Civilization 7 adds new tactical elements like burn damage to combat

The Mississippians are bringing the fire

Firaxis / 2K Games / Take-Two Interactive

Firaxis revealed the Mississippians as one of the civilizations available in Civilization 7’s Antiquity Age and they come with a unique unit that uses mechanics borrowed from tactical RPGs – status effects.

The Burning Arrow, a unique ranged unit, not only comes with increased combat power against fortified districts and siege units – making it great for attacking and defending cities – but is able to do something no unit has ever done in the history of the series: It can set fire to a tile for a set number of turns, applying the Burning status to it. Any unit ending their turn on a Burning tile will suffer damage.

While something similar was possible through Civilization 6’s natural disasters, which will make a return in Civ 7 as well, as Firaxis’ Dennis Shirk confirmed to us in an interview, this is the first time a unit can modify the terrain like this. With status effects being on the table now, it looks like the combat in Civilization 7 will become more tactical than ever.

Despite this powerful unique unit, the Mississippians actually focus on their economy quite a bit. Their ability, Goose Societies, provide all buildings with a Food Adjacency Bonus for resources, promoting growth in basically any situation. Their unique improvement, the Potkop, has the same bonus and produces some gold income on top. 

Speaking of additional income: The Mississippians have a unique trader unit, the Watonathi, which gains gold per resource acquired when creating a trade route. This synergizes well with one of their Traditions, which provides additional gold and happiness for imported resources.

With growth being directly tied to the amount of land a city owns, the Mississippians seem to be destined for a quick and sprawling expansion of their territories – and they should be able to hold them thanks to their Burning Arrow units, which can easily burn attacking siege units.

Firaxis also showed off unit progression in Civ 7, revealed that the game would launch with 31 civs, and confirmed that Civ 7 won’t include strategic view.

Civilization 7 is set to come to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch in February 2024 and you can already check out the Civ 7 PC requirements to prepare for the day.