Civilization VI December 2020 Update

The December 2020 Update for Civilization VI was released on December 17th, 2020.

New features

City-State Picker

In Advanced Setup, players can now bring up a new menu to choose which City-States they would like to include in their next game. Selected City-States are not guaranteed to be in the next game, rather, they are part of the pool of City-States that will then be randomly selected and placed. Ones that are not selected will never appear in a game.

Searchable Unit List

Leave no scout, archer, or Giant Death Robot behind. Players can use search and filtering functions in the World Tracker panel to quickly find any unit on the map.

Balance

Items in the list below apply to the Gathering Storm, Rise and Fall, Pirates, and Byzantium and Gaul Pack ruleset only.

General

• [Gathering Storm] Religious Community: International Trade Routes receive +2 Gold to cities with Holy Sites and an additional +2 Gold for every building in the Holy Site.
• Fixed an issue where Wonder build requirements were being fulfilled by districts owned by other players.
• Drop melee units' combat bonus against anti-cavalry to 5.
• Reduced Combat Strength bonus from +10 to +5 for Thrust anti-cavalry Promotion.
• [Gathering Storm] Fixed an issue with John Curtin's leader ability, Citadel of Civilization, lasting for 20 turns when it should last for 10 turns.

Great People

• Einstein applies to Research Labs since Newton already applies to Universities.
• Alfred Nobel's ability applies 100 Great Person Points.
• Increase Da Vinci's Culture bonus for Workshops to +3 (instead of +1).

[Gathering Storm] Amenities

• Restoring penalties from Negative Amenities back to their previous thresholds:
  • Revolt will occur at -7
  • Unrest will occur at -6 to -5
  • Unhappy will be -4 to -3
  • Displeased will be -2 to -1
  • Content will be 0 to 2
• Increased Happy to +10% and Ecstatic to 20%.

[Gathering Storm] Policies

• Raj: +2 Gold for Trade Routes to City States (in addition to its previous effect).
• Public Transportation: Neighborhoods with Charming appeal receive +3 Food and +1 Production. Breathtaking appeal receives additional +1 Food and +1 Production. All Neighborhoods receive +1 Gold.
• Democracy: The bonus to trade routes now applies to city-states the user is Suzerain of (previously only allied civilizations)
  • This was on the previous build notes when we made the checklist, but it is no longer on the list. We have confirmed this update.
• Wisselbanken, and similarly the legacy (and normal) effect of Democracy, apply to allies and Suzerained City-States.
• Frescoes: +2 Great Artist points. +2 additional Great Artist Points for every Art Museum.
• Laissez-Faire: +2 Great Merchant Points for every Bank and +4 Great Merchant Points for every Stock Exchange. +2 Great Admiral Points for every Shipyard and +4 Great Admiral Points for every Seaport.
• Science Foundation: +2 Great Scientist Points for every University and +4 Great Scientist Points for every Research Lab. +2 Great Engineer Points for every Factory and +4 Great Engineer Points for every Power Plant.
• Military Organization: +2 Great General Points for every Armory and +4 Great General Points for every Military Academy. Great Generals receive +2 Movement.
• Symphonies: +4 Great Musician Points. +4 additional Great Musician Points for every Broadcast Center.
• Invention: +4 Great Engineer Points. +2 Great Engineer Points for every Workshop.
• Rationalism: Now requires a population of 15 and an adjacency bonus of 4.
• Simultaneum: Now requires a population of 15 and an adjacency bonus of 4.
• Grand Opera: Now requires a population of 15 and an adjacency bonus of 4.
• Free Market: Now requires a population of 15 (already had adjacency requirement of 4).
• Urban Planning: Becomes obsolete with Rationalism (Enlightenment Civic).

[Gathering Storm] Technology and Civics

• Reduced Boost requirements:
  • Advanced Ballistics: Build 1 Oil Power Plant (down from 2)
  • Advanced Flight: Build 2 Biplanes (down from 3)
  • Capitalism: Build 2 Stock Exchanges (down from 3)
  • Electricity: Build 2 Privateers (down from 3)
  • Globalization: Build 2 Airports (down from 3)
  • Industrialization: Build 2 Workshops (down from 3)
  • Professional Sports: Build 2 Entertainment Complexes (down from 4)
  • Refining: Build 1 Coal Power Plant (down from 2)

Adjusted Information Era Boosts

• Lasers: Build 2 Drones
• Nuclear Fusion: Build a Nuclear Power Plant (changed from “Boost through Great Scientist or Spy”)
• Satellites: Build 2 Broadcast Centers (changed from “Boost through Great Scientist or Spy”)
• Telecommunications: Boost through Great Scientist or Spy (changed from “Build 2 Broadcast Centers”)

[Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm] Ethiopia Pack Updates

• Players only receive a free Governor title from the first Secret Society they discover (instead of every time).
• Diplomatic Quarter buildings receive +1 yield from the Autocracy bonus.
• Fixed an issue where neutral-territory Vampire Castles were not removing Vampire build charges.
• Stopped Ley lines from appearing on Snow tiles.
• Ley Lines provide a Major Adjacency bonus to all specialty districts.
• Reduced the number of Ley Lines on TSL maps.
• Updated Secret Society popup flow upon discovering and joining a society.
• Implemented new names and descriptions for Secret Society popups and notifications.

