Grand Final

After dozens of matches, the grand finalists were Trajan (Rome), Menelik II (Ethiopia), Sundiata Keita (Mali), Ludwig II (Germany), Nzinga Mbande (Kongo) and Gandhi (India).

In case you've skipped straight to the finale and believe your favourite has been hard done by, there have been several rounds to get to this point - each giving leaders at least a second chance to cut through and prove their worth. 

These final six have either won their way here, or at least not sucked enough.

The final will be a simple six-aside match until someone's won twice, with new maps rolled for each game. That's it. As explained in the first post there will be a dummy leader in the 'player' spot, as always Kupe, who starts at sea and has the lowest chance of messing up the wider game.

Before the results though, let's recap who the 'experts' thought might be the winners.

Pocket Tactics' 'S-tier' leaders were Abraham, Alexander, Basil, Frederick, Hojo, Montezuma, Pericles, Peter, Seondeok, Simon, Trajan and Wilfred... of those, only Trajan made it to the finale.

Game Rant recommended Abraham, Amanitore, Basil, Hammurabi, Jayavarman, Victoria (Age of Steam) and Yongle, none of whom made the final.

Meta Tier List recommended Basil, Frederick, Hojo, Monty, Pericles, Peter, Seondeok, Simon, Wilfred, Suleiman, Genghis and Eleanor (England)... none of whom made the final. 

Gaming Gorilla went for Hojo, Peter, João III, Curtin, Kupe (!!!!) and Teddy (Bullmoose). 

And without further ado, here we go...

Game 1

Despite Nzinga's domination across virtually every stat, including score, Trajan scored the victory via space. Menelik was a close third.

Trajan wins again, and he's champion. Let's move to game 2.

Game 2

It was almost done in two - Trajan putting in another strong effort. Both he and Menelik achieved space race victory, but Menelik was way ahead - in both that and on points.

Menelik was also close to a culture win, taking out this match relatively comfortably. Gandhi was a distant third place.

Game 3

A runaway win for Gandhi, who technically triumphed via science but was leading in every other way too (except religion).

Sundiata put in a strong showing too, but it's looking like Ludwig doesn't stand a chance so far. Menelik came in third.

Game 4

It's not over yet - with our fourth winner in as many games, this time Nzinga via space and culture, and almost religion too.

Gandhi was second, and Menelik third. Once again, as usual, Ludwig was last.

Game 5

Sundiata wins via religion - which means five of the six leaders in the final have a point each, all but poor old Ludwig, whom to his credit came in third this time.

That means unless Ludwig pulls off a huge upset in the sixth game, whoever wins next is the overall champion.

Game 6

And we have a grand champion! As I mentioned earlier, the plan was to keep playing until one leader had two wins under their belt... and so the trophy goes to Nzinga Mbande of Kongo! Somewhat of a surprise, considering she only scraped through the earlier stages to get this far.

After a close-run early game which saw Nzinga neck-and-neck with Trajan, Melenik and Sundiata, she ran away with it via a space victory. Trajan suffered the loss of his capital to Ludwig, effectively taking him out of the running, while Melenik and Sundiata just couldn't keep up with Nzinga's science output.

Round 3: Second semi-final

So far Trajan, Menelik and Sundiata are through to the grand final - let's find out who'll be meeting them there.

In this semi-final were Frederick Barbarossa, Mvemba a Nzinga, Ludwig II, Mansa Musa, Harald Hardrada (Konge), Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose), Kristina, Nzinga Mbande and Gandhi. Two matches, top three make it through. 

Game 1

Ludwig II stormed home, no one else even close. He achieved both science and culture victories - the latter, more than twice what he needed to win. Kristina made a valiant effort at a religious victory, but was no competition.

Game 2

What final would be worth playing without Gandhi? Luckily after a poor performance in the first match, the nuke-happy legend pulled through with a win in the second, scoring a place in the grand final. But it was close - both he and Nzinga Mbande achieved a science win, so Gandhi took it out on points. 

