In Civilization 6, the strategy hit on Steam, 12 new leaders have been added since November 2022. And it seems like in real life: China is ahead and surpassing the USA. We look at the new fan favorite: Yongle.
What role do leaders play in Civilization 6?
- Each civilization in Civilization 6 has special bonuses and traits. They are suitable for different play styles and determine what type of victory one aims for. With the Chinese, one particularly enjoys building wonders, with the Dutch, the focus is on trade, as the Macedonians, one wants to conquer the world.
- The leaders set the additional rules under which one plays Civilization 6. They bring their own flair and bonus abilities to gameplay: Germany plays differently depending on whether you approach as Barbarossa or as fairy-tale castle king Ludwig II, who is rewarded by the game for placing foundations for wonders in the landscape that are never completed.
- Since the release in 2016, more and more leaders have been added to Civilization 6, so that some civilizations now have multiple leaders to choose from that allow different playstyles. Some leaders even have “alternative versions”.
This is now the most popular of the new rulers: Civilization 6 introduced the most popular rulers from the Leader Pass on May 31. The pass brought a total of 12 new leaders to the game from November 21, 2022, to March 29, 2023. Now, after 2 months, Firaxis evaluates which of the 12 is the most popular new hero:
- In 1st place is Yongle, a Chinese ruler – he was added to the game on January 19, 2023
- Abraham Lincoln comes in 2nd place – he joined Civ 6 in November 2022
- Tokugawa takes 3rd place, he entered the strategy game in December 2022
Yongle can quickly unleash cities and grow an empire
Why is Yongle so strong? Even in January 2023, right at the release, the community agreed: “Yongle belongs in S-Tier” or “Yongle is simply OP”:
Yongle gives his cities access to 3 special projects that convert 50% of their production into food or faith, or 100% of the production into gold. When cities reach a population size of 10, they also generate gold, science, and culture for every additional citizen.
On reddit , it was already said in January that Yongle has insane potential:
- You can either play tall with him (few but large cities) or wide (many but small cities)
- First, you can found as many cities as possible and let them grow extremely fast due to the food bonus
- Once they are large, the bonuses really kick in
Apparently, players of Civ 6 love that they can use Yongle so flexibly to prioritize food, faith, or gold depending on the situation. Once you have built a huge empire with large cities and see how the values explode, it feels fantastic:
