Civilization 6

A new expansion for Civilization VI, called Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, was announced today. The expansion looks to majorly shake up the flow of the game with era-long modifiers that will force you to shift your strategy for fear of losing your cities, or out of ambition to seize others'. Its centerpiece feature is the addition of "Golden Ages," "Dark Ages," and "Heroic Ages"—macro events that apply each civilization's ever-shifting fortunes, achievements, and momentum to a struggle for territory and cultural influence.

The expansion will also add governors, a greatly expanded alliances system, cities that peacefully flip between civilizations, and an "Historic Moments" system that gives players special milestones that impact outcomes. Players can respond to "emergency situations," which allow the civilizations at the bottom to pool their resources in order to gain benefits that help elevate them all closer to the top players. And, of course, expect new civilizations and leaders.

The Historic Moments, city flipping, and ages all play into one another. You might remember Golden Ages from past Civilization titles; typically, they were short-term boosts to your civilization's happiness or output that lasted for a few turns. This time, they last for an entire era (Ancient, Medieval, and so on), and they affect a resource called loyalty. With loyalty, you can flip other civilizations' cities without firing a shot—just like culture-flipping in, say, Civilization IV—or have yours flipped away from you.

In Golden Ages, your loyalty is increased and your cultural influence on other civs is powerful. In Dark Ages, it's decreased, and you're vulnerable. But even in a Dark Age, there's hope; you can use special Dark Age policies to ultimately find your way to a Heroic Age, which is even better than a Golden Age.

Historic Moments are already in the game, in a way—they include events like circumnavigating the globe. But now there are more of them, and they're not just fun milestones. As you accumulate Historic Moments, you gain progress toward a future Golden Age. They're also added to your Timeline, a new view that lets you see your progress up to the current day. Video game company Firaxis says this Timeline view is, among other things, intended to help you find your bearings when you're returning to a game you had left behind for a while.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

A city loyalty system with the prospect of gaining or loosing cities (to rivals or to independence) if they aren't loyal to the empire.

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Warmonger penalties aren't a great design - so I think they're changing in the new expansion. But for the moment, you'll just have to utilise the Causus Belli mechanic and make sure that you peace out before taking the last city - making sure they Cede the cities they've captured to you in the process.