Civilization VI

Think of it like a board game.

Civ VI has more of a board game feel than any other Civ game, in my opinion. If you picture it that way, you may find it easier to get into it.

Also, take the barbarian threat seriously. They’re more active in Civ VI than previous games, and sometimes are more aggressive than AI players.

Start as a builder in Settler Mode. Your goal in Settler is to figure out your Civ abilities, basic game rules, and how the techs and such interact for synergies. Once you have a bunch of builder strategies firmly in hand, go for Prince.

if this is your first Civ game then ignore things like score and win conditions for at least the first dozen games.

just focus on growing your civ and reacting to what the world throws at you.

Yes, it's my first Civ game. Just start op the game and go for it? I really don't even no what the goal is. But, okay I launch it and see how I progress

Phrozbug wrote:

Yes, it's my first Civ game. Just start op the game and go for it? I really don't even no what the goal is. But, okay I launch it and see how I progress

Definitely just boot it up and go. There's no substitute for hands-on learning, and the civilopedia is helpful if you need more information on a unit, mechanic, or game concept.

For the first couple runs, just swat lazily at the wincons. Put the speed on faster settings so it doesn't drag as much and you can get a quick overview of how the game flows.

Phrozbug wrote:

Yes, it's my first Civ game. Just start op the game and go for it? I really don't even no what the goal is. But, okay I launch it and see how I progress

My advice is..... just take your time. Don’t press the ‘end turn’ button until you are ready. Sometimes that’s almost immediately - there’s not a lot to do - other times it can 20 minutes or more before you are ready.

Early game - explore. Build a scout and go and see what’s out there. Switch barbarians off in the advanced menu options. Look at what resources are around your capital and immediate environment. Plan your techs accordingly. Identify two, maybe three good other city sites. Make sure you build an slinger/archer and have enough military units to prevent and opportune attack by an AI rival. Build a settler relatively early. Use your builder to mine/exploit resources at first, mines & farms can come later.

Do that and you’ll have made some inroads on how to play the game without getting stomped early on.

Edit: if you don’t know what something does or what it’s for, look it up in the in game civilopedia. You can use the search bar to find it, you don’t have to scroll through the whole list. All games should have a civiliopedia, it should be law.

I'd agree, boot it up and go. Civ 6 does a really good job telling you what actions you need to take in a given round, and drawing your attention to key pieces of information. Those prompts won't necessarily help you learn the game's quirks, or how to exploit the "gamey" aspects of Civ, but they'll show you what you need to do.

Broadly speaking, there are four goals: (1) conquer everyone else's capital; (2) have a culture that overwhelms all others; (2) develop a space program and send out colonists; and (4) found and spread a religion throughout the world. It can help to decide in advance which of these you want to pursue, but sometimes it's fun just to see where the game takes you.

Also, each of the leaders has a special ability that bends the rules a bit. For your first game or two, I would recommend a leader that doesn't bend the rules too much, so that you have an easier time adjusting as you continue to play. Good choices include:

  • Teddy Roosevelt - His main ability makes him stronger fighting on his continent, which will (probably) give you an easier time defending yourself against barbarians in the early game, and an easier time conquering your immediate neighbor.
  • Trajan - Roman cities will start with a monument, which makes it easier to develop your culture, and new cities will automatically have a road connecting to your capital.
  • Pericles - They get a good early game unit and building which are better than the basic version, and some bonuses to city state alliances, but otherwise they don't fundamentally change the game much. They also get a bonus policy slot [for civ-wide buffs you can swap every so often]. But otherwise, Greece doesn't change the basic gameplay too much.
  • Hojo - Japan's good at building dense cities. They don't get any specialty districts, but do produce several districts at half cost, and get some bonuses that make districts produce higher yields when adjacent to each other. So, again, Japan doesn't change the basic gameplay too much.

Thanks guys/girls for your fantastic help. I'll dive into the game and update you on my progress!

