Civilization 7: Mastering the Art of Balanced Power Distribution

Civilization VII is fundamentally a game focused on constructing an empire from the ground up and dominating the world around you. However, along your journey to becoming a global leader, you will encounter various quests in your journal. These are typically in the form of Legacy Path objectives, which are influenced by the direction you choose at the beginning of the game. For example, if you select a militaristic path, you’ll receive Legacy Path objectives centered around warfare or expansion.

Speaking of military objectives, one task you might encounter on this path is to “Disperse an Independent Power,” which may initially sound foreign to you upon reading the task. In our case, we obtained this task through the “The Prince” objective, which is available when selecting Machiavelli as your leader. If you aim to progress your Legacy Path and complete this task in Civilization VII, don’t worry, we have you covered in the guide below.

Independent Powers refer to the small settlements without a true leader that you may encounter in random locations throughout your map. These settlements typically occupy only one tile for their capital but can have significant military strength the further you develop the difficulty level. When you start Civilization VII, you’ll likely come across “Independent Villages,” which can be neutral, friendly, or hostile towards you. You have several actions with these villages, the most prominent being an attempt to conquer them and become their Suzerain.

As you progress to the later ages of Civ 7, you might encounter another type of Independent called “Encampments.” These are similar to the villages but are consistently hostile towards you and may keep appearing in various locations regardless of how often you eliminate them. Encampments cannot be turned into your settlements through Suzerainship, and they are the most likely targets to disperse.

If you want to investigate and discover these Independent settlements, you simply need to explore more of your map. In most scenarios, you can encounter a few Independent villages on each continent, indicating that there could be nearly a dozen of them depending on your map size. So if you aim to find more Independents, send out a Scout or a naval unit to explore your starting continent or scout across the oceans to other continents. However, if you are still in the Antiquity or early Exploration Ages, you might want to read our guide on how to safely navigate the ocean.

By uncovering the entire map, you may discover at least some of these Independent Powers. However, if your intention is to disperse them, it’s crucial to act swiftly, as numerous world leaders may accomplish that objective before you.

Now that you have a better understanding of what Independent Powers are and how to find them, it’s time to discuss how to disperse them. To disperse an Independent Power, you only need to find one and attack their capital tile with your military units. Directly assault the capital until its district defenses are completely destroyed and all of its military within the capital are eliminated or incapacitated.

Once that is accomplished, you may proceed…