The April 2021 update to Civilization 6 is supposedly the game's last free update "of the season," whatever that may mean. Whether the game will receive more paid DLC or not, this update has made some sweeping changes to many Civilizations and other aspects of the popular strategy game.
Many under-performing Civilization received some changes, whether big or small, to help pull them up to be more competitive with other Civilizations. If this is the final free balancing update that the game is going to get, it certainly brought some big changes that many fans will be excited to try.
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One of the more surprising additions that came with the final Civilization 6 update were three new units, all spread out through the tech tree that filled out some gaps between unit upgrades. Previously the melee upgrade tree went Warrior to Swordsman to Musketman to Infantry to Mechanized Infantry. The Combat Strength gap between Swordsman and Musketman and then Musketman and Infantry was a bit too wide and made catching up against an aggressor a bit hard. Two new melee units, the Man-At-Arms and the Line Infantry, help even out those Combat Strength gaps and make upgrading units a bit easier.
The Man-At-Arms slots in between the Swordsman and the Musketman, and then the Line Infantry slots in between the Musketman and the Infantry. The final new unit added to the game is a beloved and highly-requested unit: the Trebuchet. Previously, the gap between siege units was pretty drastic, as the Catapult (a previously pretty weak unit) upgraded into the Bombard (which has often been the main wall-damaging unit). Now, the Trebuchet fills that gap, allowing for hard-hitting wars to start a bit earlier when walls come into play.
Canada has always been a fairly strong Civilization, and one of the few that has perks to focus on a Diplomatic Victory. However, those benefits come from Wilfrid Laurier's Leader Ability. Canada's Civilization Ability has always been on the weak side, and situational at best. The ability, The Last Best West, allowed Canada to build farms and mines on Tundra tiles. However, they were generally less effective than farms settled elsewhere on the map.
This meant that if Canada focused on playing around this ability, they developed much slower than other Civs. Now, Canada's Tundra Lumber Mills and Mines grant +2 Production, and Tundra Farms grant +2 Food. Now instead of struggling to survive in the Tundra, Canada thrives. In addition to this, Canada's unique unit, the Mountie, can now create two National Parks for free (up from one), making them incredibly valuable when going for a Cultural Victory as well.
Khmer's identity prior to this update was all about Faith and the Aqueduct district. However, the combination of these was not well-executed and led to Khmer being a rather lackluster Civilization to play. However, with this update, Khmer received arguably the biggest overhaul of all the leaders. After this update, any city of Khmer's that has an Aqueduct gains +1 Faith per Population as well as +1 Amenity. Farms also receive +2 Food from adjacent Aqueducts and +1 Faith from Adjacent Holy Sites.
To make this even better, and to really synergize with the Aqueduct focus, Khmer's Holy Sites now receive major adjacency bonus from Rivers and grant Food equal to said adjacency bonus, allowing Khmer to build really strong districts with powerful adjacency. Khmer's unique infrastructure, the Prasat, now also grants 0.5 Culture per Population in the city, and provides Tourism after Flight is researched: +10 Tourism if city is over 10 population, +20 if city is over 20. Khmer is a whole lot more powerful now than it has been, and will be one of the best Civilizations for those looking to build a tall empire rather than a wide one.
Spain has always been in a bit of a strange spot as it seemed to have a Faith focus, a commerce focus, and a naval focus, but none meshed well with each other. In the April update, Spain had a bit of a restructure to focus more on wide expansion that can utilize its myriad of bonuses better than before. Spain now receives +3 Gold, +2 Faith, and +1 Production from all Trade Routes, which is tripled if the Trade Route is to a different continent. Spanish cities founded on different continents receive +25% Production toward districts and a free Builder when founded, allowing for Spain to quickly establish a strong foothold on other continents.
Spain's Mission improvement grants +2 Loyalty per turn if built next to the City Center, so that builder can immediately set up a Loyalty boost to far-away cities upon founding. Spain is now all about early exploration, powerful Navy, and a lot of Gold. While they won't have as much Gold as Joao III, they're certainly going to be better off than most Civs.
Many, many leaders received some buffs with this final update. Other notable boons came for the Mapuche, China, the Maya, Inca, and many many more. Mapuche, for example, now has a lot more combat benefits to fighting other Civs in a Golden Age, as well as more Loyalty-influence against other Civs. Mapuche can now play a lot more aggressively and deal a lot more damage to both other Civs and the Free Cities that occurs as a result of their attacks.
China now gains a free Eureka and Inspiration when completing a Wonder, further leaning into their Wonder-building identity. the Maya now receive a free builder in each new city founded within six tiles of their Capital, allowing them to build their Tall empire more efficiently. The Inca now receive more Production from Mountains, making Pachacuti's cities even more powerful when utilizing his Mountain-based abilities. This is nowhere near the full list of buffs (and some minor nerfs) that came with this update, but these are some of the more impactful changes.
Another big surprise making its return from Civilization 5 is Cultural Domination, a side-effect of a player pursuing a Culture Victory. Cultural Domination is when a Civilization's Tourism and Culture far exceed another's. Whenever a player's Civ is Culture Dominant over another Civ, they will gain several new benefits: international Trade Routes to the dominated Civ will gain +4 Gold, Spy Missions to the dominated Civ's cities will be 50% faster to complete, and citizens from the empire will exert 25% more Loyalty pressure towards a dominated Civilization, making it even easier for that Civilization to fall to Free Cities.
This power is especially strong in the hands of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who can immediately convert Loyalty-toppled Cities into her empire. These changes are a great addition and a welcome sight for fans of Civilization 5, and they reward those players seeking a Culture Victory quite handily.
Overall, the April 2021 update is a fine send-off for Civilization 6 if it happens to really be the last update. The wording in the developer updates constantly denoted "last free update of the season" so many fans speculate that there may be another DLC or new expansion pass on the way in the future, but if not then many fans will be perfectly playing this finalize version of Civilization 6 until the next installment of the series releases.
Civilization 6 is available for iOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.