A look at the civilization age pathways for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII is upon us. By the time you are reading this, you may already be playing it. Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of getting a preview key of the game. But, if all goes well, I should be playing it shortly after early release. Regardless, I am cautiously optimistic about the game. I have been seeing quite a mix of reviews for the game. What I find funny is that what one reviewer complains about, another reviewer heralds as innovative and exciting. Still, with such drastic changes, and not having played it myself, I am cautious about how the game will unfold in my own eyes.

One of the most intriguing aspects, and worrisome, is the Age system and civ switching. I was intrigued when this was a feature in Humankind, but I found it to be underwhelming in immersion breaking. However, seeing how Civilization handles it, I am a little more optimistic. For one, the ‘restrictions’ in place help to ease my mind a little. With Civilization, I am a role-player gamer, and I love history. So having some sort of restrictions helps to curve it from being too wild. Also, the promise that the AI will tend to stick to ‘historical’ paths is encouraging.

Still, as the base game civilizations were revealed for each age, I began imagining the pathways to take for the most ‘historical’ accuracy. Some were straight forward… China and India for example. They are divided into “civilization stacks” which are evolutions of the same culture. Others, however, were loosely connected and neglect any branching paths. In fact, they tend to be a single branch of a civilization tree… or two different trees that are close in proximity.

So, I took it upon myself to explore these paths, map them out, and fill in the blanks with future DLC/mods that could be included. I did some research to find civilizations that could fit the roles. It wasn’t easy, but I came up with a pretty hefty list. I also explored the possible (most likely) inclusion of a 4^th age… the information age.

So… let’s get started with the paths of the civilizations included with the base game.

Base Game Civilization Paths

Looking at the base game, I found 31 possible paths that are ‘historically’ connected. This was by looking at which later civilizations that unlock by choosing a specific Civilization to start. I used online information available from sources such as Well of Souls and Wikis. Where I could, I included Path names (so far, only two) to for the ideal paths.

PATH	ANTIQUITY	EXPLORATION	MODERN
	Aksum	Songhai	Buganda
	Egypt	Abbasid	Buganda
	Egypt	Abbasid	Mughal
	Egypt	Songhai	Buganda
	Greece	Norman	America
	Greece	Norman	Imperial France
	Greece	Norman	Prussia
	Greece	Spain	Mexico
CHINESE STACK	Han	Ming	Qing
	Han	Mongolia	Qing
	Han	Mongolia	Russia
	Khmer	Chola	Mughal
	Khmer	Chola	Siam
	Khmer	Majahapit	Meiji Japan
INDIAN STACK	Maurya	Chola	Mughal
	Maurya	Chola	Siam
	Maurya	Majahapit	Meiji Japan
	Maya	Hawaii	Meiji Japan
	Maya	Inca	Mexico
	Mississippi	Hawaii	Meiji Japan
	Mississippi	Inca	Mexico
	Mississippi	Shawnee	America
	Mississippi	Shawnee	Mexico
	Persia	Abbasid	Buganda
	Persia	Abbasid	Mughal
	Persia	Mongolia	Qing
	Persia	Mongolia	Russia
	Rome	Norman	America
	Rome	Norman	Imperial France
	Rome	Norman	Prussia
	Rome	Spain	Mexico

Again, these paths are not taking into account the Leader unlocks or special (gameplay) unlocks. These are strictly the paths unlocked by chosen civilizations alone. This here can be a guide for those who want to follow certain paths.

Of course, if you are a min-maxer, you can ignore this to your heart’s content. Next, let me spice things up by adding in some civilizations that to fill in the blanks and make more consistent “historical stacks” (as the developers call them). But first… a couple notes:

First, I am including the DLC for the first two packs that we know of. Firaxis revealed in their recent stream that Great Britain and Carthage were coming. And some sites have the others listed, though, to my knowledge, they are not officially confirmed… so those may change. I will highlight the DLC civilizations in red.

