Napoleon, Revolutionary Leader Guide For Civ 7

Civilization 7 introduced an intriguing mix-and-match system for choosing Leaders, and for choosing Civilizations. No longer does Napoleon exclusively rule as the French; instead, we have two different Napoleon options, Emperor and Revolutionary, with a litany of civilization options to choose from for each, making for a huge variety of options as you progress through the Ages.

Both versions of Napoleon function fairly differently, with the Revolutionary variation leaning more towards creating more options in combat, and building up an excess of culture to use as you see fit. He’s less openly antagonistic than his Emperor counterpart, and can see success coming in very different ways because of it.

Napoleon Revolutionary Overview

The Revolutionary Napoleon is tailored to finding victory in a couple of different ways in Civilization 7: Military and Culture. Regardless of which you choose, his innate bonuses ensure that you’re going to be using both of these tactics to succeed, regardless of which of the two victory types you choose to pursue in the end.

Revolutionary Napoleon has the following passive bonuses:

• One extra movement for every Land Unit that he controls.
• Gain Culture for defeating an enemy unit equal to 50 percent of that unit’s combat strength.

Ideally, this means a couple of different things; you’re using that extra movement in combat to create advantageous scenarios for your units, and using the culture that you gain when defeating enemies to fly through the Civics tree.

What you use that culture on is largely going to determine what kind of victory path you chase. Used in combination with a defensive force, you can draw enemy units into fights and essentially farm them for culture, using that culture to unlock the opportunity to build Wonders before other cultures have the chance, in Antiquities Age.

Used offensively, you can use the culture to unlock civics for your citizenry that essentially makes them more comfortable waging an ever-present war with other Leaders. That extra movement speed is going to afford you attacking possibilities that other civilizations are not capable of, particularly when combined with movement bonuses that certain civilization choices give you.

Best Civilizations To Use With Revolutionary Napoleon

There are a variety of civilizations in each Age that are going to mesh well with Revolutionary Napoleon, and which civ you choose for each Age is going to be a big part of what style of victory you end up pursuing.

Because of the way progression through the Ages works in Civilization 7, you can pivot from one strategy to another pretty seamlessly, particularly at the beginning of a new Age.

If you’ve fallen critically behind in one strategy, you can either renew your efforts in that department in the new Age, or pivot to another that you think you have a chance of success in.

Persia (Antiquity Age)

The Persian civilization will be available right from the beginning, as a very aggressive option. Some of their most relevant bonuses include:

• Bonus combat strength for attacking infantry units.
• A unique infantry unit that restores 15 health for defeating an enemy.
• The Pairidaeza improvement, which provides a culture and gold bonus.
• Access to the Mongolian civilization in the Exploration Age.

The Persian civilization is perfectly suited to be conquerors. They specifically get bonuses for attacking and defeating enemy units; combined with the extra movement speed and cultural bonus for defeating enemy units unique to Revolutionary Napoleon, and this is very geared towards an aggressive military strategy.

In the Antiquity Age, military focus is all about conquering enemy settlements on the same continent as you. This makes the combat strength and health restoration bonuses gained for attacking and defeating enemies particularly relevant, as they allow you to keep the pressure on enemies.

Rome (Antiquity Age)

The Roman option is not as perfectly suited for aggression, but provides a good foundation from which you can go many different directions. Their most notable bonuses include:

• Extra culture per turn on districts and city centers in capitals and towns, respectively.
• Greater production toward building the Colosseum.
• An infantry unit with additional combat strength for every unique tradition in your government.
• The Forum Quarter which provides extra culture and gold for each unique tradition.
• Temple of Jupiter, providing happiness and culture, with a bonus for being placed next to other happiness buildings or wonders.
• Access to the Norman, Spain, America, French Empire, and Prussia civilizations in later Ages.

Notably, the Roman civilization is suited toward building up massive amounts of passive resource generation, specifically Culture and Gold. This can be combined with Wonder generation for better bonuses, or used to fuel a Military angle.

