Civilization VI is getting a large Fall 2017 Update soon. In a blog-style news post Firaxis developer Sarah Darney explains what’s being worked on, including a large focus on religion.
“We heard your requests for a deeper overall experience – and took that to heart with revamped religious combat,” writes Darney. “Religious units can now exert Zone of Control and receive Flank and Support bonuses in religious combat. Meanwhile, the Guru religious support unit can heal nearby religious units. Finally, the Religion Lens has been overhauled to improve overall usability and readability. You’ll also find UI touches, such as religion indicators on unit flags, to remove all guesswork on where a unit’s allegiance lies.”
New content is also being added to the religion side of Civ 6, including two new Pantheons, and new Founder, Follower, Enhancer, and Worship Beliefs. These new beliefs will unlock two new religious buildings as well as a new religious unit, the warrior monk.
In addition to religion, the Fall 2017 Update will also improve the much-maligned AI as well as the interface. In particular the AI’s use of oceans and navies is being improved, which will hopefully make water-covered maps as challenging as land maps – a frequent balance issue in Civ games.
For UI changes, menus have been made more moddable and the Diplomacy screen more intuitive.
There’s more coming to the Fall 2017 Update, but for now Firaxis isn’t even providing a release date yet. The previous big update, the Summer 2017 Update, also worked on AI improvements.
Civilization VI released almost exactly one year ago for PC (read our review). It was well-received by critics and fans, though notably feels like a step down compared to Civilization V’s several years worth of updates, patches, and expansions. Civ 5 still maintains more active players, though both games are within the top 30 games played on Steam.
