Among all the many changes to Civilization 7, such as Ages, Influence, Independant Powers, and more that require a complete rethinking of your ingrained tips and tricks, the one thing that remains mostly unchanged is how you achieve victory. Just like past games, you have the choice to go for one of four major victory conditions through cultural, military, economic, or scientific paths. These are represented by Legacy Paths now and require you to complete multiple milestones along the way before another civ beats you to the punch. This race begins before the first round when you are deciding which of the dozens of Leaders you want to play as and which civ you will use in the first Age. Depending on your choices, you can have much easier time working through these Legacy Paths. There are more possible combinations than ever, so we’ll advise you on the best Leaders and civs to pick in Civilization 7.
Best Cultural Leaders and civs
Augustus – Cultural/Expansionist
Our first Leader pick is Augustus who comes with a great general perk of adding +2 production in the capital for each town to help kickstart your growth. Once you expand and set up Towns they can purchase cultural buildings right away to help increase your culture income without having to wait to upgrade them into Cities. The +50% gold discount on purchasing buildings in Towns makes that process even easier.=
Jose – Cultural/Diplomatic
Jose is another solid pick, though feels a bit more random. His main buff is that narrative events give +20 culture and gold each Age and will get more narrative events than normal Leaders. His other major boon is that celebrations last 50% longer and add +50% happiness, which may or may not include a temporary culture buff. It’s less reliable but has greater payouts when a narrative event or celebration do give you a culture bonus.
Egpyt
For a culture civ, Egypt is your best choice. It comes with plenty of unique structures that increase gold production, which in turn makes building culture centers easier, plus the Mastara which adds culture on its own.
Best Military Leaders and civs
Friedrich, Oblique – Militaristic/Scientific
There are a lot of military Leaders, but Friedrich, Oblique has some of the best perks in our opinion. Having army commanders start with a +1 command radius buff might sound minor but scales over the course of the game only get more and more powerful. Add on the almost overpowered trait of getting a free infantry unit when building a science building and you can spin up an army way faster than any other Leader.
Trung – Militaristic/Scientific
Trung is another solid military choice. His army commander gets 3 free levels and +20% XP which will make early combat encounters very one-sided in your favor. The +10% science in cities in tropical areas, or +20% when you are in a war you formally declare isn’t directly beneficial to your army, but will help you unlock better units and upgrades on the science tree faster.
Maurya
The top military civ is the Maurya. They come with an incredible unique military unit and have a ton of options to keep your Happiness high. Since starting wars will negatively hit your Happiness, this can keep you in the positive.
Best Economic Leaders and civs
Napoleon, Emperor – Economic/Diplomatic
The Emperor version of Napoleon comes with a unique Sanction called Continental System which reduces target Leader’s trade route limit to all other Leaders by 1. That indirectly will allow you to push ahead in the econ race while others are unable to keep up. For a more direct buff, you also get +8 gold per Age for each Leader you are unfriendly or hostile with and can reject Endeavors for free.
Xerxes – Cultural/Economic
Xerxes is a more aggressive economic Leader who starts with +3 combat strength when attacking on neutral or enemy territory. You will also earn 100 Culture and gold for capturing a settlement for the first time each Age, which pairs well with the first perk. Where his economic strenght shines is in getting +10% gold for each settlement, but plus 20% if the settlement is taken over and will be able to hold 1 extra settlement in each Age.
Mississippian
Call us crazy, but the Mississippian civ is your best economic option thanks to its special merchant giving you 25 extra gold for each resource you get per trade route and an extra gold producing building.
Best Scientific Leaders and civs
Benjamin Franklin – Diplomatic/Scientific
There are no Leaders with science as their primary focus, but Benjamin Franklin essentially does. He gets +1 science per Age on every production building in a city, plus 50% production on production buildings. You will also earn+1 science per Age for any active endeavors you start or support and can have two endeavors of the same type active at once to basically convert your Influence into science.
Himiko – Diplomatic/Scientific
Himiko’s traits include a unique endeavor called Friend of Wei that grants you and an ally +25% science and the ability to support endeavors for free. Finally, getting +4 science every Age for every Leader you are friendly or helpful with is a small but important bonus. If you don’t intend on being aggressive in your game, these all synergize amazingly well to rocket your science income.
Maya
Again, no civ is primarily science-focused, but we found Maya to have the best advantages. The main thing you will want to use is the Kuh Nah structure that, if placed well, can be one of the best science-producing structures in the game.
