Dutch (Civ6)

Netherlands
Introduced in Rise and Fall
Leaders	Wilhelmina
Civ ability - Grote Rivieren
Rivers provide a +2 adjacency bonus for Campus, Theater Square, and Industrial Zone districts. Building a Harbor triggers a Culture Bomb, claiming surrounding tiles. Rivers provide a +2 adjacency bonus for Campus, Theater Square, and Industrial Zone districts. Building a Harbor triggers a Culture Bomb, claiming surrounding tiles. +50% Production towards the Dam district and Flood Barrier building.
Unique
Unit	De Zeven Provinciën
Infrastructure	Polder
Geography & Social Data
Empire Name	Dutch Empire
Demonym	Dutch
Location	Western Europe
Size	16,040 square miles
Population	17,116,281 estimated in 2017
Capital	Amsterdam

Back to Civilizations (Civ6)

The Dutch people represent a civilization in Civilization VI: Rise and Fall. They are led by Wilhelmina, under whom their default colors are orange and blue.

The Dutch's civilization ability is Grote Rivieren, which provides a major adjacency bonus for Campuses, Theater Squares, and Industrial Zones next to a river and causes completed Harbors to trigger a Culture Bomb. In Gathering Storm, they also receive a 50% Production bonus towards Dams and Flood Barriers. Their unique unit is the De Zeven Provinciën (which replaces the Frigate), and their unique tile improvement is the Polder.

Strategy

Starting bias: Tier 2 towards Rivers, tier 4 towards Coast

The Netherlands is a perfect mixture of a naval empire and a land civilization. They can erect districts with high adjacency bonuses next to rivers, reclaim land from the oceans with their Polder and pose a serious threat to every other coastal empire once the De Zeven Provinciën is unlocked.

Grote Rivieren

Major adjacency bonus from rivers for Campus, Theater and Industrial Zones

Despite high potential power levels of your unique improvement and unit, this ability is your bread and butter. If properly used, it can reliably turn all of your riverside settlements into bustling scientific and cultural hubs that propel your entire empire forward. With proper planning, these districts can be as almost as productive as their unique counterparts of other civilizations.

On a side note, this ability allows your districts to have adjacency a lot better than normal, making them easier to unlock their respective Historic Moments, something that other civilizations have more difficulty in achieving, and civilizations with unique districts cannot do.

• Campus

Rivers are easy to find, and 2 extra Science for every Campus next to a river can be potentially game changing, since among the 3 districts affected by this ability, the Campus is the first one to be unlocked. For that reason, this ability has the potential to push the Netherlands far ahead on the scientific track right from the Ancient Era, especially if other pure scientific civilizations are not present, notably Korea, Australia or the Maya.

To push this Science potential even higher, keep in mind that occasionally rivers originate from Mountains or Mountain ranges. You can track down the origins of rivers by following the opposite direction of its flow (if you zoom in enough, you can see the flow direction of every river). Campuses adjacent to both rivers and Mountains are commonly found, and can result in strong Science yields that rival other scientific empires. Even better, sometimes you will even find Geothermal Fissures lying close to rivers or Mountains. Most of the time, rivers connect two bodies of waters: Lakes to Coast, Lakes to another river, or Coast to Coast. Polders allow you to make great use of Lake tiles, so a riverside city with Lakes is your dream city, and coastal cities allow you to build useful Harbors, your unique unit and occasion access to Reefs for even higher Campus adjacency.

• Industrial Zone

This is the reason why the Dutch is skewed heavily toward a scientific victory. Besides a healthy Science output, rivers also bestow upon the Dutch a huge amount of Production. The Industrial Zone normally gains major adjacency bonus from Dams and Aqueducts. While there are multiple configurations for Aqueducts (including connecting the City Center to a river), Dams must be built on a Floodplains tile, next to a river. The fact that an Industrial Zone next to a Dam and an Aqueduct already starts with at least 5 Production, extra Production from rivers means Dutch Industrial Zones can easily start with at least 7 Production. The major advantage of a Dutch Industrial Zone over other non-unique Industrial Zones of other civilizations is that normally you have to build a Dam and Aqueduct first, then the Industrial Zone, since low-adjacency Industrial Zones with no buildings are very weak, while the Housing and flood-preventing effects from the other districts kick in instantly. With the Netherlands, you can start with a 2 Production Industrial Zone before building a Dam and Aqueduct, and this little bit of extra starting Production can help the process go a bit faster.

