Not every game in Sid Meier's Civilization 7 leads to smooth sailing. Countless challenges await, whether it's unruly neighbors that keep denouncing you, natural disasters that damage your buildings, or the fact that you can't find an ideal area with optimal yields. Of course, there are also trials and tribulations brought about by the changing of the times. These are meant to test your mettle as you move from one era to the next. Here's our guide on how to survive Crisis Events in Civilization 7.How to survive Crisis Events in Civilization 7Civilization 7 Crisis Events occur near the end of the Antiquity Age and Exploration Age. What you get at the start of your match tends to be random, but you need to be ready when these occur. There are also policies that you have to consider if you want to mitigate the potential damage, doom, and death that await your empire.There are six kinds of Crisis Events that we've seen so far in our playthroughs, and these are dependent on the current era. The Antiquity Age and Exploration Age have three each; there's no Crisis Event for the Modern Age. Antiquity Age Crisis EventsThese Civilization 7 Crisis Events have a chance of occurring during the Antiquity Age:Revolts - The rising unhappiness of your populace reaches a fever pitch. Soon, your settlements are in open revolt, and everyone wants to oust you.Invasion - This is somewhat akin to the "Raging Barbarian" options in previous games. Basically, countless independent peoples swarm your lands. Even if you've eliminated their last troops, there's a chance that their encampment respawns after a few turns.Plague - The plague during the Antiquity Age is extremely tough to survive as there are few medical breakthroughs at that point in time. Exploration Age Crisis EventsLater during the Exploration Age, you might experience one of these Crisis Events:Wars of Religion - As nations spread their religions far and wide, there will be clashes among disparate groups that believe in their own tenets. It's up to you if you want to show zealotry in your beliefs or if you think it's possible to have tolerance.Revolution - The rise of the bourgeoisie and the middle class comes as a shock to the nobility, who ones held unrivaled power. Now, the people clamor for change and you might even find yourself leading a Revolutionary Government.Plague - While there are more ways to mitigate the plague during the Exploration Age, it's even deadlier and more contagious than before. Expect it to spread rapidly across your empire in just a few short turns. You can learn more about this disaster in our plague survival guide. What are Crisis Policies?Every Crisis Event in Civilization 7 has its own unique set of Crisis Policies. Here's the kicker: A few of these might have a positive effect, but the negative effects are still significantly more pronounced.The reason for this is because Crisis Policies are only meant to stem or mitigate the dangers of the ongoing disaster, not stop them completely. Basically, you have to weigh the pros and cons of each option as you continue to fill the available slots.Here are some examples:Invasion: Tribute - This deducts -10 gold for each city-state that you're a suzerain of. However, assuming most independent peoples are actually hostile and you're not a suzerain, then this won't affect you at all.Revolution: Impoverished Nobility - This adds +1 gold maintenance to all units. But if you're playing a mostly chill and relaxing game with AI neighbors, then you probably don't have a lot of units in your armies.Plague (Exploration): Humoralism - This grants science when Physician units treat the infected in tiles with a Hospital. Now, if you've already built Hospitals in your settlements, then this is a good way to boost your science for a bit. Can you prevent Crisis Events from happening?Crisis Events have a mean-time-to-happen (MTTH). It might take a while until the first incident triggers, but you need to be ready once it occurs. That said, what happens afterward isn't always set in stone. For example:In one of our playthroughs, a Plague Crisis occurred during the Exploration Age. It then spread from a neighbor's capital, and then to two of our nearby cities, all the way to settlements on other continents.When we reloaded our save, the Plague Crisis still happened. However, we had several Physicians ready on standby. We treated the sick in the city that's close to our neighbor's capital. From there, the illness spread to two other settlements, which we also handled. When the Black Death arrived on the other continent, it only affect those that are in one of our settlements. The rest were spared.We should also note that, if you do get the Plague Crises, the best thing to do is to move all your units to (a) unowned tiles outside your empire or (b) water tiles without improvements. That's because the sickness infects urban and rural districts (i.e. anything with an improvement or building). So, if your units are on other tiles, they should be safe for the most part.That does it for our guide on how to survive Crisis Events in Civilization 7. We hope you can hang on long enough until you reach the next era.Explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate your way to victory with the help of our Sid Meier's Civilization 7 guides hub.

