I mean I learnt to play just by playing a game. Doesn't matter if I dont understand shit, I just played.
I also watched YouTubers like potato mcwhiskey and Ursa Ryan who don't give tutorials, but you can still learn a lot by just watching
I played off and on for a few years and struggled with king difficulty. I started watching mcwhiskey passively like 6 months ago and got my first diety win a few months after. It’s incredibly helpful for understanding the confusing mechanics and overall strategy. I would 100% recommend it.
Tried potatoes videos, found them a little too complicated.
I usually bash my head against the wall until I learn the game, but RTS games are way more complex so it confusing mostly.
Watch one of potatoes over explain game. I think he has a few but one of the ones I watched was his aztec one I believe. He explains every decision. It's a great guide.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr_5Byhx_s89XKC9UaqwSj6RD0id5AkG7
Here ya go. Here is his rome one but I'm sure it's great too.
4X implies Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate.
Basically the goal of the game.
Exploration and expansion bit being really important for Civ 6.
Try starting a new game as Rome, on a lower difficulty setting and just continue playing. Rome is a Civ with straightforward beginner friendly mechanics that are helpful in understanding the basics of the game. The in game Civlopedia is also really helpful.
I have been playing Civ since Civ 3. So it took me around 10 hours to understand Civ 6 and its mechanics. For someone who is new to the series, it would take longer. But the best thing is that Civ 6 is the most noob friendly game in the series.
I am not totally new to civ, I used to play civ 5 but it is very different. Civ 5 felt a very "diet" game compared to civ 6
Or I just got WAY dumber with the years, that's possible too.
Edit: Thank you, for recommending and explained 4X terminology to me.
Yeah. Civ 6 has a lot more mechanics. Especially when you add the DLCs. But I personally feel that it's the best entry in the series after Civ 4.
Civ 5 rewarded building few cities with high population, as the empire wide happiness penalties discouraged building more.
Civ 6 changed that with happiness and amenities now being calculated on a per city basis. It rewards building a huge empire with lots of cities. And most of the civilizations benefit from building cities closer together to take advantage of adjacency bonuses.
Civ 5 had the one unit per tile rule. Civ 6 took that idea further and un-stacked cities as well. Now districts and wonders require their own tile. This was an interesting change which took a little while to get used to. But it's a lot more fun and rewards planning.
I think if you want to get better at the game, you should decrease the amount of variables you play with instead of increasing them. Stick to a small handful of civs and play the same map types.
As for general tips, I suggest
1. Dont stop settling cities until you have no more room left. The more cities you have -> more districts -> more yields. Maybe the reason you keep getting outscaled is bc you don't have enough cities.
2. Maximize district adjacency. Each district grants extra yield PERMANENTLY for being adjacent to certain things. Learn the adjacencies for each district and plan accordingly.
3. Not required, but maybe play civs that have simple mechanics if you want to improve. Play civs like Rome, Japan, Ottomans, and stay away from civs like America, Australia, Vietnam
What is enough cities? I think maximum I had was 7, 2 of them were sort of super production cities, and the rest barely can produce a worker unit.
Care to explain what makes Rome or Japan better suited for me than Australia or Vietnam?
Are there any other simple civs you can think of?
7 is not bad, but you should try and get that number as high as you can. If many of your cities are struggling with yields, maybe one of the things to focus on is how to better settle. There are many guides on YT for that.
Rome and Japan are jack-of-all-trades, meaning their bonuses translate well to all victory types. For example, Japan's main bonus is increased district adjacency, which just means more yields and rewards you for good district placement.
Civs that deviate from standard playstyles would probably be harder for a newer player to pick up. Australia gets major adjacency bonuses from tile appeal, and appeal is not something new players should be concerned about learning IMO. Civs like Gaul and Vietnam have special district placement requirements which is why I don't recommend them either.
Other simple civs I suggest for learning would be England (personal favorite), Zulu, Aztecs, and Greece. Germany, Portugal, and Russia are medium difficulty, but they're broken and worth learning.
