We’ve learned a bit more about Sid Meier’s Civilization VII today with a gameplay showcase given by Firaxis and the Civ team. Not a lot was said, and the “gameplay” was pretty light on the actual playing of the game. We do however, know a lot more than what we did with that old teaser trailer. So set your calendars, because on February 11 of next year, we’ll be getting the newest of the Civilization franchise–releasing both on PC and console.

ed – There are some content producers that have given us a lot more info. I’ve added an “opinion” tag to this, and it is primarily stuff I was able to get myself by watching the gameplay showcase.

The biggest change we will see is definitely the fact that you’re no longer one civ, you’re three. Possibly drawing a bit from Humankind (there also seems to be some similar terrain changes, like in-land cliffs), your civilization will change and expand through the Ages. From Antiquity, to Exploration, to Modern, we’ll be crafting a new path each time. Civilizations won’t be completely random, we’ll have choices on who we become based on who we were before, choices we made in the past, and who our leader is. Each Age can be played together, or by itself. Seemingly this is more than staring in a later era in last games, and an Age can be one started and won without going into the next.

As for leaders, who they are will stay the same, but what they are will not. As with technology or civics, leaders will have an “expansion tree” to change what the can do as the game goes on. So maybe–maybe–Gandhi will get the the Modern Era and not want to nuke the universe. Big maybe. But jokes aside, this will hopefully make the game a lot more fluid, with leaders having a set foundation but having some structured change throughout the game. As you might remember, that fluidity was my huge wish for the game. So I’m pretty happy. We’ll also have a more fluid diplomacy system. It appears that things like a document of peace can be written to stop a war before it starts, should that need arise. Can’t win? Open your chequebook and maybe the warmonger will leave your cities alive.

There are a few other things that we’ve seen a bit of, but not so much we can make really big guesses. One is river movement. Civ VI greatly increased the necessity of water for the life, but its naval warfare was…sub-par. I’m guessing this will be quite greatly improved, since an in-land capital will not longer be protected from the giant cannons of ships. We also have updated ground fighting, although that I personally think is only visual. That visual is awesome, though. In a video like this they’re obviously going to give the best shots they can, but from those shots we can make an educated guess that cities will expand a lot more over the map. Not like in Civ VI with its Districts (although World Wonders seem to be directly on the map again), but with your city expanding from its starting point as it grows throughout the game as new parts of it are built. Possibly like Old World, but we’ll see as we get more info. I personally don’t mind the game drawing from parts of Humankind and Old World. Those are great games, and video games take the best parts from each other all the time.

The livestream is down below, the information starts at 1:28:38 and is less than half an hour (they had a lot of waiting). You can use this to make your own guesses, and get excited about what you want for the latest Civilization! Guessing is going to be a lot of what we know, because they haven’t really given any actual gameplay, but for now we’ll just have to do that and wait the next 119 days in anticipation.

What do you want from Civilization VII? Is there something in the gameplay video that excites you, or makes you give a thumbs down? Tell us in the comments below, or on Facebook!