In older Civilization titles, each unit you had in a military could earn XP and eventually level up. Now, with Civilization 7, things have changed and new tips and tricks are needed in your combat tactics. Commanders are a brand new unit type that are the only ones who can level up and will carry over into new Ages. They work quite differently since they don’t engage in combat directly, but the various skills can greatly increase your army’s potential. Because they are the only unit that earns promotions, they come with multiple skill trees that take a lot of XP to work through. Being such a key part of the game, similar to Influence, we wanted to run you through the best promotions you should unlock with your commanders.
Best commander promotions to unlock
Commanders don’t directly attack other units in Civilization 7, but have two other very important functions. First is that they can “pack” adjacent units. This will bring four (or more with upgrades) normal units and have them all move as one with the commander. This makes moving armies way more efficient and allows for tactical assaults and retreats.
The other function is providing buffs and coordinated moves to nearby units. Just having a commander next to your army grants various buffs (again, based on upgrades), plus the option to command multiple units to attack a single target at the same time.
Commanders earn XP just by being next to units that defeat an enemy in combat. These skills best maximize a commander’s utility on the battlefield across all five branches.
Steadfast
The first upgrade in the Bastion tree should be one of the first you unlock. This gives any adjacent land units +2 combat strength when defending. Land units will be all you have access to early on, and being able to deal more damage on defense will make any engagement with your units in close combat lopsided in your favor.
Initiative
Alongside Steadfast, Initiative is another essential skill to get ASAP. Packing is one of the best features of a commander, but unpacking leaves your units unable to act until the next turn. Unless you plan for that, it can lead to you losing the upper hand in a fight. This skll at least lets you reposition all your units after deployment to organize your ranks and stay out of danger.
Storm
The commander has two primary coordinated attack options, one for melee and ranged attacks. Storm buffs ranged attacks, which are the cornerstone of any army since you can hit from range without being in danger of a counter-attack. You should always be leading a turn with ranged attacks, so giving them more power only makes victory easier.
Field Medic
While there are ways to heal your units normally, they take time and leave you immobile. Field Medic isn’t perfect since you don’t heal while in combat itself, but it does let you heal multiple units without spending turns fortifying them.
Barrage
Barrage will be a late unlock no matter what, but one worth going through the Leadership tree to get. It gives a huge +5 combat strength for all units using Focus Fire. This is a commander skill that lets you force an attack from all nearby ranged units onto a single target. With multiple shooters all getting this buff, you will more than likely be able to one-shot any opposing enemy unit each turn at range.