The NEW Magnus Meta

The Magnus 4 Opening

The video presents a Civilization VI multiplayer strategy for rapidly settling many cities with Magnus. It combines several settler-production bonuses in the capital:

• Ancestral Hall: +50% Settler production in its city and a free Builder in each newly founded city.
• Colonization policy: +50% Settler production.
• Magnus promotions: +20% production for units in his city, plus a later promotion that lets Settlers avoid consuming population.
• Chopping: Production from chops in Magnus’s city.
• Autocracy: Adds yields to the Palace, Government Plaza, and Ancestral Hall. It also gives cities with Monuments extra Food and Production. In the capital, this amounts to four additional Food and Production.

“Magnus 4” refers to investing four Governor titles in Magnus.

Opening and Early-Game Plan

The example uses the Inca, starting with a Builder to improve their terrace farms. The capital then builds a Builder, an Explorer, three Settlers, and a Monument.

The opening prioritizes early Monuments for their Culture and their benefit from Autocracy’s yields. Unlike some openings, it commits the first four Governor titles to Magnus rather than Moksha.

Other key steps include:

• Develop Commercial Hubs and Markets, then send internal Trade Routes to the capital.
• Place the Government Plaza in the capital to boost internal Trade Routes sent there and gain a Governor title.
• Choose the Pen, Brush and Voice Golden Age dedication to speed progress toward Feudalism.
• Adopt Autocracy and complete the Ancestral Hall while it is active. This unlocks the Autocratic Legacy policy for later governments.
• Switch to Classical Republic, which offers more useful policy-card slots for cards such as Urban Planning, Colonization, and Serfdom, while retaining Autocratic Legacy.

Midgame Expansion and Trade-Offs

Once the Ancestral Hall is complete, the capital produces Settlers continuously while other cities build Markets and send Trade Routes to support it. In the example, Feudalism is reached on turn 42, allowing the player to adopt Serfdom.

Serfdom-enhanced Builders can chop for Production and improve land with Mines. The Ancestral Hall’s free Builders in new cities also benefit from Serfdom’s five charges.

In the example, the capital produces seven Settlers, while only one is produced elsewhere, and the empire reaches 11 cities. The trade-off is giving up the Audience Hall and Republican Legacy, which can leave cities with fewer amenities and less output early on than under alternative openings. The video suggests that later suzerainty of Mexico City, together with a Zoo and Aquarium, can help bring cities to +5 amenities and realize the value of the larger empire.

Civilization Choices

Civilizations with housing or amenity bonuses can offset the strategy’s early drawbacks. The video names Scotland, the Aztecs, and Rome as good candidates.

Greece is another option: its extra Wildcard slot can allow it to use Republican Legacy alongside Autocracy early, rather than choosing the Autocratic Legacy route used by most civilizations.

Gamers and Sources Mentioned

• Herson
• Herson’s Multiplayer 101 video
• Herson’s Civ VI multiplayer guides playlist
• Herson’s streams at twitch.tv/herson100
• The Better Balanced Game (BBG) mod