Hi Civ fans,

Update 1.3.0 is rolling out now for all platforms, and it’s bringing your seas to life! 

This update introduces the Harbor, Privateer, new ocean resources and terrain, and updates to naval combat - giving you more tools, strategies, and freedom on the high seas than ever before. Alongside these changes, we’ve continued our efforts to balance various areas of Civ VII, this time focusing in on civs. 

The Tides of Power Collection launches with this update, and it’s free to claim for all Civ VII players until January 5.* Claim it during this period and it's yours to keep permanently at no cost - just search Sid Meier's Civilization® VII: Tides of Power Collection on your platform's storefront and add it to your account. Starting today, add Edward Teach, Republic of Pirates, and Tonga content packs to your game, and then receive the Sayyida al Hurra, Ottomans, and Iceland content packs in-game when they're released in December 2025. If you successfully claim this content by January 5, 2026 at 6:59AM PT, it's yours to keep; otherwise it will be available for individual purchase starting January 5, 2026.

As we shared in our recent Update Check-in, we’re shifting into a lighter update period over the holidays to test upcoming features, including changes to Legacy Paths and Victories, and an optional way to play as one civ through the Ages. We wanted to share some of our goals and what we’re currently testing. First, civ-switching is an important part of Civilization VII and isn’t going anywhere. We also recognize that many players want to play as the same civ through an entire campaign. We’re currently looking into ways where that’s possible while also making sure playing as a civ in all Ages is a viable, fun, and interesting way to play.

We're excited to share more in the coming weeks about our upcoming Firaxis Feature Workshop initiative, and enable members of the Civ community to playtest and provide feedback on this new functionality. For those who want to help shape these features, you can apply for a chance to be accepted into the invite-only Firaxis Feature Workshop program, with opportunities for hands-on access and a chance to share feedback directly with the team.

There’s a lot to explore in this update, so we hope you enjoy!  As usual, just 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.

Once we decided we wanted to go all-in on a naval theme for 1.3.0, we started to feel the lack of some interesting decision points around Coastal Settlements and naval gameplay. For one, Coastal Settlements often had decent Food and opportunities for trade, but weren’t the best source of Production (especially island Settlements). Additionally, your first choice of Technology in Antiquity is between two Production Warehouses or Sailing, and Sailing was often the less interesting and less viable option. 

To help solve this issue, we’ve added the Harbor, a new Warehouse Building unlocked on Sailing. It provides a much-needed base Production and a Production Warehouse bonus for Fishing Boats. Now, your Coastal Settlements can be as industrious as your heavily Vegetated or Rough ones.

Similarly, we felt a lack of naval pressure during the Exploration Age. Unless you were keen on wars, Units could wander the seas freely and there was little push to keep a standing navy. Our vision for this Age was civilizations that choose to take to the seas and need to fight for naval supremacy as they explore and exploit islands and distant Resources. 

So, with 1.3.0, we’re introducing the Privateer, a Light Naval Unit available to all civs, that ignores restrictions like war and peace. It can attack (and be attacked by!) any non-Allied Unit, as well as plunder trade routes between non-allied civs. No more needing to declare war to capture that Treasure Convoy, just send in your Privateers. And even better, Privateers also generate Gold when they defeat another Unit. We recommend trying out these changes with the new Republic of Pirates civ, and setting sail with their unique Privateer, the Sloop! Beware though, as killing Units and plundering Trade Routes with Privateers will cause your Relationship to worsen a little.

With so much more activity on the high seas, we also took a closer look at the actual seas. With this update, we’re adding more Resources, two new types of marine terrain, and the ability to work Ocean tiles in Modern.

Both internally and from players, we’ve heard the desire for more variety in Coastal Resources. We’re adding three new water-based Resources, Cowrie, Crabs, and Turtles, and one new-land based Resource, Pitch. We’ve also tweaked Resource generation to ensure more variety in Coastal Resources, as well as increase consistency of Resources Age-to-Age.

Additionally, we’ve introduced two new terrain features with this update: Atolls and Lotus. Atolls are movement-stopping terrain in the open Ocean, like Vegetated or Rough tiles on land, and introduce more positioning in naval combat scenarios. Naval Units also get a defensive combat bonus when stationed on Atolls. Lotus appears only in lakes, and replaces the Reefs that used to appear there. These new terrain features provide extra yield when worked, and we’ve tweaked Reefs to match, so keep an eye out for valuable Coastal and lakeside Settlement spots.

Finally, we’ve added the ability to work Ocean tiles in Modern, similar to how Mountains can be worked. The default improvement on them is Fishing Boats, so be sure to build your Fishing Quays and Harbors. Just like Inca’s ability to work Mountains earlier, Hawai'i gains the ability to work Ocean tiles in Exploration. 

Naval Combat Update

What’s a sea-themed update and Content Collection without great naval combat? Prior to this update, all naval combat was melee combat, but now we've added Ranged Units to the mix as well. We've broken Naval Units up into two types: Light and Heavy.