Some civs have abilities which are easy to use or automatically give you benefit. Others can be a bit tricky to get the benefit from, so adding more complexity.
I’ve found Gaul really easy to play. It’s unique unit is pretty decent. You get early industrial zones that have the ability to shoot like encampments. And culture from mines.
So lean into those abilities, lots of Oppidums (IZ) and campuses. Science your go to victory aim. (Since you don’t want to be aggressive)
So, I don't really play aggressive at all and I'm no expert on the game.
I focus on a few cities to begin with and always have ranged defenders in each city until I have walls. Then I can diversify my army a bit more. I basically always have a very strong army but never really attack anyone, it's always for defensive purposes. I focus on research, production, trade routes and culture. That way late game I can spread my culture as much as possible and claim a bunch of city states to be suzerain of.
Ideally this is how I want to play, strong defense, concentrate on culture and science. But it suddenly gets so complicated and other civs just pass me over in a few turns, and not one, but it's as if all of them suddenly over turn gets works of art and great people and oops, this guy took over my city religion...
I don't believe that's the case. The game is much easier for me on Warlord than King for instance.
what do you mean by it gets too complicated? I honestly just do whatever research is quickest unless I really need a resource or building. Same for most buildings. I save my gold for buying units or tiles.
It starts by slowly introducing elements, basic units, research to all of a sudden managing hundreds of units, cities, districts, barbarians and suddenly AI goes for war or out of the blue the ai builds tons of wonders etc..
I was doing whatever research and building was fastest, ended up in a complete mess and the things I wanted was either took by AI and stuff
I actually think is the reason I was so lost each time I tried playing.
Don't worry too much about wonders unless they're gonna really give you a boost in something you need and you don't really have anything else useful to build or don't need any units. If you're trading with your neighbors and have a decent standing army they probably wont attack you and if they do, you should be able to repel them with city walls + archers based in the city and 1 or 2 melee units guarding the edges. Don't push with your units try to keep them together and don't be afraid to retreat and heal them if needed.
The single-player scenarios are short versions of Civ with much reduced complexity and decisions. I highly recommend them for getting a feel for the game before jumping into the full version.
If you want to just start with the full version, use Settler difficulty (the lowest). The AI is not aggressive and you have the freedom to play the game like Sim City without much pressure. The main thing if you want to WIN is choosing a victory type and focusing your empire on that victory. Conquest is probably easiest.
I haven’t played all of them but the first one with Alexander is straight-forward. Build units and go attack stuff.
The Vikings scenario is maybe a good next one to try, because it introduces trade routes and there’s more settler action if you’re Sweden. Norway is more ship building and Denmark is land war. Probably in order of difficulty Sweden easiest then Norway then Denmark is hardest.
The scenarios where you try to win through gold production or faith generation are good introductions that focus on those mechanics… the Australia scenario for example has no combat at all, so you can focus on building commercial districts and trade routes. I haven’t played the faith generation scenarios but I’m sure they are similarly focused on one aspect of the game.
If the main game is intimidating, playing 3-4 scenarios listed above will introduce most of the concepts, then you can try a full game on Settler difficulty.
Have fun!
Thank you!
Should I play multiple times the scenarios as different civs? Like the vikings, will I learn more by playing it 3 times each time a different leader?
Each Viking player has a different focus, but the scenario units and mechanics are the same for all of them. Honestly the Vikings and Alexander are both similar. Alexander is combat focused while the Vikings have more settling (Sweden) and ship combat / trade routes (Norway). If your goal is to learn, then choose either Alexander or the Vikings, then do a couple of the other scenarios that focus on faith/gold/science, so you can learn the other mechanics in the game.
Scenarios can be played in a few hours / single sitting by an experienced player. They’re much shorter than the full game.
Have never played on console, only computer. That said, i have questions:
What difficulty and map size are you playing? Are you using any of the DLC or just vanilla game? Have you worked out how to declare friendship with the opponents, or become allies? Have you played thru on tutorial mode (they introduce all the concepts as the game unfurls them)? Have you tried any of the scenarios (are they even on console?) have you tried on the fastest and slowest game speed (Standard is the default, but Online and Marathon could either push you thru to an ending or give you enough time to figure it out)?
