Diplomacy has received a total overhaul inCivilization 7with a much more detailed system than previous games. The entire system relies onInfluence, an extra currency you earn like gold, culture, or silver. You are able to start Endeavors, like cultural exchanges and research collaborations, or sanctions, like hindering science production, or denouncing your opponents.
Rather than an oversight in previous games, a diplomatic-style of play is definitely viable in Civ 7. You can get some powerful boosts from diplomatic endeavors early on, and even use your influence to your advantage in preventing all-out war with aggressive AI opponents.
Influence Gain
As a base, you’ll earn 10 Influence per turn onStandardspeed. Befriending a city-state costs 170 Influence.
Diplomatic endeavors between civilizations can cost anywhere between 60-120 depending on the level of endeavor.
There are already some big decisions to be made here - do you save your Influence to befriend a nearby city-state and earn its powerful rewards with suzerainty, or do you use the Influence to get boosts to culture, science, or food from your neighboring civilizations? This is variable from game-to-game.
You may be able to get access to extra Influence by exploring the map with your scout and collecting goodie huts, orDiscoveriesas Civilization 7 would like to bill them as. Often you’ll need to make the choice of “Do I take this extra food and production in my city for a few turns?” or do I grab some extra early Influence to quickly grab a city-state, or start a cultural exchange with a neighbor? These sorts of decisions might seem small, but they can bevery impactful.
Certain civilizations and leaders also lean more into Influence gain. While there is no “Diplomatic Victory” condition, you can use the extra Influence you earn to your advantage. That makes certain leaders, like Benjamin Franklin, or Himiko, Queen Of Wa, potentially very powerful throughout the game. You can read more about the different leaders in ourCivilization 7 Leader Tier List.
Diplomatic Choices
There are three categories of Diplomatic choices: Endeavors, Sanctions, and Treaties. When dealing with any of these, you can either Support, Accept, or Reject the message at the cost of Influence. These have different impacts depending on what the offer is.
This system of Support, Accept, or Reject can also be used to your advantage - this is because you will receive bonuses even if the opponent reject your Endeavors.
Endeavors
Endeavors arefriendlyinteractions between you and other players. At the start of the game, you have access to collaborations like a research partnership, or granting food to each other’s civilizations. The choices you have will depend on the type of civilizationyou areand the civilizationyou are interacting with.
Sanctions
As well as positive interactions, you have some negative ones, too. These are all about hindering another civilization’s unit production, science gain, or civic research.
Your relationship with other leaders is more important than ever before in Civilization. For example, if you declare war on an opponent, but it’s a surprise war, or you break an alliance, you will receivemassivewar weariness. This reduces your combat strength and inflicts happiness debuffs across your empire.
Before declaring war on an opponent, denounce them and make your relationship low enough to declare aFormal Warto minimize war weariness.
Treaties
These are agreements like open borders, or denouncing an opponent’s military presence on your borders.
As the game progresses, you may unlock additional Treaties, Endeavors, and Sanctions depending onWorld Wonders you construct, policies and tech you research, as well as anyleader/civilization-specific bonuses. Some leaders take a unique approach toDiplomacy-basedgameplay, like Harriet Tubman for example.