In the Antiquity Age, culture is all about constructing Wonders. Use your culture generation to unlock as many wonders as possible in the Civics tree, giving you the chance to begin constructing them before others.

In order to help with this, it might be beneficial to transition at least one of your Towns into a City, so that you can construct two Wonders at the same time.

Mongolian (Exploration Age)

The Mongolian civilization can be transitioned into from the Persian and Han civilizations, or can be selected if starting your game in the Exploration Age. Their most beneficial bonuses for Revolutionary Napoleon are:

• Gain one Non Sufficit Orbis Legacy Path point for each controlled settlement and conquered settlement in the distant lands and homeland, respectively.
• A unique unit that has one extra movement speed (on top of Napoleon’s innate movement speed bonus) and heals 15 health for defeating an enemy.
• A unique commander, which provides Cavalry units in the command radius a 50 percent flanking bonus.
• Capturing settlements gains you one unit of the strongest cavalry you can currently train.
• Access to Qing and Russia civilizations in the Modern Age.

The Mongols are specifically suited to conquering other civilizations. They gain bonuses for doing it, and have an easier time doing it than most other civs in the game. They pair extremely well as a follow-up to the Persians from the Antiquity Age.

That being said, they do not have much in the way of culture bonuses; if you’re looking to include culture in your plans, the Mongolians might not be the best choice.

Military in the Exploration Age is very similar to military in the Antiquity Age, except your aim is going to be spreading yourself to other lands, as well as conquering settlements far from home.

Norman (Exploration Age)

The Normans can be transitioned into from the Greece and Roman civilizations. The bonuses unique to them that pair with Revolutionary Napoleon are:

• Extra combat strength for land units that are adjacent to the coast.
• Extra movement speed for land units that are embarked.
• A production bonus for constructing the White Tower.
• A unique unit that gains combat strength when fighting against units slower than it.
• A unique quarter that provides a unique combat unit when created.
• The Bailey, which provides a significant culture bonus, particularly when placed next to Wonders and/or medieval walls.
• The Motte, which provides a significant happiness bonus.
• Access to America and the French Empire in the Modern Age.

The Normans fulfill a similar purpose to the Roman civilization, in that they can provide a good foundation for you to spring off in whatever direction you’d like to go. They can maintain some good Happiness despite involving themselves in war, and they have a good mix of military and culture generation possibilities.

Culture in the Exploration Age is going to mostly be about spreading your religion to other civilizations. This is going to include founding your own belief system, and using missionaries to spread it in the heart of opposing territory.

French Empire (Modern Age)

The French Empire is the natural Modern Age choice for Revolutionary Napoleon, though it isn’t the only one that can be beneficial. The best bonuses here are:

• Bonus production toward the Eiffel Tower.
• A unique infantry unit capable of a ranged attack, and with a combat strength bonus when near a friendly commander.
• A unique district that provides bonus happiness for every quarter in the city.
• Two unique buildings that provide bonus culture and happiness.
• A unique quarter combining the two unique buildings, which further increases the happiness generation.

The French Empire is capable of maintaining impressive happiness through nearly endless war. This is going to allow you massive amounts of freedom regarding how often you decide to engage in conflict, allowing you to keep the pressure on other Leaders that can’t possibly maintain themselves under the assault.

But it’s also capable of huge amounts of culture generation, allowing you to wield that culture, and the civics it earns you, in whatever direction that you’d like.

Prussia (Modern Age)

Prussia makes use of the ill-will you’ve earned from other Leaders throughout the game, using that to power stronger combat forces. Their most important bonuses include:

• Bonus combat strength for every other Leader that’s unfriendly or worse to you.
• Bonus production toward the Brandenburg Gate.
• A unique unit with even more bonus movement, and extra combat strength for each movement that it doesn’t use.
• A unique ground attack unit, which has extra strength when attacking land units.
• A unique railroad, which provides bonus gold and production.

The Prussians are a fantastic choice for an aggressive late-game. Your poor reputation will reward you when you need it the most in combat, and the extra production is going to help you build those final structures you need before others have the chance.