The Modern Age in Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is characterized by rapid industrialization, as nations aim for technological advancements and new ways to wage war. Still, people yearn to discover more about our shared human history, a means of looking into a time that's long since passed. Here's our guide on how to get artifacts in Civilization 7.How to get more artifacts in Civilization 7 - Explorers and artifacts guideThe Civilization 7 artifacts system is tied to the Geographic Society, the Cultural Legacy mechanic during the Modern Age. Similar to the Exploration Age where you acquired holy relics, this process involves sending out units to gather items. The difference is that you need to train Explorers this time, as they're the only ones that can excavate ruins. Cultural Legacy: Geographic Society mechanicsIf you plan on finishing the game via the Cultural Legacy path in the Modern Age, you need to be aware of the required steps below:Step 1: Study the Natural History civic.Train an Explorer.Step 2: Have a University or Museum.Bring your Explorer to the University or Museum in your lands, then start the Research Artifacts action.Step 3: Locate, excavate, and display one artifact.Step 4: Study the Hegemony civic.Display a total of five artifacts.Optional: Use the Research Artifact action on a University or Museum that's on different continents.Step 5: Display a total of 10 artifacts.Step 6: Display a total of 15 artifacts. How to recruit Explorers and reveal artifact dig sitesAs mentioned above, you need to study the Natural History civic if you want to get more artifacts in Civilization 7. Once the civic is unlocked, you should be able to recruit/buy Explorers in your lands.But, that's not all: You still need a University (built during the Exploration Age) or a Museum (built during the Modern Age) in your empire. Once you have an Explorer, send the unit to these buildings and select the Research Artifacts action. This will automatically reveal excavation sites with artifacts from the Exploration Age.Note 1: Later, you also need to study the Hegemony civic. This reveals additional dig sites that contain artifacts from the Antiquity Age.Note 2: The dig sites revealed by Universities and Museums are continent-specific. That means you must have either of these buildings so that the Explorer can unveil artifact locations in those regions. How to track and excavate artifact locationsTrying to look for Civilization 7 artifacts might be tough, but there's a nifty way to alleviate the issue. Simply click on the Lens Toggles button on the minimap in the lower-left corner of your screen. You should see three lens options: None, Settler, and Continent.Choose the Continent lens to differentiate between regions. This also marks the artifact dig sites clearly. Next, just move your Explorer unit to that location and select the Excavate Artifact command. The process takes a few turns but you should receive a special item once your unit is finished.Lastly, we recommend training half a dozen Explorers to speed things up. They have unlimited charges, so just have them roam around until you've gathered all the artifacts you need. How to display artifactsOf course, just excavating artifacts isn't enough. You still need to display them in your lands. Here are the buildings with available slots for artifacts:PalaceMuseumWonder: HermitageWonder: Palacio de Bellas ArtesThat does it for our guide on how to get artifacts in Civilization 7. If you're not keen on having your Indiana Jones wannabes looking for things that belong in a museum, then you might want to duke it out with other leads instead. If you prefer to be more aggressive during the Modern Age, then you can check our Military Legacy: Ideology guide.Explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate your way to victory with the help of our Sid Meier's Civilization 7 guides hub.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance offers a far more realistic role-playing experience than many fans of the genre may be used to, offering a deeper level of challenge, even if you don't play the game's Hardcore Mode. The increased realism has resulted in Warhorse Studios taking common RPG mechanics and fleshing them out with additional layers of depth.

In the first Apex Legends developer blog of 2025, Respawn Entertainment has detailed its new armory of weapons to combat hackers and cheaters. Season 24 will bring a host of matchmaking changes aimed at making Apex Legends a fairer battleground for all players.

