The Inuits
According to a discussion on the Civilization Reddit, the Inuit tribe from Alaska may be a great civilization to include in the game. Fans want a civilization that innately thrives on snowy regions of the maps. In Civilization 5, snow tiles are the most barren of the territory tiles as they will never yield any bonus to a city and could only be useful if you expend a Great Person to build a unique Improvement on that tile.
Despite making lame tiles interesting, snow tiles are usually more prevalent on the north or south poles of the world map. Additionally, whole maps must be voluntarily set to snowy conditions to make snow tiles more prevalent, and this makes the potential Inuit civ particularly strong in certain conditions. We’ll see if Firaxis can balance the tundra/snow-focused civilization in Civilization 6.
Papal States like Vatican City
Civilization 5 introduced the Venice Civilization that had a particular way of expanding territory. This civilization cannot build Settlers and must rely on their unique Great Merchants to gain more territory. Their “Merchant of Venice” units must be sent to minor cities called “City States” and include them as part of the Venetian territory when they use the “Buy City-State.”
Fans are interested in the Faith version of this system where players could gain territory by using Faith-related systems. Missionaries, Inquisitors Great Prophets, and Trade Routes from this Papal State Civ would definitely be a threat as these units are treated neutral by City States and could steal off City State allegiance advantages by just using their unique Faith-related move.
Nelson Mandela’s South Africa
Reddit user Ilexmons conceived this civ idea which potentially thrives on the late-game “Ideology” system. It is not affected by negative effects of Ideology switches, and a diplomatic advantage is earned for this Civilization when other Civilizations follow South Africa’s ideology. Additionally, user Ilexmons mentioned a unique building that ubiquitously thrives on animal-based resources, which was not present in Civilization 5.
Despite the solid theorycrafting and historical data used by fans, the playable roster in Civilization 6 may closely stick to the new systems of the game. For example, the Bushido passive of the Japan in Civilization 5 may be overpowered when paired with the “limited unit stacking” system in the upcoming game. We’ll have to wait for Firaxis to announce the full list of changes in the game or wait for the title’s release to see the changes for ourselves.
Nelson Mandela’s South AfricaSuffice to say I know people that are still trapped there and leave it at that.
I'm sure V eventually got some placeholder Native American stand-in with one of the expansions. Would be nice to see one get included from the get go.