Civilization 6 Needs a Cyber Warfare DLC

The city-builder Civilization 6 has been putting out a lot of content recently. Between two DLC packs and the New Frontiers pass that was released, most of the issues with the original release have been dealt with. Unfortunately, spying is one of the issues that hasn’t seen as much love as other mechanics like new game modes or new civilizations. If developer Firaxis released a third DLC for Civilization 6, Cyber Security would be a cool, futuristic angle to take to fix spying.

The espionage mechanics are extremely linear and haven’t seen much overhaul since Civilization 6 was released in 2016. Players simply train a spy, send him to an enemy city, and hope he comes back with something valuable, like gold, a great work, or a tech boost. Sure, spies can be powerful, but it would be nice to see a mechanic that rewards strategic decisions a little better. There should be a difference in spying on an ally or enemy, or bonuses if players have a trade route to the city. The possible updates could also be structured to help players that are ahead in the tech tree but behind in civics.

The ideas for a Cyber Security DLC revolve around creating at least one new espionage unit. Civilization 6 could call it something like “Hacker” and make it available in the Atomic Era after the player researches the “Computers” tech. This new unit would differ than the Spy in that it wouldn’t need to leave a city to perform espionage, but rather siphon funds or disrupt Spaceports over the internet. There could even be a new building in the Diplomatic Quarter to facilitate this new cyber activity.

Why Cyber Tech Is A Good Fit For Civ 6

Cyber security is a real-life threat that governments and political organizations have to constantly deal with. In Civ 6, maybe this Hacker can do more than just steal gold from home. The character could have the ability to mess with the opponent’s policy cards, such as swapping them or taking away a policy slot all together. It might be able to mess with elections or helping to put certain governors in power, affecting a city’s loyalty score. The most powerful Hackers could even be able to install a new government in an opposing civilization, or at least force a few turns of anarchy. The spy missions they do would be unlocked by leveling a Hacker up.

So far, these changes seem straight out of left field, and would likely require some sort of balancing mechanics. For instance, what would happen if the World Congress found out about some cyber terrorism? It would be cool to see any Espionage changes reflected in Influence points system or the Diplomatic Favor mechanics. If a Hacker gets caught, its home nation would face harsh punishments in the World Congress and risk losing Diplomatic Favor. It could even be tied into an Information era emergency.

The least that developers could do is give players a fresh update on a stale mechanic that was tired only a short while after release. The most they could do is knock it out of the park giving players more ways to contort relationships between their enemies, especially further along the tech tree. Modern day cyber security threats would be a very topical theme as election season looms in America, and the Espionage system in Civilization 6 is in desperate need of an update.