For average players, Aqueducts are often preferred, since the base cost for Dams is 150% more expensive than a regular district. However, the Netherlands receives 50% extra Production toward Dams, bringing their cost down to the level of a normal district.

• Theater Square

The Theater Square is notoriously tough to gain high adjacency bonus on, since they only gain adjacency bonus from wonders and Entertainment Complexes/Water Parks. For the Netherlands, they will have a much better time generating Culture than an average scientific empire, since their Theater Squares' initial adjacency is always a lot better than normal. You can build a couple of them early on, even when you have no intention for a cultural victory, since the extra Culture will help your scientific empire go a long way. Also, your Polder is unlocked with the Guilds civic. Of course, you can go full cultural with the Netherlands, but it will be a lot less common than the scientific route. Unlike the Campus and Industrial Zone, the Theater Square bonus is more supplemental, and the district itself does not need to be present in every city.

Netherlands versus Indonesia

The Netherlands is an anomaly, since they will deceive you in thinking that they are a maritime civilization who needs to be on the coast or play on a naval map to be effective, but they are truly not. They are a hybrid between a naval and a land civilization, but actually function a lot better on a land map with a lot of river access than a naval map with a lot of small landmasses, limited river access, or with a lot of short rivers that don't allow the construction of a mega district complex between cities. After all, there is a reason why they have a tier 2 starting bias toward rivers, but only a tier 4 bias toward the coast. Compare to other pure naval civilizations, they all have at least a tier 2 starting bias toward the coast.

This anomaly can be highlighted when you compare the Netherlands to Indonesia, inarguably a naval civilization. The Dutch toolkits and the Indonesian ones are strikingly similar, although each of the counterparts carries different levels of emphasis. The Dutch civilization ability is their centerpiece and the most reliably one, the Indonesian civilization ability is a lot weaker and purely supplemental, although they both give districts more adjacency bonuses. They both have an improvement that can be put on water tiles, and they are both strong in their own ways; however, Kampungs' placement restrictions are loose, allowing for very liberal usage, while the Polders are also strong, but with very strict requirements. Jong and De Zeven Provinciën are both Frigate replacements, and although it seems like the De Zeven Provinciën are more proficient at domination, it cannot be further from the truth (read more at their respective pages). Overall, Indonesia, a representative for a pure naval civilization, is dominantly geared at a life next to the coast, while the Netherlands not necessarily. Dutch Harbors are not better than normal, their improvement cannot be placed anywhere on the coast, and their unique unit requires good Science and Production for an effective timing push, both of which can only be made possible by riverside cities, not coastal ones. That means the Netherlands cannot compete with equal footing on a naval map against other naval empires, but is not at all crippled on a land map, and is a much more reliable choice on maps with unknown ratio of land versus water (e.g. Shuffle, Fractal, Splintered Fractal, Tilted Axis, Wetlands, etc.)

The point here is while all pieces in the Dutch arsenal are quite good, it is surprisingly difficult to leverage all of them with equal focus. Keep in mind that rivers are your best friend, and your civilization ability is more most dependable, so if you have to choose, as difficult as it sounds, prioritize rivers and forgo the coast if you have to. Inland rivers with Lakes are the best city spots for you, but if you have to choose between the two, pick rivers over Lakes. Regarding the coast, if the map generation and the situation are ideal, your De Zeven Provinciën can help you conquer coastal settlements of other civilizations, but if you get zoned out of river access to the edge of the continent, your empire will be significant weakened.

Harbors trigger a Culture Bomb

This is a very minor ability. As explained in great details above, your civilization doesn't have to go on the coast all the time, but your district choice for extra Trade Routes will be Commercial Hubs, which also gains a major adjacency bonus from rivers (unless you have Lake tiles in the city).

Generally, districts that can trigger a Culture Bomb are often placed in the second ring to maximize the number of tiles claimed. However, Harbors gain a major adjacency bonus when adjacent to the City Center, and building the Harbor in the first ring can claim at maximum 3 tiles, as opposed to 5 tiles if built in the second ring.

Harbors also gain a standard adjacency bonus from sea resources, so this ability is great at grabbing tiles that contain resources without needing you to expend Gold. Nevertheless, for a new coastal city, your first district will most likely be the Harbor, and if there are resources next to the Harbor, you probably will buy to improve them to give the city a bit of initial growth and Production anyway, so very rarely this ability can become meaningful.

