Civilization 7 Reveals Modern Age Civ That Capitalizes On New Mechanic

With the release of Civilization 7 closing in, the final Modern Age civs are slowly being revealed and rounding out an already deep roster for the game at launch. The latest addition has been seen in mods before, but Civilization 7 marks the debut of Buganda as a full fledged playable civ. There are several strengths players will be able to utilize, but Buganda may be most deadly when using a mechanic entirely new to Civ 7.

Buganda wields the true power of navigable rivers in Civ 7

One of the early in-game changes revealed for Civilization 7 was the fact that this installment will implement navigable rivers. In the past, rivers were mostly something that influenced supplies of fresh water and took some extra movement to cross. However, Civ 7 takes that to a new level with navigable rivers that many units can now take inland and even attack from.

As part of Civ 7, Buganda will utilize a history built upon deadly war canoes that helped make it a hub of Africa by the late 19th century. Those very war canoes have likely inspired many of the powers Buganda gains, starting with their unique ability.

River Raids will give Buganda additional culture for pillaing buildings or improvements based on the yield or healing provided, and that ties right into their unique units. The Mwami commander unit incrases the yield from pillaging done within its command radius, and the Abambowa infantry unit heals by pillaging any tile.

However, the real gamechanger is the fact that every singel land unit for Buganda gains the Amphibious keyword. This means those units have no combat penalties when attacking from the water, though it will still cost movement to embark or disembark.

With the potential for densely built and difficult to attack cities in the Modern Age, Buganda may become a beacon for players seeking a military victory. Civic trees add to this with bonus culture and food from lakes and navigable rivers, and bonuses for happiness and culture from quarters adjacent to lakes and navigable rivers.

Naturally, players who do a Modern Age start in Civ 7 and choose Buganda will make use of starting biases that tend to place it closer to lakes and tropical areas. Players won't know exactly how Buganda is unlocked until they can dive in firsthand, but it already looks like Buganda will be a versatile combat path in the Modern Age.