Civilization 7: How To Stop The Plague And Restore Happiness

It's not always rainbows and roses in your Civilization VII empire. Sometimes, the various towns and cities you rule over will become susceptible to the plague. This most commonly happens during the Exploration Age, as ships crossing the ocean between continents can bring back diseases to your homeland settlements. The plague causes your settlements to go into a state of "unrest," where their happiness hits all-time lows and citizens can die.

To stop the plague from ravaging your empire in Civilization VII, check out the guide below.

What is the plague in Civilization 7?

You'll immediately notice that a town or city has gotten the plague if you see green clouds of smoke engulf the capital and surrounding tiles. If you see the green clouds, you can click on the settlement to see that it's likely in a state of unrest. This means you can't produce anything or spend gold on the settlement until balance has been restored.

If you leave the plague to fester in a town or city, it won't go away on its own. While it might not seem like a huge deal if it's not in one of your larger settlements, the plague tends to spread. It will also kill Commanders and other military units that are stationed in the settlements where it's active. Suffice it to say, you want to get rid of the plague as soon as possible.

Fortunately, at least in our playthroughs, the plague was only a major issue during the Exploration Age. This lines up historically, as the plague killed millions across the world during the 14th and 15th centuries, which is considered the start of the Exploration Age. So once you get past the second age in Civilization VII, you shouldn't see too much more of the disease.

You'll also see more of the plague if you find more settlements on distant lands. More often than not, settlements that were on the coast or ones I had recently taken over from another leader were the ones most susceptible to the plague.

How to stop the plague in Civilization 7

The primary way you can get rid of the plague after it has made its way to one of your settlements is by unleashing a Physician (who looks like a witch doctor). The Physician is a unit you can produce in a city or buy in a town. It's unlocked halfway through the Exploration Age and takes roughly turns to produce and costs around 400-500 gold.

When the Physician is produced, you must send it to whatever settlement currently deals with the plague. Once the unit is within the settlement's borders, you can click on it and find an icon to cure the settlement of all diseases. If you zoom in on the Physician after selecting this icon, you'll see them bring out a staff and clear smoke to symbolize the healing process.

The plague is stopped dead in its tracks after the Physician heals the settlement. However, the aftermath can be lethal. If you let the plague go for too long, your military units could be killed, and several production tiles will likely need to be repaired.

The Physician has three charges, so send them wherever they're needed if you have more than one settlement dealing with the plague.

How to restore happiness in a settlement

After the plague has been cured, your settlement will likely still be in a state of unrest with low happiness. You can see when the unrest will stop by looking at the settlement and finding the red fist icon. This icon will have a number below it, indicating how many turns the unrest has left.

Once the unrest has stopped, you can repair the tiles in the settlement and try to restore happiness. If you don't restore happiness to the settlement, they'll throw themselves into another state of unrest sooner rather than later.

Happiness can be restored by building specific buildings, such as temples or inns, stationing Commanders or military units within the border, and allocating specific resources to the settlement. You'll find the quickest way to restore happiness is by taking advantage of the latter of those options.

Whenever you get a new resource in Civilization VII, you can visit the Resource Management menu and pick what settlements get what resources. By hovering over each resource, you can see what the resource increases in your settlement. Resources such as pearls, horses, etc., will boost happiness by +5 or more. Slotting those resources in your settlement will instantly boost happiness.

However, towns can only slot in resources deemed a "Bonus." Cities can slot in any available resource, so you might have to re-sort your resources to get what you need for a certain settlement.