Hey Civ fans,
Update 1.2.2 is rolling out now!
We’ve been heads-down at Firaxis putting together a hefty update for you this June, packed with long-awaited features like Large and Huge Maps, expanded Advanced Game Options, and a community favorite: Steam Workshop support. This update also brings new Town Specializations, City-State Bonuses, Beliefs, balance changes, UI improvements, and yes – a very pettable Scout dog.
For more context on what’s in this update, and what’s still being worked on beyond it, check out our recently released Update Check-In.
We’re also trying something new with this update. You’ll notice a (★) icon next to select notes: our way of showing that a feature or change was influenced by the community. If you don’t see this community icon next to something you’ve mentioned, know that it’s not a reflection on your feedback, it’s just a way to highlight some of the broader conversations we’re listening in on. Thanks for being part of the journey, and there’s more to come!
And lastly, a few quick notes before you dive in:
While we aim to maintain backwards compatibility for existing saves as much as possible, some new abilities or effects may not appear until you start a new game or advance to the next Age in your current campaign. For the best experience, we recommend starting a new game, or continuing your current game into the next Age.
If you encounter any new bugs or issues, try disabling any mods, as some may not yet be compatible with the latest update.
Are you playing on Steam and want to finish your current save under a previous version? You can do so using our legacy Steam beta branch.
Read on for the full notes below!
Large and Huge Maps
We wanted to take some time to get this feature right, and with 1.2.2, we’re happy to add support for Large and Huge map sizes on all of our map types – for when you really want to explore an epic world.
Both map sizes default to 10 players, but multiplayer campaigns still max out at 8 total players, including AI and humans. Though 12 total players is still our goal for Huge maps, we need a bit more time to make sure increased player counts won’t compromise game stability or performance.
On maps this big, you’ll find yourself encountering new leaders and civs playing out their own local rivalries deep into the Exploration Age, and even the largest of empires will often find themselves struggling with other emerging superpowers in the Modern Age.
Because these maps are so large, we’ve added exciting new Pantheons, Religious Beliefs, Discoveries, and City-State bonuses to ensure there’s enough content for all the players in a game. More on those below.
A quick heads-up that bigger maps have bigger hardware demands. On some systems, you might notice slower turn times or performance drops, especially on lower-end hardware. Lastly, Balanced starts on Large and Huge maps might encounter map generation oddities. We are actively working on improvements. On these map sizes, we recommend you stick to Standard starts instead of Balanced for the time being
New Advanced Game Options
One of the best things about Civilization is how many ways there are to play. Some players are happy to peacefully build the biggest, best Cities while others want to ignore all that and go conquer the world ("Yes, your amazing City does look great in my empire"). With 1.2.2, we’ve added several new advanced game setup options to give you even more control over how you play. The below options are currently available only in singleplayer.
The new options include:
Enable or disable specific Legacy Paths per Age (or turn them all off entirely)
Disable Score Victory (unlimited turns in final Age)
Enable or disable specific Crises
Custom AI Difficulty Options (adjust each AI bonus independently)
Bypass Civ Unlocks on Age Transition (you’ll be able to pick ANY civ from the next Age during an Age transition, no matter what you’ve unlocked through your gameplay decisions)
Adjust Independent Power Hostility (all hostile, random, or all friendly)
We’ve had a lot of fun playing with different Legacy Paths on or off in each Age. While Legacy Paths that don’t lead to a Victory are always optional, sometimes it’s nice to just tune them out entirely and focus on playing into the unique strengths of your leader and civ. For a fun sandbox game we’ve been playing in the office, try turning off Legacy Paths for Antiquity and Exploration, and setting the game to Abbreviated Ages. If you want to lean into the sandbox feel even more, try turning off Legacy Paths in Modern and the Score Victory, too.
This is a step toward giving you more flexibility in how you play, and we know Legacy Paths have more room to grow. Stay tuned for future updates!
New Bonuses for Religion, City-States, and Towns
Pantheons are first come first serve, so to make sure there’s enough to go around, we’ve added two new Pantheons to Antiquity, and these can be selected by more than one player.
