The latest update for Civilization VI is here and it’s one worthy of excitement. The “Australian Summer Update” addresses the biggest concern of the otherwise stellar experience: official mod support. Players could mod Civilization VI before this update, but the process was rather cumbersome.
Now, there are a number of tools available directly in the game, including ModBuddy (packaging, development tool), an arts/assets tool, and FireTuner, an editing and debugging tool. Better yet, players can share and upload their mods on Steam Workshop, which will certainly bring Civilization VI mods to a much larger audience.
While official mod support may be the most notable aspect of the update, there’s two more major additions to Civilization VI.
For the first time in franchise history, Australia comes into the fray. The leader of Australia is Prime Minister John Curtin, who served his country during World War II when Australia was under constant fear of Japanese attacks.
According to an official blog post, “Australia is a civ that gets bonus housing for coastal cities, bonuses for building Districts on attractive terrain, and additional production if targeted for war. Australia’s unique unit is the Digger (which replaces Infantry), and their unique improvement is the Outback Station.”
Australia’s inclusion also brings a new scenario. The “Outback Tycoon” tasks players to explore the terrain for natural resources. It’s a non-combat scenario that asks players to expand their territories by acquiring gold. You can read more about Australia in Civilization VI here.
The last prominent addition to Civilization VI with this update is multiplayer teams. The multiplayer mode feeds off of the Alliance system, and dispenses bonuses and benefits based on the actions you and your teammates make.
As usual, the update also contains balance and AI tweaks, and bug fixes. Since this is a larger update, you may have to clear some space on your hard drive. Although the download size is just 7GB, the update balloons to 27GB once installed.