Conquer the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Playing Civilization VI

Civilization VI, the latest installment in the iconic 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) strategy game series, offers a deep and rewarding experience for both newcomers and seasoned veterans. Its complex mechanics and numerous interconnected systems can be daunting at first glance, but with a structured approach and a clear understanding of the core gameplay loop, anyone can become a masterful world leader. This guide will provide you with a comprehensive roadmap to navigating the complexities of Civilization VI, covering everything from initial setup to achieving victory.

Getting Started: Initial Setup and Understanding the Interface

Before diving into world conquest, it’s crucial to familiarize yourself with the game’s interface and initial setup options. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Launching the Game: Once installed, launch Civilization VI. You’ll be greeted with the main menu, offering options like “Single Player,” “Multiplayer,” and “Settings.” Select “Single Player” to start a new solo game.
2. Choosing Your Civilization: The “New Game” screen allows you to select a civilization to play as. Each civilization boasts unique abilities, units, and preferred playstyles. Hover over each civilization to learn more about their specific advantages. For beginners, civilizations like Rome (strong early game), Japan (flexible), or Egypt (focused on rivers) are often recommended. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find a civilization that resonates with your preferred approach.
3. Setting Game Options: Before starting, you can adjust various game options, including:
• Difficulty: Choose a difficulty level that suits your experience. Settler is easiest, while Deity is incredibly challenging. Start on Chieftain or Warlord for a comfortable learning curve.
• Map Type: Select a map type that influences the world’s generation. Continents, Pangaea, Island Plates, and many others offer distinct challenges. Continents is a good starting point for beginners.
• Map Size: Larger maps accommodate more players and offer more space for expansion, but can also lead to longer games. Standard is a balanced choice.
• Game Speed: Adjust how quickly eras progress. Standard provides a good pace, while Online is fast-paced, and Marathon is slow and deliberate.
• Victory Conditions: Civilization VI offers various paths to victory. Culture, Science, Domination, Religion, and Diplomacy are the main categories. You can choose to enable or disable specific victory conditions to tailor the game to your preferences.
4. Starting Location: Once you’ve configured your game, you’ll be placed on the map with a Settler unit and a Warrior unit (or a unique starting unit). The starting location is crucial. Ideally, you’ll want access to fresh water (rivers, lakes, or coastlines), some production tiles (hills, forests), and some food tiles (plains, grasslands). Take a moment to assess your immediate surroundings.
5. The User Interface (UI): Take time to familiarize yourself with the user interface. Important elements include:
• Top Bar: Displays your current era, gold, faith, science, culture, production, happiness (amenities), and Great People points.
• Mini-map: Shows an overview of the game map, which you can use to navigate and track units.
• City Interface: Displays information about your selected city, including its population, production queue, and buildings.
• Unit Panel: Shows your selected units, allowing you to move them and issue commands.
• Tech Tree & Civics Tree: Displays your available technologies and civics (government and social policies).
• Notifications: Displays important events such as barbarian attacks, completed research, and trade opportunities.

The Core Gameplay Loop: Exploration, Expansion, Exploitation, and Extermination

Civilization VI revolves around a core gameplay loop, often referred to as the 4Xs:

1. eXplore: Unveiling the World

The first crucial step is to explore your surroundings. Your initial Warrior unit (or equivalent) should be used to scout the area and reveal new tiles, resources, and city-state locations. Scouting reveals potential locations for new cities, uncovers strategic resources (iron, horses, etc.) that are needed for advanced units and buildings, and reveals natural wonders which provide unique bonuses.

How to Explore Effectively:

• Move your Warrior: Use the movement points displayed on the unit panel to move your Warrior into the unknown.
• Prioritize high ground: Hills provide a better view and allow you to see more terrain.
• Look for rivers and coastlines: Settlements near water sources are often ideal.
• Keep an eye out for resources: Strategic and luxury resources are essential for development.
• Encounter barbarians: Be aware of nearby barbarian camps. These hostile units can raid your cities and interrupt your progress.

2. eXpand: Founding and Growing Your Cities

After exploring, it’s time to establish your first city (or more) and expand your empire. Your starting Settler unit is the key to creating cities, the foundation of your civilization’s growth and development. Each city acts as a central hub, collecting resources, generating culture and science, and building units and structures.

How to Expand Effectively:

• Choose wisely for new cities: Consider factors like access to resources, fresh water, and strategic locations (near mountains or natural wonders).
• Use production queue: Select the initial production in a new city based on the city’s surroundings and your initial needs (builders, scouts, military units).
• Prioritize housing: Ensure that your cities have adequate housing to support population growth. Build improvements like granaries, watermills, and aqueducts.
• Control surrounding tiles: Your cities’ influence grows with population, grabbing nearby tiles that can be used to gather resources.
• Be mindful of amenities: Happy cities are productive cities. Ensure you have enough amenities (entertainment, luxury resources) to keep your populace content.

