Dale, co-developer of Old World, has today released another trailer for his upcoming game “Imperialist”. The game is targeted at the old-school crowd who are yearning for some Colonization-like gameplay. The new trailer shows us the production screen, the battle screen, the new ingame graphics, as well as some parts of a seemingly North-American map.
Interested? Join the discussion here.
Season 9 Championship Game!
Sullla’s AI Survivor is an annual competition of all Civilization IV AI Leaders by long-time Civilization enthusiast and streamer Sullla. CFC is very excited to announce that the popular series returns after almost a two-year hiatus with Season Nine. AI Survivor has become quite an event over the years for both old and new Civ IV fans.
Playoff Game 3 Recap: Gandhi of India surged into the championship with a thrilling cultural victory in the playoff finale, outlasting the relentless aggression of Qin of China, while Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia delivered a powerful performance of his own, claiming second place and securing the final remaining spot in what promises to be an electrifying showdown.
Kaitzilla led all Civfanatics for Playoff Game 3 in what was a high-scoring game across the board!!! Saxo Grammaticus now holds a solid first-place position in the overall contest all by himself!!! (SmartRandom.org now sits at a distant 4th place, proving that Skynet has not yet taken control)
Championship Game: The Season 9 Championship gathers a wonderfully mismatched cast of empires: Egypt’s Ramesses polishing his monuments while hoping no one notices his paper‑thin borders, Portugal’s Joao racing to plant cities faster than his economy can breathe, England’s Victoria trying once more to turn her powerhouse traits into something resembling momentum, France’s Louis XIV balancing cultural grandeur with a habit of picking fights he can’t finish, India’s Gandhi quietly preparing a cultural detonation if his neighbors forget he exists, and Ethiopia’s Zara Yaqob smiling warmly at everyone right up until he decides they look conquerable. It’s a finale defined by clashing agendas, fragile alliances, and leaders who have all proven capable of brilliance and disaster in equal measure—setting the stage for a championship where any empire could rise, collapse, or accidentally enable someone else’s victory!
Don’t forget to make your picks in the picking contest before the game goes live!
Also, note that our favorite CFC Warrior Queen, Mylene (My), hosts her own friendly betting competition (with fake ducats, of course..ha). Make sure you join in the fun in the S9 Wildcard Picking Game.
Sullla’s AI Survivor Season 9 continues Friday, July 10th, on Sullla’s Twitch Channel at 12 PM EST.
We welcome you to join the fun by discussing here.
The summer is hot, therefore we’re providing you a GOTM which is a bit cooler: In this game, you will play Ada Lovelace of rainy and not sunny Britain on a standard size Archipelago map with low sea level on Deity level. You also get low disaster intensity for this game, and continuous civs. Do you think you can beat this map on deity? Get your savegame here, and send in the winning game before August 1!
Firaxis has released a small Civilization VII Update 1.4.1 hotfix for console and Linux/Steam Deck players. The update mainly targets a controller responsiveness problem, while also bringing over several fixes that had previously gone out for desktop players.
According to the official Steam announcement, the hotfix addresses an issue where controller input could lose functionality when choosing an Enhancer Belief. It also fixes a setup issue where Affirmation Traditions failed to appear under the Heian Traditions tab, and Heian’s quote should now properly appear on the Civilization Details screen when creating a new game.
The patch also includes an improvement to mountain rendering, intended to prevent texture pop-in when uncovering connected tiles.
This is a smaller follow-up to the larger Update 1.4.1 release from June 23, which added Hotseat multiplayer, a revamped Archipelago map type, changes to Governments, Celebrations, and Happiness, and the first part of the Brush & Blade Collection.
You can read the official hotfix notes on Steam. For discussion, head over to the Civilization VII forum.
Firaxis has published a new Civilization VII history Q&A, with senior historians Finn, Emily, and Andrew answering 35 community questions gathered from Reddit, Discord, Steam, and other channels.
The full post focuses less on patch notes and more on how the team researches and frames history for Civ VII. Topics include how leaders and civilizations are selected, how leader dialogue is researched and translated, how Firaxis thinks about controversial historical figures, and why some civilizations or leaders are difficult to represent because of limited sources.
A few answers touch on familiar Civ VII debates. Firaxis says the split between leaders and civilizations gives the team more flexibility, but that a playable civilization still needs some sense of shared identity beyond a broad linguistic or cultural group. The historians also discuss the three-Age structure, including why some civilizations are placed by theme and roster fit rather than a strict chronological cutoff.
There are also some small wishlist-style answers: Andrew names Srivijaya as a civilization held back by source limitations, Finn mentions the Sea Peoples, and Emily mentions the Trojans. Asked about more 20th-century leaders, Emily answers: “Yes. The 20th century was long, and we haven’t fully explored it. Yet.”
You can read the full Q&A on Steam. For discussion, head to the CivFanatics forum thread.
Season 9 Playoff Game 3!
Sullla’s AI Survivor is an annual competition of all Civilization IV AI Leaders by long-time Civilization enthusiast and streamer Sullla. CFC is very excited to announce that the popular series returns after almost a two-year hiatus with Season Nine. AI Survivor has become quite an event over the years for both old and new Civ IV fans.
