First time

[G. S.]

So, this is my first time playing Civ 6 and a 4X game as well. I managed to reach year 1900 so far (I´m still on it) and I am losing pretty hard. My first match or scenario (however you call it) is lasting like +10h, are all matches so long?
I really enjoy the game even if I am not winning and I know I´m asking too much for such a complex game but, any advice for an absolute noob?

edit: I started with "random" mode. I don´t know if this is the best choice for newcomers (I don´t even know where you choose the difficulty level!!)

[alexinexile83]

The difficulty setting is on the initial game setup screen. 10+ hours? Yeah, not abnormal but again it depends on the setup. If I was a total civ n00b (only just back into civ after a few years away) I would go for online speed and a small world. Get some good practice in. Learn the ropes.

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by G. S.:

So, this is my first time playing Civ 6 and a 4X game as well. I managed to reach year 1900 so far (I´m still on it) and I am losing pretty hard. My first match or scenario (however you call it) is lasting like +10h, are all matches so long?
I really enjoy the game even if I am not winning and I know I´m asking too much for such a complex game but, any advice for an absolute noob?

edit: I started with "random" mode. I don´t know if this is the best choice for newcomers (I don´t even know where you choose the difficulty level!!)

To a certain extent you can control the time per game by selecting the map size. The larger the map the more time it takes. There are also actual time settings as well, standard epic and Marathon. My last game as on a huge map at marathon time setting and I was thirty plus hours in when I won.

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by G. S.:

So, this is my first time playing Civ 6 and a 4X game as well. I managed to reach year 1900 so far (I´m still on it) and I am losing pretty hard. My first match or scenario (however you call it) is lasting like +10h, are all matches so long?
I really enjoy the game even if I am not winning and I know I´m asking too much for such a complex game but, any advice for an absolute noob?

edit: I started with "random" mode. I don´t know if this is the best choice for newcomers (I don´t even know where you choose the difficulty level!!)

Note when you go everthing random the only way to see what you've got beyond leader and civilization is to look at the victory screen. There should be a column that shows you the parameters of your current game, map size if applicable some maps only come in one size without mods. However at start pick a leader and it will run down the list for the world builder as limited as it is in 6.

[Elkian Lionblood]

So when you start a Single Player game, there's a few options.

If you hover the cursor over "Play Now", it'll show a description of the contents: "Play on a Small Continents Map with Random Leaders."

Under this is Scenarios, which I haven't tried because they seem to all be warfare and that's one of my least favorite parts of the franchise. You can page through those for specific campaigns with special AI rules if that's your thing.

At the very bottom of the Single Player options is "Create Game". This is what you want.

I'd recommend clicking "Advanced Options" near the very bottom (it kinda blends into the UI).

First, change the difficulty. I believe Play Now defaults to Prince - I'd recommend playing on Settler until you can consistently get the results you want, but it's totally up to you.

Next, pick your ruleset. Do you want Natural Disasters and a World Congress, or a more politically-slanted playstyle, or just the base ruleset? That's at the top. (Yes, I did those two a bit backwards but I stand by it.)

At the bottom of this first part, just above the sliders, is "Game Speed". Quick is 33% faster, while Online is 2x faster. This will help with those 10+ hour sessions!

NEXT, pick your Map and Size. Changing Size resets a number of things so it's a good idea to do this before the rest. I have no strong feelings on map choices at this time.

In theory, picking a larger Map and then reducing the number of other Civilizations (via clicking the "X" to the right of the bars in the left column) would start you farther apart, but I personally can't seem to go 8 turns without running into someone.

You can customize available Wonders, available AI and city-states (or turn city-states off entirely), barbarian existence (note that using the Barbarian Tribes/Clans system will eventually turn them into City-States, that wasn't clear the first time I played). Go ahead and page through the options and figure out what you want. You can also save these presets for re-use! (the "Load Configuration" and "Save Configuration" buttons at the bottom).

For your first time using Gathering Storm, if you have it, I recommend setting the Natural Disaster scale (under the City-States bar) to 0 - this isn't "no disasters", it's "least disasters". Note that setting "World Age" to "New" will greatly increase the number of volcanos going off and how often they do so - I learned this the hard way.

