Great Confucius, you taught patience and harmony in a time of great chaos and warfare. Although many a tyrant tried burning your books and desecrating your monuments, your legacy and ideas became the very fabric of East Asian culture—inspiring generations after generations of dynasties and governments. From your teachings, we learned to cultivate ourselves to become the most virtuous of mankind—the junzi.

Master Kong Fu Zi, will you lead us again in the search of knowledge and enlightenment? Will you help build a civilization you believe in?

Starting Bias: Grassland
Attributes: Expansionist, Scientific

NOTE- While playing as Confucius, you can initiate the Farmer's Market and Research Collaboration Endeavors with other players thanks to the Expansionist and Scientific Attributes.

Unique Ability (1): 25% increase in growth rate in cities
Unique Ability (2): +2 science for every specialist

AI agenda: “Guanxi”- Increase Relationship by a Medium Amount for having the most Specialists in an empire. Decrease Relationship by a Small Amount for the leader with the least amount of Specialists in an empire. Only triggers if Confucius has at least one Specialist.

Playing as Confucius unlocks the following civilizations: Ming China (Exploration), Qing China (Modern)




(*Note that these scores are subjective and based on personal experiences with the leader in singleplayer mode. 10= leader/civ has an insurmountable advantage over other leader/civs in a particular victory path, 5= leader/civ does not provide any bonuses to a particular victory path, 0= victory path is essentially disabled by choosing leader/civ)

Culture 8/10- Confucius helps with maintaining a strong cultural output, especially during age transitions. The culture from specialist assignments remain the same between ages, whereas the yields from culture buildings are mostly lost at the start of a new age. A strong scientific output in the Exploration Age also helps with acquiring relics—plenty of free relics are unlocked from the technology tree, rather than the civics tree.

Military 7/10- In the Antiquity age, going on the warpath means that you will prioritize the Wheel and Iron Working technologies rather than Currency, which means that you will delay unlocking specialists. Confucius shines in the later ages, however, since he allows a smooth transition from peaceful to war-heavy gameplay. Especially in the Modern Age, you will be able to unlock Flight as well as Ideologies very quickly, because you are very likely to finish the science and cultural victory paths simultaneously in earlier eras, providing a strong bonus as the Modern Era begins. Recall that you want Ideologies ASAP for Military Victories—you earn 2 Military Victory points for each conquered city; 3 points if your opponent has a different Ideology.

Economic 7/10- Confucius has an edge in the Exploration Age where you rush for the Shipbuilding technology, which allows you to generate treasure fleets from distant land settlements. In the Modern Age, Confucius also helps unlock relevant technologies for Rail Stations and Factories quickly. However, since he does not have a direct Gold advantage, he cannot assist as much with purchasing Rail Stations and Factories rapidly in towns.

Science 10/10- Confucius increases raw science output in your cities, no strings attached. No need to settle on tundra (Catherine), or to use influence points (Benjamin Franklin, HImiko). His simple but powerful unique ability helps you progress through the technology tree extremely quickly in all three ages. Confucius also has a unique advantage in the Exploration Age where you are expected to build 5 urban districts with 40 yields total to complete the science victory path. Because every specialist has +2 extra science with Confucius, even poorly thought-out districts will easily achieve the yields requirement easily with 1-2 specialists.

25% increased growth rate in cities (=20% decreased food requirement to trigger a growth event)

One key element that has never changed in Civilization franchise is that food generation in settlements lead to population growth. Specifically, there is a set amount of food a settlement must accumulate for the population growth event to occur, which leads to one added population. In Civilization 5 and 6, this amount was around 10-15 times the current population (on standard speed).

In Civilization 7, things are a bit more complicated due to a complete overhaul of the population mechanics. First and foremost—every building built in a settlement adds one fake population. This is not a true growth event as this population does not work tiles. A growth event refers to when a new population is born and is assigned to work on a rural tile or as a specialist in an urban tile. Every growth event is extremely valuable and it requires a far greater amount of food—roughly proportional to the # of population in a settlement squared.

This is compensated by the numerous ways the game offers to increase food stockpiles and growth. Some of these include:

1. You have an option to add a new tile to the settlement with every growth event, which can increase total food, and
   
2. Town settlements can send all their food to nearby cities, as long as they are connected by roads or by coastal improvements (e.g. fishing quay, harbor).

On top of the conventional methods above, Confucius provides one additional method to increase population growth—decreasing the food threshold required to trigger a growth event by 20%. The below table shows how much food is required to get to the next population in cities in the Antiquity Age, with or without Confucius.


