How to Win by Military Victory in Civilization 7

The Civilization series implemented several ways to win the game. The most popular method of winning throughout the series has always been domination or a military victory, but things have drastically changed in Civilization 7.

The military win condition goes through a legacy path, giving players specific objectives rather than the most obvious domination victory, in which they take over all opposing settlements. Here’s how to win by military victory in Civilization 7.

How to Win Through Military Victory in Civilization 7 – Domination Win

Civilization 7 introduced the Legacy Path as the method of winning in the game. There are four Legacy Paths: Culture, Economic, Military, and Science, all of which will give any player a win as long as they complete a single path.

For a military victory, players must gain 20 Ideology Points from conquering settlements for the first time. Once a player reaches 20 Ideology Points, the military victory opens, and to avoid spoiling anything, there will be a cutscene ending.

Related: How to Spread Your Religion in Civilization 7

How to Earn Ideology Points in Civilization 7

To earn Ideology Points, you must conquer opposing settlements. The first instance of conquering a settlement counts toward the military Legacy Path.

If you have not chosen an Ideology and conquered a settlement, it only counts as 1 Ideology Point. Once you have chosen an Ideology, you’ll get 2 Ideology Points for each conquered settlement. If you choose an Ideology and conquer another settlement with a different one, you’ll gain 3 Ideology Points instead. In short, it goes:

• No Ideology = conquer 20 settlements to win.
• With Ideology = conquer 10 settlements to win.
• Different Ideology = conquer 7 settlements to win.

The fastest way to win through a military victory is by conquering settlements after you have chosen an Ideology. Regardless of whether the opposing settlements near you have the same Ideology, you should try to conquer those with weak defenses and start expanding.

Increasing Happiness is crucial when starting wars. Conquering settlements may cause revolts, especially in newly conquered territory. Apart from these problems (caused by War Weariness), Income might also struggle because of the added maintenance cost of additional buildings from conquered settlements. Make sure to have a decent amount of gold ready or generate higher income, especially when you have a big army.

It still feels odd that the Domination win condition was replaced by such a linear path to victory. It could be a push for more online multiplayer gameplay where they could balance these aspects more easily, but the military win through the Legacy Path feels less enticing to push for.