Bonus Production toward Dams and Flood Barriers

Dams are unlocked with Buttress, a technology on your way to your unique unit. They provide Amenities, Housing, and river flood protection, all of which (especially the latter two) are incredibly useful for a civilization who builds around rivers. Also, as previously explained, this ability goes incredibly well with the buffed Dutch Industrial Zones, turning all of Dutch riverside settlements into bustling production centers. The extra Production toward Dams is useful, since this district's base cost is 50% higher than a non-unique specialty district.

Later in the game, after unlocking Computers, this bonus also applies to Flood Barriers, a City Center building whose purpose is to protect coastal tiles vulnerable to coastal flooding. Since the Netherlands is a scientific, production focused empire, carbon generation is inevitable. This bonus is even more useful when you consider that Flood Barriers get more and more expensive with each tile that can be flooded in the city, and as climate worsens.

For this reason, the Netherlands should dedicate one district slot to an Encampment. Not only higher resource stockpile cap is useful for a scientific empire, the Armory allows you to recruit Military Engineers. They each have 2 charges, and they can spend 1 charge to contribute 20% of the Production cost of Aqueducts, Canals, Dams and Flood Barriers, all of which are useful for the Dutch, with the Canal being slightly less important. However, with this ability, each Engineer charge contributes 30% of the Production cost of Dams and Flood Barriers. This is amazing especially for Flood Barriers, since the cost of this building can increase mid-construction, if the climate moves on to a new phase, and there are new tiles being submerged. Since the Production contribution from Engineers are percentage-based, this increase is disregarded for the most parts.

Radio Oranje

With Wilhelmina's unique ability, trade will earn the Dutch more than just monetary rewards: domestic Trade Routes will boost the Loyalty of the cities from which they depart, and international Trade Routes will provide Culture. Sending Trade Routes to other civs will also increase the Netherlands' Tourism output, thus giving them an incentive to focus on building Theater Squares and push for a Cultural Victory. If this is the path they choose, they should build at least one Commercial Hub and save up Gold (or Faith) to attract Sarah Breedlove in the Modern Era and Melitta Bentz in the Atomic Era - each of them will provide an immensely helpful 25% bonus to the Tourism output of all the Netherlands' Trade Routes. In the meantime, they can avoid falling behind in the tech race by building a few Campuses, stealing tech boosts with Spies, or adopting Trade Confederation and Military Research to increase the Science they gain from international Trade Routes and Harbors with Seaports.

Much like the Venetians of Civilization V: Brave New World, the Dutch are a trade-oriented maritime civilization. Their civilization ability encourages them to settle along Coasts and rivers, where they can enlarge their borders by building Harbors and get easy yield bonuses for their riverside districts. They should build Lighthouses in their Harbors as soon as possible to increase their Trade Route capacity, and then start sending Traders to every civ and city-state they meet. As their economy grows stronger, they can use their abundant Gold to buy units and buildings or patronize Great People, depending on their needs at the moment. Later in the game, they can build Seaside Resorts on tiles with high Appeal to earn even more Gold and Tourism.

In Gathering Storm, Dutch Industrial Zones receive a +2 adjacency bonus from four different sources (Rivers, Dams, Canals, and Aqueducts). Careful placement of cities and districts will give Dutch cities unparalleled Production potential, allowing them to either train an army or navy rapidly or complete projects that enhance their cities' yields. Moreover, the Dutch shouldn't shy away from using Coal and Oil to satisfy their Power requirements, since their bonus toward constructing Flood Barriers ensures that they'll be able to protect their territory from coastal flooding soon after they research Computers.

When selecting governments, the Dutch can play to their strengths with Merchant Republic and Democracy. If they want to build wonders, the Great Lighthouse, the Colossus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and any wonder with slots for Great Works will benefit them. Huey Teocalli is also well worth building, as it will boost their Lake tiles even more.

De Zeven Provinciën

Although trade is the Netherlands' strong suit, their unique unit makes them quite deadly in midgame naval combat. Having many Harbors will make it easy for them to earn Great Admiral points, and if they attract Gaius Duilius or Santa Cruz and form a Fleet or Armada of De Zeven Provinciën, they'll have no trouble punching through the defenses of coastal cities and expanding their empire through conquest. They can then assign Governors to the captured cities or move Traders there and establish Trade Routes to raise their Loyalty and prevent revolts.

Polder

Like Indonesia's Kampungs, Polders synergize well with the Dutch naval bonuses and make settling on or near the coast much more viable. Polders can also provide a useful boost to Lake tiles, especially in conjunction with Huey Teocalli.

