Civilization 7’s ‘first major update’ tweaks balance and fixes some UI issues, but don’t expect an overhaul

Civilization 7‘s “first major update” dropped for PC and consoles today, and for one thing it brings those two versions back into alignment, which has allowed Firaxis to re-enable crossplay.

The biggest feature change in the 1.1.0 update is a rebalancing of the Geographic Society legacy path that makes it “harder for players to breeze through” if they’re the only ones pursuing it. AI leaders will also be generally better at pursuing a cultural victory.

Civ 7’s 1.1.0 update makes other AI and balance tweaks, fixes bugs, and addresses some UI problems—complaints about the UI have been a big contributor to Civ 7’s “mixed” Steam rating—but it’s not a giant overhaul in one go, just the start of many patches to come.

Civ 7 hasn’t been a disaster or anything—we gave it a 76% in our review—but the glowing reception that greeted Civ 5 and Civ 6 has been withheld by most, and some were hoping to see a longer list of patch notes today, judging by the subreddit’s comments.

Firaxis previously delayed Civ 7’s first in-game event, which was originally going to come with this patch, to allow “more time to prioritize quality-of-life improvements.”

One thing the studio presumably couldn’t delay was the first part of the paid DLC package promised in Civ 7’s special editions. With this patch, Ada Lovelace, Great Britain, Carthage, and a set of natural wonders are now available for owners of the Crossroads of the World Collection, which came with those special editions or can be purchased separately for $30.

This update does also add a natural wonder for free: the Bermuda Triangle. It’s an interesting choice for a game whose map is made of hexagons. It’d be cool if planes and ships had a chance of sinking when crossing the tile, but there are no details in the patch notes. Guess we’ll have to try it and see?

Although this isn’t a monstrous patch, I trust Firaxis to address the biggest UI and bug complaints as it continues to work on the game. The next big Civ 7 patch, update 1.1.1, is coming on March 25, and will add features such as the much requested “restart” button. Beyond that, Firaxis says it’s working on additional UI improvements, a “one more turn” button so the game doesn’t have to end when the Modern Age ends, new map sizes, mod tools, and more.

This blog post contains more details about the Civ 7 roadmap.

The bigger question for me is what major gameplay features we might see added or fleshed out in the future, and how many will come in paid expansions vs free updates. More than a few people think religion, trade, and espionage could use expansion in Civ 7, and it really feels like there should be at least one more age after the Modern Age.

See the full Civilization 7 1.1.0 patch notes on Steam or below:

New features

Modern Age Geographic Society updates:

• Natural History Mastery now grants Explorers +1 Sight and the ability to gain artifacts from Natural Wonders.
• Completing Future Civic now grants +1 Artifact in the Modern Age.
• Completing Hegemony Civic now grants +1 Artifact when an Explorer researches Artifacts.
• Explorers have had their cost increased now that Artifacts can be acquired from more sources.
• Explorers can no longer create a new Dig site on top of an existing Dig site.
• The Continents lens has been updated to show Natural Wonders that can provide Artifacts.
• Hegemony has switched places with Militarism and now requires Nationalism and Globalism.
• Increased the number of Artifacts that are spawned on Tiny maps.

• Holy Cities can now be converted. Note that when players create their own Missionary Units, they will always follow the player’s chosen Religion.

Leaders & Civs

Leaders

• Napoleon, Emperor**: Napoleon, Emperor can no longer reject Sanctions for free.

Civs

• America: America now receives +2 Resource slots upon constructing their Unique Quarter.
• Buganda: Adjusted Nyanza Civic Effect for Modern Buganda to award +1 Happiness and +1 Culture on Quarters adjacent to Rivers or Lakes.
• Meiji Japan: Added +1 Resource slots to the Zaibatsu Unique Quarter.
• Siam: Increased cost of Siam’s Itsaraphab action to be 50% more than the standard Befriend Independent action.
• Siam: Addressed a reported issue where Siam was sometimes not properly unlocked in the Modern Age after unlocking them during the Exploration Age.

Gameplay

AI

• AI will now perform better at completing the Modern Cultural Legacy Path, by gaining Artifacts from Natural Wonders, researching at Museums/Universities, completing Civics, etc. (No more AI explorer stacks of doom!)
• Addressed a reported issue where the AI would sometimes fail to spend all of their points during an Advanced Start setup.

Economy

• Oil Rigs now benefit from Warehouse bonuses granted by the Ironworks and Combustion Tech Masteries.
• City Patron Pantheon effect decreased from +3 to +2 Influence on Altars.
• In-progress Buildings that are instantly granted to the player will now auto-complete.

Diplomacy

• Sanctions can now be used at Neutral Relationship and their cost will decrease as the Relationship gets more hostile.

Crises

• Addressed a reported issue with Revolutions Crisis applying more Unhappiness in Settlements than stated.

Military

• Naval Units can now disperse Independent Powers.
• Refinements made to the Army Unpacking action. Players now have the option to select the Commander hex when choosing an unpack direction. Doing so will unpack the strongest unit in the Commander Unit’s hex and arrange any remaining Units on adjacent hexes based on the current facing direction of the Commander. If the player indicates a direction to unpack by selecting an adjacent hex, the strongest Unit will unpack in that direction, with the next strongest Unit unpacking on the Commander hex. Remaining Units will then unpack on adjacent hexes based on the unpack direction.
• Addressed a reported issue with Harassment promotion unintentionally stacking too high.
• Addressed a reported issue with incorrect Bombard strength being used for Garde Imperial and Sepoy Unique Infantry Units.
• Duplicate Aerodrome Commanders should no longer appear when conquering a Settlement in the Modern Age.
• A “ghost” Unit (or multiple Units of any class) can no longer be created when Units are deployed by an AI Commander Unit during normal gameplay.

