Struggling to keep your empire content in Civilization 7? Happiness is more than just a mood-it’s a vital resource that can make or break your civilization’s success. From building specialized structures and enacting social policies to leveraging unique leader abilities and stationing commanders, mastering the art of happiness management will unlock powerful Celebrations and keep your cities thriving across Nintendo, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms. Dive into our guide to discover the fastest and smartest ways to boost Happiness and turn your civilization into a flourishing utopia.
Our Civilization 7 guide will tell you how to increase your Happiness and some of the things that will buff it.
How Happiness works in Civilization 7
In Civilization 7, Happiness is a vital yield that functions on both local and global levels, influencing the productivity and stability of your settlements as well as your entire civilization. Locally, each settlement must maintain positive Happiness to support building upkeep and specialists, while negative Happiness leads to penalties on yields like Gold, Production, and Food, potentially causing unrest and riots. Globally, accumulated Happiness contributes to Celebrations, which grant powerful temporary buffs and unlock additional social policy slots, enhancing your civilization’s capabilities. Managing Happiness involves balancing costs from buildings and specialists with gains from structures, resources, social policies, and commanders, making it a crucial resource for maintaining a thriving and stable empire in Civilization 7.
Happiness is a weird yield in Civilization 7. It has a lot of invisible effects that only really matter sometimes.
On the local level, Happiness is a yield you’ll need to build up as you expand your settlement. Some buildings have an upkeep cost in Happiness that you’ll spend every turn. Specialists also have a Happiness upkeep.
Anything beyond what you spend in upkeep contributes to your civilization’s global Happiness. Your civilization’s Happiness determines how often you hold Celebrations and get to slot new social policies.
Happiness becomes a lot more important when your settlement’s Happiness yield dips below zero (like if you have too many specialists or buildings with Happiness upkeep) or if your civilization starts to experience War Weariness. When Happiness becomes Unhappiness, all of your town’s other yields – like Gold, Production, and Food – start decreasing. If it goes on long enough, you’ll get unrest and riots will start damaging structures.
So keeping Happiness high (or, at least, above zero) is important to your civilization’s success. Let’s talk about how you increase it.
How to increase Happiness in Civilization 7
To increase Happiness in Civilization 7, focus on building Happiness-specific structures such as Altars, Arenas, and unique civ buildings, which provide direct boosts to your settlements’ Happiness levels. Settling near fresh water sources also grants an immediate Happiness bonus. Utilizing Civic research to unlock Happiness-boosting policies like Rites and Rituals can further enhance your empire’s Happiness. Additionally, stationing Army Commanders in your settlements increases Happiness by 10% per promotion level, which is especially helpful in newly conquered cities to reduce unrest. Managing your settlement count carefully is crucial, as exceeding the settlement limit imposes a global Happiness penalty. Allocating luxury resources like Dates, Dyes, Wine, and Pearls to your cities also contributes positively. Maintaining high Happiness is essential to avoid penalties and unlock Celebrations that provide valuable bonuses to your civilization.
There are a lot of factors that affect Happiness. Everything from your leader to your civilization to Civic research and building adjacencies will give you boosts to Happiness. Choosing Himiko as your leader, for example, gets you an extra 2 Happiness on Happiness Buildings.
The best way to manage the Happiness yield in your settlements and civilization is to make sure you don’t have to think about it in the first place. There are lots of little things you can do as you grow your civilization. By choosing the right yields, buildings, and civics and policies, you can increase your Happiness.
Happiness tile yields
Growing your Happiness starts with tile yields as you grow your settlements.
When you first set up a town or city, Food and Production are the most important yields, but by the time you start building things like monuments or placing specialists, you’ll need to have surplus Happiness to manage the upkeep. Make sure you’ve expanded your settlement into tiles that have a Happiness yield by default.
Happiness Buildings
Certain buildings – Happiness Buildings – generate Happiness as well. Things like altars (unlocked by researching the Mysticism Civic) and villas (unlocked by researching the Wheel Tech) generate happiness on their own. They also benefit from adjacency bonuses, so pick tiles that maximize Happiness when you place them.
The problem is that they take time to build – and Unhappiness slows down your production. If you’ve got the cash, you can purchase these buildings outright for a quick Happiness fix.
Happiness Civics and Policies
Beyond the physical layout of your settlement, you can also boost Happiness with certain Civics and the Policies they unlock.
Most of the Civic tree nodes unlock Happiness Buildings (above) that you can build. Certain ones, though, also unlock Policies that you can slot in after each Celebration. Researching Entertainment in the Antiquity Age, for example, gives you the Rites and Rituals Policy that increases Happiness by 2 in all settlements.
Policies (and Celebrations) take even more time to enact, though, so for immediate solutions, you only have one other option.
Happiness army units
Having an army commander in your settlement (meaning that they’re inside your settlement’s limits) raises Happiness. Per the Civilopedia, they reduce Unhappiness by 10%, which is fine if you’re trying to avert a riot. But our testing shows that they also increase Happiness if your town is functioning normally.
The only caveat is that you can’t just train or buy an army commander and wait for them to spawn. They have to come in from outside of your settlement’s limits. If you train or buy one in the settlement you’re trying to enhappify(?), move them out and then back in to gain the benefit.
What are the fastest ways to boost happiness in Civilization 7
The fastest ways to boost Happiness in Civilization 7 include:
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Building Happiness-specific structures and Wonders: Each Age unlocks Happiness buildings available to all civilizations, such as Altars, Arenas, and Department Stores, as well as Wonders like the Colosseum, Eiffel Tower, and Statue of Liberty that provide significant Happiness boosts.
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Stationing Army Commanders in Settlements: Placing Commanders in a Settlement’s Town Center increases Happiness by 10% per promotion level. This is especially useful in newly conquered Settlements experiencing unrest.
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Researching Civics and Enacting Policies: Advancing through the Civic tree unlocks Happiness-boosting buildings and Policies (e.g., Rites and Rituals, Trade Winds, Welfare State) that increase Happiness across your empire.
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Settling near Fresh Water and Natural Wonders: Founding Settlements adjacent to Fresh Water sources or Natural Wonders provides immediate Happiness bonuses.
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Allocating Luxury Resources: Assigning resources like Dyes, Dates, Wool, Pearls, and Wine to your Settlements raises Happiness yields.
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Keeping Settlement Count Under the Cap: Avoiding too many Settlements prevents the -5 Happiness penalty per Settlement over the cap, which can severely reduce overall Happiness.
Combining these methods strategically will rapidly increase your Happiness, enabling more Celebrations and stronger yields for your civilization.
What are the top Civics policies for quick happiness boosts in Civ 7
The top Civic policies for quick happiness boosts in Civilization 7 include:
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Rites and Rituals (Entertainment Civic, Antiquity Age): This policy grants a flat +2 Happiness in every settlement, providing an immediate and consistent boost early in the game.
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Trade Winds (Exploration Age): Unlocks Happiness benefits tied to trade and resource management, helping to increase overall Happiness yields.
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Welfare State (Liberalism Civic, Modern Age): Provides significant Happiness improvements empire-wide, ideal for maintaining contentment in larger empires.
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Constitution and Religious Orders (Theology Civic, Exploration Age): These policies also contribute to Happiness by enhancing religious and civic structures that boost Happiness.
Additionally, enacting these policies after Celebrations is crucial since Celebrations unlock new Social Policy slots, allowing you to stack multiple Happiness-boosting policies for compounded effects. Monitoring your Civic tree regularly for new Happiness-related policies and adapting your government accordingly is key to maintaining a happy and productive civilization.
