The settlements inCivilization 7are a bit different from previous games. Instead of settlers building cities from the get-go, players get put into a more realistic situation, where they first build a town. Towns require much less oversight than cities in that they don’t ask the player to choose production. Instead, theirproduction resource gets converted to gold, which can be used all over the player’s empire.

Once towns reach a certain point, players can assign them a focus and export different resources from them. Alternatively, they can spend some gold to upgrade a town into a city, giving players the ability to make city-specific buildings and grow their empire.

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How Do Towns Work in Civ 7

Towns are outposts for the player that help themestablish a foothold in a particular area. They are a good way to get access to differentresources quicklywithout paying a lot of gold to keep that access. They offset their price by virtue of theirproductionbeingconverted into gold. The more productive you manage to make a town, the more gold you’ll have to spend.

Additionally,towns can specializeonce they grow to a certain size. There are a few different focuses that players can choose, each of which comes with its ownunique advantages, though they allhalt the growthof the town completely, exporting all the food that a town produces to connected settlements.

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Once a focus is chosen for a town,you can’t change it within the same age, though you can change it back to a growth focus to get more citizens and increase productivity.

When Should You Upgrade A Town Into a City in Civ 7?

The maindifference between a city and a town, other than their functionality, is thetypes of buildingsyou can build in them. Cities can help youincrease your civilization’s science, culture, and diplomacy since you can build different buildings and districts that supplement those resources. Towns don’t have the ability to do that. Additionally, cities can slot a lot more resources when compared to towns.

The Civilopedia recommends that the player have a1-to-1 ratio for cities and townsto support themselves.

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There are a few targets that you should meet before upgrading a town into a city.

All in all, it’s a matter of experience and circumstance. If you see that your coffers are overflowing, and you don’t have a lot of things to spend that gold on, you should upgrade a town to a city and start construction on a few buildings or wonders to boost your win condition. Otherwise, it’s probably not the best idea to convert perfectly functional resource-abundant towns into hungry cities.

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