Hey Civ fans,

Update 1.2.3 is rolling out now! This update is smaller in size, especially following the hefty list of changes from 1.2.2, but it still introduces some meaningful additions: the first round of improvements to Age Transitions, the return of auto-explore, several UI and quality-of-life updates, and a new Commander to join Trung Trac on the battlefield.

If you caught our last Dev Check-In[civilization.2k.com], you know we're in the middle of some deeper work on systems like Ages, replayability, and how players connect with their civ across history. That work is underway, but it's going to take time. In the meantime, we're continuing to release updates like this one to smooth out rough edges and introduce long-requested features, while we keep pushing on the bigger things behind the scenes.

This update also includes the first half of the new Content Collection, titled Right to Rule* – for many of you, this is part of what you already picked up with Civilization VII's Founder's Edition. We'll have the full details below.

And lastly, a few quick notes before you dive in:

• While we aim to maintain backwards compatibility for existing saves as much as possible, some new abilities or effects may not appear until you start a new game or advance to the next Age in your current campaign. For the best experience, we recommend starting a new game, or continuing your current game into the next Age.

• If you encounter any new bugs or issues, try disabling any mods, as some may not yet be compatible with the latest update.

• Are you playing on Steam and want to finish your current save under a previous version? You can do so using our legacy Steam beta branch.

Thank you again to everyone sticking with us, sharing feedback, or just showing up to see what's new in the world of Civ. Without further ado, here's what's in Update 1.2.3!

In our June 10 Update Check-In[civilization.2k.com], we had a section named "The Journey So Far, and What's Ahead." We mentioned there that we had heard feedback from significant segments of our community that we needed to do more work on the abruptness of Age Transitions, improve the overall game replayability (looking especially hard at Legacy Paths), and search for new avenues to allow players to identify more deeply with their empire and its path through history.

Much of that work is ongoing, and though some of the larger changes we have planned will take time, we do have a first round of Age improvements going live with this update, many of which aim to tackle Age Transition abruptness. Here's what's included: 

• New Continuity Option – You can now pick the type of Age Transition impact you want, with the new default option called Continuity, and the existing option called Regroup. Here's what you can expect from Continuity:

  • Your Units will stay where they were in the previous Age, but are upgraded to their new version for that Age.

  • Units in other players' borders will be expelled in the same manner as if you lost open borders, but will remain nearby.

  • In addition to what was carried over before, you now can transition with Ships and Siege Units from Antiquity to Exploration, as well as Settlers, Migrants, Scouts, and Merchants in all Ages.

  • You will no longer get Advisor Warnings for large armies.

  • Please note: pre-1.2.3 saves will still use the existing Age transition impact, Regroup.

• Improved Relationship Management – Instead of sudden shifts to your relationships with other players after Age Transition, your relationships will now slowly be pulled back towards 0 over the course of the game. The further you are away from 0, the faster your relationship will decay. This should feel like a much more natural change to your relationships over time, and encourage you to push some Endeavors here and there to maintain your positive relationships, too. 

• End of Age Warnings – We've added a 10- (or more) turn safe zone at the end of each Age that guarantees you can finish your most critical tasks before the transition occurs. This countdown can be extended to 20 turns or turned off completely. No Age progression from any source other than elapsed turns will be added while the countdown is active.

And, some other changes worth noting here: 

• Catapults are now available at the start of the Exploration Age.

• Merchants are now available at the start of the Exploration and Modern Ages.

• Independent Powers will now spawn at the beginning of the Age, after an Age transition.

We'll continue to expand Continuity mode in the future and are already working on other key areas of feedback, including replayability and player identity. Some of the bigger changes will take time, but we hope these updates help your next empire flow more smoothly between Ages. As always, let us know how it feels!

It's time: release the Scouts! 

We've mentioned before that Scout Units work a bit differently in Civ VII than Civ VI, which is why we wanted players to have the opportunity to play with the Scout's new abilities, instead of adding in auto-explore right away. BUT – we hear you. Sometimes, it's easier to let the Scouts (and Ships) loose and allow them to find a Discovery, encounter a new civ, or even walk straight into danger. 