Note 1- Above table is assuming standard speed. Online = x0.5, Quick = x0.66, Standard = x1, Epic = x1.5, Marathon =x3

Note 2- A “growth event” refers to when a new citizen is born and is assigned to a rural tile or as a specialist. All buildings in a settlement will appear as 1 additional population on screen, but this is not the settlements’ “true” population.

The “true” population of a city = the number of growth events = (# of specialists) + (# of rural tiles that are being worked).


Note that the 20% decrease in food threshold does not mean that you will have 20% more growth events. If you calculate how much sum total of food is required for a city to reach a certain population based on the table above, the difference is not that large when you play as Confucius.


In essence, with the same amount of food, Confucius’ cities will have one additional growth event for every 10-12 growth events. (Antiquity, Exploration, Modern ages have different formulas for growth, but the ratio of 1 additional event per 10-12 holds true for all ages)

Also note that Confucius’ growth bonuses only apply to cities, not towns. This is not a big limitation; when towns start sending all their food production to cities, their growth will naturally slow down.


Confucius provides extra growth in cities. The resulting difference in true population, however, is small.

+2 science from each specialist (each specialist is now worth +4 science and +2 culture, at the minimum)

The three major sources of science in Civilization 7 are: natural tile yields, buildings, and specialists. The three added together becomes the “raw science output” of a city. Policies and civ/leader abilities provide a multiplier to this raw output.

In the early game, the vast majority of your yields will come from buildings. Towards the Exploration and Modern Ages, specialists will provide vast majority of science and culture of your empire, up to 70-80% before any multipliers.


^Lā-hainā is my capital, which is producing 392.5 total science. The raw science output from Urban Districts are 267.5, most of which are coming from specialists, which are providing 227.5.


If you assign a citizen in an urban district, it starts to work as a specialist. As we explained above, true growth events that add a new citizen to the settlement are hard to come by as the game progresses. Therefore, the fastest way to obtain specialists are to build an urban district on top of an existing rural district to “free up” the citizen that was working the rural district tile. Then that freed up citizen can be reassigned to work as a specialist in an urban tile.

Here in Cilakofa, I am purchasing a University building to create a new urban district.

I choose this farmland tile to be replaced by the University.

This triggers a “grow city” event, but really this is just a population being reassigned.

I will now reassign this new “freed up” citizen in the city center.

Now the city center is producing 18 science and 14 culture (instead of 11.5 and 10.5 previously).


Notice that each urban district has a limit to how many specialists it can hold. These “specialist slots” are unlocked as you progress in the game. Some of the key techs/civics/other features are (in chronological order):

Antiquity

• Currency (Technology): adds +1 specialist slot (empire-wide)
  
• Angkor Wat (Wonder): adds +1 specialist slot to the settlement it was built in.

Exploration

• Education (Technology): adds +1 specialist slot (empire-wide)
  
• Urban Planning (Technology): adds +1 specialist slot (empire-wide)
  
• Al-Jazari (Great Person) from Abbasid civ: adds +1 specialist slot to a single urban tile
  
• Negara (Majapahit Civ Ability): All cities except the capital get +1 specialist slot. This increased limit disappears in the Modern Age.

Modern

• Electricity (Tehcnology): adds +1 specialist slot (empire-wide)
  
• Capitalism (Civic): adds +1 specialist slot (empire-wide)

Etc

• Expansionist Leader Attribute Tier 5, Option 1: +1 specialist limit in all cities, -1 settlement limit

Each specialist placed in an urban district provides +2 science and +2 culture, but consumes -2 food and -2 happiness.

With Confucius, each specialist now provides +4 science and +2 culture at the minimum. Based on what is built in an urban district, you may have extra food, production, happiness, science, or culture yields for each specialist (for example, the University building adds +1 science to each specialist placed in that urban district). Many civics/traditions/other features further modify these yields. Here is a comprehensive list below:

Antiquity

• Scholars (Social Policy): +1 science from specialists
  
• Ethics (Social Policy): +1 culture from specialists
  
• Tianxia (Han Tradition): +1 science from specialists
  
• Varna (Khmer Tradition): +1 gold from specialists
  
• Kambu-Mera (Khmer Tradition): Half specialist food and happiness maintenance

Exploration

• Constitution (Social Policy): Half specialist food and happiness maintenance
  
• Ulema (Abbasid Unique Quarter): +1 science to all specialists in the city
  
• Al-Jabr (Abbasid Civic): Reduce specialist happiness cost by 25%. (33% increase in happiness counting towards specialist maintenance)
  
• Panji (Majapahit Tradition): +1 culture on specialists not in your capital
  
• Negarakertagama (Majapahit Tradition): Reduce specialist food maintenance by 33%.
  
• Notre Dame (Wonder): all specialists provide +3 culture during celebrations.

