Civilization 6 Secret Societies Should Be Expanded Further
Civilization 6 has a lot of moving parts and a lot of strategies to consider when jumping into a game, and that list only grows as the game gets new expansions and content. Alongside the Ethiopia DLC Pack, a new Secret Societies Game Mode was added to the game which added a new layer of strategy to the already intricate game.
Four Secret Societies were added, and each came with their own skill tree that unlocks powerful benefits as the game progresses. These added a new powerful aspect to the game that completely changed how some players approached their leaders. These Secret Societies should be expanded further to add more skills, and even new societies, in future updates.
The Secret Societies Game Mode is an optional setting that players can turn on when creating their matches which will allow Secret Societies to be discovered and joined during their game. There are currently four Secret Societies in Civilization 6: The Owls of Minerva, The Hermetic Order, The Voidsingers, and the Sanguine Pact. Each of the Societies are discovered in a different way.
Players discover the Owls of Minerva by allocating Envoys to City-States, The Hermetic Order is discovered when players uncover a Natural Wonder, The Voidsingers can be uncovered by looting Tribal Villages, and the Sanguine Pact is uncovered by raiding Barbarian Outposts. Each of the Secret Societies has a special "Governor" that is unlocked when joining the Society that can be upgraded at certain points in the match using Governor Titles.
The Owls of Minerva have a heavy focus on Spies and Gold Generation; the Owls are the most consistent and reliable Societies to join as there is major luck involved in their power. Not only will players unlock a free Economic Policy slot upon initiation, they later unlock a powerful replacement for the Bank, a free Wild Card policy slot, more Spy capacity, and eventually a powerful perk that will grant bonuses to Science, Faith, Culture, and Gold upon successful Spy missions in enemy territory.
While the Owls focus on Spies and Gold, the Hermetic Order focuses on Science and Great People. By joining this order, players unlock a new map resource called Ley Lines. These spots provide adjacency bonuses to Districts which gets upgraded as the Hermetic "Governor" is upgraded. The Hermetic Order is best suited for Leaders that thrive and are built around Great People, like Robert the Bruce of Scotland or Kristina of Sweden.
The Voidsingers are an especially unique Society in the sense that they revolve around Faith and Loyalty - specifically in removing Loyalty from other Civilizations. When joining the Voidsingers, players get a powerful Monument replacement that can hold any type of Great Work - a huge benefit - and eventually unlock the Cultist unit which can directly lower the loyalty of other cities by expending charges. This pairs incredibly well with the powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine who thrives when neighboring cities begin to lose loyalty. Eventually, players will be able to execute projects that will increase the strength of the Cultists, making them all the more deadly when trying to cause chaos in neighboring cities.
The last Society is the Sanguine Pact, and as the name would imply, it's all about Vampires. This is the go-to Society for those looking to go to war as it unlocks a limited number of Vampire units. These units can never die, but will instead survive with 1 HP and be teleported back home. As the Sanguine "Governor" is leveled up, players will get access to more Vampire units, as well as increase their strength. They will also gain access to the powerful Vampire Castle improvement. This society does one thing and does it really well. It's perfect for those who want a few elite units that can never die.
The Secret Societies add a fun, dynamic new layer to Civilization 6 and makes Governor Titles even more useful. These powerful societies drastically shift how a Leader approaches the rest of the game, and makes for a fun shake up to the game. Secret Societies should be expanded on, and perhaps even just added to the base game experience. While Civilization 6 is typically grounded in realism, these slight touches of supernatural are fun and quite enjoyable.
Each of the four societies could even be built on further if the developers did not want to add new societies to the game. They could also just go out and add more societies to find. With only four societies in the game currently, options are rather limited, and some Societies blend with Leaders better than others. Each of the future DLC Packs from the Frontier Pass, including the upcoming DLC Pack 3, will include a new Game Mode as well as other additions, so perhaps the Secret Societies could be built up further in a future pack.
Each of the four societies currently has a strong focus, so perhaps a future Society could be more well-rounded and flexible. The Owls of Minerva are pretty flexible, but still relies heavily on the use of Spies to get the most out of it. There currently isn't a society that focuses on Diplomatic affairs, so perhaps that could be an angle for a new Society (maybe Lizard People that control the Government?). There could also be a Naval focused Society as well that would mesh with leaders like Hardrada and the others who focus on a life near the seas.
The secret societies have so much potential for future growth that it would be a shame if they were just left untouched after their addition. There are so many fun and wild ideas that could be made into Societies that could really shake up the Civilization 6 experience even further.
Civilization 6 is available for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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