Category Archives: Articles

Civilization VI Cartographic Educational Database

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TL;DR – Links to every geographical feature mentioned in Civilization 6 so you can explore them if interested

Over the last several years we have been building our map of Civilization 6’s features, starting with our first attempt at mapping the base game back in 2017 to our latest work with the New Frontier Pass. During that time, I have waded through countless Wikipedia articles, websites, history textbooks, and Journal Articles to try and put together everything you see.

With all of this, I accumulated a lot of data on the various parts of the game, which was fun in its own way as I got to learn more about the world we live in. However, I have been trying to find a way to allow others that same joy of exploring this world. I have tried a version of this at the bottom of my maps in my past attempts. But in practice, they always felt clunky and limited.

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Article – Seatbelts, Bringing a Little Bit of That Cowboy Bebop Joy Back into the World

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TL;DR – The Seatbelts are doing live versions of classic Cowboy bebop songs and they slap

Cowboy Bebop (カウボーイビバップ/Kaubōi Bibappu). Image Credit: Madman.

I don’t think it will be a surprise to anyone to say that I have been finding the last few months to be quite difficult. Indeed, I think it has been hard for most people and it is only increasing as the days, weeks, and months go on. I have been trying to find something to spark my joy, and while binge-watching old shows like The Nanny and Scrubs has helped, and having a watch list that might be 90% Bon Appétit videos is just the nature of the times. Nothing has really brought that smile to my world, well nothing until now.  

At the end of last year, I talked a lot about how much I loved Cowboy Bebop, an anime out of Japan that might be many of my generation’s first introduction into that art style but it is still something resonates in my heart today. One of the core components of that series that may even outlast the show is its music. It was a show that deeply wove its music into the tapestry of the show, nothing was just dumped in as filler. At the core of this musical work was composer and instrumentalist Yoko Kanno and her band the Seatbelts which has gone by シートベルツ, Shītoberutsu, Seat Belts or SEATBELTS depending on which version of the soundtrack you got. It was the smashing together of so many genres of music from jazz to pop to rock to even country and all in-between that stuck in my mind for decades.  

Well in the age of COVID and Zoom meetings, shudders Zoom meetings, there has been one ray of joy, as the SEATBELTS came back together perform songs from the soundtrack and it is just a sheer delight and everyone can listen to it here.

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Map-It Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass – Maya and Gran Colombia Pack

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TL;DR – Every single feature of Civilization VI (at time of posting) in one map, this time featuring the new additions of the Maya and Gran Colombia

Civilization VI. Image Credit: Firaxis Games.

Article –


This week we got the latest update to Civilization VI with the New Frontier Pass, a name with both a metaphorical and literal meaning because this is some new ground for the developer, the fans, and the game itself. Instead of one big expansion pack, there will be several smaller packs out during the next year, which means we get a whole bunch of new civilizations, city-states, and wonders to add to the map. The first pack focused on The Maya and Gran Colombia, so this is where we will delve today.

 Now as always, a couple of notes before we start, first the Civilization boundaries on the map are based more on clarity than anything else, so in most cases, they conform to their modern counterparts. We have also worked using the commonly implemented political borders, not necessarily what nations claim, and this means making some judgement calls which you will see below. Also, while all attempts have been made to make sure that everything is accurately placed, putting this together meant working from multiple different sources, and map projections, and as such, no matter how much you try there might be some slight discrepancies here and there.
We will be mostly going over the new additions and changes to the map in this update, if you want to learn more about some of the location choices that we made you can find more detail in our First Full Civilization Big Map and out Gathering Storm Update Map.  

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Simón Bolívar of Gran Colombia First Look and Analysis – Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass

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TL;DR: During the run-through, I gasped “That Movement” which is a good sign

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 of the new Civilizations that has been released is Gran Colombia, so let’s dive in.

Civilization Information

Simón Bolívar leader of Gran Colombia. Image Credit: Firaxis.
Simón Bolívar leader of Gran Colombia. Image Credit: Firaxis.

Civilization Leader: Simón Bolívar
Leader Agenda: Carabobo – He favours civs with highly promoted units, dislikes civs with unpromoted units, and prefers to build Encampments.
Civilization Capital: Bogotá
Civilization Bonus: Ejército Patriota – ALL units get +1 movement, Promoting a unit does not end its turn.
Leader Bonus: Campaña Admirable – Grants the Comandante General – A special Great Person that you get at the start of each era that has multiple abilities, that can be used in military (damaging surrounding units), and in cities (extra Trade Route)
Unique Unit: Llanero – Replaces Cavalry. Low maintenance, plus combat bonus for Adjacent Llaneros,
Unique Tile Improvement: Haciendas – plus Gold, Production, Housing, Plus food for adjacent Plantations, Plus production for adjacent Haciendas
Rivers: Rio Negro, Caura River, Caroní River
Volcanoes: Guagua Pichincha
Deserts: Médanos de Coro
Cities: Quito, Valencia de Carabobo, Cali, Cumaná, Maracay

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Lady Six Sky of The Maya First Look and Analysis – Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass

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TL;DR: We get a civilization that finally goes tall

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 first of the new Civilizations has been released so let’s dive into The Maya.

