The next game update for Civilization VII will be dropping later today, March 25, alongside the second wave of the Crossroads Of The World Collection DLC.
The full patch notes is not out yet, but there’s a dev update video featuring Creative Director Ed Beach going through the main features of update 1.1.1.
The first few key features of Update 1.1.1 are welcome additions, but also concerning that these never made the cut for launch in the first place. Quick movement (skips unit animations for faster games), re-rolling the map start and the ability to rename settlements are all features that were in previous Civ games, but missing in Civ VII. And now they are back.
You can also bulk buy in settlements, or rather, the game will not revert back to the production tab after you purchase something. Considering how much gold one can accrue a general game of Civ VII, it is ridiculously annoying that the UI did not expect the player to be making multiple purchases.
The more important part of Update 1.1.1 is the change in pacing. A game of Civ VII at its current state feels like you never have enough time before an Age abruptly ends. Modern Age now lasts longer and one of the examples is the game not increasing Age Progression when you eliminate another player. Plus, Modern Age Tech and Civic costs are increased, so it will be a while before someone will start popping Future Tech or Future Civic that increases Age Progression.
We have complained about how Civ VII doesn’t give you enough time to really wrap up the Age, with so many instances of being a few turns away before a Legacy Path, or even a outright victory, could be achieved. Obfuscating how many turns are left in an Age isn’t the problem, it’s that Age Progression rapidly increase when you reach the endgame, compared to the really slow start. So the changes made to Modern Age here sounds promising, as on paper it should result in having more turns to complete those long victory objectives.
Civilization VII Update 1.1.1 Highlights
Much-requested features
- Quick Move added, toggleable in options
- Start position Standard now default for single-player games (map generation more like Civ VI with less predictable continent shapes)
- For multiplayer games, start position Balanced, the previous default for all Civ VII games, is still the default ensuring all players have more consistent maps
- Rename settlements (cities and towns) and Commanders
- Restart button added (re-roll game start for better/worse generated map and starting position, keeps other settings)
- New content: Natural Wonder Mt. Everest
UI Improvements
- Easier bulk buying in settlements: city panel won’t close after purchasing from settlement
- New notification when settlement is under attack
- Age Progress wheel now has pips to indicate when crises pop
- Trade Lens now selectable in Lenses, not just available when selecting a Merchant
- Selected Merchant with Trade Lens open can be immediately sent to the selected settlement
- Resource tool tip now lets you know resource type (Treasure Resource, Empire Resource, Luxury Resource, etc.)
Pacing Changes
- Modern Age should last longer
- Eliminating another player (civ) will not add Age Progress in Modern Age
- Age Progression added from eliminating another player (civ) is halved in Exploration Age
- Tech and Civic costs in Modern Age increased by 25%
- Eliminating another player (civ) will not add Age Progress in Modern Age
- New advisor warning: Will remind you to get more Commanders and pack troops before Age transition (to carry over units to next Age)
- Towns with Trade Outpost specialization now adds +5 Trade Route range in all settlements instead of just that one town
- Modern Age Economic Legacy Path (Railroad Tycoon) balance pass
- Factory costs more to build (1400 hammers/gold from 600)
- Port costs more to build (1200 hammers/gold from 550)
- Rail Station costs more to build (1200 hammers/gold from 650)
- Coal Resource gives 10% production bonus towards Rail Stations and Ports
- Oil Resource gives 10% production bonus towards Factories
The update is now live on all platforms. Check the full patch notes here.
UPDATE 26/03/25: Now that the update’s live, we spotted a few undocumented changes based on the PS5 version of Civ VII. Here’s some of the other changes in Update 1.1.1 that isn’t quite covered in the patch notes:
- Cursor behaviour with controller: clicking right-stick now brings cursor to the center of the screen rather than making the camera zoom back to the cursor. Should be more in line with Civ VI controls on consoles
- Smoother UI animations (with subtle fade-ins and fade-outs)
- Much clearer information when placing buildings on tiles- resulted yield of building placement on the left side of the screen now updates
- More polished leader select screen (clearer selected leader cursor on controller, no hitching as leader model is loaded)
- In Modern Age, leader’s selected ideology now appears in Diplomacy screen
Civilization VII is out now on PS4, PS5, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), Mac, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch.