Civilization VII Dev Diary: Managing Your Empire

Hello, Civ fans! I’m Edward Zhang, the Economics Feature Lead for Civilization VII. It’s a thrill to dive deep into one of the core aspects of Civilization gameplay: the way you build and manage your empire's Cities (and now Towns). Today, we’ll explore how these changes redefine the core experience of Civilization, bringing one of the biggest shifts in the franchise's history. Our goal was to streamline gameplay, tone down complexity, and reduce the overwhelming micromanagement that often dominated the later stages of previous Civ titles. Let’s break down some of the key mechanics and the thinking behind our design decisions. 

Design Goals

The Challenges of Empire Management in the 4X Genre 

As fans know, Civilization VII is a 4X game, with each "X" standing for:

• eXplore: Players explore the game world and discover new resources and opportunities, as well as other civilizations and challenges

• eXpand: Players expand their control by establishing new settlements and acquiring territory, represented by "hexes" on the map

• eXploit: Players use their resources and abilities to further strengthen their civilization

• eXterminate: Players can attack or be attacked by rival civilizations and independent powers

In Civilization VII, we wanted to reimagine how players "eXpand" and "eXploit" their empire. Cities are the beating heart of any civilization, but managing them should never be a burden. Balancing growth across your empire while allowing for unique development opportunities has always been a core tenet of Civilization gameplay, but over time, expansion can overwhelm players with an increasing number of decisions, leading to "late-game fatigue."

For Civ VII, our design intent was to enhance the depth of city and empire management without bogging down players with unnecessary micromanagement. This approach meant rethinking mechanics like tile improvements, growth, and districts. We wanted every Settlement to feel unique, every choice to be meaningful, and every decision to have a direct impact on your empire's growth - all while streamlining gameplay to keep the experience fresh and exciting from start to finish.

What it boils down to is that every Civ player should feel like the ruler of an empire making important choices, not a servant tied down to micromanagement duties.

City Management

Towns: A Fresh Approach to Expansion

One of the first changes you’ll notice in Civ VII is the distinction between Cities and Towns. You begin with a Founder Unit to establish your Capital City, while every subsequent Settler Unit creates a Town. Later on, you have the option to spend Gold to upgrade these Towns into full-fledged Cities. This distinction is an evolution from the singular focus on Cities, as seen in previous Civ games. While Cities remain powerful centers of production and development, Towns serve as essential support hubs, providing economic benefits without requiring as much oversight. Importantly, Towns do not have a Production Menu - they automatically convert their Production into Gold and offer various support roles for your empire through specialization.

As Towns reach a set threshold of Population, they gain access to a Focus Menu, which allows players to specialize them in one of several roles - Farming Towns for Food production, Fort Towns for Unit healing and defense, Trade Outposts for extending trade range and boosting Happiness, and many more. Once you select a specialization, it’s a permanent choice for the Age, making it a key strategic decision that rewards forward planning. Here’s an overview of the various Town specialties in Civ VII (some are Age-specific):

• Farming Town / Fishing Town: Bonus Food on Farms, Pastures, Plantations, and Fishing Boats.

• Mining Town: Bonus Production on Camps, Woodcutters, Clay Pits, Mines, and Quarries.

• Trade Outpost: Bonus Happiness on resource tiles and Trade range.

• Fort Town: Bonus healing to Units and health to Walls in this Town.

• Religious site: Bonus Happiness to all Temples in your Empire.

• Hub town: Bonus Influence for every connected Settlement.

• Urban Center: Bonus Science and Culture on Districts with two Buildings in this Town.

• Factory Town: Bonus Gold towards purchasing a Factory in this Town and adds an additional Resource Slot.

One of the major shifts in Civ VII is the removal of Builder Units. Rather than sending Builders out to improve tiles, Population growth naturally drives improvements. As Settlements generate Food, they accumulate said Food in a bucket. Once a Settlement’s growth bucket is filled, you gain a Population point that can be allocated to a tile for improvement, or assigned as a Specialist to Urban tiles. The bucket then grows in size for the next growth event.

The decision to tie tile development to Population growth simplifies the gameplay and reduces the repetitive actions seen in past games, especially as you manage more Settlements. Now, both Food as a yield and your growth choice carry more weight and integrate more seamlessly with your overall strategy.

