Civilization 6 Released One Of The Most Unique Leaders In The January 2023 Update “Rulers of China”
I’m not one to complain about new leaders, but I do find having 5 leaders for a single civilization a bit silly. That being said, 3 new leaders were introduced in Firaxis’ January Update, Rulers of China. All of them bring unique abilities that can be utilized in unique ways. Some are favourited over others (looking at you Yongle), but all of them can be great if you can play them right. Let’s go through each of the new leaders.
The Unifier
By 221 BC, all Chinese lands were unified under one powerful ruler, and in the course of conquest, Qin had standardized trade, communication, currency, and language. In that same year, Qin proclaimed himself with the new title "First Emperor" (始皇帝, Shǐ Huángdì), to symbolize how far he had surpassed the achievements of the old Zhou Dynasty rulers.
Leader Ability: Thirty-Six Stratagems
All land melee units gain access to the unique Convert Barbarians action, which consumes the unit to transform all adjacent Barbarian units into Chinese units.
An incredibly unique ability, to say the least. The only time a player is able to convert barbarian units is by using an apostle with the Heathen Conversion upgrade, or with the Great General, Boudica.
As Firaxis showed in the First Look video, even a 1HP melee unit can be effective and convert multiple barbarians. With a well executed strategy of keeping barbs alive and letting them spawn, the new Qin Shi Huang seems like a fun way to amass your army quickly, and cheaply.
China can now focus on building wonders or districts, instead of using the production to build military units. This leaves China to have a good army and good yields. With barbarian clans turned on, the new Qin has access to all the unique units the barbarians spawn.
This new leader is for players that like to focus on building their empire rather than building a military, but still want a good military either for defence, or offence.
China’s First Female Emperor
Wu Zetian was the de facto ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. She was the only female sovereign in the history of China widely regarded as legitimate. Under her 40-year reign, China grew larger, becoming one of the great powers of the world, its culture and economy were revitalized, and corruption in the court was reduced.
Leader Ability: Manual of Entrapment
Receives a free Spy (and extra Spy capacity) with Defensive Tactics. All Spies operate as if 1 level more experienced. Upon completing a successful offensive espionage mission on a foreign city, receive 50% of the Science and Culture that city produced that turn.
The leader in China in Civilization 5, Wu Zetian makes a come back in the new Rulers of China update. Wu Zetian puts an emphasis on espionage. All in all, the whole spy mechanic in Civ 6 can be pretty lack-lustre, but with Wu Zetian’s Manual of Entrapment ability, Firaxis is attempting to bring another layer to spies.
The only other leader in the game with an ability related to spies is Catherine (Black Queen). The difference here is that Wu Zetian gets Science and Culture whenever an offensive spy mission is successful. It’s an interesting ability that could possibly be useful as it scales into the late game. However, spy missions can take 3-5 turns and getting only 50% of the Science/Culture generated by the player can make it seem like it’s not really worth it.
But if you really want to have fun with it, turn on Secret Societies, take Owls of Minerva, build the Intelligence Agency, and suddenly China has 9 spies to work with. You’ll be getting extra science and culture every turn, along with all the gold you steal from your enemies. Seems like a fun time!
The Yongle Emperor (personal name Zhu Di) was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty. He was originally enfeoffed as the Prince of Yan (燕王) in May 1370, with the capital of his princedom at Beiping (modern Beijing).
After the Yongle Emperor's overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, China's countryside was devastated. The fragile new economy had to deal with low production and depopulation. The Yongle Emperor laid out a long and extensive plan to strengthen and stabilise the new economy, but first he had to silence dissension. He created an elaborate system of censors to remove corrupt officials from office that spread such rumors. The emperor dispatched some of his most trusted officers to reveal or destroy secret societies, bandits, and loyalists to his other relatives. To strengthen the economy, he fought population decline, using the most he could from the existing labour force, and maximising textile and agricultural production.
The emperor planned to build a massive network of structures in Beijing in which government offices, officials, and the imperial family resided. After a painfully long construction time (1407–1420), the Forbidden City was finally completed and became the imperial capital for the next 500 years.
Leader Ability: Lijia
All cities gain access to three unique Lijia projects, which can either convert 50% of their Production into Food or Faith, or 100% of their Production into Gold. Cities with 10 or more Population gain +2 Gold, +1 Science and +1 Culture for every Population.
Easily the most unique ability in this pack and debatably in the entire game. Yongle has a unique project that transforms the production from the city into either food, faith, or gold per turn. This opens up a lot of different strategies to utilize when playing as Yongle. We’re already seeing some streamers like PotatoMcWhiskey have 10+ population in his capital before settling his 3rd city.
Any new city can turn its production into food temporarily to grow population fast, and then use that population to work more productive tiles. This is a big-brain leader for people who really want to drain as much potential out of a Civilization as possible. I’m excited to see how everyone plays Yongle.
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