Legacy Paths in Civilization 7 are a way to earn Legacy Points during each age that put you in better positions for subsequent ages. They’re not the same as — though they are related to — victories.
Our Civilization 7 guide will explain what Legacy Paths are and all the steps you’ll need to complete the Legacy Path for each age.
What are Legacy Paths in Civilization 7?
In the Antiquity and Exploration Ages, Legacy Paths are a way to earn Legacy Points (more on these in a second) that set you up for (easier) successes in the subsequent ages. During the Modern Age, Legacy Paths are how you’ll achieve total victory.
That means that Legacy Paths aren’t the same thing as victories… until they are. Completing a Legacy Path in the Modern Age to achieve a victory is straightforward enough, so let’s talk about how Legacy Paths and Legacy Points work in the Antiquity and Exploration Ages first.
How to earn Legacy Points in Civilization 7
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As you progress any (or all) of the Legacy Paths during the Antiquity and Exploration Ages, you’ll hit milestones where you earn Legacy Points, Legacy Options, and various other rewards like Leader Attribute Points. Those points get used when you transition to the next age.
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When you hit an Age Transition, during your first turn in the next age, you’ll be able to assign Legacy Options and Leader Attribute Points to your new civilization. The number of Options and Attribute Points you can assign is determined by how many Milestones you completed during the previous Age.
In other words, completing Legacy Paths and earning Legacy Points in the Antiquity and Exploration Ages make getting those successes slightly easier in subsequent ages, and then, in the Modern Age, make earning a total victory easier as well.
If no power has completed a Modern Age Legacy Path by the end of the Modern Age, the player with the most Legacy Points will get a Points Victory.
How to unlock Golden Age and Dark Age Legacies
Completing all of the milestones in any (or multiple) Legacy Path during an Age will unlock a Golden Age Legacy. These preserve something about your previous civilization into the next like keeping a certain type of building. You can earn and unlock multiple Golden Age Legacies each age, but can only have one active at a time.
If you don’t complete any milestones in one (or more) of the four Legacy Paths during an age, you’ll unlock a Dark Age Legacy. These grant a boost to some aspect of your next civilization at the cost of another — like giving Explorers extra movement, but losing 50% of your Influence. Like Golden Age Legacies, you can only have one active at a time.
Antiquity Age Legacy Paths
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There are four Legacy Paths you can complete in the Antiquity Age, and they map directly to the four victory types: Culture, Military, Science, and Economic. You can complete anywhere from none to all four paths or earn any number of points from each.
Antiquity Age Culture Legacy Path
The Antiquity Age Culture Legacy Path is all about building Wonders. You’ll unlock Wonders by researching both the Civic and Technology trees.
- Build a Wonder
- Build a second Wonder
- Build two more Wonders
- Build a total of seven Wonders
Antiquity Age Military Legacy Path
For the Military Legacy Path, you’ll need to unlock Civics and Technologies, but also increase your settlement cap.
- Study the Discipline Civic
- Train four military units and assemble them into a full army with an army commander
- Train a siege unit and capture an enemy settlement
- Earn 6 Pax Imperitoria Legacy Points — you’ll earn one point for each settlement you found and two for each settlement you capture
- Earn 9 Legacy Points
- Earn 12 Legacy Points
Antiquity Age Science Legacy Path
The Science Legacy Path starts with research, but then you’ll have to focus on earning codices through research and becoming suzerain of city-states. And you’ll have to build libraries and academies to display those codices.
- Research Writing in the Tech tree
- Build a library (granted by Writing in the Tech tree) and research Writing 2
- Research Mathematics (in the Tech tree) and build an academy (granted by Mathematics)
- Collect and display 3 codices (in your Palace and Academy) — researching Masteries grants codices
- Collect and display 6 codices
- Collect and display 10 codices
Antiquity Age Economic Legacy Path
To complete the Economic Legacy Path in the Antiquity Age, you’ll have to establish an elaborate trade network, which means training a lot of merchants and maintaining good diplomatic relations with your neighbors.
- Study Code of Laws (in the Civic tree)
- Produce a Merchant and establish a trade route
- Improve Trade Relations with a foreign power with the Improve Trade Relations Diplomatic Action
- Slot 7 Resources either from Trade or Improvement
- Slot 14 Resources
- Slot 20 Resources
Exploration Age Legacy Paths
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There are four Legacy Paths you can complete in the Exploration Age: Culture, Military, Science, and Economic. You can complete anywhere from none to all four paths or earn any number of points from each.
