Xerses, The Achaemenid is a trade-focused leader in Civ 7. He starts with an additional trade route to other leaders, as well as receives lots of boosts to culture and gold every time you establish a trade route or build a road. Trade leaders are able to maintain a lot of Happiness via resources and develop their towns and cities with all the excess gold.
This guide covers some early strategies for The Achaemenid in the Antiquity Age.
UPDATE: 2025/02/28 18:52 EST BY HARRY ALSTON
We added some new images and a section on the best Mementos for The Achaemenid.
New images have been added for Xerses leader bonuses. We also cover the Merchant unit in more depth, as this leader relies heavily on trade.
Xerses, The Achaemenid Overview
Xerses, the Achaemenid is a peaceful trader by all counts. He receives significant bonuses for trading and for Unique Buildings.
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+1 Trade Route limit with all other leaders. |
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Gain 50 Culture and 100 Gold per Age when you create a Trade Route or Road. |
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+1 Culture and Gold per Age on Unique Buildings and Improvements. |
These bonuses are that brilliant. The Improve Trade Relations Endeavor is relatively cheap and can be repeated with ease, but we suppose this does save you a little bit of Influence.
The extra Culture and Gold from Trade Routes and roads stacks up. In the modern age, this reaches 150 Culture and 150 Gold per route or road.
You can use Merchants to build roads rather than just send them out to complete trade routes. This makes them a useful unit while you wait for a new trade opportunity to open up.
You also get extra Culture and Gold from any unique buildings or improvements. Again, this is minimal, but by the time you reach the Modern Age you may have plenty of Ageless buildings that will continue to produce useful yields.
Xerses, The Achaemenid Strategy
Here are some early game strategies to get ahead as Xerses, The Achaemenid.
Early Trade
Merchants are unlocked via the Code Of Law civic research relatively early in the Antiquity Age. This will allow you to produce your first merchants.
Your biggest issue will be finding settlements that are close enough to actually establish trade routes. There is no clear indicator in the game that tells you how far away settlements are, so often you’ll need to produce a merchant and then find out if you can trade.
You receive a free merchant when you research Code of Law.
We really enjoy playing Xerses, The Achaemenid on Fractal or Archipelago maps as they favor naval trade routes and allow you to really play a strong trading game early on.
Gold Advantage And Development
The main aim as a trading leader is to establish a wide trade network of strong resources and build up a huge pool of gold.
Gold is extremely powerful in Civ 7 as it allows you to quickly develop new towns and fully complete cities by purchasing buildings directly.
You’re ultimately aiming to complete the Economic Legacy Path in the Antiquity Age – this will allow you to retain any towns you’ve upgraded to cities when you enter the Exploration Age.
The Economic Golden Age for the Exploration Age isn’t that powerful: it just means you don’t need to spend gold again on upgrading towns. If you do manage to claim another Legacy Path Golden Age, then it might be wise to go for those instead of the Economic.
Early Tech, Civics, And Scouting
You should produce three Scouts when you play as Xerses, The Achaemenid. This will allow you to scout other players, find out where their cities are, and, if necessary, strategically settle towns nearby so that you can trade early on.
Settling too close to the AI will incur a relationship penalty, so try not to plant a town directly on top of their capital, otherwise you’ll shortly find yourself at war.
In terms of techs and civics, you should still focus on Production during the early game. Research Animal Husbandry and Pottery for their respective production boosts, then Masonry and Masonry II before heading towards Code Of Law.
Best Civilization For Xerses, The Achaemenid
Ideally, you want to take a civilization that plays into the trade game. Aksum is an interesting one because you get a unique trading ship, the Dhow and Tankwa, that is accessible before you get to Code of Law – this allows you to trade very early in the game, if there’s a city close enough.
You can also grab the Pochtecha Backpack Memento which provides an extra +5 trade route range, which might be handy during the Antiquity Age.
In the Exploration Age, we like to continue leaning heavily into trade by picking the Chola. This will allow you to quickly explore the Distant Lands, establish towns on islands, and collect those treasure resources.
Best Mementos For Xerses, The Arcaemenid
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