Specialists are upgrades to increase yields in an Urban tile in Civilization VII (Civ 7). Read on to learn how to use Specialists, how to unlock them, and an explanation on how Specialists work.

What are Specialists?

Upgrades for Settlements

Specialists are a type of upgrade for your Settlements that appears once your Settlement is able to grow. By choosing to add a Specialist to an existing Urban tile you can increase the yields of the tile such as its Science and Culture.

One of the drawbacks of choosing to add a Specialist to your settlement is not being able to expand your border, which can be an issue if you want to reach important resources around your settlement.

Specialists also have an upkeep cost that applies to your Settlement such as Happiness and Food, so plan your Settlements accordingly!

How to Unlock Specialists

Only Available in Urban Tiles

Specialists can only be applied on Urban tiles in your settlement. They cannot be placed on any other type of tile within your settlement.

Unlocked During the Tutorial

If you are unable to add a Specialist even though you have Urban tiles then it is because playing Civ 7 for the first time will lock some features in order to give you a basic tutorial. You can turn off the tutorial upon starting a new game to avoid locking you out of features.

The feature of being able to add a Specialist on your Urban tiles will naturally unlock as you build up your settlements.

How to Use Specialists

Use to Build Tall Settlements

Specialists are best used for a Tall Settlement, which is a type of Settlements where you only build a few Urban tiles to focus on a few key resources. By building tall, you can offset the issue of a smaller border by increasing the output of a few key tiles in your settlement.

There are also multiple policies that increases a Specialists' output or add more resources such as Gold or Production!

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