Pirates

• Chainshot can no longer target non-visible hexes.
• The Dowsing Rod and English Pointer relics now only apply to naval ships.
• Trade ships now spawn less often.
• Shore Parties can no longer use Bury Treasure ability while in colonial city culture borders.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Shore Parties from embarking when placed on a tile adjacent to the map edge.
• Fixed an issue where the starting year was incorrect in the status bar.
• Fixed an issue where randomly generated treasure was appearing on improved hexes and owned territory.
• Flyover text when performing point scoring actions will now appear consistently.
• Removed audio cue for treasure notifications.
• Changed Treasure Found notification icon for consistency.

Byzantium and Gaul Pack

• Biosphère's Appeal now applies to all cities in the empire in which it was built.
• Byzantium can no longer build the Water Park if they have a Hippodrome.
• Byzantium will no longer receive free cavalry units in captured cities for already existing buildings.
• Mines built by Gaul now provide tourism.
• Fixed an issue where the Sakdina Golden Age Policy Card was not properly granting extra Great People Points.

Heroes and Legends

• Hippolyta is now an anti-cavalry class unit. Previously was a melee class unit.
• Enemy units will convert to player's units after attacking and dying to Hunahpu and Xbalanque.
• Arthur's Accolade can no longer be used on naval units.
• Oya's Storm now affects religious units.
• Fixed an issue causing Hero Antiquity shipwrecks to be placed in ocean tiles.
• Passive ability icons added for Heroes on Heroes & Great People screen.
• Added Hero glow animation for Hero unit flags.

AI

• Improved logic for demands, so the AI does not ask for them when at a disadvantage.
• Added a “Stop asking me” option for AI friendship and peace requests.
• Added “Do not ask again” option to deal items requested by the AI.
• Added “Stop asking” option for trades and agreements.
• Added additional considerations to the cost for peace.
• Improved AI logic to raze cities, especially for Mayan cities that are unusable to non-Mayans.
• Prioritize the purchase of Heroes.
• Additional AI improvements.

UI

• Added enabled game modes to Hall of Fame history
• Military Policy Cards backing height is now consistent with other card backings.
• Fixed an issue where the District Defense Strength displayed on the map would not update when performing actions that would change the value.
• Fixed an issue on the Scenario menu where banners would overrun their borders when viewing on 1080 or smaller resolutions.
• Various text improvements.

Console

Switch

• Fixed an issue where the client displays as present in a Local Multiplayer lobby after turning on Airplane mode.
• Fixed a text issue in the 2K Account tooltip.

PS4

• Fixed a localization issue in the Multiplayer lobby in Simplified Chinese.
• Fixed an issue where a “Show Details” button being present and cutoff in the Score tab of the World Rankings menu.

XB1

• Fixed an issue where buttons were offset in the Single Player Advance setup menu.
• Fixed and issue where the invite friends button would lose functionality after suspending the game while in a Multiplayer Staging room.
• Fixed multiple crashes that occurred throughout the game.
• Fixed an issue where the game would remain on the Multiplayer Stating room after resuming the game from a suspended state.
• Fixed an issue where a network error message was not appearing after returning to an internet multiplayer game from a suspended state.

PS4 & XB1

• Fixed an issue where Catherine De Medici and Teddy Roosevelt persona packs displayed placeholder text in tooltips for Multiplayer games.
• Fixed and issue with the Apocalypse mode description and image.

All

• Fixed an issue where the user could be blocked from advancing to the next turn during the AI's turn.
• Fixed multiple crashes that occurred throughout the game.
• Fixed text overlap issues that were present on the Heroes & Great People and World Congress menu.
• Fixed multiple localization issues.
• Fixed an issue where the “Show Resource Icons” and “Show Yield Icons” options are present in the Pirates Scenario.
• Fixed an issue with the icons on the notifications menu of the Pirates Scenario.
• Fixed an issue where the Post Game screen could be skipped in the Pirates Scenario.
• Fixed an issue where the Game Modes tab is blank in the Advanced Setup menu when no Game Modes are present.
• Fixed an issue where the Choose Civilization section on the Create Game menu could not be cycled.
• Fixed an issue where Secret Society notifications were not redirecting to the Governor menu when selected in Multiplayer.
• Fixed an issue where the highlight would automatically move to Apocalypse mode when selecting Secret Societies in the Create Game menu.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for Forest Fires would not appear in the World Climate menu.

Videos

Civilization VI Game Update - December 2020

Tronster Hartley, Rony Kahana, and Kevin Schultz announce the update.

Civilization VI - December 2020 Game Update Developer Livestream - VOD

Pete Murray, Anton Strenger, and Carl Harrison