• Light Units: Faster melee units with increased Vision. They excel at scouting ahead for Heavy Units, performing flanking attacks, and revealing more of the battlefield. The updated roster includes the Privateer (details to follow) in the Exploration Age, and the Ironclad, Cruiser, and Destroyer in the Modern Age.

• Heavy Units: Slower units with limited Vision, but capable of devastating attacks that can quickly cripple enemy fleets or coastal Districts if left unchecked. Heavy Units use melee attacks against other Naval Units in Antiquity, and are ranged in Exploration and Modern. The updated roster includes the Galley and Quadrireme in the Antiquity Age, the Cog, Carrack, and Galleon in the Exploration Age, and the Frigate, Dreadnought, and Battleship in the Modern Age.

Overall, these changes should make your fleets feel more like fleets, and conquering the seas will feel like a much more strategic and deliberate endeavor. For a deeper dive into these updates, check out our latest From the Devs article here!

When we last spoke about balance in Update 1.2.5, we mentioned that it was one step in a longer process. Our goal - as is true with so many changes we make - is to make your choices matter more, including making your choice of leader and civ be a significant part of your overall strategy and gameplay. While we’re content with the power level of our leaders (for now), with this update and the next, we’ll be tweaking several civs to get them more in line with that goal.

This balance pass is full of buffs, but some overperforming civs like the Mississippians and Qing have been nerfed to bring them to the same power level as the rest of the roster. You’ll also notice that we’re leaning much harder into slicing abilities into narrower bonuses focused on each civ’s identity. Egypt’s new bonuses mostly apply in the Desert, and some of Aksum’s updated abilities lean heavier into requiring Coastal Settlements. This lets us make some of those bonuses more powerful, as they require you to lean into the civ’s identity during gameplay. We’re planning on applying this approach to the whole game as we continue our balance pass, and would love your feedback on how it feels!

• New Building: Harbor

  • The Harbor is an Antiquity Age Warehouse Water Building available to all civs that unlocks on Sailing.

    • As a Water Building, it can be placed only in Coastal and Navigable River tiles. It has the same placement restrictions as a Fishing Quay.

    • Like other Warehouse Buildings, the Harbor is available in Towns.

  • It provides +1 base Production, and a +1 Production Warehouse bonus on Fishing Boats. 

  • Naval Units will default to spawning on the Harbor, similar to the Barracks for land Units.

• New Unit: Privateer

  • The Privateer is an Exploration Age Light Naval Unit available to all civs that unlocks on Heraldry. It is a melee-focused Unit, with very weak ranged and bombard attacks.

  • The Privateer has the Pirate ability (see below for details). Additionally, when the Privateer kills a Unit, it gains 100% of its Combat Strength as Gold. 

• New Unit Ability: Pirate

  • The Pirate ability allows the following:

    • Units can cross borders of other civs without Open Borders, Alliance, or War.

    • Units can Plunder Trade Routes between non-Allied civs without War.

      • Plundering a Trade Route this way causes a slight reduction in Relationship with the civ the Trader belonged to.

    • Units can attack non-Allied Units without War.

      • Defeating a Unit this way causes a slight reduction in Relationship with the civ the Unit belonged to. Attacking an Independent Power this way causes them to become Hostile.

• AI now fully uses all Sanctions against other players, including other AI players.

• When an AI proposal to form an alliance is accepted, the alliance is now properly created between the two leaders.

• AI no longer fails to use the Establish Air Base Ability when progressing through a game in the Modern Age.

• AI no longer fails to attack Air Bases with Air Units when establishing an Air Base near the AI's Settlement during Modern Age Gameplay.

• AI now more consistently builds naval Units.

• Addressed a reported issue where AI would not properly select Celebrations.

• Addressed a reported issue where AI players could still receive free walls in multiple Settlements when a custom difficulty game sets free walls to 0.

• (★ - Community Influenced Item) Naval Combat Updates

  • The Cog (Exploration Unit) now has a range of 2, increased from 1.

  • Light and Heavy Naval Units are more distinct. This applies to both Exploration and Modern.

    • Light Naval Units are now primarily melee Units with very weak ranged and bombard strength. They have increased movement and sight compared to the Heavy Naval Units in their Age, and can benefit from flanking when attacking. Light Units take reciprocal damage when attacking.

      • The new Privateer Unit in Exploration is a Light Naval Unit. 

      • Light Naval Units in Modern have had their ranged and bombard strength reduced by 20 to better fit their role as melee Units.

    • Heavy Naval Units are now primarily ranged Units. Their melee strength has been reduced by 5, and their ranged and bombard strength have increased by 5. Like other ranged Units, Heavy Units don’t take reciprocal damage when attacking.

    • Civ Unique Naval Units have been adjusted to keep their relative strength compared to the Unit they replaced in that Age.

  • Submarines (Modern Unit) are now ranged Units with an increased ranged strength of 70 and a reduced melee strength of 50. Previously they had a base strength of 65. They can no longer attack Districts or land Units.

