Genghis Khan is back in the saddle as the latest of the civs announced for the Civilization VI: Rise & Fall expansion. Does the game need another horse-hungry civilization? At least there's an interesting twist on the diplomatic visibility mechanic that accurately demonstrates the fear that the Mongols instilled in their foes.
Where would Genghis Khan be without his Horde? As the feared horse warriors join Civilization VI, Genghis - that's Mr Khan to you - brings the unique leader ability Mongol Horde. All cavalry units gain a combat bonus a chance (not specified as a percentage) to capture enemy mounted units and turn them in Mongol units.
Continuing the equine theme, Mongolia gets the Keshig as its unique unit. The horse archer brings something new to the game - the ability to attach other units to it in formation, which then gain the Keshig's movement speed. This is a nice feature for rapid territorial expansion - a settler unit can be moved rapidly, or an army. Also, wasn't it called the Keshik in Civ V?
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A unique improvement comes in the shape of the Ordu - replacing, you guessed it - the Stable. Any unit trained here will enjoy a combat bonus.
Finally, and most interestingly, the Mongolian unique ability is the Örtoo. Representing the Mongol's rapid supply point route messenger system, in the game it has the effect of creating a trading post in any foreign city the Mongols establish a trading route to. In turn, this increases the Mongols' diplomatic visibility metric with the foreign civ. Each degree of increase in diplomatic visibility brings a combat bonus against that civ.
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We're assuming that this reflects the fact that the more the Mongols neighbours knew of them, the more reason they had to fear them. In history, the Mongols took a lot of cities without needing to fight, such was their reputation for violence.
We note there is mention of the Mongols' religious tolerance in the announcement video. This an accurate and lesser known fact about Genghis Khan - he wasn't a religious fanatic by any means. In fact, the Mongols like to mix and match faiths to some extent, and left those they conquered to believe what they wish - as long as it didn't challenge their power. Will this be reflected in the game?
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