Confucius: Leadership Insights for Civ 7 Players

In Civilization 7, Confucius is a leader known for his scientific and expansionist skills. He is adept at developing large cities that can accommodate a significant population, which in turn supports numerous specialists. This creates a consistent flow of gold, culture, and science each turn. His style of play is highly adaptable regarding victory conditions, as his capacity for scientific advancement opens various buildings and opportunities. The key focus should be the expansion of smaller towns to ensure your capital reaches its maximum size as quickly as possible.

This guide offers an overview of Confucius, strategies for the early game in the Ancient Era, and the best civilizations and mementos.

Overview of Confucius

Here’s a look at Confucius’ leader bonuses:

Growth Rate Bonus

Confucius’ cities expand rapidly. This straightforward growth bonus works well with other bonuses in the game, such as those provided by the Hanging Gardens wonder or the Fertility Rites pantheon. With effective combinations, your capital can reach 20 population by turn 100.

Specialist Science Bonuses

Confucius’ large cities leverage specialist slots effectively, benefiting from an additional +2 science per specialist, boosting the already generated science and culture.

Strategy for Confucius in the Ancient Era

Confucius presents a unique strategy in the Ancient Era. Let’s explore his approach.

Initial Scouting and Discoveries

Early scouts are incredibly valuable in Civ 7. Starting with at least two scouts is recommended, and some players prefer to have three for enhanced exploration.

The goal is to secure as many discoveries as possible, especially since you’re competing against AI players. The more scouts you have, the better your chances.

Initial Buildings

Due to Confucius’ strong growth advantage, constructing the Granary first is less effective. Instead, prioritize production buildings like the Saw Pit and Brickyard.

Utilize your first towns to support your main city rather than concentrating on food in your primary settlement. Immediately after establishing your first two production buildings, produce three settlers.

Technology and Civics

We typically prioritize either Pottery or Animal Husbandry first, depending on your starting tiles. Choose Pottery for clay and mines or Animal Husbandry for pastures.

Next, focus on obtaining Masonry, then Masonry II, followed by Irrigation, and finally Writing. This path gives Confucius a strong production foundation while ensuring long-term scientific growth. With his enhanced science yields, you’ll easily catch up.

For civics, you should almost always choose Mysticism first, allowing for an early Pantheon.

When to Deploy Your Initial Specialists

Understanding the optimal timing for placing specialists as Confucius can be tricky.

However, some yields are simply too beneficial to overlook. Consider this early-game city for Confucius:

This city already shows attractive specialist slots, featuring a tile that generates +6 Science and +2 Culture or another that provides +1.5 Food, 1.5 Gold, +4 Science, and +2 Culture. These outputs surpass most open rural tiles in the city.

Top Civilizations for Confucius

Confucius has a wide range of options for civilization selection due to his versatile bonuses.

Maya Civilization

If you seek an aggressive approach to scientific progress, the Maya civilization is an excellent choice.

This civilization offers solid science boosts, particularly when you consider their bonuses.

While the K’uh Nah unique building provides a small science boost, the true power of the Maya is evident in their civic options:

• Rain Of Chaac grants +1 Science adjacency on the Altar for any vegetated terrain, which can accumulate quickly and applies to all settlements, including your towns.
• Calendar Round is a unique civic that rewards you with 10% of the cost in Culture for each Technology completion and 10% in Science for each Civic completion. This synergizes greatly with Confucius’ significant science boosts and applies across all ages as it is a tradition card rather than a policy card.

Khmer Civilization

The Khmer civilization amplifies Confucius’ growth potential.

The Khmer are centered around growth dynamics. Their unique building, the Baray, provides a solid +3 food bonus when built, as well as an additional +1 food for all floodplain tiles in the settlement. With the right starting position, this can yield a significant food surplus.

Moreover, the Khmer civics complement Confucius remarkably well:

• Amnach includes the Varna tradition, which provides +1 Gold per specialist, enhancing Confucius’ specialists.
• Chakravarti is possibly the best civic for Confucius, providing +50% growth in the Capital alongside a -5 happiness penalty in other cities. Its tradition, Kambu-Mera, offers +100% Food and Happiness towards specialist maintenance, greatly facilitating specialist sustainability as the game progresses.

Top Mementos for Confucius

Confucius has a rich array of Mementos, both from his own tree and those of other leaders.

• At level 2, Confucius unlocks the Brush & Scroll memento, significantly boosting city growth rates by 5% for every specialist, with a maximum of 25%. This may not be the most advantageous in the Ancient Era when specialist numbers are low, but it proves highly beneficial later in the game.
• His level 5 memento, The Altar Set, enhances specialists with an additional +1 Culture and Gold each.
• The final upgrade, The Analects, becomes available at level 9, offering an extra +1 Science for each specialist.