After just a day on the market, the highly anticipated sequel to 2018s Kingdom Come: Deliverance has sold 1 million copies. Warhorse Studios Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was released to immediate and widespread critical acclaim and, obviously, mounds of sales impressive at any time but particularly in a competitive month thatll see Civilization 7, Assassins Creed Shadows, Avowed, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii released before it comes to an end.The massive sales number so close to other hugely popular releases suggests players are either dedicated fans who planned on buying Deliverance 2 no matter when it came out, or that players intend to buy several games at the $60 price point in 2025. Regardless, the consensus among game reviewers (besides Polygon, unfortunately, as we didnt get a chance to play the game before launch) is that the game kicks ass, especially for folks already invested in the franchise. The combat gets lots of praise, along with the faithful and direct continuation of the story from the first game and the games signature realism and wry humor stays in this one, too.The numbers here also make sense given the first games success. IGN reported in 2018 that director Daniel Vvra said Kingdom Come: Deliverance sold half a million copies in its first week.

If youre trying to collect all of the Pokmon Squishmallows (insert gotta catch em all joke here), today is a good day: Amazon has four squishy lil guys on sale, including Teddiursa for just over $13.The 20-inch Fuecoco Squishmallow has the steepest discount at $13 right now, marking the only time Ive seen the large plush go for less than the 14-inch version, which is on sale for $19.24. In fact, some of us at Polygon are seeing the 20-inch plushie as sold out, depending on our region. But others still see Amazon as listing units in stock, so act fast if youre interested. The starter from Pokmon Scarlet and Pokmon Violet isnt the most beloved Pokmon of all time, but it is very cute, especially in this impossibly-soft-and-infinitely-squishy form. Bellibolt is also on a steep discount in both sizes, with the 14-inch plush going for $16.99.Perhaps most exciting for the old-head Pokmon fans is Clefairy, whose Squishmallow is discounted to $21.66 for the 14-inch plushie.

Not all apps are safe. It's why I always recommend downloading apps from official app stores, like the iOS App Store and Google Play Store, rather than a random website: Apple and Google both have policies to scan for malware and stop them before reaching app stores. But neither company is perfect, and apps infected with malware end up on official app marketplaces more often that we'd like to think. These apps usually pop up on the Play Store more than the App Store given that Apple is extremely strict, but that doesn't mean the App Store is impervious to malwareit definitely happens, and we've covered it before. In fact, researchers just found a batch of apps containing malicious programs on both Apple's and Google's platforms. And it's the first time this specific type of the malware was found on the iOS App Store.What is SparkCat?Researchers at Kaspersky discovered apps on both Google's Play Store and Apple's App Store that contained malicious frameworks, specifically designed to steal crypto wallet recovery phrasesa series of words used to access cryptocurrency in digital wallets. Researchers call this malware "SparkCat," and they believe it has been circulating since March 2024. If you downloaded one of these apps on either iOS or Android, the app would likely ask permission to access your photo library, then the malicious framework would launch an optical character recognition (OCR) plug-in to scan and identify text in your images. If the program found text that matched certain keywords, it would then send those images to a remote server. The idea here is to scan your library looking for screenshots that reveal the recovery phrases in your crypto wallet and send them back to the thieves who could then use those phrases to break in and steal from accounts.One of the first apps to arouse suspicious of Kaspersky researchers was a Chinese food delivery app called ComeCome. It's still available on both iOS and Android, and is the first known app infected with OCR malware to appear on Apple's App Store, according to Kaspersky. A negative review all the way from 2023 suggests the app has been using malware to steal information, but it's not clear the app has been using this specific OCR tactic the whole time. Kaspersky discovered other apps with a similar malicious framework as well. It's important to note researchers can't say whether the malware was placed in these apps by a malicious actor or the app developers embedded it themselves. That said, it appears some apps were designed to attract users without offering