CIV VI Gameplay Guide (MP focus)

[Tabarnak]

i don't know if it has been written down in your guide but i still see people placing districts earliest as possible then switch to something else(to save hammers from prod cost, related to techs advances).

It has been patched already. Now, the cost raises after you finished a district(same type).

So the best way to reduce prod cost of districts atm is to build them in grape(start many districts of same type and try to finish them down around the same turn).

 

[JustifierNA]

If you're truly rushing for cavalry you'd better be getting them at turn 65 not turn 70-75. A player who properly techs/invests into a decent military can defend vs them easily by that point

Another big thing here is if you're investing that much into science an experienced player puts you on the top of their hit list: You're usually extremely weak in an extended war so if you're making 40-50 spt by turn 40 because while you can produce nice units you can't mass produce those units...whereas horsemen/knights are 1-3 turn units in every city for a player who invests into trade/culture and your campus heavy cities are all I'd need to round off my empire without investing into anything myself Also something pretty cool that I've been doing lately when I'm "behind" is simply getting to Musketmen/bombards/siege tactics. Muskets in forts are not going to die to cavalry and it's along the tech path to Field Cannons (you can easily get all the boosts to get there when taking this tech path rather than rushing straight for Cavalry and more importantly it comes FAR FAR sooner than Cavalry will. I can have Musketmen + Bombbards knocking at your door at around turn 60 and forts up by turn 65-70 around my vital cities. If you've not taken me out by turn 75 then I'll have around 10-14 forts ringing my empire (and this is assuming that I did not get the city state Granada in which case I'd have had my forts up by turn 40 and by turn 60 there'd be a literal ring of forts surrounding all of my cities)
Glad you liked it

 

[Tabarnak]

Well it's usually a trade of. Before knocking for science you have to be sure to not be worried about a suprise war. Any deviations of the general and efficient way to play military focused demand precautions.

The musketmen strat is interesting but you better have a relatively good choke point or it can be difficult to protect almost all your frontier, thing that can be quite large by moments!

 

[whacker]

i don't know if it has been written down in your guide but i still see people placing districts earliest as possible then switch to something else(to save hammers from prod cost, related to techs advances).

It has been patched already. Now, the cost raises after you finished a district(same type).

So the best way to reduce prod cost of districts atm is to build them in grape(start many districts of same type and try to finish them down around the same turn).

I am 99% sure that this is wrong. I just finished a game and i had several CD`s placed with costs varying from 230-400 production.
Also, even if they work like traders/builders/settlers now, there is no point in trying to finish them at once, as the increased cost will kick in nevertheless.

Edit: I just doublechecked the save, the mechanic still works the same way as ever. Placed district costs are locked.


Also i want to congratulate JustifierNA for that massive piece of work. I am a SP player and i don`t agree on everything you wrote,but i really appreciate the effort for the community. Good job!
Do you have some kind of a regular playerbase/scheduled play? I would love to get my hands on some MP games in a competetive but friendly environment, although i am afraid that time difference kills it.

 

[Arent11]

Well it's usually a trade of. Before knocking for science you have to be sure to not be worried about a suprise war. Any deviations of the general and efficient way to play military focused demand precautions.

The musketmen strat is interesting but you better have a relatively good choke point or it can be difficult to protect almost all your frontier, thing that can be quite large by moments!

I think in an isolated position a campus/ziggurat spam can be really good. Or when you are only together with one other civ on a continent, rush it early on & then have your continent all for yourself. It simply depends on game parameters.

 

[JustifierNA]

Well it's usually a trade of. Before knocking for science you have to be sure to not be worried about a suprise war. Any deviations of the general and efficient way to play military focused demand precautions.

The musketmen strat is interesting but you better have a relatively good choke point or it can be difficult to protect almost all your frontier, thing that can be quite large by moments!

I use them in every game. you don't have to worry about choke points: you know what the enemy is going to go for (Strategic resources and cities) if you set up some encampments correctly you can simple create your own choke points and any areas where you have not simply pop a fort down. Chokepoint created Also it's easy to get a GG for ren era regardless if you're playing SP or MP

as a bonus though if I've been keeping up in science (even if I'm going 40vs60 spt or 60 vs 100) I usually get field cannons at the same time (or close enough to the same time) so that cavalry are simply ineffective. To top it off I also get to get literally every single boost along the Cavalry line since you take the extra time on the techs which get boosts off of each other (Siege tactics off of Metal Casting and Ballistics off of 2 forts) and by that point it's REALLLLLY unlikely that you haven't produced 2 universities so you've got Printing boosted. That only leaves kill a unit with a knight.... (If it hasn't already happened) Hello city states!