We’ve heard feedback from players that Religion in Civ VII has room to grow. One consistent piece of feedback we’ve seen is that there’s not enough reason to convert your own Settlements, so we’re adding new Beliefs and updating some existing ones that give bonuses for spreading your Religion within your own empire. We’ve got bigger and bolder changes on the horizon for Religion, too, so we’ll keep you updated on how it evolves!
We’re also introducing updates for Town Focus bonuses to help them feel more impactful. Urban Centers in particular have received a glow-up, and now gain access to many of the Buildings that were otherwise only available in Cities (like Libraries and Monuments in Antiquity). Fort Towns gain the ability to purchase multiple walls so they can really lock down strategic chokepoints. We also introduced a new type of Town Focus: the Resort Town. These relaxing scenic retreats gain extra Gold and Happiness on Rural tiles with Happiness and increased Yields on Natural Wonders.
Lastly, we felt massed Hub Towns were overshadowing some of the other options and gave them a slight nerf from +2 Influence per connected Settlement to +1 Influence. We’re going to keep our eye on them to see how they compare against the other newly buffed Towns.
Steam Workshop
We’ve added a lot of options to customize your experience with this update, but nothing beats the level of personalization you can achieve with the help of our amazing modding community. From UI tweaks to ambitious gameplay overhauls, mods provide a way to really make your gameplay experience unique. So with this update, we're also rolling out Steam Workshop support and an initial version of the Modding SDK.
You'll now be able to find and install mods from the Steam Workshop. Just hit the Subscribe button and your mods will be installed the next time you start up the game! For modders, this of course means your mods will be easier for players to find and download, and you'll be better able to keep the mod up-to-date for your users. Please note that the Civilization VII mods you'll find in the Workshop are created by and for the Civ community, and are not officially supported by Firaxis or 2K. Use them at your own risk!
We’ll also be providing a Modding SDK to help our modding community create, debug, and upload mods to the Steam Workshop. While this initial version of the SDK won't feature art tools, it will include a mod uploader and the (glorious) return of FireTuner. Additionally, we've included some guides and documentation within the tools, if you’d like to learn how to make your own mods.
Last thing – we’ve also uploaded three example mods to the Steam Workshop to show off some of the things you can do with mods, but also as references for both new and more experienced modders on the various ways you can make changes to the game (there are a few neat tricks that weren’t available in Civilization VI)!
A quick reminder for modders:
When you're creating and sharing mods, please make sure your content follows our User Rules (which you can find in Section 6 of our Terms of Service), for example:
Don’t use content based on someone else’s IP (like characters, music, or art from other games, movies, etc.) unless you have the rights to use it.
Keep content safe and respectful, meaning no harmful, offensive, or inappropriate material.
And of course, no malicious code or anything that could negatively impact the experience for other players.
New Loading Screen
Did someone say more Gwendoline Christie VO?
One of the first things you’ll notice when you boot up 1.2.2 is a refreshed Loading Screen, a small but important step in a bigger effort to improve Civilization VII’s UI. We’ve rethought how we develop the UI, and the Loading Screen gave us a great chance to try new workflows without disrupting gameplay. Highlights include leader portraits front and center, new info panels, a Tips & Hints section, and fully rewritten and rerecorded intros narrated by Gwendoline Christie. Want to dive deeper? Check out our latest article from Firaxis Lead Producer Tom Shaw on this change and what’s next for the UI.
Gameplay
New Advanced Game Options
(★) - Community Influenced Item] Added an option to pick and choose which Legacy Paths are enabled per Age.
Dev Note: We wanted to give players options for how they could customize their game by allowing them to turn off Legacy Paths of their choice, and allowing them to disable the Score Victory. Note that if you turn off all Legacy Paths, and disable the Score Victory, you can still win the game with a Domination Victory by eliminating all other leaders. We think this change should allow for a cool sandbox experience through the Ages! (Please note that currently these options are only available in Single-player, but we plan to add these to Multiplayer in the future.)
