2019-05-01_PC_Gamer_(US_Edition

World Congress becomes even more
important as the danger increases.
It’s all well and good to look at the
melting polar ice caps and say “OK,
I’m going to buy a Tesla and go
vegan”, but it takes an international,
political effort to make a tangible
difference. I shut down my oil
platforms and coal mines, I
decommissioned my ships and
planes, but even then the seas
continued to rise.
It took international legislation
banning certain power plants and
some friendly competition between
civs to make a dent.
Always it’s a competition, which
suits Civilization nicely. The
impending ecological disaster is a
good showcase of the new diplomacy
system, but you’ll end up becoming
very familiar with it long before the
glaciers start vanishing.
Diplomatic favor funds each civ’s
international clout. It’s a resource
that can be traded for both the
tangible, like gold or artifacts, and the
fleeting, like promises. Competing in
international events, helping out
during emergencies, and making
allies will earn you some, too.
When the World Congress meets,
that favor translates into votes, letting
you try to push your agenda at the
global level.
I’ve become a very
two-faced leader, I
confess. In person it’s
all smiles and
assurances, but the
moment the World
Congress convenes, I’m
there with a knife
behind my back. “Yeah,
Trajan, we’re good
buddies,” I say as I spend all of my
favor to neuter his army. Instead of a
diplomatic victory hinging on you
making everyone like you, it depends
on you making deals, competing in
international events and wisely
spending favor. Sure, alliances and
becoming the suzerain of a city-state
will net you favor, but there are
several routes to winning the political
game, and being a sneaky wheeler
and dealer is one of them.
This is certainly the most
engaging diplomacy has been in
Civilization VI, and perhaps in the
series. Other Civilizations have
modeled global diplomacy and
politics, but not at this scale, and
definitely not so woven into the
fabric of the game. Rise and Fall got
the ball rolling, but it’s Gathering

Storm that turns diplomacy into a

clear strategy and makes it

instrumental in fixing new problems

that involve everyone.

Even though it’s still competitive,

there are unifying moments where

every civ makes some sacrifices to

right the ship.

PAUSING ARMAGEDDON

The setup for the end game—if it all

goes wrong, anyway—is pretty

dramatic. The coast has been

swallowed up by the ocean, natural

disasters are increasing in occurrence

and whole industries,

previously reliant on

fossil fuels, are shutting

down. Every inch of

the world, or what

remains, is already in

use, so expansion can

only come in the form

of conquest. It’s all very

World War III. And

then... it just stops.

Climate change just sort of ends.

During the final phase, 85 per cent of

the ice caps melt and disasters start

jumping up by a couple of percent,

but then there’s just no more climate

change. In my large continents map,

just over 70 hexes were swallowed by

the sea, which did submerge an

island and make some of the coast

unusable, but it was surmountable,

especially once I unlocked

technology that allowed me to build

habitats in the ocean.

The habitats, called seasteads, are

one of the new techs that appear

during the future era. They’re handy,

and there’s something about building

homes in the water that calls to mind

Alpha Centauri, which is never a bad

thing, but otherwise the new era is a

bit of a dud. The scope is very

narrow, in what is otherwise an

ambitious expansion. Most of the

techs just seem to improve the flashy

sci-fi unit you can now construct: a

giant killer robot. It’s tough, silly, and

I won’t deny that smashing up enemy

cities with giant death machines is

fun, but with a few of them built, the

future era quickly runs out of new

things. It’s unfortunately brief and

largely extraneous.

With no more changes on the

horizon and the sea levels settling, all

those self-imposed limits can be

lifted, returning the endgame to

something a bit more traditional.

I kept waiting for the final

crescendo, some awful apocalypse,

but it never came. I was acting under

the illusion that we were trying to

stave off the end of all human

civilization, but this seems less

urgent. It’s still best to avoid it, but

knowing that it fizzles out robs it of

some of its power.

JUST DENY IT

It’s the journey to that end scenario,

whether you stop climate change or

not, where Gathering Storm has the

most impact. The new emergencies,

cooperation, and the effect of climate

change even on war can dramatically

change the game, even if you know

that the end of the world never

arrives. The choice of map also

makes a difference. Playing on an

archipelago or on islands, for

instance, ensures that a huge amount

of damage will be done before the

climate meter stops moving. And, as

always, you can exert some control

over the random maps, tweaking

properties like initial sea levels and

resource abundance. If challenge is

what you want, you can still find it.

Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

bites off a lot, but it proves more than

capable of juggling big concepts like

climate change and global diplomacy.

It turns them into coherent but still

complex systems that you’ll

constantly be interacting with, even

before you start noticing that the

beaches are vanishing. The climax

doesn’t live up to the build-up, but

Civilization VI is still a richer game

for all the expansion brings.

81

Gathering Storm is an

ambitious expansion

full of welcome additions,

even if it does falter

at the end.

VERDICT

Certainly the

most engaging

diplomacy has

been in

Civilization VI

BAYWATCH

The dreaded stages of climate change

W

at

er

L

ev

el

Time

Life on the

beach is good,

even with all

the new

factories

Has anyone

noticed

their shoes

getting

wet? It’s OK, we

invented solar

power!

Actually we

could still

use a bit

of coal...

So when do we unlock

the gills tech?

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