Now that I've covered all the civilizations which are new to the Civ franchise in the Gathering Storm expansion, I'm going to cover the other civs that my Patrons voted on. I'm going to start with Montezuma of the Aztecs. The Aztecs were included as DLC for the vanilla release of Civilization VI.

The Aztec Empire consisted of a "Triple Alliance" between the city states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan in the Central Mexican Valley basin around Lake Texcoco, based largely around the cultivation of maize. They would subjugate other city states through military conquest, trade, or marriage, and then install governors to administer those client states without necessarily needing to maintain a military garrison. Client states would pay tribute directly to the Aztec emperor, who would limit their ability to communicate and trade directly with other client cities; thus, making each of the clients dependent on the empire for resources and luxury goods and reduce the likelihood of an uprising.

In the early 1500's, Spanish Conquistadors (lead by Hernán Cortéz) arrived in central Mexico and occupied the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, keeping Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin a prisoner in his own palace. Since most of his history is depicted through the lens of the Spanish conquerors, information about Moctezuma's life and rule are limited and contradictory. He ruled the Aztec Empire at its territorial height after several successful military campaigns, and he imposed regressive policies that increased the rigidity of the Aztec caste system and severely limited the ability of commoners to work in royal palaces or ascend to nobility. Contrary to his typical depictions in the Civilization games as a blood-thirsty warmonger, contemporary Spanish writings suggest that Moctezuma may have been rather meek and was accommodating of the Spanish conquistadors, whom he invited to live in the palace as guests. Moctezuma would die during the Spanish occupation of Tenochtitlan, possibly having been stoned to death by his own citizens who were frustrated with his inability (or unwillingness) to repel the Spanish invaders.

DISCLAIMER:
Civilization VI is still a "living game". Strategies for the game (and for specific leaders and civs) may change as Firaxis applies balance patches, introduces new features, or expands the game through further DLC or expansion packs, or as the Civ community discovers new strategies or exploits. As such, the following strategy guide may change from time to time. I will try to keep it up-to-date, and will make notations whenever changes are made. I'll also post links in the official 2K forums and CivFanatics, where I'll also report any changes made. If possible and practical, I will try to retain the original content of the strategy for posterity.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions that readers wish to offer. Feel free to post on the linked forums, or by posting a comment at the bottom of the page.

This guide is up to date as of the release of the Gathering Storm expansion's "Red Death" update (ver. 1.0.0.341)

The Aztecs in Civilization VI are built to be highly aggressive, using the procurement of luxury resources to strengthen their armies and support their vast conquests.

Civilization VI's second expansion, Gathering Storm released earlier this year and has added a handful of new civilizations and leaders. I am hoping to write a strategy for each of them, but I want to start with the civilizations and leaders who are completely new to the franchise. The final technically "new" civilization is Phoenicia. Phoenicia's leader, Dido has appeared in previous Civilization games as the leader of the Carthagenian civilization, but this is the first time that Phoenicia has been a civilization in the game.

Phoenicia never existed as a singular nation or empire, as the culture consisted of a collection of ancient, independent city states that built a vast Mediterranean trade network based on the export of dates, purple dyes, and textiles. The cities of Tyre, Byblos, and Sidon, on the Mediterranean coasts of modern-day Lebanon and Israel made up the core of the civilization, but colonies reached as far as Carthage in northern Africa and Cadiz in Spain. Phoenician ships were among the first to sail beyond the Strait of Gibraltar and begin exploring the Atlantic Ocean, and some fringe historians suggest that ancient Phoenicians may have made it as far as the southern tip of Africa, and maybe even to the Americas (though this is highly speculative).