Second, I did my research by separating the base civilizations into the continents they are on, the general cultures (Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, East Asian, etc.), and the countries where they are based. I then mapped them and identified the gaps to complete the stacks. These are pure speculative (based on previous Civilization entries, my own biases and wishes, and just what seemed to fit there). I will highlight the NEW civilizations in blue.

Lastly, there are a lot of paths here, so brace yourself. I tried to fill as many gaps as possible. After the table, I will give a brief rundown as to why I included each new civ and a link to their Wikipedia page (if available) for further review.

Civilization Paths with DLC and Future Possible Additions

PATH	ANTIQUITY	EXPLORATION	MODERN
	Aksum	Songhai	Buganda
	Aksum	Mapungubwe	Buganda
	Aksum	Mapungubwe	Zulu
	Aksum	Congo	Buganda
	Aksum	Congo	Zulu
	Ancient Germany	Norman	America
	Ancient Germany	Norman	Imperial France
	Ancient Germany	Norman	Prussia
GERMAN STACK	Ancient Germany	Holy Roman	Prussia
	Ancient Germany	Holy Roman	United Italy
	Ancient Germany	Holy Roman	Sweden
	Ancient Germany	Scandinavia	Sweden
	Ancient Germany	Scandinavia	British Canada
	Assyria	Abbasid	Buganda
	Assyria	Abbasid	Mughal
ARABIAN STACK	Assyria	Seleucid	Arabia
	Bantu	Mapungubwe	Buganda
	Bantu	Mapungubwe	Zulu
	Bantu	Kongo	Buganda
	Bantu	Kongo	Zulu
	Carthage	Mali	Asante
	Carthage	Spain	Mexico
	Carthage	Spain	Columbia
	Carthage	Spain	Peru
ENGLISH STACK	Celt	English	Great Britain
	Celt	English	British Canada
	Celt	English	Australia
	Celt	Norman	America
FRENCH STACK	Celt	Norman	Imperial France
	Celt	Norman	Prussia
	Chavin	Inca	Mexico
PERUVIAN STACK	Chavin	Inca	Peru
	Chavin	Inca	Columbia
	Chavin	Aztec	Mexico
	Chavin	Marajó	Brazil
	Egypt	Abbasid	Buganda
	Egypt	Abbasid	Mughal
	Egypt	Abbasid	Libya
	Egypt	Songhai	Buganda
	Ghana	Mali	Asante
	Ghana	Songhai	Buganda
	Greece	Norman	America
	Greece	Norman	Imperial France
	Greece	Norman	Prussia
	Greece	Spain	Mexico
	Greece	Spain	Columbia
	Greece	Spain	Peru
	Greece	Bulgaria	Ottoman
	Greece	Bulgaria	Russia
	Greece	Byzantine	United Italy
	Greece	Byzantine	Ottoman
	Greece	Sicily	United Italy
	Greece	Sicily	Libya
	Guarani	Diaguita	Argentina
CHINESE STACK	Han	Ming	Qing
	Han	Mongolia	Qing
	Han	Mongolia	Ottoman
	Han	Mongolia	Russia
	Khmer	Chola	Mughal
	Khmer	Chola	Siam
	Khmer	Chola	Nepal
	Khmer	Majahapit	Meiji Japan
	Khmer	Majahapit	Indonesia
SOUTHEAST ASIA STACK	Khmer	Dai Viet	Siam
INDIAN STACK	Maurya	Chola	Mughal
	Maurya	Chola	Siam
	Maurya	Chola	Nepal
	Maurya	Majahapit	Meiji Japan
	Maurya	Majahapit	Indonesia
	Maya	Hawaii	Meiji Japan
	Maya	Inca	Mexico
	Maya	Inca	Peru
	Maya	Inca	Columbia
CENTRAL AMERICAN STACK	Maya	Aztec	Mexico
	Mississippi	Hawaii	Meiji Japan
	Mississippi	Inca	Mexico
	Mississippi	Inca	Columbia
	Mississippi	Shawnee	America
	Mississippi	Shawnee	Mexico
	Mississippi	Iroquois	America
	Mississippi	Iroquois	British Canada
	Mississippi	Pawnee	Mexico
	Mississippi	Pawnee	America
	Persia	Abbasid	Buganda
	Persia	Abbasid	Mughal
	Persia	Abbasid	Libya
	Persia	Mongolia	Qing
	Persia	Mongolia	Ottoman
PERSIAN STACK	Persia	Sassanid	Qajar
	Persia	Sassanid	Ottoman
	Persia	Sassanid	Arabia
	Polynesia	Hawaii	Meiji Japan
	Polynesia	Maori	Australia
	Rome	Norman	America
	Rome	Norman	Imperial France
	Rome	Norman	Prussia
LATIN STACK	Rome	Spain	Mexico
	Rome	Spain	Columbia
	Rome	Spain	Peru
	Rome	Byzantine	United Italy
	Rome	Byzantine	Ottoman
ITALIAN STACK	Rome	Sicily	United Italy
	Rome	Sicily	Libya
	Silla	Ming	Qing
	Silla	Heian Japan	Meiji Japan
	Thrace	Bulgaria	Ottoman
	Thrace	Bulgaria	Russia
	Xiongnu	Mongolia	Qing
MONGOLIAN STACK	Xiongnu	Mongolia	Ottoman
	Xiongnu	Mongolia	Russia

