It’s safe to say that Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 has failed to resonate with fans.
I genuinely enjoyed my time with the game earlier this year, but the more I play it, it’s just not scratching the same itch like past Civ games.
There’s honestly several reasons for this. It’s easy to point blame at the controversial Age system, but in reality, there are a lot of problems under the hood that all add up.
To Firaxis’ credit, they’ve been hard at work on doing what they can to improve the game’s state, as is tradition with the Civ franchise, and the newest patch, Update 1.2.5, is going a long way to improve things.
Civilization 7’s Newest Update Features Improved Map Generation, A Rework For Napoleon, UI Improvements, And Much More
Firaxis recently highlighted their philosophy around improved map generation at the start of the match. It’s one of the headlining features in this newest update, and a very welcome change that should make for a far better gameplay experience.
As anticipated as that update was, one of the biggest issues with the game is, undoubtedly, the user interface. Civ 7’s Update 1.2.5 features UI improvements centered around city development. Here’s a rundown of some notable changes:
- Production Menu: now shows base Yields, adjacency opportunities, and warehouse impacts up front.
- Building Placement: new Yield indicators, a revamped building slot icon, and featured tiles for placement consideration.
- Growth Events: the same visual language as placement, with before/after previews to help you decide between improvements vs. specialists.
- Constructible Tooltips: reformatted with a cleaner layout, consistent info, and tags to summarize its role.
- Yield Losses: now surface much more clearly across contexts, so trade-offs are less hidden.
Regarding City-Sates, new Diplomatic and Expansionist City-State types are being introduced into the game, finally rounding out the roster of City-State types in-game. Firaxis has also made some balance changes regarding strategic decisions. The intention here is to put more onus on player decisions in-game. Here’s one of the best changes that highlights that when it comes to off-map yields and stacking percentages.
Where possible, we replaced percentages with numerical bonuses that are still meaningful, but don’t snowball uncontrollably. When you snowball, it should be because of smart decisions, not repeated 3% bonuses.
Finally, we have the big news: a rework of the Napoleon Leaders. Both Napoleon, Emperor and Napoleon, Revolutionary have been given a “big boost” and an overhaul to make both Leader options more appealing. Emperor Napoleon got a full-blown rework, while Revolutionary Napoleon was less of a redesign and more of a buff “to support being a warmonger and enemy of the world.”
Here’s a rundown of the changes to both Napoleon Leaders:
- (★) Napoleon, Emperor
- New (Continental System – Economic, Diplomatic):
- All basic Sanctions are automatically unlocked.
- +50% Influence towards initiating Sanctions.
- +5 Culture and Gold per Age for each leader you have an active Sanction on, except Denouncement.
- +1 Combat Strength for Land Units for every Sanction you have active, except Denouncement.
- Previous (Empereur des Francais – Economic, Diplomatic):
- Gain a unique Sanction called Continental System that reduces the Trade Route limit of the targeted Leader to all other Leaders by 1. Causes a massive Relationship penalty, and costs more to reject.
- +8 Gold per Age for every Leader you are Unfriendly or Hostile with.
- Can reject Endeavors for free.
- Dev Note: The Continental System Sanction didn’t have the appeal or impact it needed on Napoleon’s diplomatic gameplay, so we elected to give Napoleon more options instead. Paired with this, we leaned into your active Sanctions instead of relationship, to let crafty Napoleon players gain bonuses from Sanctions while still maintaining some friends.
- (★) Napoleon, Revolutionary
- New (Enemy of the Coalitions – Militaristic, Cultural):
- +1 Movement for all Land Units.
- Defeating an enemy Unit provides Culture equal to 100% of its Combat Strength.
- The first time each Age that a war is declared against you, gain an Army Commander in your Capital packed with 1 Infantry Unit, 1 Cavalry Unit, 1 Ranged Unit, and 1 Siege Unit, even if those Units have not been unlocked.
- Previously (La Grande Armee – Militaristic, Cultural):
- +1 Movement for all Land Units.
- Defeating an enemy Unit provides Culture equal to 50% of its Combat Strength.
- Dev Note: This Napoleon needed less of a redesign, but data and feedback indicated he could still use a buff to support being a warmonger and enemy of the world.
- New (Enemy of the Coalitions – Militaristic, Cultural):
- Security Camera Installation – indoor/outdoor IP CCTV systems & video analytics
- Access Control Installation – key card, fob, biometric & cloud‑based door entry
- Business Security Systems – integrated alarms, surveillance & access control
- Structured Cabling Services – voice, data & fiber infrastructure for new or existing builds
- Video Monitoring Services – 24/7 remote surveillance and analytics monitoring
Author: 360 Technology Group
