Seoul (Civ6)

Seoul
Scientific City-state
Introduced in Civilization VI
Removed from game when playing with Rise and Fall
Removed from game when playing with Rise and Fall
Color	Blue
Envoy bonuses
1 Envoy	+2 Science in the Capital
3 Envoys	+2 Science in every Campus district
6 Envoys	+4 Science in every Campus district
Suzerain bonus	When you enter a new era, earn a random Eureka from that era.

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Seoul is a scientific city-state in Civilization VI.

Under rulesets in which Korea is a playable civilization, Seoul becomes a Korean city and is replaced with Anshan.

Strategy

Seoul's bonuses focus on advancement through the technology tree, and although it can be useful there is little possibility of making it work compared with the other scientific city-states. This is mainly because advancing through the eras is difficult, and a single, unpredictable Eureka is usually not worth having to maintain Suzerainty until you research the last tech of the era.

Even so, use of Seoul's Suzerain bonus can be optimized by:

• Picking its Suzerainty when about to enter the Industrial or Modern Eras, as they and the eras that follow are the ones with the most straightforward tech tree branches.
• Having a great civic discovery speed (which equals a good Culture output), as its bonus can act as a small buffer to keep up with the ages when you unlock new eras trough civics. This one's specially good on cultural/diplomatic civs like Pericles' Greece.
• Being able to snatch its Suzerainty right before you enter a new era. This can turn out to be really unreliable in some situations, but can also be found useful as not sending Envoys until just the right turn can help you save them and will keep the other civs' guard on your Envoy placement low.

Civilopedia entry

While the area around Seoul has been settled since the Paleolithic Age, the city wasn’t officially founded until 18 BC when the kingdom of Baekje built its capital Wiryeseong on the site. In time, Baekje developed from a minor state into one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, a group of countries which dominated the peninsula for most of the first millennium AD. Over time, Seoul grew into a formidable city with great political, cultural and commercial significance.

Eventually the Three Kingdoms were consolidated under one rule, and in 1394 AD the capital of this new entity was moved to Seoul. Large walls were built around the city, as much to keep out thieves as well as bears and other large, scary animals … such as those annoying barbarians. Eventually, Seoul opened its gates to the influx of westerners arriving in the Far East during the late 1800s, and the city quickly modernized. In fact, Seoul was the first Asian city to have electricity, running water, and the telephone.

But this isn’t surprising, since Seoul has been the center of technological advances for centuries. The civil minister Choe Yun-ui invented moveable metal type there in 1234 AD to print 50 copies of the Sangjeong yemun … long before Gutenberg stumbled onto the same idea. The Joseon dynasty saw the invention of the water clock, the sight glass, the udometer and lots of other clever gadgets. In 1442, the apex of astronomical advances was reached with the Chiljeongsan, a compilation of computations on the courses of the seven heavenly objects. Then there’s the world’s first ballistic vest invented in the 1860s, a boon to the Korean army.

With the likes of Samsung and LG Corporation and others headquartered in the city, scientific tinkering hasn’t slowed much since. In 2008 South Korea had the fifth highest R&D expenditure in the world, much of that centered in Seoul. In electronics, computers, robotics, renewable energy and many other fields, Seoul is the cutting-edge for ever more discoveries.

Trivia

• Seoul is also the Capital of Korea when led by Sejong.
• Seoul's city-state symbol is the Taegeuk, the Korean form of the Yin-Yang, which also appears on the South Korean flag.

See also

• Seoul in other games