---
title: "Civilization VII 1.5.0: The True Start Location Earth Map Arrives, but Only on Huge and in Antiquity"
description: "Civ VII 1.5.0 adds the True Start Location Earth map, limited to Huge size and Antiquity starts. What those Firaxis design choices mean for your games."
url: https://after-strategy.com/en/civilization-7-150-update-true-start-location-earth-2026/
lang: en
published: 2026-10-12
updated: 2026-10-26
author: "Simon Dougnac"
author_url: https://after-strategy.com/en/auteur/simon/
game: "Civilization 7"
game_url: https://after-strategy.com/en/jeux/civilization-7/
categories: [4x, tour-par-tour]
tags: [civilization-7, firaxis, patch-notes, update-2026, earth-map]
translations:
fr: https://after-strategy.com/fr/civilization-7-update-150-true-start-location-earth-2026/
es: https://after-strategy.com/es/civilization-7-actualizacion-150-true-start-location-earth-2026/
publisher: "After Strategy"
---
# Civilization VII 1.5.0: The True Start Location Earth Map Arrives, but Only on Huge and in Antiquity
> Civ VII 1.5.0 adds the True Start Location Earth map, limited to Huge size and Antiquity starts. What those Firaxis design choices mean for your games.
## A long-awaited map, shipped with its own rules
The True Start Location Earth map does more than add a backdrop to Civilization VII: it changes how you choose your civilization. Available since update 1.5.0 on September 15, 2026, it places every people near its historic capital on a hand-drawn Earth. Firaxis built it under two stated constraints, though: Huge size only, and a mandatory start in Antiquity.
Those two choices decide who will really benefit from the map. They deserve a close look, along with the explanations the team published in its "From the Devs" post.
### What 1.5.0 brings around the map
The update also celebrates the franchise's 35th anniversary. Besides the Earth map, the Terra Incognita and Shuffle maps move to Voronoi generation, which completes the overhaul of the base-game maps. A new diplomatic option lets you pay Influence to stay out of a war when an Ally joins one. That neutrality comes up for renewal every 10 turns on Standard speed.
On the interface side, a Radial Ruler shows three-tile and six-tile radii around the cursor, handy for placing Settlements or measuring the reach of El Escorial. Plot and Unit tooltips gain information, and game setup now shows which civs you can syncretize with. The Hall of History collection, including Elizabeth I and George Washington, launches the same day.
A compatibility warning applies: Firaxis recommends starting a new game, because some new effects do not appear on older saves. On Steam, a "legacy" beta branch lets you finish a game in progress on the previous version.
### How the map places civilizations
The developers' stated goal is simple: let players start as any of the game's roughly 50 civilizations and have a good time, rather than chase absolute accuracy. Their own summary captures the mindset: the map is accurate "mostly", and, they believe, fun.
Each civilization starts at the location of its historic capital. Switching civilization at an Age Transition does not move your position, because it is fixed by your starting civ. Triumphs, Victories and game effects work as usual.
The case of crowded neighbors remains. When two civs would start within 3 tiles of each other, one keeps its spot and the other is shuffled to an unused location on the map. Firaxis specifies that this never happens to the human player in single-player. In multiplayer, the host keeps their spot if two humans clash.
### Huge only, Antiquity only: Firaxis's reasons
The Huge size gives the most room and the best drawing fidelity. The team considered an even larger scale, but it warps games: some regions end up too far apart to interact. Not every device can handle a map that size either, especially late in a game.
The Antiquity start follows similar logic. The Earth map does not support Advanced Starts, where the player builds a much larger starting empire. On an Earth with historically cramped starts, that would cause too many problems. Firaxis mentions future Earth-specific options, without promising a timeline.
Hardware coverage is limited too. The map exists on Steam, Epic, Mac, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2. It is missing on Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
### Three landmasses, one ocean to cross
The map has three landmasses: the Americas, Africa and Eurasia, and Oceania. They stay Distant Lands to one another, so do not expect to cross the ocean before the Exploration Age. An Oceania start is therefore played in an isolated Antiquity, far from the other civilizations.
Firaxis reshaped the geography so that this isolation stays playable. The top and bottom of the map were truncated: the northern tundra is shorter and most of the southern ocean is gone. The freed space opens up the central areas, notably around Europe, Persia, China and North America.
### What the map changes in practice
Several island regions, such as Hawaii, Japan and the UK, are the starting point for multiple civs. Firaxis "magnified" them to a much larger scale than the rest of the map. Island nations no longer feel like a permanent challenge run, even though space is still tight.
Navigable Rivers are new to Civ VII: the Nile, Amazon, Yangtze and Mississippi all appear on the map. The Tropical biome lets South America and India be represented with more precision. An Inca start near the Andes therefore has Tropical, Vegetated and Mountain tiles to work with, while Plains lie much further north.
Resources are hand-placed and all present in every game: Llamas and Quinine stay in South America, and France keeps a few spots for Wine. Natural Wonders, however, escape that logic. Seven are guaranteed, drawn at random from more than twenty, but they always appear in their real locations: Mount Fuji stays in Japan. Firaxis sees this as a way to stop a start near a fixed wonder from being too strong.
### Choosing a civilization with its position in mind
On a randomly generated map, the civilization mostly decides the bonuses. On Earth, it also decides where you play, and that position never moves afterwards. The Antiquity starting pick therefore weighs more than usual. A civilization born near a great river benefits from a Navigable River from the very first turns. An island civilization accepts a tighter space, even when magnified.
The game also ensures that Resources are always the same. A player who knows where the Wine or the Quinine lies can plan routes and expeditions ahead. On paper, the map rewards knowledge of geography as much as empire management, which makes it feel closer to a scenario than to a random playground.
### The September 30 hotfix: what it fixes
Fifteen days after 1.5.0, Firaxis shipped a stability hotfix. It fixes crashes, mostly late-game in the Modern Age, lag when using mouse and keyboard at once, and softlocks that stopped turns from advancing in multiplayer. The missing Treasure Resources in the Exploration Age and missing Factory Resources in the Modern Age are addressed too.
For the latter, the team changes the rule: all Treasure and Factory Resources must now appear in the Age's random selection. A few Resource issues on the Earth map were also fixed, including a mysterious patch of cocoa in the middle of the ocean.
### What to watch from here
Firaxis announces one last interim update before it focuses on two big projects. The first is "Arc of Tomorrow", a free update that adds a fourth Age, the Atomic Age. The second is the paid Earthrise expansion, announced for 2027. Patch cadence will therefore slow down in the coming months.
For the Earth map, what comes next depends on feedback. The developers mention Earth-specific Advanced Start options, more room guaranteed around starts, or the opposite, more crowded openings. They also consider more hand-built regional maps, and are exploring a map-making tool, with no commitment.
Try it if you like long, narrative games: the Earth map gives every civilization a real geographic frame. Forget it for now if you mostly play Standard size or Advanced Starts: Earth is not offered to you. The risk is treating it as the reference map when it remains a special mode, reserved for part of the players and platforms.
## Going further
- [Our Civilization 7 hub](https://after-strategy.com/en/jeux/civilization-7/): every article on the game.
- [Civilization VII 1.4.1: the government rework](https://after-strategy.com/en/civilization-7-government-rework-1-4-1-strategic-guide-2026/), the happiness and tradition system that structures games.
## Sources
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Source : [Civilization VII 1.5.0: The True Start Location Earth Map Arrives, but Only on Huge and in Antiquity](https://after-strategy.com/en/civilization-7-150-update-true-start-location-earth-2026/) — After Strategy