I am 99% sure that this is wrong. I just finished a game and i had several CD`s placed with costs varying from 230-400 production.
Also, even if they work like traders/builders/settlers now, there is no point in trying to finish them at once, as the increased cost will kick in nevertheless.

Edit: I just doublechecked the save, the mechanic still works the same way as ever. Placed district costs are locked.


Also i want to congratulate JustifierNA for that massive piece of work. I am a SP player and i don`t agree on everything you wrote, but i really appreciate the effort for the community. Good job!
Do you have some kind of a regular playerbase/scheduled play? I would love to get my hands on some MP games in a competitive but friendly environment, although i am afraid that time difference kills it.

We have a community of 1,469 members (currently) While there are some people who are rude, they tend to get weeded out and either reform or get banned from the community very quickly.
Time zones don't matter: There are people from around the globe (Europe/Asia/Australia/America/South America and everywhere in-between) and games are hosted around the clock. While there is a way to set up scheduled games we tend to wing it using the Discord App players hop into the "Staging" channels in whatever type of game they wish to play:

Staging: Diplo
Staging: Always War
Staging: Teamer
Staging: Modded
(Possibly a new type, though unconfirmed as of now)No War

You can read about each type's rules in #guidelines

We then use the text channels when 6-x players have gathered for a game (#game_chat) to create the games and set up the rules (eg no God of forge/nukes/Scythia/rome/ w.e the players decide)

Also you can talk to the other players about putting a time limit on the game (so say in 4 hours the game would be called on score) but that has to be agreed upon by all players.

While some are far more competitive than others it's always a load of fun.

But most importantly due to the instability of the game it's almost vital to have a 3rd party program to communicate with your fellow players. (I don't tend to see Pub games lasting past turn 70...if you're lucky) whereas using discord if anything goes wrong people will reconnect, and if they do not it's recorded, permanently. This is to keep track of players who quit and if necessary allows the community to apply punishment/bans to those players.

I'd say around 70% of my games get to the Information era and within those 30% that do not it's because I got knocked out or the game ended for whatever reason

Also thanks still a lot to go on the guide, and I do understand from a SP perspective it's not quite correct but then it's mainly focused on multiplayer (specifically using Discord's ruleset) and while most of the guide applies to a large spectrum of the game there's also a ton that is specific to multiplayer within the Discord League. Though I do wish to eventually cover SP gameplay.

Currently though I'm thinning down the contents to the minimum amount trying to make everything a little less wordy and better formatted. Currently I've cut the unrefined (google docs) version down by about 20 pages I'm sure when I start working on different sections again though that will fill back up super fast. I expect the Civilizations' section to be around 100 pages alone

(I'll be continually working on the guide as the game gets updated (and as I learn new strategies!) but currently I'm getting ready for a trip so I've had to postpone working on it )

 

[Tabarnak]

I am 99% sure that this is wrong. I just finished a game and i had several CD`s placed with costs varying from 230-400 production.
Also, even if they work like traders/builders/settlers now, there is no point in trying to finish them at once, as the increased cost will kick in nevertheless.

Edit: I just doublechecked the save, the mechanic still works the same way as ever. Placed district costs are locked.

Made a brain fart about locking districts, but still you can save hammers when building them in group. Not necessarily from the same type(again, i said the opposite).

My thoughts were based from things i have seen while playing mp games, so my attention wasn't as great as if i had the time to check everything. In fact, every question about district costs have been related here.

The UI seems a bit unstable too...

So yeah in mp you can get away with some hammers saved in some way if you build them in group. But district locking is tricky in mp because gold can be sparse in the beginning, especially for these 3rd ring campuses...so logically putting 3-4 commercial hubs right of the bat seems a good way to save hammers from delaying them and let you choose a non unit card for some turns. And finally use the hammers from trade routes to compensate for the later districts.

In other words, locking districts is good, but not necessarily the best strategy every game.

 

[The__Sorrow]

Very good Guide, nice job! You open my eyes literally!

I'm waitin for you, complete the guide please!

I hope that you make a walkthroug for the civic/scientific three, wonder, buildin for early/mid/late game... You help me a lot with your great Job!

P.S.: I have problem with micromanagement trade route. Left click on my traders, left click on the foreign units head.. but nothing! I must do this in a particular moment (for example when the foreign unit are near to my traders,..)??? Whit Barbs unit does not work??? Can you say something more about this?

 

[hal1000]

Very good Guide, nice job! You open my eyes literally!




P.S.: I have problem with micromanagement trade route. Left click on my traders, left click on the foreign units head.. but nothing! I must do this in a particular moment (for example when the foreign unit are near to my traders,..)??? Whit Barbs unit does not work??? Can you say something more about this?