Modern

• O-yatoi Gaikokujin (Meiji Japan Tradition): +1 production and +1 science from specialists
  
• Social Science (Social Policy): +2 science from specialists, but +50% specialist food maintenance
  
• Humanism (Social Policy): +2 culture from specialists, but +50% specialist happiness maintenance
  
• Free Speech (Social Policy): Half food and happiness maintenance for specialist

Ideology Civics

• Suffrage (Social Policy) under Democracy: +3 culture from specialists. -3 Production in towns.
  
• Fireside chat (Social Policy) under Democracy: +3 Happiness from Specialists. -3 Gold in Towns.
  
• Assembly Line (Social Policy) under Fascism: +3 Production from specialists. -3 Food in towns.
  
• Dirigisme (Social Policy) under Fascism: +6 Gold from Specialists. -3 Happiness in Towns.
  
• Productive Forces Determinism (Social Policy) under Communism: +3 Science from specialists. -3 Gold in towns.
  
• Proletariat (Social Policy) under Communism: +6 Food from Specialists. -3 Happiness in Towns.

Leader Abilities

• Confucius Unique Ability: +2 science for all specialists
  
• Pachacuti Unique Ability: Specialists adjacent to Mountains do not cost happiness maintenance.

Leader Attributes

• Scientific Attribute Tier 4, Option 3: +1 Science on Specialists, +2 if you have 3 or fewer cities
  
• Expansionist Attribute Tier 4, Option 1: +15% food and happiness towards maintaining specialists, or +30% of you have 3 or fewer cities
  
• Cultural Attribute Tier 4, Option 1: +1 Culture from Specialists, or +2 if you have 3 or fewer cities.

Mementos

• Altar Set (Confucius): +1 culture from Specialists
  
• Brush & Scroll (Confucius): +5% Growth Rate in Cities for every specialist (Max 25%)
  
• Mascapaycha (Pachacuti): +1 food and +1 gold from Specialists in tiles adjacent to Mountains
  
• The Analects (Confucius): +1 Science per Specialist

So theoretically, you can have an urban district with 8 specialist slots providing 16 science each, if you play as Confucius with The Analects memento slotted and follow the Han China -> Abbasid -> Meiji Japan (Communist) path, while obtaining all the relevant wonders and leader attributes.

In general, the overall pattern is that high science yields tend to increase specialist slots (which are mostly unlocked by technologies), whereas high culture yields tend to increase the specialist yields (mostly unlocked by civics). In a way, having many specialists is a self-fulfilling prophecy—it will lead to even more specialists. Confucius excels at getting this chain reaction going with his automatic +2 science for each specialist, magnified by fast improvements in specialist yields and number of slots.


Confucius makes each specialist provide more science. This leads to even more increase in specialist slots and specialist yields.

*NOTE: general strategies for each Civilization will be covered in separate Steam Guides. This section details the Civilization’s unique bonuses as it relates to the Leader’s Ability.

**SPOILER ALERT: if you wish to discover powerful Civ synergies and overall strategies on your own, please skip this section.


Reminder—The goal to satisfy all Legacy Path requirements in the Antiquity Age is toamass 10 codices (Science), build 7 wonders (Culture), house 25 resources (Economic), and score 12 settlement points (Military; 1 point for your own settlements, 2 points for conquered settlements).

Confucius excels most at science, but is reasonably good at all other types of victories. A solid foundation in science and population growth in the Antiquity Age can help with this endeavor.
If you choose to double down on the scientific advantages that Confucius provides, there are four main Antiquity Age civilizations that are considered “scientific.” These are Han China, Khmer, Maurya India, and Maya.

Han China is the “default” civilization for Confucius—a geographical, historical, and strategic choice.

• The two most notable traditions you will unlock with Han China is Guanxi (+1 influence with science buildings) and Jiu Qing (+1 science per Specialist). These carry over to the subsequent Ages.
  
• Han China also gets additional science adjacencies on science buildings as a passive ability, but note that adjacency bonuses from older buildings disappear with era change.
  
• Chu-ko-nus return from Civ 5 as one of the most ferocious ranged units, but in Civ 7 the focus is mostly defense. In combination with the Great Wall improvements, they can hold off most Deity AI invasions.
  
• The Great Wall improvements, when built correctly, can supplement some culture bonuses that Confucius does not provide himself.

Khmer is a good choice for focusing on population growth while ensuring good specialist yields.

• All urban districts that are built on any type of river (navigable or not), will continue to have its yields. This means that when you replace rural populations for urban districts, you will still get the natural food and happiness bonuses of the river terrain. This helps offset the -2 food and -2 happiness maintenance from specialists.
  