(★) Added an option to disable the Score Victory.
(★) Added a new “Custom” AI Difficulty setting that allows the player to choose difficulty options specific for each value.
Dev Note: With this update, you can set any of the AI bonuses to any level you want individually. Don’t like the economic bonuses the AI has on Deity, but enjoy the challenge in combat? Now you can set up a game to do exactly that!
(★) Added an option to pick and choose which Crises you want on or off in your game.
Dev Note: We’ve always allowed for Crises to be entirely on or off, but wanted to give you the added control to pick and choose which Crises you want to see. If you have more than one Crisis enabled for an Age, then the game will randomly choose one from the pool of enabled Crises.
(★) Added an option to Bypass Civilization Unlocks, allowing players to choose any civ for the next Age at Age Transition regardless of any unlock requirements.
(★) Added an option to control initial Independent Power hostility. Settling within 5 tiles of an Independent Power will still cause them to become hostile.
Land-Based Treasure Convoys
(★) Treasure Fleets are growing legs! These will now be called Treasure Convoys, and you’ll be able to use them over land and not just the sea. Any Distant Lands Settlement with improved Treasure Resources now generates Treasure Convoys and no longer requires Coastal access, a Fishing Quay, or the Shipbuilding Tech.
Dev Note: The Treasure Fleet Legacy path, specifically the gameplay around gathering Resources not immediately available to your empire, is a fun collection minigame for players that like to play the map. While we’ve improved Resource placement further, the steps required to progress this Legacy Path were still quite restrictive and often forced linear play patterns instead of asking for interesting decisions when settling. We’ve made some adjustments that should make it much easier to pursue this Legacy Path, while still requiring you to explore and settle Distant Lands. We plan on continuing to observe this Legacy Path as well as the others to find places to inject strategic variety.
Shipbuilding is no longer required to make Treasure Convoys.
Fishing Quays are no longer needed to make Treasure Convoys.
Updated tutorial and Advisor Quests to remove instances of Fishing Quay being required to spawn Treasure Convoy.
AI
AI civs now repair damaged Buildings and Improvements over time in gameplay.
AI will now have better judgment and make smarter deals when negotiating a peace deal.
AI players will now activate a Great Person when they create one.
AI now prioritizes attacking Enemy Treasure Convoys when progressing through a game.
AI are no longer as aggressive in declaring war on players who are far away from them.
AI leaders can no longer build duplicate Buildings when one of their damaged Buildings has a hostile Unit on it.
AI civs will no longer build multiple Settler Units and not use them when encountered during late Antiquity gameplay.
Cities & Towns
Added a brand new Town Focus, Resort Town: +1/2/3 Happiness and +1/2/3 Gold on tiles with Happiness (Natural Appeal). +50% Yields on Natural Wonder tiles in this Town.
Redesigned Urban Center: +100% Gold and Happiness towards Building maintenance in this Town. You can buy additional Buildings (e.g. Library, Bath, Monuments) in this Town (Was: +1 Science and Culture on Districts with two Buildings in this Town.)
(★) Adjusted balance on several existing Town Focuses:
Religious site: +1 Happiness on all Buildings and +1 Relic Slot on Temples in this Town. (Was: +2 Happiness and +1 Relic Slot on Temples in this Town.)
Factory Town: +100% Gold towards purchasing a Factory in this town. +1 Resource Slots. +5 Trade Range. (From +100% Gold towards purchasing a Factory in this Town. +1 Resource Slots.)
Mining Town: +2/3/4 Production on all Camps, Woodcutters, Clay Pits, Mines, and Quarries. (Was: +1/2/3 Production on all Camps, Woodcutters, Clay Pits, Mines, and Quarries.)
Hub Town: +1 Influence for every connected Town (Was: +2 Influence for every connected Town.)
Fort Town: +5 healing to Units and +25 health to Walls in this Town and can purchase additional Walls.
Independent Powers & City-States
Economy
Made several balance adjustments to Specialists, especially in Modern.
