In my previous post, I discussed my thoughts regarding the new "Test of Time" update for Civilization VII. In summary, I feel that it does not really address the main problems that I had with the game since its launch. My core complaint with Civilization VII is the arbitrary and jarring nature of age transitions, and how they skip over large periods of the in-game history. I've also previously written about suggestions that I have for improving age transitions, and some of those ideas have been added to the game by Firaxis in its patches over the past year and a half. But now that "Test of Time" has made a major revision to the core design of Civilization VII, in the form of both civ-switching and in the new Triumphs and victory systems, I want to re-visit the idea of improving age transitions.

So what else could Firaxis do to fix these remaining problems, now that the vocal subset of civ-switch-haters have hopefully been appeased? Well, I already proposed one possible solution in my previous video about Ara and Civ VII. I'm not going to repeat all of that again here, even though a lot of this video is already rehashed from that previous script. But basically, I had proposed that perhaps Civ VII (or Civ VIII) could take a page from Ara's playbook, and use the crises as a true "boss fight" at the end of an age that actually culls out civilizations who fail to resolve that crisis.

I don't want to rehash that entire idea, but I do have one idea for expanding on it in a way that utilizes the new Test of Time gameplay. Instead of be eliminated from the game if any civ fails the Age transition crisis, the game could force that civ to change civilizations at the age transition. The idea here being that the failing empire collapses sufficiently such that its old culture and governance did not survive the crisis in-tact, and new culture and governments have taken over. The crisis resolution could even be tiered, such that at the highest tier, your empire survives and you're allowed to keep the same civilization into the next era with all your dedications. The middle tier would require switching civilizations, and you would not be able to select as many dedications. At the bottom tier, your empire collapses entirely, and you are eliminated from the game.

That's one idea which combines the Test of Time concepts with the design philosophy of Ara's act scoring. Floundering civs being forced to transition between ages would add context to the civ-swapping that might make the idea more palatable for some subset of players who disliked the civ-switching mechanic at launch. Further, adding player elimination would expand upon the idea of the crisis itself being a "Test of Time", acting as a sort of "great filter" that decides which civs survive and which civs die out.

How well an empire performs in a crisis could mechanically determine whether they must switch civs.

Player elimination would also have some of the benefits of Ara's design, which would be that it would free up space on the map for the surviving civs to expand in the following ages, without necessarily having to resort to military conquest. It could also tie into other Civ-specific systems, such as providing new open spaces for Independent Civilizations and city states to emerge, and it could be tied into the archaeology systems of the Modern Age.

But that still doesn't necessarily address the fundamental problem of the ages feeling like they end prematurely, and skipping over chunks of history. So to that end, I have more suggestions.

A few weeks ago (or I guess more than a month ago, at this point -- geez I'm slow at writing these), Firaxis released it's "Test of Time" update for Civilization VII. Civ VII players can now finally play as the same civilization throughout the entire game, which addresses one of the player base's biggest criticisms with the game. The internet is now abuzz with the question of whether or not this patch "fixes" or "saves" Civilization VII. From what I've seen so far, it seems to be very well-received, with many internet pundits saying (or implying with their YouTube thumbnails) that Civ VII is "fixed".

Test of Time certainly is a good update. The biggest change is that players now have the choice to play as any civilization in any age, and can choose to play as the same civilization for the entire game, if you choose. To accomplish this, Firaxis gave every civilization an "apex age" in which they are the most powerful. During the apex age, their abilities are the strongest, and they have access to all of their unique units. During non-apex ages, each civ has less powerful versions of their ability, and they are stuck with stock units.

Players can now choose to keep the same civilization when transitioning into a new age.

