I absolutely suck at Civ 6 - any tips?

[jennydb91]

I have spent a ridicolous amount of time on Civilization over the last few years, but here's a confession: I very rarely win. And I think the only time I can distinctly remember winning, it was a scientific victory. Most of the time, I tire of the game before it's over (500 rounds is a lot), and thus don't actually finish.

I really suck, but can't really figure out what I do wrong. At the beginning of the game, without fail, it either turns out I settled basically at the border of another civ or I am in constant fight with barbarians. It doesn't matter if I create a lot of cities fast or just one and focus on developing it. I spend time making districts, you name it, and admit I probably forget creating enough units. Then, at some point, I get attacked by my neighbour who somehow has a gigantic army, several cities and a whole lot of wonders already, while I am still fighting barbarians and building monuments. Sometimes I preemptively attack my neighbour and take one or more of their cities early, especially if they are in the way. But then, somehow, another civ either always attacks me or surpasses me in other ways. In one of my recent plays I took a city form the vikings because they settled inbetween my cities. I had planned to go for a religious victory in that run, and started off quite well, founding a pantheon early etc. Now, 150 turns later, I still feel like I am just beginning to really get my cities going, and somehow Russia has created a hell of an empire. They spawn so many Missionaries and Apostles you would think that's what they had been doing all along. Not only that: Russia has 10+ cities and have basically taken over the continent, and they have so many Great Persons you can see painters, writers etc. just wandering about! I just don't understand how it's possible. Just gave up the religious victory right then.

Another time I was just minding my own business, keeping good relations with my neighbours, and suddenly Gorgo declared war to "test my army". Three turns later, Alexander does the same thing. Unfortunate to start off inbetween those two, I suppose, but me wanting to stay peaceful seemed to offend them.

Other times I build wonders until I am blue in the face, but others still beat me at culture.

I suspect this could generally have to do with me trying to avoid war. I just want to create wonders, generate culture etc. in peace, trading with my neighbours. But at some point, I end up in a war, and I don't like it. It's boring and repetitive, and I don't even see the point of the great generals or admirals - they can't fight, and I know they are supposed to give a bonus to adjacent units, but don't really get what it is. And the most tedious part is having to desginate tasks for EVERY SINGLE UNIT every turn. Therefore I often just leave them fortified, and when I need them, I have to remember where I "put" them and get them moving to where the action is.

I see others saying warfare in Civ 6 is so easy, and bla bla, but I often find it isn't, at least not far into the game. For some reason many of the other civs seem to always beat me at science, tourism and culture, while STILL having a huge army and lots of cities.

I am considering going for domination the next time I play, I haven't really tried to go that route and know it's supposed to be easiest, but my experience, at least in the late game, is that you can be stuck in everlasting war you have to constantly create units for. At the beginning of the game it's easy to take a City, but late in the game they can have bombs and warplanes and high defense stats, and then you just can't expect to take it with just a few units or in just a few rounds.

Any pointers? What am I doing wrong? Is there even any point in trying for for example cultural victory? (Why cant there be an economic victory? I often end up rich as hell.)

[Fulesa]

On wich difficulty are you playing? In higher difficultys you will mostly have to take over enemie citys to get a strong empire, because the enemies have so big buffs you won't be able to be a real concurrent.

If not you have to focus at start in food and production(, especially builders!, and settlers), to be able to build much. Later you can do science to improve yields. But you have to have an eye on the enemies, that they won't destroy you with their army, archers are a solution for everything.

There is actualy a mod for more victory conditions, "CiVI Reformation Victories v1.5.6 (Rise and Fall)".

[jennydb91]

I usually play on Prince, so it's not supposed to be so difficult. I have won a few times on warlord (when I actually bothered to finish the game), and prince is supposed to be the standard.

[Fulesa]

Yes, in prince the enemies don't get buffs.

This game is mostly about to get as much production as possible at the start. There you should use all possibilitys, the most important are citizens, wich u'll get with much food and amenitys and housing( less important), so try to get as many of these as possible. Realy look that you get good fields near to your citys and have for the start much housing. If you settle somewhere think about cityplanning.

If you don't want to take over an enemie's city you shouldn't use to much to build a military, just if you see that someone wants to attack you( has a big military(, you see it on victory menu(military points) or hates you). At the start archers work nearly against everything and cavalary is realy strong, too. By the way, realy use your units maybe let them explore, but not too far away(, just if won't need them military). It's often useful to fortyfy your units in citys, because with some policis, they give an amenity or something else.

If you think your economie is strong enought you should switch trying to make a victory like building fitting districts or be strong at military. For religious you should have had a great prophet, wich you have to include in your strategy at making holy sides or building stonehenge even if your economie isn't running that well.

It's everytime important to look at your enemies doing. If they try getting a victory, do something against.

