Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Civilization VI is a turn-based 4X strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games, released on October 21, 2016, for Microsoft Windows, and on October 24, 2016, for macOS, and the Linux version released on February 9, 2017, as the sixth main installment in the long-running Civilization series.[1][2][3][4] In the game, players lead one of many historical civilizations, directing its growth from the ancient era through technological, cultural, diplomatic, and military advancements toward victory conditions such as domination, scientific supremacy, cultural hegemony, or religious conversion.[1] Civilization VI introduced innovations like expandable city districts for specialized production—such as campuses for science or holy sites for faith—and active research mechanics that enable players to prioritize and boost tech or civics tree progress, enhancing strategic depth over prior entries.[1] The title received two major expansions, Rise and Fall in 2018 adding governors, loyalty mechanics, and era scores, and Gathering Storm in 2019 incorporating world congress diplomacy, natural disasters, and climate change effects, alongside numerous DLC packs introducing new leaders, civilizations, and scenarios.[5] Critically praised for its refined gameplay and visual overhaul, Civilization VI won Best Strategy Game at The Game Awards 2016 and has achieved commercial success, with over 10 million units sold on Steam by 2023.[6][7]Gameplay
Core Mechanics
Civilization VI is a turn-based 4X strategy game where players lead a historical civilization from the Ancient Era to the Information Age, managing expansion, resource exploitation, and competition with AI or human opponents to achieve one of several victory conditions, including domination, science, culture, religion, or score (the default if the game reaches the turn limit without another victory), with diplomatic victory introduced in the Gathering Storm expansion.[8] The gameplay unfolds on a procedurally generated hexagonal tile map, where terrain features like rivers, mountains, and forests influence movement costs, defensive bonuses, and base yields of food (for population growth), production (for building units and structures), gold (for maintenance and purchases), science (for technology research), culture (for civics advancement), and faith (for religious spread).[8] Each turn represents a variable time period—initially years, shortening in later eras—during which players issue orders to cities and units before yields are calculated and processed.[8] Cities form the economic and military core, founded by settler units on suitable tiles and expanding culturally to claim territory up to five tiles outward, though citizens can only work tiles within three tiles of the city center to generate base yields, with citizens automatically or manually assigned to these tiles.[8] Improvements on tiles four or five tiles away provide access to resources such as luxuries and strategic resources but do not contribute base yields unless the tiles are worked.[8] Population grows via surplus food (two food per citizen required for maintenance), limited by housing and amenities from luxury resources or entertainment districts; higher population enables more tile work and specialist slots in buildings.[8] Production queues in cities construct buildings, wonders, units, or infrastructure, with completion times measured in turns based on production yields, which can be accelerated by chopping forests, great people, or policy cards.[8] Units are generally limited to one per tile, though limited stacking is permitted: military units can stack with civilian or support units (e.g., a warrior protecting a settler or a battering ram attached to a swordsman), and later in the game, corps and army mechanics allow combining two or three identical military units into a single powerful unit.[8][9] Units include military types (melee with base combat strength around 20 for early warriors, ranged, and cavalry), civilian builders (three charges to improve tiles like farms or mines for yield boosts), traders (establishing routes for gold and food), and settlers.[8] Movement points dictate range per turn (typically two for land units), affected by terrain and roads; combat resolves via strength comparisons, with melee attackers moving into defeated units' tiles upon victory while ranged attackers remain in their original positions, and defenders gaining bonuses from hills or rivers.[8] Strategic resources like iron and horses unlock advanced units via the technology tree, comprising over 65 nodes progressed by science yields from libraries or campuses; in the base game and Rise and Fall expansion, access to at least one (or two, depending on bonuses) improved iron resource is required to build swordsmen with no per-unit cost, while in the Gathering Storm expansion, swordsmen require 20 iron from the strategic resource stockpile per unit built.[8][10][11] Parallel to technology, the civics tree—advanced by culture from theaters or monuments—unlocks governments (e.g., autocracy providing +1 to all yields (Science, Culture, Faith, Food, Production, Gold) for each Government Plaza building, Diplomatic Quarter building, and Palace in a city, plus a production boost toward wonders (but not toward military units)) and policies; great people are recruited by accumulating Great Person Points generated from specialized districts, buildings, projects, and other sources, though civics-unlocked policies can provide bonuses to their generation.