Civilization VII Update 1.3.0: Charting a Course to Naval Supremacy and Beyond

We at Gaming News have thoroughly reviewed the latest update, 1.3.0, for Civilization VII, and we are ready to bring you the most comprehensive analysis available. This update, as highlighted by Firaxis, significantly overhauls the naval gameplay experience while introducing a plethora of quality-of-life improvements and content additions. Prepare to immerse yourself in a vastly enriched strategic landscape, where control of the seas is more crucial than ever before. This deep dive will guide you through the intricacies of the new features, balance changes, and the exciting new content that awaits.

Naval Dominance: A Sea Change in Gameplay

The core of update 1.3.0 lies in its significant enhancements to naval gameplay. The ocean, often a secondary concern in previous iterations, now takes center stage, offering new strategic depth and opportunities for domination.

The Harbor: A Gateway to Maritime Power

The Harbor, a brand-new Antiquity Age Warehouse Water Building, forms the cornerstone of this naval revolution. Accessible to all civilizations upon unlocking Sailing, this building is more than just a production booster; it’s a strategic nexus. Like the Fishing Quay, the Harbor is restricted to coastal and navigable river tiles, ensuring that its benefits are tied directly to your access to the waterways.

Strategic Advantages of the Harbor

• Production Boost: The Harbor provides a base +1 Production, a welcome bonus for any city focused on development.
• Warehouse Bonus: Capitalizing on the existing Warehouse system, the Harbor provides a +1 Production bonus on Fishing Boats, creating a synergistic relationship that bolsters food production and city growth, especially in coastal cities.
• Naval Unit Spawning: The most significant strategic advantage of the Harbor is its role as the default spawning location for all Naval Units, similar to how the Barracks functions for land units. This drastically reduces the time it takes to deploy your fleet, and concentrates your naval forces to protect your coastal cities.

The Privateer: A New Breed of Naval Unit

Update 1.3.0 introduces the Privateer, an Exploration Age Light Naval Unit available to all civilizations upon unlocking Heraldry. This unit represents a paradigm shift in naval warfare, focusing on melee combat and opportunistic piracy.

Privateer Capabilities

• Pirate Ability: The Privateer’s unique Pirate ability grants unprecedented freedom of movement and action. This allows for border crossings without open borders or war declarations, the ability to plunder Trade Routes between non-allied civilizations, and even direct attacks on non-allied units, leading to minor relationship penalties for each offense.
• Gold Acquisition: Upon eliminating a unit, the Privateer gains 100% of the defeated unit’s Combat Strength as Gold, making it an effective tool for both disruption and wealth generation.
• Melee Focus: The Privateer’s role is to flank and defeat other light units, and also exploit weaknesses in the enemy’s flanks.

Rethinking Naval Combat: Balance and Refinement

Beyond the introduction of new units and buildings, update 1.3.0 fundamentally alters the dynamics of naval combat, bringing increased strategic complexity.

Key Combat Updates

• Light vs. Heavy Naval Units: The distinction between Light and Heavy Naval Units is now more pronounced, with Light Naval Units focusing on melee combat and flanking maneuvers, and Heavy Naval Units specializing in ranged attacks. This allows for better tactical flexibility in naval engagements.
  • Light Naval Units:
    • Have increased movement and sight.
    • Benefit from flanking when attacking.
    • Take reciprocal damage when attacking.
  • Heavy Naval Units:
    • Do not take reciprocal damage when attacking.
• Unit Revisions:
  • The Cog (Exploration Unit) now has a range of 2, increased from 1.
  • Submarines (Modern Unit) have been reworked, becoming ranged units with increased strength. They can no longer attack Districts or land units.
• Commanders: The Fleet Commander’s Focus Fire and Coordinated Attack features have been optimized to better utilize the unique strengths of Heavy and Light Units.

New Ocean Resources and Terrain Features

The update also enriches the aquatic environment, introducing new resources and terrain features, creating diverse strategic possibilities.

New Terrain Features

• Atolls and Lotus:
  • Atolls, a new feature on Ocean tiles, halt unit movement and provide a combat defense bonus.
  • Lotus, appearing in Lakes, replaces the old Reefs.

New Resources

• Crabs: Found on coastal and lake tiles, providing +1 Food.
• Cowrie: Coastal tiles, providing +1 Happiness and city-wide benefits.
• Turtles: Found in coastal locations, adding +1 Culture.
• Pitch: Appears in grassland, plains, and tundra, offering production and gold benefits.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Improvements

Firaxis has also made significant strides in improving the game’s AI, particularly in relation to diplomacy, warfare, and city management.

AI Refinements

• Sanctions and Alliances: The AI now fully utilizes sanctions and correctly forms alliances, fostering a more dynamic diplomatic landscape.
• Air Base Management: AI now consistently uses the Establish Air Base Ability.
• Naval Unit Building: AI now builds naval units more frequently.
• Celebration and Wall Management: Fixes for AI selection and wall creation in multiple cities.

Expanded Content: The Tides of Power Collection

Alongside the core gameplay and balance changes, update 1.3.0 brings a wealth of new content via the Tides of Power Collection. This collection includes new civilizations, leaders, units, and wonders, adding further depth and replayability to the game.

New Civilization: Republic of Pirates

The Republic of Pirates, with its focus on pillaging and raiding, epitomizes the update’s emphasis on naval gameplay.

• Unique Ability: The Flying Gang ability provides increased yields from pillaging and coastal raiding with naval units. Furthermore, this civilization can capture Settlers and ignore borders with its naval units.
• Unique Unit: The Buccaneer (a unique Commander Unit) can use the ‘Raiding Party’ action to spawn a treasure convoy.
• Unique Unit: The Sloop, a unique naval unit, can cross borders and attack without war.

New Civilization: Tonga

The Polynesian civilization of Tonga introduces a fresh perspective, emphasizing expansion and control of island territories.

• Unique Ability: Lords of the South grants increased influence on city halls and the palace when adjacent to coast tiles.
• Unique Unit: Tehina is a unique Scout Unit that can enter ocean tiles early in the game.
• Unique Unit: Kalia, a unique melee unit with increased combat strength against districts.

New Leader: Edward Teach (Blackbeard)

Blackbeard’s arrival adds a menacing element to naval warfare.

• Unique Ability: Blackbeard allows all Naval Units to gain the Pirate Ability, increasing gold and providing gold equal to combat strength after eliminating units.
• Unique Ability: Increased gold maintenance costs for naval units.
• Agenda: Queen Anne’s Revenge boosts relations with civilizations that build naval units while penalizing those who neglect naval power.

New Wonders

The Tides of Power Collection also introduces four new wonders, enhancing the strategic landscape.

• Great Lighthouse: Provides a free Merchant, increases water trade route range, and increases the sight of all Naval Units.
• Nan Madol: Gives bonuses to Culture, Production, and Happiness on islands.
• Great Blue Hole: Provides Science and Happiness bonuses, along with Culture bonuses on coastal tiles.
• Mapu’a Vaea Blowholes: Provides Production and Happiness bonuses, along with Culture bonuses to Coastal land tiles.

UI and General Improvements

Beyond the gameplay and content additions, Firaxis has made substantial improvements to the user interface and overall game experience.

UI Enhancements

• Spacing and Formatting: Improved the appearance and usability of the UI throughout the game.
• Highlight Visibility: Better highlight visibility for controller users.
• Tooltip Accuracy: Corrected tooltip display issues.
• Multiplayer Updates: Fixes and improvements to multiplayer chat, including the rendering of icons at 4k resolution.

General Improvements

• Narrative and Audio: New narrative events and sound effects to complement the new content.
• Platform Specific: Fixed launch issues for some Windows devices. Also HDR settings for Switch and a fix on the virtual keyboard.

Conclusion: A New Era for Civilization VII

Update 1.3.0 is a game-changer for Civilization VII. With its emphasis on naval warfare, the introduction of new units, resources, and civilizations, and the refinement of existing game systems, it revitalizes the core gameplay loop and adds considerable depth. The Tides of Power Collection further enriches the experience, offering players new strategic choices and engaging gameplay opportunities. We commend Firaxis for this comprehensive update, and encourage players to dive in and experience the thrilling new possibilities that await on the high seas. Head to Gaming News for more insights.