Polders which are built adjacent to other Polders receive additional bonuses to Food, which are increased after researching Replaceable Parts. While most maps will have a larger number of Coast tiles that can support Polders, it is easier to harness this adjacency bonus with Lake tiles due to the enclosed nature of a lake, which makes it easier to satisfy the "3 or more adjacent non-Mountain land tiles" restriction. Usually most (if not all) Lake tiles will satisfy the condition, allowing the Dutch to simultaneously benefit from their Polders' adjacency bonus.

The Polder's penalty to Movement applies to all naval units, including embarked units.

Victory Types

As explained above, a Cultural Victory will be easiest for the Dutch to achieve. However, if they focus on building Campuses and Industrial Zones in their cities and adopt Ecommerce late in the game, they'll have a good shot at winning a Science Victory instead.

Counter Strategy

Like many civilizations (such as Brazil and Arabia), the best way to beat the Netherlands is to, quite literally, avoid doing what they want. Specifically, never trade with the Netherlands if you can help it - their Trade Routes feed them Culture, so to do so is to hand them a lead in the civic tree. This may cause Wilhelmina to dislike you, but never fear: the De Zeven Provinciën's siege bonus is inefficient for offense unless supplemented by a proper navy, and the AI is bad at naval combat. As long as you take precautions to build up a decent navy of your own, this unit should never threaten your coastal cities.

If you are not worried about the penalties conquest will bring, another good move is to try and deny the Dutch coastal access. Many of their strongest bonuses require either coastal tiles, or Trade Routes (which are best gained from Lighthouses).

Civilopedia entry

The Netherlands never let their small size get in the way of progress. Dutch persistence and ingenuity led to a distinct culture that is more than just wooden shoes, tulips, windmills, and the color orange. When they needed more land, the Netherlands pushed back the tides of the North Sea and reclaimed the ocean floor. Their formidable ships would reach far beyond Dutch shores as they built an empire based entirely around trade.

By the 1st Century, Germanic tribes had migrated to the lands beyond the Rhine. Those who settled in the region that would become the Netherlands weren’t entirely impressed, for the wetlands were difficult to farm (and tended to be a bit smelly). Yet the many rivers and lakes made the land quite defensible. The Romans thought so as well, founding two military posts (Nijmegen and Utrecht) at the edge of their frontier.

For a time, the tribes remained content with this border. Those near what would become Amsterdam often traded with the Romans. The Batavi fought alongside the Romans, but eventually rebelled during Emperor Nero’s final years. Although the rebellion was ultimately defeated, the act of defiance was the first of many.

Following the decline of the Roman Empire, a variety of would-be conquerors (the Franks, the Frisians, and the Vikings, to name a few) would invade the Low Countries. The Franks ultimately decided to stay and spruce up the place with both Christianity and a palace in Nijmegen. This lasted until 814, when (following the death of Charlemagne) the Frankish Empire divided their territory into a collection of smaller states. Left to their own devices, the Netherlands would establish trade routes that reached as far away as Asia. Bad soil composition and rising sea levels led the Dutch to begin the long process of draining of the wetlands.

By 1433 the Dukes of Burgundy laid claim to the Netherlands, increasing the flow of trade (at that point necessary and vital to an increasing populace), but the taxes imposed by the Burgundians went over poorly. The native Dutch were especially unhappy in the mid-1500s when Phillip II of the Spanish Empire inherited the Netherlands. Following his succession, the Dutch would find themselves thrust into 80 bloody, brutal years of war. The Dutch noble William of Orange led the rebellion against Spain until his assassination in 1584. However, the fight for independence would not die with him—the Dutch would resist until 1648, when they signed the Treaty of Munster, establishing the Netherlands as an independent nation.

Free from one European power, and hoping to avoid becoming beholden to another, the Dutch relentlessly expanded their trade empire. The Dutch East India Company’s reach extended to the eastern coast of the Americas and the far-flung island of Japan (with whom they established exclusive trading rights). Amsterdam became major hub for trade and shipbuilding and a city of opportunity in uncertain times.

Swollen coffers allowed the Dutch to invest in arts and sciences. The master artist Rembrandt created incredible paintings during this age. Christiaan Huygens, a mathematician and scientist, discovered Saturn’s moon Titan and founded wave theory. Joan Blaeu, a Dutch cartographer, authored the largest and most complete atlas of the 17th Century. (His ‘Atlas Maior’ contained 594 different maps written in Latin, French, German, Spanish, and of course, Dutch.)