Third place went to Harald. (Kupe in the screenshot as the 'player' civilization needed to give the competitors a fair match, as per the explanation given at the start of this little exercise). 

So that makes our three finalists from this semi-final Ludwig II, Gandhi and - very narrowly on points - Nzinga Mbande.

Onto the grand final - Ludwig II, Gandhi, Nzinga Mbande, Trajan, Menelik and Sundiata.

Round 3: First semi-final

Eighteen leaders left! In this round, two groups of nine will play two matches, the best performing three from each going through to the final.

Tomyris, Poundmaker, Trajan, Eleanor of Aquitaine (French), Catherine de Medici (Black Queen), Kublai Khan (Chinese), Menelik II, Sundiata Keita and Sejong competed in the first semi-final.

Match 1

Here's how the scores landed.

Winner was Trajan, who pulled off a space victory and was also in the lead for culture. Kublai Khan managed to get three-quarters of the way towards a religious win, which is something I've honestly never seen happen in seven years of playing this game, from anyone.

With no other civilizations obtaining a victory condition, Trajan was the clear winner, followed by Kublai Khan and Sundiata Keita, on points. 

Match 2

This time it was Menelik's turn to dominate - winning via space, and closest with a second victory condition, via culture. 

No one else achieved a victory condition, so the runners-up - on points - were Sundiata Keita and Trajan.

Those two matches combined, the qualifiers are the two winners - Trajan and Menelik - with Sundiata, who came second in both games. 

Kublai Khan (2400) will be annoyed for narrowly missing out on points to Sundiata (2553). Both outscored Trajan and Menelik, but without any wins. 

Elimanated were Kublai Khan (China), Tomyris, Sejong, Eleanor of Aquitane (France) and Catherine de Medici (Black Queen). 

Onto the second semi-final!

Round 2, Group 3

In the last group of the second round, we had Montezuma, Frederick Barbarossa, Kristina, Cleopatra (Egyptian), Trajan, Gandhi, Dido, Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose), Pericles, Mansa Musa, Lautaro and Jayavarman VII.

Match 1

No contest. Mansa Musa easily outcompeted the rest, with both a cultural win and a thrashing in the score stakes.

Teddy was in with a shot via space, but it was all just too late.

Coming in third was Gandhi, followed by Kristina, Frederick and Trajan. Pericles, who shot out to an early lead, finished dead last.

Match 2

Everyone's favourte, Gandhi, narrowly pipped numerous other civilizations for a space win, though Trajan dominated on the scoreboard. 

The others in the top six were Frederick, Teddy and Jayavarman.

Adding up the scores, Gandhi was our winner - appearing in the top six twice, and winning once. He was followed by Mansa Musa, Frederick, Teddy Roosevelt, Trajan and Kristina. 

Eliminated in the second round were Lautoro, Jayavarman, Montezuma, Pericles, Dido and in last place, Cleopatra. 

Onto the semi-finals! 

Round 2, Group 2

In the second group of three in this round, it's Theodora, Philip II, Mvemba a Nzinga, Tomyris, Sundiata Keita, Eleanor of Aquitaine (French), Ludwig II, Pachacuti, Amanitore, Peter, Nzinga Mbande and Victoria (Age of Steam).

Nzinga and Peter both dominated in the first round - let's see if anyone can stop them in their tracks.

Match 1

Nzinga once again has proved victorious, but not by much. No leader managed a victory condition, so it was only on points.

Mvemba came in second, followed by Tomyris, Pachacuti, Peter and Amanitore. Eleanor of Aquitane was dead last.

Theodora will be feeling a bit annoyed - in with a shot via space, but nowhere to be seen on the scoreboard (well, seventh). 

Match 2

Bit of an out-of-nowhere win for Ludwig in this round, via space. He also topped the scoreboard, ahead of Eleanor, who appeared to be gunning for an unlikely domination win. Random.

Coming in third was Sundiata, followed by Philip II and Victoria (Age of Steam). Oddly, Nzinga and Mzemba nowhere to be found this time - not even in religion.

