We’re excited to announce the April 2021 Game Update is now available to all Civilization VI players.
In this final free update of the season comes new units, new maps, and several balance adjustments and gameplay fixes based on player feedback. Read on for the full list of what’s available in today’s free game update.
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[NEW FEATURES]
New Units
Trebuchet: Medieval Era Catapult upgrade. Siege promotion class. Upgrades into Bombard. Cannot move and attack on the same turn unless they’ve earned the Expert Crew Promotion.
Units now replacing this unit: Khmer Domrey.
Man-At-Arms: Medieval Era Swordsman upgrade. Melee promotion class. Upgrades into Musketman.
Unique units that will upgrade into this unit: Roman Legion, Kongolese Ngao Mbeba, Macedon Hypaspist, Persian Immortal, Maori Toa, and Gallic Gaesatae.
Unique units now replacing this unit: Norwegian Berserker, Japanese Samurai, and Georgian Khevsur.
Line Infantry: Industrial Era Musketman upgrade. Melee promotion class. Upgrades into Infantry.
Unique units that will upgrade into this unit: Spanish Conquistador and Ottoman Janissary.
Unique units now replacing this unit: French Garde Imperiale and English Redcoat.
New Maps
Mediterranean Large Map: A large map of the greater Mediterranean region with resources, terrain, and features reflecting their historic locations.
Earth Huge Map: A larger sized representation of Earth with resources, terrain, and features reflecting their historic locations.
TSL Earth Huge: Civilizations start at the location of their historical capital on the huge Earth map.
TSL Mediterranean: Civilizations start the location of their historic capital on the large Mediterranean map.
[NEW GAME UPDATES]
[BALANCE/POLISH]
Civ and Leaders Balance Update
Aztec
Tlachtli: [Base Game] Added +1 Culture. [Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Added +2 Culture.
Australia
Coast is now a Tier 2 start bias.
Canada
[Gathering Storm] The Last Best West: Increased the yields of Mines and Lumbermills on Snow, Tundra, Snow Hills, and Tundra Hills to +2 Production. Increased the yield of Camps on these terrains to +2 Food. Farms provide +2 Food on these terrains.
China
Dynastic Cycle: Now when completing a Wonder, receive a random Eureka and Inspiration from the era of the Wonder.
France
Château: +2 Culture and +1 Gold at base. +1 Culture for each adjacent wonder (increasing to +2 with Flight). +2 Gold for being on a River. Must be adjacent to a Bonus or Luxury resource not adjacent to another Château.
Georgia
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Glory of the World, Kingdom and Faith: No longer receives +100% Faith for 10 turns after declaring a Protectorate War. Instead, combat victories provide Faith equal to 50% of the Combat Strength of the defeated unit (on Standard Speed).
Germany
Rivers are now a Tier 5 start bias.
Greece
Thermopylae: Added +1 Combat Strength for every Military Policy slotted.
Inca
[Gathering Storm] Qhapaq Ñan (leader ability): Added +1 additional Production to Mountains when the game reaches the Industrial Era.
[Gathering Storm] Inca Terrace Farm: Now gives +1 Housing (was +0.5).
[Gathering Storm] Mountains (non-Tundra/Snow) are now a Tier 2 start bias.
Japan
Coast tiles are now a Tier 3 start bias.
Khmer
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Grand Barays: Cities with an Aqueduct receive +1 Amenity from entertainment and +1 Faith for every Population. Farms provide +2 Food if adjacent to an Aqueduct and +1 Faith if adjacent to a Holy Site.
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Monasteries of the King: Holy Sites are granted a Major adjacency bonus with Rivers, a Culture Bomb, Food equal to its adjacency bonus, and +2 Housing, if on a River.
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Prasat: +6 Faith. +0.5 Culture for every Population. Receive +10 Tourism per turn in cities with 10 population. Cities with 20 population are granted double this number.
Kongo
Nkisi: Relics, Artifacts, and Sculptures also give +1 Faith. Removed Great Writers from his additional Great people points.
Korea
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Three Kingdoms: Mines now receive +1 Science for each adjacent Seowon district. Farms now receive +1 Food for each adjacent Seowon district.
