Sid Meier's Civilization VII
by Firaxis Games · 10 Feb, 2025
373 downloads
Hypervisor
Release is using Hypervisor bypass by DenuvOwO team.
About the Game
The award-winning strategy game franchise returns with a revolutionary new chapter. Sid Meier's Civilization® VII empowers you to build the greatest empire the world has ever known!
In Civilization VII, your strategic decisions shape the unique cultural lineage of your evolving empire. Rule as one of many legendary leaders from throughout history and steer the course of your story by choosing a new civilization to represent your empire in each Age of human advancement.
Construct cities and architectural wonders to expand your territory, improve your civilization with technological breakthroughs, and conquer or cooperate with rival civilizations as you explore the far reaches of the unknown world. Pursue prosperity in an immersive solo experience or play with others in online multiplayer.**
Whether you choose to follow a path rooted in history or reimagine possibilities to chart your own way forward, build something you believe in and create a legacy that echoes through the Ages in Civilization VII.
BUILD AN EMPIRE THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME
Lead your empire through distinct Ages of human history. Each Age is its own rich, nuanced journey, with unique playable civilizations, available resources, explorable land, and even entire gameplay systems, creating a deep, historically immersive strategy experience. Strive to accomplish significant scientific, cultural, militaristic, and economic milestones within each Age to unlock impactful advantages in the next!
EVOLVE YOUR EMPIRE AS EACH NEW AGE DAWNS
To build a legacy that truly stands the test of time, you must adapt. Forge your own path through history as you reshape your empire at the start of each Age, selecting from a pool of new Age-relevant civilization options determined by your prior gameplay accomplishments. Evolving your empire unlocks fresh gameplay bonuses and unique units, so your current civilization is always at the height of its power.
PLAY AS VISIONARY LEADERS OF PROGRESS
Embody an illustrious leader with one of Civilization's most diverse rosters yet, from traditional heads of state known for their militaristic might or political prowess, to visionary leaders who made everlasting impacts in philosophy, science, human rights, and more! Each leader possesses a unique ability and can further be improved with customizable attributes earned through gameplay, empowering you to reinforce or pivot your strategy from one Age into the next. For the first time in franchise history, you can choose your leader separately from your civilization, giving you the freedom to create all-new strategies by mixing and matching gameplay bonuses.
EXPLORE A WORLD BROUGHT TO LIFE LIKE NEVER BEFORE
Make your mark on a gorgeously detailed world! Your empire comes to life with a vast, diverse range of cultural styles, represented across building architecture and unit design. Face-to-face interactions with other historic leaders immerse you in every act of diplomacy and declaration of war. As your territory expands and your cities continue to develop, lavishly rendered vistas of your empire seamlessly connect to create a vibrant metropolis.
TEST YOUR STRATEGIC METTLE IN MULTIPLAYER
Compete against other players online and prove your prowess as a great leader.** Multiplayer matches can be epic multi-Age campaigns, or take place in a single Age so you can enjoy an entire game in a single session. Cross-play is supported between PC and consoles, so you can play together with friends wherever they are.
AN ENJOYABLE STRATEGY EXPERIENCE FOR ALL
With more than 30 years of franchise legacy to draw from, Civilization VII features a vast wealth of gameplay improvements that will thrill series veterans and newcomers alike. The overhauled tutorial experience and refined gameplay systems make jumping into Civilization easier than ever, while returning players will appreciate a massive suite of gameplay improvements. Move your army as one under the leadership of a commander, unlock progression bonuses for your leaders across multiple gameplay sessions, traverse navigable rivers, and much, much more!
**Online play and features (including progression bonuses) require an Internet connection and 2K Account (minimum age varies). Up to five players supported in the Antiquity & Exploration Ages. Up to eight players supported in the Modern Age. Map size restrictions may apply to certain cross-play multiplayer games. Terms apply.
Screenshots
5 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
With Test of Time now in players’ hands, we wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who’s jumped into Civilization VII recently. We’ve loved seeing the response to the massive changes in Update 1.4.0, but the wheels of development (not unlike the wheels of history) keep on turning. It’s already full steam ahead for Civ VII!
This update brings a mix of features, improvements, and tuning changes we’re excited to get into your hands. To start, we’ve added a brand-new Archipelago map type, introducing another Voronoi-based map generation style built around an island layout. We’re also excited to finally introduce Hotseat multiplayer to Civilization VII, letting players share a single device for local multiplayer sessions.
The other major change in this update is a substantial rework to Governments and Celebrations, aimed at better tuning how these systems shape your empire’s progression across each Age. Alongside that, we’ve included a wide range of resolved reported issues and other improvements to help keep your campaigns running smoothly.
And lastly, this free update launches alongside Part 1 of our newest paid Content Collection: Brush and Blade.* This DLC will release in two parts, with the first of them introducing the new leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi, alongside two brand-new civilizations: Heian Japan and Sengoku Japan. Read on below for more details on their Uniques Abilities, Units, and gameplay styles.
To our incredible Civ community: we’re grateful for the continued support, feedback, and many turns taken since 1.4.0. If you have a spare minute, dropping a Steam review means the world to us and helps us shape what’s next for Civ VII. Also, head over to the Official Civ Discord to hang out and keep the conversation going - we want to hear your thoughts on the new map type, Hotseat, and everything else Civ.
Have fun empire-building!
Before you dive in...
Active Mods Will Be Disabled
An important note for PC players regarding mods: We've noticed a lot of players running into stability issues without realizing they have broken or outdated mods active. This update will do a reset to disable all active mods. We highly recommend giving our amazing modding community a little time to update their work before toggling things back on manually.
Using a mod that has been updated and is stable? You can simply re-enable these mods by navigating to "Add-ons" in the Main Menu. Browse your list of installed mods and toggle on the ones you want to play with.
Some Additional Reminders
Update drivers: We recommend ensuring your graphics drivers are up-to-date and to double check our Minimum System Requirements for the best experience.
Backwards compatibility: While we aim to maintain backwards compatibility for existing saves as much as possible, some new abilities or effects may not appear until you start a new game. For the best experience, we recommend starting a new game.
Legacy branch: Are you playing on Steam and want to finish your current save under a previous version? You can do so using our legacy Steam beta branch. To join the legacy branch, right-click Sid Meier's Civilization VII in your Steam library, select Properties, then click over to the Betas tab. From there, select the “legacy” option.
We'll continue to keep the 1.3.2 legacy branch (legacy-1-3-2) available for players who want to revisit or finish pre-Test of Time campaigns.
As a reminder, you can visit our tracker to see known issues. If you’re encountering an issue, you can submit a bug report with the team here.
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Our improvements to map generation continue, with a brand new map type!
We've done a bit of map-name housekeeping with this update. The previous Archipelago map has been renamed Archipelago Hemispheres, a name that more accurately reflects how it divides major archipelago regions between the eastern and western halves of the world, creating a more balanced experience. Taking its place is an all-new Archipelago map type.
Like Fractal Continents, this map is built from Voronoi technology (if you haven’t read it yet, give this great From the Devs piece on Voronoi Maps a read), which means less repetition, more randomness, and a more organic feel overall. This map type features two regions of archipelagos that are randomly placed, with a smattering of Distant Lands elsewhere on the map. Here are a few examples below, but generate your own in game and see how random these can get!
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45050851/1a8d798c286e8f5040e7c1ca63823764c83a327e.jpg"]
While we were tinkering with Voronoi generation, we also took a look at lake generation. Previously, lakes were built around a central tile, which often led to them looking a little too same-y from game to game. With this update, lakes can generate in a much wider variety of shapes and sizes, creating more natural-looking inland waters across the map. The total amount of lake coverage has also increased. Maybe it's time for a Buganda campaign?
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45050851/e3940ccb16c3fd43d27eb0a8dfc9b2d1922baf3d.jpg"]
Hotseat Multiplayer
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We’re excited to finally get Hotseat multiplayer into players’ hands!
For anyone who hasn't tried it, Hotseat lets you play a local multiplayer game with friends on the same device. You take your turn, hop out of the hotseat, and try not to watch as your friend sits down and plots your downfall. It’s a staple for many Civ players, and we wanted to make sure it got enough time in the oven before it officially went live.
We know many Hotseat fans have been waiting for this one, and we want to say thank you for all your patience as we worked to get it out the door. Pass the controller and have fun empire-building!
Happiness, Governments, & Celebrations
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If you’ve been keeping up with our patch notes, you know we've been refining the Happiness system over the last several updates. After changes to Appeal, Settlement Limits, local Happiness effects, and Specialists, this update introduces the next major step in that work: updates to Governments and Celebrations, along with new local Happiness stages that add more depth to how your settlements feel about your rule.
Happiness Stages
The answer to “is my settlement happy?” is no longer a yes or no question. Each Settlement’s local Happiness can now come in 5 stages: Ecstatic, Joyous, Happy, Unhappy, and Angry. These stages don’t have effects on their own, but will have direct impacts on game elements like the new Government abilities (see below). Here are the values for each stage of Happiness across the Ages:
Ecstatic: 40+ Happiness per Age
Joyous: 20-39 Happiness per Age
Happy: 0 to 19 Happiness per Age
Unhappy: -19 to -1 Happiness (not per Age)
Angry: -20 Happiness or lower (not per Age)
To really reach those higher levels, focus on maximizing your empire's Happiness by settling near fresh water, improving Resources, constructing Happiness Buildings, and stationing experienced Army Commanders in your cities!
Governments
Next up, Government choices have more impact now! Previously, your Government choice mainly determined which two Celebration options you could choose from when you earned a Celebration. These Celebrations provided large Yield boosts, but they could also be a little unexciting. Players weren’t getting the flavor of Despotism, just a 20% boost to Science.
Now, every Government comes with a passive ability that takes effect as soon as you adopt it, while still providing two Celebration options when you earn them. We've also reworked Celebrations to better reflect the goals and strengths of each Government type.
Additionally, each Government now adds two exclusive Government Traditions in the Civics tree that are only available if you choose that Government. Like civ Traditions, these can be carried forward into future Ages, allowing your political choices to leave a lasting mark on your empire.
Celebrations
Celebrations, those temporary empire-wide bonuses you earn by keeping your people happy, have also seen some changes. We noticed that many players were spending most of the Age in Celebrations, even when ignoring Happiness gameplay. With no tension about earning and staying in Celebrations, effects that lengthened Celebrations were much less interesting. We want there to be some tension between triggering and staying in Celebrations, so with 1.4.1, you’ll find that Celebrations are slightly harder to earn and have been shortened - from 10 turns on Standard speed to 6.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on how these changes feel, so keep letting us know how it feels to play!
Crisis Changes
We've heard the feedback that players want deeper and more impactful Crises in Civilization VII, and we want to start by confirming - we do too! That includes the previously teased Collapse Mode, a more challenging alternative to Regroup during Age Transitions. We're not ready to share details or timing just yet, but it's an area we're actively discussing in the design room. In the meantime, we're making a smaller change as we continue to evaluate the future of the Crisis system.
The original goal of Crises was to create an escalating challenge at the end of each Age and help Age Transitions feel like meaningful moments in your empire's story. With major updates like Test of Time and broader system changes such as the Government rework, we've found that some existing Crises no longer fit as cleanly within our current design.
While we generally prefer improving content over removing it, one Crisis in particular was creating more friction than meaningful gameplay: the Revolutions Crisis from the Exploration Age. The Crisis's conclusion required players to select a temporary Government, which no longer aligns with our Governments changes above. As a result, Revolutions will no longer appear in the Exploration Age or be available as a toggleable Crisis in Advanced Setup.
This is not the final word on Crises, but it is a step toward ensuring the system remains compatible with the direction we're taking other core mechanics. We're exploring ways to make Crises more dynamic, thematic, and engaging in the future - so stay tuned!
Content Collection: Brush & Blade Part 1*
Alongside Update 1.4.1, we also wanted to introduce some fresh flavor to the roster. Launching right alongside the free update is the first part of a new paid content collection: Brush & Blade*. This collection journeys deep into the history of East Asia, exploring the delicate, beautiful balance between refined high art and legendary warfare.
Part One Includes:
New Leader: Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
New Civilizations: Heian Japan and Sengoku Japan.
More Goodies: Four powerful new Wonders to construct and exclusive profile customization rewards.
How the collection works:
The full Brush & Blade collection will be available for purchase with this update. Buying it gives you immediate access to Part 1. It also secures your copy of Part 2, which will arrive in a free update later this summer, introducing the legendary admiral Yi Sun-sin alongside the Goryeo and Joseon civs.
Try out Hideyoshi with these two civs in their Apex Age, or pick one civ to lead throughout your entire campaign - the choice is yours!
Leaders
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NEW leader: Toyotomi Hideyoshi**
The second of Japan’s “Great Unifiers” - Toyotomi Hideyoshi - brought Japan under one rule in the chaos of the Sengoku period. Beginning his career as a lowly footsoldier, Toyotomi rose to become one of Oda Nobunaga’s most trusted retainers and a fearless warrior, as well as a patron of the arts. Upon Nobunaga’s betrayal and death, Toyotomi avenged his former lord and continued the work of conquest, extending his sights out to the Korean peninsula, and beyond.
Attributes: Militaristic, Cultural
Unique Ability - Great Unifier: Land Units deal increased damage when attacking opposing civilizations' Units, but take increased damage from opposing civilizations' Units when defending. Your Units heal additional HP while on a Culture Building or Wonder. Increased Production towards Culture Buildings, increased further in Cities not founded by you.
Agenda - Kampaku: Increase Relationship with civilizations that have a minimum amount of Land Units and overall Culture yield. Decrease Relationship with civilizations that don't meet these minimums.
Check out the full Game Guide for Hideyoshi here.
