On the Penultimate DLC of Civ 6’s New Frontier Pass

Has it really been so long since Sid Meier’s Civilization VI’s New Frontier Pass was initially announced? Wow, I suppose time really flies when you’re playing Civ. Then again, that concept gave rise to the entire “one more turn” mentality and its associated running jokes, so I can’t say I’m too surprised. In any case, as you gleaned from this article’s title, I’m here today to provide you with my in-depth thoughts on the second-to-last piece of major paid downloadable content contained within the New Frontier Pass. Let’s begin.

As has become something of a theme as far as the New Frontier Pass is concerned, this DLC pack contains three primary attractions. These selling points take the forms of another new playable Civ, two new leaders, and a new optional game mode. The new Civ added in this pack, Vietnam is another one that has never been officially represented within any game in the Civilization franchise prior to its inclusion in the New Frontier Pass.

The second leader added in this DLC (the one who isn’t associated with Vietnam) is none other than Kublai Khan, grandson of the already-present Genghis Khan. The mere mention of Kublai Khan’s name causes certain lyrics from Rush’s 1977 song “Xanadu” to flood into my mind. Those of you who know just how huge a Rush fan I am can probably imagine that I consider this a good thing. Therefore, I’m electing to use that as an arbitrary reason to begin today’s monologue with Kublai Khan and what his empires are capable of.

You’ll notice that I pluralized the word “empire” in that last sentence. That’s because Kublai Khan is an uncommon leader in that he can serve at the helm of more than one playable nation. He can lead both China and Mongolia, just as Gathering Storm’s Eleanor of Aquitaine can do with England and France. Of course, these leaders don’t normally change all that much about the play styles of the nations they lead outside of their unique leader-specific traits. However, these traits can certainly come in handy depending on how they benefit your chosen Civ.

For example, Kublai Khan’s leader-specific trait, which applies regardless of whether he’s leading China or Mongolia, is called “Gerege.” This trait’s effects are twofold. First, it grants you one extra Economic Policy slot in any government. Second, it automatically triggers a free, random Eureka and Inspiration whenever you establish a Trading Post in another Civilization’s city for the first time.

I would argue that this trait works just as efficiently with China’s specific strengths as well as with those of Mongolia. However, this passive ability works its magic in different ways based on which of the two Civs you’re currently leading. You see, this trait happens to work well in tandem with China’s “Dynastic Cycle” ability, which causes Inspirations and Eurekas to provide an extra 10% of the necessary research toward any civic or technology to which they are applied.

On that same token though, Kublai Khan’s passive ability also plays quite nicely with Mongolia’s trait which dictates that you immediately create a Trading Post in any destination city as soon as you send a trade route there. This signals to me that so long as you maintain as many trade routes with neighboring Civs as possible and establish Trading Posts in their cities, you can fairly easily stay on top of both scientific and cultural research. Failing that, you can still use your Civ’s unique military units to crush those who stand in your way. That’s always fun.

I think we’ve stood within the pleasure dome decreed by Kublai Khan for long enough. Let us now escape these caves of ice so that I can address Vietnam’s representation within the New Frontier Pass. Vietnam is led by one of its more prominent historical leaders, Bà Triệu, whose name is exceptionally difficult to properly type. Under her leadership, Vietnam focuses on using the terrain surrounding its cities to its advantage in order to fiercely defend itself. Allow me to elaborate.

Bà Triệu’s leader-specific trait is called “Drive Out the Aggressors,” which is exactly what Vietnam seeks to do under normal circumstances. This trait dictates that all Vietnamese military units receive +5 Combat Strength when fighting in woods, rainforest, or marsh tiles. Units also receive +1 Movement if they begin their turn on one of these tiles. Both of these bonuses are doubled if any units are on woods, marsh, or rainforest tiles that lie within Vietnamese territory.

That bonus Combat Strength can easily come in quite handy, especially if you find yourself constantly fighting off Barbarians. However, I think it’s worth noting that this bonus comes with a bit of a catch, as part of Vietnam’s passive trait that isn’t specifically tied to their leader. This passive, known as “Nine Dragon River Delta,” stipulates that Vietnam can only build land specialty Districts on rainforest, woods, or marsh tiles. To compensate for the inability to build any District anywhere you want, Vietnamese Districts receive bonuses based on which of those three tile types that they are constructed on.

