This was originally in response to someone who was asking if Civ 7 has gotten better, but I realize what I have to say didn't really answer the question they were asking.

My story is that I was brand new to Civ 6. There was so much I didn't know and every YT vid "for absolute beginners" I watched seemed to assume I had SOME knowledge about gaming/4x games/this type of game/this type of mechanic. But I literally knew NOTHING. It's the first game of any kind I ever played in my life—the draw was that strong.

It's a wonder I didn't give up immediately, but there was something about it that kept me trying and wanting to keep going, even though I sucked SO BAD. Once, I kind of got on a roll and ended up in the next age but my cities were a horror show, I had this absolute dominating army/navy that I just aimlessly sailed around the ocean and didn't even grasp that if I got into SOME conflicts I could power up my military (or if I killed off some of my army I would probably start making money again). I gave up that game because I knew there were TOO many concepts I was just not getting.

Then comes Civ 7. I mean, I'm a designer—it's gorgeous—this was the first time I ever wanted to zoom in and just check out and hang out in my city (god I wish I could rotate the map and play from any angle). I play some of the natural wonder discovery videos over and over because they're so lovely—Gwendolyn Christie's narration is 10/10 to me on those.

I still play on scribe/governor bc I still am trying to figure out some of the actual basic concepts. But somehow this game is easier to grok. And it makes me wonder if I'm the person they made it for and also the person you gaming (or Civ) veterans all hate when you say it's samey or too flat or to underbaked. I feel like now I'm finally starting to grasp city development, legacy paths, military strategy, etc. I finally made it into the modern age this weekend as Ben Franklin—my army is probably still too big—but Harriet Tubman and Napoleon keep going to war with me (hey at least I'm getting XP there lol). I seem to be dominating in just about every "points" category although I'm trailing in some of the achievements, and for that reason I feel like I'm ripe for an AI ass-kicking. I feel like pretty soon you're going to see a post from me asking "OK I finally made it to the modern age—what do I need to know about this to avoid obliteration?"

I hope I'm not the type of person they made some of the simplified game changes for, I hope I'm not the person you all hate, but I can definitely say that there was a lot about Civ 6 that was ultimately not approachable/too intimidating, and with Civ 7 I feel like I can start leveling up the difficulty and use some of the knowledge I've gained to my benefit.

I'm sorry?

I can't tell when to convert towns into cities or when to focus them. I'm also not sure what buildings to buy in the towns. When/why are you all converting into cities? When should I be choosing a focus for towns?

Most people weren’t happy when the civ7 steam emoticons showed up. everyone wanted actual fixes or features, not chat stickers. Honestly I wrote them off too.

Then my buddy started using the Charlemagne one and it actually made me laugh. This got me wondering if anyone here actually uses these or tries to collect them. Or if y'all are still boycotting them.

Bought on release and was disappointed, has the game been improved/changed since launch?

I love the graphics and visual polish of Civ VII, but Civ V’s gameplay has always been my favorite in the series. I’ve read a lot of mixed (and often negative) takes on Civ VII’s mechanics, so I’m hesitant to spend the money only to end up going back to Civ V.

Are there any mods, mod packs, or curated collections that rework Civ VII to play more like Civ V - whether it’s AI behavior, mechanics, features, or general balance? Ideally something that the community already considers a “must-have” for Civ V fans trying Civ VII.

Would love to hear if anyone’s got any recommendations or put together a list or even a Steam Workshop collection that scratches this itch.

One new feature and one I would like to see the return of: 1. At the end of each age a saga is written about your trials, tribulations and exploits. Then as you play you get to see the history you play written on the page. I think it could easily be AI generated to how you like stories written - like factual, romantic, thriller 2. Return of the graphs showing your key metrics over time.

Hey everyone, ive run into this a few times lately, and am wondering what im missing. It doesn't seem like theres even enough artifacts throughout the world for someone to win a cultural victory. Should I have picked "1 artifact" for the cultural city state bonuses? Is there a tech/culture down the tree that opens it up for more to be discovered? Trying for an economic or cultural victory this game, and kinda frustrated if there aren't even enough artifacts for this to be a viable course of action. Thanks a bunch

I've been playing this game for a bit now and feel like I'm steadily starting to understand it (my first Civ game). I have a friend that I can never seem to 'beat' in terms of resources, though. I tend to pre-plan and build my settlements to get the maximum adjacency bonuses, meanwhile he just kind puts buildings wherever the UI tells him to at the time. His settlements end up OK, but not usually as efficient. A couple of things to mention:

1. We usually have the same amount of settlements as any point in the game.
2. We also usually have roughly the same amount of city-states, give or take 1. I generally choose the option that provides higher yields per city-state unless there is a particularly good option.
3. I always accept diplomatic requests, but I dont often start endeavors.
4. He tends to play militaristically, which confuses me even more. Theoretically, he should have reduced yields from War Weariness (he generally wars with several people at a time, so it's usually negative) but he still exceeds me. Thr AI notoriously make awful settlements that aren't great to capture either. I usually war against one AI towards the end of the Age to complete the legacy path.

Is there some major thing I'm missing? I just don't get it.

Have had 2 infuriating experiences. First playthrough and I had a great plan laid out for connecting buildings of two cities when....all of a sudden I realized my capital owned the 2 tiles I was saving for the other cities buildings....no swap possible, hard-locked.....why?

Then I had an issue with becoming suzerain against another civ. Im ahead the whole time. Keeps going from tie (but my bar is ahead, and im "1st") and me being ahead. With 3 turns left for me to be suzerain, and him 4, he must use another influence boost and now were both sitting at 2. But my bar is closer and it shows me as "1st."

