Civilization VII

Civ 7 What Does Happiness Do and How to Increase It

★ Start Here: How to Play | Early Game
★ See the Best Leaders and Civs
Tech, Civics, Buildings, Units, & Wonders
Economic, Military, Science, Culture Victories
★Recommended Guides: Treasure Fleets
Map Types | Trade Routes | Migrants

Triggering Celebrations and maintaining Specialists and Buildings are the main uses of Happiness in Civilization VII (Civ 7). Learn more about Happiness, what decreases it and how to increase it in this guide!

What Does Happiness Do?

What Does Happiness Do?


Needed for Triggering Celebrations

Civ 7 - Celebration
The most noticeable effect of Happiness is how frequently your empire will trigger Celebrations. These are events that occur when you accumulate a certain amount of Happiness and it will boost a particular yield for a few turns. Your chosen Government determines the available Celebrations you can choose from.

How to Trigger Celebrations

Maintains Specialists and Buildings

Specialists.png
Placing Specialists in Urban Districts will reduce the City's Happiness. Not only that but some buildings also cost Happiness to maintain. Since these can't be removed normally, you'll have to place Happiness Buildings to prevent the City from going into unrest.

Some Bonuses Can Reduce Happiness Costs

Do note that certain bonuses that offset the Happiness cost of your empire. Some examples of these are Pachacuti, who eliminates Specialist costs when they're next to a Mountain, or the Constitution Policy, which halves Specialist costs.

Prevents Civil Unrest

Unrest
Regardless of what the settlement's focus is, its Happiness should never drop below zero. Once it reaches a negative value, you will get a warning about civil unrest.

You should have several turns to build Happiness buildings or station a Commander to put it under control, but if it gets severely low, the settlement's population will start razing your tiles and ultimately revolt and join one of your opponents.

Unhappiness Also Decreases Yields

Having negative Happiness also affects the yields of a settlement. Be sure to always have extra Happiness just in case as decreased city yields is one of the worst effects of Unhappiness.

What Decreases Happiness

What Decreases Happiness



Maintenance Costs

Check City
The main cause of Happiness drops is the maintenance cost for Specialists and certain buildings. Keep an eye on the city's Happiness before placing either of these to avoid penalties.

War Weariness

Civ 7 - War Support and War Weariness
Whenever you declare war on someone, you'll have the option to use Influence to gain War Supply. If the enemy has more War Supply than you, you will gain War Weariness which lowers your Happiness and your Units' Combat Strength.

How to Win Wars

Extra Settlements

Settlement Limit
Having settlements over the indicated limit incurs Happiness penalties on all of your settlements, which increases for each settlement over the cap. Most of the Civics increase the settlement limit as well as some of the Technologies.

How to Increase Settlement Cap

Crisis Policies

Crisis Policies
Crisis Policies, especially in the Antiquity Age, often brings crippling effects to settlement Happiness, which is why you should always have a decent amount of Happiness in your city as an Age comes to a close. Try picking Crisis Policies that will affect you the least to make the Happiness decrease manageable.

Crises and Crisis Policies Explained

How to Increase Happiness

How to Increase Happiness



Improve Tiles with Happiness

Tile With Happiness Yields
Some tiles and resources naturally have Happiness as part of their yields. If you require Happiness, improve these tiles to add their yields to your settlement during your next Growth Event.

If you want, you can turn on the Yields display to know which tiles have Happiness on them, letting you plan your expansion accordingly.

List of All Resources

Place Happiness Buildings and Wonders

Produce Wonders
While certain buildings cost Happiness to maintain, there are also Happiness base buildings, improvements, and Wonders that you can place.

Don't forget to plan out your city's building locations so that you can maximize the Happiness adjacency bonus that you can get from Mountains, Natural Wonders, and Wonders.

Buildings and Improvements

Study Civ-Exclusive Civics

Happiness Traditions
A good number of Civics exclusive to Civs can also help increase Happiness. Such Civics often belong to Civs with the Expansionist or Militaristic attributes, like Buganda and the French Empire, to manage the penalties of overexpanding and war weariness.

List of Civics

Leader Abilities

Leader Attributes Unique Ability
Ashoka (World Renouncer)Ashoka (World Renouncer) Diplomatic
Expansionist
Dhammaraja
CharlemagneCharlemagne Militaristic
Scientific
Father of Europe
LafayetteLafayette Cultural
Diplomatic
Hero of Two Worlds
Himiko (High Shaman)Himiko (High Shaman) Cultural
Diplomatic
Miko of Amaterasu

There are also Leaders with Happiness bonuses in their abilities, which means you will have an easier time maintaining a positive Happiness number by letting them represent your empire!

Leaders List and All Abilities

Civilization VII (Civ 7) Related Guides

Civ 7 Tips and Tricks

Beginner Tips and Tricks

All Recommended Guides

Recommended Guides
How to Play Civ 7 Early Game Strategy Guide
The New Ages Diplomacy Guide
Best Science Mementos Best Military Mementos
Best Culture Mementos Ground Combat Guide
Naval Exploration and Combat Guide What Does Happiness Do
How to Win Wars -
Leader and Civ Guides
Best Leaders and Civilizations Tier Lists Best Science Leaders
Best Military Leaders Best Culture Leaders
Best Economic Leaders and Civs Best Science Civs
Best Culture Civs Best Culture Civs
List Pages
List of Mementos List of All Governments
List of Policies List of Pantheons
All Unique Units -

All Tips and Tricks

Gameplay Mechanics
Adjacency Bonuses Army Commanders
Ageless Buildings Building Roads
Celebrations Codex (Codices)
Crisis Dark Age Legacies
Districts Factory Resources
Healing Units Independent People
Legacy Paths Migrants
Overbuilding Persistent Buildings
Quarters Repairing Buildings
Rural and Urban Districts Settlement Cap
Specialists Towns
Trade Range Trade Routes and Merchants
Treasure Fleets Treasure Resources
Upgrading Units Warehouse Buildings and Bonuses
How to Navigate Rivers How to Get More Railroad Tycoon Points
Other Tips and Tricks
Where to Settle Where to Spend Gold
When to Build More Settlements What to Do Before and After Age Change
Best Settings Map Types Explained
Best Build Order Morse Code Event
Should I Accept Alliance? How to Change City Name
Should You Convert a Town Into a City? Can You Capture Settlers?
Where to Spend Influence? When to Incorporate City-States?
Can Scouts Auto Explore? Best Pantheon
Should You Rush Age Change? How to Incite Raid
How to Get Relics How to Get Artifacts
Fresh Water Tiles Why Can't You Build a Factory?
Distant Lands Revolutions
How to Get More Resource Slots Attribute Trees Guide
How to Get Tile Max Yield How to Found Religion and List of Beliefs
What is X Per Age? How to Defend and Conquer Cities
What is War Weariness and War Support? Zone of Control
How to Change the Capital Resource Map
Should You Melt or Construct Relic? Game Speed
Floods Natural Disasters
Best Map Seeds How to Force End Turn
Papyrus Problems Best Tech Research Order

Author

    All rights reserved

    Guide Index