In fact, the top six were completely swapped - last game's winners the absolute losers this time, and vice versa. 

So, adding up the numbers... well, it all comes down to victories and scores. That makes Ludwig our winner, followed by - on points - Nzinga, Eleanor (France), Mvemba, Sundiata and Tomyris. 

Eliminated were Pachacuti, Peter, Amanitore, Philip II, Victoria (Age of Steam) and Theodora. 

There's one more group in round 2 to go before the semi-finals.

Round 2, Group 1

We're into the second round! Thirty-six civilizations battling it out in three 12-aside matches. As before, each match is actually two matches - giving leaders that roll a bad start in one to make up for it in the second... or assert their overall dominance in both.

Competitors in the first grouping for round 2, chosen randomly from the qualifiers, were Harald Hardrada (Konge), Julius Caesar, João III, Menelik II, Simón Bolívar, Yongle, Sejong, Poundmaker, Kublai Khan (Chinese), Catherine de Medici (Black Queen), Kublai Khan, (Mongolian) and Harald Hardrada (Varangian).

Yep, once again the roll of the dice put different versions of the same leader into the same group! So here's how it went down.

Match 1

It came down to between Poundmaker and Kublai Khan (China), who both achieved a science victory (reminder than when Civilization VI in autoplay mode, the game doesn't stop at victory conditions).

No one else achieved a victory of any kind, so it was down to points - Poundmaker taking it out comfortably in this regard, thanks to a larger empire, better era score and more advanced culture.

Rounding out the top six were Sejong, Harald (both Konge and Varangian) and Yongle.

Match 2

In the second match, it was Menelik and Kublai Khan who shared victory - the former via space, the latter, culture. On points it narrowly went to Menelik.

Adding up the scores, and it's Poundmaker who goes through as the winner. Following him, and through to the third round, were Kublai Khan (China), Sejong, Menelik, Harald (Konge) and - based on her second-round score - Catherine (Black Queen). 

Eliminated were Yongle, Harald (Varangian), Simon Bolivar, Julius Caeser, Joao and Kublai Khan (Mongolia). 

Round 1 Group 6

Our final group in the competition's first round was between Julius Caesar, Chandragupta, Yongle, Elizabeth I, Abraham Lincoln, Victoria (Age of Empire), Harald Hardrada (Konge), Theodora, Tomyris, Kublai Khan (Chinese), Alexander and Saladin (Vizier).

Pocket Tactics' tier list put Abraham Lincoln in the driver's seat, while Game Rant agreed, with the addition of newcomer Yongle. 

Let's see how their predictions went.

Match 1

Despite sitting atop the scoreboard relatively comfortably, Julius Caesar failed to turn his empire into a winning one - Tomyris snatching a space win. 

A check of the score details showed the Roman leader spent too much time building wonders, but not trying to win - he hardly even bothered with the space race and was a distant second-place in the culture race. Weird.

Rounding out the top six were Abraham Lincoln, Theodora, Yongle and Elizabeth I. 

Onto the second match.

Match 2

Now this was a pretty interesting outcome. Two civilizations attained a space victory - Yongle and Harald - while Tomyris got over the line with culture. 

Kublai Khan topped the scoreboard, but his ship was just too far behind the others.

So based on the score, Yongle was the winner this time, followed by Tomyris and Harald.

Doing the calculations, it would appear this round's winner was Tomyris. Also going through to the next round were Yongle, Harald, Kublai Khan, Julius Caesar and Theodora. 

Eliminated from the first round were Chandragupta, Elizabeth I, Abraham Lincoln, Harald Hardrada (Konge) Alexander and Saladin (Vizier).

Draw for Round 2

Round 2 will be three groups of 12, two matches. Top six performers from each group will move to the next round.

