Quick Links
After conquering a nearby settlement, you will be prompted with a choice to ‘Keep Settlement’ or ‘Raze Settlement’. Inprevious entries ofCiv, Razing Settlements was a good way to clear the way of enemy AI cities and keep your empire from expanding beyond your control.
InCivilization 7, Keeping a settlementwill add it to your empireover the course of a few turns, which can have some negative repercussions if not managed well. But Razing a settlement comes with its own slew of negative effects. This guide explains what happens if you Raze a City inCiv 7and explains whether you should typically Keep conquered Cities or burn them to the ground.
What Happens When You Raze A City?
When you conquer a City, you have two options: Keep City, or Raze City.
If youKeep the conquered city, it will endure around a dozen turns of low happiness and unease as it gradually joins your empire. After the settlementhas fully incorporated into your empire, the Happiness penalty will go away, it will add a point towards the Militaristic Legacy Paths in certain Ages, and will function just like a normal Settlement in your Empire.
Settlements you have taken from other players are signified with a chain, and count towards your Settlement Limit like a normal Town or City.
If youRaze a City,Civ 7punishes you pretty heavily. For one, you will generate massive grievances with the Leader who owned that settlement. Also, every settlement you Raze will generate 1 permanent War Support against you for every opponent for the rest of the game.
After 12 turns, the city and its borders will be removed from the game, freeing upspace for your own settlers or Citiesto expand into. While the City is being Razed, you will not gain any yields from it.
So, Should You Keep Or Raze Cities?
In almost every situation, it’s better to keep a City than to Raze it. The penalties for Razing Cities inCiv 7are too high to ignore, and it’s almost always beneficial to have more settlements. However, there are exceptions.
If you Raze a City, be prepared for other Leaders to denounce you, or at the very least, expect your relationships to sour with everyone else. But if you truly can’t handle an extra settlement, could place a better city with a settler, or have enough War Support to prevent the War Support debuff from affecting you, it’s worth considering.
In almost all cases, though, keeping Cities is better than Razing them inCiv 7.
