It’s been a couple of months sinceSid Meier’s Civilization VIIlaunched to an odd mix of excellent sales and fan backlash. It seems that while there is plenty to like about the premier 4X series’ latest entry, many were (and still are) upset due to performance issues, bugs and missing features. Such launches have, unfortunately, been more or less the norm in the AAA space for a long time now, but it was apparently unusual to see coming from the likes of Firaxis Games.
Civilization VII Officially Goes Gold
Civilization VII is now ready for players to build new cities on February 11.
Still, Firaxis Games didn’t just shove Civilization VII out the door to live or die. The studio has been steadily updating its latest game since launch, with the latest, Update 1.2.0, dropping just this week. It’s a pretty sizable update too, bringing a large helping of sorely needed balance changes and new features to the game. If it can keep this up, then perhaps fans will all finally feel like they’re getting a worthy entry into their favorite series.
Balance changes in Update 1.2.0 focus mostly on food, population growth and resources. Until now, it seems that food and population growth have been hindered by certain bottlenecks, which have caused them to lag behind other avenues such as Science or Culture in terms of yield. With this update, the hard cap that used to block growth by increasing food supplies has been removed. Also,settlement growthwill now follow a “quadratic curve,” meaning that costs willno longerdramatically increase as settlements grow.
More resources means more opportunities.
With Update 1.2.0, Firaxis Games has added ten new resources to Civilization VII. These include clay, flax, hardwood, limestone, llamas, mangoes, rice, rubies, tin and wild game. All these new additions can be found in theAntiquity and Exploration ages,and hardwood, llamas, limestone, tin and rice will also appear in the Modern age.
Where would the modern world be without llamas, right?
Randomized resource generation has also been added to the game, and so has something called “hemisphere identity,” which confines certain resources to certain hemispheres. Those who enjoy Legacy Paths needn’t worry too much about these changes, though, as vital resourceswill stillbe available. Treasure resources have also received some attention, as they now apply passive bonuses and are now more definitively split between homelands and distant lands. The list of treasure resources has also grown to include furs, horses and rubies.
Those who enjoy Legacy Paths needn’t worry too much about these changes, though, as vital resources will still be available.
Certain existing resources such as dyes, fish and tin have also been rebalanced. Dyes now have a greater effect on happiness, fish has become a bonus resource, and tin will function as a new factory resource that can help improve growth rates.
Victory no longer has to be the end.
A major addition brought to Civilization VII by Update 1.2.0 is “One More Turn.” This is effectively an endless mode that players can opt into once they achieve victory in their campaign. All other victory conditions will be turned off once players enter endless mode, but they can still complete the steps, watch cinematics and acquire Legacy Path achievements. Endless games can also be ended at any time by going into the game menu and selecting “No More Turns.”
Multiplayer teams have also been added to the game, allowing for either friendly co-op or head-to-head competition between several teams. A few things to note include
These are just the highlights, of course. Many other smaller changes were made in Update 1.2.0, so those interested in all the details should also make sure tocheck out the full notes here.Also, the update has not yet come to the Switch version of Civilization VII, as Firaxis Games has decided to launch it alongside theSwitch 2version of the game in June.
Civilization VII is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII
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