Lady Six Sky leader of The Maya. image credit: Firaxis Games.
Lady Six Sky leader of The Maya. image credit: Firaxis Games.

Civilization Information

Civilization Leader: Lady Six Sky
Leader Agenda: Solitary – She dislikes encroaching civs and she tries to keep her cities in a cluster near the capital.
Civilization Capital: Wak Kab’nal 
Civilization Bonus: Mayab – No extra housing from Fresh Water/Coast but Farms provide more housing and gold, Amenities for each Luxury resource adjacent to the City Centre
Leader Bonus: Ix Mutal Ajaw – Cities within 6 tiles of the Capital get a boost to all yearlings, other cities away from this limit get a penalty to yields. Bonus combat strength for units within 6 tiles of the Capital
Unique Unit: Hul’che – Ranged replacement for Archer, Stronger and gets a bonus against wounded opponents 
Unique District: Observatory – A campus replacement that gets an adjacency bonus from Plantations and Farms.
Volcanoes: Hunahpú
Rivers: Grijalva River
Cities: Palenque, Yaxchilan, Toniná, Xunantunich, Copán,

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Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass – Features Thread

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Civilization VI: New Frontier Pass. Image Credit: Firaxis Games.

In this thread we will be documenting all the new additions for Civilization VI in their New Frontier Pass.

This Features Thread is being complied for Civfanatics, head on over to the forums for all your Civilization discussions both for and also for games past.

TL;DR: There will be 6 packs of content, some of it will be paid DLC and some of it will be free content for players. Some of the new content will need to you have Rise and Fall installed, and some will need you to have Gathering Storm installed.

To jump to the different packs go to Maya and Gran Colombia Pack, June Update, Ethiopia Pack, Pack #3, Pack #4, Pack #5 & Pack #6.

Throughout this thread, I will put links to Wikipedia articles about the different features, if you would like to know more.

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Countdown – My Personal Top 25 Episodes of Star Trek

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TL;DR – We count down my favourite episodes of Star Trek that span the whole gamut from 1966 to 2020   

Countdown –

Well, today at the time of writing it is May the 4th and I feel compelled to write about Science Fiction. However, I have spent a large chunk of the day trying to find an angle to look at its namesake without much luck, so when in doubt fall back to something you love. Well, there are few things I love more than Star Trek, at since that is a science fiction show and it is even has a ‘star’ in the title, I thought what the hay, I’m 50% of the way there.

So today I am going to count down my favourite 25 episodes from across all of Star Trek’s run, which at the time of writing is everything up to the end of Season One of Star Trek Picard but not including The Animated Series simply because I have not watched them and they are not really considered canon but maybe (that is a whole pandora’s box for another day). This means we have 743 episodes across eight series (The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, Short Treks & Picard). Bringing them down you just a top 25 was a hard job with a lot of amazing episodes just missing out. Also, I should point out that this is my list if you have a favourite episode that didn’t make it on here let me know which one it was in the comments below. Well without further comment, let’s dive in

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Awards – My Top 20 Films of 2019

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TL;DR – 2019 was a great year in film and here are our favourites

So far in our awards, we have looked at Action, Animation, Best of Australia, Cinematography, Costumes, Emotion, Fun, Music, Tension, and Worldbuilding.

However, in this last entry into in our Best of 2018 awards, we crown our winner of the best film of 2019.

Now all films are subjective, so our list might look completely different than yours, also we didn’t get to see every film this year which means we will be only drawing our Top 20 from the 128 films we did get to see, which you can see a list of HERE. You can also click on the banners to go to the full review.

Okay with that out of the way let dive into the first entry in our list of Best Films of 2019.

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Awards – Worldbuilding that Astounded us in 2019

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One of the benefits of film is that it is a visual media, and that means that it can do in a frame what it might take a book several pages to pull off. Where we see this the most is in its ability to build worlds in front of our eyes.

These worlds could be great space operas that explore galaxies, or a small period piece that looks back in time, or anything. But when every part of the film is being used to tell a story, you know it is good.   

So without further ado, these are films that showed excellence in Worldbuilding 2019. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers ahead for the films in question, also you can click on the banners to go to the full reviews.

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Humankind – Features Post

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Humankind Title Image. Image Credit: Amplitude Studios/Sega.

In this thread we will be documenting all the new additions for Humankind from Amplitude Studios.

TL;DR: You can layer from 60 different civilizations from history to create your own unique narrative. It will stretch from the Neolithic to the Modern age. In the end, the civilization with the most Fame will be the winner. Full of Humanmade Wonders, Natural Wonders, Units, and Buildings for you to construct.

Note: all images are created by the team at Amplitude Studios

Cultures

The Civilizations. Image Credit: Amplitude Studios/Sega.
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