Unlocking Commander Promotions in Civilization 7: Top Strategies for a Smooth Start
Written by
Joey Carr
on
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Commanders are essential for the growth and survival of your empire in Civilization VII. Without them, managing multiple military units individually can lead to chaos and confusion as you enter battle. By utilizing your Commanders effectively, you can generate XP for them by defeating enemy units. This, in turn, allows you to unlock new Promotions for your Commanders, which grant them unique abilities and skills.
Every Commander possesses five specific skill trees, each containing five to six abilities. Although you will eventually be able to unlock all Promotions for your Commanders, some should be prioritized over others. Below, we will discuss three Promotions that you should consider unlocking first for both the Army Commander and the Fleet Commander in Civilization VII.
Army Commander – Initiative
The first Promotion Level to consider for the Army Commander is Initiative, found under the red “Attack” category. Initiative allows your units to move after being deployed from the Commander. This is a significant advantage, as it sometimes takes time for your Commander to reach a combat situation, and while it may take several turns to unpack your units and prepare them to attack, they could suffer significant damage in the process.
With Initiative, your Commander can arrive, unpack the units, and then attack with all of them in the same turn. Not only does this protect your units from additional damage, but it also enables them to strike before the enemy can respond.
Fleet Commander – Weather Gage
Weather Gage is located in the green “Engagement” category of the Fleet Commander’s Promotion Options. It serves a similar purpose as the Initiative Promotion for the Army Commander. After deploying your naval vessels from the Fleet Commander, they can move and attack within the same turn. This is particularly crucial for naval ships, as they must often be positioned strategically in the water to assault fortified locations on land or engage multiple units at sea.
Army Commander – Mobility
The next Promotion Level to consider for the Army Commander is Mobility, which is the primary ability in the orange “Maneuver” category. Mobility is designed for Commanders that you want to move extensively around the map, shifting from one encounter to another. This ability grants your Commander an additional movement tile each turn while on land. It also ignores any movement limitations from terrain when your units are accompanied by the Commander. So even when faced with a river or mountain range, your Commander can still move freely and further with the Mobility ability equipped.
Mobility is not an ability you should unlock for Commanders you plan to keep stationary at a settlement. For these commanders, I recommend unlocking Zeal, the primary ability in the blue “Leadership” category. Zeal enhances all of a settlement’s production yields by 5% when a Commander is stationed there.
Fleet Commander – Naval Artillery
Now it’s time to delve into the red category, which focuses on enhancing your combat power for a Commander’s units. Specifically for the Fleet Commander, the best early Promotion to unlock is Naval Artillery. This ability grants your naval units a +5 to Combat Strength when they are within the Commander’s movement radius and attacking a fortified district. Fortified districts typically refer to enemy capitals within a settlement.
Choosing Naval Artillery empowers your naval units to inflict more damage on those capitals, which in turn helps your land units capture the capital and settlement for your empire.
Army Commander – Rout
Similar to the Naval Artillery, the Rout ability is found under the red “Attack” category for an Army Commander and focuses on enhancing your unit’s combat strength. Rout provides your…