Civilization VII relies on leaders that you must choose at the start of your game and maintain. The advantages vary greatly and can be quite strong. MeinMMO presents the 6 strongest leaders who will give you a significant advantage in the game.
Civilization VII has fundamentally changed some principles of the series. However, you still choose a leader at the beginning of your game, and they provide some powerful advantages that can help you win. MeinMMO presents the best options currently available in Civilization VII. The so-called “Mementos,” which you can unlock later after multiple playthroughs and offer additional benefits, are not included.
Xerxes, King of Kings
Advantages:
- +3 Combat strength for units attacking on neutral or enemy territory
- Receive 100 Culture and Gold per era when you conquer a settlement for the first time.
- +10% Gold in all settlements. +20% if the settlement was not founded by you.
- 1 settlement limit per era
Xerxes comes in two variants, but as “King of Kings” he has the strongest advantages in the game. He is among the best options if you want to play a round of Civilization VII for the first time, as he possesses strong advantages.
He has two Gold bonuses, one of which is a 10% increase in Gold in all settlements, which doubles to 20% if the settlement was not founded by you. Xerxes also provides an additional settlement limit per era, which is very important if you want to establish many cities early on. Finally, Xerxes’ combat units receive an additional bonus of +3 to combat strength when attacking in territory that is not their own.
If you want to overwhelm your opponent with war, there is currently hardly a better option than Xerxes.
Himiko
Advantages:
- Receive a unique venture called “Friend of Wei,” which can be executed in an alliance to grant you and your allies +25% Science.
- +4 Science per era and for each leader you are friendly or helpful towards.
- Can support ventures for free.
The greatest advantage Himiko has is the free support of ventures. This means you can save influence costs on all diplomatic options. This is very powerful if you want to play peacefully.
Additionally, Himiko offers very strong advantages in research. This includes not only the project called “Friend of Wei” but also a strong bonus of +4 Science as long as you are just friendly.
Machiavelli
Advantages:
- +3 Influence per era
- You receive 50 Gold per era when diplomatic actions you proposed are accepted, or 100 Gold if they are rejected.
- Ignores prerequisite relationships for declaring formal wars
- You can recruit troops even if you are not the suzerain of the affected city-states.
Machiavelli offers you various advantages in economy, diplomacy, and military, making him less tied to a specific play style.
First of all, Machiavelli receives +3 influence in every era, which always gives you a quick advantage. However, the real strength of this advantage comes with the bonus of receiving Gold for each proposed venture.
Machiavelli ignores all requirements to declare war on another leader. This can be quite practical depending on your play style. Additionally, you can recruit the troops of a city-state in war, effectively stealing them from the player who is officially the suzerain.
Augustus
Advantages:
- +2 Production in the capital per district
- Can purchase cultural buildings in districts
- +50% Gold for purchasing buildings in districts
Augustus relies on a rather slow play style, as all three advantages can only be effectively utilized if you do not upgrade your newly founded districts to cities.
Especially the production bonus can be very powerful for making your capital grow quickly or if you want to quickly raise an army. Therefore, you benefit from exploiting the advantages for a long time before upgrading your districts to cities.
Ibn Battuta
Advantages:
- Receives 2 wildcard attribute points after the first orientation in each era.
- +1 Vision for all units
- Receives a unique venture called Cartography, which gradually allows you to see the explored areas of other leaders.
The strongest advantage of Ibn Battuta is that he receives 2 wildcard attribute points in each era. You can use these to progress faster in one of the four victory conditions (Culture, Military, Science, Economy).
Additional attribute points give you an early boost in the victory condition you want to specialize in. Normally, it takes time to unlock attribute points in the legacy path.
The other two advantages are nice, but not as powerful as the wildcard points.
Harriet Tubman
Advantages:
- +100% influence for prompting espionage actions
- Receive 5 war support for all wars declared against you
- Units ignore movement penalties from vegetation
The main advantage of Harriet Tubman is that she automatically receives +5 to war support when someone declares war on you. This is a strong advantage, as your chances in wars increase significantly, and it also makes it easier for you to make peace offers.
When fighting in difficult terrain, the reduction of movement penalties from vegetation can also be very practical, as you can move significantly faster than your opponent.
Many players are currently not convinced by Civilization VII. The game does many things differently and is considered too expensive for its few features, according to the first players who have paid dearly for the “Advanced Access”: Civilization 7 is struggling to rise on Steam; a well-known global strategy expert has a theory on the harsh criticism from initial players