Here are all the Units that have access to auto-explore:

• All Ages: Scout + Unique Variants.

• Exploration: Tier 2 and Tier 3 Naval Units (excluding the Cog, which we didn't want to sink from Ocean damage pre-Shipbuilding). 

• Modern: All Naval Units except the Submarine.

Here's some auto-explore behavior you should keep in mind: Units will seek to maximize revealed tiles on a move. If they can't reveal any tiles within a single move, they'll try to explore unexplored areas closest to one of your existing Settlements. The Unit will also stop auto-exploring if there is a Discovery within two turns of movement range, or if they move into the Zone of Control of an enemy Unit.

This is just the first implementation of this feature, and as we learned from our Discord feedback event, we have plenty more ideas in mind to expand things down the road. We look forward to making it better over time based on player feedback!

Our designers have long wanted to give the leader Trung Trac[civilization.2k.com] a unique Army Commander to represent her legendary sisterhood, and with this update, Trung Nhi joins the battlefield!

Trung Nhi features a unique model, a custom Promotion Tree, and full gameplay functionality. She is granted automatically in the first Age, alongside the first Military Unit produced by a Trung Trac player (including Advanced Starts), and she persists across Ages. As part of this change, Trung Trac no longer grants three free Promotions to her first Commander. She also has a Unique Commendation, "Sisters Unite," which replaces Duty and adds +30 to Heroic Assault.

Please note: pre-1.2.3 saves will not receive Trung Nhi! 

Trung Nhi's Promotion Tree (replaces Leadership):

• Jungle Warfare: +5 Combat Strength for Units in Tropical terrain within the Command Radius

• Mettle and Courage: +5 Combat Strength for Units in friendly territory within the Command Radius

• Lạc Rebellion: +3 Combat Strength for land Units in the Command Radius when Trung Nhi is adjacent to at least 2 enemies

• One Single Cry: +5 Combat Strength with Coordinated Attack and Focus Fire

• 65 Strongholds: +5 Combat Strength against Fortified Districts within the Command Radius

• Hai Bà Trưng: +15 Combat Strength for this Commander when defending

Try out Trung Nhi by picking Trung Trac as your playable leader! For extra historical flavor for those with the paid content of Right to Rule Collection*, try pairing the Trung sisters with the release of Dai Viet as a DLC civ!

• (★ – Community Influenced Item) An end of Age countdown option has been added to the Advanced Start options. The default is 10 turns, but it can be extended to 20 turns or turned off. No Age progression from any source other than elapsed turns will be added while the countdown is active.

  • Dev Note: We know it was frustrating for some players when it felt like the end of an Age snuck up on you. We have even more improvements planned for Age Transitions down the line, so let us know how these changes feel!

• Trung Nhi joins the battlefield as a new Commander Unit for Trung Trac, with a unique model and unique Promotion Tree that replaces Leadership (please note: pre-1.2.3 saves will not receive Trung Nhi!). The unique Promotion Tree includes: 

  • Jungle Warfare: +5 Combat Strength for Units in Tropical in the Command Radius.

  • Mettle and Courage: +5 Combat Strength for Units in the Command Radius when in friendly territory.

  • Lạc Rebellion: +2 Combat Strength for Land Units in the Command Radius when there are at least 2 adjacent enemies to Trung Nhi.

  • One Single Cry: +5 Combat Strength with Coordinated Attack and Focus Fire.

  • 65 Strongholds: +5 Combat Strength against Fortified Districts for Units in the Command Radius.

  • Hai Bà Trung: +15 Combat Strength for this Commander when defending.

• Trung Trac no longer awards 3 free Promotions for her first Commander. This is replaced with Trung Nhi being awarded in the first Age of every game played alongside the first Military Unit produced by the Trung Trac player (Note: Advanced Starts award her as well). 

• Trung Nhi, her abilities, promotions, and appearance persist across subsequent Ages.

Advisors

• (★) Made several improvements to Advisor Warnings, including:

  • "Suffering War Weariness" no longer triggers when your opponent is suffering War Weariness.

