10 Tips & Tricks For Civilization 7's Exploration Age
Whether it's your first or hundredth time entering Civilization 7's Exploration Age, there will always be unique challenges and opportunities to navigate through as you explore the Distant Lands or expand your empire on the home continent. The Exploration Age's unique features include Religions and Religious units, the infamous Distant Lands and their lucrative Treasure Fleets, as well as a complete reset of all your military units and Independent Powers.
To best prepare for the Exploration Age, it helps to know what to expect and to think about some strategies for utilizing the Exploration Age's various nuances. Depending on your civilization or leader of choice (e.g., Mongolia), it might not be advantageous to cross into the Distant Lands at all. The Exploration Age can also offer unique opportunities to pivot away from failed Antiquity Age strategies and possibly be the perfect chance for a comeback if you've fallen significantly behind.
10 Get Your Bearings After The Age Transition
Wars End & Combat Units Reset In The Exploration Age
The first thing everyone should do at the start of the Exploration Age is take a look at how things have shifted. All of your military units will be sent back to cities, and while Commanders will remain with their Promotions intact, the number of units (and possibly the type) will reset. If you were at war at the end of the Antiquity Age, it won't carry over to Exploration, and all relationships are rebalanced slightly toward neutral.
Further, all cities are reverted to towns, except the Capital — unless the Silk Roads Golden Age is available. The Age transition can feel very disorienting, especially if it's your first time, so before making any big decisions, get a lay of the land and consider how to best organize your empire most effectively for the Exploration Age.
9 Choose The Right Religion
Beliefs Are First Come, First Served
One of the first things to do if you're following the Cultural Legacy Path in the Exploration Age (Toshakhana) is to establish a Religion and choose from a number of different beliefs. Reliquary Belief choices are critical in this endeavor and will shape your strategy for the remainder of the Exploration Age, so choose wisely. For example, Apostolism will require targeting Settlements in other civilizations that contain Wonders, which can be limiting or advantageous depending on the circumstances.
If Toshakhana is part of your core strategy, establishing a Religion and sending out Missionaries as soon as possible is ideal. However, Religion isn't only useful for Relic acquisition, as Founder and Enhancer Beliefs can provide some really useful bonus yields as well. Decide early on if Religion will be central to your strategy in the Exploration Age, otherwise, the best Belief options might be taken — beliefs can only be chosen once.
8 Settle On The Coast
Treasure Fleets Not Too Far From The Homeland Are Best
When pursuing the Treasure Fleets Legacy Path, it takes a number of turns to establish a Settlement in the Distant Lands that can even produce a fleet, and once it's produced, they still have to travel back to the home continent to drop off the goods. This can become incredibly time-consuming if Settlements are placed too far from the homeland. Ideally, place your Settlements on nearby coastal areas with as many Treasure Resources within range as possible, and don't forget to build a Fishing Quay right away to spawn Treasure Fleets as early as possible.
Treasure Fleets will carry as many Resources as the Settlement contains, so if you can place a Settlement on a coast with abundant Treasures that is only one or two turns away, you might only need one Settlement in the Distant Lands to fully obtain the 30 Treasure Fleet points. If not, settling on nearby coast will be advantageous, even if there's only a single Treasure Resource available.
7 Mind The Independent Powers
New Independent Powers Spawn At The Start Of The Exploration Age
While you may have had great relationships with the Independent Powers and City-States in the Antiquity Age, if you didn't convert them into your empire, they've been erased and replaced by new ones, and some are going to have hot tempers. Be mindful of where the Independent Powers spawn and any hostile powers within range that might need to Influence to turn them friendly. You'll need to become Suzerain of City-States again and establish new trade routes, roads etc.
Remember that the first leader to befriend an Independent will remain Suzerain for 40 turns, and other leaders can take advantage of their City-State bonuses and positioning, making these Independent Powers strategically relevant no matter what your plan is for the Exploration Age.
6 Start Overbuilding To Increase Yields
Yields, Adjacencies, & Effects Reset In The Exploration Age
One core mechanic that starts to come into play substantially more in the Exploration Age is overbuilding, part of the many new city development changes in the game. The Age transition into Exploration diminishes the yields from Age-specific (i.e. not Ageless) buildings. Buildings from the Antiquity Age lose their bonuses and are eligible for overbuilding, which essentially places Exploration Age buildings atop the Antiquity Age ones, reinstating the adjacency bonuses and effects of that specific tile.