[8] Diplomacy involves meeting other leaders to negotiate trades (e.g., open borders for 30 turns, research agreements) or alliances (which automatically include defensive pacts), with grievances accumulating from surprise wars (bypassing casus belli but incurring penalties) versus formal declarations after denunciations.[8] City-states offer quests and envoys for bonuses, while resources are improved by builders (e.g., plantations for luxury dyes providing +1 amenity to up to four cities that need them the most) to sustain growth and military power.[8]Key Innovations
Civilization VI introduced districts as a core mechanic, allowing cities to physically expand across the map by placing specialized structures on adjacent tiles rather than stacking all buildings in a single city center. Districts such as campuses (for science), holy sites (for faith), and industrial zones (for production) each contribute unique yields and can receive adjacency bonuses from terrain, resources, or neighboring districts, fostering strategic decisions in city placement and empire layout from the early game onward. This design shifts emphasis from generic city growth to specialized urban planning, limiting specialty districts to one per three population points, while non-specialty districts (such as Aqueducts and Neighborhoods) ignore this requirement, to discourage overly dominant "super cities" and encourage wider empire development.[12][13][14] Eurekas and inspirations provide targeted boosts to technological and civic research, respectively, granting a percentage of the total cost of the technology or civic (50% in the base game, reduced to 40% with the Rise and Fall expansion) upon completing predefined actions, such as building a mine on a resource for the Wheel technology eureka or killing an enemy with a slinger unit for archery. These mechanics replace passive advisor hints with actionable quests that simulate historical breakthroughs, guiding players toward efficient paths without mandating them, though their static nature across playthroughs can limit variability.[15][16][17] The policy card system enables dynamic governance adjustments, where players slot cards unlocked via the civics tree into limited government slots categorized by type (e.g., economic, military, diplomatic) to apply immediate bonuses like increased settler production or unit combat strength. Cards can be freely swapped upon adopting new civics or governments, offering tactical flexibility to adapt to evolving threats or strategies, distinct from the more rigid civic choices in prior entries.[13] Research progression splits into a scientific technology tree for units, buildings, and wonders, advanced via science yields, and a cultural civics tree for policies, governments, and diplomacy, advanced via culture, allowing balanced or specialized advancement toward victory paths.[13]Victory Conditions and Endgame
In Civilization VI, players can achieve victory through one of several distinct paths, each emphasizing different strategic priorities such as military conquest, technological advancement, cultural influence, religious propagation, diplomatic maneuvering, or overall performance. The base game offers domination, science, culture, religious, and score victories, with diplomatic victory added via the Gathering Storm expansion released on February 14, 2019.[18][19] These conditions encourage diverse playstyles, but pursuing one often requires trade-offs in resource allocation and city development across the game's eras. Domination victory demands military supremacy, requiring the conquest of every rival civilization's original capital while retaining one's own.[18] Science victory focuses on technological progress, achieved by the first civilization to complete a sequence of space projects—launching an Earth satellite and moon landing; in the base game and Rise and Fall expansion, followed by separate Mars reactor, hydroponics, and habitation modules, which can be completed in any order, for immediate victory upon completion of all three; the Gathering Storm expansion changes the Mars phase to a single Launch Mars Colony project (replacing the three modules), followed by the exoplanet expedition launched from a spaceport, which requires the ship to travel 50 light-years to its destination at a base speed of 1 LY/turn, acceleratable by multiple optional Terrestrial and Lagrange Laser Station projects (each adding +1 LY/turn and stacking across cities, unlocked by the Offworld Mission technology) and by winning the International Space Station competition at gold tier (+3 LY/turn), allowing speeds to commonly exceed 3 LY/turn—typically necessitating heavy investment in campuses, industrial zones, and the Rationalism policy by the information era.[18][20] Culture victory hinges on generating overwhelming tourism output such that the player's total foreign tourists exceed the domestic tourists of each other civilization individually (i.e., surpassing the highest single opponent's domestic total), often via wonders like the Eiffel Tower (providing +2 Appeal to all tiles in the owner's territory)[21], national parks, rock bands, and great works, amplified by policies such as broadcasting and trade route bonuses.