There are many ways to win a game in Civilization 7. You can go the scientific route and launch a satellite, you can pursue culture and drown the globe in your artifacts, you can display your military might with Project Ivy, or you can even win over the world with nothing but cold hard cash.
However, there's something particularly satisfying about dominating everyone around you, crushing each and every civilization that stands in your way, and putting down your flag as the greatest empire to ever grace the lands. Military Victory is different from Domination Victory in Civ 7. In one, you complete a project and win the game. In the other, you wipe out all other civilizations.
Civilization 7: The Unwritten Rules of Achieving a Science Victory Explained
Civilization 7 has made some slight changes to the series' victory types, and that's led to the creation of some brand new unwritten rules.
How to Achieve A Domination Victory
The condition to achieve domination victory in Civ 7 is quite simple: completely erase all other civilizations from the board. Raze or overtake every settlement that belongs to foreign powers and make sure nobody can rise up against your rule. Saying that is easy, but achieving it can be quite a complex affair, especially at harder difficulties.
Early Game Domination
A big issue with trying for a domination victory is that it takes a long time to complete. It is quite likely that if the player delays their world war until the modern age, one of their competitors will complete a different victory condition and snatch the win from under their nose, even if they have the military capability to eventually rule the planet.
One way to avoid this is by going for an early domination win. Since the only requirement for this win is to wipe out other civilizations, players can do it during the Exploration Age. It is not feasible in Antiquity since Distant Lands are not available to the player during the first age.
Modern Age Nuclear Warfare
If players don't end up finishing the game before the modern age starts, they should opt into the Manhattan Project and use the WMDs to their advantage. It is quite difficult and time-consuming to create nukes, so this shouldn't be the main focus of the player. However, working towards it in the background can be helpful in the late game as the destructive power of nukes is incredible.
It takes a similar amount of time to unlock nukes as it does to complete the military win condition, but getting a symbolic victory doesn't feel quite as satisfying as burning down all of your enemies to the ground.
Best Leaders for A Domination Victory in Civ 7
Choosing the right civilization and leader combo for an extended military campaign is important. War is expensive and financing it can be difficult if you plan to wage it against every single civilization on the board. There are many good military leaders in the game, but the best ones for attempting a Domination Victory are as follows:
- Napoleon: Maintaining a good cash flow is very important for battle maniacs, and Napoleon gives the player a way to get gold based on the animosity that other civilizations feel towards him. As you'll be waging wars from quite early on, it shouldn't be difficult to make other civilizations dislike you.
- Xerxes: Xerxes lets you get money from the settlements you capture. The more settlements you capture, the more money you make. Additionally, he gives increased strength to units when fighting in neutral or enemy territory, which is incredibly powerful when you're the one declaring wars.
- Machiavelli: A leader that thrives off of betrayals and surprise wars, Machiavelli pushes the focus towards the diplomatic side of the war to an extent. However, diplomacy helps you get support for your war, which lets you win them more easily.
- Harriet Tubman: There's nobody quite as powerful as Harriet Tubman when it comes to battling civilizations that declare war on you. If you maintain a couple of forward base camps, annoy your neighbors every now and again, and keep a large military, it won't be long before the people around you start challenging your authority and waging war on you. Additionally, the movement bonuses that your troops get are fantastic for logistics.
- Charlemagne: One issue that players can run into when waging multiple wars is managing diplomacy well enough to stave off war weariness, keep support from your people, and maintain happiness in your empire. A happy empire is a productive empire after all. Charlemagne gives buffs to cavalry and grants a powerful happiness boost that can be very helpful when fighting on multiple fronts.
Civilization 7: Every Leader and Civ
Civilization 7 features dozens of leaders and Civs for fans to try out, and this guide shows how to gain access to all of them.
Military Legacy Paths
In general, the game wants the player to be out and about in the world, waging war against other civilizations and leading conquests backed by the potent fury of their commanders. In each age, it adds a little twist to the formula in the form of different kinds of points. For antiquity, it is just about capturing settlements. Then, it's about capturing settlements in distant lands. And in the final age, players get points for capturing settlements that follow opposing Ideologies.
In other words, if you are aiming for the military legacy path and military win condition, you shouldn't wipe out any civilizations. After all, if there are fewer civilizations in the world, there will be fewer settlements for you to conquer. The more civilizations there are, the easier it will be for you to win through military conquest.
|
Age |
Path Name |
Requirement |
Golden Age |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Antiquity |
Pax Imperatoria |
Earn 12 Legacy Points. Each settlement you found is worth one point, and each one you capture is worth 2. |
Gain an Infantry Unit in every settlement you conquered last age. |
|
Exploration |
Non Sufficit Orbis |
Earn 12 Non Sufficit Orbis Points. Settling in distant lands gives one point, while capturing or converting distant land settlements gives two points. |
Gain an Infantry Unit and a Ranged Unit in all of your Distant Land Settlements |
|
Modern |
Ideology |
Gain 20 Ideology Points. Capturing a settlement gives two points, while capturing a settlement with opposing Ideology gives three points. |
- |
Civilization 7: The Unwritten Rules of Achieving an Economic Victory Explained
Civilization 7 has made a few changes to the series' usual victory types, and that means fans are discovering a whole new set of unwritten rules.
Modern Age Military Legacy Path
The World Revolves Around Ideology
There are three prerequisites and three milestones that players have to go through to complete the modern age military legacy path in Civ 7. Once completed, players unlock the win condition and gain a powerful boost towards completing it.
- Prerequisites: Research the Political Theory Civic and any Ideology Civic. Then, research the Technology: Flight.
- Milestone One: Gain 6 Ideology Points. Capturing a settlement gives two points, while capturing a settlement with the opposing Ideology gives three points.
- Milestone Two: Gain 12 Ideology Points.
- Milestone Three: Gain 20 Ideology Points.
After you've completed all three milestones, you will unlock the Manhattan Project world wonder. Build it, and you will unlock Project Ivy, which is the final victory condition. Once you finish the project, a cutscene will play, and you will win the game through the military path.
Sid Meier's Civilization VII
- Released
- February 11, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Firaxis Games
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - all platforms, restrictions apply
- Cross Save
- Yes, via 2K account
- Franchise
- Sid Meier's Civilization
- Number of Players
- 1-8 players
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- PC Release Date
- February 11, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- February 11, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- February 11, 2025
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- February 11, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
- Genre(s)
- Grand Strategy, Turn-Based Strategy, 4X
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- Local Co-Op Support
- No
