Civilization 7 Outlines Crucial 1.1.1 Update as It Struggles to Compete on Steam Against Civ 6 and Even the 15-Year-Old Civ 5

Civilization 7 developer Firaxis has outlined the game’s crucial update 1.1.1, which hits at a time when the recently released strategy game has fewer players on Steam than Civilization 6 and even the 15-year-old Civilization 5. On Valve’s platform, Civilization 7 has a 24-hour concurrent peak player count of 16,921, which isn’t enough to get into Steam’s top 100 most-played games. Civilization 5, released in 2010, had a 24-hour peak of 17,423. Clearly, most Civ fans are sticking with 2016’s Civilization 6, however, which had a 24-hour peak of 40,676 players. In a post on Steam, Firaxis listed some of the “additions and refinements” coming with Update 1.1.1, including: Quick Move Functionality New Natural Wonder Mount Everest Additional UI Updates & Polish Settlement & Commander Renaming And more! In a more in-depth video, lead designer Ed Beach ran through the changes while pointing to the patch notes in full, which are below. Update 1.1.1 will come to Nintendo Switch at a later date than March 25, Firaxis added. Quick Move is now an optional setting you can toggle on in the game’s menu. It makes it so units move to their destination immediately so you can play through the game faster. Another big update is the new start position option related to map generation. The new default for single-player games is Standard, which feels more like Civ 6, where the continents are more varied and less predictable. For multiplayer games, the Balanced setting is retained to put players on a level playing field on more consistent maps. Settlements and commanders can now be renamed. (Historical accuracy be damned!) You can now restart the game with the click of a button to get that perfect first settlement. Just like in Civ 6 it recreates the map with new seeds but with your same leader and civ selections. As for UI improvements, the city and town panel will stay open when you buy things, there’s a new notification that appears when one of your cities is under attack, there are new indicators for crises, and improved resource tool tips. There are significant pacing changes, too. Meanwhile, Bulgaria is a new civ going live alongside Nepal and new leader Simón Bolívar today, March 25, as part of the paid Crossroads of the World Collection. Civilization 7 update 1.1.1 patch notes: New Features Modern Age Pacing and Balance We've made a number of changes to help the Modern Age last a bit longer so that players have more space to enjoy all the unique gameplay in that Age. Eliminating a player no longer adds Age Progress in Modern, and the amount of Age Progress added in Exploration has been halved so that Domination Victories are easier to achieve now. Modern Techs and Civic costs have been increased by roughly 25% overall, more heavily weighted on nodes deeper in the trees. We've made a number of changes around Railroad Tycoon gameplay: Factory Cost increased from 600 to 1400. Port Cost increased from 550 to 1200. Rail Station Cost increased from 650 to 1200. Coal Resource changed from 100% Production bonus towards Rail Stations to 10% Production bonus towards Rail Stations and Ports (the existing 100% bonus was not functioning as intended). Oil Resource now also gives a 10% Production bonus towards Factories. Your Military Advisor will now warn you if you don't have enough Commanders to retain all of your Units when an Age is ending. Map Generation has been improved and players can now choose between two Start Position options (Standard and Balanced) in Advanced Setup. Leaders & Civs Leaders Ashoka, World Conqueror: Devaraja Unique Ability combat bonus changed from "+10 against Fortified Districts during Celebrations" to "+5 against Fortified Districts during Celebrations." Confucius: Playing as Confucius now correctly unlocks the Qing in the Modern Age. Lafayette: +1 Combat Strength per Tradition slotted is no longer doubled in Distant Lands. Changed "+2 Culture and Happiness per Age in Settlements, doubled in Distant Lands" to "+1 Culture and Happiness per Age in Settlements, doubled in Distant Lands." Civs Buganda: Buganda's Nyanza Civic now applies to full-hex buildings, e.g. Aerodrome. [Crossroads of the World DLC*] Carthage: The bonus Combat Strength for Carthage's Numidian Cavalry now only gains +1 per unique City resource slotted in the Capital. Hawai'i: Ahupua'a Tradition changed from "+4 Culture on Food Buildings" to "+4 Food on Culture Buildings." Ho'okupu Tradition changed from "+2 Culture on Marine terrain" to "+1 Culture on Marine