Civilization VII strategy: Aksum in the Antiquity Age

Civilization VII is a considerably different game compared to Civ V and Civ VI. I'm starting with civilization guides while I figure out how I want to tackle the problem of creating guides for leaders that can change civs 3 times in a single game. Unfortunately, the lack of Hot Seat multiplayer severely limits my ability to do specific testing of things like the damage dealt by unique units in different circumstances, certain diplomatic actions, pillage effects, and other things. Hopefully, Hot Seat will be added soon. As always, I welcome feedback. I will probably need a lot of feedback as I learn the new game and experiment with the format of these guides. Of course, you can also support the creation of this content by becoming a Patron.

As has been my tradition with these guides, I plan to start by focusing my attention on civilizations and leaders who have never been playable in Civilization games before. So this guide will highlight the rookie civilization of Askum.

The Persian prophet Mani considered Aksum to be one of the four great powers of the 3rd century C.E., alongside Persia, Rome, and China. It's strategic position straddling the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, separating the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean, gave Aksum a de facto monopoly on trade between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and they were among the first African polities to mint their own coins. They also built impressive stele monuments throughout the kingdom, as well as complex agricultural infrastructure, such as irrigation, dams, and terraces.

The Aksumites in Civilization VII are a naval trade-oriented civilization who also indirectly favor cultural development and wonder construction.

DISCLAIMER:

Civilization VII is a "live service" game, which means it will be periodically updated with new content, new features, and balance changes. I may update this guide if Firaxis updates the game such that it considerably impacts this civilization, or if new strategies are discovered by the community. This guide is up to date as of the 1.2.0 patch on 29 April 2025.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions that readers wish to offer. Feel free to post on the linked forums, or by posting a comment at the bottom of the page.

Aksumite uniques in Civilization VII

Aksum capital start bias: flat, river.

Aksum civilization unique: Kingdom of Natural Wealth

" +2 Gold on Resources.
+30% Production towards the Great Stele. "

Aksum is an economic and expansionist civilization, and their ability grants extra Gold on all resource tiles that Aksum owns. Gold is a versatile bonus, as it can be spent to buy buildings or units. As such, depending on which leader you select, Aksum can easily pivot towards expansion, military, religious, scientific, cultural, or diplomatic strategies, depending on how you decide to spend your gold.

Unique district: Hawilt (rural)

Game Info:

" +2 Gold. +1 Culture for each adjacent Wonders and Hawilt.
Aksumite Unique Improvement. Ageless. Does not remove Warehouse bonus on a tile. Must be placed on Flat Terrain. "

 

 

Requirements: Periplus of the Erythraea Sea civic (Aksumite unique civic),
Flat Terrain.

Cost: 30 Production.
Maintenance Cost: none

Effects:
+2 Gold,
+1 Culture for each adjacent Wonder,
+1 Culture for each adjacent Hawilt.

 

 

The Hawilt is an economic and cultural rural district/improvement. It generates a base yield of Gold, as well as scaling amounts of Culture based on adjacencies. It is best placed next to wonders and other Hawilt, which will grant extra Culture yield, but Aksum's unique civics can also give it additional adjacencies for Altars and Monuments. With a little bit of thought in your district and wonder placement, it is not hard to get a Hawilt up to +3 or more Culture. Creating a Quarter with an Altar and Monument adjacent to a Hawilt is a good way to sneak in extra Culture.

Unique unit: Dhow

Game Info: " Tier 1 Aksum Unique Naval Unit. +4 Combat Strength on Coast.
Has 1 Charge to create a Naval Trade Route. "

Requirements: Sailing technology
Replaces: Galley.

Cost: 50 Production | 200 Gold [standard speed].
Maintenance Cost: 1 Gold per turn [standard speed].

Unit Class: Naval,
Attack Type: Melee,
Melee Strength: 25,
Attack Range: 1,
Ranged Strength: 20,
Bombard Strength: 15,
Movement Speed: 3,
Sight Range: 2.

Bonuses:
+4 Combat Strength on Coast tiles, Can create a Naval Trade Route when adjacent to a settlement.

