One of the cornerstones of any Civilization 7 campaign is having plenty of settlements to keep your empire healthy. Even from turn one, it’s imperative that you select the best tile for your capital city, and work diligently to expand your empire throughout each age. But, sometimes, it’s hard to tell where exactly you should build settlements.
Related
Civilization 7: How To Solve The Papyrus Problems
Don’t worry, we didn’t have an instinctual grasp of Civilization VII’s mathematics problems, either.
And now, in Civ 7, with the distinction between towns and cities playing a huge role in your overall strategy, placing settlements on the right tile is even more important for achieving victory by the Modern Age. Here’s everything you need to know about where to place settlements in Civilization 7.
How Do Settlements Work?
Settlements function quite similarly to how they did in previous installments of the franchise, with one key distinction. Your first settlement, by default, is a city and serves as your capital. From there, every single settlement you found after that will start as a town and need to be upgraded to a city.
This matters for a couple of reasons, detailed below.
- Towns And Cities Function Differently – In Civilization 7, different types of settlements serve different purposes in your empire. When selecting locations for settlements, you’ll want to consider whether or not you want to eventually upgrade your settlement to a city.
- Cities Need More Resources Than Towns – Many towns can get along fine with very few resources, while cities often need a lot of food and gold to stay productive. Also, as cities gain specialists, you’ll want to keep your happiness up, too.
What’s The Difference Between Towns And Cities?
As mentioned, there are a handful of differences between Towns and Cities that you’ll need to understand for strategic placement.
|
Settlement Type |
How Production Works |
Resources |
Specialization |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Town |
Towns have no production queue, and instead, they convert all of their production into gold. Gold can then be used to purchase units, buildings, and more within the town’s borders. |
Resources and yields work identically to cities. However, towns often have smaller borders. You’ll want to be strategic about where you place the town, as it won’t expand as much as a city. |
Towns can have a specialization or ‘focus,’ granting boons to certain yields like food, production, or influence. |
|
City |
Cities have production queues, meaning that you’ll need to spend production over several turns to develop units, buildings, and wonders. |
Resources and yields work identically to towns. However, there are ways to boost yield output, and cities tend to have large borders, meaning they can produce more yields. |
Cities do not have ‘focuses’ but can employ Specialists to boost yields on specific tiles. |
Where To Place Settlements
With all of the above in mind, it’s time to figure out where to place new settlements. Generally speaking, there are a handful of broad tips to keep in mind.
- Not Too Far, Not Too Close – You’ll want to make sure that your new settlements expand your borders, and claim important yields and wonders before your enemies can. But, if you settle too far away, your empire can end up being a bit disjointed without secure borders.
- Follow Civ’s Recommendations – A small building icon appears on tiles that are ideal for settlements. As a good rule of thumb, these are usually great tiles to select for your settlement.
- Pay Attention To Settlement Cap – In each age, you’ll have a settlement cap located in the top left corner of your screen. Pay attention to this when placing settlements, as it may alter your decision-making.
Having strong, unified borders is helpful for many reasons, but it’s especially useful for warfare. If you suspect an enemy might be mounting troops near your settlements, you can close your borders, protecting farther away cities.
But, if your borders are a bit scattershot, enemies can exploit this and move units into your backline.
Look For Fresh Water
Beyond these general tips, the most important thing to look for when constructing a settlement is to make sure you have fresh water. Fresh water is imperative for your settlement’s growth. Without it, the settlement won’t flourish nearly as well.
Plus, if you’re near a navigable river, you can use this to transport naval units.
Check Adjacency Bonuses
You can earn Adjacency Bonuses for many things, including being near Natural Wonders, Coasts, Rivers, and Mountains.
Coasts are great as these can give you access to additional continents via naval exploration, as well as food bonuses for fishing-based improvements.
Even if you find a place to settle that might be great, you might want to consider a specific tile over another if it has a mountain tile or another adjacency bonus that can improve your Civ’s happiness, food, or gold.
Prioritize High Yields
Most importantly, you’ll want to make sure whatever tile you place a settlement on is near a decent number of high yields.
Strategize based on what yields you need, not which yields are the highest. Is your treasury a bit low? Look for tiles that have gold yield bonuses and settle there rather than one with higher food output.
Generally speaking, the best yields to focus on can be ranked like so:
- Food
- Gold
- Production
- Happiness
- Science
- Culture
- Influence
If you’re not trying to prioritize one specific yield, refer to the above list and select tiles for settlements with the highest food, gold, or production yields first.
Next
Civilization 7: How Towns Work
Towns are a new addition in Civilization 7. This guide covers everything you need to know about towns, from town types to how to efficiently use them.