7otM26 (15 July 2026) - Announcement

[Eyswein]

Welcome to Civ VII Game of the Month - 26 (15 July 2026)

These games will allow new and old GotM fans to play Civ7 in a friendly competitive environment. Participants are encouraged to post questions, stories, advice, tricks and failures in the dedicated game threads (described below). Each game will specify the Civ you will play.

How to Play

1. Please read our Must Read Rules and Game Details sections below for important information before playing.
2. Consult our Other Useful Information section below and ask spoiler free questions in this thread before starting your game if needed.
3. Click the 7otMxxx.Civ7save file attachment at the bottom of this post to download the Civ7 savefile.
4. Move the Civ7 savefile from your ...\Downloads folder to your ...\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization VII\Saves\Single folder. (This is the standard Civ7install location so please let us know if yours is different or you can't find it)
5. Load the 7otMxxx.Civ7save file in Civ7 and play the game adhering to all our Rules and Victory Conditions specified below. (In game, click Single Player, Load Game, 7otMxxx should be at the top.)
6. Once finished, report your results in the appropriate thread and attach your finished save game to your post in the final thread.

Must Read Rules!

We would like to ask you to please abide by our most sacred rule: Do NOT replay any turns! If you make a mistake, accept it and try to recover. To ensure fair play and prevent results exclusions, please set your Autosaves to 1 turn. In the event of a computer crash while playing, just reload to the previous save and play it as closely to how you played it the first time.
We also ask that you only use UI mods and not any game changing mods.

Game Details

Goal for this Civ7 GOTM: Fewest total turns.
This Civ7 GOTM Final Score Example: Across all ages, keep track of your turn per age. Add all of them together for total.

Victory Condition: Economic (all VCs are enabled)
Difficulty: Viceroy
Leader (You): Pachacuti
Civilization in Antiquity: Inca
Civilization in Exploration: Please choose Inca
Civilization in Modern: Please choose Any
Mementos in Antiquity Age: Breastplate, Chakra
Mementos in Exploration Age: Please choose Any
Mementos in Modern: Please choose Any
Mementos bonuses: +1 food per age in towns, +1 food in your Capital for every 5 excess happiness
Starting Age: Antiquity
Start Position: Standard
Game speed: Standard
Age Length: Abbreviated (120 turns per age instead of standard 140)
End of Age Countdown: No Countdown
Age Transition Impact: Regroup (can now maintain 1 ship per harbor at end of Antiquity)
Initial Independent Hostility: Default
Bypass Civilization Unlocks: Disabled
Map Type/Size: Fractal / Standard Size
Civs (including player): 8 Civs
Disaster Intensity: Light
Crisis: Yes

Game Options:
Start: Ancient Era
Enabled: Independent Powers
Game Version: This game was created in Civ7 version 1.4.1 on 14 July 2026
Game Requirements: Civ 7 base game; free Napolean, Emperor leader; All collections - Tides of Power, Right to Rule, Conquest of the World

Starting Position


Other Useful Information
Unique Attributes:

Spoiler Unique Attributes :

Leader: Pachacuti
Civilization: Inca

Thread information:

Spoiler Thread information :

Announcement thread (this one): This thread is used to announce the game and clarify the settings and rules (don't be afraid to ask questions). It's also used to discuss the game before you start, and post problems with opening the save. Once you have opened the save, DO NOT POST game-related information in the Announcement thread.

Internal staff coordination - @The_J @Blake00 @leif erikson

Game Length:

This game ends 15 August 2026.

 

[MutilationWave]

I haven't done a GotM in a while (and I haven't opened the save, I'm just going off the screenshot) but it seems super tempting to..

Spoiler :

Found the cap one tile west. You guys are the top players on CFC, anyone want to tell me why that's a bad idea?

 

[pmarc]

I haven't done a GotM in a while (and I haven't opened the save, I'm just going off the screenshot) but it seems super tempting to..

Spoiler :

Found the cap one tile west. You guys are the top players on CFC, anyone want to tell me why that's a bad idea?

Spoiler :

I don't usually lose a turn unless it really speeds up early growth with a power resource (like cotton here). Is the concern the lack of workable tiles? I would put more importance on getting those early buildings with mountain adjacency (library NE, warehouse district towards a +4 monument SE) than trying to gain more tiles on the west side.

 

[GoblinMatron]

PSA: You can keep settlers for the next age, if they are packed inside Army Commanders.

 

[Manpanzee]

I played a Regroup game recently and was able to keep every Settler that I had packed into Army Commanders

 

[Eyswein]

I played a Regroup game recently and was able to keep every Settler that I had packed into Army Commanders

I had the same result. Kept settlers that were packed into Army Commanders.

 

[cas]

Is giving settlements to the AI during peace negotiations allowed in GOTM ? I did not see a list of rules other than no replaying turns, no game changing mods.
cas

 

[Eyswein]

Is giving settlements to the AI during peace negotiations allowed in GOTM ? I did not see a list of rules other than no replaying turns, no game changing mods.
cas

Absolutely allowed. Note: That was a thing in 6otM due to being able to win a religious victory with it.

 

[Manpanzee]

Gifting settlements is probably very relevant for this particular game. Not sure if I'll have the time to get through it myself to verify for sure. But I suspect that any lower-difficulty games under the current system could benefit from having the non-target victory conditions disabled.

 

[Eyswein]

Gifting settlements is probably very relevant for this particular game. Not sure if I'll have the time to get through it myself to verify for sure. But I suspect that any lower-difficulty games under the current system could benefit from having the non-target victory conditions disabled.

Luckily they are making that available in the next release and I agree.

 

[Manpanzee]

It's a tricky balance, though, because disabling military victory would let you just conquer half the map and win Econ as a pseudo-military victory. I actually think that the probable obligation here to limit conquest and win a proper "tall" Econ victory is interesting and appealing. But it also must feel bad if you get well into Exploration and discover that your promising-looking game is going to fail because of an accidental non-Econ victory.

 

[cas]

Gifting settlements is abusive of the poor AI. I hate to even call Civ7 computer players AI. It is an insult to the current state of the technology.

I will post the game in the appropriate threads. I'm curious whether a standard playthrough by one of the better players can compete with gifting settlement cheese.

cas

 

[Eyswein]

Gifting settlements is abusive of the poor AI. I hate to even call Civ7 computer players AI. It is an insult to the current state of the technology.

I will post the game in the appropriate threads. I'm curious whether a standard playthrough by one of the better players can compete with gifting settlement cheese.

cas

I'm interested in learning about the Civ 7 gifting cheese so I can post a poll to see if we should ban it. I remember it being bad in Civ 6 so you could create lots of settlements with your religion and then gift them to win. In Civ 7 is it avoiding a win or getting to a win quicker?

 

[Manpanzee]

I'm curious too... I have no idea what kind of settlement-gifting cheese would be possible in this scenario. My comment was entirely about avoiding accidental non-target win conditions. Which shows some issues with the current victory mechanics, but is not something I'd ever imagine banning.

 

[GoblinMatron]

I think that economic and cultural victories are in a weird place right now, because the player is being compared to the second place. That makes sense in multiplayer, and maybe against a really hard AI, but is bad against a weak AI. That makes all games too much about war. As Manpanzee pointed out, the player can just conquer the whole word if the other victories are disabled. And cas is right, that behavior was already possible without disabling any victory condition by gifting settlements to the AI.

I am not sure what a good fix is. Maybe playing against deity AI on a bigger map fixes it by itself?

Maybe we should disable all victories and set a GDP/Tourism bar for a win instead of using the in-game victory condition (eg: get 10000 GDP as early as possible)?