How to convert Settlements easily in Civilization 7

If you’re hoping to spread your religion quickly in Civilization 7—and you should be if you’re aiming for a Culture victory—then you’ll need to convert nearby Settlements to follow your religious beliefs.

Picking up the right Civics will help you hit the ground running and ensure that most of the map is on board with your religion. Here’s a breakdown of how to convert Settlements easily in Civ 7, including which Civics you need, which units are important, and what tiles to focus on.

How to convert Settlements in Civilization 7

To get the ability to convert Settlements to your religion in Civ 7, start by building a Temple. This can be in either a City or a Town, so pick your starting point based on the building’s perks.

Temples provide a +1 Happiness Adjacency for Wonders, Natural Wonders, or mountainous terrain, alongside +4 Happiness.

They’re unlocked by picking up the Piety Civic in the Exploration Civic Tree alongside the Commune buff, which supports overbuilding and boosts combat strength in Fortified Districts.

When you have Piety unlocked and you have a Temple ready to go, you’ll be able to train up Missionaries. This is the main unit you’ll need to convert Settlements.

On top of this unit unlock, you’ll get a Relic slot in your Temple, helping you to display any Relics your Missionaries pick up while exploring.

Your Reliquary beliefs can affect how conversion works for your religion, so it’s important to pick them mindfully. The Evangelism Reliquary is a worthy pick for players with a strong army or two at their disposal, as it automatically converts conquered Settlements to your religion.

The standard Missionary has the Spread Religion ability with three charges, but there are other variants in the game—for example, the Hawai’i Civ has the Kahuna unit, which helps to heal up adjacent units alongside converting Settlements.

Missionaries do not have infinite uses. Once you’ve hit the Spread Religion button three times, the unit will no longer be usable. To convert Settlements quickly and get the most out of your Missionaries, it’s worth picking up the Theology Civic.

Theology comes with several interesting perks. It gives you a Relic and an additional Belief for your Civ’s religion, but most importantly, it provides the Evangelism buff. Evangelism provides +1 to Civilian unit movement alongside an extra charge for Missionaries.

Theoretically, this means that your Missionaries can convert two to four Settlements apiece. If a Settlement doesn’t have a religion, you only need to use one charge, but if it already has one, you’ll need to use two—once on an Urban tile and again on a Rural tile.

We’d recommend waiting until the Theology Civic has finished ticking over before starting the process of converting Settlements to get the maximum amount of value out of each of your Missionaries.

Remember to keep building Temples, too. Not only do they provide great Happiness yield and Adjacency bonuses, but they can also help you fill out your Relic collection. While religion does feel different in Civ 7 to previous Civ games, it’s worth paying attention to if you’re a fan of scoring Culture victories.