Today, developer Firaxis announced that Civilization's VI Spring 2017 Update is live in addition to the Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack.
The Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack is available for $8.99 USD, and unlike previous Civilization and Scenario Packs -- such as the Poland and Australia packs -- includes two civilizations rather one. Additionally, the previous single Civilization and Scenario Packs cost $4.99 USD, which means with the double pack you're saving a big ol' dollar.
Here's an overview of the Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack, starting with the following overview of Persia, and its leader Cyrus:
Cyrus II of Persia, more commonly known as Cyrus the Great, founded the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire. Prior to the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Persian Empire was the largest the world had ever seen.
He built his empire through a series of brilliant military campaigns, starting with the surprise invasion of his Median grandfather, Astyages, followed by conquest of the lands of the Lydians, Elamites, Babylonians, Syria, Judea, and Patrea, after which he felt comfortable enough to declare himself “King of the Four Corners of the World.”
Although he has something of a reputation for ruthlessness, even by the standard of the ancient world (some of his conquests had been against one-time allies or distant family), Cyrus was also known for respecting the customs and religions of the lands he conquered. His call for the repatriation of Jewish people following his conquest of the Babylonian Empire is easily one of the more famous examples of this.
His death is given in a story by Herodotus at the hands of Tomyris of Scythia, so you may want to go back and check out our entry on the Scythian queen to refresh your memory.
Unique Unit: The Immortal
Persia’s elite heavy foot soldier, the Immortal, served as both guard of sovereign and state. It is said that Persia’s army consisted of 10,000 Immortals, and that each Immortal was equipped with both long-range and short-range armaments.
Unique Improvement: The Pairidaeza
The Pairidaeza, or Persian Gardens, are closed collections of exquisite foliage meant to convey the feeling of paradise on Earth. Persian Gardens are represented throughout Persian literature and culture as places of relaxation, both in the sense of leisure and spirituality.
And here's an overview of Macedon and its leader, Alexander the Great:
Alexander the Great, born in 356 BC, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known. Alexander’s military campaign stretched from Greece on through Asia and northeast Africa, subsequently overthrowing Persian king Darius III and dispatching the Persian Empire in its entirety – all before his 30th birthday.
While undefeated in battle, Alexander met his end during his decade-long campaign. After pushing his war-weary and homesick soldiers into India in 326 BC, they implored him to turn back and he acquiesced, passing away three years later in the city he had planned to make the capital of his empire: Babylon.Alexander’s tactics are taught in modern military academies to this day, and he is considered one of the greatest military commanders and most influential human beings to have ever lived.
Unique Unit: The Hypaspist
The Hypaspists, shield-bearing soldiers wielding a long spear and short sword, were among Macedon’s soldier elite. Similar to Hoplites, these units were differentiated by their more ornate equipment and were usually positioned on the flanks of the phalanx – a singular group of soldiers moving in close shoulder-to-shoulder formation. The Hypaspists’ job was to guard the flanks of the pikemen comprising the majority of the phalanx, as these pikemen wielded massive spears between 18-22 feet long and were quite vulnerable to attacks from the side.
Unique Unit: The Hetairoi
The Hetairoi, Alexander’s unique replacement for the Horseman, is a fast Heavy Cavalry unit widely considered the greatest cavalry of the ancient world. Additionally, the Hetairoi are widely recognized as the world’s first shock troops – a military unit designed to penetrate enemy defenses and attack vulnerable rear flanks. Chosen Hetaroi were elevated to the status of elite guard for the king, and would ride atop only the best horses.
Unique Building: Basilikoi Paides
Throughout Macedon’s conquests, often young boys would be taken as political hostages and raised as Macedonians. These boys, along with Macedon’s noble sons, received education and training at the Basilikoi Paides, which is roughly translated as “royal page school.” No expense was spared in securing the best tutors for the Basilikoi Paides, where boys were taught to serve, honor and protect the king, and to serve Macedon’s interests above all else.
In addition to the two new civilizations, the DLC pack also includes two new Wonders, and a new Scenario: The Conquests of Alexander. The Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack is available now for PC players and coming soon for Mac and Linux. Anyone who purchased the Digital Deluxe Edition of Civilization VI will receive this DLC pack automatically.
As mentioned above, the Spring 2017 update launches today, and with comes a number of balance changes, AI adjustments, multiplayer changes, and bug fixes. Below, you can find the full patch notes:
[BALANCE CHANGES]
Harbors now give a major adjacency bonus with the City Center, +1 Food to all Coast tiles when the Lighthouse is built, and +2 Gold to all Coast tiles when the Seaport is built.
Australia now gets +1 for Charming/+3 for Breathtaking on the four affected districts (had been +2/+4) to compensate for the Harbor boost above
Royal Navy Dockyard now always provides +1 Trade Route capacity, even if the city already has a Commercial Hub. This makes it more useful, even when England builds it on its home continent.
Added “Future Civic” to the end of the Civics Tree, a repeatable Civic to research and add to the player score.
