Gameplay
- Most Civ V systems returning: Trade Routes, Religion, Archeology, Great Works
- One Unit Per Tile less strict and congested: Support units (siege weapons, antitank, antiair) stack with military units, civilian units can stack with escort units, 2UPT (Corps), 3UPT (Armies)
- Cities expand beyond one tile: buildings now placed as districts on the map. Wonders take up tiles too.
- Active tech research: 50% tech completion doing related world actions, slow otherwise
- Local Happiness returns instead of Civ V’s Global Happiness
- Civ AI leaders that have more readable agendas and rhyme to their reason
- War is more common and loose in the game’s starting eras and more formalized in the end
- New Multiplayer modes that can wrap up in a single sitting (1-2 hours)
Visuals
- Overworld map and units that read cleaner and more distinctive than in Civ V
- Age of Exploration theme: UI, black FoW is blank cartographer map with “here be dragons” etc, grey FoW is ink-styled cartographer’s map
- Units have ethnic flair for each civilization
- Wonders have intermediate build stages, completion movies a la Civ IV
- New showcasing of completed Great Works