In the latest patch 1.0.0.167 (Nubia), it doesn't work anymore, it worked before in version 1.0.0.129 as was described. I don't know why they changed it, maybe it's a bug.

 

[The__Sorrow]

In the latest patch 1.0.0.167 (Nubia), it doesn't work anymore, it worked before in version 1.0.0.129 as was described. I don't know why they changed it, maybe it's a bug.

AH! I'm feel like a stupid when I try and retry to manage the trade routes.. So that's ok!

The Triangular Trade was nerfed too with that patch I think: +2gpt and +1fpt now, no more +4/+1... right?

 

[JustifierNA]

@The__Sorrow
I'm afraid as of last patch the option of canceling trade routes was removed/fixed

I'm kind of burned out with Civ VI right now so it'll be a while before I work on the guide again I put a lot of time into it in the time since it came out so I'm taking a break I expect in about 1-2 months I'll start working on the guide again with Mr. T800

What to go for in the science tree as of this patch in most situations: (big goals)
Bronze working,
Iron working,
Horseback riding,
Apprenticeship,
Stirrups,
Machinery,
Military Engineering, (If Niter is available then: A) (If unavailable and you're looking to war someone at this point then B)

A:
Gunpowder,
Metal Casting,
Castles,
Siege Tactics,
Ballistics,

B:
Education,
Castles,
Siege Tactics,
Ballistics,
Printing,
Military Science

End split:

Rifling
Steel
(After you get to Steel you can use the units here to choose to go to the top side of the tech tree (for Airplanes/AT units/Science Victory) or to continue down the bottom side of the tech tree)

It's important to note here that option A is FAR more efficient in terms of total science to get to Rifling due to the fact that you can get literally EVERY science boost up to that point with ease.
Some information for mid game warfare

Cost to get to
Gunpowder(Musket men)(Using all Boosts, no Education): 1850(Total Science)

Cost to getting to Military Science(Cavalry)(getting most boosts)

3,000.5 (With boost to + researching military Science)

3,390.5 (With boost to + researching military Science AND stirrups)

3,425, no boost to Military Science, no Stirrups, No education (Total Science)

3,982.5 (WITH all/most of the above researched + boosted)
As you can see under the best case scenario, rushing STRAIGHT into Military Science (assuming you get stirrups) it costs double the science to get there (Compared to Muskets)
and chances are since you're b-lining you're missing out on nearly every single technology boost after Machinery which is where the technologies get REALLY expensive

3,127.5 total science is the cost it takes to get to Ballistics:

the main difference here though kicks in when you tech for Military Science AFTER you tech for Ballistics, also along the way to Ballistics you're getting Bombbards to take down cities, you're getting Forts to defend yourself AND most importantly you're likely to have gotten all of the boosts (to printing/Military Science/Castles/everything else along the way)

Which comes up to 3,820 (Total Science) (For BOTH Ballistics AND Military Science)
if you go for Cav first since you're losing out on the ability to get 3-4 of those boosts it's around 4200-4600 total science for both Ballistics AND Military Science (getting Military Science First)

Even if you don't get Niter since you're rushing for field cannons you should get that roughly the same time as your opponent will get Cavalry
(and this is assuming that you're getting LESS science per turn)

since it only takes 3,100 science to get to Ballistics if you get all the boosts up to that point
(which is pretty easy)
this is a comparison of a rush for Field cannons vs rushing directly for Cavalry
(These numbers are assuming that the exact science costs for these technologies did not change in the Nubia patch)

After which you fill out the rest of the bottom of the tech tree regardless: Your goal is to get to Steel as soon as is possible because of the change for Urban Defenses from last patch to the Science Tree unfortunately science rushes are pretty much all that matters now (before culture was pretty strong as well but without Urban Defenses as another perk for going high culture per turn it's not nearly as rewarding.)

Goals for culture:
1:Craftsmenship/Military Tradition(Early unit production)
2:Early Empire(Early Expansion)
3: Political Philosophy(First Government Type)
4:Mercenaries
2nd tier govt type (which ever you choose, Merchant Republic is super strong this patch but the bottom side of the culture tree allows you to spam out walls easily and to spam out knights/cav)
5:Merchant Republic,
OR Divine Right, OR/AND Reformed Church
6: Enlightenment(more science!)
7: Nationalism(+10 combat strength for Corps units)
8:Mobilization (MORE COMBAT STRENGTH!)
9:3rd Tier Government type
10:Cold War (Spies are amazingly strong with this, also you can use CONTAINMENT to get suzerain of any City States which are still alive that you wish to control)
11:Globalization/Social Media (+10% Science/Culture per city state of which you are the suzerain of)
12: Grab Envoy Civics (civics which grant you free envoys upon completion)

