diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1787b3a..eead7f8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 if(CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR STREQUAL CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR)
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.0)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.1.0 FATAL_ERROR) # because of CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD
 project(athena)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 endif()
 
 ##################
@@ -21,10 +23,6 @@ add_subdirectory(extern)
 
 include_directories(include ${LZO_INCLUDE_DIR} ${ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR})
 
-if (NOT MSVC)
-set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++14")
-endif()
-
 if(WIN32)
 list(APPEND CORE_EXTRA src/win32_largefilewrapper.c include/win32_largefilewrapper.h
      src/athena/FileWriterWin32.cpp src/athena/FileReaderWin32.cpp)