Mapuche
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Toqui: Cities with an established Governor provide +5% Culture, +5% Production, and +10% Combat Experience towards all units trained in this city. These numbers are tripled in cities not founded by the Mapuche. All cities within 9 tiles of a city with your Governor gain +4 Loyalty per turn towards your civilization.
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Swift Hawk: +10 Combat Strength when fighting Free Cities or civilizations that are in a Golden or Heroic Age. Defeating an enemy unit within the borders of an enemy city causes that city to lose 20 Loyalty and 40 Loyalty if that player is in a Golden or Heroic Age.
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Chemamull: Added +1 Production.
Maya
Mayab: farms now recieve +1 Production for every adjacent Observatory.
Ix Mutal Ajaw: Non-capital cities within 6 hexes now also receive a Free builder when the city is founded.
Start bias changes: Grass, Plains, Grass Hills, Plains Hills are now Tier 1 start biases. Tier 2 consists of Plantation luxuries (Gypsum, Ivory, Jade, Marble, Mercury, and Salt). All other terrains (Desert, Snow, Tundra, Desert Hills, Snow HIlls, Tundra HIlls, Desert Mountain, Snow Mountain, Tundra Mountain) are Tier 3 to discourage Coast spawns.
Mongolia
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Ordu: Now gives XP to Siege units.
Netherlands
Radio Oranje: Domestic Trade Routes provide +2 Loyalty (was +1) per turn for the starting city. Trade Routes sent or receive from a foreign civilization grant +2 Culture (was +1) to the Netherlands.
Nubia
Ta-Seti: Now +30% Production toward Ranged units (was 50%).
Nubian Pyramid: Increase to +2 Faith and +2 Food.
Ottoman
[Gathering Storm] Grand Vizier: Added +1 Governor Title when Gunpowder Technology is unlocked.
[Gathering Storm] Niter is now a Tier 5 start bias.
Persia
Pairidaeza: Appeal bonus reduced to +1 (was +2).
Poland
Lithuanian Union: Taking territory from a foreign city with a Culture Bomb converts it to the majority religion (was only the religion founded by Poland).
Russia
Mother Russia: Reduced the number of free tiles in new cities to 5 (was 8).
Lavra: Moved the Great Writer point to the Shrine, the Great Artist point to the Temple, and the Great Musician point to the Tier 3 Worship building.
Scythia
Kurgan: +1 Faith, +3 Gold. +1 Faith for each adjacent Pasture, becoming +2 Faith with Stirrups. Provides Tourism from Faith after researching Flight.
Spain
Treasure Fleet: May form Fleets and Armadas with Mercantilism, instead of Nationalism and Mobilization. Trade Routes receive +3 Gold, +2 Faith, and +1 Production. Trade Routes between multiple continents receive triple these numbers. Cities not on your original Capital's continent receive +25% production towards districts and a builder when founded.
El Escorial: Inquisitors can Remove Hersey one extra time. Inquisitors eliminate 100% of the presence of other Religions. Combat and Religious units have a +5 Combat Strength against players following other religions.
All rulesets now feature the buffed Gathering Storm version of the Mission: +2 Faith. +2 Faith additionally, +1 Food, and +1 Production if on a different continent than your Capital. +1 Science for every adjacent Campus and Holy Site. +2 Science once Cultural Heritage is discovered Cultural Heritage. The Loyalty bonus is still Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm only.
Remove Coast start bias.
[Gathering Storm] Geothermal is now a Tier 3 start bias.
Sumeria
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Adventures of Enkidu: Added +5 Combat Strength to units when they and their ally are at war with a common foe.
Vietnam
[Vietnam and Kublai Khan Pack] Thành: No longer provides a Great General point.
Zulu
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Isibongo: Buildings in the Ikanda receive +2 Gold and +1 Science.
General
[Gathering Storm] Governor Moksha’s base ability (Bishop): +2 Faith for every specialty district in a city.
Units Balance Update
Melee
Swordsman: Combat Strength decreased to 35 (was 36).
