Mastering the seven basic yields in Civilization 7 is your key to dominating the game’s sprawling world. From boosting Science to fuel your technological advances, to amassing Gold for instant purchases, each yield shapes your civilization’s growth and strategy. Whether you’re building cities on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo, understanding how to generate and maximize Food, Production, Culture, Influence, Happiness, and more will turn your empire into an unstoppable force. Ready to uncover the secrets behind every yield and elevate your gameplay? This guide has you covered.
All yield types in Civilization 7
In Civilization 7, there are seven basic yield types that form the foundation of your civilization’s growth and success: Food, Production, Gold, Science, Culture, Influence, and Happiness. Food drives population growth in individual cities, enabling expansion and specialist recruitment. Production determines how quickly each settlement builds units and structures, crucial for development. Gold is a versatile resource used for purchasing buildings or units instantly. Science fuels research progress in the Tech tree, while Culture advances your position in the Civics tree. Influence acts as a social currency for diplomacy and interactions with other civilizations. Happiness affects the overall well-being of your cities and can impact yields indirectly. Each yield is generated through a combination of tile improvements, buildings, policies, and natural resources, making strategic management of these yields essential for victory.
There are seven types of basic yields in Civilization 7:
- Science
- Culture
- Gold
- Influence
- Happiness
- Production
- Food
Below, we’ll give you a brief description of each to help you understand the complex menagerie that is Civilization 7.
Science
In Civilization 7, Science is a crucial yield that drives your progress through the Technology Tree, enabling you to unlock new buildings, units, and abilities faster. Your total Science output is displayed on the resource bar and is generated primarily from specific Science buildings like Libraries, Universities, and Laboratories, as well as from specialists assigned to districts and quarters. Expanding your cities to work tiles that produce Science, utilizing adjacency bonuses, and slotting Science-related resources can significantly boost your Science yield. Increasing Science reduces the number of turns needed to complete research projects, accelerating your civilization’s technological advancement and strategic options throughout the game.
Your total Science yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Science you’re currently earning from all of your tiles across your empire.
Science contributes directly to whatever you’re researching in the Tech tree. All research items have a hidden Science cost behind the scenes. You need to earn that much Science in order to finish your research. The game displays this number in turns, telling you when you pick a research project that you’ll complete it in, for example, 11 turns. But if you increase your Science within that 11-turn window, you’ll see the turn timer tick down even faster. That’s because you’re now contributing more to that invisible Science number than was originally anticipated.
Science typically comes from special Science buildings that you build on city tiles and specialists.
Culture
Culture in Civilization 7 is a crucial yield that fuels your progress through the Civics tree, unlocking new gameplay elements such as commanders, pantheons, religions, and ideologies. Generating Culture accelerates civic research, enabling quicker access to powerful social policies and government types that provide unique bonuses. Culture can be increased through various means including tile improvements, special buildings like Monuments and Amphitheaters, Wonders, and Narrative Events. It also plays a central role in achieving a Culture Victory, which involves completing the Culture Legacy Path and building the World’s Fair Wonder. Maximizing Culture not only advances your civilization’s cultural development but also unlocks strategic advantages that enhance your overall gameplay.
Your total Culture yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Culture you’re currently earning from all of your tiles across your empire.
Culture contributes directly to whatever you’re studying in the Civics tree. All civics items have a hidden Culture cost to them behind the scenes. You need to earn that much Culture in order to finish your study in the Civics tree. The game displays this number in turns, telling you when you pick a research project that you’ll complete it in, for example, 15 turns. But if you increase your Culture within that 15-turn window, you’ll see the turn timer tick down even faster. That’s because you’re now contributing more to that invisible Culture number than was originally anticipated.
Culture typically comes from special Culture buildings that you build on city tiles, from slotting resources, or from social polices.
Gold
Gold is a vital resource in Civilization 7, serving as the primary currency for maintaining your empire, upgrading units, purchasing buildings, and expanding settlements. You can increase your Gold income through several methods, including founding Towns that convert Production into Gold, constructing Gold-generating buildings and Wonders, and advancing through the Economic attribute tree which offers significant bonuses. Additionally, engaging in Diplomatic Endeavors like Open Markets, allocating specific resources to your settlements, and utilizing Treasure Fleets in coastal areas provide steady Gold income. Social Policies and unique Traditions also boost Gold yields, making it essential to balance expansion, resource management, and diplomatic relations to maximize your treasury and support your civilization’s growth and military needs.
