Batten down the hatches and raise the black flag — a Civilization 6 pirates scenario is making its debut later in October 2020 as part of a Civilization 6 update. This new scenario will let 1–4 players hunt for treasure and glory on a unique handcrafted map.
Civilization 6 is largely about players trying to become the dominant civilization in a world full of conflict and intrigue. A big part of the game is the constant release of new expansion content; most recently, Byzantium & Gaul were announced as two new civilizations coming to the New Frontier Pass. Now, pirates are showing up in force in a new special scenario for 1–4 players.
Check out what's coming later this month in the Civilization 6 pirates scenario!
Players can choose between one of four pirate factions, each of which has their own special active and passive abilities:
- Dread Pirate
- Active Ability – Walk the Plank
- Passive Ability – Fightin' is What We Do Best
- Privateer
- Active Ability – Bring Her Home
- Passive Ability – Letter of Marque
- Swashbuckler
- Active Ability – Tack Into the Wind
- Passive Ability – Sailing the Open Seas
- Hoarder
- Active Ability – Chain Shot
- Passive Ability – Mine! Mine! Mine!
Unfortunately, no specific details were shared about what these abilities will do, although players can probably get an idea of how they will work by their names and associated factions.
Speaking of factions, pirates won't be on the seas alone, either — they'll have to contend with the mighty maritime fleets of naval superpowers like the British, Dutch, and Spanish as they try to become the deadliest pirate on the open seas. The pirate players won't have any cities to control, either — a challenge that required the developer to discover the best way to make the Civilization 6 pirates scenario gameplay work.
"Civilization 6 assumes you can use cities to repair and replace units," explained Civilization 6 Associate Producer Kevin Schultz. "But pirates don't have cities or settlers or builders. We had to get creative in balancing how pirates heal units and survive against navies controlled by whole civilizations like England or Spain."
"To deal with this, we turned to Sid Meier's preferred model of game design: we programmed a playable prototype of our concept as quickly as possible and then we just played it to death," he continued. "The playtest feedback helped us find the fun and guided us forward."
When is the Civilization 6 Pirates Scenario Release Date?
The Civilization 6 pirates scenario release date is October 22, 2020, as noted in the Steam Community announcement. Thankfully, players won't have to wait too long to sail the high seas and blow some scallywags out of the water.
The addition of this new scenario isn't the only thing coming in the next free update, mind; the developers are also making some balance adjustments to the game, some of which were highly requested by the community. You can hear about those changes in detail by watching the video for this update. If you haven't yet jumped into Civilization 6, you can buy it for PC and consoles on the game's official website starting at $59.99 or your regional equivalent.
What do you think of the upcoming Civilization 6 pirates scenario? Do you think the developer should continue to mix up gameplay like this in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
