Civilization VII embraces the pirate life with its next update
2K and Firaxis have announced the 1.3.0 update for Civilization VII, which is bringing two new leaders, new locations, new wonders and much more. The best part, that new content will be free for a limited time.
As you can see in the infographic below, there are two main parts to the Tides of Power collection, the first arriving on November 5 and is bringing Pirates to the game. The second is coming in December, but no exact date has been given yet and adds in the Ottoman empire and Iceland. Edward Teach is the new leader in part one and Sayyida al Hurra is the leader for part two.
When the update drops on November 5, there will be a host of free updates and changes, based on player feedback for all, but the Tides of Power collection requires a buy in, well normally. For the first 2 months of its release, everyone can claim the Tides of Power collection for free, but after January 6, it will swap to a paid add-on.
The team have also released a first look at Edward Teach, or if you prefer Blackbeard, giving you a peg-leg up on the pirate adventures to come. You can also read a text version of the update here.
As for what the rest of the 1.3.0 update brings, well there will be full patch notes released when the update goes live, but Firaxis have confirmed the following details. These have been supplied by the team and shared here, without any edits.
Ocean-lovers rejoice! 1.3.0 is packed with a ton of naval-themed updates, including a new Unit, Building, combat updates, Ocean Resources, and more. We’re also continuing our strategic balance efforts (shaking up the meta yet again), this time focusing specifically on sweeping changes to individual civs. Here are the highlights:
New Building and Unit: Harbor & Privateer
To support your growing navy, we’re introducing a new Warehouse Building available to all civs: the Harbor, a new water-based Warehouse Building available to all civs. The Harbor has a base Production Yield and gives additional Production on Fishing Boats. Crucially, the Harbor now acts as the new spawn point for all Naval Units, much like how the Barracks is used for Land Units (which means no more wondering where your Cog will end up once it leaves the production line).
We also recognize a naval update is nothing without a new ship to explore the seas with, so we’re also bringing you the Privateer. This is a new Light Naval Unit that unlocks in the Exploration Age on the Heraldry Civic.
In terms of strength, it sits neatly between the Cog and the Carrack, but its real power comes from its utility and higher speed. The Privateer is the ultimate naval raider with its ability to cross the borders of other civs freely, pillage trade routes for quick cash, and even attack the Military Units of any non-allied civilization, regardless of your war status! And yes, they get Gold for defeating a Unit! It's the perfect tool for sneaky economic warfare and general maritime mischief.
New Resources and Terrain Types
Not only do you have new tools to explore the Ocean, but the Ocean has become more interesting to explore, too…
To start, we’ve added three new water Resources, Crabs, Turtles, and Cowrie, and Pitch, a new land-based Resource. We've also updated our Resource spawning rules to be more reliable, guaranteeing a minimum number of Coastal Resources.
For terrain, Atolls will appear in the Deep Ocean, acting as movement-stopping terrain to create strategic choke points. The new Lotus terrain will spawn in Lakes, and provide bonuses to Food and Gold. And finally, we buffed the existing Reefs features so they can stay competitive with Atolls and Lotus.
Speaking of the Ocean, we’ve made base Ocean Tiles workable in the Modern Age. Hawaii can now work Ocean tiles in the Exploration Age, making their coastal starts feel powerful even earlier.
Naval Combat Updates
The final piece is a fresh update to naval combat. We've done a significant pass to make naval warfare feel more impactful, and to clearly define the strengths of your seafaring units.
Prior to this update, all naval combat was melee combat, but now we added Ranged Units to the mix as well. We've broken Naval Units up into two types: Light and Heavy:
Light Units are Melee Units and have increased movement, vision, and the ability to set up flanking attacks.
Heavy Units are the new Ranged Units. These are slower than Light Units and don't have as much vision. However, Heavy Units make up for their lack of vision with their strong ranged attacks.
Overall, these changes should make conquering the seas a much more strategic and deliberate endeavor.
The game is out now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation and Xbox, with a VR edition also available.