  • "Nuclear Weapon Available" will no longer appear when the player has a WMD and a Bomber already built.

  • Several warnings no longer occur if you are more than 75% of the way through an Age, including "Surplus Influence," "Over Settlement Cap," and "Overflowing Treasury."

Age Transitions

• (★) Added a new Advanced setting allowing players to select their preferred method of Age Transitions: Continuity or Regroup. 

• (★) Catapults are now available at the start of the Exploration Age.

• (★) Merchants are now available at the start of the Exploration and Modern Ages.

• (★) Independent Powers will now spawn at the beginning of the Age, after an Age Transition.

• Legacy Points will now correctly spend when the player changes deck from Custom to Preset in the Advanced Menu.

• Staatseisenbahn can no longer appear on road tiles when a roundabout or crossroad is created during the Advanced Start phase when playing as any civ but Prussia.

Diplomacy

• The effect of Preservation Societies Social Policy can no longer be stacked by repeatedly slotting it in and out of the player's Government.

• Improved relationship management with other leaders, so that relationships will now slowly be pulled back towards 0 over the course of the game, instead of sudden shifts at Age transition. Every five turns your relationship with other players will shift back to neutral by a small amount, and this amount is greater the further your relationship is from neutral. 

  • Dev Note: The shift is stronger on the hostile side than the friendly side as there are more ways to hurt a relationship than improve it, and we didn't want to unduly punish players who want to pursue good relationships with their neighbors.

Environment

• Ocean Resources are no longer highlighted when using America's Prospector Unique Civilian Unit.

Economy

• Lo'i Kalo adjacency bonus is now +1 Culture from adjacent Farms.

• (★) Buildings now retain their full base Yields and Maintenance costs on Age Transition. They will still lose adjacencies and special effects.

Legends & Mementos

• (★) Leaders from Crossroads of the World and Right to Rule DLC now have their full Legends challenges.

• (★) Added new challenges for Right to Rule DLC civs Dai Viet and Assyria.

Miscellaneous

• The maximum number of players in a single-player game has been increased to 12 players for Huge maps, via the Advanced Options menu. Platforms that support Huge map sizes include PC, Mac, Linux, PS5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2**.

• Future Tech/Civics no longer grant Wildcard attribute points, and now give a random attribute point instead.

  • Dev Note: These repeatable rewards were causing the overall impact of the attribute system to be greater than intended and started to overshadow your unique leader and civ abilities.

• (★) Maya's Jaguar Slayer and Inca's Chasqui Unique Scout Units now have the "Pet the Dog" ability.

• Heroic Assault Commander ability can no longer target Civilian Units when a Civilian Unit is in the Command Radius during gameplay.

• Commander Attack (Duty ability | Heroic Assault) is no longer able to target enemy Units inside a Walled tile when performing the ability.

• Added Advanced Option Setting for AI Settlements receiving free Walls when they complete the Age-specific Wall Tech.

• Recommended civs now properly appear as Age Unlocks when viewing the leaders in the Choose Leader menu.

• The Delete button is no longer missing when attempting to delete the Sepoy Unique Infantry Unit.

• Addressed a reported issue where the incorrect number of AI players would be displayed when hosting a multiplayer lobby on a Small/Tiny map.

General

• (★) The total amount of Yield needed for researching or producing items is now visible to the player.

• The Policy screen now remembers the last screen viewed.

• Turns remaining for Quests now show next to the title for cleaner visibility.

• The Age Progress tab now remembers which Legacy Path tab the player was on when it was closed.

• Proper items now display in the Production menu of a Town with Fort Town Specialization.

• Confucius' portrait no longer appears when viewing the Leader Targets of the "Independent – Incite Raid" Project of any hostile Independent Power.

• The Enter key on the keyboard now functions properly when triggering the Lens Toggles menu.

• Research queue is now cancelled when the player selects any Civic or Tech available for research.

• Redundant Confirm Quitting message no longer appears shortly when clicking close icon twice during Windowed screen mode.

• Slots of Commanders are no longer missing when the player checks the spawn Commander after selecting Militaristic Dark Age.

