Civilization 7: All Great People and how the mechanic is changing

Civilization 7 brings a great many changes to the popular strategy game series and one of the systems beloved by fans that will go through a transformation in the next entry is Great People. In previous games, all civilizations competed for a shared pool of Great People, drawing Great Scientists, Generals, Engineers, and so forth from it to use their unique abilities.

In Civilization 7, this competition ends – there is no shared pool of Great People. In fact, many civilizations won’t have access to Great People at all. Instead, they’ll become something of a unique mechanic for certain civilizations. We already know that both Egypt and Greece, two Antiquity Age civs, have the ability to access what’s essentially a successor system to Great People.

Let’s dive into how Civilization 7 changes the Great People system using these two civs as our examples.

Civilization 7: All Great People for Egypt

Egypt will have access to the unique Tjaty unit, which is described as a “visier/architect unit” and can only be built in cities that have Egypt’s special Necropolis district. There is a limited pool of individual Tjaty units players randomly draw from, each one has their own effects, and each can only be drawn once – sounds familiar, right? It’s basically Great People without the competition.

Here are all Tjaty units Egypt has access to:

• Amhose: Activated on the Palace to add Culture to the building. 
• Aperel: Grants Chariot Units with increased Combat Strength. 
• Hemiunu: Activated on a Wonder under construction to add a medium amount of Production. 
• Imhotep: Activated on a Wonder under construction to add a larger amount of Production. 
• Khay: Grants Medjay Units that have increased Combat Strength. 
• Nebet: Activated on a Necropolis to immediately trigger a Celebration. 
• Paser: Activated on a Wonder under Construction to add a smaller amount of Production. 
• Ptahhotep: Activated on a Constructible with a Great Work Slot to grant a Codex called 'The Maxims of Ptahhotep' that grants increased Science. 
• Ramose: Activated on a Wonder to add Gold to it. 
• Useramen: Activated on a Wonder to add Culture to it.

Civilization 7: All Great People for Greece

Greece was revealed as an Antiquity Age civ during the first Civilization 7 dev livestream. It uses a similar system to Egypt, allowing us to establish a bit of a pattern. Its equivalent of a Great Person is called Logios unit, which is described as a “scholar unit” and will only be available from cities with an Acropolis special district. The same terms and conditions apply as to the Egyptian Tjaty units: Random draws from a limited pool, each Logios unit is unique and can only be drawn once. It’s also specified that the cost for Logios units increases with each one that’s built.

Here are all Logios units Greece has access to:

• Arete of Cyrene: Activated on an Acropolis to grant Influence.
• Aristotle: Activated on an Academy to add Culture to the Building.
• Aspasia: Activated on a Library to add Happiness to the Building.
• Hypatia : Activated on a Library to add Science to the Building.
• Plato: Activated on an Acropolis to give this City Culture per turn equal to a percentage of its Influence yield.
• Pythagoras: Activated on an Acropolis to immediately trigger a Celebration.
• Sappho: Activated on a Constructible with a Great Work Slot to grant a Codex called 'Hymn to Aphrodite' that grants Culture.
• Socrates: Activated on a Palace or City Hall to add Influence to the Building.
• Thales of Miletus: Activated on an Acropolis to give this City Science per turn equal to a percentage of its Influence yield.
• Xenophon: Activated on an Acropolis to grant a set number of Hoplite Unique Military Units with increased Combat Strength.

Civilization 7: Commanders are Great Generals on steroids

The role of Great Generals has essentially been taken over by Commanders and their unique counterparts, such as Rome’s Legatus. Similar to Great Generals, they provide buffs to allied units in an area around them.

However, they are even stronger than Great Generals in several ways: Commanders can be leveled up with the XP your combat units earn (units themselves can no longer be promoted), allowing you to specialize them through various skill trees. These skills provide military as well as civilian bonuses, bringing some versatility.

You can also attach units to a Commander, allowing you to stack an army on a single tile to maneuver around much easier before you fan them out in battle formation ahead of combat.

You can find all Civilization 7 leaders and civs in our overview and can find out more about all the changes coming to the series with our interview with Civilization 7 executive producer Dennis Shirk from Gamescom 2024. We'll keep this article up to date with all other Great People equivalents joining the game.