Civilizations
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NEW civilization: Heian Japan**
By the light of the moon, in carefully cultivated gardens and elaborate villas, the poets of Heian Japan wrote their tales. The Heian period begins with the establishment of Heian-kyo (today Kyoto) in 794 CE, and marks the last era of classical Japanese history. It was a time of refinement, when men and especially women of the court cultivated literature into a high art; it was also a time of rural neglect and decay, when the countryside grew increasingly restless, riven with tensions between ambitious clans. This tension was to erupt in a revolt in the early 12th century, and the subsequent rise of the shogunates that were to dominate Japanese history for centuries afterward.
Apex Age: Antiquity
Attributes: Cultural, Diplomatic
Unique Ability - Pure Land:
Tier 1, Antiquity Age (Apex): Increased Culture on Improvements on Breathtaking tiles.
Tier 2, Exploration Age: Further increased Culture on Improvements on Breathtaking tiles.
Tier 3, Modern Age: Further increased Culture on Improvements on Breathtaking tiles. Cities receive a set amount of Tourism per Breathtaking tile once they contain a minimum number of them.
Unique Civilian Unit - Shijin (Great Person): Great Person. Trainable in Settlements with a Jinja (Heian Unique Infrastructure)
Unique Military Unit - Yumi (Unique Ranged Unit): Increased Movement. Increased Combat Strength if this Unit has not moved this turn.
Associated Wonder - Hoo-Do: Wonders provide increased Appeal to adjacent tiles. Breathtaking tiles receive increased Production, increased Culture, and increased Happiness in this Settlement. Must be placed on Flat terrain adjacent to a River. Heian Japan receives increased Production toward constructing this Wonder.
Check out the full Game Guide for Heian Japan here.
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45050851/9deccbcde017d6b5a3364057ec794744c69f4a42.png"]
NEW civilization: Sengoku Japan**
The Sengoku period was a war of all against all, when fortunes of samurai and daimyo were made and lost, and the source of many of the classic tales of feudal Japan. Beginning in the late 15th century and as feudal power grew, regional lords and clan leaders fought over control of the imperial throne, using European guns, ninja clans, and temple armies. The period featured such figures as Hattori Hanzo, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa, securing the shogunate in 1603, ended the conflict, and established a centuries-long peace.
Apex Age: Exploration
Attributes: Diplomatic, Militaristic
Unique Ability - Shogunate:
Tier 1, Antiquity Age: Increased Culture and Science per point of Army Commander XP earned. Culture Buildings no longer receive Adjacencies with Mountains; Science Buildings no longer receive Adjacencies with Resources.
Tier 2, Exploration Age (Apex): Further increased Culture and Science, and increased Influence per point of Army Commander XP earned. Culture Buildings no longer receive Adjacencies with Mountains; Science Buildings no longer receive Adjacencies with Resources.
Tier 3, Modern Age: Even further increased Culture and Science, and further increased Influence per point of Army Commander XP earned. Culture Buildings no longer receive Adjacencies with Mountains; Science Buildings no longer receive Adjacencies with Resources.
Unique Civilian Unit - Shinobi: Has a set number of charges to use the Sabotage Action, which forces an Army Commander to respawn. Has the Stealth Ability. Military Units on the same tile can use the Disperse Shinobi Clan Action to remove these Units.
Unique Military Unit - Samurai (Unique Infantry Unit): Has increased Combat Strength. Does not unlock further tiers in the Technology Tree. By defeating set numbers of Units, this Unit automatically upgrades to a second and third tier.
Associated Wonder - Himeji Castle: Increased Culture to Fortified Districts in this Settlement. Increased Combat Strength to Fortified Districts in all Settlements. Acts as a Fortified District that must be Conquered. Must be placed on Rough Terrain. Sengoku Japan receives increased Production toward constructing this Wonder.
Check out the full Game Guide for Sengoku Japan here.
Wonders
Natural Wonder - Seongsan Ilchulbong: Increased Happiness (scales by Age). Increased Production towards Cavalry Units if Seongsan Ilchulbong is in the territory of at least 1 of your Settlements.
Natural Wonder - Nachi Falls: Increased Culture (scales by Age). Can purchase 2 Happiness Buildings for free each Age if Nachi Falls is in the territory of at least 1 of your Settlements.
Antiquity Age Wonder - Mireuksa: Increased Happiness. Increased Culture and Production to all Districts that have an Antiquity building and at least 1 Happiness in this Settlement.
Modern Age Wonder - Nirayama Reverberatory Furnace: Increased Production. Increased Science on Mines in this Settlement, further increased if the Mines are on Resources in this Settlement.
A note on ensuring DLC appears on console:
Some console players will update Civilization VII with this update, and then may not see the DLC that was already purchased. Rest assured the content is still there, and there's no need to send your scouts out to find them. Instead, we have a simple set of steps for each platform that should bring them right back. Check out the steps here.
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45050851/85cd1ec577699bc7e3a1eb4ea350be4c74e5f8d8.jpg"]
*Base game required. DLC released in two installments through July 2026, each delivered automatically in-game on release. Exact release dates subject to change. Terms apply.
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45050851/2e5341255805f8fb7305fa25c6604eb00f1d5f67.png"]
(★ = Community Influenced Item)
Gameplay
Age Transition
(★) Increased the number of boats kept on Age Transition when using the Regroup setting. In addition to any boats you retain with Fleet Commanders, you will keep 1 additional boat for each Harbor in your empire.
Environment
(★) The amount of population buildings in Antiquity and some Exploration civs has been reduced to help reduce noise and be more historically and culturally appropriate (for example, the Inca’s buildings are more spread out than Spain’s in the Exploration Age).
City layouts have been updated to display more progression throughout the Ages; Antiquity layouts are more haphazard, while Exploration and Modern are more structured and gridlike.
Addressed visual issues when blending terrain textures.
Economy
Happiness now has stages at the local level, and each stage of Happiness is important for certain Governments, as well as other effects. Values for each stage scale up by Age. The Happiness stages are:
Ecstatic: >40 Happiness
Joyous: 20-40 Happiness
Happy: 0-19 Happiness
Unhappy: -19 to -1 Happiness
Angry: -20 Happiness or lower
Governments
Governments have been updated to include a passive effect, two Celebration options, and two new Traditions available via the Civics Tree based on the choice of Government (Previously: two Celebration options only). The passive effect is always active once you choose a Government, and the Traditions must be unlocked to be used and retained in the next Age. Traditions from Governments you have not chosen will not appear on the Civics tree.
No changes have been made to when a Government is selected, or what Governments are available.
Dev Note: We’ve spread some of the power of Governments across their passives, Celebrations, and Traditions. Some Governments might lean heavier into maximizing their passives while others will require getting more Celebrations or Tradition slots. This continues our efforts in enabling asymmetric or highly directional gameplay, and we’re keeping a close eye on your feedback.
Government Details: Anything without a (Previously:...) section is new.
Antiquity:
Classical Republic:
Passive: +1 Culture in Happy or happier Settlements. +4 additional Culture in Joyous or happier Cities.
Celebration Option 1: +100 Influence immediately. Scales by Game Speed. (Previously: +20% Culture during the Celebration)
Celebration Option 2: +10% Production towards Wonders, or +20% in Joyous or happier Cities during the Celebration. (Previously: +15% Production towards Wonders during the Celebration)
Yaxche Tradition: +2 Happiness on Wonders. Unlocked on Citizenship.
Poieisis Tradition: +1 Culture on displayed Great Works in Joyous Settlements, or +2 in Ecstatic Settlements. Unlocked on Philosophy.
Despotism:
Passive: +2 Science for each conquered Settlement. Unhappiness causes -3% reduction in Yields in your Settlements per point of negative Happiness (usually -5%).
Celebration Option 1: +1 Science on Production and Production Warehouse Buildings during the Celebration. (Previously: +20% Science during the Celebration)
Celebration Option 2: +10% Gold towards Producing and Purchasing Military Units during the Celebration. (Previously: +30% Production towards Infantry Units during the Celebration)
Commanderies Tradition: +20% Gold towards upgrading units. Unlocked on Tactics.
Fajia Tradition: +1 War Support on Wars you Declare. Unlocked on Organized Military.
Oligarchy:
Passive: +10% Production towards Buildings. +10% Gold towards purchasing Warehouses in Fishing and Farming Towns.
Celebration Option 1: +1 Food in Towns for each Connected Settlement during the Celebration. (Previously: +20% Food during the Celebration)
Celebration Option 2: +200 Gold immediately. Scales by Game Speed. (Previously: +30% Production towards Buildings during the Celebration)
Annona Tradition: +1 Food on Food Warehouse Buildings in Happy Settlements, or +2 in Joyous or happier Settlements. Unlocked on Public Life.
Hangjiao Tradition: +1 Production on Production Warehouse Buildings in Happy Settlements, or +2 in Joyous or happier Settlements. Unlocked on Skilled Trades.
Exploration:
Feudal Monarchy:
Passive: +10% Production towards training Units and constructing Walls.
Celebration Option 1: +3 Combat Strength for Military Units during the Celebration. (Previously: +20% Food during the Celebration)
Celebration Option 2: Your highest level Commander gets a free Promotion. (Previously: +30% Production towards Cavalry and Naval units during the Celebration)
Marcher Lords Tradition: +2 Culture in Towns without a Growing Focus, or +4 in Joyous or happier Towns without a Growing Focus. Unlocked on Society.
Mahakrung Tradition: Your Capital gets +5 Culture, Production, and Gold, or +15 Culture, Production, and Gold if it's Ecstatic. Unlocked on Sovereignty.
Plutocracy:
Passive: +20% Production towards Overbuilding.
Celebration Option 1: Specialists get -2 Food and Happiness Maintenance during the Celebration. (Previously: +20% Gold during the Celebration)
Celebration Option 2: +600 Gold immediately. Scales by Game Speed. (Previously: +30% Production towards Overbuilding during the Celebration)
Primitive Accumulation Tradition: +2 Science on Gold Buildings. +20% Production towards constructing Gold Buildings. Unlocked on Mercantilism.
Tequitl Tradition 2: +10 Trade Range. +2 Science on Trade Routes you initiate. Unlocked on Imperialism.
Theocracy:
Passive: +20% Production and Gold towards constructing or purchasing Temples and Missionaries.
Celebration Option 1: Receive a free Relic immediately. +1 Culture and Happiness on displayed Relics during the Celebration. (Previously: +20% Culture during the Celebration)
Celebration Option 2: +1 Gold and Influence on displayed Relics during the Celebration. (Previously: +40% Production towards Civilian and Support Units during the Celebration)
Dargah Tradition: Towns following your Religion get +2 Food and Happiness. Unlocked on Theocracy.
Vinaya Tradition: Cities following your Religion get +2 Gold and Influence. Unlocked on Theocracy.
Modern:
Authoritarianism:
Passive: +3 Food and Gold in Settlements you have conquered in this Age. Unhappiness causes -3% reduction in Yields in your Settlements per point of Unhappiness (usually -5%).
Celebration Option 1: +20% Production towards training Military Units during the Celebration. (Previously: +30%)
Celebration Option 2: +2 War Support on Wars you Declare during the Celebration. (Previously: +3 Combat Strength for all Units during the Celebration)
Garrison State Tradition: +25% Influence towards adding War Support. Unlocked on Nationalism.
Jingoism Tradition: +5 Combat Strength for all Military Units when attacking an opponent from a different ideology. Unlocked on Militarism.
Bureaucratic Monarchy:
Passive: +5% Gold towards Purchasing Buildings in Cities, or +10% in Joyous or happier Cities.
Celebration Option 1: +20% Influence towards all Diplomatic Actions during the Celebration. (Previously: +20% Gold during the Celebration)
Celebration Option 2: +1000 Gold immediately. Scales by Game Speed. (Previously: +30% Relationship change from Endeavors and Sanctions during the Celebration)
Evidenzbureau Tradition: +100% Influence towards Counterspy Espionage Actions. Unlocked on Political Theory.
Crown Properties Tradition: +2 Influence on Gold Buildings. Unlocked on Globalism.
Elective Republic:
Passive: Specialists get +1 Science and Culture, and +1 Happiness maintenance.
Celebration Option 1: +1 Culture on Quarters in Happy Settlements, or +2 in Joyous Settlements, or +3 in Ecstatic Settlements during the Celebration. (Previously: +20% Culture during the Celebration)
Celebration Option 2: +1000 Science immediately. Scales by Game Speed. (Previously: +20% Science during the Celebration)
Think-Tanks Tradition: +10% Production towards Projects, or 20% in the Capital. Unlocked on Globalism.
Army Corps of Engineers Tradition: +10% Production towards Wonders, or +20% in the Capital. Unlocked on Nationalism.
Mexico:
Dev Note: We want a powerful Government that rewards strong Happiness gameplay to be Mexico’s gameplay identity. A new shape of Governments means recalibrating to make sure Mexico’s unique gameplay feels rewarding. If we find that this set of changes doesn’t reflect that, we will buff Mexico.
All Ages:
Passive: +2 Happiness (per Age) in the Cities for each Tradition slotted into the Government.
Default Celebration Option: +2 Culture in Happy Settlements, or +6 in Joyous Settlements, or +10 in Ecstatic Settlements during the Celebration. (Previously: +30% Culture during the Celebration)
Antiquity:
Unlocked Celebration Option: +3 Food in every Joyous or happier Settlement during the Celebration. (Previously: +50% Growth Rate in the Capital during the Celebration)
Muralismo I Tradition: +2 Happiness in all Settlements
Exploration:
Unlocked Celebration Option: +100% Production towards training and Gold towards purchasing Missionaries and +2 Charges and Movement for Missionaries during the Celebration. (unchanged)
Muralismo II Tradition: +4 Happiness in all Settlements
Modern:
Unlocked Celebration Option 1: Gain one free Infantry Unit in each City immediately. (Previously: +40% Production towards Military Units during the Celebration)
Unlocked Celebration Option 2: +2 Influence in every Joyous or happier Settlement during the Celebration. (Previously: +50% Influence towards initiating Diplomatic Actions during the Celebration)
Unlocked Celebration Option 3: +3 Science in every Joyous or happier Settlement during the Celebration. (Previously: +30% Science during the Celebration)
Muralismo III Tradition: +6 Happiness in all Settlements
Miscellaneous
Added a new map type, Archipelago, and renamed the previous Archipelago map to Archipelago Hemispheres.