[18] Religious victory requires establishing a pantheon and religion early, then spreading it to make it the predominant religion in more than 50% of the cities in every other extant civilization individually; retaining the holy city is not required for victory; this relies on missionaries, apostles, and theological combat mechanics.[18] Diplomatic victory, exclusive to Gathering Storm, involves amassing 20 diplomatic victory points primarily through World Congress resolutions, where players spend accumulated diplomatic favor to vote for points or against opponents, and specific triggers such as certain wonders, technologies like Seasteads, civics like Global Warming Mitigation, and scored competitions; additional points come from emergency aid and wonders like the Potala Palace (+1 Diplomatic Policy slot and +1 Diplomatic Victory Point upon completion), though actions like warmongering or resource overuse may reduce Diplomatic Favor.[22][19] If no player secures a primary victory by turn 500 on standard game speed (adjustable via settings), the game ends with a score victory awarded to the highest-scoring civilization. For the Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm rulesets, the score is calculated as follows: 3 points per civic, 5 points per city + 2 points per district (4 points for unique districts) + 1 point per building + 1 point per citizen (population) for the empire total, 5 points per Great Person, 10 points for founding a religion + 2 points per foreign city following it for religion, 2 points per technology (including future techs), 15 points per wonder, and Era Score from accumulated historic moments.[23] The endgame, spanning atomic and information eras, intensifies with mechanics like nuclear weapons for domination pushes, power grids for district yields, and global events such as rising seas or carbon recapture projects influencing viability of late strategies; prolonged games often feature defensive alliances or sabotage to block rivals' progress, though computational demands can slow turns significantly on larger maps.[24]Development
Announcement and Pre-Production
Firaxis Games, the developer behind the Civilization series, officially announced Sid Meier's Civilization VI on May 11, 2016, via a reveal trailer, press release, and social media.[25][26] The reveal trailer served as a cinematic introduction to the game, positioning the title as an evolution of the turn-based 4X strategy formula, though it did not include gameplay footage; innovations like multi-tile districts for city expansion and dynamic research trees that unlock bonuses during technology progression were detailed in the accompanying press release and announcement materials, with early hands-on gameplay coverage arriving later in late May 2016. A release date of October 21, 2016, was set for the Microsoft Windows platform. Aspyr Media announced the Mac version on October 4, 2016, releasing it on October 24, 2016, and the Linux version on January 9, 2017, releasing it on February 9, 2017.[27][28] Pre-production commenced in the years following the 2013 release of Civilization V's final expansion, Brave New World, as the Firaxis team—led by longtime designer Ed Beach—conducted post-mortems on prior entries to identify core improvements.[29] Beach, reflecting on Civilization V's city mechanics, prioritized prototyping flexible urban planning systems to overcome the constraints of fixed city grids, which had limited late-game strategic depth in earlier games.[29] This phase involved conceptualizing district-based city building as a foundational mechanic, allowing settlements to expand outward with specialized zones for production, culture, and science, a decision informed by internal playtesting and Sid Meier's emphasis on emergent player agency.[30] The effort was guided by Meier's high-level design input, drawing from his experience across the series, though day-to-day leadership fell to Beach and producer Dennis Shirk to refine these ideas into viable prototypes before entering full production.[31]Design Process
Firaxis Games approached the design of Civilization VI by critically evaluating subsystems from Civilization V and its expansions, aiming to innovate while preserving core turn-based strategy elements. Lead designer Ed Beach, who previously contributed to Civilization V's Gods & Kings and Brave New World expansions, focused on making the map more strategically vital than in prior entries.[32][33] This involved reviewing and modifying key mechanics, such as city growth and research, to address perceived shortcomings like overly monolithic urban centers and passive technological progression.[32] A central innovation was the districts system, which organizes city buildings into tile-specific zones (e.g., campuses for science, industrial zones for production), requiring players to balance adjacency bonuses from terrain—like mountains enhancing science yields—against opportunity costs.[12][33] Specialty districts are limited to one per three population points, while infrastructure districts such as Aqueduct, Neighborhood, and Spaceport ignore the population requirement, promoting city specialization over universal "super cities" and integrating long-term land management into gameplay, with vulnerabilities to pillaging that heighten warfare's tactical depth.