Civilization 6 is currently due to receive a new expansion called the Ethiopia Pack. The Ethiopia Pack is a part of an ongoing effort by Firaxis Games to release a steady stream of content outlined by the New Frontier Pass. Owners of the game pass will receive 6 different expansions for Civilization 6, 5 of which have not yet been released, Ethiopia Pack included.
The New Frontier Pass for Civilization 6 promises to release more content this September, November, and January of next year. Later this month, the Ethiopia Pack will be released and it will add 1 new civ, 1 new game mode, 1 new district, and 2 new buildings. The new content serves to create more avenues of play and increase the depth of each game played. Owners of the Frontier Pass will also receive a new variation of Theodore Roosevelt and Catherine De Medici alongside the release of the Ethiopia Pack.
The New Civ: Ethiopia
New civs and leaders in Civilization 6 are always a welcome feature. Ethiopia's chosen leader is Emperor Menelik II,or Sahle Miriam, who was briefly emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913. His reign was made brief by the fact that he suffered a stroke in 1909 and slowly degenerated until his death in 1913. While he was emperor, Menelik II expanded Ethiopia's borders through wars with Italy. He also adopted many western technologies like railroads and the steam engine while simultaneously trying to suppress the African slave trade around their borders.
As the Ethiopian leader in Civilization 6, Menelik II grants Ethiopia the unique ability called Aksumite Legacy. This ability gives Ethiopia's cities bonus faith production for each resource being worked in each city. This bonus is then further increased for each city that has international trade routes. Aksumite Legacy also allows Ethiopia to purchase archaeologists and archaeological museums with faith. This passive ability gives Ethiopia a huge head start when going for a religion victory and can even be used to pivot into a culture victory by pumping out relic rich museums.
Menelik II's other ability is called Council of Ministers, which grants Ethiopia culture and science production equal to 15% of all faith production done by cities founded on hills. This means that cities on hills can easily rush holy sites and builders without falling behind in science or culture. For example: a city with a faith yield of 12 per turn has about the equivalent science of a +2 campus and culture of a +2 theater square. If that wasn't enough, it also grants Ethiopia's units a +4 combat strength bonus whenever they are on hill tiles. Hills are already considered favorable terrain when defending meaning that Ethiopia's units can have up to a +10 combat strength bonus if defending from a forested hill tile. Menelik II is on the fast track to being the best religious leader in Civilization 6 with bonuses like these.
Ethiopia also has a unique unit called the Oromo Cavalry. This unique unit replaces the courser unit in Civilization 6 and has both better vision and greater combat strength than the courser. The Oromo Cavalry also do not suffer movement penalties from hill tiles. Continuing with the hill theme, the Rock-Hewn Church is the unique building for Ethiopia. It can only be built on hills and volcanic soil and produce 1 faith for every adjacent hill and mountain including the one it sits on. To balance the obvious power this building has for Ethiopia, devs made it so they cannot be placed adjacent to one another. Ethiopia is going to be a real challenge for other faith civs to combat.
The New Game Mode: Secret Societies
The Civilization 6 Ethiopia Pack also comes with a new game mode called Secret Societies. Game modes can be toggled on or off before a game starts and affect the gameplay for the duration. Secret Societies introduces 4 different societies that can reach out to the player and the other civs to recruit them. If the player decides to sign on with one of the 4 secret societies, they will be given a new governor that is a representative of that society. Governor titles can be spent to upgrade the bonuses of the secret society governor and the best part is they grant the bonuses to all cities as if they were assigned to all of them.
There are 4 secret societies being added to Civilization 6: The Owls of Minerva, The Hermetic Order, The Voidsingers, and The Sanguine Pact. Each society provides the player with a new building or unit as well as a bonus. The Owls of Minerva grant the player a replacement for the bank called the Gilded Vault which provides culture equal to the commercial hub's adjacency bonus, and they also give the player an extra trade route if the city has a harbor. The Hermetic Order gives the player access to the Alchemical Society which replaces the university building, which is just like the university except it also makes Great Merchant and Engineer points as well as production and gold. The passive ability of The Hermetic Order is to reveal Leylines on the map which give adjacency bonuses to districts and increase their yields every time the player recruits a great person.
The third secret society in Civilization 6Â are The Voidsingers have a replacement for the monument called the Old Gods Obelisk. The Old Gods Obelisk produces more culture than the monument and even produces faith and grants an extra great works slot to the city. The Voidsingers also have access to a new faith unit called the Cultist which can be used to make more Cultists from the population of enemy cities while also draining that city's loyalty.
Last but not least there is the Sanguine Pact, which grants the player the new Vampire unit which cannot die and gains combat strength whenever adjacent units die. The Vampire can only heal itself by pillaging tiles and can also be used to create the Vampire Castle improvement. The Vampire Castle improvement grants bonus yields and grants combat advantage to units defending on it. It can also be used in late eras to teleport units between castles.
Smaller Additions
The Civilization 6 Ethiopia Pack also comes with a couple of other minor additions. The Consulate and Chancery are two new buildings that can be built in the new Diplomatic Quarter district. The new district gives players looking to win through a diplomatic victory a new way to generate diplomatic favor and influence points, but only one can be built per civ. The Consulate generates some influence while making it harder for spies to operate in that city and cities with encampments. The Chancery also produces some influence points and makes 50 science whenever an enemy spies is captured or killed.
The other minor additions to Civilization 6 are persona packs for Teddy Roosevelt and Catherine de Medici. These persona packs make minor changes to pre-existing civ leaders. Rough Rider Teddy gets a +5 combat bonus to units fighting within their city borders and also makes each envoy sent count as two if the city-state has a trade route with America. Magnificence Catherine gives theater squares an additional +2 adjacency bonus for each adjacent improved luxury resource and also has access to a unique project associated with the theater square called the Court Festival.
The Ethiopia Pack for Civilization 6 releases on July 23rd and Civ fans are eager to try out the new game mode and dominate as the new civ. No doubt Ethiopia will be making waves in the competitive community due to the potential for extreme faith yields.
Civilization 6Â is available on iOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
