Benjamin Franklin Strategies & Tips

There are a handful of Leaders in Civilization 7 who weren’t the head of state, or holders of the top executive office of a country – including Benjamin Franklin. Civ 7 adapts this American icon’s real-life history as an influential Inventor and Founding Father into a suite of useful Science and Production-boosting effects.

The best Benjamin Franklin Victory Condition is the Scientific Victory Path, which is made much easier to achieve with his unique Leader Abilities. To win as Benjamin Franklin, Civ 7 players should follow this guide to understand both the overall best Ben Franklin strategies, and to get a step-by-step guide on what to specifically focus on in each Age​​​​​ to achieve a Science Victory.

Benjamin Franklin Leader Overview

In Civ 7, Benjamin Franklin’s Leader Ability is “The First American”, which grants a variety of effects.

• Benjamin Franklin can start multiple Endeavors of the same type with different leaders – two Research Agreements, two Cultural Exchanges, etc.
• Ben Franklin gets +1 Science from Production Buildings in Cities, and +1 Science from every current active Endeavor, per Age.
• Franklin also gets a 50% bonus Production towards Production Buildings.

Because of his strengths and benefits from having strong Diplomacy with other players, and his bonuses toward Production Buildings (which in turn generate more Science), playing as Ben Franklin means playing defensively, keeping your neighbors happy with lots of Endeavors, and stacking up your Science and Production buildings.

How To Win With Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin Leader Strategy & Walkthrough

Best Benjamin Franklin Victory Path: Science

• Antiquity: Great Libraries
• Exploration: Enlightenment
• Modern: Space Race Projects

Because of his unique Leader abilities, and his Natural Civ Unlock for America in the Modern Age, Benjamin Franklin favors the Scientific Victory Legacy Path.

Production naturally works well with Science strategies, Diplomacy is incredibly strong in Civ 7, and Benjamin Franklin’s synergistic use of these three features means he has few issues racing through the Tech Tree and winning every Science Legacy Path – if you can maintain strong relationships with other Leaders, and choose the right Civs to pair with his abilities.

When playing as Ben Franklin, Civ 7 recommends either the Greek or Roman Civs in the Antiquity Age as Strategic Choices. But neither of these Civs favors the Scientific Legacy Path as well as the Han Civ.

Start with Han, progress into the Ming Civ in Exploration, then go into the Modern Age as America to take full advantage of its Production bonuses for the Space Race City Projects. When played well, Benjamin Franklin can get a Science Victory before the Modern Age is barely 1/3 over, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Benjamin Franklin Antiquity Age Strategy

• Antiquity Scientific Legacy Path Victory: Display 10 Codices

In Antiquity your goal is to rush through the Tech Tree to unlock the Library (Writing) and the Academy (Education) as fast as possible. This is because to get the Scientific Legacy Path Victory, you must display 10 Codices, which can only be displayed in these buildings and your Palace.

Playing as the Han Civ in Antiquity also automatically unlocks the Ming Civ in Exploration, the recommended Exploration Civ for Benjamin Franklin.

As Ben Franklin, our bonus to Science from every active Endeavor means it’s important to find and start relationships with your opponents. Produce two Scouts and get searching – you should have enough Influence per Turn at the start to choose the Friendly Greeting option with everyone in your homelands. Try to use your Influence exclusively for relationship-building and establishing Endeavors.

Because you get extra Science on Production buildings, build the Saw Mill and other Ageless Production Buildings before you build the Granary to get a significant early boost. You can also buy Production Buildings for Towns, boosting Science even more. Settle up to your Settlement Cap as much as possible to get a ton of Science and unlock Writing and Education faster.

Once unlocked, place both your Library and Academy buildings on the same tile adjacent to two or more Resources, or a Wonder. These both contain Codex Slots, grant good base Science, and gain more Science if they are adjacent to Resources or Wonders.

All three of the Han Civ’s unique Traditions are useful for Ben Franklin.

• Aim to unlock the “Li” Han Civic first, to get the Guanxi Tradition and more Influence on your Palace.
• Then, research the “Zhi“, which allows you to make the Great Wall improvement and gain some Culture and Science bonuses.
• Finally, research “Junzi“, which grants the Tianxia Tradition to grant Specialists more Science. This is invaluable in the Exploration Age.

To get more Codexes and finish the Antiquity Age faster, there are a few options. Narrative Events will often reward a Codex, including both Leader Narrative Events and Discovery Events. You can also research Techs and their Masteries for extra Codices – Mathematics, for example, grants 2x Codices, while the Writing Mastery grants 1x Codex.

Continue making Endeavors with opponents, amassing Production and Science buildings, and hoard Codices until you get the Scientific Legacy Path Victory and reach the end of the Antiquity Age.

Benjamin Franklin Exploration Age Strategy

• Exploration Scientific Legacy Path Victory: Have 5 tiles with at least 40 Yield in your empire, not counting settlement center tiles

In the Exploration Age, be sure to pick up the Golden Age Academy attribute, then choose the Ming Civ. Though there are a few good choices for Benjamin Franklin’s Exploration Age Civ choice, the Ming have some tricks for generating more Science and boosting the Science and Gold yields of tiles, contributing directly to the Exploration Scientific Legacy Path.

By playing as the Han in Antiquity, you will automatically unlock the Ming in Exploration. If you choose a different starting Civ, you can unlock the Ming by either slotting 8x Resources in a single settlement, or by improving 3x Silk Resources.

In Exploration, our primary Benjamin Franklin strategy is to pump up our settlement Population with Growth and assign as many specialists to non-City Center tiles as possible. In Exploration, to win the Scientific Legacy Path, you must have five tiles with more than 40 total Yield.

