Giant Death Robot (Civ6)

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Mecha

The Giant Death Robot (GDR) is an Information Era super-unit in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. It requires 1 Uranium to train and 3 Uranium per turn to maintain.

• Attributes:
  • Has sight of 3.
  • Has advanced weapons systems allowing it to make both melee and ranged attacks. Can conquer cities.
  • Has an advanced floating stabilization system allowing it to move through and fight on Coast and Ocean tiles as if they were land. The GDR doesn't lose MPs to Embark or Disembark, and while in water retains its normal number of MPs (that is, it doesn't enjoy the boosts for Embarked units).
  • Cannot gain experience or promotions.
  • Cannot form Corps or Armies by any means.
  • Can only heal in friendly territory.
  • Gains additional abilities and upgrades via Future Era technology research. Each upgrade changes its in-game appearance.
    • Drone Air Defense: Anti-Air Defense Strength increased to 130. (Requires Advanced AI.)
    • Particle Beam Siege Cannon: Ranged attacks against Cities and Encampments are 100% effective and gain +30 Ranged Strength. (Requires Advanced Power Cells.)
    • Enhanced Mobility: +3 Movement. Can perform a Jump action to cross over mountain terrain. (Requires Cybernetics.)
    • Reinforced Armor Plating: +10 Combat Strength when defending against land and naval units. (Requires Smart Materials.)

Strategy Edit

The Giant Death Robot is the end-game trump card of the Domination Victory seeker. It is titanically strong, it attacks from afar and can even move through water without Embarking! Despite its great size, it can also pass through Mountain Tunnels and Qhapaq Ñan.

Unlike every other military unit in the game, the Giant Death Robot does not gain promotions, but instead gains bonuses and boosts through specific technologies in the tech tree. These include Movement and strength bonuses, the ability to jump over Mountains, and a particle beam cannon that essentially gives it a bombard attack for taking down city defenses. When it comes to combat, the GDRs function similarly to the Persians' Immortals, as they are capable of both ranged and melee attack, so make sure you click the ranged attack command instead of right clicking when you want to use them to take down city defenses.

However, the Giant Death Robot is not a one-man army! For example, a Modern Armor Army will have a Combat Strength of 107 (which is pretty close to the GDR's), while the GDR itself cannot form Corps and Armies. After the update of aerial units, Jet Fighters have a Ranged Strength of 110, which will make for decent damage against the GDR (especially without its Drone Air Defense upgrade). As in Civilization V, a focused attack by several units will be able to bring down this robot, so don't expect it to defeat everything on its own.

The GDR's great size and sturdy construction make it resistant to nuclear weapons. A direct hit from a Nuclear Device or Thermonuclear Device does 50 damage to it, and fallout from nuclear strikes doesn't damage it.

Finally, the Giant Death Robot needs quite a considerable investment in time (its Production cost will take most cities 15+ turns to finish, though slotting Integrated Attack Logistics will expedite this), money (only very well-developed empires can easily amass 6000 Gold), and resources (3 Uranium to maintain a single GDR is no small thing). Only the mightiest empires will be able to afford it on their way to victory.

With the Golden Age version of Automaton Warfare (introduced in the June 2019 Update), it is possible to receive a free GDR in your Capital.

Civilopedia entry Edit

Almost no one calls them Gunnery Deployment Rigs, because pop culture anticipated the rise of the bipedal combat platform for more than fifty years prior to the first operational deployment of a GDR, and has given them dozens of evocative names: Mechs, walkers, Giant Death Robots, and so forth. There is something psychologically affecting about seeing one stride across the landscape—reassuring for friendly forces, and terrifying for enemies. There is a certain purity to the GDR, a recapitulation of the human form, as well as an improvement on it.

The GDR is not a stealthy weapon, but it is an effective one. The use of a roughly-human anatomy allows pilots a more intuitive grasp of the weapon and defensive systems, and allows motion feedback systems to tap into human locomotion to assist. Indeed, some people regard the locomotion controls of the GDR to be the most impressive advancement in the entire system.

Trivia Edit

• This incarnation of the GDR was initially called the Gun Deployment Rig.
• In the livestream that introduced this new incarnation of the GDR, one of the developers stated that they intend for the Giant Death Robot in Civilization VI to be, in effect, a Wonder in the form of a military unit.
  • Also in the same livestream, it was revealed that a number of other new units planned for the Future Era had been deferred in order to concentrate on development of the GDR and its upgrades.
• The Gundam has been credited as one of the influences on the design of the new GDR. Others include Neon Genesis Evangelion and Pacific Rim.
• The new GDR originally came about as a result of discussions on a potential Future Era unit that could merge the light and heavy cavalry lines in the unit tech tree.
• As hinted in the GDR's Civilopedia entry, it is directly piloted by a human. Whether the pilot is genetically engineered or otherwise is not noted!

Gallery Edit

Related achievementsEdit

When Diplomacy Fails Have a fully upgraded Giant Death Robot capture a city A reference to the podcast about history, diplomacy, and war, and the phrase's implication that overwhelming military force is the next option.

The accursed share Use a max-promotions Soothsayer to sacrifice a max-promotions GDR This is a reference to the French Essay 'The Accursed Share'by Georges_Bataille

See also Edit

• Giant Death Robot in other Civilization games