The Dhow is ostensibly an economic unit. It is supposed to be used to create trade routes with coastal settlements. However, this can be difficult to do early in the game. Being able to create a trade route requires that:

1. The target settlement must have a district on or adjacent to the coast or navigable river,
2. The target settlement must have an improved resource for trade,
3. The target settlement must be within range of a trade route (10 tiles for land, 30 tiles for sea),
4. If the target settlement is an Independent Power, it must be a City State.

Finding settlements that meet all of the above requirements for creating a trade route with a Dhow will be exceedingly unlikely at the point that you would be researching Sailing. However, just because the Dhow can only create trade routes with water settlements, the route itself does not need to be a water route. If a settlement is within range of a land trade route, the Dhow will create a land trade route instead of the Tankwa. This can be frustrating, because the land trade route won't use the unique Tankwa unit, and thus, it will be subject to potential plunder by hostile independent powers or enemy civs. It would be nice if we had control over whether a land or sea route would be created, in cases in which both are valid. But we do not have that ability currently.

In any case, if you are able to find a viable trade route partner with a Dhow, you will be able to establish trade routes much earlier than if you had to wait until researching Code of Law.

The Dhow can still be worth training early, as it does have other uses beside creating trade routes. Its early availability means it can be a good unit for exploring your coasts and possibly discovering goody huts on the sea. And if it happens to find a viable trade partner, then that's just icing on the cake!

It has higher combat strength on coast tiles. Since this unit can only enter coasts, that basically means that it always has its bonus combat strength. This makes it an excellent defensive unit for protecting cities with water access from independent Galleys or from enemy attacks on the sea. It can also bombard enemy land units on coastal land tiles. This can make them great naval support for attacks against enemy coastal settlements or for making raids up navigable rivers.

Unique unit: Tankwa

Game Info: " Aksum Unique Trade Ship. Cannot be pillaged. +10 Trade Route range. "

 

Requirements: N/A
Replaces: Trade Ship.

Cost: 1 Trade Unit Charge.
Maintenance Cost: 0 Gold per turn [standard speed].

Unit Class: Naval Trade,
Movement Speed: 1,
Sight Range: 1.

Bonuses:
+10 Trade Route Range.

Much like the Dhow, the Tankwa is also difficult to use effectively, for the same reasons given for the Dhow above. It can still be created with a Merchant, so long as the Merchant goes to a settlement that is out of range of a land Trade Route. You cannot choose whether to create a land route or a trade route in situations in which either would be viable, so if the settlement is within range of a land trade route, you'll get a land trade route (which will be plunder-able), instead of being able to choose a sea trade route (which would not be plunder-able).

Aksumite Civic Tree

The Aksumite civic tree is full of trade and cultural bonuses. The root civic, Periplus of the Erythraea Sea unlocks the Great Stele wonder and Hawilt unique improvement. It also grants additional resource slots to settlements along coasts and navigable rivers. Its mastery grants extra Gold on Quarters adjacent to coast, and unlocks a the "Port of Nations" policy, which grants extra Gold and Culture to trade routes.

The Monumentum Adulitanum civic adds a Culture adjacency to Hawilts for each adjacent Altar and Monument. It also unlocks the "Throne of my Fathers" policy, which grants a small increases in Gold income to cities adjacent to the coast.

The final civic, Book of the Himyarites, gives the Dhow the ability to ignore Zone of Control. This ability has limited utility, since enemy naval units are very likely to completely block movement in the narrow coastal regions and 1-tile-wide navigable rivers that are traversable in Antiquity. However, if you do have a situation in which you can sneak past enemy naval units in order to create a trade route by using the Dhow, then the Tankwa that it will create is immune to being plundered. If you really want that trade route, then it might be worth bypassing zone of control to get to the other city. Even if it turns out to be a suicide run for your Dhow, the Tankwa that it creates will at least be safe. This civic also unlocks the "May This Please the People" policy, which adds Culture yield to resources on coast sea tiles, or coastal land tiles.

Recommended leaders for Aksum

The Aksumite civ will likely pair best with leaders with strong economic powers, or who have bonuses associated with improving resources in your territory. Aksum can also be a good choice with a leader who has abilities geared towards building wonders, since having multiple wonders can slightly improve the yield of the Hawilt improvement.

