Sid Meier's Civilization VI News

Can Civ 6's New Frontier Pass replace traditional expansions?

Recently, we were lucky enough to talk to two leading figures on Firaxis' Civilization VI development team - lead designer Anton Strenger and associate producer Kevin Schultz. You may have read how the recent New Frontier Pass season of micro-expansions has led to some of the highest player engagement since launch.

Or perhaps you read about the duo teasing how big April's free content patch will be, considering it's going to rebalance around two-thirds of all 50 of Civ 6's civilisations. Regardless, we generally got the impression that the pair were quite satisfied with how the New Frontier Pass had been received, and about how it worked as a method of delivering new content for the game as it matured.

It's a method that has its advantages and disadvantages, however, and after talking to Strenger it became apparent that doing regular season passes probably couldn't replace the need for a more traditional expansion. "I think it depends what you're going for," he said. "One of the advantages that I would put in the column of expansions is that you have more time to embed systems at a deeper level that touch all sorts of different elements of the game."

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Sid Meier's Civilization VI has finished the New Frontier Pass with a Portugal DLC

The sixth and final DLC pack is out as part of the New Frontier Pass with a Portugal DLC for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/03/sid-meiers-civilization-vi-has-finished-the-new-frontier-pass-with-a-portugal-dlc

The Grocer King leads Portugal in the next Civ 6 DLC

March 25, 2021 The Portugal Pack is now available.

Earlier this week Firaxis announced the sixth and final pack in the New Frontier Pass, the year-long run of micro DLC expansions and free updates that have introduced everything from new civs to new gamemodes, and more.

The final DLC in this season is the Portugal pack, introducing the fan-favourite civilisation into Civilization VI, and now we know more about its abilities and play styles. Ya boy-o, João (the third) leads the nation. He was King of Portugal in the mid 16th century, and the kingdom rose to global prominence in trade and international relations during his reign.

It's of no surprise then that, as a civ, Portugal specialises in maritime trade and meeting other civilisations. João III's unique ability is 'Porta Do Cerco', and it gives +1 sight to all units. It also grants one additional trade route capacity every time you meet a new civilisation, and you also get open borders with all city-states. This ties in perfectly with the innate abilities and unique units of Portugal itself. The civilisation's innate ability is 'Casa Da India', and restricts international trade routes so that they're only able to reach cities on the coast, or with a harbour.

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The final Civ 6 New Frontier Pass pack adds Portugal and... zombies?

March 25, 2021 The Portugal Pack is available now.

The final pack in Civilization VI's New Frontier Pass is coming, and it's bringing something everyone was asking for, as well as something no-one was asking for. But can you guess which is which? First off, Portugal will be added to the list of Civ 6 civs, while a new optional game mode is being introduced called 'Zombie Defence'.

Portugal - whose leader is currently unknown - will be a civilisation focused on rewarding maritime exploration and trade, which is not something many others specialise in right now. This is a highly requested faction that was pretty popular in past iterations of the game, so it's good to see them staging a comeback. We expect to learn more about them in a future update, either at the end of this week or early next week.

The new zombie defence mode is yet another creative experiment from the team, and one which will test your combat prowess to the max. Any unit that's killed during the course of a game will have a chance to come back as a zombie horde. These zombies can multiply their numbers by killing yet more units, and then suddenly you're starring in a World War Z sequel, except Brad Pitt's just been eaten and you're all boned.

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Civ 6's Portugal DLC pack is out now

The last piece of Civilization VI's New Frontier Pass is out now, adding the fan-favourite Portugal to the 4X game's roster of playable civilisations. The new micro-DLC also adds Portugal's 'Grocer King' João III as a leader, as well as the slightly goofy zombie defence mode.

As a nation, Portugal is focused on maritime trade and exploration, with its unique unit, the Nau, replacing the standard caravel - bringing a free promotion and a lower maintenance cost to the table. João III himself adds +1 sight to all units, so exploring is significantly easier to do as Portugal. As Portugal, you'll also get an extra trade route added to your capacity each time you encounter a new civilisation, so there's plenty of good reasons to head out on the open sea and start scouring the globe.

Zombies mode, also introduced in today's patch, is the more fanciful and experimental part of the package. You'll have to fight back against hordes of zombies raised from the remains of normal combat units killed on the field, and these hordes will grow by wandering around killing more units on their own.

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