Has Civilization 6 started to get less interesting for you? Has it got repetitive playing as the same leader over and over? The Civilization 6 Frontier Pass might be a worthy investment to make your experience better. In this article, I will be talking about the Babylon pack that adds a new civilization, a new game mode, two new improvements, 24 new great people and six new city states. This is the fourth pack to get released in the Frontier Pass and is worth $7.55 (in Australia, at the time of this article being written).
Babylon is ruled by Hammurabi, who excels in Science. Their civilization ability, Enuma Anu Enlil, gives you the full technology for technology boosts, instead of just 40%. However, their total science per turn gets a 50% penalty. This means that people who are playing as this civilization most likely will not try to build as many campuses as usual, and instead try to build or do stuff that will give them technology for free. Ninu llu Sirum, their leader ability, constructs the lowest production building in each specialty district for free, when that district is built for the first time. You also get a free envoy after this.
The Babylon unit is the Sabum Kibittum, an ancient era melee unit that is unlocked from the start of the game. It does not replace the warrior, and is actually weaker than the warrior, with 17 combat strength. But this unit gets a big bonus against cavalry, and it has one extra movement and sight range. So essentially, it’s a better version of a scout, or a great cavalry defending unit. So, the starting strategy is using this unit to find tribal villages, to get tech boosts, and therefore turning your unit’s production into technology.
Babylon gets a different type of watermill building which is unlocked at the irrigation tech instead of the wheel. It provides one food to all tiles next to fresh water in this city. It also gives one extra production and housing compared to the watermill. This building is cool as most players tend to not see the watermill as a very good building, but this makes it a much more viable choice of production. People see this as a mediocre building, but it synergizes well with Babylon’s abilities if you’re a good player.
Alright, enough about Babylon. This pack also features the Heros and Legends game mode. You can discover heroes by doing a city Heroic Tales project in a monument building by exploring or from befriending city states. Heros from myths and fairy tales can be recruited in your monument buildings as a “devotion” city project. This will recruit the hero to your civilization, and you will now be able to use their unique abilities.
Heroes have a lifespan, meaning they will only last for a certain amount of time, so you should use them wisely. They also only have a certain ammount of uses for their abilities such as Hercules being able to build districts for free only a couple times, or Maui being able to spawn luxury resources on unclaimed land just four times. When hero’s lifespans runs out, or if they have been defeated, they will give you a heroic relic which grants large amounts of faith.
After heroes have died, they can be recruited back again the next era by spending faith. Most of the heroes also have a combat strength, so even after you use all the charges, you can still use them for fighting off ultra-aggressive Rome or killing those pesky barbarians. Also, the combat strength of heroes will go up each era, making them always relevant and helpful units.
Finally, the pack also includes new great people and six new city states. It’s nothing very special, but still cool to see none-the-less. This pack is an awesome addition to the game. Babylon is a complicated leader, but when played by the right person, is a real hellhole to be against. Additionally, seeing iconic myths like Mulan or Arthur in the game is pretty epic. The Heroes and Legends mode is a fun way to add a little spice to the game. I would recommend this pack to more experienced players in the Civ 6 community.