Celebration length is reduced from 10 turns to 6 turns on Standard speed and their costs have been increased.
Dev Note: We made this change to better pace the gain of Social Policy slots. Permanent celebrations are still possible (and may require Celebration lengthening effects), but are way harder to achieve and largely reserved for Leaders and Civs like Jose Rizal, Charlemagne, Maurya, and Mexico that lean into Celebrations as a core mechanic.
Addressed a reported issue where Hussar/Cossack units were unable to be produced when selected as a Syncretism Choice during the Modern Age.
Addressed a reported issue where Corsairs were unable to be purchased after researching Shipbuilding.
Machu Pikchu now functions correctly in conquered settlements.
The Focus Fire action function should now work correctly against enemy units that were discovered during the same turn.
Library of Ashurbanipal dedication should now properly provide a Relic slot to Science buildings for newly built cities, and apply in Distant Lands.
The Partisan unit from the Military City-State Suzerain bonus is now buildable after researching Industrialization.
Addressed reported issues with unlocked Dedications sometimes missing after Age transition.
Multiplayer
Added new Hotseat multiplayer mode.
Improved performance and stability for cross-platform multiplayer games.
Leaders & Civs
Leaders
Added new DLC leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Civs
Added new DLC Antiquity Age civ Heian Japan.
Added new DLC Exploration Age civ Sengoku Japan.
UI
Alignment & Spacing
Text and descriptions on Dedication cards are now properly centered on the Triumphs Screen.
Adjusted tile tooltips so they are properly offset and no longer block the view of the tile itself.
Controller-Specific
Resources in the "Empire" and "Treasure" tabs of the Commerce Screen now properly display a visual selection highlight.
Switching tabs in the Commerce menu now properly exits Settlement edit mode.
Players can now properly close filters in the Commerce menu.
The "Just One More Turn" option no longer appears if you choose to retire or are eliminated.
The controller cursor no longer gets stuck on the filter after closing it in the Commerce menu.
The "Inspect" button prompt now properly appears on tooltips for Unassigned Resources in the Commerce menu.
Addressed a reported issue where tile tooltips could get stuck on the screen after panning away from them.
Pressing right on the D-pad immediately after opening the Tech or Civic chooser no longer causes the game to crash.
The controller cursor now properly returns to the Diplomacy menu after backing out of the "Incite Raid" target menu.
Opening the Syncretism Options menu while viewing a tooltip in the Civic Tree no longer locks the controller cursor.
General
(★) The City Details panel saw a major revamp, now displaying which settlements a City is connected to. The panel also now displays how much Food would be sent to each listed City if you were to set a Town Focus.
Dev Note: For screens where the height resolution is greater than 768px, the number of connected settlements is also displayed on the Town Focus section.
City-States in the Minor Powers tab will now display which bonus was picked.
Independent Powers in the Minor Powers tab now display which leaders are befriending them, and whether those leaders are ahead of you for Suzerainty.
Unfinished Unique Quarters will now highlight during placement of the second Unique Building.
The "No More Turns" option during "Just One More Turn" mode now appears and functions correctly.
Added a 1600p UI scaling option for Mac displays.
Resource and Yield icons on the map will now scale up when changing the UI Scaling Adjustment setting.
The camera will now pan to your units when taking damage from any source when Auto Pan to Combat is enabled.
Addressed reported issues during the endgame transition where controller or mouse input could break menus, hide the cursor, or accidentally close the Victory screen before choosing "Just One More Turn”.
Addressed a reported issue where a non-functional "Just One More Turn" button could appear during a multiplayer Victory.
Addressed a reported issue where clicking on certain Mementos while playing in German could cause a crash.
Made various stability improvements on systems with integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics.
Text Changes
Addressed several reported issues affecting localized text.
Tooltips
The Victory Tier tooltip now properly appears on the Victory summary screen.
Addressed a reported issue where plot tooltips could disappear.
Narrative
Addressed an issue with the "The End of Hellas" narrative event, among other bug fixes.
Added several storylets for Time-Tested civs,.
Dev Note: With 1.4.1, every civ is now included! We wanted to make sure that each civ had an attribute granting event in every Age.
Added new randomization capabilities in Narrative event options alongside Brush & Blade DLC, and updated a few existing stories to use a basic form of this, with plans to use more in the future. During events with randomization, you will get the same story, but the options will be presented differently. The basic form will randomize the order of the options - no memorizing the location of the good choice! In the more advanced form, options can be grouped together, and only one of them will be presented to the player.
Dev Note for Modders: We’ve got a few technical tips to help out modders with this change:
Setting the flag on the parent story in the NarrativeStories will indicate that the options/links should be randomized. At a base case this randomizes the presentation order.
In the NarrativeStory_Links you can use the Priority field to group options, only one of which will be presented to the player. For example if you have story “TEST_A” with options “TEST_B”, TEST_C”, “TEST_D”, “TEST_E” you could assign priority 0 to b and c, and priority 1 to D and E. This will randomly give the player one of B or C and one of D or E, and they will be presented in a random order.
Audio
Added 1 new Antiquity Age ambient peace theme and 1 alternate mix variation.
Made SFX improvements to various Resources.
Improved volume balancing on Wonder voiceovers.
Addressed a reported issue where Leader sound effects could persist when all audio channels are muted.
Addressed several miscellaneous audio bugs.
Platform-Specific
Windows
Updated to Intel XeSS 3.0.
*Base game required. DLC released in two installments through July 2026, each delivered automatically in-game on release. Exact release dates subject to change. Terms apply.
**This content is also included with the Brush and Blade Collection DLC Bundle. If you own the Brush and Blade Collection, then you already own this content. DLC released in two installments through July 2026, each delivered automatically in-game on release. Exact release dates subject to change. Terms apply.
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Whether you aspire to be a military-minded conqueror, an economic powerhouse, a creator of cultural wonders, or one of history's great scientific minds, there's never been a better time to build a new empire in Civilization VII.
In celebration of the massive Test of Time update that's free for all players, get Civ VII on Steam for 40% off from May 19 to June 2!* This is the perfect opportunity to experience this game-changing rework, which adds highly requested features like the ability to start and stay as one civilization across every Age, a more flexible Victories system, and much more.
For a fuller picture of how key elements of the game have been fundamentally redesigned or built upon, check out this article on the official Civ site. Or, to read over every single tweak this gigantic update includes, read the full Game Update Notes published for Test of Time (also called Update 1.4.0.).
Whether you're a new ruler ready to experience Civ for the first time, a veteran tactician, or just looking to save on Civ VII's Standard, Deluxe, or Settler's Editions, we can't wait to see your empires stand the test of time as you lead them through the Ages.
*Discount based on 2K’s SRP. Digital only. Offers end June 2, 2026. Terms apply.
[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1295660/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VII/"]
We’ve just pushed a hotfix specifically for Steam Mac players to address a few high-priority issues:
Improved general gameplay stability on macOS to resolve reported crashes.
Addressed a reported issue causing frequent desyncs in multiplayer games containing Mac players.
Addressed a reported issue where Military Aid would stay active and keep stacking even after the Diplomatic Action had ended.
If you’re still running into issues after this patch, please let us know through our Support portal.
We’ve just pushed a hotfix specifically for Steam Mac players to address a few high-priority issues:
Improved general gameplay stability on macOS to resolve reported crashes.
Addressed a reported issue causing frequent desyncs in multiplayer games containing Mac players.
Addressed a reported issue where Military Aid would stay active and keep stacking even after the Diplomatic Action had ended.
If you’re still running into issues after this patch, please let us know through our Support portal.
We’re rolling out a small patch across all platforms today that includes stability improvements and adds support for Teen Accounts.
Note: As part of a wider 2K rollout, Civilization VII has now added support for Teen Accounts. For players who are old enough to create a full 2K Account but are under 18, certain features will be disabled by default to prioritize a safer experience. Players will have full control and can re-enable them anytime through 2K Account settings.
Here’s how to update your account preferences:
Go to portal.2k.com and log into your linked 2K Account.
Once in the 2K Portal, navigate to the game permissions section. There you can select the game(s) you wish to change your settings for.
You can learn more about this change here.
Patch Notes
Addressed an issue that was causing late game performance drops.
Dev Note: Game logic checking for attackable buildings was improved to avoid unnecessary and expensive calculations.
Addressed a crash that players could experience during Next Turn AI processing.
Added Teen Account support for 2K Accounts.
If you’re still running into issues after this patch, please let us know through our Support portal. Stay tuned for more news on a much larger update in the works for Civilization VII!
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Update 1.3.2 is rolling out now to all platforms!
It’s been a little while since our last update (a full year, you might even say). While our update cadence has been a bit lighter recently, it’s because the team is deep in the trenches on a major update we’re calling Test of Time, coming this spring. We’re currently heads-down on some of the biggest systemic overhauls we’ve ever attempted, including a total rework of Victories and the option to play as one civilization through every Age. These are massive efforts, and we’re taking the time to ensure they land exactly where they need to. You can read all about those long-term plans in our deep-dive article here.
Even so, we didn't want to wait until spring to bring you some of the things you’ve been asking for. Update 1.3.2 rolls out today, and as a thank you for all the support we’ve received from our community this past year, we’re bringing a fan-favorite back to the roster: Gilgamesh is now available for all Civilization VII players, for free.
This update also focuses on making the day-to-day experience of building an empire a bit smoother. We’re introducing the first phase of nested tooltips to help clear up complex terms on the fly, and a new Appeal Lens to make hunting for high-Happiness tiles much more intuitive. We’ve also included a balance pass – featuring a rework for the French Empire and buffs for Dai Viet – to ensure the meta stays fresh while we work on the larger shifts coming later this year.
We’re excited for you to dive in and get playing but as always, a few quick notes:
While we aim to maintain backwards compatibility for existing saves as much as possible, some new abilities or effects may not appear until you start a new game or advance to the next Age in your current campaign. For the best experience, we recommend starting a new game, or continuing your current game into the next Age.
If you encounter any new issues, try disabling any mods, as some may not yet be compatible with the latest update.
Are you playing on Steam and want to finish your current save under a previous version? You can do so using our legacy Steam beta branch.
Alongside this update, Steam players may notice a prompt mentioning "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?" from Verified publisher Valve Corp. when launching Civ VII. After selecting Yes, you will notice Steam UI displaying "Running install script (Microsoft VC Redistributable)" for a couple minutes before the game eventually launches. This one time player experience is normal and is a result of a Steam side settings change we made to ensure no one encounters strange and potentially blocking issues when trying to launch Civ VII.
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Gilgamesh Returns
Your best friend and King of Uruk, Gilgamesh, makes his comeback to Civilization! This leader is free for all Civ VII players with the 1.3.2 Update as a thank you for all the support we’ve seen from players over the last year, along with a free anniversary profile badge, banner, and title.
Whether he was your favorite ally in Civ VI or if you've never met the legendary demigod of Uruk face-to-face, Gilgamesh is best known for his prowess in battle. In Civ VII, his emphasis on Endeavors helps him maximize their value with Allies. If you're playing as Gilgamesh, make sure you form those alliances quickly, and if you're not, becoming his Ally first may benefit you greatly.
Gilgamesh is most effective when he invests in befriending one primary Ally. Not only does entering a war while having exactly one Ally garner him additional War Support, but his Mementos reward this one-Ally approach as well. Check out his kit below!
Attributes: Diplomatic, Militaristic
Unique Ability - Once Mortal, Twice Divine: Gain War Support when you have exactly one Ally. When you defeat an enemy Unit, gain Influence equal to a set percentage of its Combat Strength. All basic Endeavors are unlocked; Endeavors with Allies don’t count against the limit of having one Endeavor of a given type active at a time. Allies can support your Endeavors for free.
Agenda - Ally of Enkidu: Increase Relationship by a Medium Amount with leaders who have started or supported the most Endeavors. Decrease Relationship by a Small Amount with leaders in Alliances with others.
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Nested Tooltips
With Update 1.3.2, we’re adding the first pass of a new feature we’re very excited about: nested tooltips. Nested tooltips are an upgrade to our current tooltips, allowing them to turn game terms into links that provide further information when inspected.
Civ VII is a deep game with lots of concepts that are new to the series, like Warehouse bonuses, and concepts that have been around a long time which we often take for granted, like Wonders. With this update, we’re upgrading our tooltips so that concepts like Warehouses or Wonders can be inspected to get a new tooltip with a brief explanation of that concept. There’s still more detailed information to be found in the Civilopedia, but these brief explainers are easier to access in the moment when you need a quick introduction or refresher on what exactly something does.
Being able to nest information helps us make our tooltips more concise, and we’ve taken advantage of this opportunity to graphically refresh the affected tooltips. These two changes together should make the tooltips more readable, and thus the game more understandable. We know that the game is more fun when it helps you understand things better, as we saw with the Production List changes in 1.2.5, and we’re committed to continue improving the UI to better support that.
This feature is something we’re still actively working on, but we want to get the first iteration of it into your hands right away so you can let us know how it feels. Unsurprisingly, Civ games have a lot of text, so we’re doing this in phases. For 1.3.2, we’ve focused on populating the Tech and Civic choosers as well as the Production List tooltips first, because those are places where having more information as you make those big decisions is the most helpful.
We’re aiming to strike the right balance between providing useful information while not inundating the player to the point where it detracts from understanding. Do you think we struck the right balance? Let us know! Also, please let us know which areas of the game you’d find it most useful for us to focus on next. For example, we’re experimenting with automatically locking a tooltip if it’s been open for a few seconds, and letting players configure that timing.
