How To Play Isabella In Civilization 7

Isabella, the Queen of Spain was historically categorized as an expansionist, powerful leader, and functions as such in Civilization 7. If you’re diving into Civ 7 for the first time, and wondering which leader to begin your first campaign with, Isabella is a great choice for newcomers and veterans of the series alike.

But, before diving in, there are some key things to understand about her playstyle. Which Civs does Isabella work best with? What Victories should you try to achieve with Isabella at the helm? This guide has everything you need to know to play Isabella and lead your empire to greatness.

Isabella Leader Overview

In history, Isabella was considered quite clever and ruthless, with an expansionist mindset. Her abilities and unique attributes lend themselves well to an expansionist and economic playstyle, though she can be used for other playstyles as well.

How Do Isabella’s Attributes Work?

Isabella plays fantastically during the Exploration Age, thanks to her ability to purchase and maintain Naval Units far easier than her counterparts, and the discovery of Natural Wonders is always a boon for her.

Overall, with these attributes in mind, you’ll want to keep a few things in mind as you play her.

• Spread Outward And Upward – Because Isabella is good for an expansionist playstyle, you should try to build settlements in Distant Lands and expand your empire greatly.
• Build A Strong Navy – Having a strong naval force is a no-brainer, but well worth taking advantage of as Isabella.
• Cultural and Geographic Focuses Work Well – Because of her Natural Wonder buffs, pursuing cultural works and geographic boons is immensely helpful.

What Civilizations Work Best For Isabella?

Isabella is relatively versatile, so there are many Civ options to choose from that’ll work best for her. Let’s break down which ones are best to begin with in the Antiquity Age.

Which Civs Should You Pick For The Exploration And Modern Ages?

Beyond the Antiquity Age, you’ll have a decent number of options to choose from in the Exploration and Modern ages. Here’s which Civs you should pick based on your Antiquity Age selection, though other options will work decently as well.

What Is The Best Strategy For Playing Isabella?

Isabella is relatively well-rounded as a leader. There are no hard and fast rules for which victories you should try to pursue when playing her.

However, for a slightly easier climb, you should try to pursue one of the following three victories:

1. Military
2. Economic
3. Cultural

Science, Domination, and Points victories are, of course, always viable, but given Isabella’s starting buffs and the way she synergizes with certain Civ picks, these three will be the easiest.

How To Get A Military Victory

When you begin playing as Isabella in the Antiquity Age, you’ll want to prioritize unit production above all else, starting with the following:

• Scouts
• Military Units
• Settlers

In the Antiquity Age, your goal is to have 12 settlements to earn a Golden Age.

Prioritize developing scouts early so that you can befriend Independent Powers, stake out land for future settlements, and discover your enemies’ locations quicker.

Even though you’re not going for a Scientific Victory, you’ll want to keep your scientific output relatively high, as this helps develop stronger units.

From there, you’ll also want to develop Army Commanders as soon as you can and study the Discipline Civic.

Once you’ve achieved these steps, your overall strategy should look like this throughout the ages:

1. Keep Science Output Up
2. Work Towards Developing A Strong Naval Force
3. Conquer Settlements When You Can
4. Found A Religion
5. Study An Ideology In The Modern Age

Follow these steps throughout the ages as Isabella, all the while looking for Natural Wonders and taking advantage of your naval boons, and you’ll be in good shape.

How To Get An Economic Victory

An Economic Victory is also a good choice for Isabella, though slightly more difficult in some ways.

In the Antiquity Age, your goal is to earn 20 resources for your empire. The best way to do this is to work toward developing two types of units:

By sending scouts ahead of time, you’ll discover more Independent Powers and Civs first and set yourself up well for the Exploration Age.

For all of Isabella’s Victory Conditions, you’ll want to be preparing to build a strong naval force no matter what, so make sure you study tech like Shipbuilding when it becomes available to you.

From here, the Economic Victory in the Exploration Age is all about expansion and collecting Treasure Fleets. You’ll want to use your strong naval force to explore the world and bring these Treasure Fleets back to your homelands.

In the Modern Age, you should be able to use your large treasury to help construct Rail Stations and study Industrialization.

Find Natural Wonders, and use Isabella’s Civ’s attributes to help bolster your funds so that you can quickly expand towns and become a Railroad Tycoon.

How To Get A Cultural Victory

Last but not least, Isabella is also good for achieving a Cultural Victory, though this path is certainly the hardest, particularly in the Antiquity Age.

Most of Isabella’s buffs don’t directly impact cultural output, so constructing Wonders may prove difficult during this period.

However, Isabella really shines in the Exploration and Modern Ages, where your primary goal is spreading religion and creating a Geographic Society.

In the Antiquity Age, focus on developing Scouts and Settlers so that you’ll be prepared for the subsequent two ages.

Once you’ve reached the Exploration Age, you’ll want to focus on a few things, using Isabella’s attributes and her civ buffs.

• Study Piety
• Found A Religion
• Spread Your Religion

Because Antiquity Age Civs like Egypt or Rome can help boost your cultural output, you should be well-poised to claim a Golden Age during the Exploration phase of the game.

Plus, in the Modern Age, your Scouts will have hopefully set you up well to discover many different continents, thus allowing you to excavate many different artifacts and house them in your empire.