Playoff Game 2 Recap: Victoria (Vicky) of England entered the game like a baby deer dropped into a den of wolves — the lone high‑peace‑weight leader on a map full of predators, sitting at over 70% First‑To‑Die odds – by the picking contestants – despite having respectable land. Things initially followed the expected script when Brennus of the Celts launched an early war, his stack perfectly capable of striking lightly defended London but instead wandering toward a sturdier target, giving Vicky just enough breathing room to repel the invasion and secure peace. From there, her fortunes flipped: she teamed with Stalin to dismantle Justinian and claimed most of the spoils, then quietly expanded and powered up while the other wolves tore into each other. By the time anyone thought to look her way again, she had already transformed from prey into a force of nature, unleashing her beloved Redcoats, spreading constitutional monarchy across the map, and delivering one of the season’s most commanding performances — a Domination victory with the earliest finish date this season.
Cheers to Saxo Grammaticus for putting Civfanatics back on the weekly leaderboard by placing #1 in the picking contest!!! a pen-dragon finished 3rd!!! Saxo Grammaticus, a pen-dragon, and Thrasybolus are now the 1st, 3rd, and 5th humans in the overall contest!!! (SmartRandom.org still sits in the top spot)
Playoff Game 3: This final playoff before the championship lines up six leaders who feel like they were drafted from entirely different shows and then shoved onto the same stage: Qin is trying to engineer a masterpiece while quietly ignoring the part where enemies exist, Gandhi is attempting to host a peaceful book club in a neighborhood that keeps catching fire, Sitting Bull is armed to the teeth but treating warfare like a strict “look‑don’t‑touch” exhibit, Elizabeth is poised to turn everyone else’s missteps into her next scientific breakthrough, Hammurabi is building cultural monuments as if the scoreboard doesn’t include conquest, and Zara is handing out handshakes and compliments right up until he decides someone needs to go. It’s a lineup full of clashing instincts and mismatched ambitions, and the map isn’t giving anyone room to hide. If you’re tuning in for a playoff where plans unravel, tempers flare, and one leader somehow stumbles into brilliance, this is the one to watch!
Don’t forget to make your picks in the picking contest before the game goes live!
Also, note that our favorite CFC Warrior Queen, Mylene (My), hosts her own friendly betting competition (with fake ducats, of course..ha). Make sure you join in the fun in the S9 Wildcard Picking Game.
Sullla’s AI Survivor Season 9 continues Friday, June 26th, on Sullla’s Twitch Channel at 12 PM EST.
We welcome you to join the fun by discussing here.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Update 1.4.1 is now live on all platforms, bringing the first post-Test of Time patch with new features, system changes, DLC content, and a long list of fixes.
The highlights include the new Voronoi-based Archipelago map type, the arrival of Hotseat multiplayer, and a revamp of Happiness, Governments, and Celebrations. The update also launches Part 1 of the paid Brush & Blade Collection, adding Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Heian Japan, Sengoku Japan, new unique units, wonders, and profile customization items.
Firaxis notes that active mods will be disabled after updating. The team says this is intended to reduce stability issues caused by broken or outdated mods, and players can re-enable updated mods manually from the Add-ons menu. Epic Games Store players may also see a brief delay in access to the new DLC immediately after the update goes live.
The full patch notes go well beyond the headline additions, covering map generation changes, lake generation improvements, tuning, UI fixes, AI adjustments, and many resolved issues. Players who want to finish an older campaign can still use the Steam legacy branch for version 1.3.2.
You can read the full official update notes here, view the Steam announcement here, and discuss Civilization VII Update 1.4.1 with us in the forums.
Firaxis has released a new developer update video for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, giving an overview of Update 1.4.1, which is scheduled to arrive on June 23.
The headline feature is the return of hotseat multiplayer, allowing multiple players to take turns locally on the same device. This has been a familiar option in previous Civilization games, so its arrival should be welcome news for players who enjoy local multiplayer.
The update also adds a new Archipelago map type using Civ7’s newer Voronoi-based map generation system. Firaxis says this should create more organic and randomized island-heavy worlds, with two archipelago regions and distant lands scattered around the map. The previous version of the map will remain available as Archipelago Hemispheres.
Another major part of the update is an overhaul to happiness, governments, and celebrations. Settlements will now have five different happiness moods rather than a simple happy/unhappy state, and expectations will rise as the game advances through the ages. Governments will also gain effects based on how happy your settlements are, as well as passive bonuses and exclusive traditions on the civics tree. Celebrations are being changed from broad percentage boosts into government-themed bonuses, and will now last 6 turns instead of 10.
Alongside Update 1.4.1, Firaxis is releasing Part 1 of the Brush & Blade Collection, focused on historical East Asia. The first part adds Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a new leader, plus Heian Japan and Sengoku Japan as new civilizations. The collection also includes new unique units such as the Shinobi, Samurai, and Yumi, along with four new wonders and profile customization items. Part 2 is planned for later this summer.
You can watch the full developer update above, and discuss Update 1.4.1 with other Civ fans in our Civ7 forums.