• Hotkeys/keybindings now function properly when the player has a Unit selected on the Map.

• The Swap button will no longer be missing when the player tries to use a mouse to swap or choose a Unit in the Unit panel.

Alignment & Spacing

• The nameplate will no longer overlap the civilization description while setting the resolution less than 1400 wide and enabling subtitles when selecting civilizations.

• The Main Menu no longer overlaps the Create Game page when the player enables the device's sleep mode and wakes it up in the Create Game page.

• The Continue button no longer overlaps the Challenges text when viewing the Legends Report during Age Transition.

• All Unit portraits are now properly aligned in the UI Unit panel and have borders.

• There is no longer a minor invisible UI element under the Place Effects menu that blocks placement when placing City/Town cards via mouse in the Advanced Start menu.

Civilopedia

• Added information about slotting Artifacts and Great Works to the Civilopedia entry for the Victory "Modern: Geographic Society."

• Added information about Research Queueing in the Civilopedia entries for Tech and Civic.

• Improved trigger for Civilopedia entry for Capture Treasure Convoy.

• The Civilopedia entry for Army: Fleets no longer refers incorrectly to Fleet Commanders as 'Naval' Commanders.

• The Civilopedia entry for Celebration no longer uses incorrect terminology for Policies unlocked when activating a Celebration.

• The Civilopedia entry for Biomes and Features no longer refers to Terrain Features as "regions" and now mentions Volcanoes, Ice, Natural Wonders, and Reefs.

• Information about Army Commander, Fleet Commander, and Squadron Commander's Ability to Respawn after a Cooldown once defeated are now present when viewing multiple Civilopedia pages.

• The 'Culture' text now displays properly when viewing the Civilopedia page for Kasbah improvement.

• The descriptions for the Hussar and Cossack now properly mention that they do not replace the base Cavalry Units when viewed on the civilization selection screen and in the Civilopedia.

• Moves icon and Sight Range icon are no longer missing when viewing any Unit entry.

• Removed redundant text in Civilopedia entry for Migrant Gameplay.

Controller-Specific

• The scroll bar no longer loses functionality when pushing the right stick after changing the Leaders in Leader Abilities menu at the Diplomacy screen.

• Configuration Menu no longer fails to indicate that the Renaming Commander action is tied to Focus Plot Cursor action when viewing the button mappings in the Options menu.

• The scroll bar can now move freely when the cursor is focused on the Continue button and then moves the scroll bar in the reward menu.

• Cursor no longer automatically focusses on the Declare War button when directly opening the Diplomacy menu of other leaders.

• Players are now able to hover over the Declare War action to be aware of how many turns are remaining until the action can be executed again.

• Can now return the cursor from the sorting options to the Challenges list when the player uses the controller to trigger "Jump to Sort Type" in the Challenges menu.

• The Unassign Resource button prompt will now be present after moving the cursor onto an empty resource slot in the Resources menu.

• Tech / Civic Unlocked pop-up will no longer pop up when having the Espionage window on-screen and Auto End Turn enabled.

• The scroll bar functions correctly after the player presses the right stick in the Age Rankings menu.

• Legacy Option for Next Age text will now be displayed completely when using the D-pad to select and view rewards during Age Transition.

• The controller now functions correctly when the player opens the Ribbon Yields by pressing Up on the D-Pad.

• The Circle/B button can now be properly used to exit the Journal menu after opening the Journal menu in-game.

• Players using a controller are now able to minimize the Leader Stats with the D-pad when the "Always Show Ribbon Yields" setting is enabled.

• The Civic & Tech pop-up will no longer overlap with the Player Unlocks menu after they open the unlock from the Radial Menu.

• The Back button no longer loses function when selecting the Custom Religion option in Create a Religion menu during gameplay.

• The Radial Menu can no longer be opened at the same time as most in-game UI tabs when pressing the R1 and Triangle buttons at the same time.

• The Heroic Assault ability can no longer be used without a target when the requirement is met.

Iconography

• Placeholder icons no longer appear for several espionage actions.

• Restored missing or incorrect icons in the Legacy Planning menu.