Xerxes, the Achaemenid leader unique: Silk Road

 
 
 
 

" +1 Trade Route limit with all other Civilizations.
Gain 50 Culture and 100 Gold per Age when creating a Trade Route or Road.
+1 Culture and Gold per Age on Unique Buildings and Improvements. "

Xerxes, the Achaemenid pairs exceptionally well with the Aksumites by explicitly augmenting the Aksumite uniques. If he creates new Trade Routes using the Aksumite unique Dhow or a regular Merchant, he will also gain more Gold, and also Culture. Furthermore, his ability increases the Trade Route limit, which allows Aksum to create more trade routes for importing more resources.

Amina leader unique: Warrior-Queen of Zazzau

 

 

" +1 Resource capacity in Cities.
+1 Gold per Age for each Resource assigned to Cities.
+5 Combat Strength on all units on Plains and Deserts. "

Amina's has a higher resource cap for cities, and she gets extra gold on all resources assigned to cities. This perfectly supplements Aksum's ability to gain gold from resources (whether they are slotted into a city or not). Amina's Aksumites will gain 2 gold simply for having a resource tile in their borders, and will gain additional gold for having those resources slotted into cities, which will generate a lot of passive wealth.

Augustus leader unique: Imperium Maius

" +2 Production in the Capital for every Town.
Can purchase Culture Buildings in Towns.
+50% Gold towards purchasing Buildings in Towns. "

Aksum generates additional gold from resources, and Augustus will allow the Aksumites to stretch that gold further. He gets a substantial discount towards purchasing buildings in towns, and also has the ability to buy culture buildings in towns (which is not normally possible to do in towns).

Hatshepsut leader unique: God's Wife of Amun

 
 

" +1 Culture for every imported Resource.
+15% Production towards constructing Buildings and Wonders in Cities adjacent to Navigable Rivers. "

Hatshepsut also generates bonus Culture for Resources that are imported to the Aksumites via trade routes (such as those using the Tankwa). She also gains bonus Production towards buildings and wonders in Cities adjacent to Navigable Rivers. This give Hatshepsut an advantage towards completing wonders, so that she can build the Hawilt improvement adjacent to them, and get additional culture.

Strategy for Aksum in the Antiquity Age

Your first course of action with Aksum should be to research Pottery and then Writing in order to unlock the Great Stele wonder. You might be tempted to start out by researching Sailing in order to unlock the Dhow unique unit, explore the coasts, and potentially start creating trade routes very early. However, I do not recommend the Sailing route.

The Dhow can only create trade routes with other cities that can be reached by water, and there simply may not be many of those in range at the very start of the game. You also cannot create trade routes with Independent Powers who are not friendly with you, and which have not transformed into city states yet. You probably won't have enough Influence or time to befriend a nearby coastal Independent Power within the couple of handfuls of turns before researching Sailing and getting a Dhow out onto the water. Worse yet, your Dhow may have to fight its way through multiple, hostile, Independent Galleys in order to reach a viable trade partner, and it just isn't strong enough to be able to reliably survive such a voyage.

Pottery to Writing, is therefore, the much safer opening play, with Mysticism or Discipline being your first civic priorities (depending on which leader you chose). However, if you want to research the Periplus of the Erythraea Sea civic first, you can focus on other techs (such as Sailing) first, and still be able to unlock the Great Stele in a timely manner.

The Writing tech or Periplus of the Erythraea Sea civic will unlock the Great Stele wonder, for which Aksum has a 30% production bonus. Regardless of how you unlock the Great Stele, it should be a near immediate priority. I say "near" because you probably want to train a Settler or 2 to found additional settlements before starting on a lengthy wonder build. Otherwise, by the time the Stele is built, rivals may have already claimed most of the good land (such as nearby Natural Wonders).

The Great Stele wonder has fairly loose construction requirements (simply requiring flat terrain) and is normally unlocked early, so there will be strong competition from other civs trying to build it as well. So don't dally too long. If you adopt the Classical Republic government, then there's a good chance that your first celebration will coincide with unlocking the Great Stele. Classical Republic's celebration can grant a production bonus towards wonders, which will stack with the production bonus that Aksum already gets towards constructing the Great Stele.