Yep, mostly as above. Part of the problem with watching Let's Play videos on youtube and the like is that the person playing tends to know the game well, and will be gaming it's mechanics, rather than just having fun playing.

Just stick the difficulty down low and concentrate on your own Civ at first, the others can just be a backdrop for the world. Dont get too bogged down in how to do X perfectly, at least not yet.

For a very long time, what I *wanted* from Civ was just a relaxing, minimal challenge, All-conquering comp-stomp. I didn't want to be challenged to the point of losing or almost losing the game, that wasn't what I wanted to get out of it. So I never really went above Warlord difficulty (although now I play on King). Never feel bad for playing at a difficult level that gets you enjoyment (be that a wistful breeze with no challenge at all, or soul-crushing, punishment... whatever floats your boat)

If you play it on easier difficulties until you get the hang of what the aim of the game is, then you can crank it up as you see fit. You could also focus on a different mechanic for each play through - 1st play-through general w-t-h is going on. 2nd play-through, focus on city placement, expansion, land grabbing etc, 3rd, focus on science and try to overpower the enemies with the size of your brain, 4th play-through, go all out war, craft your Civilization as a war machine and watch the world burn. Doesn't have to be that order, just an example.

It's (until recently), a single player game, play it however you want, or whatever way brings you entertainment, joy and fun, and damn anyone that tells you otherwise.

As a personal addendum to what omni said, I don't play King for a challenge. I know I'm going to win at King with even Georgia on bad starts. I play King because that's the setting that gives me good interactions and wars with the AI. They fold over a little too easily on Prince. I want to see my Janissaries flex a little more.

Yes, there is a tipping point where it becomes not a game about creating a Civlization, but a game about beating the mechanics of the game. It's at that point I turn off.

Last night they announced that Civ 6 is coming for the XBox and PS4! Not until November 22nd, but still. The actual best part of the news they added was that there was an Expansion Pack also coming, and it was coming for the Switch, too! It looks like they want 50 bucks for both expansions, which is on the high-side, but I think for the improvements to the base game you get with each of the expansions, it's a good value. My only complaint left for the Switch version is a lack of pass-and-play.

Wait. To get the full GS version of Civ VI on the consoles, you gotta dish out 150 bucks?

That's, um, a mite expensive.

I read it as you have to buy both expansions bundled together and that will run you $50, but now that I reread it I'm not sure.

mwdowns wrote:

Wait. To get the full GS version of Civ VI on the consoles, you gotta dish out 150 bucks?

I don't think that's the case. I think it's the 60 dollar base game and a 50 dollar DLC 2-pack. Not that 110 dollars isn't expensive, but it is in line with the pre-sale cost on PC. I got the game for 20 bucks a few months ago, so it's in the realm of reasonable to me.

$50 gets you both expansions. But it's still $60 for the base game. So, $110 total.

EDIT: It's currently $120 to get everything bundled together on Steam.

Yeah, but everyone's used to waiting for a sale on Steam while they expect stuff on the Nintendo store to stay full price most of the time.

Civ VI has been on sale on the eShop before, and likely will be again.

Doesn't the same company who does the console ports also handle the iOS version? Has there been any news about expansions for that platform?

Vargen wrote:

Yeah, but everyone's used to waiting for a sale on Steam while they expect stuff on the Nintendo store to stay full price most of the time.

Nonsense. Things are on sale on the eShop literally constantly.

It's only first-party games that you can't expect much from in the way of sales.

Third party games? My SD card is filled with about 40 of them purchased on sale.

Civ 6 itself has been on sale on the eShop 5 times this year. It was $36 for most of September.

I bought a physical copy of Civ VI on Switch for $30 earlier this year when it normally sold for $50. It definitely goes on sale, just gotta know where to look!

*Legion* wrote:
Vargen wrote:

Yeah, but everyone's used to waiting for a sale on Steam while they expect stuff on the Nintendo store to stay full price most of the time.

