World Congress (Civ6)

World Congress icon

Back to Civilization VI
Back to Diplomacy
Go to Diplomatic Favor

The World Congress is a new gameplay mechanic in Civilization VI: Gathering Storm and is the key to the new Diplomatic Victory. It is in many ways similar to the World Congress from Civilization V: Brave New World, but also differs in some key aspects.

Introduction

The World Congress is a place where all leaders in the game (or at least those who haven't been eliminated yet) meet to discuss proposals of importance to the world and vote for or against them, according to their benefit, or to the detriment of their competitors. The voting power of each leader depends on their accumulated Diplomatic Favor.

Since this sort of global-level civilized interaction is unthinkable in the very dawn of history (while newly-established empires are still fighting to keep their own against nature and barbarian tribes), the World Congress is called only when the world enters the Medieval Era. The very first meeting is of a regular nature; if conditions, however, for a so-called special session are met earlier, this special session will be 'scheduled', but put on hold and called only after the first regular session has passed.

Mechanics

World Congress meetings (a.k.a. "Sessions") take place during their own phase, which occurs after all AI players have had their turns, but before the player can start his or her next turn. During this phase the player is free to close the session panel temporarily in order to better understand which outcomes and targets suit them the best; however, the player will be unable to move units or issue any kind of order. The World Congress phase will only be ended when all votes for all proposals brought forth are submitted and confirmed.

It is fully possible, and in fact common in the first few regular sessions, that the player has not met all leaders in the world. They will nevertheless still vote, but they will appear as question marks, preserving the discovery flavor of the game.

The World Congress meets for two distinct types of sessions: Regular and Special Sessions.

Regular Sessions

Regular Sessions are the main manifestation of the Congress' mechanics; at them matters of mutual interest to all are discussed which are relevant to the current World Era. These sessions are pre-scheduled, and take place every 30 turns on Standard speed, starting from the turn after which the world enters the Medieval Era. The frequency of regular sessions scales with game speed.

In each session, 2 Resolutions are proposed (supposedly by the rotational leader of the Congress), which make decisions on currently relevant topics in the world, such as border treaties, preferred religion, trade pacts, climate, etc. But from the Modern Era onward leaders diversify their interests, while at the same time politics enter a new level of complexity. Thus, the Diplomatic Victory Resolution enters as a third option which is always available, while a scored competition of some kind enters as a fourth option.

The exact resolutions proposed for discussion are randomized. But their occurrence is era appropriate and the probabilities are based on recent world events. For example, Climate Accords does not appear in the Renaissance Era, and it is more likely to be "proposed" with increasing Climate Change stages.

All nations which are still in the game are required to vote on all proposed Resolutions. For the exact mechanics of the voting process, see below.

Resolutions

Resolutions are the main proposals discussed and enacted in Regular World Congress sessions. Unlike the Emergencies and other possible results of a Special Session (which may never occur!), the effects of Resolutions are mandatory for all, and are thus always sure to affect the world after the start of the Medieval Era. Each Resolution passed will function until the next World Congress Session (that is, for the next 30 turns). In essence, Resolutions are minor game mods which change some basic game rule for the next 30 turns.

In a major development since Civilization V: Brave New World, there are two possible Outcomes for each resolution, having opposite effects. Furthermore, each outcome may have many possible Targets: players, districts, currency types, etc.

For example, the Urban Development Treaty has two possible Outcomes: boost Production towards all buildings in a certain type of district, or ban the construction of any new buildings in that type of district. Each of these Outcomes can apply to any of the district types, and thus the district types are the Targets. Each player must select only one Outcome and one Target.

Scored Competitions

Main article: Competitions (Civ6)

The second major type of events discussed and undertaken in the World Congress' Regular Sessions are Scored Competitions. These are events which run for a particular number of turns (usually 30), during which all participants do something to compete towards a particular goal. Note that, unlike Resolutions, not everyone is required to participate in a Scored Competition! If a nation decides to vote against enacting a Scored Competition, this nation won't participate and won't be able to win any rewards.

Scored Competitions are usually undertaken in the late game. Exceptions are the Aid Request and the Military Aid Request, which are actually meant to respond to game events (like Emergencies) These competitions may be asked for via a Special Session of the Congress every time a nation gets hit by a severe natural disaster or constantly bullied by another nation, and awards Diplomatic Victory points on completion.

