Civilization VI is getting its first expansion

Anybody who is a fan of the Civilization franchise knows how big of a deal expansions are. Expansions have historically improved and advanced the series is some pretty spectacular ways, leaving the vanilla version of the game paling in comparison to the final release.

In my review of the game I said that Civilization VI was the most feature complete vanilla Civ game ever, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t looking forward to some big updates. Thankfully Firaxis is delivering because they have announced their first expansion for Civ 6, Rise and Fall. The trailer can be viewed below.

The expansion will be releasing February 8th 2018 and will bring big changes to the turn-based strategy game. A post to the civ website outlines some of the bigger changes we should expect which can be seen below.

Golden Ages and Dark Ages:

“Golden and Dark Ages are… significant, but temporary, changes to a civilization that last for an Era.” “Having a Golden Age affords huge bonuses to Loyalty and other game systems, but makes earning future Golden Ages slightly more difficult. Having a Dark Age hurts Loyalty in your cities and makes you vulnerable, but gives you an opportunity to earn a future Golden Age more easily. It also allows the use of special Dark Age policies and opens the door for an even more powerful Heroic Age.”

Loyalty:

“Flip control of entire cities to different players without military force. Low Loyalty in a city puts it at risk of rebelling and becoming a Free City. That, in turn, makes it a juicy target for other players looking to expand their own empire. Keeping your cities loyal not only keeps it on your side, but also emanates its Loyalty as a kind of “peer pressure” to other cities nearby. You could even sway cities from other civilizations to join you.”

Governors Rule:

“Sending a Governor to a city is a way for the player to make an active decision about the development of one of their cities, and grow in a specific direction. Much like how districts operate in the base game, Governors are a way to specialize your cities. The difference: Governors have their own set of unique powerful bonuses and can move between controlled cities.”

Enhancing Alliances:

“We added more tangible incentives to Alliances. We’re encouraging players to band together for mutual benefit rather than merely non-interference. We’re also giving players more active and flavorful choices to make. Alliances now have a type – Research, Military, Economic, Cultural, or Religious – that determines their benefits. Moreover, as the Alliance continues, the Alliance itself levels up and unlocks more powerful bonuses.”

Emergency Situations:

“Emergencies get triggered when one player gets a significant lead or advantage in an area. Converting a Holy City to a different religion, or using a nuclear weapon, for example. When triggered, the game determines which other players can join in an Emergency against the target and each player can choose to join or pass. Joining can give permanent benefits, but only if the players are able to complete an Emergency-specific objective against the target in time, otherwise the target gets a benefit instead.”

Retelling Your History:

“As players progress in Civilization: Rise and Fall, they earn Historic Moments. These are mini-achievements for doing cool things in the world (and there are over 100 of them in the game right now). They include things like circumnavigating the world, training your unique unit, founding a religion, and building districts with high adjacency bonuses. Many grant an even bigger bonus if you’re the “world’s first” civilization to make the achievement. These Historic Moments, taken together, form a story for your game with unique details tailored to your empire.”

New Civilizations, New Leaders:

“We have nine new leaders and eight new civilizations which will be revealed over the coming weeks with Civilization: Rise and Fall.”

All in all it looks to be a nice and juicy update. Now we have have to wait until February 8th to find out how many improvements are made for the game.