Nonsense. Things are on sale on the eShop literally constantly.

You know this and I know this, but I don't believe that's what the average person knows or expects.

Vargen wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
Vargen wrote:

Yeah, but everyone's used to waiting for a sale on Steam while they expect stuff on the Nintendo store to stay full price most of the time.

Nonsense. Things are on sale on the eShop literally constantly.

You know this and I know this, but I don't believe that's what the average person knows or expects.

Well, you're comparing them to Steam sales, and I think anyone that is the kind of game buyer that knows about Steam sales will see how prominent sales are within the eShop if they own a Switch. It's the first Nintendo console I've owned and actually bought games for in a while, and the eShop pretty quickly communicated to me just how often sales take place.

Deku Deals!!!

*Legion* wrote:
Vargen wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
Vargen wrote:

Yeah, but everyone's used to waiting for a sale on Steam while they expect stuff on the Nintendo store to stay full price most of the time.

Nonsense. Things are on sale on the eShop literally constantly.

You know this and I know this, but I don't believe that's what the average person knows or expects.

Well, you're comparing them to Steam sales, and I think anyone that is the kind of game buyer that knows about Steam sales will see how prominent sales are within the eShop if they own a Switch. It's the first Nintendo console I've owned and actually bought games for in a while, and the eShop pretty quickly communicated to me just how often sales take place.

And yet we get people commenting on how expensive the game is when it's the same standard price on both stores. I'm not saying that eShop sales are hard to find. I'm saying that Steam sales have a remarkable presence in gamer culture, above and beyond that of typical savvy consumerism.

I've been oggling the Switch version of Civ for a while, and a physical copy can be found at Amazon for a mere €33. Unfortunately, I cannot find any physical copy of the DLC (aka the expansions) for Switch.

Does anybody know whether I can buy a physical base copy and then expand it with eShop-purchased expansions?

I don't think there is a physical copy with the dlc yet. I picked the game up over black Friday, unfortunately since the new dlc dropped apparently it's broken the game on switch. There is a bug that still hasn't been fixed or even addressed widely yet that makes finishing the game impossible it crashes just before you complete the victory condition. There has been reports on a work around but according to Reddit they are false.

Just a heads up, I was pumped to have a mobile version of the game but this has really taken the wind from my sails I haven't really played it since. Just waiting on that fix but there is no timeline even announced and it's been broken for like 2 weeks apparently.

Oh my. Guess I'll wait it out than. Thanks for the info!

dejanzie wrote:

Does anybody know whether I can buy a physical base copy and then expand it with eShop-purchased expansions?

That is the standard way such things work. I cannot confirm that Civ VI conforms to this, though if it didn’t I’m sure Polygon or someone would have put up an article.

I ended up going with the iPad version because from what I can tell the Switch port doesn’t have pass-and-play multiplayer.

Vargen wrote:
dejanzie wrote:

Does anybody know whether I can buy a physical base copy and then expand it with eShop-purchased expansions?

That is the standard way such things work. I cannot confirm that Civ VI conforms to this, though if it didn’t I’m sure Polygon or someone would have put up an article.

I ended up going with the iPad version because from what I can tell the Switch port doesn’t have pass-and-play multiplayer.

The dlc works fine with the physical if you download it. Hotseat multiplayer was patched in as well as a hall of records. Keep in mind also there is no online multiplayer in the switch version, despite the other two consoles having it. It's a pretty good port besides the unable to finish a game now. I hope it gets fixed but the silence around this issue is worrying. It also seems like a widespread issue everyone is experiencing the problem in vanilla or with expansions, atleast if you patch the game.

Rave wrote:

Hotseat multiplayer was patched in as well as a hall of records.

Oh sweet, that's good to know. Thank you. I'm only in for $5 on the iPad so depending on how future sales break I might swap platforms when I decide to grab the full game.