In person it's all smiles and assurances, but the moment the World Congress convenes, I'm there with a knife behind my back. I've become a very two-faced leader, I confess. When the World Congress meets, that favour translates into votes, letting you try to push your agenda at the global level. Competing in international events, helping out during emergencies and making allies will earn you some, too. It's a resource that can be traded for both the tangible, like gold or artefacts, and the fleeting, like promises. Diplomatic favour funds each civ's international clout. 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. It took international legislation banning certain power plants and some friendly competition between civs to make a dent.Īlways it's a competition, which suits Civilization nicely. I shut down my oil platforms and coal mines, I decommissioned my ships and planes, but even then the seas continued to rise. 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. Using the World Congress becomes even more important as the danger increases. Like other emergencies, they're framed as competitions, which each civ attempting to excel, whether it's at being very charitable or stopping Katherine of Sweden from converting another city to Taoism. Through the World Congress, motions can be put to the other civs, creating an emergency event where everyone is called on to send aid to the victim of the disaster. Gathering Storm doesn't treat natural disasters or climate change as the concerns of individual civs. No matter the civ you're playing, you'll still need to spend a bit more time considering where to establish your first city. There are some unusual twists among the expanded roster that make them stand out even as the list grows massive. If you're playing as the Maori, for instance, you start at sea and get bonuses for every turn you choose to forgo putting down roots, while the Phoenicians get more flexibility later on, thanks to their ability to move their capital to any other city with their unique building. Straight away, Gathering Storm flings a few more decisions into the mix. The very first choice you make after picking a civ-there are eight new ones, and nine new leaders-is finding a hex to settle on, typically on your first turn. Foul weather, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, however, can interfere with your empire-building plans whenever, so nature is a persistent adversary. It's not until resources like coal and oil start being exploited that CO2 emissions start to increase and transform the map, mostly through rising sea levels.

For most of history, civs have barely any impact on the climate.

Civilization 6 civilizations