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Civilization VII lead designer Ed Beach has come on screen to announce some last-minute changes coming to Update 1.3.0.
Firaxis Games announced most of what Beach revealed in a new YouTube video today. We know that Firaxis plans big changes to Legacy Paths and Victories. They’ll also allow players to play an entire civilization for an entire playthrough.
Firaxis also announced the Tides of Power Collection. As a gift for fans, they are launching this collection for free starting this month until the end of the year.
The newest announcements are not as big, but they are all clear crowd-pleasers.
A Change To Persia’s Civilizations
Firaxis added Qajar as a civilization in last September’s Right To Rule Collection. This is based on a real Qajar empire, also known as the Guarded Domains of Iran.
The Qajar is one of the last monarchies in Iran’s history, and one of the longest lasting. From 1789 to 1925, it stood for a solid 136 years. The Qajar family were also central figures in the unification of Iran.
The problem was, Firaxis already named an earlier civilization as Persia. The truth is, both were from the same country and in different historical epochs.
At the same time, they both represented completely different empires with no direct connection between their rulers as well. Firaxis chose to rename Persia as Achaemenid Persia.
The real life Achaemenid empire was founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC and deposed by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. In many ways, they were ancient history’s forerunners of modern civilization.
The Achaemenids innovated on things like a postal system, official languages, a civil service, and a centralized government. One could say the Greeks and Romans copied the Achaemenids’ homework.
Ancient Persia’s Buffs
Subsequently, Civ VII’s are getting new buffs. For one, Achaemenid Persia gets cultural benefits for erecting a Pairidaeza. These are the glorious Persian gardens of antiquity, also referred to as paradise gardens.
And then, Achaemenid Persia also gets bonuses to happiness and culture for capturing settlements.
Other Civilizations Are Getting Buffs Too
Other civilizations also get improvements. Namely, the following listed below:
- Aksum (African kingdom spanning Ethiopia and Eritrea)
- Chola (Tamil dynasty from 9th to 13th century)
- Egypt
- Great Britain
- Hawaii
- Maya (MesoAmerican civilization that came after the Aztecs)
- Mississipian (collection of Native American societies around the Mississippi river valley)
- Prussia (German state formed from the Teutonic Order)
- Qing (China’s last imperial dynasty)
- Songhai (one of Africa’s largest empires from the 15th to 16th century)
- Spain
Beach explained one of the other changes. Egypt would get tailored bonuses for building naval structures across river tiles. But for the rest, we are going to have to wait until Firaxis releases the update and its patch notes.
The Civilization franchise has always been about a gameplay experience that makes us learn and think about history. Where it takes liberties, it compels us to learn about the real history. These changes do just that too, and that’s why this game will always be one for the history buffs.
You can watch Beach’s update video below.