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New Appeal Lens
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As we continue to evaluate Happiness and set the foundation for bigger upcoming changes, we’re working to ensure players always have the information they need to read the game. With this update, we’re presenting a new Appeal Lens. This new strategic tool is designed to help you quickly identify which tiles are Breathtaking or Charming, and even help you spot Natural Wonders.
Along with this new tool in your toolbelt, we’ve added a new one to ours. Previously, tiles could either be Appealing or not. Appealing tiles provided Happiness, and the Yield for Happiness scaled by Age. Now, Appealing tiles come in two types: Charming and Breathtaking. Charming tiles provide base Happiness, while Breathtaking tiles provide increased Happiness, and this value no longer scales by Age.
We hope you use the Appeal Lens to help answer these questions throughout your empire-building:
Will I get the Happiness I need to support the Specialists and Buildings in my growing Cities?
Do I want to prioritize expansion towards high-value Natural Wonders?
Do I want to earn extra Happiness to trigger more Celebrations quickly?
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Gameplay
Coastal Raid
The Coastal Raid action for Naval Units has been updated to behave more like the Pillage action.
Naval Units can still Coastal Raid the tile they are on, as well as adjacent tiles, but they no longer have the option to Pillage. Coastal Raid can still be used to activate discoveries at range and capture Districts.
Coastal Raiding now provides Yields based on the tile being raided, matching Yields gained when Pillaging that tile. (Previously: Coastal Raid defaulted to granting Gold and Health.)
Coastal Raid now also benefits from abilities that increase Pillage Yields. Effects that are intended to only trigger on Pillaging on land will specify Land Units in their description.
Dev Note: We made this change to reduce the redundancy and confusion when Naval Units had access to both Coastal Raid and Pillage. We also took this opportunity to refine how the two actions really worked!
To support this change, the following content was updated:
Iceland’s Drottvaett Tradition and Vikingr were updated.
Drottkvaett: Naval Units grant Culture equal to 50% of Pillage Yields and Healing. (Previously: Coastal Raiding grants Culture equal to 50% the Gold gained.)
Vikingr: Iceland Unique Heavy Naval Unit. Grants Science equal to 25% of Pillage Yields and Healing. Has 3 Sight. (Previously: Iceland Unique Heavy Naval Unit. Coastal Raiding grants Science equal to 25% the Gold gained. Has 3 Sight.)
Descriptions of Wonders, Social Policies, Commander Promotions, and Civ Abilities were updated to clarify whether they apply to Naval or Land Units.
Appeal
Added new Appeal Lens.
Appeal’s effect on Happiness has been updated. The way a tile’s Appeal is calculated is unchanged.
Appeal is no longer binary, and now has levels. Tiles can be Average, Charming, or Breathtaking. Appeal level determines how much Happiness a tile provides, and Happiness from Appealing tiles no longer scales by Age.
Average tiles continue to not provide Happiness.
Charming tiles provide +1 Happiness when improved.
Breathtaking tiles provide +2 Happiness when improved.
Abilities that previously referred to tiles with a Happiness Yield or a Natural Happiness Yield have been updated to reference Appeal instead.
AI
AI behavior around Diplomacy gameplay has been updated.
Diplomatic leaders will more properly use the Military Sabotage Action unlocked in the Diplomatic Attribute tree.
Militaristic leaders will more properly use the Open the Gates Espionage during War, and put more Influence towards War Support.
All leaders befriend Independents slightly more often.
Individual leaders have had specific biases adjusted to better support their gameplay. (Leaders affected include Ben Franklin, Edward Teach, Harriet Tubman, Himiko Queen of Wa, Ibn Battuta, Jose Rizal, Lafayette, Machiavelli, Napoleon Emperor, Sayyida al Hurra, Trung Trac.)
Leaders with City-State centered gameplay more properly Suzerain and Incorporate City-States. (Leaders affected include Lakshmibai, Tecumseh.)
Leaders with Personas have had their personalities slightly differentiated to vary gameplay. (Leaders affected include Ashoka, Friedrich, Himiko, Xerxes.)
Civs have had specific biases adjusted to better support their gameplay. (Civs affected include Greece, Shawnee, Siam, Tonga, Prussia, America, Great Britain, Spain.)
Diplomacy
Players will now correctly lose the +1 Gold Effect from Pirate Haven when losing a Trade Route by declaring a War.
Economy
Changed “Rural District" to just “Rural” on various tooltips, effects, descriptions, and Civilopedia articles for better consistency with gameplay logic. These tiles are now simply referred to as “Rural” to avoid confusion with "Districts” or Urban tiles.
As part of this change, the effects of both Qajar’s Qullarāqāsi Tradition and Sayyida al Hurra’s leader ability, Hakima Tatwan, now match their descriptions and only apply to Urban Districts.
Dev Note: We wanted effects like these to be impactful and easily understood, while also not creating odd incentives. As we ramp up to bigger changes, expect us to unify language, make things clearer, and occasionally change abilities such as these to better fit. As always, we will be monitoring balance for Qajar and Sayyida al Hurra and make adjustments when necessary.
Players no longer fail to receive +2 Culture from ongoing Diplomatic projects when the Ekklesia Mastery has been completed and a Diplomatic project has been started.
Added Production Adjacency from Wonders for Factories in Modern.
Riches of the Duat will no longer provide a +20% production bonus when constructing a Wonder in a city not located in desert terrain.
The bonuses from the "Freyfaxahamar" Storylet are no longer given as a Global Yield when selected. The bonus now correctly applies only towards Settlements that are following the player’s Religion.
The Anjuvannam Unique Building no longer fails to receive Adjacency Bonuses from Coastal tiles when slotting the "Shusei Kokubo" tradition.
Ageless Fortified Districts no longer lose Health and Wall Defense bonus when transitioning to the following Age.
Military
Communism no longer spawns Naval Ranged Units instead of Land Ranged Units when completed in the Civic Tree.
Naval Units with the Pirate ability are no longer able to be attacked through Fortified districts when targeted by neutral units.
Military Naval Units can now properly capture a Fortified tile when the tile has had all Buildings pillaged.
The Donjon Unique Quarter no longer gives an extra Chevalier Unit when the Normans reconquer a Settlement with a completed Donjon Unique Quarter.
Addressed a reported storylet issue causing Army Commanders to disappear after gaining the reward.
Misc
Improved transition VFX for Naval Units.
Addressed a visual issue affecting Shawnee's Unique Unit "Hoceepkileni" model.
Leaders & Civs
Leaders
(★ - Community Influence Item) Added new leader Gilgamesh. )
Civs
Mughal
Unique Ability:
Paradise of Nations: +100% to all Gold Yields, -25% to all other Yields. (Previously: Paradise of Nations: +75% to all Gold Yields, -25% to all other Yields.)
Dev Note: We’ve been wanting to lean into the asymmetrical nature of the Mughal ability harder and make this a clean 100% bonus for a while, but waited to tweak the whole kit to support this change, as well as get a better sense of how the Modern Age was played by the community. While some abilities technically got debuffed a bit, overall we’ve found this to be a decent boost to making the Mughals feel special.
Unique Improvement:
Stepwell: +2 Food. +2 Food from adjacent Farms. Must be built on a Flat tile. Cannot be built adjacent to another Stepwell. (Previously: +2 Gold. +2 Food from adjacent Farms. Must be built on a Flat tile. Cannot be built adjacent to another Stepwell.)
Dev Note: Since we buffed the Unique Ability to carry the majority of the Gold Bonus, we took the opportunity to focus other parts of their kit on the Food and Rural aspects.
Traditions:
Mayūrāsana: +10% Gold towards purchasing anything. (Previously: +25% Gold towards purchasing anything.)
Jins-i Kamil: +1 Food on Farms for each adjacent Plantation, and on Plantations for each adjacent Farm. (Previously: +1 Food and Gold on Farms for each adjacent Plantation, and on Plantations for each adjacent Farm.)
Dev Note: This is another example of letting this part of the kit guide players to Mughal’s other strengths around Food.
Qilachas: +2 Gold on Quarters with Walls. (Previously this ability wasn't working as intended and counted any District with 2 Buildings, instead of Quarters. Quarters are Districts with 2 Ageless or Current-Age Buildings)
Civic Tree:
Zabt Tier 1: Unlock the Stepwell. +1 Gold on Farms in Towns. Jins-i Kamil Tradition. (Previously: Unlock the Stepwell. +1 Gold on Farms. Jins-i Kamil Tradition.)
Gardens of Paradise Tier 1: You can purchase Wonders with Gold, but they are more expensive. (150%) Mayūrāsana Tradition. (Previously: You can purchase Wonders with Gold. Mayūrāsana Tradition).
Dai Viet
Unique Ability
Hịch Tướng Sĩ: When you create a Fortification Constructible receive 25 Culture for every Urban Population in that Settlement. (Scales By Game Speed) (Previously: When you create a Fortification Constructible receive 5 Culture for every Urban Population in that Settlement. (Scales By Game Speed)).
Dev Note: Sometimes, we like to just buff stuff.
Unique Settler
Quận Vương: Unique Settler. When this Unit Settles receive 25 Culture for every Tropical tile within 3 of the City Center (Scales by Game Speed). (Previously: When this Unit Settles receive 5 Culture for every Tropical tile within 3 of the City Center (Scales by Game Speed)).
French Empire
Replaced Militaristic Attribute for Cultural.
Dev Note: The French Empire’s focus on Happiness and Government made the Diplomatic Attribute clear, but the rest of their bonuses split pretty evenly between combat and cultural focuses. With the other changes to their kit with this update, we felt it was appropriate to adjust their Attribute accordingly. As we ramp up towards releasing some bigger changes and making Attributes matter more in some contexts, we might adjust a few more civs in future updates. We plan to be very judicious about these shifts!
Changed the Grand Armee combat strength effect from Per Adjacent Unit to Traditions slotted in the Government.
Added a Tradition Slot to the French Empire’s final Civic.
UI
Civilopedia
Added a new entry for the Skirmish ability.
Added a new entry for the Poison ability.
Walls now properly state that they can not be built on Rural tiles.
Added a new entry for Trade Range.
The entry for Attributes now mentions Wildcard Attributes.
Controller-Specific
Added support for multi-touch zoom and rotate gestures on Steam Deck.
Addressed inconsistent highlighting when editing Social Policies.
The cursor can now properly move to the available Policy cards list in the Government menu when all slots are filled.
Addressed a reported issue where the Peace Deal Proposal could sometimes overlap with other menus.
Addressed a reported issue where the controller could lose function after deleting a configuration in the Save/Load Configuration Menu.
Locked attribute nodes now highlight when the cursor is on them in the Leader Attribute Menu.
The Player Unlocks menu now correctly appears in the radial menu after unlocking next Age rewards in the Antiquity Age.
Button prompts for certain tutorials are no longer missing.
General
Added “Turns until next Celebration” underneath the Government icon in the HUD.
Added red outline around the Unit flag of hostile City-States (previously this only showed for hostile Independent Powers).
Addressed a reported issue leading to inconsistent ordering in Civic Trees.
The Wonder quote for World’s Fair will now properly appear.
When clicking your leader portrait while in a Diplomacy menu, it will now open your Diplomacy screen to the last opened tab.
District Health Bar is no longer missing when reloading a save with a destroyed District.
Promotion options no longer remain selectable when the player views the promotion menu after adding and confirming all available points.
Addressed a reported issue where the Rewards Menu would appear without unlocking anything new.
Made improvements to late game performance and multiplayer stability.
Text Changes
Added directional help and new text to Diplomacy tabs before other players choose Governments, and before the player meets their first Independent Power.
The Unit description for Submarines now mentions its unique combat role when viewing it in the Production menu and Civilopedia.
Light Naval Units now properly present Melee Strength when viewing them on the Production/Purchase menu.
The Pantheon Menu is no longer mostly empty and missing information related to its unlock requirements when starting a New Game in early Antiquity Age gameplay.
Updated description for the Shwedagon Zedi Daw Wonder to mention Appeal.
Updated loading screen description text for Xerxes Achaemenid's unique Memento "Gold Fluted Phiale."
Made various text improvements.
Tooltips
Added tooltips to tabs within the Diplomacy panel.
Unit icons will no longer overlap the tooltips of the Trade Route when viewing possible Trade Routes.
Narrative
Addressed improper triggers in Narrative Events.
Audio
Added a new UI audio notification for Cities converting to a new Religion.
Added Narrator VO after building the World’s Fair Wonder.
Havana Harbor music will now play when the Wonder is completed.
Addressed various UI audio issues.
[dynamiclink href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1295660/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VII/"]
Hi Civ fans,
Update 1.3.1 is rolling out now on all platforms! This update includes the second part of the Tides of Power Collection, along with the new Shattered Seas map type, improvements to biomes, and another round of balance adjustments to several civs. As we’ve mentioned in earlier updates, things are a bit lighter while some bigger projects continue behind the scenes, but we still wanted to get some fresh gameplay into your hands before the holidays!
If you haven’t grabbed the Tides of Power Collection yet, Civ VII players can still claim it for free* on their platform of choice any time before January 5, 2026 (once you claim it, it’s yours to keep)! Part two introduces leader Sayyida al Hurra, along with the Ottomans and Iceland civs.
A few quick notes before you dive in:
While we aim to maintain backwards compatibility for existing saves as much as possible, some new abilities or effects may not appear until you start a new game or advance to the next Age in your current campaign. For the best experience, we recommend starting a new game, or continuing your current game into the next Age.
If you encounter any new bugs or issues, try disabling any mods, as some may not yet be compatible with the latest update.
Are you playing on Steam and want to finish your current save under a previous version? You can do so using our legacy Steam beta branch.
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Shattered Seas Map
We mentioned in a previous From the Devs entry that we’ve been experimenting with new map generation techniques, and we’re happy to introduce the latest one born out of this endeavor: the Shattered Seas map type!
