Last month, Firaxis quietly released the first new content for Civilization 6, the Winter Update, adding a new Civ and some scenarios. It’s a hit-and-miss affair.
The new Civ, Poland, is great for players (like myself) who prefer to take the more literal, direct approach to victory. Its unique building doesn’t mess around, it just gives you more production and gold.
Its unique unit doesn’t have any weird complimentary effects, it just bulldozes enemy units out of its square. And the return of the “culture bomb”, which lets Polish players build forts that push national borders back, is borderline game-breaking on smaller maps.
I can understand people not really digging how crude most of these benefits are, but as someone who is still trying to get my head around the finer points of Civ 6’s new systems while unlearning established Civ V routines, Poland felt like a good way to bridge the gap, employing some old-fashioned strategies that aren’t quite as useful with other Civ 6 factions.
The other selling point with the Winter Update was the addition of two major scenarios, one based on the Ottoman invasion of Central Europe, the other on the Vikings.
The Ottoman scenario basically spams powerful Janissaries at you until one of the defenders survives long enough to get enough points to win.
The Ottoman one is a letdown. It’s bizarre that it was even released as an “official” scenario at all, since it’s so thin (everybody simply starts in green fields with settlers then goes at it), and the focus of your defence (and point of the game) is never really explained.
It just turns into a boring, messy, Civ 6 horde mode. But then, since it’s included in a $US5 ($7) piece of DLC alongside the Polish faction itself, maybe they figured it was more useful as a cheap add-on than something worth highlighting in its own right.
Vikings, Traders and Raiders!, the second scenario, is much better. As it had want to be, since it was $US5 ($7) on its own. It’s far more realised, with a European map that’s already populated, and a simple and fun objective: control one of three Scandinavian factions and send them forth to pillage and conquer everything else in your way.
The unique Viking Longship ability helps add some depth to your strategies, and I had a blast conquering Britain then moving on to butt heads with the Franks and Byzantines.
The Viking scenario has a great little map of Europe
Two hits and a miss, then! Not a bad start for Civ 6’s post-release plans, then. Now, if they can just get around to adding Australia for once…
Comments
2 responses to “Taking Civilization 6’s New Stuff For A Spin”
Two “hits”, eh? I guess that any new empire is worthwhile as it expends the base game and adds to the living world, although $5 is a little steep for just one. Everything else in the two packs is just filler.
Bearing in mind that there’s a hella many excellent, quality games that you can get for $5 (not to mention dozens of free scenario mods). The question that really should be asked is if Vikings competes with a stand alone game on its own terms and at this price point. Sadly, the vikings scenario is filler at best, and literally useless to anyone who is primarily interested in the base game.
As far as I can tell, these DLC are quick padding to drain two DLC from the four DLC owed to Deluxe Edition owners before more substantial fair comes along. It’s also pretty difficult to see how anyone is objectively going to get US$10 worth of play value out of either.
I think there are about 5 people who actually play the Scenarios in the Civ series – I’m always kind of confused about who those are for. So that Viking DLC seems like a complete waste of money to me.
Poland – new civs are always welcome, but $5 seems a little steep for a single Civ. That said it’s actually cheaper than a single civ currently costs for Civ V, and that’s DLC that came out years ago for a game that came out even more years ago, so I guess we should count our blessings. I’m sure I’ll buy it as soon as it goes on sale.