Interesting changes: Civilization 7 hands-on: Huge changes are coming to the classic strategy series Features By Tyler Wilde published 15 hours ago Firaxis is changing Civilization's structure with the goal of getting more of us to the victory screen. (Image credit: Firaxis) Be honest: When you play Civilization, do you dutifully guide your subjects from the dawn of history to the moon landing, or do you get bored sometime around the Renaissance and start over? If you're the dutiful type, you're in the minority: Firaxis has been collecting statistics, and although it wouldn't share specifics, the developer told me it was surprised to discover how few Civilization players had finished a game of Civilization. In response to this revelation, Firaxis has substantially changed Civilization's structure for the next game, which is out in February. In Civilization 7, you no longer begin in the Ancient era, advancing through and beyond the Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Industrial, and Modern eras. There are just three ages in Civilization 7—Antiquity, Discovery, and Modern—and the tech tree has been somewhat simplified. THE SHORT VERSION Excited to find out what's new in Civilization 7 but just want the bullet points? You got it: Here's a list of all the new features I saw during my hands-on with Civ 7. Walls can now be built around each city district. (Image credit: Firaxis) Beach's big theme for Civilization 7 is the idea that "history is built in layers." The thought was inspired by London, which began as Roman outpost Londinium before being abandoned, occupied by the conquering Normans, and then transformed by the Industrial Revolution. "Now we have a new version of Civilization where I can play a single pathway through history, and I get to be the Romans, I get to be the Normans, and then I get to be Britain," he said. In the transition to a new age, old buildings lose their special effects and adjacency bonuses, so you'll be encouraged to literally build in layers, replacing the old with the new. The pre-defined districts of Civ 6 have been dropped in favor of general urban districts that the player defines by the buildings they opt to place in them. Cities should be more compact as a result. Along with sub-goals that break up the journey toward one of Civ's victory conditions, getting to adopt a new culture's architecture, units, and bonuses along the way—an idea you'll also find in 2021 strategy game Humankind—might just tempt me to finally start sticking things out to the end. It's hard to say, though, because Civ's early game remains as compelling as ever, and some of the changes in Civ 7 make it even more exciting. Sid Meier’s Civilization VII - Gameplay Reveal Trailer - YouTube Watch On Settling in One of those changes has to do with how cities come to be in the first place. Settler units now found towns instead of cities, which are a much more sensible thing to found, I think. Don't get ahead of yourself! Improvements are now constructed automatically when a new land tile is annexed by a city. Towns are like cities, but have no production queue. Instead, their productive capacity is converted directly into gold for your coffers. You can add buildings to towns, but only by purchasing them. You can spend gold to transform a town into a proper city, but you don't have to. You can leave your town as a town, and optionally select a permanent specialization, turning it into a mining town, a farming town (which includes a fishing bonus), a trading outpost, or a military fort. Strategic Civ players already specialize their cities; now there's a built-in way to optimize your settlements based on their geographic and political situation. I like this change a lot, not because I care about min-maxing, but because my love of expansion conflicts with my desire to actually manage 12 cities. In Civ's blissful early game, when I'm making my most creative and consequential decisions, I enjoy sticking cities wherever I think cities should go, sometimes for purely aesthetic reasons. If I see a cute bay with fish, you better believe I'm hitting it with a cute bayside fishing town. But now it can actually be a fishing town. I love the waterfall, although I'm not sure where the water is coming from. Sewage? (Image credit: Firaxis)
continued: My overall impression of Civ 7 is that Firaxis has sought to remove low-impact decisions—stuff players always do, or choices they don't take seriously—while emphasizing actually important decisions. A good example of this trend is the removal of Workers. RIP to the little guys you previously had to send hiking across the countryside to build land improvements like farms and mines. Improvements are now constructed automatically when a new land tile is annexed by a city. However, cities no longer expand into new tiles automatically. You're instead prompted to choose a new tile whenever a city grows. With that new level of control, I developed my capital, Rome, as a very long city, capturing resources on the either side of a river. Spreading influence Barbarians are gone, replacing another obvious choice (beat up on the barbarians) with something slightly more complex, if not by much. Replacing those early game foes are Independent Powers, who may or may not be hostile. If they're peaceful, you can spend the new Influence resource to befriend them. If they're allowed to develop, they'll later form a city-state, and getting on their good side is helpful if you want to become their suzerain. Natural disasters are back, so enjoy that fertile volcanic soil with caution. (Image credit: Firaxis) Influence can also be spent to cooperate with or sabotage other nations. It's an all-purpose diplomacy currency, basically, and might be too universal. I could spend it to enthusiastically accept a neighboring country's proposal for an international farmer's market, and also to sanction them or attempt to infiltrate their military. The system did get me more involved in international relations than I usually am early in a Civ game: I used Influence to befriend an independent power, to make military pacts that increased my unit strength, and