Okay… that was a lot! There are over 100 paths in this list. I tried to spread them out and cover as many areas as I could. At the same time, I was trying not to overbloat the list. But, as you can see… there are many possibilities. For the DLC civs, I tried to align them as I feel they would be connected.

Added Civilizations Breakdown

Now… to break down why I made the choices I did (I will try to be brief with each one).

DLC

The following Civilizations are either announced or believed to be part of the first wave of DLC for Civilization VII. The only two officially announced were Great Britain and Carthage. However, no other information regarding what age or their abilities was announced. We can assume that Great Britain will be Modern and Carthage will be Antiquity. We can deduce the placement for the others, as well from context clues and various sources.

Assyria – (Antiquity) A middle eastern civilization around Mesopotamia. I was going to add Babylonia or Sumer, but when I saw this one listed as a DLC civilization, I replaced those with this one in my path charts.

Bulgaria – (Exploration) Civilization on the Eastern Europe region where the Balkan Mountains exist.

Carthage – (Antiquity) Phoenician civilization in North Africa, popular for its conflicts with the Roman Republic.

Dai Viet – (Exploration) A monarchy in the vietnam region of southeast Asia

Great Britain – (Modern) The Victorian era representation of Britain

Nepal – (Modern) A nation between India and China in the region of the Himalayas.

Qajar – (Modern) The dynastic civilization that existed in Persia during the 18^th to early 20^th centuries.

Silla – (Antiquity) An ancient kingdom of the Korean peninsula.

ADDED CIVILIZATIONS

These are the civilizations that I entered to fill in the blanks. I tried to cover a range of areas and fill in a “stack” for most civilizations. Some pathways loop from one culture to another and back, others are a straight line.

Ancient Germany – (Antiquity) Although the ancient Germans (or Germani) were tribal and disconnected, They would be a good representation to complete the Germanic Pathway.

Arabia – (Modern) An amalgamation of Arab cultures and civilizations from period represented by the Modern age in Civilization 7 (industrial to WW2). Previously represented in Civilization.

Argentina – (Modern) A country represented by the cultures of the southern portion of South America.

Asante – (Modern) Also known as Ashanti, this civilization rose in the region of Gahna and developed the Ashanti Empire between the years of 1701 to 1901.

Australia – (Modern) Represents the early settlement and rising Australian nation from colonization to the Australian Nation.

Aztec – (Exploration) The popular Aztec civilization that has been represented needs to show up and I think would be a perfect fit for the Exploration Age.

Bantu – (Antiquity) The ancient peoples who settled East Africa along the Swahili coast.

British Canada – (Modern) A representation of early Canada from colonial settlement to the end of the World Wars.

Byzantine – (Exploration) The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire has had representation before and would make a good Eastern European representation.

Celt – (Antiquity) An amalgamation of the ancient celtic peoples from Britannia to Gaul.