  • The Fleet Commander’s Focus Fire and Coordinated Attack should now utilize Heavy and Light Units respectively. Light Naval Units should not be included in a Focus Fire, and Heavy Naval Units should not be included in a Coordinated Attack.

    • Privateers and Units with the Pirate ability will not participate in a Coordinated Attack or Focus Fire command while not at war.

      • Dev Note: We made this decision to keep combat rules consistent and prevent bigger issues with how wars are handled. We’ll keep listening to feedback on this for future improvements!

• Other Combat Updates

  • Trench Fighters and Dive Bomber Units have had their Bombard Strength reduced, and Bomber and Heavy Bomber Units have had their Ranged Strengths reduced, to make the air Units fit better into their intended roles.

• New Terrain: Atolls and Lotus

  • Atolls: Atolls are a Feature that can appear on Ocean tiles. They stop movement for Units, and have a combat defense bonus for Units on the Atoll. Their Yields when worked are:

    • Exploration: 1 Food, 2 Production, 1 Culture

    • Modern: 1 Food, 2 Production, 2 Culture

  • Lotus: Lotus is a Feature that can appear on Lake tiles. They replace Reef tiles that previously appeared in Lakes. Their Yields when worked are:

    • Antiquity: 1 Food, 1 Culture

    • Exploration: 2 Food, 1 Culture

    • Modern: 2 Food, 2 Culture

• Terrain Updates

  • Reefs: Reefs no longer spawn in Lakes. They are now exclusively in Coastal tiles that are not Lakes. Their Yields when worked have been updated:

    • Antiquity: 1 Food, 1 Production, 1 Science

    • Exploration: 1 Food, 2 Production, 1 Science

    • Modern: 1 Food, 2 Production, 2 Science

  • Ocean: Ocean tiles are now workable by all civs in the Modern Age and provide 1 Food and 3 Gold.

  • Grand Canyon: The Grand Canyon now gives 1 Science on Flat tiles, from 2 previously.

• (★) Auto Explore and Discoveries

  • When clicking on Units with Auto Explore, Discoveries are now highlighted in blue to improve readability. 

  • The automated exploration ability can no longer be activated when the Unit is within range of being able to reach a discovery (within 2 turns of movement).

• Thành Huế no longer requires Flat terrain.

• Sawmill no longer requires River placement.

• Trade Route Range is no longer ignored when Forming an Alliance with the Kolp'um Civic researched as Silla during Antiquity Age.

• Independent Powers no longer spawn more Units than expected when performing Incite Raid in early Antiquity.

• Festival Ground now specifies that it needs to be placed on an existing improvement in the choose bonus menu.

• Independent Power Carracks no longer receive Rough Seas damage when they move into Open Ocean tiles.

• Updated Modern Social Policy, Monopolies, to provide +5 Gold in Settlements with a Factory. (Previously: +3)

• Updated Dell'Arte della Guerra Memento to provide +3 Gold Gold per Sanction you have active per Age. (Previously: +5 Gold Gold per Sanction you have active per Age.)

• Made improvements to the first-time user experience for Unique Buildings.

• Addressed a reported issue where the player could be prevented from interacting with their Founder when putting the Founder to sleep while Auto End turn is enabled.

• (★) Commanders no longer consume all movement points when deploying all Units.

• Splash damage reduced from 50% to 25% on Fleet and Squadron Trees.

• Commander's Coordinated attack no longer fails to work when individually unpacking with 'Initiative'.

• Commander Units in process of respawning no longer appear as an available choice when opening the "Levy Unit" menu from a Suzerain City-State.

• Ottru Units no longer fail to receive any active Naval Unit bonuses.

• Updated Resource Generation:

  • (★) Resources should be more consistent between Ages now. If a resource is not generated in an Age, it will not appear suddenly in future Ages, nor will it disappear for an Age and then come back. For example, if you didn’t see Turtles in Antiquity, they will not appear in Exploration.

    • Dev Note: We’ve gotten feedback that changing resources between Ages can be frustrating. While we like that the world changes a little between Ages and makes you reevaluate the map, this was a good spot to improve the experience and address some of the feedback. 

  • Maps will now have a guaranteed minimum of 3 different Coastal Resources, with a chance for more. 

    • Dev Note: This should make those hidden Whales start appearing in more games!

  • When Age Transitioning, maps will now have at least 1 new Resource introduced in that Age. For example, transitioning to Exploration would guarantee at least one Resource new to Exploration, like Whales, Niter, or the new Pitch.

• New Resources:

  • Crabs: Appears on Coastal and Lake tiles.

    • Tile Yield: +1 Food

    • Antiquity (Bonus Resource): +1 Food on Warehouse Buildings

    • Exploration (Bonus Resource): +2 Food on Warehouse Buildings

    • Modern (Bonus Resource): +3 Food on Warehouse Buildings

  • Cowrie: Appears on Coastal tiles.