to weaken my antagonistic neighbor, Egypt—which by the way was run by Roman emperor Octavian, who traded places with Hatshepsut. In command I concluded my session in the middle of a protracted war between Egyptian Rome and Roman Egypt. The AI leaders still behave like kids who are making things up as they go, leaping from negotiations over fruits and vegetables to declarations of war, but I'm not sure more human-like computer players would be a profitable area for Firaxis to invest in. If they behaved like real players, the AI leaders would probably focus all their early-game energy on building cool Wonders and then quit the first time they suffered a significant military loss. Oh no, a giant tank outbreak! (Image credit: Firaxis) I concluded my session in the middle of a protracted war between Egyptian Rome and Roman Egypt that I refused to end—mainly out of spite, but also because I wanted to play with the new Commander units. They are now the only units that get promotions, which buff their abilities or the abilities of units around them. More interestingly, you can stack multiple units 'inside' a commander, send them to the front line, and then unpack them. Commanders can also issue orders to nearby units, telling them to focus fire on a particular enemy, for instance, which confers bonuses. There's a whiff of XCOM here: I can imagine getting quite attached to a max level general who's overseen my greatest military victories. As curious as I am about big additions like Commanders and the new three-age structure, I walked away most excited by little tweaks to ancient Civ conventions, like the addition of towns. Even smaller, but also exciting: When you tell a unit to fortify, it actually builds a fortification, and Scouts can now put up little watchtowers to see further—I love that. (Image credit: Firaxis) But there are also good signs for Firaxis' plan to get more of us to play Civ games till the end. One, I'm curious to experience a Crisis event—I didn't get that far in my session, but I'm told that these events act as climaxes to the first two ages, requiring players to select a series of Crisis policies that negatively affect their civs. And beyond that, I'll be interested to know just how different the Exploration and Modern ages are from Antiquity. During our brief interview, Beach gave me some hints about what to expect in the Exploration age. It's themed around the part of any Civ game (and of world history) when deep ocean tiles become traversable, and you start to discover what's going on outside of your own continent. Exploring "the distant lands," as they're called in Civ 7, will lead to the discovery of valuable new resources. The real history of global exploration of course did not involve everyone venturing across the oceans at the same time and on equal footing—some explored, and then they violently exploited the people they found—but Civ isn't meant to be an accurate replay of history. Still, I already know that I want to try to defy Civ 7's structure and themes to, for instance, play an isolationist nation during that second act, engaging with just a few foreign traders from behind my walls. That's the plight of a strategy game designer, I guess: Give us a structure, goals, and themes meant to help us progress through the game and take advantage of all its systems, and of course the first thing we want to do is reject them all to see what happens. Another headache to sit alongside Civ 4 designer Soren Johnson's observation that "given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game." Civilization 7 will release on February 11, 2025, and it's coming to Windows, Linux, and Mac at launch (here's its Steam page), as well as Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch. For more details, I've compiled a big list of Civ 7 changes and new features I saw during my gameplay session, and heard about from Firaxis. The studio has also broadcast a gameplay showcase on Twitch.
Civilization 7's new features: a revamped three-age structure, towns, navigable rivers, and more Features By Tyler Wilde published 15 hours ago Everything we know right now about the changes in Civilization 7. Jump to: Big structural changes New feature: towns Changes to cities Changes to units New unit type: Commanders New feature: Influence Misc features Multiplayer and launch info Civilization 5 was controversial for ditching unit stacking, forcing players to space out their armies on a new hexagonal grid. Civilization 6 got heat for altering the art style, and added a new city district system to mixed reviews. Eight years later, Firaxis hasn't opted to play it safe for Civilization 7: Get ready for some long Reddit threads. The most fundamental change, and the one I think will be the most controversial, is a revamp of the game structure. Instead of lots of eras—Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, and so on—a game of Civ 7 is divided into just three ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. At the start of each age, you'll be prompted to pick a new civilization, with options that depend on your current civilization and the choices you've made so far. Mongolia might show up in your Exploration age options if you've developed powerful cavalry units, for instance. my hands-on preview, but I know that Civ fans will also care about all the little changes and additions in Civ 7, so below I've listed absolutely every new thing I noticed during my hands-on session in the Antiquity age. I'm told that some features are exclusive to the other two ages, so I wouldn't have seen them, and even though I've tried to be comprehensive, there's no way I clocked everything that's new or different. Firaxis may also make tweaks before Civ 7 launches on February 11, so consider this a partial and not at all final list of what to expect. BIG STRUCTURAL CHANGES Leaders no longer have to match their civilizations; you can pair any leader with any civ at the start of a game Games are now divided into three longer ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern The Antiquity and Exploration ages climax with Crisis events, which require players