• The Kambu-Mera Tradition further decreases this food and happiness maintenance requirement by half.
  
• The Khmer unlocks the Angkor Wat wonder much earlier than any other civilization (normally it would be unlocked with Philosophy, which is towards the end of the Antiquity Age civics tree). They also get an additional 30% discount in its production. As discussed above, the Angkor Wat wonder increases specialist slots by one in the city it was built in—so it is a very natural choice for Confucius to prioritize.
  
• Urban districts also do not get destroyed by floods, but districts can be quickly repaired with a small amount of money, so this is a very minor bonus.

Even with the nerfs with version 1.1.1., the Mayan civilization still remains a good choice.

• The Mayan unique quarter, Uwaybil K'uh was nerfed from providing production equal to 15% of the science cost when a new technology is researched, to only 5%. This is still a very helpful bonus when technologies in the late Antiquity age require 430-738 science. Even a 20-30 production bonus is helpful, when you are trying to construct as many buildings as possible. Because unique quarters are ageless, this effect continues in the Modern Age—technologies like Rocketry cost ~10k science. This is a 500 production boost, which can help you instantly finish some of the Modern Age buildings and a decent chunk of late game projects.
  
• The Jaguar Slayer is an excellent "scout" unit that doubles as a warrior; oftentimes you can clear out unsuspecting hostile independent powers with them, giving you an extra boost in production or culture. I do not recommend dispersing any Economic or Science independents, and try to have at least one Cultural city-state ally, since they can help with your early game culture.
  
• The Hulche unit is also an excellent defensive as well as offensive unit. Many times you will be able to use a few Spearmen and Tier 2 Hulche to snag a few cities from nearby opponents.

Lastly, Maurya India may have the least synergy with Confucius, unless you are planning to conquer settlements:

• Maurya India excels at keeping happiness levels of cities as high as possible. This means that you will have many celebrations back-to-back. Depending on your choice of government, you can either get +20% food (Oligarchy) or +20% science (Despotism) for the duration of the celebration. The 20% food is generally more useful to gather specialists and build large cities that carry over to the next era.
  
• Maurya’s unique unit, Purabhettarah, has high base combat strength, but it is designed for offense rather than defense. If you so wish to play a domination game, building many of these units can help overrun enemy city defenses, with much more ease compared to any other civilization.

Reminder—The goal to satisfy all Legacy Path requirements in the Exploration Age is tohave 5 districts with total 40 or higher yields each (Science), house 12 relics (Culture), score 30 treasure fleet points (Economic), and score 12 settlement points from distant lands (Military; 1 point for your own settlement not following your religion, 2 points for conquered settlements or settlements converted to your religion, 4 points if both apply).


Confucius’ special ability allows you to get high yields from specialists with very little effort, so you will be able to easily finish the Science Legacy Path with any civilization. A good civilization choice would be those that help you with the other victory conditions, and those who give you significant cultural benefits to help you prepare for the Modern Age, which has some of the most powerful civics that boost specialist yields even further (see the “Unique Ability (2)” section). Some of the notable civilizations include:


Abbasid provides both extremely high science yields from specialists, as well as the ability to hoard relics.

• The Ulema unique quarter adds +1 science to all specialists in the city. As with all unique quarters, this bonus is ageless and carries into the Modern Age.
  
• The Madrasa unique building is a building with a science base that gets even more science adjacencies for other quarters and science buildings. That is a lot of science. I scientifically do not know if I can fit in the word “science” more in this scientific description.
  
• If you are lucky, you may be able to recruit Al-Jazari as your Ālim (Great Person) who adds +1 specialist slot to a single urban tile.
  
• The Abbasid civilization unlocks the House of Wisdom wonder very early. This wonder provides science as well as 3 free relics.

Unlocking Abbasids as Confucius requires either improving 3 camel resources (importing them doesn’t count), or to have started as Egypt or Persia in the Antiquity Age.


The Majapahit civilization provides a more balanced approach with direct culture yields as well as traditions that strengthen specialists. In addition, you will have a productive naval infrastructure as well.

• The Majapahit civilization is unique that it assists specialists that are not in your capital. The Negara (Majapahit Civ Ability) provides +1 specialist slot in non-capital cities, which is further boosted by the Panji tradition that adds +1 culture to non-capital specialists. As long as you have more than one city, Majapahit’s traditions arguably synergize better with Confucius compared to Hawaii’s.
  
• The Subak tradition furthermore provides +1 culture and +1 production on marine tiles (in cities), which helps with very productive cities in the Modern Age, ready to tackle any large construction projects.
  
• The Pura unique quarter also provides +1 relic when completed, as a minor bonus.

