Firaxis Games is working on a new "Civilization 5" expansion pack, "Brave New World." The pack is set for release on PC and Mac this summer, almost a year after "Gods & Kings" came out. Aspyr Media is working on the Mac port.
As expected with any "Civilization 5" upgrade, players will get nine new civilizations and eight new wonders to tinker around with, but Firaxis isn't just concentrating on new goodies to throw in the mix. They want to make "Civilization 5's" late game more compelling for players, senior producer Dennis Shirk told Polygon, so they're adjusting and adding new systems to keep things interesting down the road.
Firaxis pulled a similar move with last year's upgrade, only then they concentrated on improving the first two thirds of your average game with "Gods & Kings." The studio spoke with several outlets on Friday, detailing just how they're going to do this.
First is by making a cultural victory a far more active one than it has been in the past. Three social policy trees, Autocracy, Freedom and Order have become the main ideologies in the pack, which means once your nation has reached a certain level of modernity, you have to choose one and then build up and spread your culture from there.
"A culture victory was challenging before; it wasn't nearly as engaging or interesting. It was basically a very turtling strategy," Shirk tells Polygon. They wanted to bolster it up, make it a more exciting way to conquer.
It's up to you to spread your culture, not just by placing your nation in a certain spot and building wonders to increase your influence, but also developing Great Works in a new way. If a Great Musician or Great Writer develops something worth sharing and spreading, such as Shakespeare's "Macbeth," Polygon writes, you can build around it and use it as a new cultural beacon.
Additionally, a new archeological system allows you to find Great Works on the fields of old battles, giving you artifacts to place in museums. It's a compelling way to connect the early and late stages of your nation.
Changes are coming to diplomatic victories as well, with the introduction of the World Congress, which offers different routes to success and influence than the United Nations does. Trade embargoes and luxury item bans are just two of many things members of the World Congress can vote to enact.
"Now it's all about the interactions between civilizations, and vote trading, and espionage to kind of find out how other civilizations are voting and really just causing shenanigans with the World Congress as you're going towards World Leader," says Shirk.
That brings us to the new International Trade Routes, which you can use to automatically ferry resources between yourself and a foreign civilization, but only at the risk of leaking important cultural resources to other nations. Additionally, these trade routes are subject to attack, especially during wartime.
All in all, it seems a big part Firaxis' focus this time around is about allowing players to play the world stage in a way that isn't violent but rather manipulative with their culture and economics. It should make that final push to victory a bit more enticing, especially for those who don't prefer all-out war.
Firaxis hinted at more details to come, particularly about two new scenarios - the American Civil War and the African Scramble. We'll let you know when they put out more information.
The "Brave New World" expansion will run you $29.99 when it comes out this summer.