Special Sessions

Special Sessions are meant to respond immediately to game-changing events in the world. A Special Session may be called to respond to a severe Natural Disaster or an Emergency caused by the actions of a nation. In fact, Special Sessions now replace the Emergencies in Rise and Fall, incorporating both their purpose and mechanics via the World Congress. There are two conditions for a Special session to occur:

1. A game event has happened to trigger the necessity for a Special session. This may be an aggressive move by certain civilization, a natural disaster,, etc. - for the full list of conditions, check here.
2. An affected nation (that is, a nation which suffered in some way from the reason of the emergency) first needs to expend 30 Diplomatic Favor to bring the proposal to the World Congress. All affected nations have the opportunity to do so, although only one "sponsor" is required to call a Special Session.

Unlike Regular Sessions, Special Sessions may take place at any moment in the game as long as the previous Session -- Regular or Special -- took place 15 turns or prior on Standard speed. If a condition for a Special Session occurs, but the previous Session was within 15 turns, the opportunity to call it will be put 'on hold' and will wait for the next possible turn. If the next Regular Session is within the 15-turn timeframe, the Special Session call opportunity will occur at the same time as the Regular Session.

Once called, the Special session will occur after the next turn. In practice, this means that between the special event causing the session, and the beginning of any actual Emergency or Relief project there will be a hiatus of (at least) 2 turns: one turn during which the nations will have the opportunity to call the Session, and another one during which they will 'prepare' to attend the session.

The condition of an Emergency does not vanish with the passing of time. For example, suppose a city-state is conquered by Nation A; Nation B, C, D all have sent Envoys to that city-state, which gives them a 'casus belli' to call a City-State Emergency. However, the world is still in the Ancient or Classical Era, during which the World Congress doesn't yet meet. Whenever the world reaches the Medieval Era and the World Congress is unlocked, if Nation A still occupies the said city-state, Nations B, C and D will be able to immediately call a Special Session.

In another example, suppose that the same situation occurs, but that Nations B, C and D are all declared friends of Nation A at the time of conquest. (Declare Friendship serves as a non-aggression pact in Civilization VI.) The declared Friendship means no affected nations qualify to propose an Emergency! This is consistent with the Friendship declaration because passing the Emergency means war with the aggressor -- Nation A. But when the Friendship expires, and a Special Session may be held (with the 15-turn limit checked), even if this was hundreds of turns later, an Emergency can still be called as long as the city-state in question is still under Nation A and has not changed hands.

Note that multiple Emergencies may be voted in the same Special session, if the above-mentioned conditions have been met for more than 1 case in the last turns (i.e. there has been a triggering event, and an interested nation has spent 30 Favor)! It isn't rare for this to happen, especially towards the late game, when disasters and aggressive actions become more common.

Once a Special Session begins, all nations called to it are required to vote on all eligible topics. The Outcomes in Special Sessions are either to pass a resolution reacting to the emergency reason, or to skip it Nations may vote For or Against, and those which voted Against are not required to participate in the Emergency or Competition, even if it passes. For example, if a City-State Emergency is proposed, a nation which votes Against won't go to war with the target even if the competition actually occurs.

Also note that, unlike regular sessions, only some nations may be called to participate in special sessions, particularly in the case of Emergencies. This often depends on friendship status and alliances (the ally of a nation targeted for an Emergency won't be called to participate, since it's clear how they stand). In the case of a City-State Emergency, only nations that have met the City-State in question are called to vote.

For more details and a full list of Emergencies and their particulars, head here.

Voting

All decisions of the World Congress are made by voting by all eligible nations currently participating. In another major development since Civilization V: Brave New World, the voting process is based on a brand new currency type: Diplomatic Favor. City-states don't mean more votes anymore (but they may help a player acquire more Diplomatic Favor!), and in fact there is no hard upper limit on how many votes a player may have for any particular proposal of any session of the World Congress - it all depends on how much Diplomatic Favor they have at the moment. The system is deceptively simple: the first vote for each nation for each Resolution is free. The cost of each subsequent vote, however, scales linearly by a factor of 10. For example, three more votes cost (10*1) + (10*2) + (10*3) = 60 additional Diplomatic Favor. In practice, it is really difficult to gain enough Diplomatic Favor to cast more than 10 votes on a single item on the World Congress agenda!

Note that votes themselves cannot be negotiated or traded either during a World Congress Session, or outside of it! However, Diplomatic Favor can and will be freely traded as part of any normal trading negotiation.

Outcomes mechanics

For each Regular session resolution, every nation will first choose one of the two outcomes. If there are multiple possible targets within that outcome, the nation will then choose a single target. A target may be a nation or it could be a district, a type of terrain feature, or a kind of luxury resource - it all depends on the type of resolution being voted on.

