Victory, like everything in Civilization 7, is complex. There are a lot of different ways to rocket your leader (and your civilization) over the finish line to become the top-ranked civilization on the map — including literal rockets!
There are three victory types in Civilization 7: Legacy Path (winning via traditional economic, military, science, or cultural means), Domination (winning by eliminating opponents), and Points (scoring the most Legacy Points in a game that times out).
In this Civilization 7 guide, we’ll give you an overview of all victory types, including details on how to get all victories.
Image: Firaxis/2K via Polygon
Legacy Path Victories are likely the victories you’ll be going for each game, and are the ones you’ll see most often. These are the “traditional” Civilization victories, and consist of four legacy branches: Economic, Military, Science, and Culture. To win using one of these paths, you’ll need to complete a specific Legacy Path in the Modern Age and complete their special objective, which instantly ends the game. Completing the same Legacy Path in previous ages will help you advance more quickly in the Modern Age.
Below, we’ll break down the general idea for each Legacy Path victory type.
A Culture Victory is all about wowing the world with your civilization, and leaving a lasting legacy — think the impact that the ancient Greeks and Romans have had on pop culture.
In the Antiquity Age, you’ll build massive Wonders that will stand the test of time and provide your civilization with powerful boons. In the Exploration Age, you’ll leverage religious control to gather and display relics in temples around your kingdom. In the Modern Age, you’ll create and send explorers around the globe to dig up ancient artifacts to display in your museums. With enough artifacts on display, you’ll be able to create the World’s Fair Wonder to cement your global legacy.
For more information on how to win this way, check out our Culture Victory walkthrough.
An Economic Victory is all about flouting your wealth and success, and leads to your civilization eventually establishing the World Bank.
In the Antiquity Age, you’ll establish trade routes with other civs to improve your wealth. In the Exploration Age, you’ll settle towns in other lands and create treasure fleets to ship back resources to the motherland. And in the Modern Age, you’ll create rail lines around the world, connecting other civilizations — and enriching yourself in the process.
For more information on how to win this way, check out our Economic Victory walkthrough.
A Military Victory is not all about slaughtering other civilizations and destroying their cities — although you can advance much more quickly if you spend a lot of time doing that. Instead, a Military Victory in Civilization is more of the dark, modern version of what that might mean: control and fear. This victory eventually culminates in the Manhattan Project.
In the Antiquity Age, you’ll earn Legacy Points by finding and capturing settlements. In the Exploration Age, you’ll settle or conquer new cities across the sea. In the Modern Age, you’ll craft an ideology and impose it on other settlements, converting them to your way of thinking before eventually capturing the world’s attention by building the ultimate form of deterrence.
For more information on how to win this way, check out our Military Victory walkthrough.
A Science Victory is about out-researching your allies, creating more powerful tech earlier in the game and steamrolling your opponents with extremely high yields in all of your cities.
In the Antiquity Age, you’ll earn Legacy Points by collecting Codices and displaying them in your palace and in academies around your kingdom. In the Exploration Age, you’ll utilize Specialists in your districts to increase your yield on individual tiles. In this Modern Age, you’ll research powerful flight projects, eventually leading to the launch of a satellite.
For more information on how to win this way, check out our Science Victory walkthrough.
Image: Firaxis/2K via Polygon
A Domination Victory is exactly what it sounds like. To win in the Domination Victory style, you need to effectively eliminate every other civilization on the face of the earth. This involves overtaking all of their settlements — both towns and cities — but it doesn’t include city-states or independent powers. This is going to involve a lot of Influence and raw military might, as you’ll be constantly at war.
It’s worth noting that the Domination Victory is not actually possible in the Antiquity Age — unless you’re doing a single-age game (as in not a full game that spans all three ages). However, once you can cross the ocean in the Exploration Age, you’ll be able to achieve this victory at any time, making it unique from any other victory.
Image: Firaxis/2K via Polygon
Typically in a game of Civilization 7, you or one of the other civilizations on the board will reach one of the other five victories described above — all of which stop the game immediately. If nobody reached that goal, however, the game will end when the third and final age, the Modern Age, times out. When this happens, the game will tally up how many Legacy Points each player has earned by completing Legacy Paths throughout the entire game. The player who has earned the most Legacy Points will be awarded a victory for the match.
For more Civilization 7 guides, here are the best leaders to pick first, plus guides to all Legacy Paths and all basic yields.