The Majapahit civilization is relatively easier to unlock as Confucius (or in general); you will need to improve 3 pearl resources or have at least 3 naval trade routes. You can also start the game as the Khmer or Maurya, which is recommended anyway (see Antiquity Age)


In terms of raw cultural output, the Hawaii civilization has some of the best advantages.

• Hawaii starts off with gaining 25 culture each time a Settlement expands to a marine tile. As your settlements (near or faraway) grow, you will have high amounts of passive culture income.
  
• This leads you to unlock the Ho'okupu tradition (+1 culture on marine tiles). This bonus apply to every single settlement, even the most underdeveloped towns you have. And since these are tradition policies, you can use them in the Modern Age as well.
  
• A minor bonus is the +2 relic from merely adopting the He'e nalu civic. Not only this helps you winning the cultural legacy path, every relic you obtain in the Exploration Age can provide extra culture in the Modern Age with the Deep Roots cultural legacy option.

Unlocking Hawaii as Confucius can be rather difficult; you will either need to start the game as the Maya (which automatically unlocks Hawaii), or you will have to start the game on a map that allows you to settle on islands (such as archipelago) to satisfy the unlock condition to have 2 settlements on the same island (a landmass with a maximum of 15 tiles).


If you wish to only double down on the science yield without cultural advantages or strengthening specialists further, look no other than Ming China—the default civilization unlocked by playing Confucius.

• Its unique ability “Great Canon of Yongle” provides +50% science in the capital, but -15 science per turn for each social policy (that is not a tradition) slotted.
  
• If you chose Antiquity Age civilizations such as Han China or Khmer with some powerful traditions, you will be able to enjoy the 50% science boost without the downsides of relying on non-tradition policies.

Reminder—the Modern Age is where you typically choose a single victory path to pursue, unless you wish to have a try at multiple paths simultaneously. The Legacy Path requirements in this age are: research the Flight, Aerodynamics, and Rocketry technologies and finish their respective space projects (Science), obtain the Natural History and Hegemony civics and obtain 15 artifacts (Culture), score 500 Railroad Tycoon Points by building Rail Stations and Factories (Economic), and gain 20 Ideology Points (Military; more points with ideologies).

Modern Age gameplay tends to be more reliant your choices as a player throughout the Antiquity and Exploration Ages rather than the unique advantages the Modern Age civilizations bring to the table. Nonetheless, certain civilizations work well with Confucius' bonuses.


Meiji Japan compensates for some science while gearing up for defense. It also has a minor bonus with strengthening specialists.

• When you overbuild a building, you will receive science equal to 50% of the new building's production cost. This bonus begins from the start when you play as Meiji Japan.
  
• With the Fu-koku Kyōhei tradition, when you build a naval or air unit, you will receive science equal to 25% of the production cost. (Note that both of these appear to be bugged at version 1.0.1, so you are likely not receiving these bonuses. I will update the guide as these issues get addressed).
  
• The O-yatoi Gaikokujin tradition provides +1 production and +1 science from specialists. Production is key to finish space projects quickly, so this helps.

Siam’s ability to instantly “purchase” city state suzerainty is a powerful bonus overall.

• Ideally, if you have a scientific city state candidate that you can immediately suzerain, you can take that city state first to obtain the ability to get free technologies for every time you become a city state’s suzerain, including the first one. This way you will rapidly unlock new technologies as you become suzerain for everyone. More about this in the Siam and Tacumseh guides, but the strategy works beautifully for Confucius as well.

Qing China is a reasonable choice, if you still need more science and gold. This is the default Modern Age civilization unlocked by playing Confucius.

• Qing’s bonuses focus on imported resources. Each imported resource provides +4 Gold, +3 Culture, and +2 Influence from imported resources. There is a -1 Science penalty from them, but this is a very small amount at this stage of the game.
  
• The Shiguan unique building provides science as well as a happiness adjacency.
  
• The Hangshang unique merchant units provides a significant amount gold to buy science and production facilities quickly.

You will gain many attribute points if you dutifully finish all your Legacy Path missions. Typically, the choice you will have to make is between spending your Military Legacy Path points for Military vs Expansionist Attributes, and your Culture Legacy Path pointer for Cultural vs Diplomatic Attributes.


Confucius benefits immensely from the Expansionist and Diplomatic Attribute bonuses. Confucius also benefits somewhat from the Science Attribute points, but given that he already has such a strong science output, they tend not to be as impactful.


Expansionist Attribute Tree—The left side of the tree focuses on big cities with many specialists, whereas the right side of the tree focuses on creating many productive towns. Confucius synergizes well with the left side.