Chavin – (Antiquity) Ancient people of the Andes and precursors to the Incan civilization.

Columbia – (Modern) The Columbian civilization of northern South America.

Diaguita – (Exploration) Representation of the pre-Argentinian people.

English – (Exploration) While I know that the Normans are representative of the Medieval English people, I have included this civilization for more continuity.

Ghana – (Antiquity) The ancient people West Africa that formed an empire during the early medieval period.

Guarani – (Antiquity) Ancient people of South America in the region of Paraquay and Argentina.

Heian Japan – (Exploration) Early Japanese society and culture from around 794 to 1185 AD.

Holy Roman – (Exploration) The Roman Empire that was largely based in Germany.

Indonesia –(Modern) Post colonial Indonesia. Previously represented in Civilization by this name.

Iroquois – (Exploration) The confederation of native tribes in the New England region of the Unites States.

Kongo – (Exploration) The civilization of Central Africa.

Libya – (Modern) Nation on the north coast of Africa west of Egypt.

Mali – (Exploration) West African empire that flourished during the medieval era.

Māori – (Exploration) Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand.

Mapungubwe – (Exploration) Kingdom that flourished in South Africa during the medieval period.

Marajó – (Exploration) People of Marajó Island in Brazil.

Ottoman – (Modern) I am almost surprised that this one wasn’t included as the successor to the Mongolian Empire.

Pawnee – (Exploration) A native American people that fills in the more southern part of the nation. However, of any that I suggested, this is perhaps the least likely to be included. It could be an option for modders.

Peru – (Modern) A modern nation and successor of the Incans.

Polynesia – (Antiquity) This is an amalgamation of the ancient peoples of the Pacific and the precursor of a number of civilizations like the Hawaiians and the Maori.

Sassanid – (Exploration) Successor of the Persian Empire, ideally in the Exploration Age.

Scandinavia – (Exploration) The needed “viking” representative civilization (with possible benefits for early exploration during the Exploration Age).

Seleucid – (Exploration) Though a little off in timing, the Seleucid Empire would act as a bridge of the Assyrian civilization in Antiquity and the Arabian civilization in Modern.

Sicily – (Exploration) This is representative of the Kingdom of Sicily which ruled the southern Italian peninsula during the Middle Ages. It is part of the “Italian Stack.”

Sweden – (Modern) I struggled to settle on which nation to represent Scandinavia during the Modern Age. I ultimately settled on Sweden (with Norway to succeed in the Information Age).

Thrace – (Antiquity) Looking for an ancient representation of eastern Europe, I settled on Thrace (and it’s “associated” leader, Spartacus… more on that later).

United Italy – (Modern) This is a representation of the Unification of Italy during the 19^th century. It is part of the “Italian Stack.”

Xiongnu – (Antiquity) The ancestors of Mongolia, the Xiongnu are a good Antiquity Age representation of the people there.

Zulu – (Modern) The people of South Africa who fought against the colonials. (A classic civilization for the Civilization series.

The Information Age

During the livestream for the Modern Age reveal, it was noted that the modern age would cover a period of time from the Industrial Revolution up to the up to the World Wars. However, the developers hinted that they are looking on taking the game beyond that period. This could only lead one to conclude that they are planning a fourth age to the game… what most believe would be the “Information Age.”

This age would likely cover the time period from Post World Wars up to the near future with a traditional end time of 2050 (side note: 2050 has long been the “end date” for many Civilization games and its crazy to think that year is only 25 years away). This age will likely include some sort of Corporation mechanic as well as mechanics based around the Cold War.

So, I thought I would speculate what civilizations would appear in this age. The trick is that each age has a “unique” Civilization name. This is highlighted in the likes of China (Han, Ming, Qing) and India (Maurya, Chola, Mughal) which have “stacks” that go through the ages. And certain civilizations in the Modern Age should be in the Information Age as well… America, Russia, etc. So how will they continue such Civilizations in the Information Age without allowing the name to be reused?

In my speculation, I made a list of Civilizations that could likely show up. There are several civilizations in the Modern age that I would assume would have the same name for the Information age, but that doesn’t quite work for the way the game is structured. But I noticed that some civilizations seemed already prepped for this likelihood (Imperial France, Meiji Japan).

