The significant 1.2.2 update was rolled out on June 23 and finally introduced truly expansive maps to the game without the need for mods.
Civilization 7 did not meet the community’s elevated expectations upon its launch. There is a reason why the newly released strategy title is attracting markedly fewer players on Steam than its nearly nine-year-old predecessor.
However, Firaxis is committed to rectifying the situation and has dispatched several substantial updates in the weeks after release. Following the patch 1.2.2 launched on June 24, an additional major update has been introduced, bringing a few compelling reasons to potentially win back its audience: vast maps and the Steam Workshop.
Here we highlight the key features of the update.
At last, expansive maps
There are certainly numerous reasons why Civ 7 did not resonate particularly well with the core community, much of which is related to the fundamental design – yet one frustration was the extremely limited game maps. Until this point, players were limited to medium-sized world maps.
Mods had provided some assistance here, but they were not an ideal solution, as many other game systems were not tailored for such large maps. Now, with the new patch, large and huge maps are accessible.
To ensure the game remains engaging on these large maps with up to ten factions, several mechanics have been adjusted:
– Two new pantheons have been introduced in Antiquity, which can be claimed by multiple players. Additionally, there are now beliefs that provide benefits when converting your own cities.
– Your communities will now gain even greater advantages from the various focus directions. City centers can allow you to construct buildings that other communities do not have access to, and the new resort city focus produces gold and satisfaction within specific districts.
– Each era now features many more diverse bonuses from city-states.
Steam Workshop
If you found yourself missing certain features in Civ 7, you could already incorporate many of them through mods. For instance, a mod for larger land masses was already available. Now, installing mods is even simpler.
You can easily explore numerous modifications via the Steam Workshop. Simply go to the Workshop page on Steam, subscribe to the desired mod, and it will be available in the game.
A comprehensive overview of all patch notes can be found on the following page.
Gameplay
– New advanced game options
– [Community-influenced item] An addition allows you to choose which legacy paths are active per era.
– Developer’s note: We aimed to provide players with the flexibility to personalize their gameplay by allowing them to disable selected Legacy Paths and victory by score. Keep in mind, you can still achieve victory even if all legacy paths are disabled and victory by score is turned off by eliminating all other leaders. We believe this adjustment should facilitate an exciting sandbox experience across the ages! (Note that these options are currently limited to single-player mode, but we intend to include them in multiplayer mode soon.)
– The “Nuclear Fission” technology has been introduced in the Modern Era, enabling players to use nuclear weapons without finishing the Military Legacy Path.
– [An option to turn off victory points has been added.
– A “Custom” AI difficulty setting has been introduced, permitting players to choose specific difficulty settings for each aspect.
– Developer’s note: With this update, you can adjust each AI bonus individually to any level. Not fond of AI’s economic advantages in God Mode but enjoy the combat challenge? Now you can tailor a game just for that!
– [An option has been integrated to select which crises you wish to activate or deactivate in your game.
– Developer’s note: We’ve always provided the option to completely toggle crises on or off, but we wanted to offer the extra choice to specify which crises you want to encounter. If you have multiple crises enabled for an era, the game will randomly pick one from the available crises pool.
– [An option to bypass civilization unlocks has been included, allowing players to select any civilization for the next era when advancing eras, irrespective of unlock conditions.
– [An option has been included to control the initial hostility of independent factions. Settling within 5 tiles of an independent faction will still result in hostility.
– Developer’s note: Starting close to multiple hostile independent factions can create a challenging early game, but sometimes you need a little room to establish your capital.
Land-based treasure convoys
– [Treasure fleets are getting legs! They are now referred to as treasure convoys and can operate not only at sea but also on land. Every settlement in far-off territories with enhanced treasure resources now generates treasure convoys and no longer depends on coastal access, a fishing port, or shipbuilding technology.
– Developer’s note: The “Treasure Fleet” legacy path, especially gathering resources that are not immediately accessible to your