legitimate services in returnsuch as multiple AI messaging services from the same developer. Specifically, that's WeTink and AnyGPT, which are both still live at the time of writing. Where to go from hereFirst of all, if you have any of these affected apps installed on your iPhone or Android, delete them now. Even if the developers didn't add the malicious framework intentionally (which can happen if a third-party hijacks the app), they aren't safe to keep on your device. After that, take a moment to clean out your iPhone or Android's images folder. If you have images containing recovery phrases for your crypto wallet, be sure to delete those, but also consider deleting images that contain any sensitive information in the first place. Other malware strains may take advantage of this OCR tactic to look for social security numbers or bank account information, for example, so it's best to eliminate that risk altogether. Finally, exercise caution when downloading new apps, even when doing so through official app stores. Be sure to review all aspects of an app's page before installing it, including the reviews, description, and screenshots. If anything seems off, it's probably best to avoid downloading it. And avoid generic AI apps like the plague. Developers know there's a high demand for AI apps, which means malicious users can slyly add malware to apps in the hope that an AI fan downloads their latest scheme. Don't fall for it.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Once mold starts taking over your bathroom, its not easy to get rid of. If the growth is alarming, paying to have it cleaned can cost hundreds of dollars, but its often worth it because getting rid of mold can be challenging (and exhausting). Your best move is to prevent mold from taking root in the first place, which usually involves reducing dampness and being vigilant with cleaning.A better approach might be to design a mold-free bathroom from the get-go. If youre considering renovating your bathroom, you can choose materials and make design decisions that will make it a lot harder for mold to take up residence.Go groutlessMold loves grout because its porous and absorbs moistureand its porous nature means mold can penetrate under its surface, which makes it even harder to clean. The more grout you have, the more potential breeding ground you have, so consider eliminating it:Wall panels. Acrylic wall panels are continuous sheets, meaning there are no grout lines to deal with. You can purchase panels that mimic the look of tile, but they come in a wide range of colors and designs, giving you a lot of design flexibility without the groutor the potential for mold.Vinyl or laminate flooring. Kkip the grout on your floor by avoiding traditional tile and opting for vinyl planks or laminate. Similar to the wall panels, you can find vinyl flooring that resembles tile or stone so you can get the look you want.Shower pan. Instead of a tiled or stone shower floor, installing an acrylic shower pan eliminates all that grout and makes it a lot easier to clean and a lot harder for mold to take root.Go freestandingMold and mildew loves to colonize caulk, which can get so unsightly as a result that you wind up just tearing it out and re-caulking. Anything that sits flush with or attached to your walls in a damp area has to be caulked, so you can reduce the amount of caulk (and with it, the amount of mold) by choosing freestanding items, like a freestanding tub or vanity.Go metalIf you want storage in your shower for soaps, bottles, and everything else, a traditional tiled niche is an invitation to mold, especially if the pitch isnt quite right and water ponds in there. Opting for a metal insert instead (like this stainless steel shower niche) eliminates that problem.Go resistantPainted walls and ceilings in bathrooms are prime targets for mold and mildew because moisture condenses on those surfaces. Steam rising from the shower often results in those tell-tale brown dots on the ceiling above, and over time, even walls outside the shower area can become stained with mold.Using antimicrobial primer and paint is one key to eliminating mold from your bathroom, and its one thing you can do even if youre not ready to renovate. Cleaning the walls and ceiling thoroughly, sealing them with a mold-resistant primer and painting them with a mold-resistant paint can greatly reduce the chances youll be scrubbing mold out of your bathroom in the near future.VentilationFinally, when transforming your bathroom, dont forget the less exciting but crucial aspect of mold resistance: ventilation. Make sure you determine the correct size of exhaust fan necessary for the space, and consider installing a model that has a humidity sensor. Also think about other ways to boost airflow in there, like adding a window (or a larger window) or a dedicated dehumidifier.

