A first look at Korea and its leader in Civilization 6's DLC
It's coming in February
Today, Firaxis has been shining a spotlight on Korea, one of the new civs coming to Civilization 6 with the launch of the Rise and Fall expansion, due out in February. Korea’s led by Queen Seondeok, who by all accounts was a pretty great ruler, heralding a renaissance in the historical kingdom of Silla. She did have to contend with dumb blokes who were scared of women rulers, however. Take a look at the ‘first look’ video below.
Seondeok was a shrewd diplomat, and as well as supporting the arts and sciences she promoted education and social welfare. We could probably do with some of that in 2017. This is reflected in her immortal Civilization 6 counterpart. Korea gets a special district, for instance, replacing the campus with the Seowan, an academy that explores politics, culture and philosophy.
When science needs to make room for war, Korea’s borders can be defended with the civ’s unique unit: the hwacha. It’s a colourful, almost cute cart, but appearances can be deceiving. The hwacha is also a devastating weapon, capable of firing 100 arrow rockets, or 200 bullets with a modification.
Both Korea and Seondeok get unique abilities, too. For the civ, there’s the Three Kingdom ability. Essentially, it takes advantage of the Seowan by allowing you to build mines and farms adjacent to it for a bonus to science and food - life’s two most important things. Seondeok’s ability is called Hwarang, and it grants bonuses to science and culture in every city that has a governor.
Despite the big changes that Civ 6 brought with it, I found I stopped playing pretty quickly. It’s probably the least I’ve played any Civilization, even though I think that, on a mechanical level, it’s the strongest the series has ever been. After more than two decades, I think I’m maybe just a little burned out and waiting for the series to do something dramatically different. I’m not sure if Rise and Fall will be that, but it’s certainly starting to sound intriguing, with its loyalty system and its dark and golden ages concept. How about you?
Civilization 6: Rise and Fall it due out on February 8.