Shattered Seas plays like a combination of the Pangaea and Archipelago map types, consisting of large islands separated by shallow water. These large islands are big enough for a couple Settlements, but in order to expand your empire, you’ll have to take to the seas early. Like the Pangaea maps, the majority of the map is available starting in Antiquity, with a few Distant Lands islands to find across the deep ocean in the Exploration Age.
As a little bonus to help with navigation, we added coastal water visuals to the minimap so you can better explore this map type (and others).
The stronger naval focus of Shattered Seas is especially fun with our last naval-focused update and the new content from Tides of Power. So race for that sailing tech, make some Cogs, and take to the seas!
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Improvements to Biomes
In addition to a brand new map type, we’ve continued to make updates to our core map generation, with a focus on biomes this time. Across all map types, we’ve tweaked the impact of rainfall, wind direction, rain shadows from mountains, and water access from rivers on biome generation, as well as the impact of latitude. This change should help generate more organically shaped biomes.
For any procedural generation system with this many moving parts, we pay close attention to feedback and continue to tweak things to improve the baseline experience. We have more map improvements planned for future updates, including exposing more settings like sea level, world age, and more.
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Strategic Balance Pass
The balance tweaks continue! In Update 1.3.1, we’ve made some adjustments to a handful of civs, including Egypt, America, Russia, and more. Some are resolving reported issues, like adjustments to the Shawnee Unique Improvement, while others include a mix of nerfs and buffs. Egypt has been a standout since the last update, but your feedback told us they were stacking up a few too many advantages - even by Pharaoh standards - so we’ve tuned things back a bit.
With this update, we’re wrapping up our focus on civ balance for now (though we’ll continue to tweak as needed) and shifting focus to other systems over the next few months.
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Gameplay
AI
AI now properly uses unique Diplomatic actions gained from City-State bonuses.
AI playing as Republic of Pirates will now move their Sloops when defeating a Naval Unit if they have Movement Points remaining.
Addressed a reported issue where Independent Power Army Commanders would fail to move or take any actions after the Independent Power became friendly while raiding a player's Settlement.
Independent Powers AI no longer fails to pack Army Commanders after the player selects Incite Raid.
Uposatha, Charters, Enlightenment, Patronage, Indenture, and Colonial Surplus now properly apply their bonus on Yield type adjacency for Improvements when slotted.
Captured Settlements no longer fail to be returned to their original owner when the AI sends a Peace Deal.
Addressed a reported issue where AI would overly commit to Counter Spy actions in the Modern Age, even against friendly civilizations and allies. AI now properly prioritizes Diplomatic Actions based on its relationship with other leaders.
Diplomacy
The player’s Diplomacy panel now automatically opens on the player’s civ and leader uniques, and now shows Traditions. For items with a prerequisite tech/civic, the unlock requirement is now also listed.
Denounce Military Presence now appears with the correct condition text, resolving an issue where "Peace Deal" was incorrectly shown when playing as Tonga and meeting Distant Lands Leaders.
Environment
Water tiles now mention their biome type - Marine.
Whales and Fish now spawn in the Ocean in Modern.
(★ - Community Influenced Item) Rainfall now has more of an impact on biomes, and mountains cast a rain shadow, creating zones of low rainfall. This follows Westerly and Easterly wind behavior, so the dry zones change with latitude.
Crabs will now spawn on navigable rivers.
Excavate Artifact no longer becomes unavailable when a Ruin is within the borders of a Settlement that gets conquered.
Economy
The player is no longer unable to create trade routes to some Distant Land Settlements from the Homelands.
Salt and Truffles now properly give +20% Production towards training any Unit when slotted into a City.
Dev Note: Some players were still experiencing issues with these Resources since the last update, but this adjustment should have them working as intended!
Clay Pits now correctly gain a Production bonus from Technology / Warehouses when the Improvement is created on a Clay Resource tile.
Great Stele's Gold now properly scales per Age when building Wonders in Exploration and Modern.
The effect of Wiyehi Simekofi Mastery can no longer be stacked on Mawaskawe Skote when a player builds multiple Mawaskawe Skote Improvements in one Settlement.
Affected unimproved tiles will no longer retain their Yield preview when a player removes a Policy card that increases their Yield.
Legends & Mementos
Rebalanced Brace of Pistols Memento to provide +2 Combat Strength to Naval when attacking, instead of +2 Combat Strength to Naval, so Naval Units will no longer have a Combat Strength bonus when defending.
Miscellaneous
Coastal tiles are now visible on the mini-map.
Addressed a reported issue where Shawnee was not correctly showing as unlockable or unlocked.
Navigation is now a prerequisite for Future Tech in the Antiquity Tech Tree.
Made various visual and camera improvements to the world wrap effect on maps.
Military
Army Commander's "Focus Fire" can no longer be used with Naval Units when Naval Units are within an Army Commander's Command Radius.
Military Academy now correctly grants a free level when training Fleet / Air Commanders in the Settlement.
The Treasure Convoys’ origin and Treasure Fleet point information no longer disappears when the original Settlement is captured.
Naval Units no longer attack other Naval Units from Range when the "Shipsheds" Mastery Unique Civic is unlocked during Antiquity.
The Pirate Ability now properly appears when viewing the Privateer’s description.
Captured City Center tiles with only an undamaged Palace or City Hall no longer appear as valid coastal raid targets.
Unique Units from Tides of Power DLC now have a consistent Unit Maintenance Cost when obtained.
Addressed a reported issue where Army Commanders from Antiquity would incorrectly receive an additional Command Radius boost after transitioning to the Exploration Age when playing as Friedrich Oblique.
Army Commanders no longer fail to gain XP when a Unit damages an enemy in the Army Commander's upgraded Command Radius.
The description for the Niter Resource has been updated in Modern. It now states that it applies to Heavy Naval Units in addition to Siege Units.
Dev Note: Niter previously applied to Naval and Siege Units (though its description did not say so). With the addition of Heavy and Light Naval Units, we decided to make this clearer as well as reinforce the new ranged identity of Heavy Naval Units.
Naval melee Units like the Privateer and Sloop now correctly advance onto the tile when defeating a Unit that is not capturable, and will properly hold their position when defeating a Unit that is capturable.
Addressed a reported issue where enemy Units located in a Town or City received in a peace deal could be stuck and unable to move until war is declared again on that civ.
Wonders
Added the Great Library Wonder to the game. Provides +4 Science base Yield and +1 Science on Science Buildings across your Empire. Has 3 Codex Slots. Must be placed adjacent to a District. Unlocked on the Mathematics Tech Mastery.
Dev Note: We’ve had this Wonder waiting for a while, as its purpose kept changing. We’re hoping that adding it now helps players complete the Antiquity Cultural Legacy Path a little easier, and build more focused Science empires.
Leaders & Civs
Leaders
\[Tides of Power] Edward Teach
Edward Teach’s ability no longer fails to provide Gold when enemy Naval Units are defeated by reciprocal damage.
Civs
Egypt
Riches of the Duat: +10% Production towards Wonders, doubled for Wonders in Desert Terrain. +2 Production on Wonders in Desert Terrain. (Previously:+15% Production towards Wonders, doubled for Wonders in Desert Terrain. +2 Production on Wonders in Desert Terrain.)
Gifts of Osiris: +2 Production on Improvements and Districts on Navigable Rivers. (Previously: +2 Production on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers.)
Dev Note: Most of our changes to Egypt removed the bonuses to Minor Rivers. This lets powerful Egyptian River empires stay strong while not being quite as generous away from Navigable Rivers.
Akhet: +2 Food on Improvements and Districts on Navigable Rivers. (Previously: +2 Food on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers.)
Kemet: +1 Culture on Improvements and Districts on Navigable Rivers (Previously: +1 Culture on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers.)
America
Gold Rush: +3 Gold on Resource Tiles. (Previously: +5 Gold for every assigned Resource.)
Dev Note: America had a lot of extra Gold and Influence in its abilities, so we did a broad pass on reducing them. While this weakens the civ, it brings it closer in line to our intended economic gameplay in Modern.
Lend Lease: +5 Gold and +1 Influence per Trade Route. (Previously: +25 Gold and +5 Influence per Trade Route.)
Robber Baron: +1 Influence for every assigned Resource in Cities. (Previously: +2 Influence for every assigned Resource.)
Captains of Industry (Tier 2): +1 Production on Resources. +1 Settlement Limit. (Previously: +2 Production on Resources. +1 Settlement Limit.)
Yankee Ingenuity (Tier 2): Whenever you train a Prospector or Marine, receive an additional one. (Previously: Prospectors receive a 25% Gold discount.)
Russia
Prosveshchenie: +1 Culture on Quarters, +1 Science on Quarters in Tundra. (Previously: +1 Culture and +1 Science on Districts, doubled in Tundra.)
Dev Note: While reliant on Tundra, Russia was deceptively strong with moderate setup. As a Modern civ, you were often transitioning into it only when you had a great setup. With these changes, we still reward that setup but make you work for it a little more.
Serfdom (Tier 1): Unlock the Obshchina. +10% Production towards Wonders. +1 Food on Farms in Towns. (Previously: Unlock the Obshchina. +1 Food on Farms in Towns.)
Table of Ranks (Tier 1): +1 Gold and Production on Urban Districts in Cities. Hermitage Wonder. (Previously: +1 Gold on Urban Districts in Cities. Hermitage Wonder.)
Obshchina: +1 Food on all Farms in this Settlement. +2 Culture if in Tundra. Russian Empire Unique Improvement. Ageless. Does not remove Warehouse bonuses on a tile. Cannot be built adjacent to another Obshchina. (Previously: +2 Food on all Farms in this Settlement. +2 Culture if in Tundra. Russian Empire Unique Improvement. Ageless. Does not remove Warehouse bonuses on a tile. Cannot be built adjacent to another Obshchina.)
Rome
Auxilia: +3% Production towards Military Units in the Capital for every Town. (Previously: +5% Production towards Military Units in the Capital for every Town.)
Cursus Honorum: +1 Culture on Diplomacy and Military Buildings. (Previously: Training an Infantry Unit grants Culture equal to 25% of the Unit’s Production cost.)
Latinitas: +1 Food, Gold, and Culture in Towns, or +2 in Fort Towns. (Previously: +5% Food, Gold, and Culture in Towns without a Growing Town Focus.)
Basilica: Roman Unique Diplomacy Building. +3 Influence. +1 Gold Adjacency for Culture Buildings and Wonders. Ageless. (Previously: Roman Unique Gold Building. +3 Gold. +1 Influence. Ageless.)
Buganda
River Raids: Receive additional Culture when pillaging Buildings or Improvements equal to the Yield or Healing gained. Land Units gain the Amphibious keyword (maintains combat strength while embarked, no movement penalty for embarking or disembarking). Civilian and Support gain +3 Movement Speed while Embarked. (Previously: Receive additional Culture when pillaging Buildings or Improvements equal to the Yield or Healing gained. Land Units gain the Amphibious keyword (maintains combat strength while embarked, no movement penalty for embarking or disembarking.))
Carthage
Shipsheds (Tier 2): +5 Combat Strength for Naval Units at Full Health. (Previously: +1 Range for Naval Units)
Dev Note: With our recent change to Naval Units and giving Light/Heavy Naval Units their own identities, this ability had to get updated.
Songhai
Songhai Unique Ability now correctly provides Production only to Cities on Navigable Rivers when assigning Resources to them.
Updated the description for Songhai Tradition Timbuktu.
Mughal
Gardens of Paradise (Tier 1): You can purchase Wonders with Gold, but they are more expensive.
UI
Alignment & Spacing
Improved the UI for the Espionage Report Window,
Improved the UI for Leader Level, fixing overlap on Leader Portraits when viewing the Challenges Progress Menu.
The scroll bar no longer moves beyond the intended area when clicking and dragging it downwards in the Advanced Options Menu.
The leader’s portrait and support bar no longer appear misaligned on Super Wide (3840 x 1600) resolution when supporting another leader’s war.
Controller Specific
The right node will no longer be highlighted when the player picks the left node in the Attribute Tree when using the Handheld Viewing Experience option.
Civilopedia
Added an entry for Pirating.
The Marine Unique Unit and Terrain now appear as unique entries when searching “Marine” in the Civilopedia.
Happiness accumulation during a Celebration is now clarified properly when viewing the entry for Celebration in the Civilopedia.
General
Modders can now make additions to the Options Screen.
Selecting a Merchant now properly displays possible Trade Routes.
The 'Naval Attack' action for Naval Units is no longer missing the red arrow preview when selecting the action and targeting Hostile Units.
The Settler Lens no longer remains active when opening the Settlement growth panel.
Added the Pirate Ability icon to Independent Powers’ Privateer Units.
Tutorial welcome messages now properly show when starting an Antiquity Age game with tutorials enabled.
The health bar now correctly disappears when a District reaches full health.
Replaced incorrect art for the unlocked Amina banner in the Foundation and Leader banner unlocks when viewed in the “Your Progress” screen.
Downloadable content now correctly appears when viewing the config file in the Save Config menu.
The unmet leader’s portrait is no longer empty when attempting to form an alliance with a leader that is at war with an unmet leader.
The game resolution setting now properly reverts to the default “Auto” when the player selects to reset the graphics tab in Options.
Addressed a reported issue regarding a hard crash that could occur when changing ‘Intel XeSS Frame Generation’ and ‘Intel Xe Low Latency’ settings in Options menu.
Text Changes
Buccaneer’s Coordinated Attack/Focus Fire will now display text that the player must be at war with a Unit in Command Radius if the action fails.
Antiquity and Exploration Age Social Policies that grant Yields to Buildings now properly specify that they only work for current Age Buildings and not ones from previous Ages.
Names are no longer missing for Unique Units and Buildings when viewing a civ description in a Multiplayer lobby.
Made various text improvements and fixes.
Tooltips
Added information about the Unit respawning after being defeated in the Aircraft Carrier Unit tooltip.