Infantry: Combat Strength increased to 75 (was 70).
Ngao Mbeba: Combat Strength increased to 38 (was 36).
[Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack] Hypaspist: Combat Strength increased to 38 (was 36)
[Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack] Immortal: Melee/Ranged Combat Strength increased to 35/25 (was 30/25).
[Gathering Storm] Toa: Combat Strength increased to 38 (was 36).
Berserker: Combat Strength increased to 48 (was 40). -5 Combat Strength when defending penalty now only applies to melee attacks.
[Rise and Fall] Khevsur: Combat Strength increased to 48 (was 45).
Conquistador: Combat Strength increased to 58 (was 55). +10 Combat when there is a Religious unit within 1 tile. If this unit captures a city or is adjacent to a city when it is captured, the city will automatically adopt the Conquistador player’s Religion as the dominant Religion.
Garde Impériale: Combat Strength increased to 70 (was 65).
Redcoat: Combat Strength increased to 70 (was 65).
Digger: Combat Strength increased to 78 (was 72).
Samurai: Unlocked with Feudalism (was Military Tactics).
Ranged
Machine Gun: Melee/Ranged Combat Strength increased to 70/85 (was 65/75).
Siege
Catapult: Melee/Ranged Combat Strength increased to 25/35 (was 23/35).
[Khmer and Indonesia Civilization & Scenario Pack] Domrey: Melee/Ranged Combat Strength increased to 40/50 (was 33/45).
Bombard: Melee/Ranged Combat Strength increased to 45/55 (was 43/55).
Rocket Artillery: Melee/Ranged Combat Strength increased to 70/100 (was 70/95).
Anti-Cavalry
Pikeman: Combat Strength increased to 45 (was 41).
[Rise and Fall] Impi: Combat Strength increased to 45 (was 41).
AT-Crew: Combat Strength increased to 75 (was 70).
Modern AT: Combat Strength increased to 85 (was 80).
Hoplite: Combat Strength increased to 28 (was 25).
Light Cavalry
Courser: Combat Strength increased to 46 (was 44).
[Gathering Storm] Black Army: Combat Strength increased to 49 (was 47).
[Ethiopia Pack] Oromo Cavalry: Combat Strength increased to 48 (was 46).
Helicopter: Combat Strength increased to 86 (was 82).
[Gathering Storm] Mountie: Combat Strength increased to 62 (was 60). Added additional National Park charge. Costs 290 Production (was 400).
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Malón Raider: Costs 230 Production (was 250). Upgrades to Cavalry (was Helicopter).
Heavy Cavalry
[Rough Rider Teddy] Rough Rider: Replaces the Cuirassier. Upgrades to Tank (was Modern Armor). Prerequisite tech is now Ballistics (was Rifling).
Knight: Combat Strength increased to 50 (was 48).
Mamluk: Combat Strength increased to 50 (was 48). Upgrades to the Cuirassier (was Tank).
[Gathering Storm] Mandekalu Cavalry: Combat Strength increased to 55 (was 49).
[Byzantium and Gaul Pack] Tagma: Combat Strength increased to 50 (was 48).
Tank: Combat Strength increased to 85 (was 80).
Modern Armor: Combat Strength increased to 95 (was 90).
Winged Hussar: Combat Strength increased to 64 (was 55). Unlocks with Mercantilism (was Mercenaries). Replaces Cuirassier. Cost increased to 330 (was 250). Maintenance increased to 5 Gold (was 3).
Varu: Upgrades to the Cuirassier (was Tank).
Ranged Cavalry
[Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm] Keshig: Melee/Ranged Combat Strength increased to 35/45 (was 30/40). Costs 160 Production (was 180).
Saka Horse Archer: Melee Combat Strength increased to 20 (was 15). Upgrades to Crossbowmen (was Field Cannon).
Crouching Tiger: Costs 140 Production (was 160).
Naval Melee
Destroyer: Combat Strength increased to 85 (was 80).
Naval Ranged
Missile Cruiser: Melee/Ranged Combat Strength increased to 75/90 (was 70/85).