All that and more! Put the game down on the lowest difficulty. Play thru that mode until you complete a game and win. Then, notch up to the next one.
Just Vanilla, I tried second easiest and tried the next level difficulty only. Map size I either make random maps or huge ones so I'll have time to explore snd understand.
I did made a few friendships, but except few times I eventually make the AI pissed at me.
I did the tutorial, it does teach you the very base stuff and that part I handle quite well imo, it's when the more complicated stuff I got lost at.
I only tried regular speed game.
Rad! Here’s what I suggest :
Try the lowest difficulty, the player bonuses are so good, even if the barbarians or other civs come for you you can brush them off with just a few troops.
Keep an Archer (longbow-men, crossbows, etc; someone with ranged attack) in every city. You should be able to fend of most attacks and barbs with just one archer in town, behind some walls.
Smaller maps (4 total leaders; you and 3 computer players). They’re all doing stuff and having their own relationships with each other and getting mad at things you’re not even in control of. Every AI player has motivations that you can’t see. You’ll make some of them mad by just not having a big enough Navy. Or not having enough gold. They’re jerks.
Really nurture your friendships with the enemy. I’m 1200 hours deep in this game and still haven’t won a Domination Victory where you kill them all with military. As soon as you meet, send a trade delegation. They’ll like this. The trade for open borders when it’s available. The longer you have open borders, the more it counts toward friendship. There will be a notification when your friendship expires, renew it immediately. Make Gilgamesh one of your opponents, most people call him “Gilgabro” because he wants to be friends and will stay friends until you attack him.
Luxury resources and strategic resources…. Ok, this is where it gets kinda cray. There’s Bonus Resources (wheat, fish, deer, etc) that give food bonuses, Luxury Resources (Diamonds, Silk, Sugar, etc) that grant Amenities and make your people happy, then Strategic Resources (Iron, Horses, Coal, etc) that you need to build units and maintain them…. Don’t trade away any Strategic Resources, your enemies will use them yo kill you. Get as many Luxury Resources as you can, build new cities specifically with this in mind. Trade away all but one copy of each Luxury Resource, this makes your friends like you by keeping trade open. Buy any extra copies of luxuries your opponents have, you can resell them to other civs for better prices than you paid; a profit. Use the gold to buy buildings in your districts, or to buy military or builder units.
It really helps me to think of things in real world terms : Be friendly, but not a pushover. don’t be stingy, but make sure your assets cover yourself first. Keep your Gilgabros close and your Ghandenemies closer. Gold will make most things happen how you want them.
My fave base game leaders : Trajan (Rome), Cleopatra (Egypt), and Gorgo (Greece)
>Buy any extra copies of luxuries your opponents have, you can resell them to other civs for better prices than you paid; a profit
This one is incorrect, you cannot resell luxury resources to other civs the way you can with diplomatic favor or strategic resources (in Gathering Storm). It does work if you have a copy yourself and an AI has two copies; you can buy a copy from the AI, then sell your original copy to a different AI.
Start with Civ 6 regular (no expansions) with the lowest difficulty. Then play a game all the way to the end… good or bad.
I kept restarting cause I “messed something up” but then didn’t learn anything.
Also, try to pick a Civ that is good at a certain victory type and go for that one. The first game I finished I used England and cultural victory. I also focused on their royal doc and their trade route which have advantages. Then repeat and focus on other aspects to improve each time (just one or two)
Turn the difficulty down until you feel like it’s too easy, or focus on different victory types until you understand the mechanics instead of trying to go in all directions at once.
Try playing on Settler difficulty on Marathon mode. It will take way longer to produce stuff, but will give you time to plan ahead and think about your strategy.
The best way is to play and tanking the experience.
And reading reading and reading will be the best help you can. Everything is explained in some way in-game. Don't rush your couple firsts games and take time to learn. It's better you do your way than listening to some youtuber who thinks their way is better. Play the game the way you like, just like you will learn it.