Google is changing its tune around efforts to hire employees from historically underrepresented backgrounds, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.The company reportedly announced that it would "no longer set hiring targets to improve representation in its workforce." The first hint that things might be changing at Google was a tweak to its parent company Alphabet's annual report. A phrase that claimed Alphabet was "committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve" featured in previous years was removed.When reached for comment, Google provided the following statement:Were committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year weve been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there. Weve updated our 10-k language to reflect this, and as a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic.Even if diverse hiring is no longer a stated goal, Google still plans on supporting resource groups for underrepresented employees and opening offices in cities with diverse workforces, according to the report. It just doesn't plan on having "aspirational goals" moving forward.Backing off of at least some of its diversity, equity and inclusion goals stands in contrast to the Google of five years ago. In 2020, CEO Sundar Pichai committed to "improve leadership representation of underrepresented groups by 30 percent by 2025," among other changes meant to better racial equity at the company.Making this kind of change isn't exactly unusual, however. Amazon is winding down some of its DEI programs, according to CNBC and Meta has completely eliminated its diversity hiring goals and the position of chief diversity officer at the company. Based on Google's statement and justifications Meta made previously, US companies are worried about the current Supreme Court and the Trump Administration's opinion of diversity, equity and inclusion. Eliminating programs that might displease them is simpler than inviting what could be a losing legal battle.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-is-reportedly-changing-course-on-its-diversity-initiatives-too-223644402.html?src=rss

Reddit briefly banned dozens of subreddits without warning on Wednesday due to a bug that affected scores of NSFW communities on the site. Redditors were told the subreddits were banned for being unmoderated even though many were heavily moderated, according to numerous posts from confused moderators.Engadget counted more than 90 subreddits that seem to have been caught up in the unmoderated ban. The vast majority of these have now been restored after going offline for a few hours Wednesday morning. In a post in r/ModSupport, a Reddit admin blamed the widespread bans on a bug. There was a bug with one of our tools that caused some subreddits to be banned incorrectly, they wrote. We are actively working on a fix and many of your communities are already back up and running. We appreciate that you are already busy moderating in your communities, and we will do our best to prevent this from happening again.A Reddit spokesperson told Engadget the issue was a "bug related to how we detect unmoderated communities" but didn't provide details or confirm how many subreddits were affected. But it appears the bug was widespread across the site. It affected scores of subreddits followed by millions of people.The banned subreddits included some of the most popular NSFW communities, including r/porn (3.9 million members), r/rule34 (3.6 million), r/boobs (2.5 million) and r/NSFW_gifs (2.1 million). It also affected some subreddits related to drugs, including r/drugs, r/cocaine and r/NarcoClips. Some subreddits that arent tagged as NSFW but allow NSFW content, like r/transgender_surgeries and r/cubancigars, were also caught up in the ban.The nature of the affected subreddits has alarmed some users and moderators who worry the company may be getting ready for a bigger crackdown. In r/transgender_surgeries, where users discuss their medical care, members began to discuss ways to back up the content of the subreddit. "The explanation given to us in r/modsupport is lacking in my opinion, and I was a bit furious and disappointed that there was no communication to us," a moderator for r/rule34 told Engadget. "So far, we have no prepared contingency in case this happens another time, but we are currently finding a way to build one, with help of other mods in and outside this subreddit."Elsewhere, concerned users pointed out this is the second time in six months that Reddit has mistakenly banned popular NSFW subreddits for supposedly being unmoderated. Redditors complained about similar bans last year. Our subreddit automation was a bit overzealous, a Reddit admin said at the time. They added to the months-old thread today, saying that the recent bans are different from what happened before, but didnt elaborate.Have a tip about Reddit or other information to share? Get in touch by email at karissa.bell [at] engadget.com or message securely on Signal at karissabe.51.Update, February 5, 2025, 8:25 Pm ET: Added additional comments from a Reddit moderator.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/reddit-blames-bug-after-banning-more-than-90-nsfw-subreddits-221908069.html?src=rss