Dido is a semi-mythological figure who is regarded as the Mother of Carthage. Most historians agree that Dido existed, that she fled Tyre after a power struggle with her brother Pygmalion, and that she founded the cities of Byrsa and Carthage. There is, however, considerable disagreement about when and how it all happened. According to Virgil's Aeneid, Dido falls in love with Aeneas in Carthage after Aeneas flees the sacked city of Troy (much to the dismay of the Berber king who sought her hand in marriage). Aeneas is ordered by the god Mercury to leave Dido and settle in Italy, which he reluctantly does, and his sons Romulus and Remus would go on to found the city of Rome. Dido kills herself on a pyre and curses the descendants of Troy, thus establishing the rivalry between Rome and Carthage and foreshadowing the Punic Wars that ultimately resulted in the destruction of Carthage. Some traditions even say that Dido continues to haunt Aeneas forever in the underworld. This story contradicts the other accounts of Dido's death, in which Aeneas is never referenced, and Dido killed herself in the Pyre in order to escape marriage to the Berber King and remain faithful to her first husband. The truth is probably forever lost to the sands of time.

DISCLAIMER:
Civilization VI is still a "living game". Strategies for the game (and for specific leaders and civs) may change as Firaxis applies balance patches, introduces new features, or expands the game through further DLC or expansion packs, or as the Civ community discovers new strategies or exploits. As such, the following strategy guide may change from time to time. I will try to keep it up-to-date, and will make notations whenever changes are made. I'll also post links in the official 2K forums and CivFanatics, where I'll also report any changes made. If possible and practical, I will try to retain the original content of the strategy for posterity.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions that readers wish to offer. Feel free to post on the linked forums, or by posting a comment at the bottom of the page.

This guide is up to date as of the release of the Gathering Storm expansion's "September 2019 update" (ver. 1.0.0.341)

I debated with myself about whether to write a guide for Dido at this time, since I've already written a guide for her in Civ V, but I decided to go ahead and cover Phoenicia because it and Dido have some unique abilities that I was curious to play around with, and Firaxis added a new map type that potentially works well with her abilities. Dido is the only leader in Civilization VI who is allowed to willingly move her capital, and moving that capital actually does have some utility within the game.

Civilization VI's second expansion, Gathering Storm released earlier this year and has added a handful of new civilizations and leaders. I am hoping to write a strategy for each of them, but I want to start with the civilizations and leaders who are completely new to the franchise. This time, I'll be writing about the last of the truly new civs and leaders: the kingdom of Hungary, lead by the Raven King Matthias Corvinus.

Hungary is a modestly-sized country that lies along the dividing lines between central and eastern Europe, known for its vast geothermal water cave network. It reached its political and military height between the 14th and 15th centuries, when it became a major player in European politics and history. When the Ottomans invaded Europe in the mid-15th century, they set their eyes on securing a valuable border fortress at Belgrade. A noble from Transylvania, named John Hunyadi, levied a mercenary army to defend Belgrade from the Turks and hold back the Ottoman army from successfully gaining a foothold in mainland Europe.

The golden age of the Hungarian Kingdom concluded with the rule of the Raven King Matthias Corvinus, son of John Hunyadi. His election made him the first noble to ascend to the throne without a dynastic background. He was a patron of arts and education, and was seen as a protector of the common folk. His Bibliotheca Corvinian was the second largest library in all of Europe in the 15th century, second only to the Vatican Library. Matthias' mercenary Black Army fought off invasions from the Ottomans (possibly helping to protect all of Europe from Ottoman rule), and also conquered parts of Austria and Bohemia. When Matthias died without an heir, the country fell into decline.

DISCLAIMER:
Civilization VI is still a "living game". Strategies for the game (and for specific leaders and civs) may change as Firaxis applies balance patches, introduces new features, or expands the game through further DLC or expansion packs, or as the Civ community discovers new strategies or exploits. As such, the following strategy guide may change from time to time. I will try to keep it up-to-date, and will make notations whenever changes are made. I'll also post links in the official 2K forums and CivFanatics, where I'll also report any changes made. If possible and practical, I will try to retain the original content of the strategy for posterity.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions that readers wish to offer. Feel free to post on the linked forums, or by posting a comment at the bottom of the page.

This guide is up to date as of the release of the Gathering Storm expansion's "June 2019 update" (ver. 1.0.0.328)

Hungarian cities in Civilization VI do best when founded on snaky rivers and near geothermal fissures. They can be a military force to be reckoned with thanks to a pair of light cavalry unique units and a leader who can use levied city state units to crush his foes.