to adopt more and more Crisis Policies—negative effects that we'll have to deal with You pick a new civilization when you enter a new age. Which civ you can choose depends on your current civ, and your actions during the previous age. This also means that each age has its own selection of civs. Leaders aren't necessarily historical heads of state; Benjamin Franklin is a leader, for example The standard victory conditions return (culture, science, etc), and now you'll also be encouraged to pursue an achievement in one of these "legacy paths" during the first two ages—for instance, by building lots of World Wonders in the Antiquity age to establish early cultural dominance. NEW FEATURE: TOWNS Settlers now found towns instead of cities Towns have no production queue: they convert Production directly into Gold You can use Gold to purchase units and buildings in towns Towns can be turned into cities by spending Gold; the cost increases with the number of cities you already control Towns can adopt permanent specializations with bonuses: farming town, mining town, military fort, trade outpost CHANGES TO CITIES Cities no longer expand onto new tiles automatically. When a city grows, you're prompted to select an adjacent tile for it to annex. (You can still purchase tiles, too.) Workers are gone. Improvements like Farms and Mines are added to new tiles automatically. City tiles are now classed as "rural" or "urban." Rural tiles contain improvements (Farms, Mines, etc), and become urban districts if you add buildings to them. There are no longer predefined district types; you can place any combination of two buildings in an urban district. Some buildings are now classed as "Warehouse" buildings and work differently than in previous games: Granaries, for example, now provide +1 Food per farm improvement (In Civ 6, they provided a flat +1 Food/+2 Housing) Walls can now be built in each urban district; to capture a city, an invader must breach all of its fortified districts Resources can now be assigned to cities and towns, providing bonuses to them (I didn't play around with this too much, but I like that it makes resources more than just trade items) When you enter a new age, old buildings lose their special effects and adjacency bonuses, encouraging you to replace them with new buildings CHANGES TO UNITS When told to fortify, military units actually build a little fortification Scouts can now construct temporary watchtowers to see further Units can embark over shallow water by default (I tested this with some early units, not sure if it applies to all units) Units no longer gain XP and receive promotions, except for new Commander units NEW UNIT TYPE: COMMANDERS Commanders are special military units and are the only units that gain XP and can be promoted Commanders provided passive bonuses to nearby units, which is one of their attributes that can be upgraded with promotions Units can also be stacked "inside" Commanders and moved as a group, and then unpacked at their destination Commanders can issue orders to all nearby units, such as to focus fire on a single enemy—with an attack bonus for using the special command NEW FEATURE: INFLUENCE Influence is a new yield that is spent on all kinds of diplomatic actions Influence can be used for positive actions, such as gaining the loyalty of city-states and making agreements with other civs, such as making a military pact which provides a bonus to both civs' units Influence can also be used for negative actions, such as sanctioning a civilization, or attempting to infiltrate its military In some cases, you can spend Influence to avoid negative effects, for example to stop another leader's relationship with you from worsening MISC FEATURES Navigable rivers! Navigable rivers! Navigable rivers! There are new narrative events of the kind popularized by other recent strategy games. Example: An artist painted a portrait of me that I found unsettling, and my options were to hang it up (+25 culture), destroy it (+50 gold), or pay to have it redone (+2 culture on the palace, -25 gold). Barbarians have been replaced with Independant Powers, which may or may not be hostile, and whose camps can turn into City-States Religion and natural disasters are back, as well as other features from Civ 5, Civ 6, and their expansions (I don't have a comprehensive list, and I expect there'll be tweaks to these systems, but I didn't have time to dig into them) A fact sheet about the game promises "progression bonuses for your leaders across multiple gameplay sessions" MULTIPLAYER AND LAUNCH INFO Civ 7 is releasing on a ton of platforms at launch: Windows (Steam and Epic), Linux (Steam), Mac (Steam), Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S There will be online multiplayer with PC/console crossplay. The 2K Launcher is being ditched, though you'll need a 2K Account for online multiplayer Multiplayer matches can span all three ages, or just one age "so you can enjoy an entire game in a single session" On Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, five players are supported in the Antiquity and Exploration ages, and eight players are supported in the Modern age (I'm not sure why this is!) The Switch version supports fewer players, four in Antiquity and Exploration, and six in Modern
Used to GOON HARD on CIV. But that was pre-career-life. I don't have time to learn something so nuanced. Is it easier now? I cant even read the write up, it's so long.
Some of my most vivid childhood memories were from playing Civ 2. I loved hearing the CD drive spin up to play a short video clip after building a wonder. I enjoyed played Civ 4,5,and 6, but they never quite hit the same. I'll most likely still buy Civ 7 on release, but it's just harder to fully immerse myself in a game as an adult. Growing up sucks!
Seems like cool updates, though I always get a little nervous about them. I'll definitely get the game, but it might be a while before I have enough time to fully explore it. I rarely am able to do well on higher levels. But I still have a blast.
I've asked this before, but can an idiot newb play this version or should I start on a 3.5-6 version?