Units are now properly referred to as 'Units' when viewing the Fleet Commander's Assemble Army ability tooltip.
In Progress information now appears correctly when hovering over a Wonder that is being built.
Audio
The voice over for the Centralism Civic now matches the displayed quote.
Made several additions to UI audio, including audio when plundering a trade route, the notification for receiving a Great Work, and the notification for discovering a Discover Tile.
Added music and SFX for the Sultanahmet Camil Wonder.
Added SFX for Library of Alexandria Wonder.
Content Collection
Tides of Power Collection** – Part Two
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Introducing the second half of our sea-themed Content Collection, Tides of Power**!
As a special thanks to all our players who've been with us playing the game, providing feedback, creating content, and more, this collection will be free to claim* for Civilization VII players until January 5, 2026. After this, it will be available for purchase.
The second part of this Collection drops with today’s update, and introduces the new leader Sayyida al Hurra, along with the Ottomans and Iceland civs.
Leaders
(Tides of Power DLC**) Added new leader Sayidda al Hurra.
In the wake of Granada's fall, Sayyida al Hurra rose as Morocco's champion to challenge Iberian power in North Africa. As the sole ruler of Tétouan, she was a fierce diplomat who strong-armed the Europeans in their native tongues and earned their admiration. When talks failed, she turned to the Barbary corsairs, forging alliances with famed pirates who kept her waters safe and her city wealthy.
Attributes: Diplomatic, Militaristic
Unique Ability – Hakima Tatwan: Receive a Naval Unit every time you complete an Espionage Action. Naval Units stationed on a District provide increased Culture and increased Influence per Age. No Influence penalty for your Espionage being revealed. Opponents cannot use Counter Spy against you.
Agenda – Wattasid Dynasty: Decrease Relationship by a Medium Amount with leaders who have the most Naval Units on the map. Increase Relationship by a Small Amount with leaders who have the least Naval Units on the map.
Civilizations
(Tides of Power DLC**) Added new Exploration Age civilization Iceland.
On a volcanic, windswept island, the Icelanders forged a commonwealth of chieftains and warriors, lawyers and scholars. Icelandic longships ranged far and wide – Vikings terrorized Europe’s rivers and coasts as explorers roamed North America. Poets and saga-writers preserved their deeds alongside tales of gods, saints, and heroes. Centuries of independence held until Iceland, weakened by civil war, submitted to Norway.
Attributes: Militaristic, Cultural
Unique Ability – Kringla Heimsins: Receive a set amount of Culture when you discover a Natural Wonder in Distant Lands (effect scales based on game speed). Missionaries cost a set percentage more.
Unique Civilian Unit – Saga Hero: Great Person. Trainable in Settlements with a Þingstaðr.
Unique Military Unit – Víkingr: Unique Naval Unit. Coastal Raiding grants Science equal to a set percentage the Pillaging Yield. Has increased Sight.
Associated Wonder – Reykjaholt: Culture Base. Increased Production towards Military Units in this City for every Great Work in this City. Has a set number of Relic Slots. Must be placed in Tundra.
(Tides of Power DLC**) Added new Modern Age civilization Ottomans.
From the shores of the Bosphorus, the Ottomans ruled an empire spanning six centuries and three continents. By the 19th century, the world's wealth flowed through the Grand Bazaar and the Ottoman navy ruled the seas. Tension between the religious and the secular prompted major reforms to reforge the Ottomans for a new era. But these changes came too late, and the empire gave way to the modern Republic of Türkiye.
Attributes: Militaristic, Cultural
Unique Ability – Devlet-i ʿAlīye-i ʿOsmānīye: When any leader Excavates an Artifact in the Ottomans' territory, they generate an additional Artifact. Infantry and Naval Units receive increased Combat Strength when attacking.
Unique Military Unit – Barbary Corsair: Unique Light Naval Unit. It costs no Movement to Coastal Raid.
Unique Military Unit – Janissary: Unique Infantry. Increased Combat Strength against other Land Units. Settlements suffer a Happiness penalty for every Janissary stationed in or occupying a District.
Associated Wonder – Sultanahmet Camii: Happiness base. Wonders in this Settlement receive increased Culture and Gold. This is increased further for Exploration Wonders and even further for Antiquity Wonders. Must be built adjacent to another Wonder.
*Offer available for owners of Civilization VII. Offer ends January 5, 2026 at 7:59am PT. Owners must claim offer between November 4, 2025 and January 5, 2025 at 7:59am PT. For details on how to claim offer go to www.civilization.com. Terms apply.
**Base game required. Each DLC will be delivered automatically in-game on release. Terms apply.
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Update 1.3.0 - Eye Patch 1 is rolling out now to players to address a few reported issues.
Patch Notes
The AI has been tuned to use Sanctions less often and in a more balanced way relative to other Diplomatic actions.
AI will now correctly produce Great People.
Various game stability improvements.
Addressed an issue allowing the Restart option to be used even when it should have been prevented. This was leading to various gameplay issues including an eventual crash on Age Transition.
Units now correctly gain +5 Combat Strength when the player unlocks Tier 2 of the Songhai Unique Civic Hi-Koi and slots the Isa Tradition.
Addressed a reported issue in multiplayer where attempting to pause during a First Greet Diplomacy screen could cause loss of controller functionality.
Addressed a visual issue affecting Narrative Storylets.
Addressed several translation errors in localized game text.
\[Mac-only] Addressed instances of missing audio.
If you’re still running into issues after this patch, please let us know through our support portal.
Hi Civ fans,
Update 1.3.0 is rolling out now for all platforms, and it’s bringing your seas to life!
This update introduces the Harbor, Privateer, new ocean resources and terrain, and updates to naval combat - giving you more tools, strategies, and freedom on the high seas than ever before. Alongside these changes, we’ve continued our efforts to balance various areas of Civ VII, this time focusing in on civs.
The Tides of Power Collection launches with this update, and it’s free to claim for all Civ VII players until January 5.* Claim it during this period and it's yours to keep permanently at no cost - just search Sid Meier's Civilization® VII: Tides of Power Collection on your platform's storefront and add it to your account. Starting today, add Edward Teach, Republic of Pirates, and Tonga content packs to your game, and then receive the Sayyida al Hurra, Ottomans, and Iceland content packs in-game when they're released in December 2025. If you successfully claim this content by January 5, 2026 at 6:59AM PT, it's yours to keep; otherwise it will be available for individual purchase starting January 5, 2026.
As we shared in our recent Update Check-in, we’re shifting into a lighter update period over the holidays to test upcoming features, including changes to Legacy Paths and Victories, and an optional way to play as one civ through the Ages. We wanted to share some of our goals and what we’re currently testing. First, civ-switching is an important part of Civilization VII and isn’t going anywhere. We also recognize that many players want to play as the same civ through an entire campaign. We’re currently looking into ways where that’s possible while also making sure playing as a civ in all Ages is a viable, fun, and interesting way to play.
We're excited to share more in the coming weeks about our upcoming Firaxis Feature Workshop initiative, and enable members of the Civ community to playtest and provide feedback on this new functionality. For those who want to help shape these features, you can apply for a chance to be accepted into the invite-only Firaxis Feature Workshop program, with opportunities for hands-on access and a chance to share feedback directly with the team.
There’s a lot to explore in this update, so we hope you enjoy! As usual, just a few quick notes before you dive in:
While we aim to maintain backwards compatibility for existing saves as much as possible, some new abilities or effects may not appear until you start a new game or advance to the next Age in your current campaign. For the best experience, we recommend starting a new game, or continuing your current game into the next Age.
If you encounter any new bugs or issues, try disabling any mods, as some may not yet be compatible with the latest update.
Are you playing on Steam and want to finish your current save under a previous version? You can do so using our legacy Steam beta branch.
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Harbor & Privateer
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Once we decided we wanted to go all-in on a naval theme for 1.3.0, we started to feel the lack of some interesting decision points around Coastal Settlements and naval gameplay. For one, Coastal Settlements often had decent Food and opportunities for trade, but weren’t the best source of Production (especially island Settlements). Additionally, your first choice of Technology in Antiquity is between two Production Warehouses or Sailing, and Sailing was often the less interesting and less viable option.
To help solve this issue, we’ve added the Harbor, a new Warehouse Building unlocked on Sailing. It provides a much-needed base Production and a Production Warehouse bonus for Fishing Boats. Now, your Coastal Settlements can be as industrious as your heavily Vegetated or Rough ones.
Similarly, we felt a lack of naval pressure during the Exploration Age. Unless you were keen on wars, Units could wander the seas freely and there was little push to keep a standing navy. Our vision for this Age was civilizations that choose to take to the seas and need to fight for naval supremacy as they explore and exploit islands and distant Resources.
So, with 1.3.0, we’re introducing the Privateer, a Light Naval Unit available to all civs, that ignores restrictions like war and peace. It can attack (and be attacked by!) any non-Allied Unit, as well as plunder trade routes between non-allied civs. No more needing to declare war to capture that Treasure Convoy, just send in your Privateers. And even better, Privateers also generate Gold when they defeat another Unit. We recommend trying out these changes with the new Republic of Pirates civ, and setting sail with their unique Privateer, the Sloop! Beware though, as killing Units and plundering Trade Routes with Privateers will cause your Relationship to worsen a little.
New Coastal Resources & Ocean Terrain
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With so much more activity on the high seas, we also took a closer look at the actual seas. With this update, we’re adding more Resources, two new types of marine terrain, and the ability to work Ocean tiles in Modern.
Both internally and from players, we’ve heard the desire for more variety in Coastal Resources. We’re adding three new water-based Resources, Cowrie, Crabs, and Turtles, and one new-land based Resource, Pitch. We’ve also tweaked Resource generation to ensure more variety in Coastal Resources, as well as increase consistency of Resources Age-to-Age.
Additionally, we’ve introduced two new terrain features with this update: Atolls and Lotus. Atolls are movement-stopping terrain in the open Ocean, like Vegetated or Rough tiles on land, and introduce more positioning in naval combat scenarios. Naval Units also get a defensive combat bonus when stationed on Atolls. Lotus appears only in lakes, and replaces the Reefs that used to appear there. These new terrain features provide extra yield when worked, and we’ve tweaked Reefs to match, so keep an eye out for valuable Coastal and lakeside Settlement spots.
Finally, we’ve added the ability to work Ocean tiles in Modern, similar to how Mountains can be worked. The default improvement on them is Fishing Boats, so be sure to build your Fishing Quays and Harbors. Just like Inca’s ability to work Mountains earlier, Hawai'i gains the ability to work Ocean tiles in Exploration.
Naval Combat Update
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What’s a sea-themed update and Content Collection without great naval combat? Prior to this update, all naval combat was melee combat, but now we've added Ranged Units to the mix as well. We've broken Naval Units up into two types: Light and Heavy.
Light Units: Faster melee units with increased Vision. They excel at scouting ahead for Heavy Units, performing flanking attacks, and revealing more of the battlefield. The updated roster includes the Privateer (details to follow) in the Exploration Age, and the Ironclad, Cruiser, and Destroyer in the Modern Age.
Heavy Units: Slower units with limited Vision, but capable of devastating attacks that can quickly cripple enemy fleets or coastal Districts if left unchecked. Heavy Units use melee attacks against other Naval Units in Antiquity, and are ranged in Exploration and Modern. The updated roster includes the Galley and Quadrireme in the Antiquity Age, the Cog, Carrack, and Galleon in the Exploration Age, and the Frigate, Dreadnought, and Battleship in the Modern Age.
Overall, these changes should make your fleets feel more like fleets, and conquering the seas will feel like a much more strategic and deliberate endeavor. For a deeper dive into these updates, check out our latest From the Devs article here!
Strategic Balance Pass
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45050851/28fc79c3672649f887b11235beeca75afaaa59ac.jpg"]When we last spoke about balance in Update 1.2.5, we mentioned that it was one step in a longer process. Our goal - as is true with so many changes we make - is to make your choices matter more, including making your choice of leader and civ be a significant part of your overall strategy and gameplay. While we’re content with the power level of our leaders (for now), with this update and the next, we’ll be tweaking several civs to get them more in line with that goal.
This balance pass is full of buffs, but some overperforming civs like the Mississippians and Qing have been nerfed to bring them to the same power level as the rest of the roster. You’ll also notice that we’re leaning much harder into slicing abilities into narrower bonuses focused on each civ’s identity. Egypt’s new bonuses mostly apply in the Desert, and some of Aksum’s updated abilities lean heavier into requiring Coastal Settlements. This lets us make some of those bonuses more powerful, as they require you to lean into the civ’s identity during gameplay. We’re planning on applying this approach to the whole game as we continue our balance pass, and would love your feedback on how it feels!
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Gameplay
Buildings & Units
New Building: Harbor
The Harbor is an Antiquity Age Warehouse Water Building available to all civs that unlocks on Sailing.
As a Water Building, it can be placed only in Coastal and Navigable River tiles. It has the same placement restrictions as a Fishing Quay.
Like other Warehouse Buildings, the Harbor is available in Towns.
It provides +1 base Production, and a +1 Production Warehouse bonus on Fishing Boats.
Naval Units will default to spawning on the Harbor, similar to the Barracks for land Units.
New Unit: Privateer
The Privateer is an Exploration Age Light Naval Unit available to all civs that unlocks on Heraldry. It is a melee-focused Unit, with very weak ranged and bombard attacks.
The Privateer has the Pirate ability (see below for details). Additionally, when the Privateer kills a Unit, it gains 100% of its Combat Strength as Gold.
New Unit Ability: Pirate
The Pirate ability allows the following:
Units can cross borders of other civs without Open Borders, Alliance, or War.
Units can Plunder Trade Routes between non-Allied civs without War.
Plundering a Trade Route this way causes a slight reduction in Relationship with the civ the Trader belonged to.
Units can attack non-Allied Units without War.