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Civilization VI's second expansion, Gathering Storm recently released and has added a handful of new civilizations and leaders. I am hoping to write a strategy for each of them, but I want to start with the civilizations and leaders who are completely new to the franchise. This time, I'll be writing about one of the more interesting of the new civs and leaders: the Māori, lead by Kupe the Navigator.

Natives of the Polynesian Triangle are some of the most successful sea-faring peoples in the history of the world. Between 1400 BC and 900 BC, they had begun sailing large ocean-going craft called "waka", that enabled them to cross from Taiwan, through the Philipines, and out to the Melanesian and Samoan islands. Over the next two thousand years, they managed to colonize Pacific islands as far as Hawai'i, Easter Island, and New Zealand. Some historians even believe that they made it as far as the coast of South America! Sometime in the 13th or 14th century, settlers from Polynesia sailed west, began colonizing New Zealand, conquered the local tribes, and began to culturally diverge from their Polynesian ancestors to become the Māori.

According to legend, the first Polynesian to arrive in New Zealand is Kupe the Navigator, chief of Hawaiki. Kupe is figure in Māori mythology, but like Gilgamesh, Hiawatha, and others, he is believed to be an actual historic figure. Historians have constructed accounts of Kupe's life that differ from the various oral legends of the Maori and Polynesian peoples. According to legends, Kupe sailed from Hawaiki (the mythological birthplace of the Polynesian people), along with great migration fleets, to colonize New Zealand as far back as antiquity, battling sea demons along the way. According to historians, Kupe probably found New Zealand between 750 AD and 925 AD after his cousin drowned on a fishing trip and Kupe fled across the sea with his cousin's kidnapped wife, only to return to Hawaiki later to convince others to migrate to the newly-discovered lands with him.

DISCLAIMER:
Civilization VI is still a "living game". Strategies for the game (and for specific leaders and civs) may change as Firaxis applies balance patches, introduces new features, or expands the game through further DLC or expansion packs, or as the Civ community discovers new strategies or exploits. As such, the following strategy guide may change from time to time. I will try to keep it up-to-date, and will make notations whenever changes are made. I'll also post links in the official 2K forums and CivFanatics, where I'll also report any changes made. If possible and practical, I will try to retain the original content of the strategy for posterity.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions that readers wish to offer. Feel free to post on the linked forums, or by posting a comment at the bottom of the page.

This guide is up to date as of the release of the Gathering Storm expansion's "Great Works and Trade Update" (April 2019) (ver. 1.0.0.317)

Māori are a sea-faring and environmentalist-focused civilization. They can embark and sail across ocean from the beginning of the game, and they get extra yield from unimproved feature tiles.

Last week, just in time for the announcement (and release) of a new expansion for Cities: Skylines, I posted a video analysis on YouTube discussing what I perceive as weaknesses in the modular design philosophy behind Skylines' myriad expansion packs. The full video is available on YouTube (and embedded below), but I've also transcribed the text in blog form for those who may prefer reading over watching/listening.

I want to start out by saying that I love Cities: Skylines. Skylines is -- without a doubt in my mind -- the single best city-builder since SimCity 4, which released in 2003 (over 15 years ago, as of the time of this recording). When I watched the first trailer for the game, in which the player apparently custom-builds freeway ramps and interchanges from scratch (at about 40 seconds into the trailer), I was sold on this game! After years of having to use boring, pre-fabricated stock on-ramps and interchanges, the little civil engineer withing me practically jizzed in his pants at the idea of being able to build my own highway ramps and interchanges! And there was no looking back.

Cities: Skylines gloriously succeeds where games like SimCity (2013) and Cities XL miserably failed. It picks up the mantle of the great SimCity games of yester-decade, and brings it into the 21st century with deep simulation based on agents, a sleek and modern UI, extensive customizability and moddability, and an attractive 3-D graphics engine. It's made all the more impressive by the fact that the game's developer, Colossal Order, is a small, independent studio that had something like nine people working for it when the game initially launched. And a company with all the manpower and resources of Electronic Arts only managed to produce a flop like SimCity 2013.

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