    • Tile Yield: +1 Happiness

    • Antiquity (Bonus Resource): +4 Gold in Cities, +2 Science in Towns

    • Exploration (Bonus Resource): +5 Gold in Cities, +3 Science in Towns

    • Modern (Bonus Resource): +6 Gold in Cities, +4 Science in Towns

  • Turtles: Appears on Coastal tiles.

    • Tile Yield: +1 Culture

    • Antiquity (Bonus Resource): +1 Culture on Warehouse Buildings

    • Exploration (Bonus Resource): +2 Culture on Warehouse Buildings

  • Pitch: Appears on Vegetated tiles in Grassland, Plains, and Tundra.

    • Tile Yield: +1 Production, +1 Gold

    • Exploration (Bonus Resource): +1 Gold on Water Buildings

    • Modern (Bonus Resource): +1 Production on Factories, +10% Production towards constructing Factories in all Settlements when slotted.

    • Dev Note: With Pitch, we’re experimenting with new design space for Resources. The Resource is harder to use, requiring specific Buildings and may not be active until late in an Age, but its tile has increased Yield compared to other Resources. Let us know what you think!

• Achaemenid Persia:

  • Dev Note: Persia is a beloved civ, but we got enough feedback that they felt weak in areas outside of combat that we wanted to buff them. Now, they have increased Culture from their Unique Improvements, as well as a little more healing. Finally, we renamed them to better clarify their identity as the Achaemenids.

  • Pairidaeza: +2 Culture and +1 Gold. +5 Healing for Military Units in a Settlement with a Pairidaeza. Cannot be adjacent to another Pairidaeza. (Previously: +1 Culture and Gold. Cannot be adjacent to another Pairidaeza.)

  • Satrapies (Tier 2): +1 Settlement Limit. The Pairidaeza gets +1 Culture and +1 Happiness from adjacent Quarters. (Previously: +1 Settlement Limit. The Pairidaeza gets +1 Happiness from adjacent Quarters.)

  • Baziš (Tier 1): +5 Gold, +2 Happiness and +2 Culture for every different civilization you have captured a Settlement from. (Previously: Achaemenid Empire: +5 Gold for every different civilization you have captured a Settlement from.)

• Aksum:

  • Dev Note: Aksum’s changes are a good example of our new approach of giving stronger bonuses on narrower effects. By leaning into the emphasis on Coastal Settlements, we get to buff the numbers of some of the abilities. Remember, a Coastal Settlement is a Settlement with its City Center adjacent to the Coast.

  • Unique Ability: +3 Gold on Resources in Coastal Settlements. (Previously: +2 Gold on Resources.)

  • Tankwa: Added +2 Gold from this Trade Route.

  • Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Tier 2): +1 Gold on Districts adjacent to Coast. Port of Nations Tradition. (Previously: +1 Gold on Quarters adjacent to Coast. Port of Nations Tradition.)

  • Monumentum Adulitanum (Tier 1): Culture and Happiness Buildings gain a +1 Culture Adjacency for Hawilti (Previously: The Altar and Monument gain a Culture Adjacency with Hawilti.)

  • Book of the Himyarites (Tier 1): Gain a free Merchant. The Dhow gets +1 Movement and ignores Zone of Control. May This Please the People Tradition. (Previously: The Dhow gets the Swift keyword (ignore ZoC). May This Please the People Tradition.)

• Chola:

  • Dev Note: Chola only needed a little reinforcement of its identity as a Diplomatic civ, so we added some Influence generation to their kit.

  • Unique Ability: Added +3 Gold and +1 Influence on Trade Routes.

• Egypt

  • Dev Note: We got a lot of feedback that Egypt offered an exciting gameplay style (focusing on Wonders) but often failed to deliver, or was rough to transition into Exploration and onward. We leaned heavily into the Desert and Navigable River theme, and gave Egypt some hefty buffs.

  • Gifts of Osiris: +2 Production on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers. (Previously: Gifts of Osiris: +1 Production on Navigable Rivers.)

  • Riches of the Duat: +15% Production towards Wonders, doubled for Wonders in Desert Terrain. +2 Production on Wonders in Desert Terrain. (Previously: +15% Production towards Wonders.)

  • Mastaba: Culture base. +1 Gold adjacency for Desert tiles and Navigable Rivers. (Previously: Culture base. +1 Gold adjacency for Desert tiles.)

  • Mortuary Temple: Gold base. +1 Happiness adjacency for Navigable Rivers. +1 Culture Adjacency for Wonders. (Previously: Culture base. +1 Gold adjacency for Desert tiles and Navigable Rivers.)

  • Light of Amun-Ra (Tier 1): +2 Gold and +2 Culture on the Palace and Wonders. +1 Settlement Limit. Kemet Tradition. Pyramids Wonder. (Previously: +5 Gold on the Palace. +1 Settlement Limit. Kemet Tradition. Pyramids Wonder.)

  • Akhet: +2 Food on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers. (Previously: +1 Food on Navigable Rivers.)

  • Kemet: +1 Culture on Improvements and Districts on Navigable and Minor Rivers. (Previously: +1 Culture on Navigable Rivers.)

