Unlocking Exploration and Modern Age civs.

[Aristotle Kzin]

Unlocking Exploration and Modern Age civs.
What do we know about how we will be able to unlock the later game civs?
We know, for example, that Greece, Rome and Isabella unlock Spain, and Spain unlocks Mexico.
I think we can assume the Indian civs all unlock each other, similarly the China civs.
We know about a couple of others, but how do we unlock America if we're NOT playing either American leaders? What about Hawai'i? Do the Mississippians unlock the Shawnee? Do the Mayans unlock Inca?
I'm asking if people know more than I do, not for people to speculate.....

 

[Evolena]

That's what is absolutely confirmed yet (not a lot):

 

[Krikkit1]

There has been some suggestion by the devs about gameplay unlocks

ie 3 horses unlocking Mongols,
but there has been no more talk of it that I know.
Really hoping for Dev Diary on those.

 

[aelf]

That's what is absolutely confirmed yet (not a lot):

View attachment 714531

Pretty sure Ashoka unlocks all Indian civs, Ben Franklin unlocks America, Augustus unlocks Rome, Hatty unlocks Egypt, and Confucius unlocks all Chinese civs.

 

[Chapel]

Pretty sure Ashoka unlocks all Indian civs, Ben Franklin unlocks America, Augustus unlocks Rome, Hatty unlocks Egypt, and Confucius unlocks all Chinese civs.

You don't need to unlock Rome or Egypt though right?

 

[aelf]

You don't need to unlock Rome or Egypt though right?

Ah, okay, I get why Amina unlocks Songhai in the chart. It's an Exploration Age civ.

 

[AlexByrde]

To my knowledge, we don't know any gameplay unlocks besides 3 horses -> Mongolia, but they do exist.

Earlier this week, this PC Gamer issue was posted to Reddit. I haven't paid to see the issue, but OP claims in the Civ VII preview that the author started as Han China with Machiavelli leading, then somehow became Spain for the Exploration Age.

 

[Krikkit1]

Pretty sure Ashoka unlocks all Indian civs, Ben Franklin unlocks America, Augustus unlocks Rome, Hatty unlocks Egypt, and Confucius unlocks all Chinese civs.

Why would Ashoka unlock civs he wasn’t in (Chola, Mughal…especially since the Maurya civ itself can unlock those)

Same for Confucius and Chinese civs.

 

[aelf]

Why would Ashoka unlock civs he wasn’t in (Chola, Mughal…especially since the Maurya civ itself can unlock those)

Same for Confucius and Chinese civs.

Maybe you're right. I assumed based on what I've seen that each civ would have an associated leader who unlocks it, but maybe the others are simply unlocked by choosing Maurya or some other reqs.

 

[Isengardtom]

To my knowledge, we don't know any gameplay unlocks besides 3 horses -> Mongolia, but they do exist.

Earlier this week, this PC Gamer issue was posted to Reddit. I haven't paid to see the issue, but OP claims in the Civ VII preview that the author started as Han China with Machiavelli leading, then somehow became Spain for the Exploration Age.

Correct - I read that article

It does not mention the modern age civ but my guess is Machiavelli unlocks Spain and Han China can always be picked because you can choose whatever first civ you want

So this would mean civs unlock new Age civs that are located in their neighbourhood or had some influence in that region is my guess
And leaders do the same : eg Machiavelli made visits to the courts of Spain and France as well as the Pope therefore he can lead Spain, and potentially also the Normans and the Holy Roman Empire if they ever make that a civ.

But if you play him as Han China I assume he can also progress into Ming China and Mongolia . But my guess is he can’t unlock Inca based on that choice
But he could if you start with him as Maya.

Just my guess off course

 

[Siptah]

Why would Ashoka unlock civs he wasn’t in (Chola, Mughal…especially since the Maurya civ itself can unlock those)

Same for Confucius and Chinese civs.

But - presumably - Maurya cannot unlock the Mughals, only Chola. So, if you go Maurya > Mongolia via gameplay unlock, your only guarantee from the start to get "back" to Mughals would be a leader unlock. It's a bit of a bad example, because Mongolia might unlock the Mughals, but I didn't want to write Hawaii or anything like that without having gameplay unlocks for all civs confirmed. But I guess the point is clear: leaders seem the only guarantee for a 3rd age pick that doesn't rely on a set path of the two prior civs.

 

[Krikkit1]

Correct - I read that article

It does not mention the modern age civ but my guess is Machiavelli unlocks Spain and Han China can always be picked because you can choose whatever first civ you want

So this would mean civs unlock new Age civs that are located in their neighbourhood or had some influence in that region is my guess
And leaders do the same : eg Machiavelli made visits to the courts of Spain and France as well as the Pope therefore he can lead Spain, and potentially also the Normans and the Holy Roman Empire if they ever make that a civ.