This approach is similar to Humankind, which also gave players the option to stay as the same culture when progressing to a new era. The big difference is that in Humankind, staying with the same culture would give that culture the same generic bonus every time; whereas in Civ VII, each civ still has a unique ability, it's just a weaker version of their apex unique ability. So Civ VII's approach is a little bit more flavorful in that regard. Basically, Humankind's version of this feature was (as far as I can tell) just a fall-back option if all the good cultures have already been selected by other players. If you don't want any of the available cultures, you can just stay as the same culture, and continue to field their unique units and build their unique infrastructure, and get some small buff. In Civ VII, by contrast, sticking with the same civ is framed as a more assertive decision. You choose that civ because you want their abilities, not simply because you don't want the other civs.

Personally, I still prefer Humankind's method of culture-switching over Civ VII's. I prefer how it is tied to the individual civilization's progress through the eras, and doesn't stop the game at arbitrary points to force everyone to switch. I also like how there's a competitive, first-come-first-serve aspect to switching cultures in Humankind, which lights a fire under the player's butt to make sure to advance fast enough to get a prime pick of the upcoming era's cultures. Humankind's approach feels like a much more organic and natural part of the game that doesn't interrupt the game's pacing at all (but in fact, adds to the pacing). This is in stark contrast to Civ VII's design, which feels forced, arbitrary, and exceedingly "game-ified".

But perhaps a full analysis of Humankind's culture-switching compared to Civ VII should be the subject of another essay, similar to what I did with Civ VII and Ara: History Untold... For now, I want to talk about Civ VII specifically.

In addition to being able to play civs outside of their apex age, Test of Time completely replaces the Legacy paths with new, more granular and more varied "Triumphs". These are smaller goals and milestones that unlock dedication bonuses for the next age. This is intended to add more variety to each age, and make it so that players don't feel like they're following the same rote steps to achieve the same 4 goals every time they play.

Legacy paths were replaced with more varied and granular Triumphs.

Again, this is a good change.

Civilization VII is a considerably different game compared to Civ V and Civ VI. As such, the leader guides that I wrote for those games won't quite work for Civ VII. Instead, I'm going to be experimenting with a slightly different format of doing independent guides for civilizations and for leaders separately. Leader guides will be complicated, so 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.

The early life of Chandragupta Maurya is steeped in legend with few historical facts known. What is known is that around 322 BCE, after the death of Alexander the Great, Chandragupta raised an army to overthrow the Nanda Empire and Greek occupiers of India. He was the first to unify most of the Indian subcontinent, and may have abdicated his throne after converting from the Brahmanism religion to Jainism late in his life. One of his successors, Ashoka, would go on to convert to Buddhism, and declare Buddhism to be the official state religion of the increasingly-urban empire. Ashoka would go on to oversee the construction of many stupas and temples across India and expanded the influence of the religion into Afghanistan and Thailand.

Maurya gets to adopt multiple pantheons, and it excels in keeping its citizens happy. That happiness can then be converted into other yields, or be used to support military conquest.

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 1.2.5 patch on 30 September 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.

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.

Civilization VII is a considerably different game compared to Civ V and Civ VI. As such, the leader guides that I wrote for those games won't quite work for Civ VII. Instead, I'm going to be experimenting with a slightly different format of doing independent guides for civilizations and for leaders separately. Leader guides will be complicated, so 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 the first guide will cover the rookie civilization of the Mississippians.

For almost a millennium before the arrival of Columbus in the Americas, southeastern North America was dominated by a group of indigenous peoples called the Mississippians. The Mississippians were not a single, unified group, but rather a collection of tribes that shared similar cultural practices. The most defining of these practices was the construction of impressive earthwork structures, such as mounds and pyramids that were used for functions ranging from housing, to temples, to mausoleums. Though they did not have a system of writing, they still created sophisticated social structures and permanent settlements, and their trade networks ranged from the Great Lakes and Rocky Mountains, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The remains of the several remaining mounds at Cahokia (outside of St. Louis) are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and are open for public visitation.

The Mississippians are an expansionist, trade-oriented Antiquity civilization in Sid Meier's Civilization VII. They seek to acquire Resources by claiming new land, and by trading with foreign Settlements.