Defeating a Unit this way causes a slight reduction in Relationship with the civ the Unit belonged to. Attacking an Independent Power this way causes them to become Hostile.
AI
AI now fully uses all Sanctions against other players, including other AI players.
When an AI proposal to form an alliance is accepted, the alliance is now properly created between the two leaders.
AI no longer fails to use the Establish Air Base Ability when progressing through a game in the Modern Age.
AI no longer fails to attack Air Bases with Air Units when establishing an Air Base near the AI's Settlement during Modern Age Gameplay.
AI now more consistently builds naval Units.
Addressed a reported issue where AI would not properly select Celebrations.
Addressed a reported issue where AI players could still receive free walls in multiple Settlements when a custom difficulty game sets free walls to 0.
Combat
(★ - Community Influenced Item) Naval Combat Updates
The Cog (Exploration Unit) now has a range of 2, increased from 1.
Light and Heavy Naval Units are more distinct. This applies to both Exploration and Modern.
Light Naval Units are now primarily melee Units with very weak ranged and bombard strength. They have increased movement and sight compared to the Heavy Naval Units in their Age, and can benefit from flanking when attacking. Light Units take reciprocal damage when attacking.
The new Privateer Unit in Exploration is a Light Naval Unit.
Light Naval Units in Modern have had their ranged and bombard strength reduced by 20 to better fit their role as melee Units.
Heavy Naval Units are now primarily ranged Units. Their melee strength has been reduced by 5, and their ranged and bombard strength have increased by 5. Like other ranged Units, Heavy Units don’t take reciprocal damage when attacking.
Civ Unique Naval Units have been adjusted to keep their relative strength compared to the Unit they replaced in that Age.
Submarines (Modern Unit) are now ranged Units with an increased ranged strength of 70 and a reduced melee strength of 50. Previously they had a base strength of 65. They can no longer attack Districts or land Units.
The Fleet Commander’s Focus Fire and Coordinated Attack should now utilize Heavy and Light Units respectively. Light Naval Units should not be included in a Focus Fire, and Heavy Naval Units should not be included in a Coordinated Attack.
Privateers and Units with the Pirate ability will not participate in a Coordinated Attack or Focus Fire command while not at war.
Dev Note: We made this decision to keep combat rules consistent and prevent bigger issues with how wars are handled. We’ll keep listening to feedback on this for future improvements!
Other Combat Updates
Trench Fighters and Dive Bomber Units have had their Bombard Strength reduced, and Bomber and Heavy Bomber Units have had their Ranged Strengths reduced, to make the air Units fit better into their intended roles.
Environment
New Terrain: Atolls and Lotus
Atolls: Atolls are a Feature that can appear on Ocean tiles. They stop movement for Units, and have a combat defense bonus for Units on the Atoll. Their Yields when worked are:
Exploration: 1 Food, 2 Production, 1 Culture
Modern: 1 Food, 2 Production, 2 Culture
Lotus: Lotus is a Feature that can appear on Lake tiles. They replace Reef tiles that previously appeared in Lakes. Their Yields when worked are:
Antiquity: 1 Food, 1 Culture
Exploration: 2 Food, 1 Culture
Modern: 2 Food, 2 Culture
Terrain Updates
Reefs: Reefs no longer spawn in Lakes. They are now exclusively in Coastal tiles that are not Lakes. Their Yields when worked have been updated:
Antiquity: 1 Food, 1 Production, 1 Science
Exploration: 1 Food, 2 Production, 1 Science
Modern: 1 Food, 2 Production, 2 Science
Ocean: Ocean tiles are now workable by all civs in the Modern Age and provide 1 Food and 3 Gold.
Grand Canyon: The Grand Canyon now gives 1 Science on Flat tiles, from 2 previously.
(★) Auto Explore and Discoveries
When clicking on Units with Auto Explore, Discoveries are now highlighted in blue to improve readability.
The automated exploration ability can no longer be activated when the Unit is within range of being able to reach a discovery (within 2 turns of movement).
Economy
Thành Huế no longer requires Flat terrain.
Sawmill no longer requires River placement.
Trade Route Range is no longer ignored when Forming an Alliance with the Kolp'um Civic researched as Silla during Antiquity Age.
Independent Powers
Independent Powers no longer spawn more Units than expected when performing Incite Raid in early Antiquity.
Festival Ground now specifies that it needs to be placed on an existing improvement in the choose bonus menu.
Independent Power Carracks no longer receive Rough Seas damage when they move into Open Ocean tiles.
Miscellaneous
Updated Modern Social Policy, Monopolies, to provide +5 Gold in Settlements with a Factory. (Previously: +3)
Updated Dell'Arte della Guerra Memento to provide +3 Gold Gold per Sanction you have active per Age. (Previously: +5 Gold Gold per Sanction you have active per Age.)
Made improvements to the first-time user experience for Unique Buildings.
Addressed a reported issue where the player could be prevented from interacting with their Founder when putting the Founder to sleep while Auto End turn is enabled.
Military
(★) Commanders no longer consume all movement points when deploying all Units.
Splash damage reduced from 50% to 25% on Fleet and Squadron Trees.
Commander's Coordinated attack no longer fails to work when individually unpacking with 'Initiative'.
Commander Units in process of respawning no longer appear as an available choice when opening the "Levy Unit" menu from a Suzerain City-State.
Ottru Units no longer fail to receive any active Naval Unit bonuses.
Resources
Updated Resource Generation:
(★) Resources should be more consistent between Ages now. If a resource is not generated in an Age, it will not appear suddenly in future Ages, nor will it disappear for an Age and then come back. For example, if you didn’t see Turtles in Antiquity, they will not appear in Exploration.
Dev Note: We’ve gotten feedback that changing resources between Ages can be frustrating. While we like that the world changes a little between Ages and makes you reevaluate the map, this was a good spot to improve the experience and address some of the feedback.
Maps will now have a guaranteed minimum of 3 different Coastal Resources, with a chance for more.
Dev Note: This should make those hidden Whales start appearing in more games!
When Age Transitioning, maps will now have at least 1 new Resource introduced in that Age. For example, transitioning to Exploration would guarantee at least one Resource new to Exploration, like Whales, Niter, or the new Pitch.
New Resources:
Crabs: Appears on Coastal and Lake tiles.
Tile Yield: +1 Food
Antiquity (Bonus Resource): +1 Food on Warehouse Buildings
Exploration (Bonus Resource): +2 Food on Warehouse Buildings
Modern (Bonus Resource): +3 Food on Warehouse Buildings
Cowrie: Appears on Coastal tiles.
Tile Yield: +1 Happiness
Antiquity (Bonus Resource): +4 Gold in Cities, +2 Science in Towns
Exploration (Bonus Resource): +5 Gold in Cities, +3 Science in Towns
Modern (Bonus Resource): +6 Gold in Cities, +4 Science in Towns
Turtles: Appears on Coastal tiles.
Tile Yield: +1 Culture
Antiquity (Bonus Resource): +1 Culture on Warehouse Buildings
Exploration (Bonus Resource): +2 Culture on Warehouse Buildings
Pitch: Appears on Vegetated tiles in Grassland, Plains, and Tundra.
Tile Yield: +1 Production, +1 Gold
Exploration (Bonus Resource): +1 Gold on Water Buildings
Modern (Bonus Resource): +1 Production on Factories, +10% Production towards constructing Factories in all Settlements when slotted.
Dev Note: With Pitch, we’re experimenting with new design space for Resources. The Resource is harder to use, requiring specific Buildings and may not be active until late in an Age, but its tile has increased Yield compared to other Resources. Let us know what you think!
Leaders & Civs
Civs
Achaemenid Persia:
Dev Note: Persia is a beloved civ, but we got enough feedback that they felt weak in areas outside of combat that we wanted to buff them. Now, they have increased Culture from their Unique Improvements, as well as a little more healing. Finally, we renamed them to better clarify their identity as the Achaemenids.
Pairidaeza: +2 Culture and +1 Gold. +5 Healing for Military Units in a Settlement with a Pairidaeza. Cannot be adjacent to another Pairidaeza. (Previously: +1 Culture and Gold. Cannot be adjacent to another Pairidaeza.)
Satrapies (Tier 2): +1 Settlement Limit. The Pairidaeza gets +1 Culture and +1 Happiness from adjacent Quarters. (Previously: +1 Settlement Limit. The Pairidaeza gets +1 Happiness from adjacent Quarters.)
Baziš (Tier 1): +5 Gold, +2 Happiness and +2 Culture for every different civilization you have captured a Settlement from. (Previously: Achaemenid Empire: +5 Gold for every different civilization you have captured a Settlement from.)
Aksum:
Dev Note: Aksum’s changes are a good example of our new approach of giving stronger bonuses on narrower effects. By leaning into the emphasis on Coastal Settlements, we get to buff the numbers of some of the abilities. Remember, a Coastal Settlement is a Settlement with its City Center adjacent to the Coast.
Unique Ability: +3 Gold on Resources in Coastal Settlements. (Previously: +2 Gold on Resources.)
Tankwa: Added +2 Gold from this Trade Route.
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Tier 2): +1 Gold on Districts adjacent to Coast. Port of Nations Tradition. (Previously: +1 Gold on Quarters adjacent to Coast. Port of Nations Tradition.)
Monumentum Adulitanum (Tier 1): Culture and Happiness Buildings gain a +1 Culture Adjacency for Hawilti (Previously: The Altar and Monument gain a Culture Adjacency with Hawilti.)
Book of the Himyarites (Tier 1): Gain a free Merchant. The Dhow gets +1 Movement and ignores Zone of Control. May This Please the People Tradition. (Previously: The Dhow gets the Swift keyword (ignore ZoC). May This Please the People Tradition.)
Chola:
Dev Note: Chola only needed a little reinforcement of its identity as a Diplomatic civ, so we added some Influence generation to their kit.
Unique Ability: Added +3 Gold and +1 Influence on Trade Routes.
Egypt
Dev Note: We got a lot of feedback that Egypt offered an exciting gameplay style (focusing on Wonders) but often failed to deliver, or was rough to transition into Exploration and onward. We leaned heavily into the Desert and Navigable River theme, and gave Egypt some hefty buffs.
Gifts of Osiris: +2 Production on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers. (Previously: Gifts of Osiris: +1 Production on Navigable Rivers.)
Riches of the Duat: +15% Production towards Wonders, doubled for Wonders in Desert Terrain. +2 Production on Wonders in Desert Terrain. (Previously: +15% Production towards Wonders.)
Mastaba: Culture base. +1 Gold adjacency for Desert tiles and Navigable Rivers. (Previously: Culture base. +1 Gold adjacency for Desert tiles.)
Mortuary Temple: Gold base. +1 Happiness adjacency for Navigable Rivers. +1 Culture Adjacency for Wonders. (Previously: Culture base. +1 Gold adjacency for Desert tiles and Navigable Rivers.)
Light of Amun-Ra (Tier 1): +2 Gold and +2 Culture on the Palace and Wonders. +1 Settlement Limit. Kemet Tradition. Pyramids Wonder. (Previously: +5 Gold on the Palace. +1 Settlement Limit. Kemet Tradition. Pyramids Wonder.)
Akhet: +2 Food on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers. (Previously: +1 Food on Navigable Rivers.)
Kemet: +1 Culture on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers. (Previously: +1 Culture on Navigable Rivers.)
Great Britain:
Dev Note: We tried to limit the nerfs in this pass to individual effects that were overperforming. With the increased use of Towns and more Warehouses available, this effect had to change.
East India Company: +5 Gold in Towns. (Previously: +3 Gold on each Building in Towns.)
Hawai'i:
Unique Ability: Can work Ocean tiles. Ocean tiles have 1 Food and 2 Gold. Gain 25 Culture each time a Settlement expands to Marine Terrain. +1 Happiness on all Marine Terrain. (Previously: Gain 25 Culture each time a Settlement expands to a Marine Tile. +1 Happiness on Fishing Boats.)
Unique Unit: +5 defense against Heavy Naval.
Lo’I Kalo: +3 Food. +2 Production. Receives +1 Culture from each adjacent Fishing Boat. Can only be placed in the Grassland and Tropical Biomes. (Previously: Lo’I Kalo: +3 Food. +2 Production. Adjacent Farms receive +1 Culture. Can only be placed in the Grassland and Tropical Biomes.)
Maya:
Rain of Chaac (Tier 1): Unlock the K'uh Nah. The Altar gains +2 Science if placed on a Vegetated Tile. Pet Kot Tradition. (Previously: Unlock the K'uh Nah. The Altar gains +1 Science Adjacency for Vegetated tiles. Pet Kot Tradition.)
Mississippian:
Dev Note: Like the change to Great Britain, we had to make some tweaks to what was probably the strongest Tradition in the game.
Shell-Tempered Pottery: Food, Gold, and Warehouse Buildings gain a +1 Gold Adjacency for Resources. (Previously: Buildings gain a +1 Gold Adjacency for Resources.)
Prussia:
Ruhr (Tier 2): +1 Science on Resources. Coking Tradition. (Previously +2 Science on Resources. Coking Tradition.)
Qing:
Kang Qian Shèngshì: +4 Gold, +4 Culture, +2 Influence, but -4 Science per Trade Route. (Previously: +4 Gold, +3 Culture, +2 Influence, but -1 Science from Imported Resources.)
Open Customs (Tier 1): Unlock the Qianzhuang. +1 Culture for every imported Resource. Cohong Tradition. +1 Settlement Limit. (Previously: +2 Culture for every imported Resource. Cohong Tradition. +1 Settlement Limit.)
Songhai:
Dev Note: Songhai, like Egypt, was a civ that promised a cool gameplay niche (Navigable Rivers and Homelands Treasure) but fell short of exciting in a few ways. We made a lot of adjustments to their kit to improve their gameplay throughout the Age.
Unique Ability: Added +1 Production in Cities on Navigable Rivers for every Resource assigned to them. Removed +3 Gold for every active Trade Route.