Group 1

Harald Hardrada (Konge)

Julius Caesar

João III

Menelik II

Simón Bolívar

Yongle

Sejong

Poundmaker

Kublai Khan (Chinese)

Catherine de Medici (Black Queen)

Kublai Khan (Mongolian)

Harald Hardrada (Varangian)

Group 2

Theodora

Philip II

Mvemba a Nzinga

Tomyris

Sundiata Keita

Eleanor of Aquitaine (French)

Ludwig II

Pachacuti

Amanitore

Peter

Nzinga Mbande

Victoria (Age of Steam)

Group 3

Montezuma

Frederick Barbarossa

Kristina

Cleopatra (Egyptian)

Trajan

Gandhi

Dido

Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose)

Pericles

Mansa Musa

Lautaro

Jayavarman VII

Round 1, Group 5

This grouping included Peter, Catherine de Medici (Black Queen), Shaka, Lady Six Sky, Suleiman (Muhteşem), João III, Wilhelmina, Pachacuti, Nzinga Mbande, Catherine de Medici (Magnificence), Matthias Corvinus, Cleopatra (Ptolemaic) and Kristina. Yep, once again the dice rolled two different versions of the same leader into the same group!

Top seed in this group according to Pocket Tactics was Peter, the only S-tier leader, followed by Catherine (Black Queen) and Matthias.

While according to Game Rant, João and Matthias were the ones to look out for. 

Here's how it went down.

Match 1

No one managed a victory condition - Nzinga came closest with space, but his ship was travelling too slowly. Cleopatra and Peter were neck-and-neck for culture. 

So it came down to points - Nzinga the victor, followed by Peter, Pachacuti, Catherine (Black Queen) Cleopatra and João. Kristina struggled, a distant last place. 

Match 2

Peter stormed home with a crushing cultural victory, no one else even close. Nzinga topped the scoreboard again, but has to settle for second place. 

Rounding out the top six were João, Catherine (Black Queen), Kristina and Shaka.

Adding up the scores, the overall winner is Peter, followed by Nzinga. Also going through to the second round were João, Catherine (Black Queen), Pachacuti and Kristina, whose score in the second match put her above Cleopatra despite her terrible first round.

Eliminated from the competition were Shaka, Lady Six Sky, Suleiman (Muhteşem), Wilhemina, Catherine de Medici (Magnificence), Matthias Corvinus and Cleopatra (Ptolemaic).

Just one more group to play then we're onto round two! 

Round 1, Group 4

In group 4 we had John Curtin, Robert the Bruce, Eleanor of Aquitaine (English), Kupe, Pericles, Simón Bolívar, Tokugawa, Pedro II, Jayavarman VII, Amanitore, Kublai Khan (Mongolian), Montezuma and Jadwiga facing off.

According to Pocket Tactics, the S-tier civilizations in this battle were Bolivar, Montezuma and Pericles; while Game Rant backed Amanitore and Jayavarman.

Here's what actually happened.

Match 1

No one was able to complete a victory condition in the first match, with Pericles coming closest via science. The Greek leader was also ahead in culture, while Jayavarman led in religion.

With no outright winner, it came down to score - Pericles taking it out comfortably, ahead of Kublai Khan, Jayavarman, John Curtin, Pedro and Jadwiga. 

Match 2

In the biggest thumping to date, Simon Bolivar ran away with it - the only leader to complete a victory condition (two in fact - space and culture) - and with nearly twice the score of his closest competitor. 

Rounding out the top six were Jayavarman, Montezuma, Amanitore, Eleanor and Pericles. 

So that means through to the next round were, in approximate order, Pericles, Simon Bolivar, Jayavarman, Kublai Khan, Amanitore and Montezuma.

Eliminated in the first round were John Curtin, Robert the Bruce, Eleanor of Aquitaine (English), Kupe, Tokugawa, Jayavarman VII and Jadwiga.

Round 1, Group 3

In this match-up we had Victoria (Age of Steam), Qin Shi Huang (Unifier), Gilgamesh, Ambiorix, Hojo Tokimune, Ramses II, Nader Shah, Mansa Musa, Qin Shi Huang (Mandate of Heaven), Sundiata Keita, Philip II, Ludwig II and Poundmaker.

