Converting to City should update the settlement name

[pjotroos]

I find the modern age quite enjoyable, but one of the things that gets in the way of the civ I'm playing feeling like the civ I'm playing is the names.

The antiquity settlements you've found will obviously all have accurate names. There is still enough settling to do in expansion age for the new names to come into the mix and grow into cities. But by modern, I already have built up all the settlements I would plausibly convert. The only thing typically left to settle is some gap filler and resource grab towns that will forever feed their production into gold, and eventually food into cities, and barely see any interaction from me.

I like the fact that when you move your capital, you get an updated name. I wish this wasn't the only city with the correct name that I have. And I think the best way to achieve that is by having a toggle next to "Convert to City" button, letting you reroll the name to one from your current civilisation's pool. I think it would be thematic - as the town grows in prominence, it develops a new personality - and the names changing over the ages would add some historical accuracy. That way, towns would all keep their original names, too, keeping some of the connection to the past.

 

[WillK96]

Agreed. I would like to see a mod that changes the city/town names to the names of the civ you evolve into as well (or something like 75%). While the enduring city names would be fine for a more historical path (Rome --> HRE --> Italy / Gaul --> Franks --> France / Egypt --> Ottomans --> Modern Egypt / Even Carthage --> Spain --> Modern Spain), I find it quite immersion breaking on the current paths (Rome -> Normans -> USA / Carthage ->Spain -> Mexico).

 

[stealth_nsk]

I prefer names to stay and I think just the ability to rename cities (already in roadmap) is enough. If renaming would have some option to automatically select name from the current civ list that would be fun, but I think it has really low priority compared to other issue we have in UI right now.

 

[pjotroos]

but I think it has really low priority compared to other issue we have in UI right now.

I know it's very PC-centric way to think, but I have solved most of my UI issues with a small handful of great mods, so this is honestly the thing that currently bothers me the most.

If the upcoming renaming lets you automatically pick a name from the list, then that's great - I'll just use it each time I upgrade to city - but there's no guarantee that it will.

 

[Uberfrog]

For first-time upgrading I could agree. The issue is, all cities apart from the capital are reduce to towns at the end of each age, so you would in effect be losing all your city names every age.

 

[Isca Dumnoniorum]

Allowing some form of name updating (OP's idea is great and there are others out there too) shouldn't be an all or nothing thing. The mechanic already exists in the form of capital names updating when switched so it would be low effort to implement - we're not asking for a from-scratch feature.

For those who are viscerally opposed, the devs could have it as a toggleable option in the advanced settings, with the standard set to 'off', i.e. leaving names as they are.

Separately, does anyone know if Lundres has been removed from the Norman list of possible names now that GB are in as a Modern age civ? Having Lundres and London would be strange. Are there any other Civ combos that could potentially lead to a similar situation?

 

[Uberfrog]

Separately, does anyone know if Lundres has been removed from the Norman list of possible names now that GB are in as a Modern age civ? Having Lundres and London would be strange. Are there any other Civ combos that could potentially lead to a similar situation?

It has not. But I don’t know why it would be an issue - we have always had Istanbul and Constantinople together…

 

[Isca Dumnoniorum]

It has not. But I don’t know why it would be an issue - we have always had Istanbul and Constantinople together…

But not founded by the same player. Horses for courses but for me that's an immersion breaker.

 

[Krikkit1]

For first-time upgrading I could agree. The issue is, all cities apart from the capital are reduce to towns at the end of each age, so you would in effect be losing all your city names every age.

You should have a choice on upgrading town to city
Keep name: small lump sum happiness to next celebration
Change name to current city list: small lump sum culture to unique civics
Customize name: small lump sum science to random tech

 

[Atlas627]

A tickbox next to the Convert to City button is perfect. It just goes to show that UX is hard to design, for all the people here who seem to think things are all or nothing, or should be options that are turned on/off in some menu somewhere and forgotten about.

A toggle for the default makes sense in a menu somewhere, however.

 

[Lorizael]

I've thought the same thing for awhile... so I made a mod to do just that! Check it out and let me know what you think:

Resource icon

People Just Liked It Better That Way

Mar 9, 2025

Renames old settlements using current civ city names when converting a town to a city.

• Lorizael
• Civ7 - Misc

 

[pjotroos]

Oh, sweet. I'll definitely grab it before my next game.

 

[Atlas627]

I've thought the same thing for awhile... so I made a mod to do just that! Check it out and let me know what you think:

Resource icon

People Just Liked It Better That Way

Mar 9, 2025

Renames old settlements using current civ city names when converting a town to a city.

• Lorizael
• Civ7 - Misc

Nice! I recommend you change the dialog options to Yes/No instead of Ok/Cancel, though. Cancel sounds like you don't want to make a City.

 

[Lorizael]

Yeah, agreed, that would be better. I already had an OK/Cancel dialog box, though, and from a cursory glance implementing a different kind of dialog box would involve a bit of customization, so laziness won out. Will try to figure that out and update.

 

[untitledjuan]

Allowing some form of name updating (OP's idea is great and there are others out there too) shouldn't be an all or nothing thing. The mechanic already exists in the form of capital names updating when switched so it would be low effort to implement - we're not asking for a from-scratch feature.

For those who are viscerally opposed, the devs could have it as a toggleable option in the advanced settings, with the standard set to 'off', i.e. leaving names as they are.

Separately, does anyone know if Lundres has been removed from the Norman list of possible names now that GB are in as a Modern age civ? Having Lundres and London would be strange. Are there any other Civ combos that could potentially lead to a similar situation?

I an ideal world, if you're playing as the Normans and happen to create Lundres as a settlement and then you change into the British, that settlement should update its name an become London. It's a small detail, but it would further the idea of history being made up of layers.

It doesn't have to happen for every city, but just for some puntual cases, such as Lundres to London when changing from Normany to Great Britain, or Roman Latin city names changing into their corresponding Spanish names, going from Roman Corduba to Córdoba or Gades to Cádiz, or Hispalis to Seville, etc.

You could even have Roman Londinium become Norman Lundres and then British London.

 

[stealth_nsk]

I an ideal world, if you're playing as the Normans and happen to create Lundres as a settlement and then you change into the British, that settlement should update its name an become London. It's a small detail, but it would further the idea of history being made up of layers.

There's a solution for all those ideas - ability to name your cities is coming in one of the patches soon (I believe it's set for April in the current roadmap).

 

[untitledjuan]

There's a solution for all those ideas - ability to name your cities is coming in one of the patches soon (I believe it's set for April in the current roadmap).

But it would be cool if some historical names coincide with their corresponding counterpart. That Londinium automatically changes into Lundres if you go from Rome to Normandy, then it changes from Lundres to London automatically if you go from Normandy to Great Britain, etc. Only in historical cases, though.

 

[stealth_nsk]

But it would be cool if some historical names coincide with their corresponding counterpart. That Londinium automatically changes into Lundres if you go from Rome to Normandy, then it changes from Lundres to London automatically if you go from Normandy to Great Britain, etc. Only in historical cases, though.

If you'd be responsible for prioritizing Civ game features, honestly, where you'd put this feature request?

 

[SeelingCat]

But it would be cool if some historical names coincide with their corresponding counterpart. That Londinium automatically changes into Lundres if you go from Rome to Normandy, then it changes from Lundres to London automatically if you go from Normandy to Great Britain, etc. Only in historical cases, though.

Been working on a mod to do this, but sadly the methods available for name changes currently only allow for renaming of player-owned cities.

 

[ColPaladin]

If or when they put in the ability to rename cities (which is already in past Civ games), this would all be mote.