All basic yields in Civilization 7 and how to get them

Understanding the basic yields of Civilization 7 is crucial to every decision you’ll make. These yields are foundational to your society, and understanding how they work will help you better plan your way to victory. In this Civilization 7 guide, we’ll teach you about all the types of yields in the game and explain what they mean. All yield types in Civilization 7 There are seven types of basic yields in Civilization 7: * Science * Culture * Gold * Influence * Happiness * Production * Food Below, we’ll give you a brief description of each to help you understand the complex menagerie that is Civilization 7. Science [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.02.05-10.20.37.05.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Your total Science yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Science you’re currently earning from all of your tiles across your empire. Science contributes directly to whatever you’re researching in the Tech tree. All research items have a hidden Science cost behind the scenes. You need to earn that much Science in order to finish your research. The game displays this number in turns, telling you when you pick a research project that you’ll complete it in, for example, 11 turns. But if you increase your Science within that 11-turn window, you’ll see the turn timer tick down even faster. That’s because you’re now contributing more to that invisible Science number than was originally anticipated. Science typically comes from special Science buildings that you build on city tiles and specialists. Culture [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.02.05-10.21.16.64.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Your total Culture yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Culture you’re currently earning from all of your tiles across your empire. Culture contributes directly to whatever you’re studying in the Civics tree. All civics items have a hidden Culture cost to them behind the scenes. You need to earn that much Culture in order to finish your study in the Civics tree. The game displays this number in turns, telling you when you pick a research project that you’ll complete it in, for example, 15 turns. But if you increase your Culture within that 15-turn window, you’ll see the turn timer tick down even faster. That’s because you’re now contributing more to that invisible Culture number than was originally anticipated. Culture typically comes from special Culture buildings that you build on city tiles, from slotting resources, or from social polices. Gold [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.02.05-10.53.25.49.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Your total Gold yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Gold you’re currently earning from all of your tiles across your empire. Gold is one of the most versatile resources in the game, as it allows you to instantly buy buildings or units in your cities and towns. This lets you skip the building process entirely, meaning you can be building toward one thing in a city while buying another. This means that you can quickly invest in more Science if you need to quickly complete a research project by just buying another library. Or you can purchase some ranged units and have them immediately appear in your city center if you’re under attack. Gold comes from special Gold buildings, certain tile improvements, and Production in your towns. Influence [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.02.05-10.34.43.38.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Your total Influence yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Influence you’re currently earning from all of your tiles across your empire. Influence is best understood as your social currency in Civilization 7, and you’ll use it to interact with other civilizations. If you want to start a research project with another civilization, you’ll need to spend Influence. If you want to convince a city-state to join your empire, you’ll need to spend Influence. If you want to stop the diplomatic actions of another civilization, you guessed it: Influence. Basically, every time you interact in a non-combat way with another civilization, you’ll be spending some Influence. Influence is generated by your palace and policies. Happiness [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.02.05-10.20.56.89-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Your total Happiness yield per turn is displayed at the top of your screen on the resource bar, and includes all of the Influence you’re earning from all of your tiles across your empire. However, an individual city’s happiness is actually more important than the overall yield. Happiness is a double-edged sword in Civilization 7, meaning if it’s high, everything is great, and if it’s low, bad things can happen in your cities. An excess of Happiness keeps things normal, and contributes toward a celebration in your civilization, boosting a yield for a certain number of turns based on the type of government you have. Unhappiness, on the other hand, can decrease your city’s yields, and even cause some citizens to burn tiles to the ground. If your people are unhappy long enough, they can revolt and leave the empire entirely. Unhappiness usually occurs during long wars where you don’t have public support, and in cities packed with specialists — meaning they’re common in high-Science cities. Happiness comes from special luxury buildings, social policies, and army commanders. See our guide on how to increase Happiness for tips on maximizing this yield. Production [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.02.05-10.32.17.44.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Production is a yield that does not span the empire, and instead is focused on single cities and towns. Production does something different depending on if you’re in a city or a town. In a city, your Production determines how long buildings and units will take to build there. That’s why the same building that takes four turns in your capital could take 12 turns in a new city. Much like Science and Culture, there is an invisible Production number for each building and unit in the game, and the turn estimate tells you how long that city will take to generate enough Production to reach that number. In towns, Production is converted into gold and sent to the main cities in the empire for you to use, as you can only purchase new buildings in towns, rather than build them yourself. Production comes from improving tiles and constructing buildings. See our guide on how to increase Production for tips on maximizing this yield. Food [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.02.05-10.51.17.46.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Food is a yield that does not span the empire, and instead is focused singularly on individual cities and towns. The Food income of a city determines how quickly its population will grow, allowing you to add on another tile to expand its borders or add a specialist to increase its yields. Like many of these resources, each city has a hidden Food requirement number for each population growth, and you’ll need to generate enough Food to hit that number in order to expand. The game translates this hidden number into the growth turn counter you can see on your city and town nameplates. Food comes from specialty buildings and improving natural tile yields. See our guide on how to increase Food for tips on maximizing this yield. For more Civilization 7 guides, here are all Legacy Paths, all victories, and the best leaders to start with.