Civilization 7: How To Become A Suzerain And What It Does

Civilization VII allows you to take over any settlement on the map and find your own settlements in any untaken location. Whether you find a settlement through a settler unit or take an opposing leader’s city over, you can amass quite a large empire fairly quickly. However, large towns and cities won’t be the only settlements you find in a given world of Civilization 7.

There are also smaller Independent Villages, which present you with a few options regarding what to do about them. One of the options you have with Independents is becoming the Suzerain of them. Of course, this isn’t a word you commonly hear, so what is a Suzerain, how do you become one, and what are the benefits of doing so in Civilization VII?

What is a Suzerain in Civilization 7?

You can only become the Suzerain of an Independent Village, which is a one-tile settlement that has no affiliation with any other civilization on the map. You’ll randomly stumble into these across any land mass, but one is usually near your capital at the start of a playthrough.

When you find an Independent, you have a couple of options, including becoming the Suzerain over it. A Suzerain is basically the co-owner of a settlement. As Suzerain, you have partial control over the settlement, but it remains a separate entity from your empire’s complete control. If you become Suzerain of an Independent, it won’t be added to your settlement total, but it does allow you to perform more actions.

Most of the time, you want to become the Suzerain of a village since another leader can come along and claim it for themselves. This is especially problematic if the village is right in the middle of your empire or in a good location, like on the coast or near plenty of resource tiles. You might not want to become Suzerain of every Independent you come across, but it’s a good idea to target a few of them at the least.

How to become Suzerain in Civilization VII

To become the Suzerain of an Independent, all you have to do is follow the steps below:

• When you find an Independent Village, click on its capital city tile, which brings up a menu
• On this menu, you’ll see two options that cost Influence
• The first option is “Befriend the Independent” and the second is “Independent – Incite Raid”
• If you want to become the Suzerain of the village, select the “Befriend” option
• This will allow you to spend around 170 Influence to start the process of Suzerainship
• In order to fully earn the title, you need to spend a set amount of turns before you’re crowned Suzerain
• You can decrease the number of turns it takes by spending more Influence, which is done by selecting the village’s tile again
• At the end of the turn counter, you’ll fully become Suzerain of the Independent, which unlocks a slew of new options
• After you’ve become Suzerain, the Independent Village turns into a City-State

An additional note about becoming a Suzerain is that you can’t befriend some Independent Villages. Some Independents are called “Encampments,” and these are always hostile towards you. The only option you have with Encampments is to attack them, take over their capital tile, disperse them, and then wait. Encampments will always show up in a new location after several turns. In my experience, Encampments start showing up more when you increase your difficulty level in Civilization VII.

Speaking of attacking Independents, if you’re currently engaged in a fight with a village’s troops, you won’t be able to befriend them. So it’s important to think about whether or not you want to become a Suzerain of an Independent before attacking their military units.

Benefits of being a Suzerain in Civilization VII

Finally, let’s weigh the pros and cons of the Suzerain title in Civilization VII.

The first obvious pro is that it’s another settlement you have some control over on the map. By becoming Suzerain, you’re stopping another leader from taking over the settlement and its location. This is highly important, especially if you’re traveling to a new continent. Becoming Suzerain over an Independent is the easiest way to establish your empire on new lands that might be overrun with another leader’s settlements. We also have a guide on getting more settlements in Civilization VII that will make things easier on that front across the board.

Speaking of that, becoming a Suzerain also allows you to add the Independent as your own settlement, giving you full control of it. This is done through the process of incorporating the City-State, which is an option that opens up after you’re given the title of Suzerain. You can click on the settlement’s capital tile to view the Incorporate City-State option as well as other options.

If you choose to incorporate the City-State, you have to wait several turns before it’s fully converted into your empire’s settlement. However, once the process is over, it will become a town rather than a City-State. This process does cost over 1,000 Influence in most cases, however.

Before you choose the incorporate option, though, the City-State also has a few other actions available to you. You can promote the City-State’s growth, bolster its military, and even steal its military units to give to your empire. All of these actions cost Influence, but they’re worth doing before the City-State becomes your settlement, if you go down that road.

After a City-State is incorporated, you lose access to a majority of its military units. Even if the settlement has ships and troops before its incorporation, those don’t stick around after it’s turned into your empire’s town.

In terms of negatives to becoming a Suzerain, there really aren’t any aside from the Influence cost of all the different actions. Of course, if you plan to incorporate a City-State, that might get sticky if you’re over your settlement limit, as adding another one to the total will promote unhappiness.

Overall, becoming a Suzerain is usually the best choice. It allows you to easily add a settlement to your empire over time and even take some free troops in the process. However, it’s wise to hold off on Suzerainship if you’re warring with another leader. That leader could come in and take over the weaker settlement as you prioritize more established towns and cities.