Going by Pocket Tactics' tier list, Hojo was the obvious favourite, the only S-tier leader in the group. His main contenders would be Victoria and Philip. 

While on Game Rant, Hojo's main rival would be Sundiata.

Let's see how it panned out...

Match 1

Hojo flopped, not even making it to the end of the game. Sundiata and Qin (Mandate of Heaven) both had victories - the former in culture, the latter, science. According to the rules laid out at the start of this exercise, in this case whichever had the highest score would be deemed victor - and that's Sundiata, pushing Qin to second place.

The runners-up were Ludwig, Philip, Mansa Musa and Poundmaker. 

Match 2

Mansa Musa was the clear winner in the second round, topping the scoreboard and completing the space race. 

No one else came close, Poundmaker still hundreds of turns from a culture win. 

The runners-up were Poundmaker, Ludwig, Victoria (Age of Steam) and Gilgamesh.

So the six through to the next round from this group were Mansa Musa in first place, followed by Ludwig, Poundmaker, Sundiata, Philip and - Victoria (Age of Steam). 

Eliminated were Ambiorix, Ramses, both Qins, Gilgamesh, Nader Shah and Hojo, who bizarrely finished last in both matches. So much for being S-tier.

Round 1, Group 2

The second battle was between Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider), Cyrus, Lautaro, Harald Hardrada (Varangian), Mvemba a Nzinga, Suleiman (Kanuni), Cleopatra (Egyptian), Bà Triệu, Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose), Eleanor of Aquitaine (French), Hammurabi, Tamar and Genghis Khan.

Yes, two Teddy Roosevelts. Gotta love that random draw. 

According to Pocket Tactics' leader tier list, the clear favourites for this game were Cyrus and Genghis Khan,neither are considered S-tier. 

Game Rant's tier list suggests Eleanor was the one to beat. Still, it's not the strongest group, so it was really anyone's game.

Match 1

Cyrus, such a disappointment! The highest seed in this group actually came dead last in the first match. D'oh.

No one managed to reach a victory condition, though Cleopatra and Eleanor were closest. They were also dominant in culture, and Eleanor was making a decent fist at a domination victory too.

But in the end, it camed down to the score - making Cleopatra our winner, followed by Eleanor. Both Teddys made the top six, joined by Lautaro and Harald. 

Match 2

The results could hardly have been more different. Mvemba finished a respectable fifth in the score rankings, but claimed a narrow space victory over Harald. Lautaro surprised again, almost winning via culture but ultimately coming in fourth.

Teddy (Bull Moose) and Eleanor performed strongly again, while Tamar rounded out the top six.

So based on those two matches, going through to the next round will be Cleopatra, Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose), Eleanor (France), Harald, Mvemba and Lautaro. 

Knocked out in the first round were Hammurabi, Cyrus, Ba Trieu, Suleiman, Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider) and Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan! Eliminated in the first round with two bottom-half finishes! Didn't see that coming.

Round 1, Group 1

The first group contained Wu Zetian, Gitarja, Saladin (Sultan), Gandhi, Basil II, Dido, Menelik II, Frederick Barbarossa, Seondeok, Wilfrid Laurier, Gorgo, Trajan and Sejong.

According to Pocket Tactics' leader tier list, Barbarossa, Basil, Trajan, Wilfrid Laurier and Seondeok are all S-tier, ie. have the strongest abilities, a very tough draw for the rest. 

Match 1

Despite only having the second-highest score, Dido - apparently a D-tier leader (or B, according to Game Rant) - took out this round with a space victory. Trajan was on his way to winning via culture, while Gandhi was halfway to a religious win. Barbarossa had the highest overall score, but otherwise didn't look close to winning in any particular way.

The top six were Dido, Barbarossa, Trajan, Gitarja, Seondeok and Saladin (Sultan).

Match 2

This time it was Dido's turn to get pipped at the post. Trajan emerged victorious via space, despite Dido getting the top score. 