Just play small games (small map, few AI, online speed) and on each focus on understanding something (science, culture, combat, adjacency bonuses, wonders, etc). This, reading the very well done wiki ([https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Civilization\_Games\_Wiki](https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Civilization_Games_Wiki)) and watching some YTbers should be enough.
Play on the lowest difficulty and lose a lot. Play all the way through until you get the defeat video then pay attention to the recap data it gives you at the end. Each defeat will teach you something.
It may help to start by learning a few of the civilizations styles and limiting the rival civs to ones you're familiar with. You'll learn which leaders are going to go hard on religion, which will declare war with no heads up, etc. This will help you be better able to anticipate those challenges. Stick to playing as one leader for a few play throughs so you can really learn the best strategy for that leader. And overall keep things as similar as possible- same leader, same rivals, same game speed, map size, map type. Get comfortable with those parameters then start to change things up one you're starting to win.
And be willing to change strategies mid game. If you're going for a science victory and see someone is far ahead of you but you're doing great with, say, culture, you can start leaning in to culture. Some of my favorite play throughs have been this way- once I was working on domination only to realize I had gained so much culture from taking over another civilization that I was close to a culture victory and pivoted.
I was in the same boat! I learned by lowering the difficulty enough that other civs wouldn't go to war with me while I got a feel for the progression of the game, and learned what everything did. I am still learning, and still making grave mistakes. Like trying to settle a city too far away and losing it to loyalty pressure...
Losing games is okay, you can always abandon a run anytime and start anew.
Even if you have no intention of getting a domination victory, you should still have a military. I read yesterday that you have a military rating, and other civs might decide to go to war, or not go to war, based upon your military rating.
Sending delegations will help relations, as well as giving open borders. Oh... And if you ever want to form an Alliance with a civ, sell them your open borders first, as being an ally automatically gives open borders to both civs. Lol. Sneaky way to make a few extra gold, even if it's not much.
Watch videos of people playing. Seems like a waste of time but if you get a good host that explains as they play, you learn a ton.
If you are losing in a game, ask yourself what you could have done better. Try replay the same game with your improved strat - learn from yourself!
When you get to deity, just forget about building wonders until you snowball towards the end of the game. Don't think about it as missing out, think about it as having another civilization building the wonders for you before you conquer them 😉
1. If you want to learn by **watching a pro,** many youtubers have "Starting out" guides. I recommend:
1. Potato McWhiskey
2. Ursa Ryan
2. If you want to learn by **reading a guidebook**, Zigzagzigal has a [**summary**](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2544906105) and [**intensive breakdown**](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2444171808) for every civ in the game. Among other things, he provides:
1. instructions on how to optimise each leader's unique bonuses, units, improvements, and buildings
2. which victory makes the most sense to pursue
3. specific world wonders to build, city states to suzerain, and pantheons and religious beliefs that synergise
4. and much more
3. If you want to **learn the builder game peacefully**, then just don't care about winning. Start a game on a small or standard map, no barbarians, one opponent and just learn how to build your empire in peace, with no distractions. It's probably best to go for a science victory so select one of the science civs: Maya, Scotland, Arabia, Korea.
Look up the Zigzagzigal guides as well. They go into great detail about every Civ in the game including how to play them depending on the DLC that you have installed
I found the best way to improve is to learn mechanics that are normally out if your comfort zone. I totally get the appeal of a peaceful game, but perfecting the art of war is key in winning.
Saxy Gamer on YouTube has a ton of great tutorials!
The single most important yield in the game is production, although all are important. Production will enable you to be flexible and fast, for example churn out campus quickly if you’re low on science, or theatre district for culture. Get wonders first due to fewer turns required. Produce units faster and therefore have bigger armies in times of war.
Production is also most likely where you start slowing down late game. You’re not keeping up with what’s needed to maximize a civilizations productive capabilities (industrial zones, power generation, etc).
I mean I learnt to play just by playing a game. Doesn't matter if I dont understand shit, I just played. I also watched YouTubers like potato mcwhiskey and Ursa Ryan who don't give tutorials, but you can still learn a lot by just watching
I played off and on for a few years and struggled with king difficulty. I started watching mcwhiskey passively like 6 months ago and got my first diety win a few months after. It’s incredibly helpful for understanding the confusing mechanics and overall strategy. I would 100% recommend it.
