In Civilization 7, Influence is one of the most important resources for a variety of reasons. It’s the currency that builds relationships between you and other players and City-States, and it can be used to help garner War Support, enact Endeavors, befriend Independent People, and much, much more.
Related
Civilization 7: How to Increase Happiness
To get more Happiness, Civ 7 players can take a variety of actions, like making certain buildings, adopting certain policies, and more.
But to get Influence, Civ 7 players are relatively limited. You will never be able to get thousands of Influence per turn (unlike Science or Culture yields), but by using these tips to increase Influence, Civ 7 players will be able to build up an empire that can easily befriend or overwhelm any opponent and dictate deals as they see fit – influencing the flow of the game.
Civ 7 Influence Buildings
In every Age, the best way to increase Influence over time is to build Influence-generating Buildings. The Anqituity Age has three possible Influence Buildings, while the Exploration and Modern Age only have two.
- In the Antiquity Age, Influence buildings include the Monument (1 Influence), Garden (1 Influence), and Villa (2 Influence)
- In the Exploration Age, Influence buildings include the Guildhall (2 Influence) and Dungeon (2 Influence)
- In the Modern Age, Influence buildings include the Radio Station (4 Influence) and Opera House (3 Influence)
Most of these are unlocked with Techs that are only two or three places into the Tech Tree, allowing players to rush them quickly in each Age. The only exception is the Villa, which is unlocked with The Wheel which is four places deep in the Antiquity Tech Tree.
Slot Influence Social Policies
There are a number of Social Policies that can increase your influence. By default, every Civ 7 player starts with the Divine Right policy which grants +1 Influence and Culture on the capital, but you can unlock a lot more by researching certain Civics – including unique Civ Civics. As a few examples:
-
Oratory: Grants +2 Influence per turn.
- Unlocked with Code of Laws in Antiquity
-
Guanxi & Jiu Qing: Grant +1 Influence on Science and Happiness buildings, respectively.
- Unique to the Han Civ (Anqituity)
If you need Influence badly, consider swapping in one of these Civic Policies (or others that you unlock throughout the game) to quickly generate some Diplomatic favor.
Related
Civilization 7: How to Save & Load Previous Saves
With this guide, gamers can learn how to change autosave settings and load back into a previous game at any time in Civ 7.
The Leader Attribute Tree
In the Diplomatic Attribute Tree, there are several Attributes you can pick up by spending Diplomatic Attribute Points (or Wildcard Points). Most of these will simply reduce the amount of Influence needed to support certain actions, but one of the first nodes grants a passive +1 Influence on the Palace for each age.
These Diplomatic Attributes for Influence include:
- +1 Influence per Age on the Palace
- +50% Influence towards initiating and progressing the Befriend Independent action
- +25 Influence towards supporting or rejecting Diplomatic actions
In the Military Attribute Tree, there is also a choice to get +50% Influence towards Levying units from City-States. If you’re in a bind, and have two Wildcard points to spend, it’s not a bad idea to get this so you can make your Influence go further when grabbing free Military units.
Use Leaders & Civ Influence Bonuses
Some Leaders and Civs come with unique abilities that will increase your Influence, or at least alter how much Influence you use. In terms of the best Influence Leaders, Civ 7 players should go with:
- Himiko, for instance, can Support Endeavors without spending any Influence.
- Harriet Tubman uses essentially half the Influence needed to conduct Espionage actions.
- Machiavelli just generates +3 Influence for each Age, culminating in +9 in the Modern Age
There are plenty of Civs you can select in each Age that are great for getting more Influence, too, including:
- The Han Civilization (Antiquity) has two unique Buildings that generates Influence on Science and Happiness buildings.
- Rome (Antiquity) can create the Basilica, which grants both Gold and Influence
- The Qing Civ (Modern) gains +2 Influence for every Imported Resource
Build Civ 7 Influence Wonders
There are a handful of Wonders that players can focus on building to boost their Influence generation, too. Because most Wonders are Ageless, the faster you can get these, the more Influence you will accrue across all three Ages.
- Weiyang Palace: Grants +6 Influence (Antiquity)
- Brihadeeswarar Temple: +3 Influence (Exploration)
-
Serpent Mound: +4 Influence (Exploration).
- Requires the Astronomy Tech.
-
Doi Suthep: +4 Influence for every City-State you are a Suzerain of (Modern)
- Requires the Political Theory Civic.
Of these, the Weiyang Palace is the best to rush in Antiquity if you start as Han, then the Serpent Mount in Exploration, and the Doi Suthep in Modern.
Turn Towns Into Hub Towns
One way you can generate a bit more Influence is by converting a Town into a Hub Town. After growing your Town to 7 Population, you can set a Town Focus, and one of these options in the Exploration Age and beyond is to turn it into a Hub Town.
A Hub Town will generate +2 Influence for every settlement it is connected to. If you have a central Town or a faraway Town surrounded by other civs (like in the Distant Lands), a Hub Town can generate a ton of Influence.
One random source of Influence is from discovering Espionage Actions other opponents have failed against you. You can’t necessarily get other players to commit Espionage on your civ, and there aren’t many ways to increase Influence earned from Diplomatic Incidents. But, it’s a welcome boost and a way to get Influence nonetheless.
Grand Strategy
Turn-Based Strategy
4X
- Franchise
-
Sid Meier’s Civilization
- Released
-
February 11, 2025