How To Get More Gold

In Civilization 7, Gold allows players to do a lot of things – you can bypass city production and buy buildings and units, it’s used to upgrade units, helps with Specialist costs, and more. By building a strong economy, you will be able to raise an army instantly, create massive cities the turn you found them, and always have a bank to fall back on for repairs, upgrades, and more.

This guide explains how to increase Gold output in Civ 7, including making the right choice of Leader and Civ, focusing certain Buildings and Wonders, slotting Resources and Social Policies, and other tips to get more Gold out of your settlements in Civ 7.

Pick A Good Gold Leader & Civ Pair

There are a lot of Leaders to choose from in Civ 7, but only some could be considered to be the best Gold Leaders. Some Leaders come with innate abilities that boost Gold production, or otherwise enhance your Trade. Leader Abilities are effective through each Age, making your choice of Leader incredibly important for long-term Gold production.

Civ 7 players who want to get more Gold from the get-go should choose one of these Gold-oriented leaders:

• Amina: Bonus 1x Resource capacity in Cities, and bonus +1 Gold for each Age for every Imported Resource (from Trading with Merchants)
• Isabella: Gain 300 Gold when you first discover a Natural Wonder, doubled if it’s in Distant Lands. +50% gold to purchasing Naval Units, and -1 Gold Maintenance for Naval units
• Xerxes, King of Kings: +100 Culture and 100 Gold for every Age when you capture a Settlement for the first time, and 10% extra Gold in all Settlements (doubled in Settlements you didn’t found)

After choosing a Leader, you will be asked to choose your first Civ. There are a handful of Civs in Antiquity that are good at making Gold, but Aksum is arguably the best.

• Aksum: Antiquity Era Civ. Gain +2 Gold on all Resources, and the Tankwa unique Trade Ship unit, which cannot be Pilaged and has extra +10 Range

Make some Merchants, send them out, and pile Resources in your Cities and Towns to generate mass amounts of Gold in the first Age. Later on in the game, you will have to swap to a new Civ for the Exploration and Modern Ages.

The best Gold making Civs vary quite a lot in these later stages of the game, but these two tend to be very good for making lots of Gold quickly and meeting the Legacy Path demands of each Age:

• Abbasid: Exploration Age Civ. Gain 30 Gold for each Rural tile in a City when a Specialist is created
• Qing: Modern Age Civ. Gains +4 Gold, +3 Culture, +2 Influence, but -1 Science from all Imported Resources (from Trading with Merchants)

Prioritize Gold Buildings & Gold Wonders

In every Age in Civ 7, Gold buildings can be created after researching certain Techs and Civics. Every Age has at least four Gold buildings you can make except for Antiquity, which only has three.

Just about every Gold building available will come with a +1 adjacency bonus for Coast, Navigable Rivers, and Wonders. Place these Gold buildings on tiles surrounded by Navigable Rivers or, preferably, Coastal ocean tiles (to avoid Flooding):

• Antiquity Age
  • Market: +4 Gold base, +1 for every adjacent Coast, Navigable River, and Wonder
  • Lighthouse: +4 Gold base, +1 for every adjacent Coast, Navigable River, and Wonder
  • Ancient Bridge: +5 Gold base
• Exploration Age
  • Bazaar: +3 Gold base, +1 for every adjacent Coast, Navigable River, and Wonder
  • Guildhall: +4 Gold base, +1 for every adjacent Coast, Navigable River, and Wonder
  • Bank: +5 Gold base, +1 for every adjacent Coast, Navigable River, Wonder, & Quarter
  • Medieval Bridge: +4 Gold base
• Modern Age
  • Port: +5 Gold base, +1 for every adjacent Coast, Navigable River, and Wonder
  • Stock Exchange: +6 Gold base, +1 for every adjacent Coast, Navigable River, Wonder, & Quarter
  • Rail Station: +8 Gold base
  • Modern Bridge: +6 Gold base

In addition to these Gold buildings, which will already give a significant boost to your Gold per Turn, there are several Wonders that are great for making Gold, too. Wonders cost more to produce, but often come with unique effects.