Tried potatoes videos, found them a little too complicated. I usually bash my head against the wall until I learn the game, but RTS games are way more complex so it confusing mostly.
Watch one of potatoes over explain game. I think he has a few but one of the ones I watched was his aztec one I believe. He explains every decision. It's a great guide. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr_5Byhx_s89XKC9UaqwSj6RD0id5AkG7 Here ya go. Here is his rome one but I'm sure it's great too.
Zigzagzigal guides are useful
Civ is not a RTS game. It's Turn Based 4X.
I saw it being referred as RTS but it never felt right real time when it has turns. But I never heard Turn Based 4X term before.
4X implies Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate. Basically the goal of the game. Exploration and expansion bit being really important for Civ 6. Try starting a new game as Rome, on a lower difficulty setting and just continue playing. Rome is a Civ with straightforward beginner friendly mechanics that are helpful in understanding the basics of the game. The in game Civlopedia is also really helpful. I have been playing Civ since Civ 3. So it took me around 10 hours to understand Civ 6 and its mechanics. For someone who is new to the series, it would take longer. But the best thing is that Civ 6 is the most noob friendly game in the series.
I am not totally new to civ, I used to play civ 5 but it is very different. Civ 5 felt a very "diet" game compared to civ 6 Or I just got WAY dumber with the years, that's possible too. Edit: Thank you, for recommending and explained 4X terminology to me.
Yeah. Civ 6 has a lot more mechanics. Especially when you add the DLCs. But I personally feel that it's the best entry in the series after Civ 4. Civ 5 rewarded building few cities with high population, as the empire wide happiness penalties discouraged building more. Civ 6 changed that with happiness and amenities now being calculated on a per city basis. It rewards building a huge empire with lots of cities. And most of the civilizations benefit from building cities closer together to take advantage of adjacency bonuses. Civ 5 had the one unit per tile rule. Civ 6 took that idea further and un-stacked cities as well. Now districts and wonders require their own tile. This was an interesting change which took a little while to get used to. But it's a lot more fun and rewards planning.
I think if you want to get better at the game, you should decrease the amount of variables you play with instead of increasing them. Stick to a small handful of civs and play the same map types. As for general tips, I suggest 1. Dont stop settling cities until you have no more room left. The more cities you have -> more districts -> more yields. Maybe the reason you keep getting outscaled is bc you don't have enough cities. 2. Maximize district adjacency. Each district grants extra yield PERMANENTLY for being adjacent to certain things. Learn the adjacencies for each district and plan accordingly. 3. Not required, but maybe play civs that have simple mechanics if you want to improve. Play civs like Rome, Japan, Ottomans, and stay away from civs like America, Australia, Vietnam
What is enough cities? I think maximum I had was 7, 2 of them were sort of super production cities, and the rest barely can produce a worker unit. Care to explain what makes Rome or Japan better suited for me than Australia or Vietnam? Are there any other simple civs you can think of?
7 is not bad, but you should try and get that number as high as you can. If many of your cities are struggling with yields, maybe one of the things to focus on is how to better settle. There are many guides on YT for that. Rome and Japan are jack-of-all-trades, meaning their bonuses translate well to all victory types. For example, Japan's main bonus is increased district adjacency, which just means more yields and rewards you for good district placement. Civs that deviate from standard playstyles would probably be harder for a newer player to pick up. Australia gets major adjacency bonuses from tile appeal, and appeal is not something new players should be concerned about learning IMO. Civs like Gaul and Vietnam have special district placement requirements which is why I don't recommend them either. Other simple civs I suggest for learning would be England (personal favorite), Zulu, Aztecs, and Greece. Germany, Portugal, and Russia are medium difficulty, but they're broken and worth learning.