• Great Britain:

  • Dev Note: We tried to limit the nerfs in this pass to individual effects that were overperforming. With the increased use of Towns and more Warehouses available, this effect had to change.

  • East India Company: +5 Gold in Towns. (Previously: +3 Gold on each Building in Towns.)

• Hawai'i:

  • Unique Ability: Can work Ocean tiles. Ocean tiles have 1 Food and 2 Gold. Gain 25 Culture each time a Settlement expands to Marine Terrain. +1 Happiness on all Marine Terrain. (Previously: Gain 25 Culture each time a Settlement expands to a Marine Tile. +1 Happiness on Fishing Boats.)

  • Unique Unit: +5 defense against Heavy Naval.

  • Lo’I Kalo: +3 Food. +2 Production. Receives +1 Culture from each adjacent Fishing Boat. Can only be placed in the Grassland and Tropical Biomes. (Previously: Lo’I Kalo: +3 Food. +2 Production. Adjacent Farms receive +1 Culture. Can only be placed in the Grassland and Tropical Biomes.)

• Maya:

  • Rain of Chaac (Tier 1): Unlock the K'uh Nah. The Altar gains +2 Science if placed on a Vegetated Tile. Pet Kot Tradition. (Previously: Unlock the K'uh Nah. The Altar gains +1 Science Adjacency for Vegetated tiles. Pet Kot Tradition.)

• Mississippian:

  • Dev Note: Like the change to Great Britain, we had to make some tweaks to what was probably the strongest Tradition in the game.

  • Shell-Tempered Pottery: Food, Gold, and Warehouse Buildings gain a +1 Gold Adjacency for Resources. (Previously: Buildings gain a +1 Gold Adjacency for Resources.)

• Prussia:

  • Ruhr (Tier 2): +1 Science on Resources. Coking Tradition. (Previously +2 Science on Resources. Coking Tradition.)

• Qing:

  • Kang Qian Shèngshì: +4 Gold, +4 Culture, +2 Influence, but -4 Science per Trade Route. (Previously: +4 Gold, +3 Culture, +2 Influence, but -1 Science from Imported Resources.)

  • Open Customs (Tier 1): Unlock the Qianzhuang. +1 Culture for every imported Resource. Cohong Tradition. +1 Settlement Limit. (Previously: +2 Culture for every imported Resource. Cohong Tradition. +1 Settlement Limit.)

• Songhai:

  • Dev Note: Songhai, like Egypt, was a civ that promised a cool gameplay niche (Navigable Rivers and Homelands Treasure) but fell short of exciting in a few ways. We made a lot of adjustments to their kit to improve their gameplay throughout the Age.

  • Unique Ability: Added +1 Production in Cities on Navigable Rivers for every Resource assigned to them. Removed +3 Gold for every active Trade Route.

  • Ships of the Desert (Tier 2): +1 Production on the Caravanserai in Settlements with a Bazaar and in Mining Towns and Trade Outposts. Unlocks the Mud Brick Tradition. (Previously: +2 Gold on the Caravanserai in Settlements with a Bazaar. Receive the Mud Brick Tradition.)

  • Hi-Koi (Tier 1): Minor and Navigable Rivers do not end Unit Movement. Your Trade Ships cannot be plundered on Navigable Rivers. (Previously: +5 combat strength to all combat Units on Navigable Rivers.)

  • Hi-Koi (Tier 2): Fleet Commanders gain the Convoys Promotion for free. Unlocks the Isa Tradition. (Previously: Isa Tradition and Rivers do not end movement.)

  • Kanta (Tier 1): Cities in Homelands on Navigable Rivers generate Treasure Convoys worth 1 VP each. Tajiro’s Gold becomes 200. Unlocks the Wakia Tradition. (Previously: Cities in Homelands on Navigable Rivers generate Treasure Ships worth 1 VP each. Tajiro's Gold becomes 200. +1 Settlement Cap.)

  • Kanta (Tier 2): +5 Combat Strength for the Gold Bangles Infantry with at least 5 Resources slotted in the Capital. +1 Settlement Limit.

  • Timbuktu: +2 Gold on Rough Terrain and Mines on Resources if there is a Gold Building in that City. (Previously: +2 Gold on Mines if there is a Gold Building in that City.)

  • Mud Brick: Added +1 Gold and Production on Gold Buildings on Desert or Plains.

  • Isa: +5 Combat Strength and +2 Movement to all Units on Navigable Rivers. (Previously: +2 Movement to all Units on Navigable Rivers.)

  • Wakia (New Tradition): +3 Gold for every active Trade Route.

  • Caravanserai Improvement: Added +1 Land Trade Route Range. Cannot be built adjacent to another Caravanserai.

• Spain:

  • Dev Note: Spain got a significant pass to help fit its historical and gameplay identity as conquerors of Distant Lands, and should feel much better in Exploration.

  • Attributes changed to Economic and Militaristic. (Previously: Expansionist and Militaristic.)

