This adds yet another layer of co-operation between civs to the game, and it’s a very nice touch. You can bribe other civilizations to lend you votes, or ally with city states to gain delegates yourself. Congress sessions are held more and more often as the game progresses, and the host and nation with the most delegates can make proposals on which all civs vote: from banning luxury resources (really rather pointless) to embargoing a civilization (often fatal) or staging a World Fair (highly beneficial if you put in the effort). When one civilization has discovered all others and researched Printing Press (in my experience, about 150 turns into the game, which is shorter than it sounds), that nation is designated as Host, and all civilizations in the world are invited to participate. Next up is the World Congress, a precursor to the United Nations. Later in the game, these routes have the side effect of spreading your religion far and wide. It’s a boon for peaceful civs and a slap in the face for belligerent empires. You must be careful, however, to protect your valuable routes from rampaging barbarians and nefarious empires, and you have to pause for a moment and think about the consequences of declaring war, which will cancel both your trade routes with the empire in question and theirs with you, possibly eradicating your entire per-turn profit. They can provide much-needed food to new settlements, or generate gold per turn for both you and the other empire. These can be completed over land or sea with your own cities, city-states or other civilizations. The most immediate of the gameplay changes is the addition of the trade route. This lends Venice a unique playstyle, and is a very nice touch. You may purchase in these cities, but not choose construction. Your only method of expansion is to send Great Merchants (called Merchants of Venice) to nearby city states and puppet them. When playing as Venice, you can neither settle nor annex cities. One of these civilizations – Venice – is especially worthy of mention.
Like Gods & Kings, this is no quick cash-in: it really does revamp even the core gameplay, as well as adding in nine new civilizations spanning the globe, from the Shoshone of North America to the Indonesian empire in the Far East. Last year saw the release of Gods & Kings, Civilization V’s first major expansion, and this year the game’s second and final expansion, Brave New World has been released. By Arthur Kabrick, posted on 14 July 2013 / 3,408 Viewsįew developers can beat Firaxis in terms of post-release support.