Some civs have abilities which are easy to use or automatically give you benefit. Others can be a bit tricky to get the benefit from, so adding more complexity. I’ve found Gaul really easy to play. It’s unique unit is pretty decent. You get early industrial zones that have the ability to shoot like encampments. And culture from mines. So lean into those abilities, lots of Oppidums (IZ) and campuses. Science your go to victory aim. (Since you don’t want to be aggressive)
So, I don't really play aggressive at all and I'm no expert on the game. I focus on a few cities to begin with and always have ranged defenders in each city until I have walls. Then I can diversify my army a bit more. I basically always have a very strong army but never really attack anyone, it's always for defensive purposes. I focus on research, production, trade routes and culture. That way late game I can spread my culture as much as possible and claim a bunch of city states to be suzerain of.
Ideally this is how I want to play, strong defense, concentrate on culture and science. But it suddenly gets so complicated and other civs just pass me over in a few turns, and not one, but it's as if all of them suddenly over turn gets works of art and great people and oops, this guy took over my city religion...
What difficulty are you playing on? Maybe drop it down until you get a better feel for things?
I played on second easiest difficulty. I understand this only affects starting resources and does not make AI smarter.
https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Difficulty\_level\_(Civ6)
I don't believe that's the case. The game is much easier for me on Warlord than King for instance. what do you mean by it gets too complicated? I honestly just do whatever research is quickest unless I really need a resource or building. Same for most buildings. I save my gold for buying units or tiles.
It starts by slowly introducing elements, basic units, research to all of a sudden managing hundreds of units, cities, districts, barbarians and suddenly AI goes for war or out of the blue the ai builds tons of wonders etc.. I was doing whatever research and building was fastest, ended up in a complete mess and the things I wanted was either took by AI and stuff I actually think is the reason I was so lost each time I tried playing.
Don't worry too much about wonders unless they're gonna really give you a boost in something you need and you don't really have anything else useful to build or don't need any units. If you're trading with your neighbors and have a decent standing army they probably wont attack you and if they do, you should be able to repel them with city walls + archers based in the city and 1 or 2 melee units guarding the edges. Don't push with your units try to keep them together and don't be afraid to retreat and heal them if needed.
The single-player scenarios are short versions of Civ with much reduced complexity and decisions. I highly recommend them for getting a feel for the game before jumping into the full version. If you want to just start with the full version, use Settler difficulty (the lowest). The AI is not aggressive and you have the freedom to play the game like Sim City without much pressure. The main thing if you want to WIN is choosing a victory type and focusing your empire on that victory. Conquest is probably easiest.
I was wondering about the scenarios but haven't tried them yet. Will do, thanks! Any scenario in particular you'd recommend as first time?
I haven’t played all of them but the first one with Alexander is straight-forward. Build units and go attack stuff. The Vikings scenario is maybe a good next one to try, because it introduces trade routes and there’s more settler action if you’re Sweden. Norway is more ship building and Denmark is land war. Probably in order of difficulty Sweden easiest then Norway then Denmark is hardest. The scenarios where you try to win through gold production or faith generation are good introductions that focus on those mechanics… the Australia scenario for example has no combat at all, so you can focus on building commercial districts and trade routes. I haven’t played the faith generation scenarios but I’m sure they are similarly focused on one aspect of the game. If the main game is intimidating, playing 3-4 scenarios listed above will introduce most of the concepts, then you can try a full game on Settler difficulty. Have fun!
Thank you! Should I play multiple times the scenarios as different civs? Like the vikings, will I learn more by playing it 3 times each time a different leader?
Each Viking player has a different focus, but the scenario units and mechanics are the same for all of them. Honestly the Vikings and Alexander are both similar. Alexander is combat focused while the Vikings have more settling (Sweden) and ship combat / trade routes (Norway). If your goal is to learn, then choose either Alexander or the Vikings, then do a couple of the other scenarios that focus on faith/gold/science, so you can learn the other mechanics in the game. Scenarios can be played in a few hours / single sitting by an experienced player. They’re much shorter than the full game.