Rush these Gold Wonders before anyone else gets them, and take advantage of their unique effects, to outpace every other players’ Gold production:

• Great Stele: Grants 200 Gold when you build any Wonder in this Settlement, including this one.
  • Requires the Writing Tech in Antiquity
• Machu Pichu: +4 Gold, grants 2 Resource Capacity, grants +4 Culture and +4 Gold on every Building that surround this Wonder
  • Requires the Urban Planning tech in the Exploration Age
• Doi Suthep: +5 Culture and +5 Gold for every City-State you are the Suzerain of
  • Requires the Political Theory Civic in the Modern Age

Grow Into Gold Yields & Slot Gold Resources

As you grow Cities and Towns, the yields of tiles you can grow into (and Specialist slots above filled Urban District tiles) will be displayed above the tile itself. Here you can see what you will get for placing a Population unit on the tile.

If you are able to grow into these tiles quickly, you will get more Gold per Turn faster, but it can mean sacrificing more Growth or other yields.

There are three Resources in Civ 7 that can be used to either boost Gold output or increase the value of your Gold for certain purchases. Gold and Silver are available throughout the entire game, while Jade will disappear when the Modern Age comes around.

• In All Ages, Gold and Silver can be used to reduce the cost of purchasing Buildings or Units by 20%, respectively. This effect stacks.
• In the Antiquity and Exploration Ages, Jade will grant the City it is slotted into 15% extra Gold. This effect stacks.

Some Civics and Techs will automatically grant extra Gold adjacencies when researched. Hover over each Civic and Tech to see if it will improve your Gold yields upon completion.

Slot Gold Generation Social Policies

Like other yields in Civ 7, Gold can be increased through the use of various Social Policies and Traditions (unique Civ policies). After researching Mysticism II, you will get access to the first – Priesthood – which is great for players who like to settle wide.

Later on, focus on getting Trade Winds, which increases Gold and global Happiness for every Resource you import. By the time you get to the end of the Antiquity Age, this adds up a lot. Later on, the Vassalage and Charters policies are useful if you have a lot of Suzerain statuses with City-States or have a lot of Gold buildings.

• Priesthood: +2 Gold in all Settlements
• Trade Winds: +1 Gold and +1 Happiness for each Imported Resource
• Vassalage: +2 Culture and Gold for each City-State you are the Suzerain of
• Charters: Grants +1 Gold adjacency to Gold buildings

Focus The Economic Leader Attribute Tree

When you get Economic Attribute Points or Wildcard points, you will be able to gain new abilities in the Leader Attribute trees. The Economic Attribute Tree is the one you want to look for when it comes to the best Gold Attributes. Focus on getting these before anything else in the tree for the most noticeable Gold gains:

• +2 Gold per Age for every active Trade Route
• +1 Gold for every Imported Resource
• +15% Gold towards all purchases in all Settlements
• +10% Gold for every Alliance

To get Economic Attribute Points, Civ 7 players must progress the Economic Legacy Path for points to spend in later Ages, gain certain Attribute Point Wonders, or earn them from certain Narrative Events. Some Leaders, like Ibn Battuta, have the ability to get more of these points with unique Leader abilities.

Settle New Towns, But Don’t Change The Focus

When you create a new Settlement in Civ 7, you will create a Town that will automatically set itself to “Growing Town” and begin expanding. Upon reaching a Population of 7, you will have the option to Specialize your Town with a Town Focus.

The thing is, until the Town becomes a City or gains a Town Focus, all of its Production is converted into Gold. Leave your Towns on “Growing Town” until you are ready to turn them into Cities to maximize your Gold, then use that Gold to quickly buy up City-exclusive buildings to quickly expand outward.

Having lots of Cities is important for the Modern Age Economic Victory condition. Let your Towns become enormous before you convert them to Cities or assign a Town Focus to allow them to generate as much Gold as possible before the swap.

Establish Trade Routes & Treasure Ships Quickly

One of the best ways to quickly up your Gold income and establish relationships with other Leaders is to establish Trade Routes. Unlocked with the Code of Laws Civic for the first time, Merchants can be used to gain copies of another rival civilization’s Resources.

These Resources can include great Gold Resources like Jade, Silver, and of course Gold itself.

Additionally, several unique Merchants like the (Ming Mandarin) will grant Gold when they create a Trade Route. If you are playing as a Civ with one of these unique Merchants, take full advantage of their unique abilities.

In the Exploration Age, Treasure Fleet ships will grant 100 Gold for each Treasure Resource their origin settlement has access to. For example, a Treasure Ship that departs from a Settlement that has 3 Spices will grant 300 Gold when it returns to your home lands (plus a Treasure Fleet Point for each Resource, to contribute to the Economic Legacy Path).

Establish Trade early, and get your Treasure Ships up and running in Distant Lands settlements, to get some amazing boosts to Gold and your overall Economy as fast as possible.