Naval Raider
Sea Dog: Ranged Combat Strength increased to 55 (was 50).
U-Boat: No longer requires Oil.
Other
Warrior Monk: Combat Strength increased to 40 (was 35).
General Gameplay Fixes
Allied Civs will no longer be shown as espionage destinations.
Buildings with overrides (ex. [Ethiopia Pack] the Alchemical Society which overrides the University) will now correctly receive yields intended for the base building.
Idle Governors now must be addressed (assigned to a city or by closing the screen) before advancing to the next turn.
Fixed an issue where the Maryannu Chariot Archer was not being counted as Ranged Cavalry.
Fixed an issue where the Science Foundations policy card would go obsolete when there were no Great Scientists remaining.
Fixed an issue where Mahaviharas would not receive adjacency bonuses when built adjacent to [Maya and Gran Colombia Pack] Observatories or [Base game] Lavras.
Fixed an issue where bonuses granting percentage yields from completed items based on cost (ex. [Babylon Pack] Ayutthaya’s 10% Culture from completed buildings) were sometimes larger than intended.
Fixes for the Basilikoi Paides and Ordu not giving experience correctly to trained units.
Fixed an issue where the Keshig would not receive the +3 Combat Strength from Genghis Khan’s Mongol Horde.
Fixed an issue where Imhotep's unique ability did not scale with game speed.
Fixed an issue where the Yields Report would show amenity yields for cities that are Content.
Fixed an issue where bonus resources would not be removed from a tile after a district is built on it.
[Gathering Storm] Fixed an issue where the Invention Policy Card would grant +2 instead of the intended +4 Great Engineer Points.
[Gathering Storm] Tourism Updates
"Cultural Domination" term clarified in Culture victory sections of World Rankings and Civilopedia.
Cultural Domination provides ongoing effects:
International Trade Routes to foreign cities you culturally dominate provide +4 Gold.
Spy missions in foreign cities you culturally dominate are 50% faster to complete.
Your citizens exert 25% more Loyalty pressure on foreign cities you culturally dominate.
Red Death
Fixed an issue where the incorrect unit icon would be displayed when viewing the Alien faction’s UFO unit in the Unit List.
Ethiopia Pack
Vampires no longer receive the benefit of ignoring walls during a city attack when adjacent to Siege Towers.
Fixed an issue where a notice would fail to appear for the second Secret Society discovered in a single turn.
Fixed clipping issues caused by incorrect overrides with Secret Society unique buildings.
Pirates
Fixed an issue where the client will only have 2 active Relic slots after taking over an AI player during a multiplayer game in progress.
[Babylon Pack] Heroes and Legends
Hero Combat Strength has been adjusted to match the new base unit strengths.
Sinbad's Fortunes rewards reduced to 200 gold naval raids (was 300). Sinbad’s Journeys rewards 400 for discovering continents and natural wonders (was 500).
Khmer’s unique building, the Prasat, has been updated for Heroes and Legends gameplay: Recalling Heroes in this city costs 15% less Faith.
Himiko's "Inspiring" ability grants +5 Combat Strength (was +10).
Kongolese Unique Ability, Nkisi, grants +1 Faith for Heroic Relics during Heroes and Legends gameplay.
Show the unlocked unit on the project pages for Devotion projects in Heroes and Legends.
Fixed an issue where 2 extra Hero relic slots could appear when replacing a Monument with a Hero relic equipped with an Old God Obelisk [Ethiopia Pack – Secret Societies].
Fixed an issue where Heroes could remain on the map after their Lifespan expired.
Fixed an issue where Questing Knights would not have the correct Melee Strength during the Atomic Era.
Vietnam and Kublai Khan Pack
Industry improvements cannot be built on Luxury Resources that are on Volcanic Soil.
Added failure text when a Product cannot be produced because the necessary Corporation has been pillaged.
Fixed an exploit allowing Kublai Khan's bonus to grant multiple boosts from the same city.
Barbarian Clans
Increased the unit spawn rate for Cavalry-type Barbarian Clans.
Added a new notification when a Barbarian Outpost converts into a City-State.
