Civilization VI has been revealed and is set to release on October 21st, 2016. But with it will come a host of changes that are going to mix up the traditional Civilization formula. It’s a change that developers at Firaxis hope will give the game much more replay-ability and depth.
City placement, growth, expansion, and invasion are the topics of change and honestly, it’s pretty huge. In Civ VI, cities won’t be stacked any more. This means players would pile things on top of each other, such as the palace, buildings, wonders, etc. Instead, they’ll spread out into several districts on multiple tiles.
It’ll make each metropolis more specialized, which will certainly add depth to each play through. Game Director Ed Beech says:
We want to stop players from falling into patterns. We want players to build their empires differently every time.
Research is another thing being thought out and reworked. Previously, you basically had to research technologies as a progression through the science tree. Civ VI will give you smaller objectives to accomplish in order to progress through science development.
We’re adding these levels of distinction to the way you settle the world. Each time you settle your first city, start producing food, gold, culture, science, and everything vital to growth, we want it to feel different. We want you to consider your military differently. We want to encourage new approaches. We want it to feel like a new experience each time.
There’s many more features that will come new with Civ VI, including:
- Support units that buff military battalions
- Changes to multiplayer to keep it varied
- A diplomacy system that will affect how you interact with other leaders
With all of this and more to come, Firaxis hopes to make Civilization VI more dynamic and unpredictable than ever. With what we know so far, it seems like they’re dedicated and working hard to accomplish that goal.