This wonder will generate a large sum of gold every time you build a wonder in that city (including giving gold when the Great Stele itself is completed). As such, it should be built alongside other wonders. Other good Antiquity wonder candidates for Aksum include:

• Pyramids adds gold and production yield to river tiles.
• Colossus is a good economic wonder that suits Aksum well. It increase the resource capacity of the city, and grants a free Economic attribute point.
• Petra is another good economic wonder that grants gold and production on desert tiles. If you start on or near the desert, then this is always good to pursue.
• Sanchi Stupa grants extra culture for having excess happiness. With Askum's bias towards stockpiling resources, you can probably easily put a lot of excess happiness in this city.
• Gate of All Nations gives you free War Support for all wars, which is useful if you selected a leader like Amina, who favors a more aggressive playstyle.
• Byrsa gives you the extra insurance of knowing that your land-based trade routes also cannot be plundered. It also gives free walls in all your districts in this city that are adjacent to the coast or a navigable river, which should be a lot of your districts, given Aksum's start bias.

Be sure to pack your wonders in close to each other, but leave room between them for 1 or more Hawlit. Sandwiching a Hawlit between 2 or 3 wonders, along with another Hawlit and a Monument and/or Altar, can grant strong culture yields that will help you to power through the civics trees. Since the Hawlit is ageless, these yields will carry over into future ages, giving you a good baseline of culture.

Once you have the Great Stele built, and a few settlements, it will be a good time to start sending out Dhow to find sea-based trade routes. Sending them out in pairs will help them to fight through any hostile independent Galleys that you might run into. If the Dhow takes damage outside of your borders, don't bother trying to heal it. The "Heal" button will appear in the unit's pop-out panel when adjacent to land, but the heal function seems to be bugged. The Dhow cannot (as of the time of this writing) heal outside of friendly territory! Instead, the unit will simply fortify indefinitely. Since it never heals, it will never wake up, and will likely get picked off by hostile naval units eventually.

The Dhow only gets 1 trade route charge, so once it uses that up, its economic job is done. At this point, you can either recall them back to your territory to defend your coastlines, use them in offensive action against rivals, or send them out to look for any coastal ruins.

The Dhow can be useful for picking off enemy units along the coasts, and can also be a viable siege unit against un-walled coastal settlements. You can also send them up navigable rivers to help support land invasions, or to defend your territory. If they take damage while being used for offensive action, remember that they can pillage water improvements (such as Fishing Boats) to heal 30 HP. They can also pillage water districts such as Fishing Quays and Lighthouses for other yields.

Controlling antiquity seas

Aksum is a good civilization to choose for a potential Economic Legacy due to its multiple trade-based uniques. It can use the extended range of its naval trade routes to collect additional resources from distant cities, and the Tankwa's immunity to being plundered makes it very difficult for rival civs to stop you from collecting these resources. Basically the only way to forcibly end an Aksumite sea trade route is to get the trade partner to declare war on Aksum, or to raze the settlement receiving the trade route.

Since Aksum also favors building wonders, it can be good to go for the Cultural Legacy. Aksum doesn't receive any bonuses or abilities specifically related to building wonders, but the bonus culture from Hawilts will speed up their progress on the Civics tree, potentially unlocking wonders earlier than other civs, and giving Aksum a head start on building those wonders. Having a strong economy will also give Aksum the cash to afford to buy districts and buildings. Gold-rushing culture buildings will propel Aksum through the Civics tree faster, while Gold-rushing production buildings can give your cities an edge towards actually building those wonders. Lastly, Gold-rushing happiness buildings will increase the frequency of Celebrations, making it more likely that you'll get a production bonus towards wonders (if you adopted Classical Republic) at a time when you're trying to build one.

Celebrations (from happiness generated by resources or from happiness buildings) will also unlock new Social Policy slots, which can give Aksum additional flexibility to pursue whichever specific victory types you want.