[12][34][14] This design drew from a desire to evolve city planning into multi-phase decisions, including space for wonders and evolving structures like spaceports unlocked via technology.[12] Research mechanics were overhauled with "Eureka" boosts, where specific in-game actions—such as constructing ships—accelerate tech tree progress, tying advancement to player choices rather than linear queuing.[33] Builders were introduced to facilitate tile improvements and district support, while cities expand across multiple hexes through gradual accumulation of culture output.[34] Combat saw refinements, including limited unit stacking into corps and support units like medics, to bridge tactical gaps without overcomplicating turns.[33] These changes, including major systems like espionage and religion at launch on October 21, 2016 (while features like World Congress and Diplomatic Victory were added later in the Gathering Storm expansion on February 14, 2019), sought to deepen integration across map layout, diplomacy, and victory paths.[33][35] Civilization-specific abilities were handcrafted for uniqueness—such as Norway's ocean traversal or Poland's Golden Liberty ability (from the post-launch Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack), which triggers a culture bomb claiming surrounding tiles upon completing an Encampment or Fort, enabling direct border expansion without reliance on culture yields—while reusing modular patterns to ensure balance and accessibility.[36][34] Post-release reflection identified espionage's passive nature as underdeveloped, lacking robust defenses, and noted endgame shallowness compared to Civilization V's ideological systems, informing future expansions.[34] Overall, the process emphasized iterative subsystem tweaks to heighten player agency and replayability.[32]Initial Release
Sid Meier's Civilization VI was initially released on October 21, 2016, for Microsoft Windows, with the macOS version following on October 24, 2016, and the Linux version released on February 9, 2017.[37] The game was developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games, marking the sixth main installment in the Civilization series.[1] It launched exclusively on personal computers, available digitally via platforms such as Steam and retail copies, without simultaneous console or mobile releases.[38] The macOS port, handled by Aspyr Media, became available on October 24, 2016, while the Linux version also utilized Aspyr's adaptation but was released on February 9, 2017, which did not align with the PC launch timeline.[1][39] Players could pre-load the game from October 18, 2016, and it unlocked on October 21, 2016, at region-specific times. The only pre-order benefit providing early access was to the Aztec Civilization Pack, which became available for free to all players on January 19, 2017.[40][41] No major launch-day technical disruptions were widely reported, though post-release patches addressed minor balance and UI issues in subsequent weeks.[1] At launch, the base game featured 18 playable civilizations, with the Aztecs (19th) available as a pre-order bonus that became accessible to all players on January 19, 2017.[42] Each was led by historical figures, and the game emphasized strategic depth through multiplayer and single-player campaigns spanning from the Stone Age to the space era. The initial release price was set at $59.99 USD for the standard edition, with a digital deluxe edition offering the 25th Anniversary digital soundtrack and access to post-launch DLC packs. The hardcover art book was part of the separate 25th Anniversary Edition.[43] This version laid the foundation for future expansions, focusing on empirical gameplay innovations derived from player feedback in prior titles, with the Aztec Civilization Pack available as Day 1 DLC for pre-order customers.[44][45]Ports and Ongoing Updates
Civilization VI was initially released for Microsoft Windows on October 21, 2016, with macOS and Linux ports following shortly thereafter; the macOS version, handled by Aspyr Media, launched on October 24, 2016, while Linux support arrived on February 9, 2017.[46][4] Mobile adaptations expanded accessibility, with the iPad version debuting on December 21, 2017, and the iPhone edition on October 4, 2018, both also developed by Aspyr to deliver the full core experience with touch controls.[47][48] Console ports broadened the audience further: Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018, without Rise and Fall or Gathering Storm at launch (which arrived later via a paid Expansion Bundle on November 22, 2019), and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One simultaneously on November 22, 2019, with the expansions available the same day as a separate paid Expansion Bundle, not included with the base game.[49][50] The Android port, again by Aspyr, released on August 13, 2020, as a free-to-start model with turn limits and in-app purchases for full access.