Civilization 7 - How To Get Relics Using Your Missionaries

The Exploration Age in Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is filled with exciting new opportunities. As your opponents gain a solid footing for their expansion, you could opt to send out your religious units to complete objectives. Here's our guide on how to use missionaries to get relics in Civilization 7.

How to get holy relics in Civilization 7 - Missionaries and relics guide

The holy relics in Civilization 7 are directly related to Tokshakhana, the Cultural Legacy path/milestone for the Exploration Age. The whole process tends to be fairly involved, since you need to acquire these special items and then display them in your settlements to aid in your progression.

The Cultural Legacy path during the Exploration Age has a keen focus on religion. You're not just spreading your theological beliefs far and wide; you also need to make sure that these beliefs net you holy relics along the way. You can see the requirements below if you wish to complete these milestones:

• Step 1:
  • Study the Piety civic.
  • Build a Temple.
  • Establish your own religion.
• Step 2:
  • Train a missionary or a related civ-specific unit that replaces it.
  • Convert any foreign settlement to your religion.
• Step 3:
  • Study the Theology civic.
  • Adopt an Enhancer Belief.
• Step 4: Collect and display six relics.
• Step 5: Collect and display nine relics.
• Step 6: Collect and display 12 relics.

When it comes to obtaining relics in Civilization 7, the most important factor is the Reliquary Belief that you choose once you establish your religion. We discuss more details in our religion/pantheon guide so, for this article, we'll just focus on the ideal Reliquary Beliefs for your campaign run.

• The best Reliquary Belief, by far, is Icons. That's because it provides +2 relics whenever you convert any city-state for the first time. In fact, if you're unable to get Icons in your game, you might as well pick a different Legacy Path because this option makes the whole endeavor a breeze.
• Still, if you want to continue with your run even without the Icons belief, you could go with:
  • Evangelism: +1 relic for first-time conversion of another civ's settlement in distant lands; cannot be a city-state.
  • Reliquaries: +1 relic for first-time conversion of another civ's settlement with a Temple or Altar.
  • Lay Followers: +1 relic for first-time conversion of another civ's settlement with 10 rural population.
  • Ecclesiasticism: +1 relic for first-time conversion of another civ's settlement with 10 urban population.

As you can see, everything else is situational, and Icons really is the only top-tier choice. In any case, regardless of your chosen Reliquary Belief, you still need to convert settlements.

Now, it's time to spread your religion far and wide. You should be able to train/purchase Missionary-type units in any settlement that has a Temple. Once you have this unit, simply move it to another civ's settlement or a city-state. Then, click on the "Spread Religion" button to convert that settlement to your religion. You should receive a relic depending on the applicable Reliquary Belief that you chose earlier.

There are also other ways to get relics in Civilization 7:

• Goody huts - The goodie huts and similar features you discover might contain a relic.
• Narrative events - Certain narrative event decisions may reward you with a relic.
• Civics - Several civics in the game also grant more relics. Here are some examples:
  • Society II
  • Social Class II
  • Sovereignty II
  • Imperialism II

Last but not least, you still need to display your relics so they count toward your Cultural Legacy tally. Certain buildings in your lands have slots that allow you to place relics therein:

• Palace
• Temple
• Wonder: House of Wisdom
• Wonder: Hale o Keawe

That does it for our guide on how to get relics in Civilization 7. If you're keen on learning more about Exploration Age mechanics, you can head over to our religion/pantheon guide. Then, later in the Modern Age, you have to acquire ancient artifacts.