If playing on a very watery map with lots of settlements on coast or navigable rivers, Aksum can also be a strong contender for a Military Legacy. The Dhow can be used for early war rushes against nearby coastal civs or city states. There aren't very many navy-oriented civs in Antiquity, so other civs will likely be ill-prepared for a full-on naval invasion. In fact, Aksum is currently the only Antiquity civ with a unique naval unit. The only other naval-oriented Antiquity civ is Carthage, which has unique water districts, but no unique naval unit. This means that Aksum is primed to rule the ancient seas, if it chooses to do so.

Maritime Economics in the Age of Exploration

There are several good options for Exploration Age civs to choose. Exploration civs focused on trade, navies, or navigable rivers are good options.

Songhai

" +2 Resource Capacity in cities on Navigable Rivers, and Trade Ships cannot be plundered on Navigable Rivers.
+3 Gold for every active Trade Route.
Can generate Homeland Treasure Fleets on Navigable Rivers after researching Kanta Civic.
+30% Production towards the Tomb of Askia wonder. "

Songhai is probably the most obvious choice for an Aksumite player in the Exploration Age. They have a strong focus on naval trade, with a particular emphasis on Navigable Rivers. They have a unique Merchant unit that provides a Gold bonus when creating new Trade Routes on Navigable Rivers, and trade routes that run on Navigable Rivers cannot be plundered. They also have an economic unique rural district.

Chola

" +1 Trade Route from the Improve Trade Relations action.
+30% Production towards the Brihadeeswarar Temple wonder. "

Chola is also a naval trade civilization. It has a unique naval military unit and naval Commander, as well as a unique water district that boost gold yield and naval unit production.

Hawai'i

" Gain 25 Culture whenever a city expands to Maritime Terrain.
+1 Happiness on Fishing Boats.
+30% Production towards the Hale o Keawe wonder. "

Hawai'i is another good maritime-focused civ for Aksum to possibly transition to. They are a more peaceful and religious civ than the other options, and gain culture and Happiness from owning water tile.

Playing against Asksumites

There is not a lot of strong counter play options against Aksum. Their unique trade unit cannot be plundered, leaving few options for slowing down their economic expansion. The Dhow is also un-matched in the Antiquity seas.

If you want to slow down Aksum's economic development, your best bet is to keep all your early settlements inland. This will prevent Aksum from establishing early trade routes with your cities and jumping out to an early lead. If Aksum is forced to create land trade routes, then those routes will be able to be plundered normally.

Building inland will also protect you from an all-out naval invasion from their Dhow, and limit their ability to pillage any of your water-adjacent districts. Otherwise, your only defense will be to simply outnumber them with your own navy, or have lots of land-based bombardment.

However, Aksum doesn't have to be your enemy. If you are on friendly terms with Aksum's leader, or you're playing against a human opponent who you expect to turtle and play peacefully, then Aksum can be a strong ally. Letting them send Dhow to establish trade with your own coastal settlements will give you additional gold income. This can be a strong early-game bonus that can allow you to buy infrastructure or military units earlier than you would otherwise be able to build them. Having more gold from trade with Aksum can also free up your cities' production queues for building wonders.

And hey! It's still just the Antiquity Age, and legacies are not mutually-exclusive. Just because Aksum might be racing towards the Silk Road, it doesn't mean that you can't also pursue the Silk Road. The 7 Wonders objective is a bit harder for multiple civs to share, since there are only so many wonders available to build. But you can still out-produce Aksum for any wonders that you try to compete with them to build.

Discussions & Change Log

Thanks for reading. I hope this guide helps you to build a Aksumite civilization that will stand the test of time!

These strategy guides for Civilization VII have been taking longer to research and write than I would like. Part of this is due to the fact that I'm not as familiar and experienced with Civ VII as I was with Civ V when I started writing strategy guides for that game, so I have to spend more time trying to learn the different mechanics and rules associated with each new civ that I play. I also have a lot more things competing for my time.

If you enjoy this strategy guide, and would like to see more like it, please consider making a contribution and become a Patron on Patreon. As a Patron, you'll have the ability to vote on which civilization(s) you'd like to see a strategy guide for next, will receive early previews of certain content, and will have an opportunity to discuss or contribute to its development. With some additional funding, I could dedicate more time to writing guides like this one, and can maybe even branch out into more video content on Youtube.

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