Civ 6: Rise and Fall: release date, new civs, Golden Ages, Governors - everything we know

⭐Otaku⭐

Civ VI's first big expansion, Rise and Fall, has been announced. We know quite a lot already, but as Firaxis's marketing campaign gets under way, you can bet that more details about the new civs will trickle out. Think of this article like a bucket, catching those drips: this is where you'll find all the latest about Rise and Fall, all in one handy place.

Civ 6 Rise and Fall release date

Rise and Fall is due to release on Steam on February 8, 2018. It will cost $29.99, €29.99, or £24.99.

Civ 6 Rise and Fall New Civs

Naturally, Rise and Fall will add several new civilisations to the base game. Firaxis have confirmed there will be eight new civs with nine new leaders (so someone is joining Greece in getting a second Firaxis-made ruler). None have been revealed just yet, but Firaxis like to drip feed them with their own trailers. With nine leaders to get through in roughly ten weeks, those trailers should kick off soon.

Expect the new civs to have bonuses and unique units relating to Rise and Fall's new systems - specifically, lead designer Anton Strenger told us that one leader in particular "plays with the Ages system in a very interesting way." Speaking of which...

Civ 6 Rise and Fall Golden Ages

Civilization 6: Rise and Fall

Golden Ages return in Rise and Fall, and they've brought friends. As you move between historic eras, you can trigger a Golden Age, a Dark Age, or neither, depending on how successful you've been in the preceding era.

'Success' in this context is measured by your Era Score - you need to hit a certain threshold to trigger a Golden Age, or fall beneath the requirement for a normal age to find yourself in a Dark Age. There are two sources of Era Score that we know of: Historic Moments, and your Age Dedication.

The former are like gamplay achievements - things like circumnavigating the globe, or founding a new religion. The biggest such moments are tracked in the new timeline feature with a unique illustration, allowing you to browse the story of your people so far.

Your Dedication, on the other hand, is a strategic choice for your civ that you will decide, and it's either an objective or a buff depending on what kind of Age you're in. A Religious Dedication in a Dark or normal age, for instance, will give Era Score for achieving religious goals, like converting a rival city to your faith. If you've already achieved a Golden Age, a Religious Dedication will buff your religious units.

As you might expect, being in a Dark Age has its downsides. Most significantly, all your cities' Loyalty (see below) will take a hit, so you'll have to work doubly hard to keep your empire intact. That said, some powerful government policies are only available in a Dark Age, and they are a prerequisite to attaining an Heroic Age - a more powerful Golden Age, in which you get to pick three dedications rather than just one. Strenger says there are some devs who 'zigzag' between Dark and Heroic Ages as a strategic choice, rather than opting for the calmer course of normal and Golden Ages.

Civ 6 Rise and Fall city loyalty

St Basil's Cathedral can be seen in the centre of this screen, and possibly the Temple of Artemis to its left

Loyalty: cities now have individual Loyalty to your leadership. Let it fall too low, and face the consequences of low yields, revolts, and even the potential to lose your city if it declares its own independence. One civilisation’s loss can be your gain as you inspire Loyalty among cities throughout the map and further expand your borders.

Civ 6 Rise and Fall Emergencies

Emergencies are an elegant way to challenge leading players without acting like an artificial rubber banding mechanic. Emergencies represent threatening events on the world stage - a civilisation launching its first nuke, or converting the Holy City of a rival religion, for instance. There are many types, with different triggers.

When an Emergency occurs, other civs can choose to join a pact against the threatening civ. Such pacts will have varying goals and bonuses according to the Emergency - in the case of the nuke, you might get the task to capture the city that launched it, and combat bonuses against the offending civ. Completing the objective successfully will earn you rewards that last the rest of the game - or penalties, if you fail.

Civ 6 Rise and Fall Governors

We can see the Statue of Buddha, a mesa-like Natural Wonder, and possibly Versailles in this screen

You'll be familiar with this concept if you've ever played an Endless game - Civ VI is getting Governors. These are special characters who can be assigned to cities (they don't exist on the world map) to give them powerful bonuses according to their unique promotion trees.

Strenger says there will be seven different types of Governor, inspired by historical archetypes. You can spend a Governor Title to either recruit a new one, or promote an existing one, so there's a nice wide/tall trade-off there. Governor Titles are "primarily" unlocked through the Civics tree, but Strenger's use of that word hints that there will be other sources - perhaps a leader or a civ's unique ability?

We know of two Governors right now: Liang the Surveyor, and Raina the Financier. The Surveyor grants builders extra charges, but some of her later promotions can unlock improvements - the City Park and the Fishery - that can't be built any other way. A Financier promotion enables you to purchase city districts with gold, like you can with buildings and units.

All Governors will also bolster a city's Loyalty, so wide players will probably want to recruit many rather than promote a few, and send them around their empire keeping the people in line.

Civ 6 Rise and Fall Enhanced Alliances

Alliances now come in five flavours: Research, Military, Economic, Cultural, and Religious. Each will provide its own bonuses, which will strengthen the longer the alliance endures. Strenger tells us that the Research Alliance gives both allies Science bonuses to their trade routes at level one - a fairly modest bonus - but at level two, they will also get Tech Boosts at regular intervals. Level three includes all of the above, plus bonus Science when researching the same tech as your ally, or a tech already known to them.

Civ 6 Rise and Fall new units, wonders, districts, and more

We can spot the Statue of Liberty and Coney Island in this screen, plus new districts, a military truck, and in the bottom right - is that a Kasbah?

Alongside all these civs and systems, there is a trove of new content available to all players. This includes eight new world wonders, seven new natural wonders, four new units, two new tile improvements, two new districts, fourteen new buildings, and three new resources. There are also an unspecified number of new government policies (including Dark Age policies), new hidden leader agendas, and new Casus Belli.

We've seen a few early screenshots, and we're going to make some guesses about a few of these items. We're pretty confident about them - and you can see the evidence for yourself elsewhere in this article - but do note they haven't been officially announced yet.