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Civilization 7 Highlights History in Layers With Meiji Japan's Unique Ability

The addition of Meiji Japan highlights how Civilization 7 will focus on history being built in layers.
Civilization 7 Highlights History in Layers With Meiji Japan's Unique Ability
2K/Firaxis Games

Since the earliest reveals, it was clear that Civilization 7 would be taking the risk of reinventing the wheel in some areas. The separation of civs and leaders allowed flexibility in their choices, but a big part of that was also the decision to slice the game into an essential three act structure.

The age transitions allow the civs set for each period to be more curated to their time and the technology of that era, but it also means subsequent ages will build on top of what already exists. Devs explained that this would show how civilizations build on top of each other over time, and the addition of Meiji Japan will capitalize on that in Civ 7.

Get Ready to Overbuild with Meiji Japan in Civilization 7

Civ7_Meiji

One of the major new features in Civilization 7 is the ability to overbuild on buildings. In the latest installment, Civ 6, buildings and districts were pretty much permanent. While some improvements could be removed at a later time, expanding your empire was often more about building additional cities than adjusting your existing ones.

With the ability to tell a three act story with the Antiquity Age, Exploration Age, and Modern Age in Civ 7, players will now have the ability to Overbuild on buildings from past eras. This can have a variety of effects, some of which will still be further understood once the game itself has arrived, but we already know what that does for Meiji Japan.

Players using them in the Modern Age will gain the "Goisshin" unique ability to gain bonus science every time you Overbuild a building. This incentivizes players to take full advantage of Modern Age developments and upgrade their core cities, and it falls right in line with the "history built in layers" theme that developers and designers have talked about in various Civ 7 livestreams.

Meiji Japan also grants access to two different unique buildings in the Ginkō and Jukogyo, the former gives a gold bonus but the latter includes both a coastal production bonus and increased resource slots. Overbuilding will help players refine their most important cities, but the path to victory will vary.

Meiji Japan is definitely incentivized towards science, and that would pair well since this civ is unlocked when players use Himiko as a leader. Her base game Queen of Wa persona that all players will have access to is built for science, and it'll lean towards cooperation as you get bonus science for leaders you're friendly or helpful with.

Alternatively, the High Shaman persona is largely about increasing happiness with a bit of culture boost. That may work perfectly for those hoping to aim at a Military Victory in the Modern Age with Meiji Japan. One of the longstanding impacts of war in this franchise is damage to your own people's happiness, but High Shaman Himiko's ability could counteract that and help players weather the storm.

That's especially true considering Meiji Japan gets two unique military units, the Zero and Mikasa, to take their military prowess to both the air and the sea. With the Civilization 7 release date closing in, there are sure to be plenty of unique strategies players will soon discover for Meiji Japan.