• Added icons into the descriptions for Leader Unique Abilities.

• Happiness icon now appears when viewing the Shwedagon Zedi Daw Wonder in multiple menus.

• Influence Yield icons and background now display correctly when assigning Specialists.

• Civilization recommendation icons are no longer missing when a player exits from the multiplayer lobby after experiencing an Age Transition in a multiplayer game.

• The Legacy Path icon no longer appears at low resolution when viewing it in Advanced Options.

• The Remove Production queue icon will no longer overlap with the scroll bar when viewing the Production queue.

Text Changes

• Players are now able to copy and paste text when renaming a Settlement or Unit.

• The Advanced Tech/Civic Difficulty setting has been reworded to more accurately describe what the setting does.

• Updated Silver Resource text so that it explains that it applies to upgrading Units as well as purchasing them.

• The Hawai'i Unique Infantry Unit Leiomano's description now correctly states it only gains +3 Strength against Infantry and Cavalry Units.

• The Shawnee Unique Improvement Mawaskawe Skote no longer is missing description text.

• Outdated text no longer appears when viewing Isabella's leader ability in a multiplayer lobby.

• Added a period to multiple Reliquary Beliefs when viewing their descriptions.

• Spain's Siglo de Oro is missing information related to not affecting the Total Town Conversion Cost in the New Game, Diplomacy, and Civilopedia Menus.

• The effect text 'Units receive +3 Combat Strength for having more than one adjacent enemy Unit' is now present when viewing the Wartime Manufacturing Civics.

• When completing the Heraldry technology during the Exploration Age, the quote is now attributed to Suzy Eddie Izzard.

• Made several text improvements and adjustments.

Tooltips

• The name of a player's Custom Religion is now present when viewing the tooltips of the Religion icon below the Settlement banner.

• Resolved minor text issues in the Great Banker's Activate Great Person Tooltip.

• Addressed a reported issue where multiple tooltips would appear in the same panel during New Game setup.

• Unique tooltips like 'Infected' now properly appear when hovering on the small plague doctor icon on an infected Settlement's banner.

• Assemble Army's tooltip no longer specifies Army Commander when viewing the Assemble Army action on a Fleet Commander.

• The tooltip of Sagarmatha Mastery text updated when viewing the Civic Trees of Nepal civilization.

• Removed blank text field above the tooltip of green tiles in Settler Lens.

• The Army's Soul: Quest can now be completed even if a civ has Unique Military Units.

• City of Gold: The second option's reward is changed to +25% Production towards constructing Lighthouse.

• The Hub of Culture: The second option's reward is changed to +25% Production towards constructing Monument.

• A Lively Sort: The second option's reward is changed to +25% Production towards constructing Amphitheater.

• Gold Rush: The second option's reward is changed to +25% Production towards constructing Market.

• Consequences: Healing Bonus now only applies in Friendly Territory, as intended.

• Daughter of the Sun: The first option in this event will no longer mention the Silk Roads Legacy Path if that Path is disabled.

• The Hooded Advisor: Rewards for the second and third option were swapped to correctly match the text.

• Mercantilism: Event now properly triggers when equipping the Trade Winds Policy and having already become the Suzerain of two City-States.

• Might of Education: Only Commanders receive the promotion now.

• Opposition: The Penalty Icon now displays properly for the first option.

• Made several improvements to Event reward tooltip clarity.

• Corrected reward behavior and information in several Discoveries.

• Resolved an issue where Narrative Events could be desynced during loading multiplayer games.

• Made several improvements to various UI audio.

• Added new UI sounds for Production Panel queueing and selecting.

• Added new UI sounds for selecting a Town Focus.

• Updated voiceover from Gwendoline Christie for new loading screen, and added localized versions of voiceover.

• Made several improvements to localized voiceovers. 

• Made several quality-of-life improvements to in-game music.

• Updated Waterfall and River ambient sound across the map.

• Updated missing sounds for Units, Wonders, and Events.

• Made several SFX updates to Building placement. 

• Fixed annoying beep SFX for console players.

