[R&F] Based on the new features - which civilizations and leaders should be introduced in R&F?

Wasn't Joan of Arc also been rumoured?

 

Updating my list as well.

Korea
Ottomans
Mongols
Netherlands
Portugal
Carthage
Inca
Western Native American civ (Souix or Apache?)

Alt leader: Constantine

 

This is the main reason why I think Byzantium will be in the pack, though it doesn't seem to be a front runner in the general consensus; its historical presence is so very tied into the idea of the rise and fall of empire, golden ages rising out of dark ones and vice versa, all the basic things they seem to be going for.

I can very much see Theodora being the leader alluded to, for example, who does something interesting with the Golden/Dark Age system (if I'm remembering the quote correctly, which I very much may not be).

 

I might as well throw my ideas into the ring.

- Korea led by Seongdeok. Seems all but confirmed with the teaser from yesterday.
- Mongolia led by Ogedei Khan. To differentiate from the Scythians maybe they can pillage faster and easier? Throwing that in the ring.
- Netherlands led by Willem van Oranje/Wilhelmina... I honestly can't decide on which.
- Inca led by someone. I'm not too well-versed in Incan history, bit I think they'd fill out a decent part of the map.
- Mali led again, by someone. This is again based on what I think would fill out the map.
- Native American civ which has not been seen before. Idealy one from the West coast, or the Great Plains.
- Georgia led by Tamar.
- Canada led by Simon de Champlain.

New leader will be Isabella I for Spain.

 

What I'm thinking is, expansion comes with scenarios (2 I think) that explores some aspects of the new game mechanic (usually at least one) or just the newly-introduced civs. Taking V for example, G&K have 5 of 9 new ones presented in the medieval scenario (not counting Spain) and 3 in FoR scenario, while BNW have 3 of 9 plus Ethiopia in Africa scenario. New World Deluxe also use 2 from G&K and two from BNW. So my point is using the highly likely ones to fit a scenario and guess some more using it.

 

So I was just looking at Zenobia's wiki page and I found something interesting:

"Her rise and fall have inspired historians, artists and novelists, and she is a national hero in Syria."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenobia

Obviously this means she's 100% confirmed no contest.

 

We don't have a unique commercial hub yet, so that could point towards Mali? (or possibly Kilwa or Ottomans (the bazaar)

 

My suspicion is in Bazaar for the Ottomans

 

That would be my personal preference.

 

Bazaar would be indeed a good choice for unique commercial hub.

I like the approach by going through missing UDs to speculate about the new civs. An unique encampment is missing, too. Suitable civs for that would be Zulu or Mongols. In addition we get two new districts which can also have an unique variant. But I have no idea what a unique government plaza could be.

Are civs with a unique aerodome or unique space port likely? I don't think so.

 

So Seondeok of Korea is confirmed, as many people correctly guessed by seeing Sean Bean's daughter in the trailer.

 

So does that put the Dutch as the frontrunner for a female leader that synergizes with the ages system?

 

"working with the ages system" is such a vague hint that it could be attributed to virtually anyone. Elizabeth could have bonuses to Golden Ages. Jeanne d'Arc could have bonuses to earning Heroic Ages. It's hard to say what that would actually mean.

 

Mad Max civilization: Dark Ages count as Heroic Ages

 

IMO it strengthens the probability of Tamar of Georgia. That may be wishful thinking on my part.

 

Unlikely, as France already have Catherine. If they're adding a second leader to France, might b a male leader like Louis or Napoleon. Or even Charles!

 

I think Hungary might actually work... just to spit ball here:

Matthias Corvinus is an interesting character. He could come with an ability that allows him to form melee corps and armies earlier + the ability to leverage gold out of cities at the cost of loyalty (he was infamous for his taxation, which allowed him to afford his extravagant Black Army; this taxation led to some rebellion problems and his Black Army was no longer affordable after his reign).

I'd suggest a great person boost due to his famed magnanimity, but that's already claimed by Pedro.