• Expansionist Attribute Tier 1: +25% production in settlers. This is a mild bonus that can help save a few turns in the Exploration era where you are settling many faraway towns for resources. Note that the production reduction does not affect purchasing costs.
  
• Expansionist Attribute Tier 2, Option 1: +5% Growth Rate in Cities. With this, you will now have 1 extra growth event for every 9-11 growth events, rather than 10-12.
  
• Expansionist Attribute Tier 3, Option 1: 25% food refund when city adds a specialist. Essentially, another +25% growth boost for the next growth event if you placed a specialist for the current one.
  
• Expansionist Attribute Tier 4, Option 1: +15% food and +15% happiness towards maintaining specialists, or +30% if you have 3 or fewer cities. This attribute combined with Kambu-Mera (Khmer Tradition), Negarakertagama (Majapahit Tradition), and the Free Speech (Modern Age Policy), can give you food maintenance costs of 0.25 per specialist.
  
• Expansionist Attribute Tier 5, Option 1: +1 Specialist limit in all cities, -1 settlement limit. As if you didn’t need more specialists spots.
  
• Expansionist Attribute Tier 5, Option 2: +1 food in cities per Town. As a repeatable option, this may be more preferrable than Option 1. In the modern era where you will have 15-20 towns, you can rack up city growth very quickly with this.

Diplomatic Attribute Tree—The left side of the tree focuses on maximizing happiness and golden ages, while the right side focuses on gaining more influence. Either side is good, but you may have to choose one side to get to the powerful tier 3 bonuses.

• Diplomatic Attribute Tier 1, Option 1: +1 happiness per age on the palace and city halls.
  
• Diplomatic Attribute Tier 2, Option 1: +1 happiness in settlement for each resource assigned to them. These two help with over happiness somewhat, decreasing the turns required to start celebrations.
  
• Diplomatic Attribute Tier 3, Option 1: +50% Celebration length. Depending on your type of government, you can use +20% food, science, culture, or something else. If in doubt, food always helps.

Scientific Attribute Tree—The left side of the tree focuses on infrastructure, while the right side of the tree focuses on increasing science yields directly. The most notable attribute is:

• Scientific Attribute Tier 4, Option 1: +1 Science on Specialists, +2 if you have 3 or fewer cities. This doubles down on the specialist bonuses that Confucius receives.

Confucius locks three very powerful mementos:

• Brush and Scroll (Confucius Level 2): +5% Growth Rate in Cities for every Specialist in that City (max +25%).
  
• Altar Set (Confucius Level 5): +1 Culture per Specialist
  
• The Analects (Confucius Level 9): +1 Science per Specialist

All three are very good menentos and benefits Confucius himself very well. You'd wish you can put all three, but you won't be able to. My preference is typically Brush and Scroll + Altar Set.


Some other mementos that synergizes well with Confucius include (especially beneficial ones are underlined):

• Chakra (Ashoka, World Renouncer Level 2): +1 Food in the Capital for every 5 excess Happiness.
  
• Diamond Throne (Ashoka, World Renouncer Level 9): +1 Happiness per Age in Quarters during a Celebration.
  
• Eagle Banner (Catherine Level 2): +2% Science in Cities for each Great Work they contain (max +20%).
  
• Gold Snuff Box (Simón Bolivar Level 2): +20% food when in only one alliance
  
• Kusanagi no Tsurugi (Himiko, High Shaman Level 9): +3 Culture per Age on Happiness Buildings, but -1 Science per Age on Happiness Buildings.
  
• Lantern (Harriet Tubman Level 20: Receive a free Migrant Unit at your Capital for every successful undetected Espionage action
  
• Mascapaycha (Pachacuti Level 9): +1 Gold and Food from Specialists in tiles adjacent to Mountains.
  
• Note G (Ada Lovelace Level 9): Every time you research a Technology or Civic Mastery, the Capital gains Production equal to 15% of its cost.
  
• Topayauria (Pachacuti Level 2): +1 Food per Age on Districts adjacent to Mountains.
  
• Wampum Belit (Tecumseh Level 5): +1 Production per Age in Settlements for each City-state you are Suzerain of.

If you are trying to unlock Leader Attributes quickly, mementos like Antikythera Mechanism (+1 Scientific Attribute Point), Groma (+1 Expansionist Attribute Point), and Shakōkidogū (+1 Cultural Attribute Point) can be helpful.

When in doubt, the Corpus Juris Civilis memento is always versatile and helpful—start with 1 extra social policy slot.

Civilization 7 encourages wonder-building, and any wonder can provide a great beneficial effect to your empire. Here are some of the wonders that work particularly synergistic with Confucius:

Antiquity Age

Angkor Wat

• Effect: +3 Happiness Happiness. +1 Specialist limit in this City.
  