Free Speech (Modern Age Civic): +50% Food and Happiness towards maintaining Specialists (Was: +100% Food and Happiness towards maintaining Specialists)
Constitution (Exploration Age Civic): 25% Food and Happiness towards maintaining Specialists (Was: 50% Food and Happiness towards maintaining Specialists)
Attribute Node: 10% Food and Happiness towards maintaining Specialists, or +20% if you have 3 or fewer Cities (Was: 15% Food and Happiness towards maintaining Specialists, or +30% if you have 3 or fewer Cities)
Attribute Node: 15% of Food is refunded when a City grows by adding a Specialist. (Was: 25% of Food is refunded when a City grows by adding a Specialist.)
Fascism Ideology:
Assembly Line: +2 Production from Specialists. -2 Food in Towns. (Was: +3 Production from Specialists. -3 Food in Towns)
Dirigisme: +4 Gold from Specialists. -3 Happiness in Towns. (Was: +6 Gold from Specialists. -3 Happiness in Towns.)
Communism Ideology
Removed Gold Maintenance for Portal de Mercaderes, Steel Mill, and Manigramam.
Removed Happiness Maintenance for the Garden, Shiguan, Catedral, and Jardin à la Française.
The “Suffetes” Tradition now grants the bonus Yields to the specialized Towns when slotting the Policy.
Tiles in Settlements without a Baray now get pillaged/damaged during floods while playing as Khmer after studying Mousong.
Aerodrome and Rail Station can no longer be built on top of each other.
Updated ability and text for Terrace Farm, which now gives adjacent buildings Gold, instead of receiving gold for adjacent Buildings.
Multiple World Wonders can no longer be built on the same tile when moving the priority on the Production queue.
The Opera House now counts as a Diplomacy building.
You can now produce or purchase Buildings after the Jaguar Slayer has placed a Jaguar Trap on an Empty Urban District.
Salt and Truffles resources now apply 20% Production towards producing Units when slotted into a City.
Modifiers for City Park, Stock Exchange, Tenement, and Laboratory function correctly.
Age Transition
Diplomacy
Reconciliation is now usable with multiple leaders at the same time.
Continental System's massive relationship penalty now functions similar to a Denounce sanction.
Hostile military no longer receives War Support combat bonus when using Kispoko Nena’to to attack with Shawnee Civic Telwatiki Mastery unlocked.
Environment
(★) All map types now guarantee enough traversable Ocean Tiles near the Poles.
The water/lake tiles in Homelands no longer appear as Distant Land when using Continents, Terra Incognita, and Pangaea Plus map types.
Sugar resource is now correctly considered a Bonus resource in Modern instead of an Empire resource.
Addressed a reported issue where Cocoa would disappear from the map when transitioning to Modern.
Miscellaneous
(★) Added new option to pet the Scout dog.
Razing changes made in Update 1.2.1 apply in the Modern Age.
Sicilian Wars Mastery now grants one Great Work slot on Towns with the Trade Outpost focus when playing as Carthage.
Addressed a reported issue where the new host in a multiplayer room could not see the kick button or remove players after inheriting host status.
Military
Sherpa activation lens corrected, and activation tiles are now highlighted correctly.
Naval focused attacks (Commander orders) should now correctly highlight land or naval Units depending on the type of attack.
Treasure Convoys are now captured when killed by a Naval Unit.
Combat Strength bonuses from slotted Traditions now appear and function correctly when defending.
The Army and Fleet Commander promotions work on respawned Commanders.
Fleet Commanders "Barrage Land Target" action is no longer available when the only available Naval Units are Submarines.
Naval Units now have the ability to conduct coastal raids when they have the Movement points and Shipbuilding II Tech is completed.
The Army Commander ability "Scorched Earth" will no longer display while in friendly territory on the borderline of enemy territory.
French Empire's Unique Unit Garde Imperiale can no longer gain +2 Combat Strength if it’s not within a Command Radius when attacking.
Nepal’s Sherpas can construct Highland Power Stations on owned and unowned Tiles so long as the requirements are met.
Naval Commander Movement now acts accordingly when Shipbuilding Mastery is completed.