[51] Post-launch, Firaxis Games and Aspyr provided extensive ongoing support via patches and updates, focusing on bug fixes, gameplay balance, UI enhancements, and compatibility improvements across platforms. Early patches, such as the Fall 2016 update (version 1.0.0.38), introduced new multiplayer scenarios, maps, and DirectX 12 support, while the Winter 2016 update (1.0.0.56) refined core mechanics like city yields and AI behavior.[52][53] This pattern continued with over 100 documented updates by 2023, including major balance overhauls tied to expansions and free content like new leaders; for instance, the August 2023 patch adjusted abilities for leaders such as Julius Caesar, Wu Zetian, Harald Hardrada (Varangian), and Abraham Lincoln.[54] Maintenance persisted into 2024, with Steam builds on July 15 and August 7 addressing minor issues and optimizations.[55] Despite the February 11, 2025 release of Civilization VII, Civilization VI received platform-tailored patches, including an Android update on June 12, 2025, demonstrating sustained commitment to legacy platforms amid shifting development focus.[56]Downloadable Content
Major Expansions
Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, the first major expansion, launched on February 8, 2018, for Windows PC, with subsequent releases for macOS and Linux in March 2018, iOS on July 24, 2019, and the Expansion Bundle for consoles on November 22, 2019.[57][58][59][60][61] It introduced core mechanics including city loyalty, which enables population shifts between empires based on cultural and amenity influences, a governor system allowing specialization of cities via governors with unique abilities and promotion trees, which are promoted using governor titles earned over time, government plazas as new districts, and eras mechanics with golden ages providing bonuses and dark ages imposing penalties, alongside new civilizations such as the Cree and Mongolia, additional leaders.[62][57] Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, the second and final major expansion, released on February 14, 2019, for Windows PC, followed by ports to other platforms.[63] This pack emphasized environmental dynamics, incorporating a dynamic climate system where industrial actions contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, rising sea levels, and natural disasters like volcanoes and storms that alter terrain and require adaptation strategies such as flood barriers.[5] It expanded diplomacy through a renewed World Congress for resolutions on trade and conflicts, introduced a Future Era with technologies such as Smart Materials, Seasteads, and Offworld Mission (while Atomic Era technologies include Rocketry and Nuclear Fission), and added civilizations like the Maori and Inca, leaders such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, who can lead either England or France, and wonders. The alternate personas feature for select leaders, such as Teddy Roosevelt and Catherine de Medici, was introduced later in the Persona Packs released in July 2020.[64][65] Both expansions require the base game and are often bundled for comprehensive play, significantly extending gameplay depth with over 10 new civilizations and leaders combined across them.[5]Seasonal Passes
The New Frontier Pass served as Civilization VI's primary seasonal content initiative, bundling six downloadable content packs delivered bimonthly from May 2020 to March 2021 at a cost of $39.99.[66][67] This model extended the game's lifespan by introducing fresh gameplay elements without requiring individual purchases for each release, while also providing concurrent free updates such as balance adjustments and quality-of-life improvements to all owners regardless of pass purchase.[65] Owners received exclusive items, including the "Rough Rider Teddy" persona pack for the American civilization.[68] In total, the pass added eight new civilizations, nine leaders, six game modes, multiple city-states, great people, resources, world wonders, disasters, and map types, enhancing strategic depth in areas like diplomacy, combat, and age progression.[65][66] Some content, such as certain game modes, required ownership of the Rise and Fall or Gathering Storm expansions.[69] The packs were structured as follows:| Pack # | Release Date | Name | Key Contents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 21, 2020 | Maya & Gran Colombia Pack | Two new civilizations (Maya led by Lady Six Sky; Gran Colombia led by Simón Bolívar), the Apocalypse game mode, new city-states, resources, and natural wonders.[66][70] |
| 2 | July 23, 2020 | Ethiopia Pack | One new civilization (Ethiopia led by Menelik II), the Secret Societies game mode, the Diplomatic Quarter district with two buildings (Consulate and Chancery).[65] |
| 3 | September 24, 2020 | Byzantium & Gaul Pack | Two new civilizations (Byzantium led by Basil II; Gaul led by Ambiorix), one new game mode (Dramatic Ages, requires Rise & Fall or Gathering Storm), two new world wonders, and the Highlands map type (requires expansion).[69][71] |
| 4 | November 19, 2020 | Babylon Pack | One new civilization (Babylon led by Hammurabi), the Heroes & Legends game mode, six new city-states, and 24 great people.[65] |
| 5 | January 28, 2021 | Vietnam & Kublai Khan Pack | One new civilization (Vietnam led by Bà Triệu), Kublai Khan as a leader for Mongolia or China, the Monopolies & Corporations game mode, and the Preserve district with the Grove and Sanctuary buildings.[66][72] |
