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The Modern Age is the third and final age inCivilization 7. In its current form, the Modern Age is all about focusing on your win condition that you’ve been building towards for the entire game. Whether that beCulture, Military, Science, or Economic, there are multiple strategies and paths for you to take to victory.
The Modern Age is also all about war, whether you’re a peaceful civilization or not. There’s a hyper-focus on military tech and units as you progress through the tech tree, including new access to Planes and Nuclear Warheads.
Victory Conditions
Just as the previous ages, there are four victory conditions in the Modern Age:Culture, Science, Economic, and Military.
Culture - Geographic Society
The Culture victory in the Modern Age is all about sending outExplorersto dig up ancient artifacts while also constructingMuseumsto house those artifacts.
If you’re rushing for a Culture victory, grab theNatural Historycivic to begin producing Explorers immediately. The AI, particularly on harder difficulties, is a big fan of sending out waves of Explorers, so you’ll need to grab those dig sites quickly.
Science - Space Race Projects
The Space Race is only possible once you researchRocketryat the end of the tech tree. Then you can construct a Launch Pad and ultimately send aStaffed Space Missionto trigger a science victory.
Military - Ideology
The Military victory is made possible by conquering settlements and earningIdeologypoints- these are earned by conquering settlements while you have an Ideology. You earnthree pointsfor defeating a city that has a civilization following an opposing Ideology.
The Economic victory is all aboutbuilding Factories and Rail Stationsand then filling your factories with goods in cities that are connected to your rail network.
Civic Modernization
There are a few crucial tech and civic developments in the Modern Age that you need to be aware of:choosing your Ideologyanddeveloping Factories and Rail Stations.
Ideology
Much like in previous Civilization games, you have the option to pick between three major Ideologies:Democracy, Fascism, and Communism.You can only choose one Ideology and once you’ve chosen it, you are unable to switch.
Democracy
Democracy favors aCulture victory, with Cultural boosts from Specialists and extra Culture from displayed Great Works.
Fascism
Fascism favors aMilitary victory, with extra production and gold for Specialists and boosts to your production based on your overall Militaristic Attribute points.
Communism
Communism favors aScientific Victorywith science boosts for Specialists and a more defensive military approach, with extra defense boosts for units inside your territory. Turtle up and head to space!
You’ll gain access to Ideology once you’ve completed the Political Theory civic.
Factories And Factory Resources
Factories are unlocked via theMass Productiontech and once built in a town or city you’ll gain access to a Factory Resource slot.
These are powerful Resource buffs that allow you to specialize cities even further.
+5% towards training Land units
+5% towards training Naval units
+3% percent happiness
+5% towards constructing Buildings and Wonders
Fish
+5% settlement growth rate
As you can see, these resources are mostly earned via the Distant Land settlements in the previous age. This is to encourage you to explore, settle, and conquer new lands.
Once you’ve slotted in one Factory Resource, you can then fill any other available resource slots with more of the same Factory Resource.
Rail Stations
Rail Stations are accessed via theIndustrializationtechnology.
These are powerful buildings that provide base gold on their tiles, but also allow for theimmediate movement of units between Rail Stations.This removes much of the micromanagement from transporting soldiers across your empire.
To move units via Rail Station, move them onto the tile that the Rail Station is on and clickMove Via Railon their unit card. You can then choose another Rail Station within your empire to move your units to.
Exploration And Culture
Explorers are a Modern Age unit that allows you toResearchanddig upancient Artifacts. Displaying 15 Artifacts in Great Work slots across your empire will achieve a Culture victory.
Explorers are accessed via theNatural Historycivic research, which also unlocks Museums which you may build to open up more Great Work slots.
You’ll be able to grab some early Explorer digs throughout your lands, but to gain access to Research and bonus Artifact sites, you need to head straight for theHegemonycivic as this will allow you to conduct Artifact research and open up more dig sites.
Science And The Space Race
The Scientific victory is made possibleright at the very end of the erawhich makes it one of the trickiest victories to achieve on hard difficulties, or in multiplayer games.
You won’t be able to research theRocketrytechnology until you’ve completed all the previous research - at least, the main research, not its mastery levels.
Once you’ve unlocked Rocketry, you can buildLaunch Padswhich will enable you to conduct both theLaunch SatelliteandStaffed Space Flight.This second one is a key part of a Scientific victory.
Military Domination
As we mentioned earlier, the Modern Age is all about warfare. In this Age, you’ll gain access to Weapons Of Mass Destruction, otherwise known as Nuclear Weapons.
However, these don’t come easy - to actually access theManhattan Project Wonder(the wonder required for nuclear warhead construction), you’ll need to complete the entire Military Legacy Path (win condition) in the Modern Age.
Once you’ve done this,you’re able to begin Nuclear Warhead construction in your cities. Nuclear weapons are deployed via bomber, which can be stationed in Aerodromes, an Aircraft Carrier, or on a Squadron Commander.
Alternatively, without even needing to launch the nukes, you can begin theOperation Ivy Projectin one of your cities - thus ending the Modern Age, and granting you a military victory.