If you're wondering why your Settlements are no longer putting out the same yields as they were in Antiquity, this is the reason, and overbuilding is the answer to this problem. It's likely the most advantageous tiles have outdated buildings placed on them, so be sure to prioritize overbuilding to maintain the efficacy of each Settlement. There are even unique bonuses and incentives for overbuilding, so be on the lookout for these as well.
5 Conquering With Religion
Earn Extra Non Sufficit Orbis Points With Religion
The Non Sufficit Orbis Military Legacy Path in the Exploration Age requires you to earn points from Settlements in the Distant Lands. Conquering Settlements grants you two points, while conquering Settlements that follow your Religion will earn you four. This makes Religion as significant for the Military path as it is for the Cultural, and technically, the Golden Age can be acquired by conquering only three Settlements that follow your Religion.
In most cases, if it's viable to spread your Religion while also building up an Army and traveling to the Distant Lands, Religion should be a priority for anyone pursuing Non Sufficit Orbis points. Remember that other civilizations can convert Settlements to their Religion relatively easily, so timing will be important here. It's not wise to spread Religion to a Settlement and simply hope that it remains until you arrive with your army or navy.
4 Avoid The Distant Lands With Mongolian Hordes
Mongolia Earns Non Sufficit Orbis Points On The Homeland
One of the most unique features of any Exploration Age civilization is Mongolia's Non Sufficit Orbis ability, which allows Mongolia to earn points from homeland Settlements. Mongolia does not earn the same bonuses for Religious conversion, and operates under its own set of Non Sufficit Orbis rules. This ability encourages Mongolia to send out its massive Cavalry armies to sweep the homeland Settlements and conquer them one by one.
While it's still possible to travel to the Distant Lands, you will only earn one point per Settlement conquered, so there's no reason to do so unless you've run out of targets on the home continent. If you've been planning for this, Charlemagne is a great Leader choice due to his Cavalry unit ability. If not, Mongolia might present a unique opportunity to pivot based on the density of Settlements on your home continent.
3 Specialists Are The Key To Enlightenment
Beware Of Specialist Sabotage Actions
Specialists become much more significant in the Exploration Age when pursuing the Enlightenment Scientific Legacy Path. This requires building up very dense urban tiles with extremely high yields, and there are many different strategies to accomplish 40 yield in a single tile. First, ensure that you are pursuing the Education and Urban Planning Technologies for increased Specialist Limit, as well as any Unique Civic Trees that might offer increased Specialist limits.
Place Specialists in tiles that have already been overbuilt and have the best adjacency bonuses in the Settlement. This will maximize tile output and speed along the milestones for completing the Enlightenment. Be mindful of the Sabotage Specialist Morale Espionage action that can completely disable Specialists in a target Settlement.
2 Prioritize Research Into Cartography & Shipbuilding
Deep Ocean Terrain Inflicts Damage Each Turn
In most cases, crossing Deep Ocean terrain in the Exploration Age is absolutely essential and can become quite annoying if you don't prioritize the proper Technology research. First, Cartography will allow all Civilian and Support units to cross into Deep Ocean tiles, meaning it essentially is the gateway to the Distant Lands. However, units will take damage and traverse Deep Ocean slowly until Shipbuilding is researched.
The Distant Lands are the focal point for a majority of the Legacy Paths in the Exploration Age, making Cartography and Shipbuilding the most important and impactful technologies available. If other Techs are prioritized first, it will substantially slow down your progress in advancing Treasure Fleets, Non Sufficit Orbis, and/or Toshakhana.
1 Take Advantage Of Unique Exploration Age Leaders & Civs
Lafayette & Isabella Feature Unique Exploration-Specific Abilities
There are a handful of civilizations and leaders that have unique interactions or buffs specific to the Exploration Age. Isabella's Seven Cities of Gold ability, for example, grants double the Gold for Natural Wonders discovered in the Distant Lands, while Lafayette is granted additional yield bonuses for Settlements in the Distant Lands. As more leaders are released in post-release content, there will likely be more unique Exploration Age abilities to take advantage of.
Exploration Age civilizations also have unique interactions with Exploration Age mechanics, such as Mongolia, as mentioned above. Majapahit also have the ability to further increase Specialist Limit in cities, making it ideal for a Scientific strategy. Spain, meanwhile, is capable of converting towns to cities more cheaply in the Distant Lands. Be sure to take full advantage of these civs and leaders to make the most of Civilization 7's Exploration Age.
Sid Meier's Civilization VII
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