3. eXploit: Managing Resources and Production

As your cities grow, you’ll need to exploit the resources of the land to fuel your expansion, research, and military might. You’ll need to consider the needs of your cities (food, production, housing, amenities, etc.) and match improvements to that. You’ll also need to gather strategic resources for unit production, and luxury resources for amenities.

How to Exploit Resources Effectively:

• Assign citizens to tiles: Direct your city’s citizens to work specific tiles to generate food, production, gold, culture, faith, or science.
• Build improvements: Use Builder units to construct improvements on tiles, boosting resource yields (farms on food tiles, mines on production tiles, plantations on luxury resources, etc.).
• Research relevant technologies: Technologies unlock advanced improvements and new strategic resources.
• Trade with other civilizations: Exchange resources with other players or city-states for resources you lack.
• Establish trade routes: Trade routes between cities can provide additional resources, gold, and even religious and cultural influence.

4. eXterminate: Military and Defense

War is an inevitable part of civilization building, and you must be ready to defend your cities from barbarians and other civilizations, or wage war to achieve domination. You can conquer enemy cities, establish outposts, and protect trade routes with your military force.

How to Manage Military and Defense Effectively:

• Research military technologies: Keep your military force up to date with the latest technologies for a military edge.
• Produce diverse units: Create a balanced army, including melee units, ranged units, and siege units.
• Build defensive structures: Establish walls and other defensive structures in your cities to protect them from attacks.
• Use promotions: As your units gain experience in battle, promote them to gain better stats or unique bonuses.
• Form alliances: Join forces with other civilizations for mutual defense or offensive campaigns.

Achieving Victory: The Many Paths to Triumph

Civilization VI offers multiple paths to victory, allowing you to tailor your gameplay to your preferred style. Here’s a breakdown of the main victory conditions:

1. Domination Victory: Conquer the capital cities of all other civilizations. This is the most straightforward path to victory, focusing on military conquest and territorial control.
2. Science Victory: Be the first civilization to launch a mission to Mars. Requires extensive research into advanced technologies like rocketry and space travel.
3. Culture Victory: Attract the most foreign tourists by accumulating Great Works of art, literature, music, and artifacts. This focuses on generating culture points and attracting tourists from other civilizations.
4. Religion Victory: Convert the majority of all other civilizations to your religion. Requires establishing a religion and spreading its influence using religious units.
5. Diplomatic Victory: Earn the most diplomatic victory points through various means, including competing in the World Congress and completing special projects. Requires cultivating good relationships with city-states and other civilizations.

Advanced Strategies and Tips

Once you grasp the basics, you can explore advanced strategies to refine your gameplay:

• District Placement: Cities in Civilization VI are built around specialized districts, such as campuses (science), commercial hubs (gold), harbors (maritime trade), holy sites (faith), industrial zones (production), and theatre squares (culture). Carefully planning the placement of districts based on the terrain and adjacency bonuses is crucial for maximizing output.
• Policy Cards: Your government allows you to equip policy cards that modify various aspects of your civilization. Regularly switch between policy cards based on your current needs.
• Great People: Accumulate points to recruit Great People, who provide unique bonuses and abilities, including generating unique improvements or providing one-time bonuses.
• City-States: Befriend city-states by completing their quests. City-states grant unique bonuses based on the type of city state (scientific, cultural, religious, etc.) that you are suzerain of.
• Trade Routes: Establishing trade routes is not just about earning gold; they can also generate science, culture, faith, and even religious influence. Consider trade routes to cities and city states that best support your overall goals.
• Exploiting Natural Wonders: Natural Wonders are unique map features with large bonuses that can influence city locations and long-term development.
• Using Spies: Deploying spies allows you to gather information, sabotage enemy production, and steal technologies from other civilizations.
• Understanding Adjacency Bonuses: Districts gain bonus yields when placed next to specific terrain types or other districts. Strategic placement is crucial.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Even experienced players can fall into common traps. Here are a few pitfalls to avoid:

• Overexpansion: Expanding too quickly can strain your resources and lead to unhappiness. Be mindful of your available amenities and happiness levels.
• Ignoring Defense: Neglecting military defense can make your cities vulnerable to attack. Always ensure you have sufficient forces to protect yourself from barbarians and other civilizations.
• Failing to adapt: The game world can change quickly. Be prepared to adjust your strategy as needed.
• Not specializing: Avoid trying to excel at everything at once. Focus on a specific victory condition and tailor your strategy accordingly.
• Ignoring city-states: City-states can provide significant advantages if you can secure their allegiance.

Conclusion

Civilization VI is a deep and rewarding game that offers countless hours of strategic gameplay. While this guide provides a detailed overview of the game’s core mechanics, mastery requires practice, experimentation, and a willingness to learn. Don’t be afraid to try new strategies, explore different civilizations, and most importantly, have fun building your own empire. So, take your chosen civilization and begin your journey to conquer the world!