What you can do as a member?

Get free access to these features:.
- Save your data on maps and other tools
- Site theme change
- Game bookmarking feature
- Provide feedback on the website
★ 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!
List of Contents
What Does Happiness Do? |
---|
|
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 |
---|
|
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.
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.
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, 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 |
---|
|
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.
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.
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.
Leader | Attributes | Unique Ability |
---|---|---|
![]() |
Diplomatic Expansionist |
Dhammaraja Dhammaraja Adds Food in Cities for excess Happiness beyond a set amount. Increased Food in all Settlements during a Celebration. All Buildings gain a Happiness adjacency for all Improvements.
|
![]() |
Militaristic Scientific |
Father of Europe Father of Europe Military and Science Buildings receive a Happiness adjacency for Quarters. Gain a set number of free Cavalry Units, once unlocked, when entering a Celebration. Increased Combat Strength for Cavalry Units during a Celebration.
|
![]() |
Cultural Diplomatic |
Hero of Two Worlds Hero of Two Worlds Gains a Unique Endeavor called 'Reform,' which grants an additional Social Policy slot. Supporting this Endeavor also grants the other Leader an additional Social Policy slot. Increased Combat Strength for every Tradition, but not Policy, slotted in the Government. Increased Culture and Happiness per Age in Settlements. These effects are increased further in Distant Lands.
|
![]() |
Cultural Diplomatic |
Miko of Amaterasu Miko of Amaterasu Increased Happiness per Age on Happiness Buildings. Increased Production towards constructing Happiness Buildings. Gain increased Culture but slightly reduced Science, with increased effects during a Celebration.
|
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
Civ 7 What Does Happiness Do and How to Increase It
Monster Hunter Wilds Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Genshin Impact Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Pokemon TCG Pocket (PTCGP) Strategies & Guides Wiki
Honkai: Star Rail Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Wuthering Waves Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (SV) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Avowed Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Zenless Zone Zero Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Palworld Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Once Human Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Fire Emblem Heroes (FEH) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Monster Hunter World Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Black Myth: Wukong Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Persona 3 Reload Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (BDSP) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Walkthrough & Guides Wiki
©2024 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Sid Meier’s Civilization, Civilization, Civ, 2K, Firaxis Games, Take-Two Interactive Software and their respective logos are all trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. All other marks and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
The copyrights of videos of games used in our content and other intellectual property rights belong to the provider of the game.
The contents we provide on this site were created personally by members of the Game8 editorial department.
We refuse the right to reuse or repost content taken without our permission such as data or images to other sites.