Ships of the Desert (Tier 2): +1 Production on the Caravanserai in Settlements with a Bazaar and in Mining Towns and Trade Outposts. Unlocks the Mud Brick Tradition. (Previously: +2 Gold on the Caravanserai in Settlements with a Bazaar. Receive the Mud Brick Tradition.)
Hi-Koi (Tier 1): Minor and Navigable Rivers do not end Unit Movement. Your Trade Ships cannot be plundered on Navigable Rivers. (Previously: +5 combat strength to all combat Units on Navigable Rivers.)
Hi-Koi (Tier 2): Fleet Commanders gain the Convoys Promotion for free. Unlocks the Isa Tradition. (Previously: Isa Tradition and Rivers do not end movement.)
Kanta (Tier 1): Cities in Homelands on Navigable Rivers generate Treasure Convoys worth 1 VP each. Tajiro’s Gold becomes 200. Unlocks the Wakia Tradition. (Previously: Cities in Homelands on Navigable Rivers generate Treasure Ships worth 1 VP each. Tajiro's Gold becomes 200. +1 Settlement Cap.)
Kanta (Tier 2): +5 Combat Strength for the Gold Bangles Infantry with at least 5 Resources slotted in the Capital. +1 Settlement Limit.
Timbuktu: +2 Gold on Rough Terrain and Mines on Resources if there is a Gold Building in that City. (Previously: +2 Gold on Mines if there is a Gold Building in that City.)
Mud Brick: Added +1 Gold and Production on Gold Buildings on Desert or Plains.
Isa: +5 Combat Strength and +2 Movement to all Units on Navigable Rivers. (Previously: +2 Movement to all Units on Navigable Rivers.)
Wakia (New Tradition): +3 Gold for every active Trade Route.
Caravanserai Improvement: Added +1 Land Trade Route Range. Cannot be built adjacent to another Caravanserai.
Spain:
Dev Note: Spain got a significant pass to help fit its historical and gameplay identity as conquerors of Distant Lands, and should feel much better in Exploration.
Attributes changed to Economic and Militaristic. (Previously: Expansionist and Militaristic.)
Unique Ability: +2 Food, Gold, and Production in Settlements adjacent to Coast and in Settlements following your own Religion, or +4 if it is both. This is doubled in Distant Lands. (Previously: +15% Gold towards converting a Town to a City, or 30% in Distant Lands.)
Armada (Tier 2): now has +5 combat strength for Heavy Naval Units.
Council of the Indies (Tier 1): gained "+15% Gold towards converting a Town to a City, or 30% in Distant Lands."
Council of the Indies (Tier 2): +1 Settlement Limit. Unlocks the El Escorial Wonder. (Previously: +1 Movement for Treasure Convoys and Rough Terrain does not end their Movement.)
New World Riches (Tier 1): +10% Food and Production in Cities in Distant Lands. (Previously: +10% Food and Production in Settlements in Distant Lands.)
New World Riches (Tier 2): +1 Movement for Treasure Convoys and Rough Terrain does not end their Movement. Rough Terrain effect now also applies to Conquistadors. (Previously: +1 Settlement Limit. Unlocks the El Escorial Wonder.)
Casa de Contratación: Unique Building moved to Council of the Indies base Civic.
Cerro Rico: +1 Gold on Resources, or +3 Gold in Distant Lands. (Previously: +2 Gold for each Resource.)
Conquista Tradition moved to Council of the Indies Civic Mastery.
Conquistadors now require the Plaza Unique Quarter to be trained.
UI
Alignment & Spacing
Improved spacing and formatting of text and button prompts throughout the UI.
Glow behind header text in the civic menu is now centered properly.
Advisor Warnings no longer fail to fit in the screen when opened in certain resolutions.
Building Yield icons no longer fail to properly scale in size when constructed.
Warning stripe on Narrative buttons no longer extends out of the box when there is a lot of text.
Renaming a City is no longer blocked by the tutorial prompt when pressing the RS button in the production menu.
Controller-Specific
Improved highlight visibility when selecting support buttons while adding war support to AI wars.
The Player’s Foundation list now opens immediately when moving the cursor over the Leader portrait.
Removed a non-functional back button from the Building Your Legacy tutorial.
Players can now move the cursor to observing slots after switching Settlements in the Building Breakdown list within the City Details menu.
Players can now return to the Production menu using the D-pad after entering the City Details menu.
The Up D-pad button will no longer disappear when opening another menu while the Ribbon is deployed.
Button prompts now display correctly after leaving the Social menu and opening the Production or Great Work menu.
Non-functional button prompts will no longer appear after triggering the Civilization Unlocked pop-up and then viewing the Production menu.
The scroll bar will no longer move automatically when switching between Civic Trees.
Addressed a reported issue where the UI would become stuck when the Leaders’ ribbon menu was opened before the civic/tech unlock window appeared.
General
Treasure Convoys now display their point value and Settlement origin on both their tooltip and Unit panel, and also show point value directly on the Unit icon.
The Auto Explore option is now visible under Keyboard + Mouse accessibility configurations.
Players can now interact with the turn blocker after triggering a Natural Wonder animation and a leader first-meet simultaneously while Tutorials are enabled.
Tooltips now display correctly in the First Time User Experience screen and for Terrain while Tutorials are enabled in the Antiquity Age.
The Unit Action Panel now updates health correctly after combat when the Unit remains selected.
Commander Level now displays correctly when viewing a leveled-up Army Commander’s icon.
The Rewards Menu UI now has hover highlights to improve readability.
The Carousel can now also be closed with the ESC key or right-click.
The Incite Raid Target button now properly highlights when hovered in the Independent Powers’ Diplomacy menu.
The Turn Timer progress bar now resets correctly when another menu is opened during Multiplayer.
City, Town, and Population icons now display at full resolution in the Multiplayer Chat menu at 4K resolution.
The Army Commander Experience bar in the Units panel now updates correctly when experience is gained.
Button prompts for switching pages now appear as expected when entering the Diplomacy menu with a Tutorial window active.
Distant Lands Treasure resource icons now display correctly in city detail tooltips within the Trade Route menu.
The Narrate on Hover feature now properly narrates all text in the Advanced Options menu when creating a new game.
The Golden Road Social Policy (Silla) bonus science from imported resources now appears correctly in the Yields Breakdown without requiring a reload.
Whisper (/w), reply (/r), and team (/t) chat commands now function in multiplayer.
Ranged combat arrows now properly center on Units in open Ocean.
The Graphics Profile setting now remains on Custom after modifying and reopening Graphics Settings.
Unit preview arrows now correctly account for hostile Zones of Control.
Notifications
War Declared notification now correctly takes the player to the War Details in the player's Leader menu.
The notification for Age progress milestones no longer appears prior to achieving the stated Age progress when progressing through any Age.
A “Copied To Clipboard” pop-up will no longer appear when selecting the Join Code button in the Pause menu.
Disabling tutorials now correctly disables tutorial warning SFX.
The countdown message can no longer be interrupted when opening the Production menu before it disappears.
Text Changes
The Warehouse text icon now displays correctly when viewing the City-State bonus Market Cross.
Tech and Civic names no longer disappear when lowering resolution from 4K in the Tech/Civic Tree.
Multiplayer lobby names are now limited to 32 characters in the Create Game menu.
Improved Napoleon’s description text.
Unmet leaders’ names no longer appear when attempting to Form Alliance with a leader who is at war with them.
Made various text fixes and improvements.
Narrative
Added 8 new narrative events to support Privateer content.
Added 4 new narrative events to support new resources.
Added several new narrative events to support Tides of Power DLC** content for Edward Teach, Republic of Pirates, and Tonga.
Made several improvements to balancing and text for narrative events.
Audio
Added new audio content for Tides of Power DLC**.
Made several QOL improvements to in-game audio.
Addressed missing SFX for various Civic Masteries.
Added SFX when adding a building to Production while another is already in the queue.
Added SFX when upgrading all units within an Army Commander.
Added SFX when placing Harbor building.
Addressed several issues with touch SFX.
Platform-Specific
Windows
Addressed a reported issue preventing the game from launching on some ARM-based Windows devices.
Content Collection
Tides of Power Collection** – Part One
[img src="{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45050851/d77fa94c801b379d0f04d1e267c6ddf5867c8ffe.jpg"]
Introducing a new sea-themed Content Collection, Tides of Power**!
As a special thanks to all our players who've been with us playing the game, providing feedback, creating content, and more, this collection will be free to claim for Civilization VII players from the time it goes live on November 4 until January 5, 2026 across all platforms*. More details will come November 4 on how to claim this collection for free.
The first part of Tides of Power is dropping with 1.3.0, bringing a brand new leader, Edward Teach, and two fresh civilizations: Tonga and the Republic of Pirates. The second part, coming in December, will introduce the formidable leader Sayyida al Hurra, along with the Ottomans and Iceland.
Leaders
(Tides of Power DLC**) Added new leader Edward Teach.
Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate whose name sparked dread in the captains of the Caribbean. In 1716, he joined the crew of Benjamin Hornigold, a leader of the Flying Gang, and quickly gained his own ships. With his impressive height, his long beard (decorated with, at times, lit fuses), and reputation for violence, he stalked the sea-lanes of the Caribbean and the nightmares of sailors. He outlived the Flying Gang and moved his operation to the Outer Banks of present-day North Carolina, where a pirate hunter, Robert Maynard, finally caught up with him.
Attributes: Militaristic, Economic
Unique Ability – Blackbeard: All Naval Units gain the Pirate Ability, allowing them to cross borders of other civilizations, Plunder Trade Routes from non-Allied civilizations, and attack Naval Units of non-Allied civilizations without declaring war. Defeating any Naval Units with your own Naval Units provides Gold equal to a set percentage of its Combat Strength and captures that Unit. Increased Gold maintenance costs for all Naval Units.
Agenda – Queen Anne’s Revenge: Increase Relationship by a Small Amount with Leaders that build Naval Units. Decrease Relationship by a Small Amount with Leaders that neglect to build Naval Units.
Civilizations
(Tides of Power DLC**) Added a new Exploration Age civilization Republic of Pirates.
Where there is wealth, there is greed. The scramble for new world riches in the early 18th century brought English, Spanish, French, and Dutch fleets – but the prospect of quick riches also brought pirates. These were rarely organized, but in 1706, one band, the Flying Gang, took over the island of New Providence in the Bahamas and set up a short-lived republic for all who sought fortune... and came with few scruples.
Attributes: Economic, Militaristic
Unique Ability – Flying Gang: Increased Yields from Pillaging and Coastal Raiding with Naval Units. Settler Units cannot be trained or purchased, but you can capture other civilizations' Settlers. Naval Units, Treasure Convoys, and Buccaneer Units can move into other civilizations' borders without being at war or having Open Borders.
Unique Civilian Unit – Buccaneer: Unique Commander Unit. Gains a set number of charges to use the 'Raiding Party' Action every set number of Promotions.
Action - Raiding Party: Targets an adjacent Treasure Resource. This Settlement instantly spawns a Treasure Convoy under your control equal to the number of Treasure Resources; this does not reset until another Treasure Convoy is available.
Unique Military Unit – Sloop: Unique Naval Unit (replaces Privateer). Can cross other civilizations' borders, Pillage Trade Routes between non-Allied civilizations, and attack Units of non-Allied civilizations without going to war. Can move after attacking and has a set amount of Movement.
Associated Wonder – Havana Harbor: Gold Base. This Settlement generates Treasure Convoys worth a set amount of Treasure Fleet points in the Exploration Age (effect scales based on game speed). Increased Economic Attribute. Must be built in Distant Lands on Coastal Tiles adjacent to non-Lake tiles.
(Tides of Power DLC**) Added a new Antiquity Age civilization Tonga.
Into the endless blue, in search of new lands on scattered islands, the Polynesians sailed, settling the island of Tonga nearly three thousand years ago. Around 1000 CE, though, came another expansion, the Tu’i Tonga Empire – a struggle for dominance, tribute, and fealty over the Pacific. The Tongan kings maintained this system of hierarchical lordship over the islands until it, too, splintered.
Attributes: Expansionist, Diplomatic
Unique Ability – Lords of the South: Increased Influence on City Halls and the Palace if adjacent to Coast tiles. Cannot incorporate City-States.
Unique Civilian Unit – Tehina: Unique Scout Unit. Can enter Ocean tiles (without taking damage) and embark at the start of the Age. Cannot disembark in Distant Lands, but can use Coastal Raid on adjacent Discoveries.
Unique Military Unit – Kalia: Increased Combat Strength against Districts.
Wonders
(Tides of Power DLC**) Added four new Wonders:
Great Lighthouse – Antiquity
Gold Base. Grants a free Merchant when built. +15 Water Trade Route Range in all Settlements. +1 Sight to all Naval Units. Must be built on a Coast tile adjacent to Land.
Nan Madol – Exploration
Provides +3 Culture, +3 Production, and +3 Happiness on the Palace and City Hall on Islands (a landmass with a maximum of 15 tiles). Must be built in an Island City on Coast adjacent to Land
Great Blue Hole – Natural Wonder
+2 Science and +4 Happiness. Adjacent sea rural tiles receive +2 Culture. Placed on the Coast adjacent to 6 coast tiles.
Mapu'a Vaea Blowholes – Natural Wonder
+2 Production and +4 Happiness. +2 Culture to all Coastal land tiles in this Settlement. Impassable.
Placed on the Coast adjacent to Cliffs.
*Offer available for owners of Civilization VII. Offer ends January 5, 2026 at 7:59am PT. Owners must claim offer between November 4, 2025 and January 5, 2025 at 7:59am PT. For details on how to claim offer go to www.civilization.com. Terms apply.
**Base game required. Each DLC will be delivered automatically in-game on release. Terms apply.
Current Release
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Uploaded Apr 01, 2026
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Build 22096604
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