Your total Gold yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Gold you’re currently earning from all of your tiles across your empire.
Gold is one of the most versatile resources in the game, as it allows you to instantly buy buildings or units in your cities and towns. This lets you skip the building process entirely, meaning you can be building toward one thing in a city while buying another. This means that you can quickly invest in more Science if you need to quickly complete a research project by just buying another library. Or you can purchase some ranged units and have them immediately appear in your city center if you’re under attack.
Gold comes from special Gold buildings, certain tile improvements, and Production in your towns.
Influence
Influence in Civilization 7 is a crucial yield that functions as the currency for diplomacy and social interactions with other civilizations and City-States. It is generated primarily through specific buildings, Wonders, social policies, leader abilities, and civilization traits. Influence enables players to establish and improve trade relations, open borders, support war efforts, enact Endeavors, and conduct espionage. Unlike other yields, Influence is not gathered from map tiles but accumulates over time, requiring strategic investment in infrastructure and policies to maintain a strong diplomatic presence. Managing Influence effectively allows players to sway other leaders’ decisions, secure alliances, and maintain War Support, which is vital for sustaining military campaigns and avoiding penalties from War Weariness.
Your total Influence yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Influence you’re currently earning from all of your tiles across your empire.
Influence is best understood as your social currency in Civilization 7, and you’ll use it to interact with other civilizations. If you want to start a research project with another civilization, you’ll need to spend Influence. If you want to convince a city-state to join your empire, you’ll need to spend Influence. If you want to stop the diplomatic actions of another civilization, you guessed it: Influence. Basically, every time you interact in a non-combat way with another civilization, you’ll be spending some Influence.
Influence is generated by your palace and policies.
Happiness
Happiness in Civilization 7 is a vital yield that influences both individual settlements and the entire empire. It functions as a resource that must be carefully managed to keep your population productive and prevent penalties. Each settlement generates local Happiness, which supports building maintenance and specialists, while the combined global Happiness contributes to triggering Celebrations that grant powerful bonuses and additional policy slots. Settling near fresh water, constructing specific buildings like Altars and Arenas, and acquiring certain resources all help boost Happiness. Conversely, negative Happiness leads to yield penalties, unrest, and even revolts, making it crucial to maintain a positive balance across your empire. Managing Happiness effectively can significantly enhance your civilization’s growth, stability, and long-term success.
Your total Happiness yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Influence you’re earning from all of your tiles across your empire. However, an individual city’s happiness is actually more important than the overall yield.
Happiness is a double-edged sword in Civilization 7, meaning if it’s high, everything is great, and if it’s low, bad things can happen in your cities.
An excess of Happiness keeps things normal, and contributes toward a celebration in your civilization, boosting a yield for a certain number of turns based on the type of government you have. Unhappiness, on the other hand, can decrease your city’s yields, and even cause some citizens to burn tiles to the ground. If your people are unhappy long enough, they can revolt and leave the empire entirely. Unhappiness usually occurs during long wars where you don’t have public support, and in cities packed with specialists – meaning they’re common in high-Science cities.
Happiness comes from special luxury buildings, social policies, and army commanders. See our guide on how to increase Happiness for tips on maximizing this yield.
Production
Production in Civilization 7 is a crucial yield generated by each settlement, determining how quickly buildings, units, and projects are constructed within that settlement. Unlike other yields that affect the entire civilization, Production impacts only the specific city or town producing it. To increase Production, players should focus on selecting tiles with natural Production yields, such as mines and woodcutters, and construct specialized Production buildings like Barracks, Saw Pits, and Brick Yards, which also benefit from adjacency bonuses. Governments and policies can temporarily boost Production for certain activities, such as building construction or unit training. As players progress through the Tech and Civic trees, they unlock more buildings and policies that enhance Production, making it essential for accelerating growth and development in Civilization 7.
Production is a yield that does not span the empire, and instead is focused on single cities and towns. Production does something different depending on if you’re in a city or a town.