Coastal Raid no longer disappears when moving a Naval Unit onto another tile that had a Coastal Raid option.
Religion
(★) Added two new Pantheons, including:
Trickster God: +25% Influence towards Endeavors and Sanctions with an Altar in your Capital. This Pantheon can be chosen by multiple civilizations.
God of Revelry: +1 Happiness on Resources in Settlements with an Altar. This Pantheon can be chosen by multiple civilizations.
Dev Note: Another consideration for larger maps and player counts was more Pantheon and Religious Beliefs being chosen. We expanded the catalogue of Beliefs and introduced some shareable options here as well.
(★) Added several new Religious Beliefs, including:
New Reliquary Beliefs:
Akhlaq: +1 Relic for first-time Conversion of one of your Cities.
Anitya: +2 Relics for the first-time Conversion of a Holy City. This Belief can be chosen by multiple civilizations.
Sukha: +2 Relics for first-time Conversion of a Settlement with at least 3 Specialists.
Barakah: +2 Relics for first-time Conversion of any Settlement with a Natural Wonder.
Dev Note: These new Beliefs can all be used on your own Settlements when you use a Missionary to convert them, as long as they meet the other requirements.
New Founder Beliefs:
Salat: All Buildings receive a +1 Happiness adjacency with the Temple.
Chesed: +4 Production in your Settlements following your Religion.
Feed the World: +6 Food in your Settlements following your Religion.
Tikkun Olam: +2 Influence for every foreign Settlement following your Religion. +1 Influence for each of your Settlements following your Religion.
Covenant: +3 Science, Culture, Happiness, Influence, and Gold on the Temple in your Holy City. If you retain this Belief, this bonus transfers to your Palace in Modern. This Belief can be chosen by multiple civilizations.
Pushkaram: +1 Influence for every Navigable River tile in foreign Settlements following your Religion.
New Enhancer Beliefs:
Divine Inspiration: Gain 2 Missionaries when you build a Wonder. This belief can be chosen by multiple civilizations.
Parampara: +1 Relic Slot in Science Buildings in Cities.
Inter Caetera: Treasure Convoys gain +1 Movement and +5 Combat when defending.
Crusade: +1 free War Support against civilizations who have Founded a Religion.
(★) Added capability for shareable Religious Beliefs and City-State bonuses.
(★) When a Missionary Unit is selected, Settlements that qualify for your Reliquary Belief are now highlighted.
Founder Beliefs that provided Yield for each foreign Settlement following your Religion now grant some Yield for domestic Settlements following your Religion.
Dev Note: Many of the changes to Religious gameplay in this patch are aimed at providing a benefit for keeping your empire converted to your own Religion. As we continue to look at Religion as a whole, we’ve made some changes to Beliefs to better support having a Religious empire, and not just converting until you have enough Relics.
Various Founders Beliefs now track and refresh correctly.
Desert Faith
Reincarnation
Holy Waters
Sacred Herds
Sky Gods
Shamanism
Leaders & Civs
Leaders
Civs
UI/UX
Civilopedia
Added Civilopedia entries for Mementos, Legend Paths, and Challenges.
Updated Civilopedia to reflect new changes to Treasure Convoys.
Information about Natural Wonder base Yield scaling between Ages is now in the Civilopedia.
The Civilopedia now gives information on Standard Buildings when searching for more information.
The Civilopedia now explains what benefits are gained from upgrading a Unique Unit to a higher tier.
Updated the Civilopedia entry for Villa to reflect that they can be built in Towns during the Revolt Crisis.
The Civilopedia now contains information on Discoveries when the player searches Civilopedia.
Independent Incite Raid ability information and requirements are now present in the Civilopedia when trying to research the ability.
The "Embark" entry is no longer missing details when attempting to find information about the embarked Movement point.
The incorrect terminology "Clicking" will no longer appear when viewing the "Antiquity: Great Library" Civilopedia entry.
Controller-Specific
The scroll bar no longer loses functionality when viewing another players’ Religion after unlocking new Beliefs.