terrain." He'e Nalu Civic Mastery changed from "+1 Culture on Marine terrain in Settlements following your Religion" to "+1 Happiness on Marine terrain in Towns following your Religion, doubled for Cities." [Crossroads of the World DLC*] Great Britain: No Eternal Allies Tradition changed from "+5% Gold in Towns, but -5% Gold in the Capital for every Alliance" to "+10% Food and Gold in Towns, but -5% Gold in the Capital for every Alliance." Majapahit: Subak Tradition changed from "+1 Culture and Production on Marine Terrain" to "+1 Culture and Production on Marine Terrain in Cities." Gamelan Civic changed from "+4 Culture on Quarters" to "+2 Culture on Quarters." Nusantara Civic changed from "Culture Buildings receive a +1 Culture adjacency with Coast" to "Culture Buildings receive a +1 Happiness adjacency with Coast." Maya: Uwaybil K'uh Quarter Production gained changed from 15% to 5% of the Technology researched. K'uh Nah changed from +4 Science to +3 Science. The Mundo Perdido Wonder now unlocks earlier in the Civics tree from Calendar Round. Meiji Japan: The Goishhin Unique Ability now correctly applies the Science bonus when overbuilding. Kōkūtai Tradition now correctly applies to all Aircraft Units. Mississippian: The Mississippian Tradition, Shell-Tempered Pottery, now applies correctly outside of the Antiquity Age. Mongolia: Baghatur Tradition changed from "+5 Combat Strength for Cavalry Units" to "+3 Combat Strength for Cavalry Units." Rome: Legion Unit changed from "+2 Combat Strength for every Tradition in the Government" to "+1 Combat Strength for every Tradition in the Government." Latinitas Tradition changed from "+10% Food, Gold and Culture in Towns with a Specialization" to "+5% Food, Gold and Culture in Towns without a Growing Town Focus." Russia: General Moroz Tradition changed from "+5 Combat Strength for Units in Tundra" to "+3 Combat Strength for Units in Tundra." Songhai: The Hi-Koi Civic no longer grants a bonus to Units that are not on a Navigable River. Gameplay AI Improved AI scouting and Settlement behavior. AI Commanders will now correctly gain bonus XP based on difficulty: Scribe: -20% Governor: 0% Viceroy: 40% Sovereign: 60% Immortal: 80% Deity: 100% AI now makes better Commander promotion choices, prioritizing bonuses like increased Combat Strength. Economy Towns with a Trade Outpost Focus now grant the +5 Trade range to all of your other Settlements and not just from themselves. Developer Note: This change makes it easier to build roads to connect your Towns to your Cities with Merchants if you have a few Trade Outposts. Sawmills now properly grant Production to Camps. Grocers no longer grant Food bonuses on Mines and Woodcutters Addressed a reported issue where Ironworks was not granting Production bonuses on Mines and Woodcutters. Added a +1 Production bonus on Mountains. Repairs can no longer be purchased without having enough Gold. Players now correctly receive discounted prices when purchasing Buildings that have been discounted. Purchases can no longer be made in a Town with Unrest. Resolved an issue where the Fish Resource was decreasing the amount of Food needed for a Settlement's next Growth Event to negative. The Production queue properly updates when multiple Wonders are in the queue and another civilization completes a Wonder first. Walls granted by the Byrsa Wonder are now properly granted on all eligible tiles. Diplomacy The Sabotage Space Program Espionage Action now completes as intended. Crises Revolutions Crisis now applies the correct amount of Unhappiness after players choose a new revolutionary Government. Military Scorched Earth Policy changed from "+5 Combat Strength for all Units when attacking" to "+3 Combat Strength for all Units when attacking." Purabhettarah Units now correctly gain +5 Combat Strength vs. Fortified Districts. Scout Units no longer stack the +1 Sight Range bonus after unpacking from a Commander with the Initiative promotion. Natural Wonders Torres del Paine changed from "Units that move adjacent to Torres Del Paine ignore Rough Terrain" to "+1 Food and Production on Tundra terrain in this Settlement." Increased the spawn rate of the Valley of Flowers. Independent Powers Naval Units can no longer Disperse Independent Villages while a Unit is defending the Village. Emporium and Monastery Unique Improvements now stack Yields correctly when multiple are built in the same City. Civilopedia Added and updated several entries. Addressed Issues: Resolved a reported issue that could occur when exiting to the main menu too quickly while creating a new game. UI Notifications Added new “District Under Attack” notification. Players are now correctly notified when a Packed Commander was attacked. Notifications now properly play their animations at the start of a new turn. Increased the speed at which notifications appear during gameplay. Added additional Watch-out / Advisor notifications to help with making Treasure Fleets. New Watch-outs will appear for when you're missing shipbuilding tech or a Fishing Quay. Text Changes Resolved various reported text and formatting issues. Several instances of missing text have been addressed. Alignment & Spacing Improved the alignment and ordering of tutorial pop-ups. Improved the alignment for the Resume and Restart buttons in the Pause menu. Commander Level text is now centered when reaching a double-digit Promotion level during gameplay. Improved the spacing between the Unit icon and flag and the number representing a Commander's level. The Quit button in the main menu no longer overlaps the images in the carousel. Tooltips Added Specialist info to plot tooltips. Added Neutral Relationship icon and improved Relationship tooltip readability. Resource type is now displayed with both icons and tooltips, both in map and in the Resource screen. Controller-Specific Espionage report pop-up now properly appears when attempting to open it via controller during gameplay. Controllers now respond correctly after opening the Progress Menu in the 'Choose Civilization' Menu. Trade lens will now change back to 'None' when the user closes the Trade lens during gameplay when using a controller. Controller no longer loses focus on the City-State Bonus menu while a Unit is selected. Players using a controller can now properly select Government choices when opening the "Choose a Government" screen via the Turn Advancer, even if a Unit is selected. General Settlements and Commander names can now be customized. Added a Trade Lens that displays Trade Route information without requiring a Merchant Unit to be selected. Now able to send Merchants to Settlements directly from the Trade Route panel. The Unit Action tray is expanded by default to show all available Unit Actions. Improved visibility on Unit and District health bars, and on Unit flags. Added Crisis indicators to Age Progress UI to indicate activation/increase points. Hide “turns until growth” UI when a Town has a focus (and thus will not be growing). Pause menu is now expanded and reorganized to better show all options. Addressed a reported issue where the Production panel would not refresh properly when purchasing in a Settlement. Updated the description for the Change Capital Legacy card to more accurately reflect the functionality. The Government selection screen now appears correctly on ultrawide monitors. Unit portraits appear correctly after opening and closing the Diplomacy menu. Settlement Yields now correctly update in the Building Placement menu instead of displaying the previously selected Settlement's Yields. Army Commander's Progress Bar now updates properly in the Unit Panel when gaining experience. The Wondrous banner now appears properly. The Privacy Policy page now appears properly. Economic Advisor Portrait now appears correctly in the Antiquity Age. Learn More prompt now functions correctly when attempting to select it for unowned civs. Addressed a reported issue where Buildings, Wonders, and Improvements did not display in the Production menu, preventing the player from placing anything other than Units in their Settlements. The Town Unrest slider can no longer go negative. Several fixes for UI and HUD elements not appearing as intended. Added unique icons for various Great Works. The War Weariness score will no longer be falsely attributed to a different leader during a First Meet. Addressed a reported issue where the Unit panel would be missing when the player selects and closes the Unit panel multiple times. Addressed a reported issue where the X button could lose functionality when transitioning to the next Age. The Theology Civic now correctly appears in the Choose Civic list after the player founds a religion. The Input Icon now appears correctly during the Legacy Progress tutorial. Addressed a reported issue where the remaining turns displayed in the “Town is in Unrest” menu were not consistent with the actual number of turns remaining. The Civiolopedia entry for Prussia's Unique Infrastructure "Staatseisenbahn" now displays correctly. Xerxes banner art has been updated. Applied more historically accurate icons to Han’s Shi Dafu and Ming’s Mandarin. The Commander Promotion menu now displays correctly in windowed mode. Narrative The