Natural Wonders

• Added Bermuda Triangle Natural Wonder for all players.

Memento Balance

We have made many changes to Mementos to make more of them feel like viable choices. Some Mementos were overshadowing Leader and civ abilities and needed to be toned down, while others were not quite impactful enough to take often.

• All-T’oqapu Tunic: Now grants +1 Sight for Scouts adjacent to Mountains (was +3 Sight).
• Altar Set: Now grants +1 Culture from Specialists (was +1 Culture and Gold from Specialists).
• Chalcedony Seal: Now grants +1 Culture and Gold for Unique Buildings and Improvements (old effect: “+3 Culture and Gold for Unique Buildings and Improvements if you have 3 or more Unique Buildings or Improvements”).
• Crown of Napoleon: Now grants 200 Gold per Age when a Formal War is declared against you (was 100 Gold per Age).
• Dong Son Drum: Declaring a Formal War against another Civilization grants a Tech Boost (old effect: “Declaring War against another Civilization grants a Celebration”).
• Eagle Banner: Now Cities gain +2% Science per Great Work on Display, Max 20% (old effect: “Cities gain 5% bonus Science Efficiency per Great Work they contain, Max 25%”).
• Great Imperial Crown: Now grants +2 Science per Age on Towns in Tundra. (old effect: “Cities gain +5% Science per Great Work on Display, Max 25%”).
• Imago Mundi: Now grants +2 Sight instead of +1 for Scout’s Search and Lookout abilities (was +3 Sight).
• Joyeuse: Now grants +2 Happiness for every Cavalry Unit (old effect: “+2 Happiness per Age for every Cavalry Unit”).
• Merchant’s Saddle: Now grants +1 Movement for Scouts, Merchants, Settlers, and Explorers (old effect: “+1 Movement and Sight for Scouts, Merchants, and Settlers”).
• Padrón Real: Now grants +2 Happiness per Age on Natural Wonders (old effect: “+100% yields on Natural Wonders, if you are working the most Natural Wonder tiles. +2 Combat Strength for Naval Units if you are not”).
• Queen’s Jewelry: Now grants +2 Gold per Age on Natural Wonders (old effect: “+2 Gold on Natural Wonders”).
• Uraeus: Now grants +10% Culture in Cities with at least 1 Wonder (old effect: “+10% Culture if you have the most Wonders. +10% Production towards constructing Wonders if you do not”).

Memento Text Updates

• Diamond Throne: +1 Happiness per Age on Quarters during a Celebration. (Previously read: “During a Celebration, +1 Happiness per Quarter per Age.”)
• Lotus Blossom: Gain Science and Culture per turn equal to 4% of your Gold income. (Previously read: “+4% of your Gold income as additional Science and Culture.”)
• Yata no Kagami: Gain 20 Culture per Age at the start of every Celebration. (Previously read: “+20 Culture per Age at the start of every Celebration.”)

UI

Text changes

• Updated Maya’s K’uh Nah Unique Building text to state +3 Science instead of +4 Science.
• Updated text for the following to reflect changes received in a previous patch:
• Majapahit – Nusantura Civic: Exploration Age Culture Buildings receive a +1 Culture Adjacency for Coast.
• America – Steel Mill: +6 Production. Gold Adjacency for Resources and Wonders. American Unique Production Building. Ageless.
• Prussia – Ruhr Tier 1 Civic Tree Improvement: All Buildings gain a +1 Production Adjacency for Navigable Rivers.

Notifications

• The “Not enough gold in treasury” message now correctly appears when attempting to purchase an item the player cannot afford.

Alignment & spacing

• The lines connecting the Tech and Civic trees now align properly with their respective nodes

Tooltips

• Unit action tooltips now stay within screen boundaries.

General

• The Victory Achieved popup now takes you to the correct Civilopedia page if it is the final milestone, and the correct tab in the victory progress screen otherwise.
• Descriptions for a civ’s Unique Units will no longer mention their Tier when loading into the game.
• Social Policies and Crisis Policies can now be slotted separately when you unlock both on the same turn. This had previously made the screen appear stuck when either table had an empty slot.
• The Plot cursor effect should now be more visible during a Growth Event or when placing a Building.
• Selecting Factory Resources no longer highlights invalid slots.
• A new icon for Natural Wonders in the Continent lens has been added, so it’s easier for players to see where to dig up Modern Age Artifacts.
• Updated and Improved the Leader Attribute Menu.
• Leader portraits now properly update when Relationships change during gameplay.
• Scrollbars now properly respond to mouse wheel input.
• Addressed a reported issue where enabling or disabling lenses would hide Resource icons.
• Addressed a reported issue where Resources were unable to be assigned to their origin City after being unassigned.

Narrative

Narrative Events

• Addressed various reported issues that were occurring on some Narrative Events.

Quests

• Addressed a reported issue where the Great Library III Legacy Path Quest wasn’t completing if an Academy Building was purchased.
• Addressed reported issues with incorrectly displayed quest text.

Loading screen

• Corrected typos and other loading screen text issues.

Miscellaneous

• Added additional Audio for various UI events, including First Meet diplomatic events.
• The correct citizen character set is now being displayed for Korean Independent Powers.