  • Unique Ability: +2 Food, Gold, and Production in Settlements adjacent to Coast and in Settlements following your own Religion, or +4 if it is both. This is doubled in Distant Lands. (Previously: +15% Gold towards converting a Town to a City, or 30% in Distant Lands.)

  • Armada (Tier 2): now has +5 combat strength for Heavy Naval Units.

  • Council of the Indies (Tier 1): gained "+15% Gold towards converting a Town to a City, or 30% in Distant Lands."

  • Council of the Indies (Tier 2): +1 Settlement Limit. Unlocks the El Escorial Wonder. (Previously: +1 Movement for Treasure Convoys and Rough Terrain does not end their Movement.)

  • New World Riches (Tier 1): +10% Food and Production in Cities in Distant Lands. (Previously: +10% Food and Production in Settlements in Distant Lands.)

  • New World Riches (Tier 2): +1 Movement for Treasure Convoys and Rough Terrain does not end their Movement. Rough Terrain effect now also applies to Conquistadors. (Previously: +1 Settlement Limit. Unlocks the El Escorial Wonder.)

  • Casa de Contratación: Unique Building moved to Council of the Indies base Civic.

  • Cerro Rico: +1 Gold on Resources, or +3 Gold in Distant Lands. (Previously: +2 Gold for each Resource.)

  • Conquista Tradition moved to Council of the Indies Civic Mastery.

  • Conquistadors now require the Plaza Unique Quarter to be trained.

• Improved spacing and formatting of text and button prompts throughout the UI.

• Glow behind header text in the civic menu is now centered properly.

• Advisor Warnings no longer fail to fit in the screen when opened in certain resolutions.

• Building Yield icons no longer fail to properly scale in size when constructed.

• Warning stripe on Narrative buttons no longer extends out of the box when there is a lot of text.

• Renaming a City is no longer blocked by the tutorial prompt when pressing the RS button in the production menu.

• Improved highlight visibility when selecting support buttons while adding war support to AI wars.

• The Player’s Foundation list now opens immediately when moving the cursor over the Leader portrait. 

• Removed a non-functional back button from the Building Your Legacy tutorial.

• Players can now move the cursor to observing slots after switching Settlements in the Building Breakdown list within the City Details menu.

• Players can now return to the Production menu using the D-pad after entering the City Details menu.

• The Up D-pad button will no longer disappear when opening another menu while the Ribbon is deployed.

• Button prompts now display correctly after leaving the Social menu and opening the Production or Great Work menu.

• Non-functional button prompts will no longer appear after triggering the Civilization Unlocked pop-up and then viewing the Production menu.

• The scroll bar will no longer move automatically when switching between Civic Trees.

• Addressed a reported issue where the UI would become stuck when the Leaders’ ribbon menu was opened before the civic/tech unlock window appeared.

• Treasure Convoys now display their point value and Settlement origin on both their tooltip and Unit panel, and also show point value directly on the Unit icon.

• The Auto Explore option is now visible under Keyboard + Mouse accessibility configurations.

• Players can now interact with the turn blocker after triggering a Natural Wonder animation and a leader first-meet simultaneously while Tutorials are enabled.

• Tooltips now display correctly in the First Time User Experience screen and for Terrain while Tutorials are enabled in the Antiquity Age.

• The Unit Action Panel now updates health correctly after combat when the Unit remains selected.

• Commander Level now displays correctly when viewing a leveled-up Army Commander’s icon.

• The Rewards Menu UI now has hover highlights to improve readability.

• The Carousel can now also be closed with the ESC key or right-click.

• The Incite Raid Target button now properly highlights when hovered in the Independent Powers’ Diplomacy menu.

• The Turn Timer progress bar now resets correctly when another menu is opened during Multiplayer.

• City, Town, and Population icons now display at full resolution in the Multiplayer Chat menu at 4K resolution.

• The Army Commander Experience bar in the Units panel now updates correctly when experience is gained.

• Button prompts for switching pages now appear as expected when entering the Diplomacy menu with a Tutorial window active.

• Distant Lands Treasure resource icons now display correctly in city detail tooltips within the Trade Route menu.

• The Narrate on Hover feature now properly narrates all text in the Advanced Options menu when creating a new game.

• The Golden Road Social Policy (Silla) bonus science from imported resources now appears correctly in the Yields Breakdown without requiring a reload.

• Whisper (/w), reply (/r), and team (/t) chat commands now function in multiplayer.

• Ranged combat arrows now properly center on Units in open Ocean.

• The Graphics Profile setting now remains on Custom after modifying and reopening Graphics Settings.

• Unit preview arrows now correctly account for hostile Zones of Control.

• War Declared notification now correctly takes the player to the War Details in the player's Leader menu.

• The notification for Age progress milestones no longer appears prior to achieving the stated Age progress when progressing through any Age.

• A “Copied To Clipboard” pop-up will no longer appear when selecting the Join Code button in the Pause menu.

• Disabling tutorials now correctly disables tutorial warning SFX.

• The countdown message can no longer be interrupted when opening the Production menu before it disappears.