The votes are first tallied to decide which Outcome gets passed. In this step, votes with different targets but the same outcome are aggregated. Once an outcome is decided, the votes for this outcome will then decide the target -- if any. Each voting step is based on plurality -- the option with the most votes wins. Ties are broken by the proportion of Diplomatic Favor a player commits.

After the June 2019 Update every nation which voted for the outcome/target combo that eventually won gets 1 Diplomatic victory point. Note that this only works for Resolutions and the Diplomatic victory vote, but not for Competitions vote.

Since each Resolution has two possible Outcomes and each Outcome may have a number of possible targets, there are 3 possibilities for each player, in some of which their Diplomatic Favor spent are refunded:

• The Outcome the player voted for won with the target they voted for.
  • No refund of Diplomatic Favor spent.
  • The player gets what they voted for.
  • The player gets 1 Diplomatic victory point.
• The Outcome the player voted for won with a different target than the one they voted for.
  • 50% refund of Diplomatic Favor spent.
  • For example, suppose the Urban Development Treaty Resolution is passed with +100% Production for buildings in Industrial Zones; Nation A voted for this outcome but for Theatre Squares. That nation will retain 50% of the Diplomatic Favor they spent on the Resolution.
• The Outcome the player voted for lost.
  • 100% refund of Diplomatic Favor spent.

Diplomatic Victory Vote

Starting from the Modern Era, a Resolution on Diplomatic Victory points will always be available as the 3rd Resolution in the Regular Session.

The two possible Outcomes are:

1. Award 2 Diplomatic Victory points to a leader.
2. Take away 2 Diplomatic Victory points from a leader.

The logic of a Diplomatic victory vote is, of course, scewered by necessity - no nation will attempt to vote for another nation becoming the leader of the free world! However, when a single nation starts approaching the 20 necessary points for a Diplomatic victory, most nations will concentrate their efforts of barring that nation from winning (by voting for the 'lose victory points' outcome).

Note: If a player votes for himself with the option "Take away 2 Diplomatic Victory Points", and this option is validated, the player will lose only 1 Point (because he will have earned a Point for voting the winning result)

List of Regular Session Resolutions

Resolution	Min era	Max era	Outcome A	Outcome B
Mercenary Companies			Producing, or purchasing military units using the chosen currency type, is +100% of the cost until the next World Congress.	Producing, or purchasing military units using the chosen currency type, is -50% of the cost until the next World Congress.
Diplomatic Victory	Modern		Chosen Player gains 2 Diplomatic Victory points.	Chosen Player loses 2 Diplomatic Victory points.
Luxury Policy			Duplicates of the chosen Luxury resource grant duplicate Amenities.	The chosen resource grants no Amenities.
Trade Policy			Trade Routes sent to the chosen player provide +4 Gold to the sender. The chosen player receives +1 Trade Route capacity.	Cancels any international Trade Routes between other civilizations and the chosen player, and embargoes any new ones from starting.
World Religion		Industrial	+10 Religious Combat Strength for all units of this Religion.	All players may condemn units of the chosen Religion, and doing so grants 25 Diplomatic Favor.
Governance Doctrine			Appointing and promoting the specified Governor type yields 15 Diplomatic Favor.	All active Governors of the specified type are neutralized for 6 Turns.
Arms Control	Atomic		All players have their Weapons of Mass Destruction set equal to the target player's.	The target player loses all of their Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Heritage Organization	Modern		Tourism from Great Works of this type is doubled.	No Tourism from Great Works of this type.
Policy Treaty			Gain Diplomatic Favor each turn this Policy is active in your Government.	Ban the use of this Policy.
World Ideology	Modern		This Government type gains a Wildcard policy slot.	This Government type loses a Wildcard policy slot.
Urban Development Treaty		Modern	+100% Production towards buildings in this District.	No buildings can be created in this district.
Border Control Treaty		Modern	New Districts built by this player act as Culture bombs.	This player's borders will not grow via Culture.
Public Works Program	Atomic	Information	+100% Production towards this Project.	-50% Production towards this Project.
Patronage		Modern	Earn double points towards Great People of this class.	No points earned towards Great People of this class.1
Treaty Organization			Double Diplomatic Favor earned from being Suzerain of a City-State of this type.	No Diplomatic Favor earned from being Suzerain of a City-State of this type.
Global Energy Treaty	Modern		50% discount on the production of buildings of this type.	Ban the production of buildings of this type.
Sovereignty		Modern	+100% of the City-States' yield type when sending Trade Routes to a City-State of this type.	City-States of this type do not provide their unique Suzerain bonus.
Migration Treaty	Industrial		+20% faster Population growth but -5 Loyalty per turn in this player's cities.	+5 Loyalty per turn but -20% Population growth in this player's cities.
Deforestation Treaty	Atomic	Information	Clearing Features of the chosen type yields Gold equal to the Production and Food.	Prohibits chopping or clearing Features of the chosen type.
Public Relations		Atomic	The chosen player generates 100% more Grievances, and other players generate 100% more Grievances toward this player.	The chosen player generates 50% fewer Grievances, and other players generate 50% fewer Grievances toward this player.
Espionage Pact	Industrial	Atomic	Spies executing the chosen Operation function 2 levels higher.	The chosen Operation is unavailable.
Military Advisory		Atomic	Units of the chosen promotion class gain +5 Combat Strength.	Units of the chosen promotion class lose 5 Combat Strength.