In a city, your Production determines how long buildings and units will take to build there. That’s why the same building that takes four turns in your capital could take 12 turns in a new city. Much like Science and Culture, there is an invisible Production number for each building and unit in the game, and the turn estimate tells you how long that city will take to generate enough Production to reach that number.
In towns, Production is converted into gold and sent to the main cities in the empire for you to use, as you can only purchase new buildings in towns, rather than build them yourself.
Production comes from improving tiles and constructing buildings. See our guide on how to increase Production for tips on maximizing this yield.
Food
Food is a fundamental yield in Civilization 7, essential for growing your settlements and expanding your population. Each city starts with a single citizen, and producing more food allows the population to increase by reaching specific growth thresholds. Food is primarily obtained from tiles with farms and fishing boats, and its production can be boosted through early technologies like Agriculture, Sailing, Pottery, and Animal Husbandry. Buildings such as granaries, gardens, baths, and fishing quays further enhance food yields. Additionally, certain leaders and civilizations, like Ashoka and the Mississippian, provide automatic food bonuses. As your cities grow, you can specialize them into farming or fishing towns to maximize food production, which supports faster expansion and development of your empire.
Food is a yield that does not span the empire, and instead is focused singularly on individual cities and towns.
The Food income of a city determines how quickly its population will grow, allowing you to add on another tile to expand its borders or add a specialist to increase its yields. Like many of these resources, each city has a hidden Food requirement number for each population growth, and you’ll need to generate enough Food to hit that number in order to expand. The game translates this hidden number into the growth turn counter you can see on your city and town nameplates.
What are the seven basic yields in Civilization 7 and why do they matter
The seven basic yields in Civilization 7 are Science, Culture, Gold, Influence, Happiness, Production, and Food. These yields are fundamental because they form the backbone of your civilization’s growth and strategic development throughout the game.
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Science drives your progress through the Technology tree, determining how quickly you can research new advancements. It is mainly generated by specialized buildings and specialists.
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Culture fuels your advancement in the Civics tree, unlocking new policies and social advancements. It comes from unique buildings, resource slots, and social policies.
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Gold is a versatile resource used to instantly purchase units or buildings, speeding up development and providing economic flexibility. It is produced by buildings, tile improvements, and Production in your towns.
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Influence acts as your social currency for diplomacy, enabling research collaborations, city-state allegiances, and diplomatic maneuvers. It is generated by your palace and related policies.
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Happiness affects city stability and productivity; high Happiness boosts yields and triggers celebrations, while low Happiness can cause revolts and reduce output. It is derived from luxury buildings, social policies, and military leaders.
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Production determines how fast cities build units and structures. It varies per city and is generated by tile improvements and buildings. In towns, Production converts into Gold for purchasing purposes.
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Food controls population growth, allowing cities to expand borders and recruit specialists. It is obtained from specialized buildings and enhanced natural tile yields.
Understanding and managing these yields is crucial as they directly impact your civilization’s ability to expand, research, maintain stability, and interact with other players, ultimately shaping your path to victory.
Why are the seven basic yields crucial for strategic decision-making in Civilization 7
The seven basic yields in Civilization 7-Science, Culture, Gold, Influence, Happiness, Production, and Food-are crucial for strategic decision-making because they directly shape every aspect of your civilization’s growth, stability, and interaction with others. Understanding and managing these yields allows you to optimize research speed, cultural development, economic flexibility, diplomatic power, citizen satisfaction, construction efficiency, and population growth.
Each yield influences key gameplay mechanics: Science and Culture accelerate technological and civic advancements, Gold enables instant purchases to adapt quickly, Influence governs diplomacy and alliances, Happiness maintains city stability and productivity, Production controls build times, and Food fuels population expansion. Efficient allocation and improvement of these yields through buildings, tile improvements, specialists, and policies enable you to tailor your strategy to your civilization’s strengths and the challenges you face.
Moreover, yields interact through adjacency bonuses and specialist effects, making city planning and resource management vital for maximizing output and maintaining momentum toward victory. Neglecting any yield can lead to slower progress, unrest, or missed opportunities, so mastering these seven yields is foundational for informed, flexible, and successful gameplay in Civilization 7.