• The Warehouse text icon now displays correctly when viewing the City-State bonus Market Cross.

• Tech and Civic names no longer disappear when lowering resolution from 4K in the Tech/Civic Tree.

• Multiplayer lobby names are now limited to 32 characters in the Create Game menu.

• Improved Napoleon’s description text.

• Unmet leaders’ names no longer appear when attempting to Form Alliance with a leader who is at war with them.

• Made various text fixes and improvements.

• Added 8 new narrative events to support Privateer content.

• Added 4 new narrative events to support new resources.

• Added several new narrative events to support Tides of Power DLC** content for Edward Teach, Republic of Pirates, and Tonga.

• Made several improvements to balancing and text for narrative events.

• Added new audio content for Tides of Power DLC**.

• Made several QOL improvements to in-game audio. 

• Addressed missing SFX for various Civic Masteries.

• Added SFX when adding a building to Production while another is already in the queue.

• Added SFX when upgrading all units within an Army Commander.

• Added SFX when placing Harbor building.

• Addressed several issues with touch SFX.

• Addressed a reported issue preventing the game from launching on some ARM-based Windows devices.

Tides of Power Collection** – Part One

Introducing a new sea-themed Content Collection, Tides of Power**!

As a special thanks to all our players who've been with us playing the game, providing feedback, creating content, and more, this collection will be free to claim for Civilization VII players from the time it goes live on November 4 until January 5, 2026 across all platforms*. More details will come November 4 on how to claim this collection for free.

The first part of Tides of Power is dropping with 1.3.0, bringing a brand new leader, Edward Teach, and two fresh civilizations: Tonga and the Republic of Pirates. The second part, coming in December, will introduce the formidable leader Sayyida al Hurra, along with the Ottomans and Iceland.

(Tides of Power DLC**) Added new leader Edward Teach.

Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate whose name sparked dread in the captains of the Caribbean. In 1716, he joined the crew of Benjamin Hornigold, a leader of the Flying Gang, and quickly gained his own ships. With his impressive height, his long beard (decorated with, at times, lit fuses), and reputation for violence, he stalked the sea-lanes of the Caribbean and the nightmares of sailors. He outlived the Flying Gang and moved his operation to the Outer Banks of present-day North Carolina, where a pirate hunter, Robert Maynard, finally caught up with him.

• Attributes: Militaristic, Economic

• Unique Ability – Blackbeard: All Naval Units gain the Pirate Ability, allowing them to cross borders of other civilizations, Plunder Trade Routes from non-Allied civilizations, and attack Naval Units of non-Allied civilizations without declaring war. Defeating any Naval Units with your own Naval Units provides Gold equal to a set percentage of its Combat Strength and captures that Unit. Increased Gold maintenance costs for all Naval Units.

• Agenda – Queen Anne’s Revenge: Increase Relationship by a Small Amount with Leaders that build Naval Units. Decrease Relationship by a Small Amount with Leaders that neglect to build Naval Units.

(Tides of Power DLC**) Added a new Exploration Age civilization Republic of Pirates.

Where there is wealth, there is greed. The scramble for new world riches in the early 18th century brought English, Spanish, French, and Dutch fleets – but the prospect of quick riches also brought pirates. These were rarely organized, but in 1706, one band, the Flying Gang, took over the island of New Providence in the Bahamas and set up a short-lived republic for all who sought fortune... and came with few scruples. 

• Attributes: Economic, Militaristic

• Unique Ability – Flying Gang: Increased Yields from Pillaging and Coastal Raiding with Naval Units. Settler Units cannot be trained or purchased, but you can capture other civilizations' Settlers. Naval Units, Treasure Convoys, and Buccaneer Units can move into other civilizations' borders without being at war or having Open Borders.

• Unique Civilian Unit – Buccaneer: Unique Commander Unit. Gains a set number of charges to use the 'Raiding Party' Action every set number of Promotions.

  • Action - Raiding Party: Targets an adjacent Treasure Resource. This Settlement instantly spawns a Treasure Convoy under your control equal to the number of Treasure Resources; this does not reset until another Treasure Convoy is available.

• Unique Military Unit – Sloop: Unique Naval Unit (replaces Privateer). Can cross other civilizations' borders, Pillage Trade Routes between non-Allied civilizations, and attack Units of non-Allied civilizations without going to war. Can move after attacking and has a set amount of Movement.

• Associated Wonder – Havana Harbor: Gold Base. This Settlement generates Treasure Convoys worth a set amount of Treasure Fleet points in the Exploration Age (effect scales based on game speed). Increased Economic Attribute. Must be built in Distant Lands on Coastal Tiles adjacent to non-Lake tiles.

(Tides of Power DLC**) Added a new Antiquity Age civilization Tonga.

Into the endless blue, in search of new lands on scattered islands, the Polynesians sailed, settling the island of Tonga nearly three thousand years ago. Around 1000 CE, though, came another expansion, the Tu’i Tonga Empire – a struggle for dominance, tribute, and fealty over the Pacific. The Tongan kings maintained this system of hierarchical lordship over the islands until it, too, splintered.

