Summary
WhileCivilization 7retains the core grand strategy gameplay the series is known for, it is introducing some major shake-ups to two longstanding features: Ages and Leaders. All in all, these changes toCiv 7are pretty exciting, but it does remain to be seen how much this shakes up the meta at release.
In short, there are three Ages inCivilization 7: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. A crisis heralds the end of each Age, where players enter an Age Transition that grants them bonuses based on their choices (via Legacy Paths) and players change their civilization for the next age. Players will keep their chosen leader from the start of the game to the end of the game; however,Civ 7leaders and civilizationsare chosen independently of one another. Someone could, for example, choose Benjamin Franklin as a leader and Egypt as a starting Civilization. During a recent visit to Firaxis Games in Baltimore, Maryland, Game Rant spoke with executive producer Dennis Shirk and game designer Carl Harrison about how Leaders and Ages work.
How Leaders Work in Civ 7: New, Returning, and More
Learning that players could pair Leaders with any Civilization was a big shock. In theory, it opens the door for so many more possible Leaders to come in and play a role in the game, even those that were not necessarily “Heads of State.” Benjamin Franklin being a leader inCiv 7is but one example of that, so of course we asked how the selection of leaders would be different this time around. Shirk assured us thatfan-favorite leaders of Civilization will return, citing the fact that Firaxis shippedCiv 5without Genghis Khan as a lesson learned in that department. (As many know, he was added for free a month later).
Players will, of course, get Leader-specific bonuses and uniques throughoutCiv 7, but Shirk and Harrison also made it clear that they’re going deep into “coverage across the globe.” Shirk explained thatFiraxis Games"want[s] to make sure to represent as many people as possible but to also dig deep into our bag of tricks in terms of obscure, industrial, or culture leaders that are super interesting." Harrison also added that,
It’s not even about just ones that are obscure and people don’t know about. It’s also the ones that people do know about that we’re like, “That’s so cool. We’ve never done it before. Let’s get them in.” It’s really neat to be able to do that kind of representation or bonuses, whatever it happens to be.
Leaders and Diplomacy
What’s more, leaders will have a stronger presence in the game, with animated face-offs and an ever-present sense that players are that leader.Diplomacyis a good example of that. In the game, there is a new yield called Influence which allows players to perform actions against other Civilizations, as well as independent peoples on the map (think Barbarian towns). For example, players can establish a good relationship with an independent town and become its Suzerain. Players can also utilize Influence to infiltrate, negotiate, sanction, or otherwise take a plethora of actions against or with another Civ.
Legacy Paths
At the end of the Modern Age, players will obviously want to win whatever game they are playing. To ensure players can pick a path to aVictory Condition inCiv 7out of the gate, instead of playing aimlessly as sometimes happened inCiv 6, players will be required to complete tasks associated with each Legacy. Completing the whole path is how players fulfill their final victory conditions; there are four available in the game: Science, Economic, Cultural, and Military. During our hands-on time withCiv 7, we focused on the Military Legacy Path, which saw us building armies and taking cities in the first few steps. Shirk gave us a broad explanation and example of what these Legacy Paths accomplish:
I want to play a culture game, so I can put that milestone down. I’m then positioning my Civ to be better in later ages if I want to go on a longer-term culture victory. I don’t just play blind and eventually land somewhere. This gives me milestones, and in addition, I’m going to earn legacy points that when I go through an Age Transition, I can choose the kinds of things I want to bring forward with me, like the bonuses related to the culture or science game you played. That’s what those Legacy Paths are for. It gives you direction and more bonuses in that particular realm of gameplay.
Civilization 7: How Ages and Age Transitions Work
At the beginning of the game, players pick their starting Civilization independently of their leader. Players then go through each age—Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern—while attempting to finish their Legacy Path and fulfill that Victory Condition. However, it gets quite bumpy along the way. As players near the end of one of these ages, a series of crises will unfold that players will have to deal with in a “choose your own destruction” approach. That Crisis leads into an Age Transition, where players can select bonuses and retain key elements of their Civ as they move forward out of that Crisis. We could not experience an Age Transition for ourselves, but we were told what comes out the other side: a new civilization.
Just like the Fall of Rome led to other civilizations rising up with Roman influence, Age Transitions will see a new civilization come out of the other side. Players will be able to choose what Civ they are after an Age Transition; however, the options are unlocked by certain actions taken during an Age. Legacy bonuses and presumably other actions also influence what’s possible during an Age transition, with Shirk explaining how this method models “emerging cultures” as aCiv 7gameplay mechanic:
This was an opportunity to represent and model a new culture emerging based on the way you’ve played. If you’ve built a massive horse army as Rome and rampaged across the landscape, that’s a prime candidate for Mongolia. You can choose Mongolia as the next culture that emerges on the other side of that age transition, and you get to play Mongolia at the height of its power, all the things that came with Mongolia like unique units, structures, districts, all of those things. Eventually, there’s going to be a crisis, that age transition happens, and then you’ve got some new choices for the modern age. What emerges from Mongolia? They don’t exist in the same way anymore. You’ve got the legacy you’re pulling along, you’ve still got that Roman central district at the heart of your city providing the same benefits because that’s part of your history. Ed [Beach] really wanted to model and change that paradigm with Civ, to have people play this model of emerging cultures over time.
Players can expect more about all of these mechanics asCiv 7gets closer to its release, but that about sums uphow the gameplay experience has evolved fromCiv 6.Civ 7is more about gameplay surrounding how cultures emerge, and that’s such an interesting step forward for thegrand strategy game franchise.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII
WHERE TO PLAY
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