Empire Management

The Settlement Cap: Strategic Growth Over Unchecked Sprawl

In Civ VII, the Settlement Cap serves as a soft limit on the number of Cities and Towns you can maintain without penalty. If you exceed this cap, local Happiness in each Settlement decreases, which in turn reduces your Global Happiness yield. Balancing your expansion within the Settlement Cap is critical to efficiently growing your empire.

Just as Units and Buildings have maintenance costs to limit unchecked growth, the Settlement Cap introduces a balance between eXpansion and eXploitation. It encourages thoughtful, strategic growth rather than rapid, unchecked sprawl. There are multiple ways to increase the Settlement Cap, but they require time and resource investment. While you can choose to exceed the cap, managing your Happiness yield effectively will be essential to mitigate the penalties of overextension and keep your empire thriving.

Happiness: A Double-Edged Sword

In Civ VII, Happiness functions as both a local and global yield that directly impacts the stability of your empire. Locally, Happiness is necessary to support Specialists and maintain Buildings within your Cities and Towns. Globally, it accumulates across your settlements to trigger Celebrations - special events that provide powerful buffs and slots for Traditions and Social policies.

Effectively managing Happiness is key to the growth and stability of your civilization. If local Happiness levels fall below zero, you will face penalties that reduce the output of all other yields, slowing down your progress. Keeping an eye on the resources and conditions that affect Happiness is key to maintaining a stable and prosperous Settlement.

Management Through the Ages: What Stays vs. What Decays

As your civilization advances through the Ages, not all of your constructs will stay the same. Warehouse Buildings, Unique Buildings & Improvements, and Wonders retain their effects and continue to provide all bonuses regardless of the Age. They are tagged in the game as Ageless. These Buildings ensure that your investments carry forward through time, providing a reliable backbone to your empire's infrastructure.

However, other Buildings and Improvements may eventually become outdated: they will lose their effects and adjacency bonuses, keeping only their base yields, prompting opportunities to overbuild and evolve your empire to better suit the new Age’s requirements and resources.

Overbuilding allows you to adapt your Cities to new challenges and opportunities as you progress through the Ages. After transitioning from one Age to the next, older structures can be replaced by new, more powerful Buildings, making sure that your empire’s infrastructure always matches its needs.

Key Gameplay Mechanics

Districts Overhauled

In Civilization VI, District planning could be a complex and often challenging mechanic. For Civ VII, we've taken major steps to streamline this experience. Rather than assigning a specific specialty to Urban Districts, such as a Science or Culture District, we've made every District more flexible. You no longer need to pre-build any District, as they are automatically established when you place a Building down. Each Urban tile has two Building slots that can hold any type of Building, allowing you to customize each District to suit your strategy.

Additionally, there’s no theming bonus for grouping similar buildings together. We made this decision to avoid creating the illusion of choice and to ensure that players make meaningful, interesting decisions rather than being guided by artificially strong incentives. 

Finally, new Districts must be placed adjacent to the City Center and expand outward, creating a more cohesive and unified look for your Cities. This approach not only makes City planning more intuitive, but also gives your Cities a more organic, natural layout as they grow.

Adjacency Streamlined

Adjacency bonuses make their return in Civ VII, now with a more streamlined design. Rather than being tied to specific Districts, these bonuses are granted to certain Buildings based on the natural features and player-made structures surrounding them. While the bonuses may start small, placing Specialists on Urban tiles can significantly enhance their effects, making adjacency a key part of your City's development strategy. No need to worry about crunching numbers - we've integrated all the calculations directly into the UI. What you see is exactly what you get.

Specialists

Specialists return in Civ VII, but with a greater significance. Allocating Population to Urban tiles creates Specialists, who provide base Science and Culture yields while consuming Food and Happiness. They also amplify adjacency bonuses of their tile, making them vital for maximizing your City's potential. Deciding how to balance the benefits they bring with the resources they consume is a critical part of efficient City management.

Last Words

We’re really excited for you to dive into these new systems in Civilization VII. With streamlined Settlement and empire management, more intuitive growth mechanics, and the ability to specialize your Towns in meaningful ways, we believe that every part of managing your empire will feel more impactful, strategic, and fun. We can’t wait to see how you adapt and make these mechanics your own, forging unique empires that you believe in. 

If you have any questions or thoughts, share them in our forums, social media channels, and everywhere else you’re talking Civ. Thanks for reading, and happy building!