Civilization VII: All Ways To Earn Influence

Influence is a currency in Civilization VII that you'll need for a variety of reasons. Most notably, Influence is used to improve or worsen your relationship with the other world leaders you meet as you discover more of the map. You can use Influence to curry favor with leaders or use it to declare war and partake in espionage activities. Influence is also used in acquiring more settlements, as you need it to become the Suzerain of an Independent village.
Needless to say, you always want to ensure you have a healthy supply of Influence at your disposal in Civilization 7. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to acquire more of it, but the game doesn't explicitly tell you every single method. We'll let you in on the secrets of getting more Influence in the guide below.

Unlock Diplomatic Attributes

The first way you can earn Influence in Civilization VII is by using your Leader Attribute points in the Diplomatic section. Some of the attributes in the Diplomatic section allow you to passively earn Influence in every age, or it gives you more social policy slots, which, in turn, can reward you with additional Influence.
You unlock Leader Attribute points specifically for the Diplomatic section by progressing your Happiness or Influence stats. The more of those two stats you have, the more points you'll be able to spend in the Diplomatic section of the Leader Attribute menu. You can access that menu by clicking on your leader portrait in the top-right of the screen.

Choose Influence during Narrative Events

Throughout every age in Civilization VII, you'll be able to pick between two narrative options that reward you with specific resources during random turns. These events always have some backstory with them. For example, your settlement could discover an archaeological masterpiece, and you need to decide what to do with it.
Sometimes, one of the options rewards you with a flat Influence sum. The amount of Influence you can earn during events increases with every age, but you also have to decide if your settlement needs Influence more than the other resource you have the option of selecting. If you're low on gold and in the midst of a war, you might want to go with a lump sum of gold over Influence at that current time.

Social Policies

Social Policies result from researching Civics, and they allow you to slot in bonuses for your empire. In the Social Policy menu, you're able to see exactly what each policy does. Usually, the policies reward you with a certain resource or buff up your various units. There are plenty of Social Policies that offer some increase in Influence. Whether it be a flat rate of Influence every turn or based on another factor, this is one of the best ways to passively earn Influence every turn in Civilization VII.
Of course, you once again have to decide whether the increased Influence is worth it over other Social Policies. Fortunately, you can swap them out at any time, so you're not locked into one once you select it.

Choose specific Endeavors with other Leaders

Probably the most common way you'll earn Influence in Civilization VII is by engaging in specific Endeavors with other world leaders. For example, if another leader chooses to throw a Local Festival with you, accepting that endeavor rewards you with +6 Influence every turn for 22 turns. It's important you read the differences between the "Support" and "Accept" options when a leader chooses an endeavor with you, though. In this case, supporting the Local Festival would only earn you happiness, and not Influence.
You can also choose an endeavor with a leader, but you'll find there aren't many ways to earn Influence that way. So it's more beneficial to have leaders come to you with endeavors.

Produce specific Buildings in Settlements

As you unlock more buildings to produce in Civilization VII, you'll find some of them come with an Influence boost in the settlement that produces it. Usually, Influence boosts come from World Wonders or other special buildings. The earliest building I found that boosted Influence was a Monument, which I built in my capital city for a +4 to Influence every turn.
However, depending on what civilization you pick at the start of every age, you'll potentially have access to more buildings that carry an increase to Influence.

Specialize a Town

As you acquire more towns and build them up, you'll be able to "Specialize" them once they reach a certain population. Specializing a town means it places an emphasis on one certain trait, such as food production. However, one of the specializations you can select is called "Hub Town," and this allows you to earn a passive +2 Influence on the town for every settlement it's connected to.
So, for example, if you have a central town that's connected to two other settlements in your empire, Hub Town allows you to earn +4 total Influence every turn on that town. A town is considered "connected" if the borders of it meet another one of your settlements. While Hub Town isn't meant for all your settlements, it can certainly be helpful for some of them.

Research Technologies or Civics

Finally, the last way to earn Influence in Civilization VII is by researching specific Technologies or Civics. You'll always research both Technology and Civics every turn, and some of them offer a direct boost to Influence. For example, the Globalism Civic gives you the Ambassadors trait, which rewards you with +6 Influence every turn.
The Technologies and Civics you can research are dependent on the age you're in and the civilization you chose. However, for the most part, you'll be able to consistently research selections that can reward you with Influence in one way or the other.
There's so much to learn and discover when you're exploring the massive world of Civ 7. Be sure to use our Civilization 7 guides hub to find all of our guides on the game in one spot.

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