TL;DR: A genuinely flexible civilization with a side of military expansion

We are getting a new expansion for Civilization VI, well not quite, over the next year we have a season pass, the New Frontier Pass, which will give us several new Civilizations and Game Modes over the next year (which you can find out more information HERE). The next new Civilization has been announced, so let’s dive into Vietnam.

Bà Triệu of Vietnam Overview

Civilization Leader: Bà Triệu (Lady Triệu)
Leader Agenda: Defender of the Homeland – Like Civilizations that have not declared war on her, dislikes those who have.
Civilization Capital: Thăng Long
Civilization Bonus: Nine Dragon River Delta – All land Specialty Districts (like Holy Site) can only be built on Woods (bonus Culture), Rainforest (bonus Science), or Marsh (bonus Production). Can plant woods when you unlock Medieval Fairs.
Leader Bonus: Drive Out The Aggressors – bonus combat strength when fighting on Rainforest, Marsh, or Woods, bonus movement if you start your turn on one of these tiles. This is doubled if the tile is in your territory.
Unique Unit: Voi Chién – A War Elephant that replaces the crossbowman, bonus movement and can move after attacking
Unique District: Thành – An unique Encampment replacement bonus culture for each adjacent District. Bonus Tourism after Flight is researched.
Cities: Huế, Đồng Hới, Trà Kiệu, Đà Nẵng,

Bà Triệu of Vietnam Analysis

Vietnam has a long history of using non-traditional warfare to help fight off larger, more well-equipped armies. If you went down that route, you would have several leaders to pick from. So it makes sense that this is how Firaxis chose when picking their leader and how they determined the bonuses to complement the civilization. It is also nice to continue to expand on all the exciting civilizations in South East Asia with the addition of Vietnam.  

Bà Triệu or Lady Triệu has a fascinating and complex history that has had far-reaching effects on Vietnamese culture. With that in mind, I do like that they took a more reserved view when designing the leader compared some of the more colourful accounts of her needed to tie things behind her head before going into battle.  What they have done is captured her ferocity in her art design and animation. Indeed her famous quote is “I’d like to ride storms, kill sharks in the open sea, drive out the aggressors, reconquer the country, undo the ties of serfdom, and never bend my back to be the concubine of whatever man.” And you get that passion from her appearance in the game.

When we dive down into the bonuses for Vietnam, the first thing we see is the continuation of bonuses experimentation that Firaxis games have been doing with the New Frontiers Pass. This is creating bonuses that have big rewards but also significant drawbacks. For Vietnam, where we see that is in the way you place Districts as you can only build them on Marsh, Rainforest, and Woods tiles. Suddenly, your options of where you can build potentially shrink dramatically and whole areas of the map might get cut off for you. However, this is mitigated by the bonuses you get for building on those tiles and the fact that you can plant woods a lot earlier than any other civilization. I am interested to see how this plays out in the game, but part of me knows the first map I load will have the perfect mountain spot for a Holy Site or Campus and no way to build it.

Things take an exciting turn in the tandem design of their unique unit and the leader bonus. Having scouts that can move quickly through the rainforest will be invaluable at the start of the game as you are charting out the world and trying to get those early boons. But it creates a civilization that if you position well becomes a tactical nightmare to invade. This is both interesting for how the game works but also thematically with Vietnam’s history. While you can play quite defensively, when your chonking giant crossbow on an elephant arrives, you can transition to being an aggressive civilization in a moment. While this is all interesting, what does feel out of place is the unique District. While from a gameplay perspective, the culture bonus will be a great addition, and it may even have me building a district that I don’t always build. However, for me, it does not feel unique but more generic, and I can’t put the finger on what it is about it that isn’t gelling with me.  

Overall, I like this civilisation’s design, and I will absolutely give it a go if nothing else turning the whole world into a forest is a fun idea. But given how well the leader design for this civilization is, it is also someone I would love to see appear in my games even if it means that going to war with her is a dangerous proposition indeed.       

    To learn more about the Civilization: New Frontiers Pass, you can read it all in our Features Thread.

If you want to get to know the world of Civilization 6, you can explore our Map of Civilization VI

To join in the discussion about the New Frontiers Pass, come join the fun at Civfanatics  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

What Civs would you like to see in Civ 6 New Frontier Pass?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy