The first thing to be clear to a new Civilization player is that it is not a real-time strategy (RTS), but a turn-based game. You should consider that every single action you take will reflect in how your enemy sees the game and bring consequences. Think of it as a giant chess game, but one where you are able to move all the pieces when it is your turn.
That said, keep in mind that Civilization is not a game where speed clicking will help you win the match. Your capability to read the situations and the decisions you take are what counts. However, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to mind the time. Actually, it is quite the opposite, as every single turn is absolutely important for your objectives in the game.
So, if, for example, you send your troops to the wrong tile, you may just get surrounded by enemy troops and get crushed. On the other hand, if you had made the right choices about your policies, even surrounded soldiers might survive and form an important strategic stronghold. These aspects are what make Civilization fascinating.
Setting up your game
Each Civilization is represented by a leader and has its specific bonuses and weaknesses. You should choose who to play with considering how you will try to win, but for now, as you are starting and getting to know the game, you can choose the nation you have more sympathy with. We will talk about the winning conditions later. Here is a short guide provided by Civilization VI official website about how to make this choice:
Founding your first city
As you start the game you will have two units: settlers and explorers (military unit). Don’t waste time and found your city right away. The first turns are extremely important. Start creating more units and facilities in your city as soon as you can, so don’t walk around with the settlers. Usually, the game starts with placing you at an already quite nice and strategically beneficial place. The only excuse to move settlers before founding the first town is the nearby presence of a river or the sea, not too far from other resources.
Now, mate, EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE. You will see that there are ruins (at Civilization V) or tribal villages (at Civilization VI) all around. Finding them can give you a great starting advantage. Some of them will even provide instant technologies that would take many turns to research. Also, you can find city-states that will give you better tributes if you are the first to meet them, and map the barbarian camps around, because those will give you a big headache if you don’t pay enough attention.
It is so important to explore that we suggest making an extra exploration unit first (scout). Other stuff can come after that. Keep in mind that you will be able to create more settlers and found more cities further in the game, so the exploration is also important to define your expansion strategy, considering where are your opponents and the resources at the map.
Winning the game
“Ok, I have to explore the map and develop my civilization through building cities, units and facilities, I got it. But what is the point?” There are many ways to win a match, but you should work for every single one of them from the first turn. Remember your goal:
1 – Domination
This one is easy to understand but hard to perform: one player controls the capital city of every other nation in the game. It means that the person who chooses this method to win should have a really strong military power to face constant conflicts, one after other.
2 – Culture
The most difficult to perform. You should generate as much Culture and Tourism as you can, attracting more tourists to your territory than any other nation. We will talk about how to generate culture in the articles to come. Victory conditions change depending on which version of the game you play.
3 – Science
This is also a type of victory that changes its requirements depending on the version of the game. In Civilization VI, for example, the player should take three steps:
– Launch a satellite
– Send a person to the Moon
– Establish a colony on Mars
To reach it, you should focus on generating Science points, especially considering that it is a kind of a race between you and other players: the first one to complete the goals will win.
4 – Religion
If your nation founded a religion that is dominant in every other civilization (more than 50% of the cities following it), you will achieve a religious victory.
5 – Time/Score
If none of the previous victories was achieved by any player until the year 2050 (500 turns in a standard game), the game will declare the leader with the highest score the winner. The factors are: wonders, research level and population.
Now you have the basic information to begin your journey to become a respected leader of a civilization; one who will lead it to its rise and fall. Many other aspects can be observed and learned in-game. Mind that this was only the first chapter of our guide, as Civilization is a really complex game and a single article can’t cover it all. Stay tuned into Kinguin.ly for the next parts!
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