What wonders I value, I do not tend to build more than 1 wonder per game early (the first 5 listed here) unless completely isolated or in an extremely safe position

1: Pyramids:
if you have the option grab them when you are not putting yourself at a disadvantage
2: Apadana:
If you have city states that other players are contesting(Extremely high cost wonder when available)
3: Colosseum:
If you have the ability to group between 5-6 cities together this is likely the strongest wonder in the game
4: Jebel Barkal:
If you have no access to Iron (EXTREMELY necessary if you plan on warring with Knights/Swordsmen)
5:Mausoleum of Halicarnassus:
(Insanely strong for science victories)

Any wonder which gives a policy slot grab them if you can:
Forbidden City, Big Ben, Potala Palace, Alhambra

 

[JustifierNA]

Very good Guide, nice job! You open my eyes literally!

I'm waitin for you, complete the guide please!

I hope that you make a walkthroug for the civic/scientific three, wonder, buildin for early/mid/late game... You help me a lot with your great Job!

P.S.: I have problem with micromanagement trade route. Left click on my traders, left click on the foreign units head.. but nothing! I must do this in a particular moment (for example when the foreign unit are near to my traders,..)??? Whit Barbs unit does not work??? Can you say something more about this?

I just realized my last post was not a reply... it was intended as a response to you though

 

[Mr. Shadows]

This is an excellent guide. Most guides seem to be geared towards players that are still learning their way around but this goes into detail about the finer points that separate a competent player from a genuinely good one. I'll be referring back to this for some time to come.

 

[JustifierNA]

This is an excellent guide. Most guides seem to be geared towards players that are still learning their way around but this goes into detail about the finer points that separate a competent player from a genuinely good one. I'll be referring back to this for some time to come.

I'm glad you like it! I've recently started working on it again and I should be adding many new and interesting sections, specifically for the expansion R&F so keep tabs

 

[EEE_BOY]

Wow, just reading the first two pages, I have to say your guide defies conventional wisdom! I have to read it more. But thank you in advance! 3800 hrs game play is also amazing!

Maybe it’s not updated with the last DLCs, but God of Harvest did not make it to the first top 7 pantheon?

 

[JustifierNA]

Wow, just reading the first two pages, I have to say your guide defies conventional wisdom! I have to read it more. But thank you in advance! 3800 hrs game play is also amazing!

Maybe it’s not updated with the last DLCs, but God of Harvest did not make it to the first top 7 pantheon?

Yeah, I want to playtest before I update my opinions. so far I've only so far posted my opinions on the updates before it came out but yes Goddess of Harvest is in my top 3 in the expansion solely due to the Monumentality Dedication and The Steward (Magnus)

I should be updating it in about another week if you want to check back then

 

[EEE_BOY]

Yeah, I want to playtest before I update my opinions. so far I've only so far posted my opinions on the updates before it came out but yes Goddess of Harvest is in my top 3 in the expansion solely due to the Monumentality Dedication and The Steward (Magnus)

I should be updating it in about another week if you want to check back then

Definitely, appreciate your work putting this guide together!

 

[Xmonger]

@JustifierNA Looks great, but why no print option? I can't stand reading online, all I want is a PDF. If you're concerned about others using it then just put a license (Creative Commons is typical, which I believe requires a citation to your work)

Also, I'd suggest getting rid of the footer on every page that reminds us about R&F, well obviously the expansion is out already, but more importantly just a note on the front page is enough.

 

[JustifierNA]

@JustifierNA Looks great, but why no print option? I can't stand reading online, all I want is a PDF. If you're concerned about others using it then just put a license (Creative Commons is typical, which I believe requires a citation to your work)

Also, I'd suggest getting rid of the footer on every page that reminds us about R&F, well obviously the expansion is out already, but more importantly just a note on the front page is enough.

I don't have a print option because the way google is set up if you wish to remove the ability to copy-paste then you have to remove the print option as well and eventually I may wish to publish it (though I'm not certain on that right now)

It's been a minute since I've been able to work on it -- Google docs was being frustrating due to the raw quantity of the guide as I tried to work on the content so I've changed the formatting of it completely so I may remove the copy-paste lock though I haven't decided on that yet but in the new version it doesn't have the footer

As a side note another issue with viewing it online in the previous version with so much information caused some major lag issues. Since I've updated it it seems to be much more viewer friendly

 

[JustifierNA]

@EEE_BOY

I apologize for not getting around to working on the guide I had some personal matters that caught up with me and had to leave my area to take care of them. Should be working on new content soon though