Pike and Shot is a new unit, and I could see the Black Army filling in as a special variant (1/4 infantry in the Black Army were equipped with arquebuses, which was significantly higher than the standard 1/10 in other contemporary European armies). Maybe they could get a combat bonus for adjacency to friendly heavy cavalry in addition to a flat combat boost. They'd also take advantage of forming into corps and armies from the leader ability. Significant increase to upkeep cost compared to Pike and Shot.

Their unique infrastructure could be a library replacement. His Bibliotheca Corviniana, or Royal Library, could function similarly to Assyria's in Civ V. Replace the Library in the Campus, have a slot for a Great Work of Writing, provide some sort of bonus if filled.

Edit: not sure what Hungary's unique ability could be and perhaps there's a better UI to make it less about Matthias. Definitely like the idea of Matthias and his Black Army, though.

 

For the Dutch, I could also imagine that the civ has something to do with Golden Ages and not the leader and that the famous leader that interacts in a unique way with the system comes from elsewhere. All speculation though.

 

We've seen a lot of new civs for this stage in a Civ game's release cycle - six so far. While they'll want at least one for the expansion I think they may focus more heavily on returning civs, probably including at least one we haven't seen for a while to keep things fresh.

I can imagine a lineup along these lines:

Korea
Dutch
Mongolia
Byzantium
Madagascar
Hittites
Inca
North American civ

There's the apparently compulsory "at least 1 from each of Europe, Africa, Asia, Americas and ancient era", with up to four possible female leaders given the focus on those and the current imbalance towards males (Korea, which we know, Netherlands, Byzantium and Madagascar).

The Hittites haven't been seen since Civ III - in fact they're the only pre-Civ V civ other than the Sioux, the HRE, and the "Native Americans" that has been in only one incarnation of the game, and both HRE and Native Americans were a poor idea as full civs.

Madagascar seems moderately widely-requested, Antananarivo has been a CS in both Civ V and Civ VI although it's unlikely Civ has a significant Malagasy player base, and Tsingy de Bemaraha is a natural wonder in Civ VI. It's a plausible candidate for the new civ, represents a time period not covered by the current African civs, and has a possible female leader.

There's no particular reason to expect the Inca beyond the fact that they're a geographical gap and they'll certainly be added at some point. We may however get only one 'Americas' civ as Firaxis has tended to treat both continents as one for the purposes of civ selection. If one of those isn't there I'd expect the Celts, who are usually in the first expansion, certain to be added at some point, and fit thematically as a civ from the literal Dark Ages.

The leader could be more or less anyone but I'd expect a Roman given the expansion name, as I still expect a nod towards Gibbon's history given the expansion's title. Unless they're simply offering Justinian and Theodora as two alternatives for Byzantium.

 

On the other hand, they've shown a tendency to shy away from repeating Civ5 leaders, and a female leader of Byzantium means Theodora again. I think Byzantium's leader will be male this time, and if we're really lucky he'll be a Medieval emperor like Alexios I Komnenos rather than Justinian again...The Hittites might be a candidate for a female leader, though, in the form of Puduḫepa.

Personally I expect the Maya over the Inca, even if the Aztec are nearby. Also, by the time the Dark Ages rolled around, Gaulish and Celtiberian were dead, Briton was being marginalized, and all three were so thoroughly Romanized as to maintain very little of their cultural distinctness (would have been interesting to see what kind of Briton-influenced Romance would have sprung up in England were it not for the Anglo-Saxon invasion). Unless of course you meant the Irish, which were sort of awkwardly tacked on to the Civ5 Celts, an abomination that hopefully won't be repeated.

Given that virtually everyone seems to like Trajan as Rome's leader, I'd be surprised they'd waste a new leader on Rome. Also having Justinian and Theodora as alternate leaders would be bizarre; she was his queen-consort--whatever influence she had as a leader was through him. They were, essentially, the same leader.