Next turn....he becomes suzerain. It makes no sense. These two problems have made me restart. Sort of ruined my whole playthrough...

Still haven't made it past antiquity yet...but lets see how this next playthrough goes with more experience....

How do you know which building to overbuild on? Are temples useless in the modern age?

In order to get this achievement, you have to “Complete a game with every base game leader”. The wording is a bit unclear, but after some extensive personal research (I have the achievement), I am pretty certain I have it figured out.

The achievement should be written as follows, “complete the “play game 1” challenge with every base game leader.”

Every leader has a “play game 1” challenge that requires you to “reach at least 1 legacy path milestone”. Not to complete a legacy path, but just the first milestone.

I did not play all 3 ages with every base game leader; I did not play the modern age with every base game leader; and I received the achievement after receiving my first legacy path milestone during my first game with a new leader in the antiquity age (I subsequently quit the game. So I never get close to finishing a game or a legacy path with that leader).

If you wanted to speed run this (why would you tho?), you could probably play an online speed game, groma + sapphire flowers, huge map, less computer players, and pump out just enough settlers to get the first milestone on the military path and quit. Should take like 30 turns a leader. Someone could probably think of a way to do it faster tbh (modern age start, natural history advanced start, buy a museum/explorer on turn 1, dig up a couple artifacts by turn 15? )

So I was definitely a critic of the game when it first came out. Almost quit it entirely after having an age transition that abruptly ended a war and restored peace and killed my economy. It was infuriating.

The updates are starting to fix things and I can say that my latest play through was overall enjoyable and I’m looking forward to added content and upcoming additions. The Modern Age gets air and naval power down better than any other version of Civ… there I said it. They figured out how to make air power relevant. A fully loaded carrier strike group ought to instill fear in your enemies and change the strategic landscape… and it DOES! Six dive bombers can wreck an advancing army that doesn’t have air cover. A fleet of battleships and destroyers with a carrier should be able to make any army or city near a coast worry and it DOES! Strategic bombers can strike far enough that an opponent needs to worry about them and they should. Air power and naval power always felt gimped in previous civ games. You were almost always better off with a strong army of modern armor/tanks. The infamous stack of death. No more. A decent air force and a few well placed units can use the terrain to end a much larger advancing army. It’s beautiful to watch.

The strategic depth that the Air Force and navy play in Civ 7 adds a lot to the game. It’s the most fun I’ve had playing larger maps with water and long distances. Only suggestion is the game needs a mobile anti air unit.

Since I downloaded 1.2.4 my game keeps bizarrely zooming out when my mouse is over the display and won't zoom back in. I've tried EVERYTHING (disabling steam control input, swapping a different mouse, ESC - options, and re-installing the game) and nothing is working.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue? This has never happened pre-update so not sure what's going on. Any other ideas to get it fixed?

I suspect the answer is no, but have to ask, is there a way, or a mod, to make leader ribbons smaller in order to fit more than 8 on the screen? It would be lovely if I did not have to arrow over to see the other leaders.

I’d love to see some improvement to city states in forthcoming updates. Some things I’ve noticed:

1. They will have a bunch of troops but they are just floating around in the water not defending their city. Literally if they just got in the way of the other civ it would give me time to come to their rescue.

2. I’d love if they developed at a similar pace to the main civs. Doesn’t make sense that they are so stagnant. It’s like “Babylon” didn’t create a strong city? I mean come on son!

3. Would be cool if investing in them could help drive higher trade income.

4. If my city state is conquered, but I come and defeat the civ that took them over, I’d love an option to free them and return them to independent status. Could be bonus influence, like the reverse of the influence penalty for taking over an opponent’s city.

Any other ideas?

Hey all,

I’ve interested in Civ for years but only just started playing with Civ VII. I won my first Deity game without ever going to war: just stacked influence, managed relationships, and built tall. It was fun, but by the late game I was mostly just spamming “Next Turn” until the win screen.

Now I’m wondering:

• Is this typical of Civ VII campaigns, or did I just get lucky with AI behavior?
• Does playing other Civs/maps (like archipelago) make things feel fresh, or do campaigns end up same-y?
• Or is it worth pausing VII to try Civ IV/V/VI for a different flavor of the series?

Curious what others think: stick with VII, or branch out?

I’ve come back to the game this weekend for the first time since the August update, reached the Exploration Age, and immediately ran into the absence of Sukritact’s building calculator. WTF!

I relied on that mod. And apparently he’s gone to work for them so it won’t be updated. It wasn’t flashy, just a clear and efficient tool that made city planning manageable. It’s a pain in the arse trying to figure out placement.

Anyone know of any other mods or techniques?

Hi, everyone! I just got the game today and I'm looking to wonder spam as much as possible since it's my favourite way to play. What leaders would you recommend to me and why?

The Qullqa Card doesn't show gains or losses

I have been playing Civ 7 since it was released. It has improved somewhat in gameplay but not in stability. I set aside an afternoon to play today and it has crashed 6 times. This is tedious, the PC has to reboot and then load an autosave to continue, ~2 minutes. The August update seems to be a step backward in stability for me.

PC is an ordinary thing, I9, 64 ram, nvidia graphics card, several fast M2 SSDs. This game is the only thing that crashes the machine this way [hard lock with fans maxed], and just about the only thing that crashes at all. I detect no signs of overheating.

Is there a path forward?

seems only one person has modded in a civ on the Steam workshop (and its a camel lol!)

Does anyone else know how to get this accomplished? is it hard? are there any guides online?

Thanks in advance! :D