Exploration Age Culture Legacy Path
Much like the Science Legacy Path during the Antiquity Age, the Modern Age’s Culture Path requires you to earn and display relics. You’ll get these from converting settlements and your Reliquary Belief, and they can be displayed in temples and some Wonders.
- Study Piety Civic, build a temple, and establish a religion (Piety unlocks both the temple and religions)
- Train a missionary and convert a foreign settlement
- Study Theology Civic to unlock and adopt an Enhancer Belief
- Collect and display 6 relics
- Collect and display 9 relics
- Collect and display 12 relics
Exploration Age Economic Legacy Path
The Economic Legacy Path in the Exploration Age is all about setting up trade routes with another continent both with your own settlements and by befriending the people you find there.
- Research Cartography and Astronomy Technologies
- Create a settlement in distant lands and build a fishing quay in those distant lands
- Improve five Treasure Resources, research Shipbuilding Technology, and wait for a treasure fleet to spawn
- Earn 10 Treasure Fleet Points by unloading Treasure Resources in your homeland
- Earn 20 Treasure Fleet Points
- Earn 30 Treasure Fleet Points
Exploration Age Military Legacy Path
The Military Legacy Path in the Exploration Age is also about exploring other continents, but with more focus on conquest. You’ll have to keep your settlement cap high.
- Research Cartography and Astronomy Technologies (same as the first step in the Economic Legacy Path)
- Create a Settlement in distant lands (also the same)
- Earn 4 Non Sufficit Orbis Points by settling (1 point) or capturing (2 points) in distant lands
- Earn 8 Non Sufficit Orbis Points by settling, capturing, or converting settlements to your religion (2 points)
- Earn 12 Non Sufficit Orbis Points
Exploration Age Science Legacy Path
The Science Legacy Path during the Exploration Age focuses on growing your cities by adding specialists.
- Research the Education Technology and place 4 specialists
- Achieve a yield of 20 on a non-city center tile by placing Specialists and place 2 specialists on a non-city center tile
- Achieve a yield of 40 on a non-city center tile
- Achieve a yield of 40 on 3 non-city center tiles
- Achieve a yield of 40 on 5 non-city center tiles
There are four Legacy Paths you can complete in the Modern Age: Culture, Military, Science, and Economic. You can only complete one to earn a victory or get a Points Victory by having the most Legacy Points.
Modern Age Economic Legacy Path
The goal of the Modern Age Economic Legacy Path and the Modern Economic Victory is all about setting up a railroad network to connect factories in cities.
- Research Industrialization Technology and build a rail station
- Research Mass Production Technology and connect 3 settlements by rail (by building rail stations)
- Build a factory, slot 5 Factory Resources, and earn 20 Railroad Tycoon Points (you earn Railroad Tycoon Points each turn just by having Factory Resources slotted in settlements with both a factory and a rail station)
- Earn 150 Railroad Tycoon Points
- Earn 300 Railroad Tycoon Points
- Earn 500 Railroad Tycoon Points
Modern Age Military Legacy Path
The Modern Age’s Military Legacy Path still focuses on conquest, but adds in the Ideology twist. You’ll be spreading your Ideology of Democracy, Fascism, or Communism with your military might on your way to the Modern Military Victory.
- Research Political Theory Civic
- Study any Ideology Civic (Democracy, Fascism, or Communism) and research Combustion Technology
- Research Flight Technology and capture a settlement that follows a different ideology
- Earn 10 Ideology Points by capturing settlements without an Ideology (2 points) or with an opposing Ideology (3 points)
- Earn 15 Ideology Points
- Earn 20 Ideology Points
Modern Age Science Legacy Path
To complete the Science Legacy Path and earn the Modern Science Victory, you’ll focus almost exclusively on researching the Tech Tree.
- Research Flight Technology
- Build an Aerodrome and complete a Trans-Oceanic Flight Project
- Research Aerodynamics Technology and complete a Break The Sound Barrier Project
- Research Rocketry Technology, build a Launch Pad, and complete a Launch Satellite Project
Modern Age Culture Legacy Path
The Culture Legacy Path in the Modern Age focuses on the (Indiana Jones-approved) combination of archaeology and museums. You’ll need to have museums in multiple cities to display the artifacts you find.
- Study Natural History Civic and train an explorer
- Have (or build) a university or museum and bring an explorer to research artifacts there
- Excavate and display an artifact
- Study Hegemony Civic and display 5 artifacts (Optional: Research artifacts in distant lands)
- Display 10 artifacts
- Display 15 artifacts
For more Civilization 7 guides, see our recommendations on the best leaders to start with, plus a guide to all victories, including walkthroughs for the Culture Victory, Military Victory, Science Victory, and Economic Victory.