For some, like India and China, I just used those names for the Information Civilizations. The same for the likes of Japan and others that I added in above. Others, I used an alternative name like U.S. for America. However, with some, I just couldn’t think of a name to represent those countries. So, I just reused the name from the previous age in hopes that somebody smarter than I could come up with some better suggestions. I also wanted to maintain a throughline for many Civilizations to “complete” them through the ages.

So, here is my list of potential Information Era civilizations. I will include the modern civilizations that will lead to them in their brief descriptions and rationales.

Argentina* – One of the Information Age nations that I had trouble finding a unique name for. Representative of current Argentina. (Argentina)

Brazil* – One of the Information Age nations that I had trouble finding a unique name for. Representative of current Brazil. (Brazil)

Canada – The neo-modern representation of Canada. (America, British Canada)

China – The Information Age representation of China. (Nepal, Qing)

Columbia* – One of the Information Age nations that I had trouble finding a unique name for. Representative of current Columbia. (Columbia, Peru)

France – Modern France represented in the Information Age. (Imperial France)

Free Australia – The Information Age representation of Australia. (Australia, Great Britain)

Germany – The Information Age representation of Germany. (Prussia)

India – The Information Age representation of India. (Mughal, Nepal)

Italy – The Information Age representation of Italy. (United Italy)

Japan – The Information Age representation of Japan. (Meiji Japan)

Kenya – An Information Age nation of central Africa. (Buganda)

Korea – Though lacking in middle representation, an important nation of the Information Age. (Meiji Japan, Qing)

Mexico* – One of the Information Age nations that I had trouble finding a unique name for. Representative of current Mexico. (Mexico)

Morocco – An Information Age nation in North Africa. (Asante)

New Guinea – Part of the Indonesia Island Nations. (Indonesia)

New Zealand – An Information Age offshoot of Australia and Polynesia. (Australia, Indonesia)

Nigeria – A West African nation during the Information Age (Asante, Buganda)

Norway – A representative of the Scandinavian culture in the Information Age. (Prussia, Sweden)

Saudi Arabia – The Information Age representation of Arabia. (Arabia)

South Africa – The Nation of South Africa in the Information Age. (Zulu)

Soviet Russia – I struggled with a name for this one. Russia needs to be represented in the Information Age. I wanted to steer clear of “political” names, but I couldn’t think of a better way to differentiate. Perhaps they could rename Modern Age Russia to “Romanov Russia,” freeing up “Russia” for the Information Age. (Russia)

Thailand – The name of the Southeast Asian civilization from the Information Age. (Siam)

Turkey – The successor to the Ottoman Empire in the Information Age. (Ottoman)

U.K. – Perhaps the best way to differentiate Great Britain with a needed representation in the Information Age. (Great Britain)

U.S. – Perhaps the best way to differentiate America with a needed representation in the Information Age.  (America)

Vietnam – A key civilization from the Cold War, Vietnam is another Southeast Asian possibility for the Information Age. (Siam)

Independent Powers

I haven’t really touched on Independent Powers. Those are the replacements for Barbarian Camps and City-States. From what I have seen, they is a pretty robust assortment of them from around the world. Likely, some will be removed over time (such as Carthage since the Civilization has been confirmed to be coming soon). I have not really given them much thought at this point. The only addition that I would add at this time would be Troy (antiquity age IP). Still, I think, if anything, IP’s should be easy enough to mod into the game (much like they were in Civilization V).

Leaders

Now… I come to Leaders. With new civilizations comes new leaders. Since Civilization VII is not one-to-one with civilization/leader representation, I haven’t given much thought or research into it. The most I did was I went down the list of base civilizations, DLC, and the ones I “added” and put down leaders that would make sense to me. For the leaders, the one “rule” I kept to in considering possible leaders is that the leader must not be currently living.

Alexander – Alexander is a standard for the Civilization franchise, and I will be shocked if he doesn’t make a return in this iteration.