¹ This outcome reduces all points earned toward Great People of this class to 0, whether they come from districts, buildings, projects, competitions, or any other source. It does not prevent Great People of this class from being patronized with Gold or Faith.

Unimplemented Resolutions

Comments in the XML files indicate that these resolutions have not been implemented in the game yet.

Resolution	Min era	Max era	Outcome A	Outcome B
Favored Civilization			The target player's cities are 100% Loyal.	The target player cannot exert Loyalty pressure on others' cities.
Power Policy			Converting the chosen Power resource is twice as effective.	Converting the chosen Power resource is half as effective.

Strategy

List of AI Behaviors

1. For the Mercenary Companies resolution, most AI tend to vote for -50% cost on using Production.
2. For the Diplomatic Victory resolution, the AI tend to pour most of their Diplomatic Favor to gain 2 victory points for themselves. However, when a player is 1 or 2 Diplomatic Victory points away from a Diplomatic Victory, AI controlled nations will pour most of their Diplomatic Favor to remove 2 Diplomatic Victory point from the winning player instead.
3. For the Luxury Policy resolution, the AI have a tendency to ban the type of luxury resource the human player owns the most copy of.
4. For the Urban Development Treaty resolution, the AI have a tendency to vote for city center buildings or campus buildings. Other options may still occur.
5. For the Border Control Treaty resolution, the AI usually will only put 1 vote for themselves. Therefore, using 2 votes to support him/herself could result in an easy win for the human player.
6. The AI will not trade Diplomatic Favor past a certain era.
7. The AI will mostly join but almost never actually do anything for Aid Requests before a certain era. Therefore the human player could give the aid target very little gold right before the competition expires to win it.

If the winning (human) player expects to have insufficient votes to counter all the opposing votes, the player should expect the game to last longer and it is thus wise to spend Diplomatic Favor on other resolutions if they are also important. If the winning player expects to be close to having a tie, the player may find it advantageous to instead commit all of their Diplomatic Favor in the hope of winning the tie breaker.

Since the first votes are significantly cheaper, multiple nations pooling votes cost significantly less Diplomatic Favor than a single nation wishing to brute force the opposite outcome. Thus, starting from a position of insufficient votes -- if the Diplomatic Favor from the past 30 turns among the AI nations is sufficient to block the winning human player's victory bid, unless the human player has a significant edge in Diplomatic Favor generation, in no future World Congress session will the player gain sufficient votes. In this particular case, Diplomatic Victory won't occur however close it may seem. This puts emphasis on the generation of Diplomatic Favor for those seeking a Diplomatic Victory, especially when victory is close.

Sometimes, voting along the likely Outcome of a competing player but on a different Target can waste 50% of their Diplomatic Favor, since usually an Outcome with a different Target than that desired is a different resolution altogether from the perspective of that player.

Trivia

• The banners that appear in the World Congress menu are the symbols of the civilizations that are currently in the game.
• In the Diplomatic Victory movie, the World Congress headquarters resembles the United Nations, and the flags of Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya, Thailand, Argentina, South Africa, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Papua New Guinea, Morocco and Sri Lanka appear there. Ironically, none of the mentioned nations appear as major civilizations in the actual game.

Related achievements

The Art of Telling Plain Truths Win a Diplomatic Victory A Winston Churchill quote: "Diplomacy is the art of telling plain truths."

Airing Your Grievances Win a Diplomatic Victory Resolution and use it to reduce another player's progress toward that victory. A phrase to describe someone who complains in public.

Nobel-er than the Noblest Achieve first place in all three Nobel Prizes in the same game. Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel left $9 million to begin the Nobel Prize.