Right to Rule Collection* – Part One

The final part of Update 1.2.3 includes something we know many Founder's Edition owners have been waiting for: the first part of the paid Right to Rule DLC*, introducing the new leader Genghis Khan, two new civs Assyria and Dai Viet, and four new Wonders! The second and final part of Right to Rule, currently targeting September 2025, will include the leader Lakshmibai and the civs Silla and Qajar. 

(Right to Rule DLC*) Added new leader Genghis Khan.

Born Temüjin, Genghis Khan accomplished a seemingly impossible feat for a man with humble origins – to unite the nomadic Mongol tribes under his singular leadership. His ambitions did not stop with the Mongols, however, and he embarked on campaigns that brought under his control northern China and the eastern portion of the Silk Road. The nature of Genghis Khan's death remains a mystery, unlike his inimical accomplishments.

• Attributes: Expansionist, Militaristic

• Unique Ability - Chosen of Tengri: +3 Combat Strength to Cavalry units this becomes +5 when in an Army Command Radius. Army Commanders have full movement with zero packed units. Once per Age Army Commanders can use the Convert Independents Action to Convert adjacent Independents Military Units to your Control.

• Agenda - Tümen: Increase Relationship by a Medium Amount for having the least Cavalry Units. Decrease Relationship by a Small Amount for the leader with the most amount of Cavalry units in an empire.

(Right to Rule DLC*) Added a new Antiquity Age civilization Assyria.

Nestled in the Fertile Crescent, Assyria was one of the earliest states to dominate the region. From beginnings in the city of Ashur to the rise of the great Neo-Assyrian Empire, a long succession of kings would oversee the bloody conquest of Babylon, Egypt, and others – acting as a conduit for Mesopotamian culture throughout the lands. These conquests would later spell doom for Assyria, as a Babylonian revolt ended the empire in 609 BCE.

• Attributes: Military, Science

• Unique Ability - Treasures of Nineveh: Gain a Technology upon capturing a Settlement for the first time. Codices are not awarded from Technologies.

• Unique Civilian Unit: Turtanu (Unique Commander Unit)

• Unique Military Unit: Magarru (Unique Cavalry Unit)

• Associated Wonder: Dur-Sharrukin

(Right to Rule DLC*)] Added a new Exploration Age civilization Dai Viet.

Vietnamese history is a dance of resistance and expansion. The medieval Đại Việt kingdom, especially under the Trần Dynasty, stood against Mongol invasions, even as it expanded southward into Cham lands. This dialectic of resistance and conquest led to the creation of a unique Vietnamese culture, one influenced but not dominated by Chinese sources, and a strong sense of identity.

• Attributes: Expansionist, Cultural

• Unique Ability - Hịch Tướng Sĩ: When you create a Fortification Constructible receive 5 Culture for every urban population in that Settlement. (Scales By Game Speed)

• Unique Civilian Unit: Quận Vương (Unique Settler Unit)

• Unique Military Unit: Voi Chiến (Unique Ranged Unit)

• Associated Wonder: Thanh Hue

(Right to Rule DLC*) Added four new Wonders: 

• Mausoleum at Halicarnassus – Antiquity

• Wat Xieng Thong – Exploration

• Grand Bazaar – Exploration

• Ubudiah Mosque – Modern

**Right to Rule Collection is included in the Founders Edition of Civilization VII. It is also available for separate purchase (base game required). Terms apply.

**The Nintendo Switch version of the game only supports the Tiny, and Small map sizes; it does not support map sizes of Standard and above. For cross-play multiplayer games with players on Nintendo Switch, these map size restrictions will apply.

Including Auto-Explore, Age Transition Improvements, and a new unique Commander, Trung Nhi! Hear more about it from the dev team here:

Also coming alongside tomorrow's update for all our Founder's Edition owners: the first part of Right to Rule*! Genghis Khan, alongside Dai Viet and Assyria, will be releasing with 1.2.3. Keep an eye out for more game guides and info soon, and check out the full roadmap here for Right to Rule!

*Right to Rule Collection is included in the Founders Edition of Civilization VII. It is also available for separate purchase (base game required). Terms apply.