Bomber units are now more effective against cities.
Swordsman are now reduced to 36 combat strength.
Damages now remain on City and Encampments when a city is traded.
Siege units with bonus movement (e.g. from Great Generals or Persian surprise war) can still shoot after moving as long as they still have 2 MP.
Adjusted Warmonger penalties for Diplomatic status:
When applying a warmonger diplomatic penalty for EITHER declaring war or capturing a city, reduce that penalty if you are enemies with the target of that warmongering as follows:
-20% warmongering if this is against a player you have denounced
-40% warmongering if this is against a player you are at war with
NOTE: This is not used in situations where you are fighting a Joint War against the target power or when Sumeria joins as ally in war (in both those cases the penalty is still zero).
EXAMPLE: Macedon is at war with Persia. If India goes to war with Persia sometime in the middle of this Macedonian/Persian War and captures a Persian city, Macedon will reduce its warmonger penalty against India by 40%.
Adjusted Warmonger penalties for City Population:
When applying a warmonger diplomatic penalty for capturing a city, reduce that penalty if the city is smaller than the average city in the game as follows:
If the city’s population after conquest is below the average population of all the cities in the game, reduce the warmonger penalty by the percentage that city’s population is below the average.
EXAMPLE: Persepolis is conquered and its population after conquest is 6. But the average size of a city in the game is 8. So this city is 2 / 8 = 25% below the size of the average city in the game. Therefore the warmonger penalty is reduced by 25%.
[AI TUNING]
Improved coordination for multiple attacking units.
Ranged units better understand how to capture civilian units.
AI should now generally accept embassies when neutral, and reject when unfriendly.
When asking an AI to equalize a deal that has elements on both sides of the deal, it will consider a gold-only change before looking at other possibilities.
Increased AI’s desire to repair pillaged Districts and Buildings.
Minor civs will no longer go after policies that give them extra influence they can never use.
Made it easier to meet the positive side of the environmentalist agenda
AI will now build multiple Neighborhoods.
[BUG FIXES]
The Great Works tooltip in the deal now shows extended information.
Melee units can no longer attack embarked units.
Pillaged improvements no longer provide Pantheon bonuses.
Fixed double-counting of Appeal from Improvements.
Fixed broken gossip message about Seaside Resorts that made them always mention a "lost city".
John Curtin is now referred to as “Prime Minister” and not “President” in the Outback Tycoon scenario.
Fixed an issue where previously constructed buildings were not showing up properly on the Production Chooser.
The World Tracker now keeps its open/closed state between turns.
Additional bug fixes.
[MULTIPLAYER]
Updating Global Thermonuclear War scenario's Proxy War victory condition to support team play.
Expanded internet games list to show results from additional regions
Games list was frequently not showing all available games due to UI bug.
[MISC]
Added more civs to the True Start Location Earth map.
Separated war/peace notifications into major civs vs. city-state.
Added additional information to Defeat/Victory screens, so players will be clearer on why they have lost the game.
Added "special ability" stars to techs and civics that unlock new functionality.
Added invasion warnings to Poland scenario
Added new Capabilities data base table to disable select game systems for scenarios and mods.
ARX functionality updates for scenarios.
Added text labels differentiating Official and Community content in the Lobby screen.
[ADDITONAL CONTENT]
In Game
Fixed issues in the Additional Content menu with mods that contained very long strings.
The "ImportFiles" modding action now works as a Frontend action.
The "UpdateIcons" action now supports SQL files in addition to XML files.
Multiple files can now be specified in the "AddGameplayScripts" Ingame action.
Added a "DoNothing" Frontend action and Ingame action. This action is useful as a placeholder or as a container that includes other actions.
The localization database is now written out to the cache folder.
Development Tools
The SDK launcher will now close after the user has clicked on an application to launch.
ModBuddy will no longer display a 'Parameter "escapedValue" cannot be null.' error when the Development Assets are not installed.
Unique Improvement: The PairidaezaThe Pairidaeza, or Persian Gardens, are closed collections of exquisite foliage meant to convey the feeling of paradise on Earth. Persian Gardens are represented throughout Persian literature and culture as places of relaxation, both in the sense of leisure and spirituality.
Unique Unit: The HetairoiThe Hetairoi, Alexander’s unique replacement for the Horseman, is a fast Heavy Cavalry unit widely considered the greatest cavalry of the ancient world. Additionally, the Hetairoi are widely recognized as the world’s first shock troops – a military unit designed to penetrate enemy defenses and attack vulnerable rear flanks. Chosen Hetaroi were elevated to the status of elite guard for the king, and would ride atop only the best horses.
Unique Building: Basilikoi PaidesThroughout Macedon’s conquests, often young boys would be taken as political hostages and raised as Macedonians. These boys, along with Macedon’s noble sons, received education and training at the Basilikoi Paides, which is roughly translated as “royal page school.” No expense was spared in securing the best tutors for the Basilikoi Paides, where boys were taught to serve, honor and protect the king, and to serve Macedon’s interests above all else.