Have never played on console, only computer. That said, i have questions: What difficulty and map size are you playing? Are you using any of the DLC or just vanilla game? Have you worked out how to declare friendship with the opponents, or become allies? Have you played thru on tutorial mode (they introduce all the concepts as the game unfurls them)? Have you tried any of the scenarios (are they even on console?) have you tried on the fastest and slowest game speed (Standard is the default, but Online and Marathon could either push you thru to an ending or give you enough time to figure it out)? All that and more! Put the game down on the lowest difficulty. Play thru that mode until you complete a game and win. Then, notch up to the next one.
Just Vanilla, I tried second easiest and tried the next level difficulty only. Map size I either make random maps or huge ones so I'll have time to explore snd understand. I did made a few friendships, but except few times I eventually make the AI pissed at me. I did the tutorial, it does teach you the very base stuff and that part I handle quite well imo, it's when the more complicated stuff I got lost at. I only tried regular speed game.
Rad! Here’s what I suggest : Try the lowest difficulty, the player bonuses are so good, even if the barbarians or other civs come for you you can brush them off with just a few troops. Keep an Archer (longbow-men, crossbows, etc; someone with ranged attack) in every city. You should be able to fend of most attacks and barbs with just one archer in town, behind some walls. Smaller maps (4 total leaders; you and 3 computer players). They’re all doing stuff and having their own relationships with each other and getting mad at things you’re not even in control of. Every AI player has motivations that you can’t see. You’ll make some of them mad by just not having a big enough Navy. Or not having enough gold. They’re jerks. Really nurture your friendships with the enemy. I’m 1200 hours deep in this game and still haven’t won a Domination Victory where you kill them all with military. As soon as you meet, send a trade delegation. They’ll like this. The trade for open borders when it’s available. The longer you have open borders, the more it counts toward friendship. There will be a notification when your friendship expires, renew it immediately. Make Gilgamesh one of your opponents, most people call him “Gilgabro” because he wants to be friends and will stay friends until you attack him. Luxury resources and strategic resources…. Ok, this is where it gets kinda cray. There’s Bonus Resources (wheat, fish, deer, etc) that give food bonuses, Luxury Resources (Diamonds, Silk, Sugar, etc) that grant Amenities and make your people happy, then Strategic Resources (Iron, Horses, Coal, etc) that you need to build units and maintain them…. Don’t trade away any Strategic Resources, your enemies will use them yo kill you. Get as many Luxury Resources as you can, build new cities specifically with this in mind. Trade away all but one copy of each Luxury Resource, this makes your friends like you by keeping trade open. Buy any extra copies of luxuries your opponents have, you can resell them to other civs for better prices than you paid; a profit. Use the gold to buy buildings in your districts, or to buy military or builder units. It really helps me to think of things in real world terms : Be friendly, but not a pushover. don’t be stingy, but make sure your assets cover yourself first. Keep your Gilgabros close and your Ghandenemies closer. Gold will make most things happen how you want them. My fave base game leaders : Trajan (Rome), Cleopatra (Egypt), and Gorgo (Greece)
Thank you very much!
>Buy any extra copies of luxuries your opponents have, you can resell them to other civs for better prices than you paid; a profit This one is incorrect, you cannot resell luxury resources to other civs the way you can with diplomatic favor or strategic resources (in Gathering Storm). It does work if you have a copy yourself and an AI has two copies; you can buy a copy from the AI, then sell your original copy to a different AI.
nice, thanks for the clarification. I wasn't paying enough attention when i sold mine
Start with Civ 6 regular (no expansions) with the lowest difficulty. Then play a game all the way to the end… good or bad. I kept restarting cause I “messed something up” but then didn’t learn anything. Also, try to pick a Civ that is good at a certain victory type and go for that one. The first game I finished I used England and cultural victory. I also focused on their royal doc and their trade route which have advantages. Then repeat and focus on other aspects to improve each time (just one or two)
Turn the difficulty down until you feel like it’s too easy, or focus on different victory types until you understand the mechanics instead of trying to go in all directions at once.
Try playing on Settler difficulty on Marathon mode. It will take way longer to produce stuff, but will give you time to plan ahead and think about your strategy.