Again, Gandhi was halfway to a religious win, while Menelik II was gunning for culture.

The results of those two matches put together, Dido was the clear winner, followed by Trajan. The other four qualifiers were Barbarossa, Sejong, Gandhi and Menelik II. 

Eliminated from the competition were Wu Zetian, Gitarja, Saladin (Sultan), Basil II, Frederick, Wilfrid Laurier and Gorgo.

How it will work

There are many lists out there ranking Civilization VI's leaders, but which one would actually triumph in a fair fight? 

That's what this little exercise is about. Pitting each of the AIs against each other in a series of matches, and seeing who comes out on top. 

In the game's current state, there are 78 different leader/civilization combinations. Some leaders command more than one civilization, and some appear in different forms, with varying strengths and weaknesses.

Each will be considered a distinct competitor in this tournament.

Civilization VI has a dev tool that allows the computer to play against itself, without human input - so this is what will be used to run each match. The game's default difficulty - Prince - will be used.

Because one of the civilizations has to be deemed the 'player', and therefore gets penalties/bonuses against the other teams, in each match a 'dummy' civilization will take this slot. It will play in the game, but won't be considered part of the match for the purposes of this exercise. 

I've developed a four-round system, which can be found here. In the first round, there will be six groups of 13, playing two matches each on large maps. The best six performers from each group will go to round two, the draw randomised again, into three groups of 12. Again, the best six from two matches will go through. 

Round three will see the remaining 18 randomised into two groups of nine, the top three from each group going to the finale.

The finale will consist of a series of matches on medium-sized maps until one of the civilizations has chalked up two victories.

Then we'll know our winner! 

Nerd stuff: the maps will be Shuffle; gameplay-affecting mods turned off; corporations, secret societies and great heroes turned on. Games will run until the turn timer has run out (during autoplay, the game ignores when someone has reached a victory condition and just keeps playing); if someone has reached a victory condition, they will be considered the winner of that round, the others ranked by score; on the condition more than one civilization, or none, have reached a victory condition, the score will decide the winner and rankings.

Here is the draw for round one's matches. 

Group 1

Wu Zetian

Gitarja

Saladin (Sultan)

Gandhi

Basil II

Dido

Menelik II

Frederick Barbarossa

Seondeok

Wilfrid Laurier

Gorgo

Trajan

Sejong

Group 2

Teddy Roosevelt (Rough Rider)

Cyrus

Lautaro

Harald Hardrada (Varangian)

Mvemba a Nzinga

Suleiman (Kanuni)

Cleopatra (Egyptian)

Bà Triệu

Teddy Roosevelt (Bull Moose)

Eleanor of Aquitaine (French)

Hammurabi

Tamar

Genghis Khan

Group 3

Victoria (Age of Steam)

Qin Shi Huang (Unifier)

Gilgamesh

Ambiorix

Hojo Tokimune

Ramses II

Nader Shah

Mansa Musa

Qin Shi Huang (Mandate of Heaven)

Sundiata Keita

Philip II

Ludwig II

Poundmaker

Group 4

John Curtin

Robert the Bruce

Eleanor of Aquitaine (English)

Kupe

Pericles

Simón Bolívar

Tokugawa

Pedro II

Jayavarman VII

Amanitore

Kublai Khan (Mongolian)

Montezuma

Jadwiga

Group 5

Peter

Catherine de Medici (Black Queen)

Shaka

Lady Six Sky

Suleiman (Muhteşem)0

João III

Wilhelmina

Pachacuti

Nzinga Mbande

Catherine de Medici (Magnificence)

Matthias Corvinus

Cleopatra (Ptolemaic)

Kristina

Group 6

Julius Caesar

Teddy Roosevelt

Chandragupta

Yongle

Elizabeth I

Abraham Lincoln

Victoria (Age of Empire)

Harald Hardrada (Konge)

Theodora

Tomyris

Kublai Khan (Chinese)

Alexander

Saladin (Vizier)

So, let's go...