Last but not least, you need to use the strenghts of your civilisation, like spamming the special unit and district/building(, most modernisations just if they fit). So try to get a win for wich your civilisation fits, like norway is pretty strong at religious viktory because of their special building, but he has many abilitys wich will help you at military, too, so you should decide between these two viktorys.

I hope I have could help you with this. Sorry that this is so much, but this game is pretty complex.

[Fulesa]

Sorry, for bad english, it's not my strenght.

[BatMart]

you should youtube a little, there's many EXCELLENT tutorials and tips for civ 6 available there.

Civ 6 is built to generate a lot of warfare, gorgo and alexander both love civs that are always at war with someone...

really, youtube is your best friend !

[gimmethegepgun]

Russia having a moronic amount of faith and great people is just Russia being Russia. Their unique Holy Site district is half price and gives writer/artist/musician great person points so they always get a million of them.
Personally if I notice signs of Russia being in the game I just restart because ♥♥♥♥ them.

[Celebane]

It also might not be a bad idea to limit the types of victory conditions in the game setup. That way you take a way a few options that the AI can use to beat you. Make them go the same path you're going so you don't have to worry about religion or culture or whatever. In my opinion science victory is one of the easier ways to win. I did have a game recently where I was getting my butt kicked at science. The science leader was halfway through the second stage and I hadn't even built a space port yet. I diverted all but 1 of my spies to sabotage rocketry taking out all of the space ports that the science leader had. The spy I held back focused on stealing tech boosts from the science leader. I didn't have the sabotage spies do anything else other than gather resources and just waited so that as soon as the space ports were repaired the spies were available to take them out again. I managed to catch up and squeek out a victory thanks to my spies blocking him from progressing and stealing boosts to help me catch up. It was one of the most exciting victories I have had because it was such a come from behind victory and I wasn't just steamrolling the AI.

[vkobe]

Originally posted by jennydb91:

I have spent a ridicolous amount of time on Civilization over the last few years, but here's a confession: I very rarely win. And I think the only time I can distinctly remember winning, it was a scientific victory. Most of the time, I tire of the game before it's over (500 rounds is a lot), and thus don't actually finish.

I really suck, but can't really figure out what I do wrong. At the beginning of the game, without fail, it either turns out I settled basically at the border of another civ or I am in constant fight with barbarians. It doesn't matter if I create a lot of cities fast or just one and focus on developing it. I spend time making districts, you name it, and admit I probably forget creating enough units. Then, at some point, I get attacked by my neighbour who somehow has a gigantic army, several cities and a whole lot of wonders already, while I am still fighting barbarians and building monuments. Sometimes I preemptively attack my neighbour and take one or more of their cities early, especially if they are in the way. But then, somehow, another civ either always attacks me or surpasses me in other ways. In one of my recent plays I took a city form the vikings because they settled inbetween my cities. I had planned to go for a religious victory in that run, and started off quite well, founding a pantheon early etc. Now, 150 turns later, I still feel like I am just beginning to really get my cities going, and somehow Russia has created a hell of an empire. They spawn so many Missionaries and Apostles you would think that's what they had been doing all along. Not only that: Russia has 10+ cities and have basically taken over the continent, and they have so many Great Persons you can see painters, writers etc. just wandering about! I just don't understand how it's possible. Just gave up the religious victory right then.

Another time I was just minding my own business, keeping good relations with my neighbours, and suddenly Gorgo declared war to "test my army". Three turns later, Alexander does the same thing. Unfortunate to start off inbetween those two, I suppose, but me wanting to stay peaceful seemed to offend them.

Other times I build wonders until I am blue in the face, but others still beat me at culture.

I suspect this could generally have to do with me trying to avoid war. I just want to create wonders, generate culture etc. in peace, trading with my neighbours. But at some point, I end up in a war, and I don't like it. It's boring and repetitive, and I don't even see the point of the great generals or admirals - they can't fight, and I know they are supposed to give a bonus to adjacent units, but don't really get what it is. And the most tedious part is having to desginate tasks for EVERY SINGLE UNIT every turn. Therefore I often just leave them fortified, and when I need them, I have to remember where I "put" them and get them moving to where the action is.

I see others saying warfare in Civ 6 is so easy, and bla bla, but I often find it isn't, at least not far into the game. For some reason many of the other civs seem to always beat me at science, tourism and culture, while STILL having a huge army and lots of cities.

I am considering going for domination the next time I play, I haven't really tried to go that route and know it's supposed to be easiest, but my experience, at least in the late game, is that you can be stuck in everlasting war you have to constantly create units for. At the beginning of the game it's easy to take a City, but late in the game they can have bombs and warplanes and high defense stats, and then you just can't expect to take it with just a few units or in just a few rounds.