But if you play him as Han China I assume he can also progress into Ming China and Mongolia . But my guess is he can’t unlock Inca based on that choice
But he could if you start with him as Maya.

Just my guess off course

I see no reason why Machiavelli would unlock any civs. There is no reason a leader Needs to unlock a civ in game.

The only thing seems to be each civ unlocks at least one other civ. and each civ has at least one civ that unlocks it.

 

[Evolena]

Pretty sure Ashoka unlocks all Indian civs, Ben Franklin unlocks America, Augustus unlocks Rome, Hatty unlocks Egypt, and Confucius unlocks all Chinese civs.

I agree (although Augustus/Rome, Hatshepsut/Egypt are only "historical choices" as these civs do not need any unlock), but as for the question asked I only listed the one we have actually seen on live stream transition screens (+ Harriet unlocking America which was a spoken info only), and the Indian and Chinese stacks.
There are more "unknown links" on my site, these are only the "confirmed" ones for civs and leaders unlocks.

 

[AlexByrde]

Correct - I read that article

It does not mention the modern age civ but my guess is Machiavelli unlocks Spain and Han China can always be picked because you can choose whatever first civ you want

That's the other possibility! The trick is that we've seen the selection screen for Spain already, and the only things listed as unlocks are:

• Play as Rome
• Play as Greece
• Play as Isabella

So either more leaders and civs can be in there but the list only ever shows 3 options, or there is a hidden gameplay unlock for them which is seemingly never shown on the civ start screen. I'd err towards the latter personally, but it's very possible the Machiavelli is the important variable there instead.

I see no reason why Machiavelli would unlock any civs. There is no reason a leader Needs to unlock a civ in game.

The only thing seems to be each civ unlocks at least one other civ. and each civ has at least one civ that unlocks it.

The other big mystery with leader unlocks is that there are more Civs than leaders in the game, some leaders aren't associated with any known civ, and some civs have multiple leaders even excluding personas. What civ would Ibn Battuta or Trung Trac unlock? Do both Ben Franklin and Harriet Tubman unlock America or only one? edit: Since I wrote this up Lafayette was announced so does he unlock America too?? Assuming no Hawaiian leader, would Hawaii have 3 unlock criteria listed? Does Confucius unlock both Ming and Qing? Some of that might be known already, but I haven't seen it myself.

There's a lot of silliness going on with the leader unlocks, I'm not sure how all they are going to work there. I think you're probably right about the only real criteria being that every civ must have connections in and/or out of them.

 

[Evolena]

The other big mystery with leader unlocks is that there are more Civs than leaders in the game, some leaders aren't associated with any known civ, and some civs have multiple leaders even excluding personas.

In fact, if you exclude Antiquity civs which don't need an unlock, the numbers are pretty similar.

 

[Aristotle Kzin]

Ibn Battutta probably unlocks Abbasid but could legitimately unlock Mongols (but doesn't - we know how to unlock them), Ming China, Chola....he visited many many places and wrote about them....

 

[Aristotle Kzin]

I see no reason why Machiavelli would unlock any civs. There is no reason a leader Needs to unlock a civ in game.

The only thing seems to be each civ unlocks at least one other civ. and each civ has at least one civ that unlocks it.

It's absolutely true that there's no absolute necessity for all leaders to unlock a civ (Hatshepsut, Augustus, for example don't unlock anything since they're Antiquity-based leaders). It is also true, however, that all Exploration and Modern Age civs need an unlock, even if that unlock is 'anyone can play as the French Empire' (not true, I believ but chosen as an example).

 

[Evolena]

unlock Mongols (but doesn't - we know how to unlock them)

We only know the Mongol gameplay unlock for sure, and we do not know if these are displayed the same way in the transition interface as civs and leader unlock, or not. Basically, we do not know with certainty which civs or leaders unlock the Mongols, or which do not unlock them.

[Edit]
We know from his first look that Xerxes (King of Kings) can "consider" Mongolia in the Exploration Age. We don"t know whether "consider pairing" a leader means an unlock, or only a "historical choice", or even sometimes one and sometimes the other.
We've seen in the Modern Age Stream Xerxes leading the Mughals, from Persia and the Abbasids in one game (King of Kings), and from Persia and Mongolia in the second one (The Achaemenid).

 

[evonannoredars]

I hope each civ has a in-game action unlock criteria like Mongolia, it's possible imo we haven't seen those in the unlock screens as those might be added in last after playtesting.

 

[foggyautumn]

Can confirm all civs will have either a resource or gameplay unlock.

https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/1i0ini8/comment/m6zgie9

Very very very exciting!!! I'm can't wait to see what they all turn out to be. I'm surprised that the unlock criteria hasn't been featured as a part of the civ guides at all so far.