Canada in Civilization 6 has hockey rinks, Mounties, and has to declare war politely

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There are few Canadian pastimes more universal than encouraging the world to believe in universal Canadian pastimes. But I'm starting to wonder if maybe we've gone too far. Canada is coming to Civilization 6 in next year's Gathering Storm expansion, and it is a very cliched take on the Great White North.

Canada will be led by Wilfrid Laurier, known as an early, strong proponent of English and French unity in Canada. He's also known for being an easy way to make Canadians mad if you want to (just spell it "Wilfred" and then wait a few minutes). Laurier's "Last Best West" ability halves the cost of purchasing Snow and Tundra tiles, doubles resources gathered from them, and enables Canada to build farms on Tundra terrain.

The unique Canadian ability is called Four Faces of Peace. Canada cannot declare "surprise wars," but it's also immune from having surprise wars declared on it. As my compatriot Steven Messner put it, we can still declare war, we just have to be nice about it. The nation will also earn bonus Diplomatic Favour based on per-turn Tourism, and extra Diplomatic Favour for completing Emergencies or Scored Competitions.

The unique building is, of course, the Hockey Rink, which grants additional Appeal, Amenity, and bonus Culture on adjacent Snow, Snow Hills, Tundra, and Tundra Hills tiles, plus other Production, Food, Culture, and Tourism bonuses depending on where and when it's built. The unique unit is—also of course—the Mountie, which receives a combat bonus when it's fighting near a National Park. Nope, not a joke, and if you're ever in the Thunder Bay area I would strongly encourage you to check out Pukaskwa, it's lovely in the summer.

It's all very amusingly stereotypical, but there's one line in the trailer that will cut any true Canadian to the core: "As Canada, you can take advantage of the icy landscape that most other civilizations will ignore." Ouch. Please don't ignore us.

Jokes aside, Canada sounds like it could be a powerful option for players who prefer a peaceful, polite approach to world domination. Civilization 6: Gathering Storm is set to come out on February 14, 2019; along with Canadians, it will also introduce player-driven climate change and resulting environmental disasters, the World Congress, a Diplomatic Victory condition, and eight other new civilizations and leaders. Read more about it here.

PRODUCTS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.