The rise in Dutch fortune—and especially their increasingly imposing fleet—unsettled more than a few European neighbors. England in particular attempted to impose trade regulations preventing the Dutch from acting as “middle men” in any trade involving the English. That, and the English insistence of “unification” (which meant the effective dissolution of the Netherlands after their hard-won independence), led to multiple Anglo-Dutch wars through the late 17th Century. Ultimately, the English succeeded at blunting the exponential growth of Dutch wealth, influence and naval power, but when the dust settled, the Netherlands remained independent.

Unfortunately for the Dutch, Napoleon Bonaparte and his French Empire had little appreciation for independent nations bordering his own. At the end of the 18th Century, Napoleon seized the Low Countries and appointed his brother Louis King of the Netherlands. King Louis garnered a surprising amount of respect from his Dutch subjects, but a frustrated Napoleon removed him a short four years later in what was ultimately a sibling dispute. The Dutch continued to serve the French Empire, fighting in their wars and following French policies, until a (surprisingly) bloodless restoration of their independence in 1813. The newly minted “Kingdom of the Netherlands” included Belgium and Luxemburg—briefly. Belgium revolted and gained independence in 1830. Luxemburg departed near the end of 19th Century due to a quirk of inheritance laws (the details of which are even less interesting than they sound).

The Netherlands established and maintained a stance of neutrality, formally focusing on their security, economic growth, and internal politics. Though this brought them through the Great War relatively unscathed, the Netherlands would not find itself on the sidelines of World War II. The royal family and Dutch government fled to London to escape German invasion. Dutch Queen Wilhelmina actively defied German control of her country, bolstering the morale of her people remaining in the Low Countries (as well as a very active Dutch resistance). The Netherlands endured four long years of occupation, eventually aiding the Allied liberation of their country. After, the Dutch began the arduous process of rebuilding.

Today the Netherlands is an anchor of Postwar Europe. Not only is it a home of international legal tribunals and an important commercial hub, the nation is famous for granting considerable individual liberties to its citizens, reflecting its long history of social tolerance. In addition to providing a net export of food, the Netherlands are on the cutting edge of land reclamation and development, with some of the most impressive engineering projects of this age underway. As the poles melt and ocean levels rise, the Netherlands faces an uncertain future with determination, ingenuity, and wry humor. After all, who better to hold back the sea than the people who have been doing so for millennia?

Cities

Main article: Dutch cities (Civ6)

Citizens

Males	Females	Modern males	Modern females
Avo	Agatha	Antoin	Beatrix
Boldewin	Betta	Bernhardt	Celeste
Ditmar	Ermina	Caspar	Eveline
Igmar	Gela	Dennis	Kerstin
Johannes	Heiga	Gijs	Lieke
Onno	Imma	Jean Paul	Marie-Louise
Paio	Machtild	Nils	Nicola
Rette	Notha	Pieter	Ottelien
Sibold	Olge	Wouter	Ulla
Walfrid	Yolande	Yves	Violette

Trivia

• The Dutch civilization's symbol is a bugle-horn, which appears on the royal standard of the Netherlands.
• The Dutch civilization ability references the great geographical, historical, economic and cultural significance of rivers in the Netherlands.
• Before the Dutch civilization was released, the Dutch city of Amsterdam was a city-state. After the Dutch's release, Amsterdam became one of the Dutch cities, and it was replaced, first by Antioch and later by Venice.

Gallery

The De Zeven Provinciën, the Netherlands' unique unit

The Polder, the Netherlands' unique improvement

Dutch capital in Medieval Era

Videos

Civilization VI- Rise and Fall – First Look- Netherlands

Related achievements

A small Country, a great people, so sorely tried Win a regular game as Queen Wilhelmina The title of a poem describing the reign of Queen Wilhelmina. A printed copy made in 1945 is preserved in the National Library of the Netherlands.

Triple Seven As Wilhelmina, have seven cities and seven Zeven de Provincien at the start of the turn. A reference to a famous taxi service in Valkenswaard, Netherlands.

External links

• https://www.civilization.com/news/entries/civilization-vi-rise-and-fall-queen-wilhelmina-leads-the-netherlands
• https://kotaku.com/the-dutch-are-coming-to-civilization-vi-1821168459
• https://www.pcgamesn.com/civilization-6/civ-6-dutch-leader