I own Rise and Fall but haven't tried it yet so I can't comment, sorry.

Then, figure out which kinds of victories you want. You can turn them off at will, making it reasonably safe to ignore those elements (they won't disappear, though - the AI wiping out your cities will put a crimp in your plans even with Domination Victory set to OFF).

Lastly, below the Victories options is the Limit Turns option - you can set this to determine when the game will forcibly end if no one has achieved an explicit Victory condition yet.

You should now have a custom game setup to better suit your needs! Sadly the AI in this game is apparently kind of messed up - it's worth going through the Steam Workshop for Mods if the custom settings aren't enough. (For example, I'm running a mod that turns off Religion and World Congress, bc those are interesting but disruptive to my personal playstyle).

Hope that helps!

[fmalfeas]

Also, I'd suggest a new player pick a civ that doesn't have 'total game changer' traits. Nubia is a good one for that. They're solid, and their traits and UU don't radically alter play.

Nothing like learning the game as Rome, and then suddenly finding out that nobody else starts with Monuments and Trading Posts in all cities and a road back to Rome.

[G. S.]

Thank you all for your answers/tips. Very useful. I´m still struggling even on the easiest mode but starting to get used to the mechanics and enjoying it more and more.
+30h? wow...a single scenario can last more than the average adventure game.

[alexinexile83]

Originally posted by G. S.:

Thank you all for your answers/tips. Very useful. I´m still struggling even on the easiest mode but starting to get used to the mechanics and enjoying it more and more.
+30h? wow...a single scenario can last more than the average adventure game.

Yep.

[That Crazy Squirrel]

Originally posted by G. S.:

My first match or scenario (however you call it) is lasting like +10h, are all matches so long?

They do tend to last around 8-10 hours normally, you can change the speed of the game (and a lot of other stuff) in the 'advanced setup' screen.

Originally posted by G. S.:

I really enjoy the game even if I am not winning and I know I´m asking too much for such a complex game but, any advice for an absolute noob?

A detailed tutorial would take too long to type out, considering this is your very first time with Civilization and 4x games in general it's not a bad idea to lower the difficulty. That way you can learn the game without getting beaten up so badly you end up turning away from the game.

Originally posted by G. S.:

I started with "random" mode. I don´t know if this is the best choice for newcomers (I don´t even know where you choose the difficulty level!!)

I take it by "random mode" you mean with random civilizations, that's not a bad thing.

You can change the difficulty while on the 'create game' screen, it's a dropdown menu that is always set to "Prince" by default, that's the normal difficulty.

Additionally you can click the "Advanced setup" for even more customization options.

[G. S.]

Originally posted by Orgunis:

Originally posted by G. S.:

My first match or scenario (however you call it) is lasting like +10h, are all matches so long?

They do tend to last around 8-10 hours normally, you can change the speed of the game (and a lot of other stuff) in the 'advanced setup' screen.

Originally posted by G. S.:

I really enjoy the game even if I am not winning and I know I´m asking too much for such a complex game but, any advice for an absolute noob?

A detailed tutorial would take too long to type out, considering this is your very first time with Civilization and 4x games in general it's not a bad idea to lower the difficulty. That way you can learn the game without getting beaten up so badly you end up turning away from the game.

Originally posted by G. S.:

I started with "random" mode. I don´t know if this is the best choice for newcomers (I don´t even know where you choose the difficulty level!!)

I take it by "random mode" you mean with random civilizations, that's not a bad thing.

You can change the difficulty while on the 'create game' screen, it's a dropdown menu that is always set to "Prince" by default, that's the normal difficulty.

Additionally you can click the "Advanced setup" for even more customization options.

Thanks for your tips, Orgunis but I´ve already become a pro-player... No, no at all haha, but I´ve been playing for quite some time and I´ve improved a lot, even in higher difficulty levels. I´ve learnt a lot on my own by just playing and playing and also learned to enjoy it as it should. This thread is from Augustus but it´s been revived again.