Cursor no longer loses focus when placing all Towns with the City cards selected in the Place Effects menu.
Placeholder “?” button prompts no longer appear during the Advanced Start settlement placement screen when using an Xbox-layout controller.
R-Stick now has scroll functionality in the Archive box in the Great Works menu.
Players are no longer able to access the diplomatic menu of a leader that has not been met when opening it from the radial menu.
General
(★) Added clarity and quality-of-life improvements to several UI menus and interactions:
Celebration info is now displayed in the HUD instead of just the Government screen.
Added option in Settings to allow the City panel to remain open after choosing something to produce.
The player can now scroll to view all items in the Production queue.
Changed instances of checkboxes to selectors in Advanced Options for UI consistency.
The color of a Memento’s icon now aligns with the color of its effect for easier readability.
Project Research Objectives now visually mark as complete when a step is finished while in the Legacy Paths menu.
(★) Improved menu behavior and visual feedback across multiple screens:
Global Yields now update immediately when adding a Yield from a select attribute.
The attribute number icon now disappears after distributing points in the leader menu.
Cursor no longer remains as the Melee/Ranged attack icon when moving from an enemy Unit to an owned Settlement.
"Accept" and "Support" options are no longer swapped when viewing the "Denounce Military Presence" Diplomatic Action.
Improved game performance and stability on the War Support screen, and when scrolling on the Tech and Civic tree menus.
Addressed a reported issue where a small black square could appear above the lower left corner's overlay where the leader, civ, and Age selection displays.
Addressed a reported issue where a redundant "Support Yourself" button would appear after adding War Support to any AI leader for their war against other AI leaders.
Text Changes
Adjusted the name of Inquisition Crisis policy to Schism.
Incorrect text “Convert to an urban tile” no longer appears when placing a Unique Improvement.
Updated Terrace Farm description and functionality text when playing as Inca.
The Buganda Social Policies Ng’oma and Interlacustrine now display “(Coastal)” text for Kabaka’s Lake, when viewing the Government menu.
Incorrect Treasure Convoy information has been removed from Distant Town’s detail page.
Resolved several localization and display issues affecting text clarity:
Tooltips
Narrative
Added 17 new Discovery events in Antiquity and 17 new Discovery events in Exploration.
(★) Enhanced Civilopedia entries with historical accuracy and new character quotes:
Ada Lovelace and Simón Bolívar now have quotes on their Civilopedia pages.
Corrected a historical inaccuracy in the Xerxes Civilopedia page.
Golden Age Academy and Golden Age Amphitheater pages now share historic context with their regular versions.
Great Britain’s Financial Centre Civilopedia page now has historical context information.
Improved reward clarity for several Events and Discoveries.
The first step in the Geographic Society Legacy Path can no longer be completed prematurely from being granted a free Explorer Unit.
Improved consistency and logic of Event triggers, including:
Exploding Earth: Event now triggers when a Settlement tile is damaged by a volcanic eruption.
It’s not a Phase, it’s a Lifestyle: The Event is no longer blocked from triggering if the Social Class Social Policy is active.
Literary Deluge: Event is no longer blocked from triggering if the Literature Social Policy is active.
The Palapa Oath: The Capital now counts as a founded Settlement and contributes towards triggering this event.
The Palapa Oath: Event will now trigger on Advanced Start mode in Exploration.
Shared Practices: Event is no longer blocked from triggering if the Vassalage Social Policy is active.
Shrouded in Mystery: The Event can no longer be incorrectly triggered when the player founds a Religion in the Homeland Continent.
The Sacrilegious Rider: Event now grants Gold at the cost of Culture.
Press Gangs: Event now displays a negative Production icon for the second option.
Audio
Added new Civilization VII Narrator English voiceover lines for the new Loading Screen.
Added sound effects for new “Pet the Dog” Unit ability.
Various fixes to missing base game sound effects and improvements to audio feedback.
Added bespoke UI sound design across multiple interface elements.
Updated SFX for controller interactions.
Updated default audio level settings.
Platform-Specific
Linux, macOS
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