Boudica – Another Civilization classic… we missed out on her the last round; it is time for Boudica to make her return.

Cleopatra – Yes… she was in Civilization VI. But I wouldn’t mind seeing her back in the driver’s seat in Civilization VII. Hatshepsut is great, but you can’t go wrong with Lady Cleo!

Dido – As a Roman history fan, the inclusion of Dido the past couple of iterations was a delight. I’d like to see her make a return to Civilization VII.

Ghandi – There have already been cries for Ghandi… a staple since the original Civilization. Need I say more?

Hadrian – An alternate representation of Rome. From the Imperial period, Hadrian is famous for his wall.

Hannibal Barca – The infamous general and scourge of the Roman Republic. It would be nice to see him available (imagine playing Rome with him as the leader).

Henry VIII – The leader of the English during the early renaissance. He revolutionized England with his reforms to the church, despite his infamous rule of England.

JFK – A strong leader who initialized the Space Race and faced many problems during the early Cold War. A good representation of the Information Age America.

Kanmu – Emperor of Japan during the transition from the Nara period to the Heian period.

Marc Antony – A General of the Roman Republic and the left hand man of Gaius Julius Caesar.

Margaret Thatcher – A more recent representation of the U.K.

Mikhail Gorbachev – The leader of the Soviet Union towards the end of the Cold War.

Montezuma II – Another classic leader from Civilizations of the past.

Richard I – Also known as Richard the Lionheart, a ruler of early England and a Crusader.

Roger II – Successor to his father, Roger I and his brother Simon as the King of Sicily.

Ronald Reagan – He played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War and would be a welcome (more recent) addition to the Hall of Civilization Leaders.

Saladin – Another classic Leader from the Civilization franchise.

Shaka – Leader of the Zulu, another classic Civilization leader.

Socrates – An ancient Philosopher of Athens.

Spartacus – Okay… let me explain this one. I know that the origin of Spartacus is questionable. But the STARZ series about him solidified him as a Thracian in my mind. So, I through him in as a leader for my own amusement. And every time your army defeats an enemy, you could shout out, “I AM SPARTACUS.” Win/win!

Theodora – Wife of Justinian I and Empress of Byzantine. She has been featured before in Civilization and would make a fine returning Leader.

Tutankhamun – The famous boy-king of Ancient Egypt. While it was tempting to go with Ramses as another alternative Egyptian leader, I chose “King Tut” for pick as an ancient pharoah.

Victor Emmanuel II – One of the pivotal leaders of the unification of Italy.

Victoria – An excellent representative of the Great Britain civilization in the Modern Age (of which encapsulated the Victorian Era).

Winston Churchill – The Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II, Churchill would be a good alternative leader.

With these leaders, I don’t expect them all, not officially anyway. I tried to take advantage of Leaders who were not necessarily Heads-of-State, but I don’t believe they should be overlooked as well. And I realize I did not cover many of the nations, especially those in Africa, South America, or the Pacific as much. I’m willing to add to the list upon suggestion, but this ‘project’ has been taking some time to put together as it is. The leaders were not a primary focus of this project.

Conclusion

So, there we have it. My look at the civilization pathways and speculative future civilization inclusions for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII. Much of this is pure speculation and should be taken with a grain of salt. I have no insider information regarding the development of the game. Consider this more of “what I would do” if I was the one in charge. Still, I suspect that at least a few of these (both civilizations and leaders) are already in the works for the game. Beyond that, this could be a good source for modders looking for ideas.

I will try to update this as new DLC comes down the pipe (and note which ones are available as mods in the future). But I am quite busy, so I may not get to it as often as I would like. I am a father of two, I work a full-time job, I am a writer (my debut novel, The Monsters Within, is available to purchase in hardcover, softcover, digital, and audiobook formats… Lou Del Bianco does the narration and is wonderful) and I have over 20 books that I am working on.

That said, leave your comments and let me know what you think. I am open to suggestions. I also give permission to other fan sites, Civilization community sites, and content creators to share, reproduce, and discuss this as long as I am credited and linked back. I would love to see what the community has to say about this.

Have a Great Day