Added missing Civilopedia entries for Barbarian Horseman, Horse Archer, and Raider.
Treat With Tribe menu now includes clan type name.
Barbarian Clans are now searchable in the Map Search panel.
Fixed an issue that prevented new Barbarian Camps from spawning.
Fixed an issue where dispersing a camp would grant gold instead of XP.
Fixed an issue where Gold could be gained by dispersing a Barbarian Outpost through border expansion.
Fixed an issue where Barbarian camps would be left undefended.
Fixed an issue where the Coastal Raid command would not disperse a Barbarian camp.
Fixed an issue where City-States converted from Barbarian Clans would briefly display a negative Garrison Defense Strength.
Fixed an issue where Barbarian Bribe indicators would not appear consistently over affected units.
Fixed an issue where Hiring units from a Clan would sometimes not pick the best unit available.
Fixed an issue where the Culture border would appear as the wrong color when a Barbarian Clan converted to a City-State.
Fixed an issue where coastal raiding as Norway would not pillage the tile and end the Norwegian unit’s turn while Barbarian Clans mode was active.
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes see “Clan Dispersed” notifications for an unrevealed Clan.
Fixed an issue where Barbarian Clan unit tooltips would only display the information for one function while multiple were active.
Fixed an issue where Incited Barbarian units would sometimes attack other targets than the one the player selected.
Portugal Pack
The chance for a new Zombie to spawn after a city attack is affected by the population of the city. The higher the population, the higher the chance a Zombie will spawn.
Spies will now be killed by failed Zombie Outbreak spy operations at City-States.
Fixed an issue where the VFX for the Modernized Zombie Trap wouldn’t loop properly.
[AI]
Improved ability for naval units to heal.
Cities will not build ships for future operations if they are on a lake.
Increase desire for Districts and Improvements.
[CRASHES]
Fixed a crash happening in the Espionage system caused by an off-map spy.
Various crashes fixed.
[UI]
Saved Game Configurations will now regenerate map seeds and clear leader selections on configuration load to make this feature more useable as a way for players to save game types with various modes and advanced settings turned on/off. Players will still be able to use the Leader Pools as a quick way to save leader selections.
Search in the Civilopedia now auto-translates accented and special characters.
[Ethiopia Pack] Diplomatic Quarter now has a unique district icon.
Updated England and France Eleanor names to be consistent with other dual-civilization leaders.
[Gathering Storm] Mounties will now display their National Park charges in the unit panel.
Fixed an issue where the Settler Lens would not display on newly discovered tiles when moving a Settler through the Fog of War.
Fixed an issue where the Power Lens overlay would fail to display after pressing the Esc key and then re-opening the lens with the hot key during gameplay.
Fixed an issue where inconsistent colors would display when viewing the CO2 Contribution graph.
Fixed an issue where information would be missing when viewing the Resource tooltip for Global Contribution in the World Climate menu.
Fixed an issue where users could select “No and stop asking” responses for other human players during multiplayer.
Fixed an issue where a Civ’s icon would fail to “pulse” when a free city was about to flip to them.
Fixed an issue where the “Change City Production” button in the City Manager would be disabled when placing a district on a tile.
Fixed an issue where invalid City-States would appear in the City-State Selector for True Start Location maps.
Fixed an issue where the amount of boost gained from a Eureka would display inconsistently between the Eureka popup and Tech Tree.
Fixed an issue where VO triggered from the Civilopedia would continue playing after closing it.
Fixed an issue where unit entries were greyed out in the unit list World Tracker panel when they still had movement points left.
Fixed an issue where Culture borders would not appear consistently when activating the Power lens.
Fixed an issue where the player could see information on an opponent’s Specialists in district tooltips.
Fixed an issue where the City-State Picker would save unintended changes after cancelling out of the Advanced Setup menu.
Fixed an issue where unit portraits would appear incorrect in the production menu.
Fixed an issue where tooltips would fail to appear on slotted Policies when viewing the Government menu.
Fixed an issue where the buttons on the Confirm Kick menu would overrun the menu window.
Expanded parameters of various menus to accommodate foreign language support.
Various text updates.
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