Because of this requirement, you don’t really need to rush Science in the Exploration Age. Your Golden Age Academies will give you a large boost to Science for the age, so instead, focus on expanding your borders with more Food and building a strong Economy. More food means more Specialists, and more Gold means you can construct Districts and Quarters instantly.

As Ben Franklin specifically, ensure your relationships with opponents are good to maintain Endeavors and boost your Science output even more. Now that it’s the Exploration Age, your Science Leader bonuses are now +2 for each active Endeavor.

Unlock the unique Ming Civ’s Civics (Nine Garrisons, Lijia, Da Ming Lu) to get more ways to generate Science passively.

• The “Grand Secretariat” Tradition is especially powerful as it boosts Gold and Science Buildings’ yields, directly boosting your progress towards tiles with 40 Total Yield
• The “Baojia“ Tradition boosts global Science for every Resource in Cities
• The “Divine Engine” Tradition boosts Science in Cities with a Garrisoned Unit

By researching more Techs and Civics you will unlock passive bonuses to certain Rural Tiles and Buildings automatically, indicated with a little + symbol. Rush Food-generating Techs and Civics to get more specialists faster, then carefully note which tiles in each of your Cities could be capable of pushing higher than 40 Total Yield.

Specialists will always generate +2 Science and +2 Culture on a quarter, an extra +0.5 to all adjacencies, and boosts to the tile’s own yields. When you hover over a Quarter that can accept Specialists, a preview of every bonus you will get appears above the tile, which includes bonuses given to other tiles.

Place Specialists on your highest-Yield Quarters, such as one with an Observatory and School, but they don’t have to be Science buildings. You can place Specialists on a tile with a high-yield Inn and Dungeon Quarter to boost Food and reach the 40 Yield Tile requirement, too, or a Quarter with a Lighthouse and a Wharf for some extra Gold yields.

Some Techs will raise the Specialist Limit in Cities, and typically you must have at least three or four Specialists on a tile to push above 40, even on the highest-Yield tiles.

Exploration as a Scientific Legacy Path leader like Ben Franklin is pretty straightforward. Play defensively, push for Growth and Gold before you push for Science, then slot as many Specialists as you can into your best Tiles. As long as you are pushing for Endeavors and have Production buildings in all of your settlements, your Science output won’t suffer in the early stages of the Age.

Benjamin Franklin Modern Age Strategy

• Modern Age Victory: Complete 3 Space Race Projects, then launch the First Staffed Space Flight to win!

Winning the Science Victory in the Antiquity and Exploration Ages is a game of resource management, carefully planned growth, and maximizing your city’s layout. In the Modern Age, we’re focusing almost entirely on two things: Science and Production.

To win the Science Victory, you must complete all four Space Race Projects, each of which is unlocked with a specific Tech that requires a specific Building/Quarter in your city. By the Modern Age, your City Growth isn’t as important as pumping out Science and Production to rush the Science Victory condition.

As Benjamin Franklin, we get access to possibly the best Science Victory Civ for the Modern Age: America. Though America doesn’t have any intrinsic Science bonuses, it does gain a lot of extra Production buildings and a unique Production Quarter, the Industrial Zone, significantly boosting the speed at which Ben Franklin can rush Science Victory projects.

Slot the Golden Age Universities attribute before you get into the Modern Age to have a massive boost to Science from the get-go, then start rushing your way towards the Flight Technology. Place down Schoolhouses and Laboratories in the same high-adjacency tiles, slot Traditions that boost Specialist Science output, and pick up Leader Attribute Points that boost your Science output even more with Alliances.

Remember to establish Endeavors (and even Allies for more Science from certain Scientific Attribute points) to boost your Science even more as Ben Franklin.

You should also rush the American Civics as soon as you have the basic Food and Science buildings researched through other Techs and Civics. These grant powerful Production buildings and a Production quarter, boosting Science directly as Ben Franklin, and boosting your progress towards the Science Victory.

• “Yankee Ingenuity” grants the Steel Mill building and the Gold Rush Tradition, which boosts Gold for every assigned Resource
• The “Captains of Industry” Civic grants the Railyard (not the Rail Station), and the Robber Baron Tradition, which grants Influence for assigned Resources (which helps with establishing Endeavors.

The “Wartime Manufacturing” Civic is situationally useful but can mostly be ignored. If you construct a Steel Mill and a Railyard in the same tile, it will create the unique Industrial Park Quarter, which boosts Food in this City, thereby increasing its Growth.

By the time you have researched Flight, you should have all three of these unique improvements in your most productive City. Though multiple Cities can have unique Space Race projects going, you only need to complete each step once.

• Step One: Requires the Flight Tech, which unlocks the Aerodrome district. Build this in your most productive City, then complete the “Trans-Atlantic Flight” City Project.
• Step Two: Requires the Aerodynamics Tech, which unlocks the “Break The Sound Barrier” City Proiect. Complete this in your Aerodrome City to progress to the final Legacy Path step.
• Step Three: Requires the Rocketry Tech, which unlocks the Launch pad district. Build this in the City you built an Aerodrome in, then complete the “Launch a Satellite” City project.
• Final Victory Condition: Complete the “First Staffed Space Flight” project. This automatically unlocks after completing the third step of the Legacy Path in Cities with a Launch Pad.

Because you just need to rush Science and Production, the Scientific Victory Path as Benjamin Franklin is surprisingly simple to achieve, especially compared to how convoluted the Culture and Economic Victories can be. As long as your Science is good and you have at least one City with extremely good Production, Victory is just a matter of time.

By using these Benjamin Franklin strategies, you will be able to maximize Science output to reach these Technologies faster, then rush through the Space Race Projects with your unparalleled Production in the Modern Age and secure a win before anyone else has even started on their Victory Path.