• Terrain requirement: Next to river
  
• Unlocked by the Philosophy civic, or by playing as Khmer and unlocking the Amnach Civic.

This is a very high prority wonder that deity AI civs are eager to prioritize. The synergy of this wonder with Confucius’ ability makes it very worth trying to get the Philosophy civic ASAP.


Colosseum

• Effect: +3 culture. +2 happpiness on Quarters in this city
  
• Terrain requirement: Adjacent to District
  
• Unlocked by the Entertainment Civic or by playing as Rome and unlocking the Senatus Populusque Romanus Civic.

Any wonder that has bonuses to Urban Quarters (which Confucius encourages to build) is highly beneficial.


Hanging Gardens

• Effect: +1 Food on Farms in this city. +10% growth rate in all cities. +1 Expansionist Attribute point.
  
• Terrain requirement: Next to river
  
• Unlocked by the Irrigation Technology.

Also a highly competitive wonder. The best part may be the Expansionist Attribute point that can be used to obtain further growth or specialist-related bonuses.


Nalanda

• Effect: +3 Science. +1 Codex. Has 2 Codex slots. +1 Scientific Attribute Point.
  
• Terrain requirement: On a Plains tile
  
• Unlocked by the Literacy Cvic.

The civic that unlocks Nalada is on the way to Angkor Wat. This is a decently competitive wonder, but provides bonuses to win a Science Victory.

Exploration Age

Borobudur

• Effect: +3 Happiness. +2 food and +2 Happiness on Quarters.
  
• Terrain requirement: Adjacent to Coast tile
  
• Unlocked by the Bureaucracy Civic or playing as Majapahit and unlocking the Gamelan Civic

Similarly to the Colosseum, the food and happiness per quarter is helpful in a playstyle that emphasizes specialists. Note that the effect of Borobudur applies to ALL quarters in your empire, making this one of the strongest wonders in the game


Notre Dame

• Effect: +4 happiness. All specialists in your empire provide +3 culture during celebrations. Start a celebration immediately.
  
• Terrain requirement: Adjacent to a River and a District
  
• Unlocked by the Social Class II civic.

An extremely powerful late Exploration Age wonder. It adds a huge amount culture per turn to your empire, the more specialists you have. This helps Confucius' specialists not only produce science but also culture.


House of Wisdom

• Effect: +3 science. +3 Relic. +2 Science on Great Works. Has 3 Great work slots.
  
• Terrain requirement: Adjacent to Urban tile
  
• Unlocked by the Society II (Mastery) Civic or by playing as Abbasids and unlocking the Al-Jabr II (Mastery) Civic.

Another powerful wonder, but geared more towards directly assisting with the Science and Cultural Legacy Paths in the Exploration Era.

Modern Age

Dogo Onsen

• Effect: +4 Happiness, this city gains 1 Population upon entering a celebration.
  
• Terrain requirement: Next to Coast tile
  
• Unlocked by the Social Question Civic, or by playing as Japan and adopting the Bunmei Kaika Civic.

You will get 2-3 more true population growth events, which means more specialists. (At Version 1.0.1, this Wonder is bugged and will trigger a growth event in all settlements whenever there is a celebration. This makes it the best wonder in the game, for now.)


Eiffel Tower

• Effect: +5 culture. +2 culture and +2 happiness on Quarters in this city.
  
• Terrain requirement: Adjacent to district
  
• Unlocked by the Radio Technology, or by playing as French Empire and adopting the Code Civil des Français civic.

Same as the Colosseum and Borobudur—specialist-heavy gameplay means you have lots of quarters. Adding yields on quarters directly adds these yields to the city. The bonus is that this wonder is unlocked by technology, which Confucius is naturally start at.

Confucius unlocks the following Narrative Events:

Antiquity Age- To maximize Confucius’ bonuses you want to have large cities with many specialists. Oligarchy is a great choice that lets you choose between +20% food or +30% production for buildings during celebrations. All other types are viable—if you are planning for a Wonder-heavy gameplay, Classical Republic is still your friend, and if you are going on the war path, Despotism still rules supreme.

Exploration Age- No single government synergizes best with Confucius—Feudal Monarchy provides +20% food while Plutocracy provides +30% production towards Overbuilding. If you are planning to settle many Faraway Land towns and spread your religion, Theocracy is best.

Modern Age- Elective Republic may be best for Confucius for its +20% culture and +20% science, since you likely already have excellent city development, the focus now is high yields. Bureaucratic Monarchy can be helpful if you still need to buy buildings quickly, especially if you are aiming for an Economic Victory. Authoritariansim does not synergize very well. If you are playing as Mexico, the Revolución Government provides all these benefits as you progress through the Civic tree. If you are playing as French Empire, you can choose from any of the celebration bonuses. Having acess to +20% science, +20% gold, and +30% production to military units simultaneously, is great. Note that you will eventually have war declared from all opponents towards the end of the game as it becomes clear that you are winning. Defense is crucial.