Any pointers? What am I doing wrong? Is there even any point in trying for for example cultural victory? (Why cant there be an economic victory? I often end up rich as hell.)

spam archers and camp in your town or camp, after launch a counter offensive with archer and warrior, if you can have cavalry use them instead warrior

personally i avoid to made wonder when i cant crush easly my opponants, so my priority it is worker, critical building and military units and military building and i chose all the options to improve my military, economy and production

[zxcvbob]

I'm having a lot of fun playing Kongo. Try to get a pantheon, but don't worry too much if you miss out. (probably Religious Settlements or Divine Spark.) Not quite beeline (it's not efficient to go straight for it) but quickly get ironworking. Upgrade your warrior to your unique unit (you don't need iron) and build a few more with the Agoge card in play. Now go kill your nearest neighbor. You don't need any catapults. With their +10 defense against ranged attacks, they are great for capturing cities. You will probably need to research Masonry and build a battering ram before the first war is over because the AI's will start getting walls up, but they probably won't have walls yet in the first city.

You can usually play peacefully after that first war. Your victim will probably have a few districts and might even have a wonder. And now you have some room to spread out. Build campuses in almost every city, and a commercial hub or a harbor in every city. You should be able to get way ahead of the AI's and can pursue any victory except religious.

[255]

- Science is the easiest victory. Korea and Scotland are science power house.
- Culture is hard but achieveable. Need to spam wonders and use faith to buy Great People. Russia is the best choice, Poland and France are both good alternative.
- Domination seems easy but it is actually pretty hard in Prince and above (Civ 6 AIs seem random to me, they suck in some games and excellent in others, or perhaps I use the AI+ mod). Go for Mongol, England, Germany, Scythia, Macedon, Sumeria, etc.
- I have never tried to achieve a Religious victory. Having a religion really boost your production, sciene and culture yields.
- Try to build districts and farms in diagonal position, because they create a lot of bonus.
- Techniquely you can defend a city with just the city with wall, a range unit and a melee unit, against an entire army! The most important factor in attacking a city is terrain penalty in movement, so try to settle cities in defensive position (like behind mountains, rivers or a lot of forests). And try not to trade with civs that you think they will attack you soon (because traders build roads to them).
There are many youtubers make video for tips and tricks, such as FilthyRobot.

[BatMart]

Also of note: You can change the game speed. online speed = 250 turns instead of 500

[Venboven]

Lol, not to be a d*ck, but how the h*ll can you lose playing on prince? I've only lost a game once because I tried playing a tiny map; me v.s. one other civ. I got stuck on a sh*tty little island and Gilgamesh got a whole continent all to himself. Naturally, I built a navy, but his was bigger and he r@ped me real hard. Other than that, I play tons of games, which, like you, I never usually finish. (I get bored) But if I wanted to, I could go back and finish most of them and win. I usually always make the upper hand for myself. So I'm assuming you're a newer player, I'll give you some tips. To start off the game, make sure you're in a good spot. Take a few turns exploring with your warrior to make sure of this. If you're not happy with your spot, restart, get a new map. This is mostly how you win. If you're starting off in a jungle, a desert, or a sh*t tiny little island, get ready for a challenge. I prefer fields or plains, preferably by the sea (Navies are fun). Start off your city by building a scout. Know your land and find your neighbors. After this, alternate between building up your city and building settlers. You need to pump out those cities. Cities = win. Once you have around 4-6 cities, start building an army. Begin making an army sooner if you get into a war. Stop all production. Switch to war economy; produce encampments and build an army (or a navy, it depends). Depending on what victory you're going for, this could be drastically changed. For religious, you will either need to REALLY early build stonehenge or a holy site. Once you have a great prophet, get 1 missionary to spread it in your civilization alone. Then focus on getting apostles to finish your belief sets. Don't launch an inquisition until later. You won't need the inquisitors it gives you until like mid game-ish. My personal trick to religious victory: Try to get a game with the city state: Yerevan. Their suzerein bonus allows you to pick your apostle's promotions. Spam out proselytizers and a few debaters with this to just destroy any opposition. That's just one victory condition. Each victory has it's own strategy. Look online and in the guides for tips and tricks with each one.

[fakemon64]

you should check some of the steam guides, they are pretty good and some are not too long. also theres always youtube if you prefer videos

[Rademus]

What is sad is the time you have spent playing it and have yet to win...and per Venboven, he's only lost once as Prince! However, sadder is me! I, like you, have hammered maps of all kinds, playing as Prince and have very seldom won. I want to thank you for making this post and to all of those that gave ideas. LOL....gotta love this game!

[Mr. Jizzard The Tentacle Wizard]

Try to get a start with good production and food, and try to get envoys in as many city states as you can. Early game level 1 city state bonuses are pretty good. In prince difficulty, city states pretty much never get captured so feel confident in investing in them. Try to get as many tribal villages as you can, and always prioritize taking out barbarian encampments as soon as you can. Try to settle as many cities in good spots as you can too.