| 6 | March 25, 2021 | Portugal Pack | One new civilization (Portugal led by João III), one new game mode, new world wonders, and a new map type.[66][67] |
Additional Packs and Scenarios
The additional packs and scenarios for Civilization VI comprise six standalone downloadable content releases issued by Firaxis Games between December 2016 and October 2017, most introducing one or two new civilizations with unique leaders—except the Vikings Scenario Pack, which adds only a scenario, natural wonders, and city-states without a new playable civilization for standard modes—alongside a dedicated scenario mode that modifies core gameplay rules, victory conditions, and maps to evoke specific historical or thematic challenges.[74] These packs also incorporate supplementary elements such as new wonders, city-states, and resources, enhancing strategic depth without altering the base game's fundamental mechanics. Often bundled for purchase, they targeted players seeking variety beyond the initial roster of 18 civilizations (with the Aztecs as a pre-order bonus, later made available to all, leading some counts to list 19), with scenarios emphasizing asymmetric warfare, trade, or territorial expansion over standard playthroughs.[68][75] Key releases include the Vikings Scenario Pack, launched on December 20, 2016, which features Viking raiding mechanics allowing play as Harald Hardrada leading Norway, King Canute leading Denmark, or Olof Skötkonung leading Sweden in the "Vikings, Traders, and Raiders!" scenario set in a fractured Europe map spanning 787–1087 (8th–11th centuries) where players balance pillaging coastal settlements against inland consolidation for a trade-and-conquest victory.[76] It further includes three natural wonders (e.g., Giant's Causeway) and six city-states, two of which—Armagh (Monastery) and Granada (Alcazar)—enable unique tile improvements.[76] The Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack, also released December 20, 2016, introduces Poland led by Jadwiga, with bonuses to reliquaries and mounted units, paired with the "Jadwiga's Legacy" scenario simulating 15th-century Eastern European conflicts against the Teutonic Order, where defensive fortifications and knightly orders drive a faith-and-military victory path.[77] Similarly, the Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack (February 23, 2017) features Australia under John Curtin, emphasizing coastal housing and appeal-based adjacency bonuses from pastures, and the "Outback Tycoon" scenario, a 60-turn no-combat scenario focused on resource exploitation in the Australian interior for victory based on achieving the highest Gold Per Turn (in multiplayer) or exceeding a threshold (in single-player).[78] Subsequent packs expand non-European representation: the Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack (March 28, 2017) adds Persia (Cyrus, with the Pairidaeza tile improvement) and Macedon (Alexander, leveraging hypaspists), including the Apadana wonder and the “Conquests of Alexander” scenario for rapid empire-building via military conquests.[79] The Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack (July 27, 2017) incorporates Nubia under Amanitore, titled Kandake (a Nubian royal title denoting queen or queen mother), with pyramid-building and pitati archers, plus the "Gifts of the Nile" scenario centered on Nile Valley irrigation and trade routes, with victory to the first player to complete 7 Temples to Amun. Finally, the Khmer and Indonesia Civilization & Scenario Pack (October 19, 2017) brings Khmer (Jayavarman VII, Holy Sites as districts with riverside adjacency bonuses for Faith generation) and Indonesia (Gitarja, Jong unit and Kampung tile improvement built on coastal or lake tiles), with the "Path to Nirvana" scenario focused on religious competition around the Indian Ocean.[80]| Pack Name | Release Date | Civilizations/Leaders | Primary Scenario | Notable Additions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vikings Scenario Pack | Dec 20, 2016 | Vikings (scenario only)/Harald Hardrada (Norway), King Canute (Denmark), Olof Skötkonung (Sweden) | Vikings, Traders, and Raiders! | 3 natural wonders; 6 city-states (2 with unique improvements)[76] |
| Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack | Dec 20, 2016 | Poland/Jadwiga | Jadwiga's Legacy | Reliquary bonuses; knightly order mechanics[77] |
| Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack | Feb 23, 2017 | Australia/John Curtin | Outback Tycoon | Extra Housing from coastal cities and appeal-based adjacency bonuses from Pastures; production boosts from John Curtin's leader ability when targeted by a war declaration or after liberating a city-state; resource-focused map generation[78] |
| Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack | Mar 28, 2017 | Persia/Cyrus; Macedon/Alexander | Conquests of Alexander | Apadana and Mausoleum at Halicarnassus wonders; Pairidaeza tile improvement[79] |
| Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack | Jul 27, 2017 | Nubia/Amanitore | Gifts of the Nile | Jebel Barkal wonder; mine gold yields |
| Khmer and Indonesia Civilization & Scenario Pack | Oct 19, 2017 | Khmer/Jayavarman VII; Indonesia/Gitarja | Path to Nirvana | Holy Sites as districts with riverside adjacency bonuses; Jong unit and Kampung tile improvement[80] |