As one of the biggest, most diverse game franchises of all time, there are a huge number of different ways to approach Civilization. Civilization VI is the most complex entry in the series yet, with new AI, combat and city management concepts to learn and master.
While it pays to experiment and generate your own ideas regarding best practices as you play, it doesn't hurt to get some advice as to how to think about and tackle the game's early stages.
Here we provide some tips and helpful ways of thinking about everything from establishing your first city, going to war, interacting with city states and dealing with barbarians. Once you've got to grips with our advice, you'll be ready to develop your own path as leader and establish a brave new world for you and your people.
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Be smart about founding your capital
It's your most crucial decision in the early stages of the game, so don't make a mistake in establishing your capital. Founding your first city in an area without immediate access to food and adjacent to easily traversed ground is going to cause you problems in the short and long term.
A poorly thought-out city location will stunt your early growth as you struggle to gather enough resources. In turn this will negatively affect your progress in future turns and, specifically, when you come across other civilisations that have developed beyond your level. Ever tried pitting your swordsman against a platoon of riflemen? Not fun.
Go small on your first game
Tempting as it is to jump straight in with the biggest map option selected and dreams of conquering the grandest world Civilization VI can muster, it's beneficial to experience the game on a smaller scale first.
Smaller maps allow you to more quickly interact with city states and other civilisations, meaning you'll get to grips with core concepts such as diplomacy, trade and combat much sooner than you would on a larger map. Once you're comfortable with the basics then you can ramp things up a notch and test yourself across bigger lands. Starting small might sound dull, but keeping long-term progress in mind is the best way to truly understand and dominate any Civilization game.
Keep moving at all times
If you don't understand what's around you then you can't possibly begin to make intelligent decisions about how to act in unison with, and react to, the world around you. You start each game with a warrior unit, which you should use to uncover the map while you wait for your first scout to be trained.
As soon as your first city is founded it's getting that scout into play that should be top of your agenda, so make sure to select one as your first construction choice. Once ready it makes sense to keep your scout exploring forever – or at least keep them going until they die at the hand of a barbarian or enemy. Start with getting to know the area around your city first so that you can be sure you're taking advantage of your nearby natural resources, and then set off to navigate the globe.
Always kill barbarians
Civilization VI's barbarians are slightly more threatening than they were in previous games, not least because they travel around the map more readily than before. Given their propensity, then, for stumbling across your units and settlements not necessarily equipped for combat, it pays to kill them as soon as you see them. Send in your dedicated military units and you shouldn't have much trouble.
The general rule is that you want to be the one initiating combat as it gives you the advantage of choosing from which terrain to attack and allows you to set up a contingency plan of backup troops should things go wrong. Keeping pockets of military units dotted about your civilisation is a good way to give you peace of mind as it reduces the risk that a barbarian will sneak up unseen and start undermining your settlements.
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Make food production an early priority
Your civilisation needs food to stay healthy and encourage growth, so making the provision of it the focus of your early research and building efforts make sense. Plus, if you can establish a strong food production foundation early on then you'll reap the rewards down the line when your population grows and sustenance needs greatly increase.
Animal Husbandry and Pottery are good early research options as they allow you to harvest both plants and animals for food and neither take too many turns to research. Additionally, they unlock the ability to build the granary and pastures – both essential for large scale food production. Which of the two you choose to unlock first will depend on the available resources around your first city.
Be very careful about going to war
Advising caution in war sounds obvious, but it's simply too important an issue to pass over. Before you even think about attacking another civilisation you should make sure you're educated in who is allied with whom, what kind of military each party has, who is leading the rich list and exactly what your long-term strategy of success is built upon.
If you're seeking to play a warlike game from the outset then it can pay to focus on military research early in your campaign and attack others early before they've had the chance to develop their technology and form alliances. If you're thinking about war having spent the previous 200 turns focused solely on science and culture then do not, under any circ*mstances, start a conflict until you've spent many, many subsequent turns building a military.
Stay on the good side of city states
Trading with city states is a great way to earn extra cash and sending envoys to them is one of the quicker means to unlocking bonuses. It pays, then, to ally yourself with them as opposed to attempting to conquer them and take their territory.
One of the more overt positives of forming a close relationship with a city state is that you can seduce them into joining you in war, the state using its military power to help settle any dispute you're involved in in your favour. Of course, the impact of an alliance of this sort comes down to the strength of your respective military power.
Focus government on production and barbarians
Early in your game you'll be asked to define your first government policies, having to select approaches towards both military and economic leadership. If you're a new player then our suggestion would be to prioritise military policies that provide you with a bonus against barbarians and economic action that raises your production stats.
At this fledgling juncture in your civilisation's journey it's unlikely that you're going to be engaging in combat with anyone other than barbarians, so anything that gives you an advantage against them is helpful. Overall production bonuses are a good staple to have throughout the entire length of your game as they affect the output of all cities, giving you a head start when you're ready to found cities beyond your capital.
Civilization VI is out on 21 October on PC. For more gaming coverage, be sure to follow @RedBullGames on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
