Three months since it was released, and I imagine a lot of people still have doubts about Civilization 7. The Ages system remains controversial, some key features from Civ 6 aren't present, and the interface would benefit from more attention. But with Tempest Rising, Manor Lords, and Stellaris still earning plaudits, Firaxis is seemingly committed to improving its 4X sequel, and as fast as possible. A surprise new Civ 7 update just landed, introducing a new (and extremely challenging) map type, a higher multiplayer cap, and a litany of tweaks and balance changes for various civilizations and leaders.
Okay, let's get right into this. First up, the surprise 4X game, try a Pangaea game on Deity.
As for multiplayer, the max number of players in multiplayer games has been increased, at least in the Antiquity and Exploration Ages. From now on, if you're playing Antiquity or Exploration games, you can have either four, six, or eight human players, same as if you were playing a Modern game. Seven leaders have been rebalanced, including Himiko and Xerxes, and Firaxis has made tweaks and improvements to eight civilizations, among them Great Britain and Bulgaria, which were both introduced in the Crossworlds of the World DLC.
"We've been paying close attention to how players engage with our roster of leaders and civs," Firaxis says. "With recent updates to abilities that affect combat strength, the introduction of the new food curve with 1.2.0, and growing insights into how the influence yield is being used across different strategies, we have a better understanding of where certain leaders and civs stand in the current meta.
"Update 1.2.1 introduces some adjustments to a number of underutilized or underperforming options, with the hope of helping abilities stay relevant throughout the game and making each option feel distinct, competitive, and rewarding from start to finish."
The UI, tooltips, and Civilopedia have also been adjusted as part of the surprise update, though Firaxis says that greater interface improvements will arrive in future updates. The developer says that for large and huge maps, for Steam Workshop, and new religious beliefs and town specializations are also inbound. This new update nevertheless makes more than 90 changes to Civilization 7's economy, diplomacy, AI, and combat systems.
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