Firaxis Games have released a new video giving us a sneak peak of the new civilization coming soon to Sid Meier's Civilization VI. This new civ is Persia, led by Cyrus the Great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIhkrcFIVow
Cyrus the Great earned his title during his reign as the first emperor of the Achaemenid empire, which is now recognized as the birthplace of the Persian empire. Cyrus spearheaded the first true centralized government and improved the empire's infrastructure dramatically. Under his reign, Persian citizens enjoyed relatively modern comforts like a postal system and developed civil services. The use of a single language across all parts of the empire also fostered more cooperation between his people. His rule went on to inspire similar systems of government in empires that came after Persia. His death is believed to be at the hands of Tomyris of Scythia, who leads the Scythian civilization in Civilization VI.
Unique Ability: Satrapies
Persia's unique ability gets Persia a free trade route after they've researched the Political Philosophy civic. Domestic trade routes also get a bonus, so you won't have to look outward for sources of income.
Leader Ability: Fall of Babylon
Declaring surprise wars on other civs get you less of a warmonger penalty and your units get one additional movement point in times of war.
Unique Unit: The Immortal
These heavy infantry units are powerful elite warriors that made up a large part of Persia's army during Cyrus' rule. Effective at both short-range as well as long-range, these Imperial Guards can weaken their targets from afar before moving in for their (much more) fatal blow.
Unique Improvement: The Pairidaeza
These gardens are little-enclosed places designed to look as close to paradise as you can get without moving to a tropical island. Historically, these gardens have been centers of both leisure and spirituality, and helped to influence garden design in other countries. In-game this improvement generates culture, gold and appeal and also gives bonuses for adjacent districts. Its yields can improve as new technology gets researched and unlocked.
A post on the game's Steam Community page also reveals that there's a free Spring Update coming soon. This update will contain balance changes and bug fixes as well as an as of yet unrevealed civ. This same post also mentions an upcoming scenario pack called the 'Double Civilization & Scenario Pack'. This pack will probably contain scenarios involving Persia and the mysterious second civ.
A release date hasn't been specified.
What do you think of Persia and Cyrus the Great? What do you think the second new civ might be? Let us know in the comments!
