Firaxis Games announced today that Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, the next entry in the popular turn-based strategy game series, will be releasing this year on October 21, and the studio has released the first trailer for the game.

Many of the series’ staples appear to be returning in the new game, including its tile-based world map and its focus on technological and cultural development, but there will also be a few changes that could have a big impact on how the game is played.

One of the biggest changes coming in Civilization VI is the ability to expand cities across the map. Previously, cities were fairly static throughout the game, and while the territory controlled by a city could expand, the city itself would continue to occupy a fixed space and would should few visual changes as new buildings were constructed. In Civilization VI, however, players will be able to expand their cities across multiple tiles and choose where to place new buildings in order to take advantage of the local terrain.

Another major addition to the new game is the introduction of active research, which will change how new technologies and cultural innovations are discovered. In previous Civilization games, technology and culture were each developed passively, with progress being made automatically after a certain number of turns. With the new active research system, players will be able to boost development progress by assigning units to certain tasks around the map.

Combat will also be getting a new feature in the form of combined units, which will allow players to stack complimentary units on the same tile. For example, warriors and settlers will be able to occupy the same space, preventing settlers from being easily captured by enemy units. Certain combat units can also be combined, such as infantry and anti-tank units.

Other important changes include deeper diplomacy mechanics, as well as the introduction of new multiplayer modes.

You can learn more about the upcoming game at Civilization.com, and you can watch the full trailer for Civilization VI below:

Image courtesy of Firaxis Games