More specifically, Districts are granted an additional +1 Culture when built on Woods. Alternatively, Districts can also receive an additional +1 Science when built on rainforest tiles or +1 Production when they’re constructed on marsh tiles. Now, I suspect this may raise a question or two in your mind: what if there are no woods, rainforest, or marsh tiles in or near your territory? Doesn’t that completely shut you out of any Districts unless you aggressively expand into areas where these tiles are more plentiful?

Well, fear not, aspiring District builders. You see, Vietnam gets a bit of a bonus on that front, too. The “Nine Dragon River Delta” trait also allows Vietnam to plant woods much earlier than normal. To specify, Vietnam can plant woods as soon as they research the Medieval Faires Civic.

This may not be ideal if you’re lacking in Science or Production, but at least it allows you to construct Districts on any otherwise unused open tiles. Of course, that’s not even factoring in the bonus Combat Strength your units will receive if you park them on any newly-planted woods tiles on your borders.

All this talk of Districts has made me realize I haven’t even mentioned Vietnam’s unique District or unit yet. Their unique District is known as the Thành, which serves as a replacement for the standard Encampment. It is significantly cheaper to build than the District it replaces, costing only 27 Production compared to the normal Encampment’s 54. Additionally, each Thành you build receives +2 Culture for every adjacent District.

I think it’s fitting that Vietnam has an improved replacement for the Encampment district considering the strength of their unique military unit. This unit is known as the Voi Chiến. It serves as a replacement for the Crossbowman, and it appears to be two archers riding atop a war elephant. If that sight doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of those who seek to conquer Vietnam, I don’t know what will. This unit boasts increased Combat Strength, Movement, and Sight compared to the Crossbowman, though it is also more expensive to produce. As an added bonus, the Voi Chiến can also move after attacking by default.

Let us move on one final time in order to discuss this DLC pack’s new optional game mode. As Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo once famously sang it, “There’s nothing wrong with capitalism / There’s nothing wrong with free enterprise.” It would seem Firaxis set out to prove those lyrics correct with this new mode. You see, this mode is called “Monopolies and Corporations Mode.” As its name strongly implies, when this gameplay variable is toggled on, it allows players to focus on building the titular corporations and monopolies based on their control of any given luxury resource.

Now, I must confess that this mode’s machinations are a bit over my head. I also haven’t really experimented with the mode quite enough at the time of writing. That lack of experience certainly doesn’t help my case. Due to that, I won’t be going too in-depth about how it works, but I think I can still offer a few quick thoughts on the Monopolies and Corporations Mode.

As I mentioned a moment ago, players in games with this mode active can focus on maintaining control of and profiting from duplicate luxury resources in their territory in order to boost their gold income. I feel I should emphasize that duplicates of any resource are necessary for this mode to really come into effect. You can’t build a powerhouse of an orange juice manufacturing company from a single tile of citrus, after all.

Essentially, players start by building what are known as Industries on improved tiles of duplicate luxury resources within their territory. Industries cannot be built until you’ve researched the Currency technology. Additionally, you may only maintain one Industry per city. Another noteworthy aspect of this process is that the game takes into account any improved, duplicate luxury resources present within City-States of which you’re the Suzerain.

Theoretically, if I’m not mistaken, this could allow players to construct Industries, and possibly even Monopolies, without any luxuries in their own territory. That is, so long as players attempting this strategy ensure they’re never ousted as Suzerain of those City-States, of course. Once any player controls at least sixty percent of the nodes of any given luxury resource on the map, that player is said to have a monopoly on that resource.

I’m afraid that’s virtually all I can offer you in the way of knowledge of this mode’s inner workings, at least for now. I fully intend to experiment with this game mode as I prepare either a video or written review (or possibly both, if I’m feeling unusually ambitious) of the New Frontier Pass in its entirety. Of course, I can’t do that until the final piece of major DLC is out. That’s scheduled to happen sometime this month. For now, as always, I’ll be taking one more turn if anyone needs me!