Put simply, Happiness is a measurement of how satisfied a civilization’s people are with your leadership. Maintaining a positive Happiness level in your Settlements is essential for growth and development in Civilization 7. If you want to boost your Happiness in Civilization 7, there are a variety of ways to do so.
Happiness influences your empire globally by allowing you to earn Celebrations. Closer to home, Happiness is used to maintain your buildings. No matter what Age you are in, it’s important to keep the global yield that is Happiness as high as possible.
More Civilization 7 guides
Civilization 7: How to get Golden Age Buildings | Civilization 7: What are Distant Lands and How to Reach Them | Civilization 7: How to Establish Trade Routes | Civilization 7: Papyrus Problems Narrative Event Answer | Civilization 7: Best Leaders for Beginners | Civilization 7: Biggest Changes From Civilization 6 | Civilization 7: All Difficulty Levels Explained | Civilization 7: What is Influence and How to Use it | Civilization 7: Best Religious Pantheons | Civilization 7: All Natural Wonders and Bonuses | Civilization 7: Best Ways to get Gold |
How to increase Happiness in Civilization 7
There are a range of ways to generate Happiness, with the main ones being producing buildings, Wonders, settling Natural Wonders, and allocating your resources across your Settlements. Each Age has Happiness buildings available to all civilizations, so it’s important to keep your structures up to date. Various Technologies, Civics, and Traditions can even grant Happiness to your Settlements.
Another way to bump up Happiness in your empire is to make use of Commanders when you are not using them in a war. Placing a Commander in one of your town centers increases Happiness by 10% per promotion level in that Settlement. It can be useful to station a Commander in a Settlement you just took from an enemy civilization, as there will be a period of unrest among its people.
In addition, you can select a Pantheon that awards Happiness as you establish your beliefs, but since so much Happiness can be generated from buildings alone, that isn’t necessary.
If your Happiness falls below zero, you will trigger the consequences of Unhappiness. Each point of new local Unhappiness results in a -2% penalty to other local yields, such as Gold, Production, and Science. Negative Happiness does not contribute towards the Global Happiness yield, so low global Happiness hinders policy slot unlocks during Celebrations.
When Happiness matters the most is during a Catastrophic event that every civilization must adapt to when it triggers. A Catastrophic event comes with Happiness penalties depending on which Crisis Policies you choose and which Catastrophe you are faced with. If you don’t boost your Happiness here, it can be detrimental to your Settlements.
