Should You Keep or Raze Cities?

After conquering a nearby settlement, you will be prompted with a choice to ‘Keep Settlement’ or ‘Raze Settlement’. In previous entries of Civ, Razing Settlements was a good way to clear the way of enemy AI cities and keep your empire from expanding beyond your control.

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In Civilization 7, Keeping a settlement will add it to your empire over the course of a few turns, which can have some negative repercussions if not managed well. But Razing a settlement comes with its own slew of negative effects. This guide explains what happens if you Raze a City in Civ 7 and explains whether you should typically Keep conquered Cities or burn them to the ground.

What Happens When You Raze A City?

Civilization VII Should I Raze Or Keep Cities Razing City Civ 7 Raze Keep City Menu Conquered Settlement

When you conquer a City, you have two options: Keep City, or Raze City.

If you Keep the conquered city, it will endure around a dozen turns of low happiness and unease as it gradually joins your empire. After the settlement has fully incorporated into your empire, the Happiness penalty will go away, it will add a point towards the Militaristic Legacy Paths in certain Ages, and will function just like a normal Settlement in your Empire.

Settlements you have taken from other players are signified with a chain, and count towards your Settlement Limit like a normal Town or City.

If you Raze a City, Civ 7 punishes you pretty heavily. For one, you will generate massive grievances with the Leader who owned that settlement. Also, every settlement you Raze will generate 1 permanent War Support against you for every opponent for the rest of the game.

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After 12 turns, the city and its borders will be removed from the game, freeing up space for your own settlers or Cities to expand into. While the City is being Razed, you will not gain any yields from it.

So, Should You Keep Or Raze Cities?

Civilization VII Should I Raze Or Keep Cities Razing City Civ 7 Xerxes Keep Raze Choice

In almost every situation, it’s better to keep a City than to Raze it. The penalties for Razing Cities in Civ 7 are too high to ignore, and it’s almost always beneficial to have more settlements. However, there are exceptions.

If you are already at your Settlement Limit, but your empire has low Happiness and can’t support another Settlement, Razing a City will prevent widespread unhappiness.
If a City is located in a spot your Cities would normally grow into, like the gaps between city borders (which the Civ 7 AI will sometimes do)
If you have a lot of War Support, or Wonders/Abilities that generate free War Support, which negates the War Weariness downside of Razing Cities

If you Raze a City, be prepared for other Leaders to denounce you, or at the very least, expect your relationships to sour with everyone else. But if you truly can’t handle an extra settlement, could place a better city with a settler, or have enough War Support to prevent the War Support debuff from affecting you, it’s worth considering.

In almost all cases, though, keeping Cities is better than Razing them in Civ 7.