is a pile of obsolete units with upkeep, and a Tomyris who has not taken at least one capital by then is behind a normal civ with fewer buildings. Opponents defend by walling early, keeping Spearmen adjacent to Archers, and refusing open field fights, since her bonuses only trigger against damaged units; a full-health defender on a hill loses nothing. Loyalty punishes overreach, as captured cities far from the horde's home flip back. Frequent mistakes are building Saka Horse Archers after Crossbowmen exist, forgetting that the doubling does not apply to heavy cavalry, and chasing a second war across a strait or desert where the horse advantage vanishes.
Similar civilizations
Related guides
- Domination: Building Cities That Feed a WarHow to lay out an empire for conquest in Gathering Storm: which cities become production cores, where the Encampment goes, the four classic attack windows, siege composition, holding conquered cities, and when to stop fighting and win another way.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