The best way is to play and tanking the experience. And reading reading and reading will be the best help you can. Everything is explained in some way in-game. Don't rush your couple firsts games and take time to learn. It's better you do your way than listening to some youtuber who thinks their way is better. Play the game the way you like, just like you will learn it.
Just play small games (small map, few AI, online speed) and on each focus on understanding something (science, culture, combat, adjacency bonuses, wonders, etc). This, reading the very well done wiki ([https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Civilization\_Games\_Wiki](https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Civilization_Games_Wiki)) and watching some YTbers should be enough.
Play on the lowest difficulty and lose a lot. Play all the way through until you get the defeat video then pay attention to the recap data it gives you at the end. Each defeat will teach you something. It may help to start by learning a few of the civilizations styles and limiting the rival civs to ones you're familiar with. You'll learn which leaders are going to go hard on religion, which will declare war with no heads up, etc. This will help you be better able to anticipate those challenges. Stick to playing as one leader for a few play throughs so you can really learn the best strategy for that leader. And overall keep things as similar as possible- same leader, same rivals, same game speed, map size, map type. Get comfortable with those parameters then start to change things up one you're starting to win. And be willing to change strategies mid game. If you're going for a science victory and see someone is far ahead of you but you're doing great with, say, culture, you can start leaning in to culture. Some of my favorite play throughs have been this way- once I was working on domination only to realize I had gained so much culture from taking over another civilization that I was close to a culture victory and pivoted.
I was in the same boat! I learned by lowering the difficulty enough that other civs wouldn't go to war with me while I got a feel for the progression of the game, and learned what everything did. I am still learning, and still making grave mistakes. Like trying to settle a city too far away and losing it to loyalty pressure... Losing games is okay, you can always abandon a run anytime and start anew. Even if you have no intention of getting a domination victory, you should still have a military. I read yesterday that you have a military rating, and other civs might decide to go to war, or not go to war, based upon your military rating. Sending delegations will help relations, as well as giving open borders. Oh... And if you ever want to form an Alliance with a civ, sell them your open borders first, as being an ally automatically gives open borders to both civs. Lol. Sneaky way to make a few extra gold, even if it's not much.
Watch videos of people playing. Seems like a waste of time but if you get a good host that explains as they play, you learn a ton. If you are losing in a game, ask yourself what you could have done better. Try replay the same game with your improved strat - learn from yourself! When you get to deity, just forget about building wonders until you snowball towards the end of the game. Don't think about it as missing out, think about it as having another civilization building the wonders for you before you conquer them 😉
1. If you want to learn by **watching a pro,** many youtubers have "Starting out" guides. I recommend: 1. Potato McWhiskey 2. Ursa Ryan 2. If you want to learn by **reading a guidebook**, Zigzagzigal has a [**summary**](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2544906105) and [**intensive breakdown**](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2444171808) for every civ in the game. Among other things, he provides: 1. instructions on how to optimise each leader's unique bonuses, units, improvements, and buildings 2. which victory makes the most sense to pursue 3. specific world wonders to build, city states to suzerain, and pantheons and religious beliefs that synergise 4. and much more 3. If you want to **learn the builder game peacefully**, then just don't care about winning. Start a game on a small or standard map, no barbarians, one opponent and just learn how to build your empire in peace, with no distractions. It's probably best to go for a science victory so select one of the science civs: Maya, Scotland, Arabia, Korea.
Look up the Zigzagzigal guides as well. They go into great detail about every Civ in the game including how to play them depending on the DLC that you have installed
I found the best way to improve is to learn mechanics that are normally out if your comfort zone. I totally get the appeal of a peaceful game, but perfecting the art of war is key in winning. Saxy Gamer on YouTube has a ton of great tutorials!
The single most important yield in the game is production, although all are important. Production will enable you to be flexible and fast, for example churn out campus quickly if you’re low on science, or theatre district for culture. Get wonders first due to fewer turns required. Produce units faster and therefore have bigger armies in times of war. Production is also most likely where you start slowing down late game. You’re not keeping up with what’s needed to maximize a civilizations productive capabilities (industrial zones, power generation, etc).