• Attributes: Expansionist, Diplomatic

• Unique Ability – Lords of the South: Increased Influence on City Halls and the Palace if adjacent to Coast tiles. Cannot incorporate City-States.

• Unique Civilian Unit – Tehina: Unique Scout Unit. Can enter Ocean tiles (without taking damage) and embark at the start of the Age. Cannot disembark in Distant Lands, but can use Coastal Raid on adjacent Discoveries.

• Unique Military Unit – Kalia: Increased Combat Strength against Districts.

(Tides of Power DLC**) Added four new Wonders: 

• Great Lighthouse – Antiquity

  • Gold Base. Grants a free Merchant when built. +15 Water Trade Route Range in all Settlements. +1 Sight to all Naval Units. Must be built on a Coast tile adjacent to Land.

• Nan Madol – Exploration

  • Provides +3 Culture, +3 Production, and +3 Happiness on the Palace and City Hall on Islands (a landmass with a maximum of 15 tiles). Must be built in an Island City on Coast adjacent to Land

• Great Blue Hole – Natural Wonder

  • +2 Science and +4 Happiness. Adjacent sea rural tiles receive +2 Culture. Placed on the Coast adjacent to 6 coast tiles.

• Mapu'a Vaea Blowholes – Natural Wonder

  • +2 Production and +4 Happiness. +2 Culture to all Coastal land tiles in this Settlement. Impassable.

  • Placed on the Coast adjacent to Cliffs.

*Offer available for owners of Civilization VII. Offer ends January 5, 2026 at 7:59am PT. Owners must claim offer between November 4, 2025 and January 5, 2025 at 7:59am PT. For details on how to claim offer go to https://www.civilization.com. Terms apply.

**Base game required. Each DLC will be delivered automatically in-game on release. Terms apply.

Hello everyone! We're already aware of the game crashing issue on various systems. One possible cause is duplicate config files when setting up graphics in the game.

We're also aware of the other bugs and errors you've described! We're currently working on fixing them. We'll send a major patch within 1-2 days that will fix most of them and make gameplay more stable.

We're also developing the ability to implement a Bugs Report system.

This will help you send us error logs, giving us a quick understanding of the problem and its causes.

Thank you for your feedback! We understand that this technical state is causing you frustration and dissatisfaction, but without playtesting on a large number of systems with varying capabilities, these issues cannot be identified. Thanks to your support and feedback, we'll make the game better and more stable! Thank you all for your patience and help!

P.S. A little later, after we've fixed the bugs and stabilized the game, we'll announce a roadmap for upcoming changes to the game.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/61891/Purrrifiers_Aquatic_Store_Chaos/

What are Purrrifiers? It's a chaotic “Goofylike” co-op cleaning sim for up to 4 players. Purr cats, cast spells, clean messes, craft weird tools, and cause trouble in equal measure. Your mission? Make it shine or at least less disgusting.

Watch the release trailer to know more:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/61889/Purrrifiers_Aquaristic_Chaos/

What are Purrrifiers? It's a chaotic “Goofylike” co-op cleaning sim for up to 4 players. Purr cats, cast spells, clean messes, craft weird tools, and cause trouble in equal measure. Your mission? Make it shine or at least less disgusting.

Watch the release trailer to know more:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/61890/Purrrifiers_Farmers_Chaos/

What are Purrrifiers? It's a chaotic “Goofylike” co-op cleaning sim for up to 4 players. Purr cats, cast spells, clean messes, craft weird tools, and cause trouble in equal measure. Your mission? Make it shine or at least less disgusting.

Watch the release trailer to know more:

• Fixed several localization issues.

• Adjusted the direction of a door so it now leads to the correct location.

Dear passengers,

Another open playtest

3 full days. 24/7 server live. 1 MEGA train. Let's do this!

This weekend, we will have another long playtest with 72 hours in North America (but all users can freely join), where ALL users from ALL over the world can join, compete and test the new features

If you missed the important changes coming soon, you can read about them here

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2651270/view/583905194801103125

If you have any questions or technical issues, please join our Discord server for more info!

New hero Exekias (Unlocked if you have survived Endgame Level 3 on Brutal difficulty):

Exekias has 50% cooldown reduction on spells and heals for 3% of the damage dealt by his spells.

Exekias gains +3% health every time you upgrade a spell. 

Spell damage upgrade from +12% to +16%.

New spells and new units cost more gold.

You cannot upgrade spell cooldown.

Desert enemy Demon Bat damage from 100 to 75.

Fixed Angel of Death display bug when viewing its stats.

• The terminal now supports mouse operation.

• On first launch, the initial language is determined based on the user's system language.

• Added advanced video signal simulation for Analog, Digital and O4 Race mode, can be enabled in the in-game settings

• Added respawn switch bind in controller settings

• Respawn point can be set with S

• Custom respawn point can be removed with X

• Respawn point also affects signal simulation