Ideologies- No ideology (neutral) is a valid strategy to avoid having your relationship statuses degraded. If you were to choose one, Communism is likely best for the food and science bonuses.

Ashoka, World Renouncer has a remarkably similar bonus to Confucius where he prioritizes city growth. The important difference is that Ashoka provides food proportional to the amount of happiness. With Ashoka’s ability, you can maximize happiness by interlacing improvements and quarters carefully (see Ashoka, World Renouncer Guide). Oftentimes this can amount to +30 or even +40 food in the late game. In terms of pure growth, Ashoka will likely outperform Confucius. Confucius’ direct science bonus, however, cannot be emulated.

Pachacuti also has a toolkit that balances food/growth and specialists. Instead of providing extra yields for each specialist, Pachacuti eliminates happiness requirements outright. Mountains will also provide food adjacencies to buildings, so you have an incentive to build many quarters next to mountains. You will have to make a choice whether you want to place happiness buildings or science buildings next to mountains though; unlike in Civilization 6, science buildings do not get adjacencies to mountains. Happiness buildings next to mountains will be the best way to maximize adjacencies. (see Pachacuti Guide)

In singleplayer mode, AI Confucius’ agenda is “Guanxi”—he likes players with the most specialists, and dislikes players with the least amount of specialists.

Confucius tends to be a good neighbor at lower difficulty levels. But in Immortal or Deity difficulty, Confucius will likely research Currency quickly and start employing specialists while you are still trying to research Writing. This means that you are an underdeveloped barbarian in Confucius' eyes that needs to be conquered. So you will likely have to research Currency yourself as well, especially if you are trying to play a peaceful game while avoiding foreign invasions. As long as you have a decent number of specialists, your relationship with Confucius will improve over time.

If you are planning on invading your neighbors, you will be prioritizing the Wheel and Iron Working technologies, so you will naturally delay researching Currency. Confucius will not enjoy this and your relationship will naturally degrade, without having to denounce them. This saves time and influence when you declare a formal war against Confucius. You can also sanction him for good measure.

Watch out for what civilization Confucius chose though; by default Confucius tend to choose Han China, and will start building Great Wall improvements everywhere. Oftentimes the AI will put great walls in every tile without rhyme or reason, leading to “Spaghetti Walls.” This is somewhat difficult to overcome, especially in higher difficulties where your army gets a strength penalty for the difficulty.

1. Civ 7 population growth formula by JNR13- https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/population-growth-formula.694910/ (Accessed 2/20/2025)

Builders Series

• Confucius and Introduction to Specialists
  
• Augustus and Introduction to Towns
  
• Ashoka, World Renouncer and Introduction to Happiness
  
• Pachacuti and Introduction to Urban Planning

Warlords Series

• Napoleon, Revolutionary and Introduction to Infantry Warfare
  
• Ashoka, World Conqueror and Introduction to Siege Warfare
  
• Charlemagne and Introduction to Cavalry Warfare

Tacticians Series

• Trung Trắc and Introduction to Commanders
  
• Simon Bolivar and Introduction to War Support
  
• Xerxes, King of Kings and Introduction to Empire Management

Negotiators Series

• Benjamin Franklin and Introduction to Endeavors
  
• Himiko, Queen of Wa and Introduction to Endeavors (2)
  
• Tecumseh and Introduction to City States

Traders Series

• Amina and Introduction to Resources
  
• Xerxes, the Achaemenid and Introduction to Trade Routes

Strategists Series

• Machiavelli and Introduction to Levies
  
• Harriet Tubman and Introduction to Espionage
  
• Napoleon, Emperor and Introduction to Sanctions

Explorers Series

• Ibn Battuta and Introduction to Leader Attributes
  
• Isabella and Introduction to Natural Wonders
  
• Jose Rizal and Introduction to Narrative Events

Polymaths Series

• Lafayette and Introduction to Traditions
  
• Friedrich, Oblique and Introduction to Military Planning
  
• Friedrich, Baroque and Introduction to Military Planning (2)

Patrons Series

• Hatshepsut and Introduction to Wonders
  
• Catherine and Introduction to Great Works
  
• Himiko, High Shaman and Introduction to Celebrations
  
• Ada Lovelace and Introduction to Masteries

This guide is an homage to Zigzagzigal’s Guides to Civilization 5 and Civilization 6. Thank you Z for guiding all of us.