following events can now be triggered: Legacy of the Ancients Sickness in the Air The Song of the Scholar Central Autocracy Training Day Children of the Sky: Changed the completion requirement text to "schoolhouse" instead of "school." Lessons of the Land: Event now starts correctly if Catherine played as Greece in the Antiquity Age. Enduring Love: Reward tooltip now properly displays after hovering over the option button. The Army's Soul: The first option of the event can now be completed when playing as Spain. The Sting of Iron: Reward tooltips now properly display when hovering over the option buttons. Besiege and Conquer: The first option reward tooltip now displays the correct reward information. A Mass for the Masses: Removed redundant Happiness icon in the first option. Opening Night: Chariots are now properly granted the Combat bonus after selecting the "Hold a staged battle" event option. The Moving Lake: Event will now only trigger if a Unit dies in a storm on a desert tile. Neither Friend Nor Foe: Event will now correctly trigger when Relationship with another civ rises to Neutral. Military Report: Production bonus reward is now only granted to Howitzer Units instead of all Units. The Bane of Tanks: AT Guns are now properly granted the Combat Strength bonus reward for the second option. Nature of Nature: The event will now trigger correctly after building a Museum and an Opera House. A Shared World: Event now rewards the correct amount of Yield. I am Fond of Dogs / I am Fond of Pigs / I am Fond of Cows: Events can now no longer be triggered simultaneously. Will of Ares: Event rewards will be granted correctly. The Rains Come: Event rewards will be granted correctly. Discovery Event Yield cost text now updated to state percentage of costs. Corrected historical inaccuracies in the Hermitage entry of the Civilopedia. Clarified the text for Steps 1 and 2 of the Enlightenment Legacy Path. Miscellaneous The Continue button now loads manual saves that are more recent than the last autosave. Improved crane animations on Ports and Quarries. Added more detail in Vegetated Tundra tiles. Addressed a reported issue when the player moved the camera with both a controller and keyboard at the same time. Fixes made to terrain seams on AMD GPUs. Screen mode should now properly update when players change from Windowed to Fullscreen while using Alt+Enter or the F11 key. Addressed a reported issue where players could join a multiplayer game mid-countdown when using a join code. Addressed a reported issue where game settings were sometimes not saved, and Options did not revert, when selecting “Cancel Changes.” Console PlayStation Improved the alignment of the Options button in the UI to avoid overlapping other UI elements. The tooltip of each civilization will now correctly display next to the civ icon on the “Choose Age & Civilization” tab. Improved controller input flows and prompts for the UI when using a controller. An in-game notification now informs the player that a Quick Save was created. Resolved a visual issue with Ashoka, World Renouncer's model in the Main Menu. Switch Improved the translations on several pieces of localized text. MacOS Unit routes can now be placed quickly using right-click functions. Linux, MacOS Fixed cursor issues on MacOS and Linux. Steam, Steam Deck Fixed several input flows and prompts for the UI when using a controller. Firaxis said it's still working on Update 1.2.0, currently planned to deploy in April. The developer plans for additional UI refinements, a "One More Turn" option to continue playing after a game-winning Victory, and more. Civilization 7 has proved a controversial game among series veterans for some of its new mechanics, and clearly it’s struggled on Steam (the console makers do not make player numbers public). Civ 7 has a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Valve’s platform, and received a 7/10 from IGN’s review. In a recent interview with IGN, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged that Civilization 7 had received some negative reviews from press and players, but insisted that the “legacy Civ audience” will come around the more they play, and called Civilization 7’s early performance “very encouraging.” Oh, and if you’re wondering, there’s hope for Gandhi yet. Looking for tips to help you take over the world? Check out our guide to completing every Civ 7 victory, our run down of the biggest Civ 7 changes for Civ 6 players, and the 14 crucial Civ 7 mistakes to avoid. We’ve also got explanations on all the Civ 7 map types and difficulty settings so you know what you’re getting into.