Easy strategy for newbie?

[Okigen]

Hi guys, newbie here. The only game I played previously is Civ Rev, which is not very helpful... Anyway, I have been struggling at Settlers. Once I got besieged by a neighbor and other times I am very behind on the leadership board. Not sure if it is normal but I dont seem to make much progress by 1/4 of the game (around turn 80/330 as I play the quick game).

I think the main problem is I have been researching tech/civic randomly. Is there an easy strategy guide somewhere suitable for newbie (preferrably with guidance on which country to play and relevant research routes)? I won't mind if it's unbalanced; can adapt later on but for now just wanted to carry through one game and actually understand what I'm doing

 

[avguy2]

I don't think research order should make much difference, but I've never tried the fast game. On normal, most of the time I just research one of the ones I've boosted.

Do you know how the differenct victories work? Are you familiar with the systems like housing and amenities? That's where I would start because it's more important than specific routes through the tech tree I think.

 

[Okigen]

I don't think research order should make much difference, but I've never tried the fast game. On normal, most of the time I just research one of the ones I've boosted.

Do you know how the differenct victories work? Are you familiar with the systems like housing and amenities? That's where I would start because it's more important than specific routes through the tech tree I think.

Uhm actually you have a point. I think I've never been short of housing. But how important is amenities ? I think my cities are always in displeased status as I dont have any luxury resource.

 

[avguy2]

Ok, read a basic guide to learn about the different game mechanics! Happiness for example affects your cities growth.

 

[BK*]

Watch Saxy gamers YouTube tutorials. His voice annoys some people and everything isn't 100% the most efficient methods but the basic info is there and it's a lot to learn.

Oh and play as Rome imo it's the most new player friendly civ.

 

[knighterrant81]

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/from-bts-to-civ-vi-hard-change.643998/#post-15418582

There's some applicable advice in here. That, and just ask some specific questions!

As far as research goes, your science research should focus first on builder improvements and discovering resources. That means Animal Husbandry (for revealing Horses and unlocking Pastures) and Mining (unlocking Mines and Quarries, allowing Woods chops). Archery (Archer upgrade for your Slingers) and Bronze Working (revealing Iron, building Encampments) are important as well. Certain Civs and victory types will want Sailing (opens the naval trees for Civs like Phoenicia) or Astrology (You need to start building Holy Sites very early to get a Religion). Otherwise, most Civs can ignore the top half of the research tree for most of the early game.

Civic research should focus primarily on getting to Political Philosophy. Your tier 1 government is a big upgrade. Also, try to get a lot of the early Eurekas and Inspirations. They amount to a large boost in your overall culture and science production.

 

[linaker]

There is a lot to learn. There aren't as many strategy guides as for previous versions because you have more choices. The aim is to make your choices work for you.

After code of laws you can research either craftsmanship (comes with a card that boosts melee and ranged unit production) or foreign trade. (Permits a trader and gets you towards early empire which has a card boosting settler production by 50%). If one is boosted (or will be boosted in the next few turns) and the other is not, that's a strong reason to go for that one, since wasting precious culture researching an unboosted civic is not something I want to do early on.

However, if I'm planning to capture nearby cities or have a lot of barb camps nearby, I will go for craftsmanship and get the boost to military production. (If my scout hasn't popped a builder from a goody hut, I'll build one to boost craftsmanship). if I have lots of space, not many barbs about and have discovered a second continent (so boosted foreign trade) then I'll go for that. I'll build a trader (whose route hopefully won't be pillaged by barbs), go for early empire and build some (production boosted) settlers.

Similarly, if I'm playing as Sumeria, I'll want to get the civic, military tradition, asap, so I can churn out war carts more quickly. If I have a great spot for a campus or holy site, (surrounded by 3 mountain tiles perhaps), but its got a bonus resource on it, I'll research the tech that allows you to harvest that resource. Have a plan and make choices that further it.

 

[Socrates99]

Spend most of the ancient and classical expanding your borders. The rule of thumb that gets thrown around a lot is 10 cities by turn 100 on standard speed. That's a tough benchmark and you can win with fewer cities but if you shoot for the stars you'll at least make it to the moon.

Every time I drop a new city I plan out its first four districts. Three of them will provide gold (commercial hub or harbor), science (campus) and culture (theater or holy with choral music). The 4th will be a misc, maybe an encampment at a border city, a harbor/CD if I can make a golden triangle, IZs or EDs to try and cover as many cities as possible without a ton of overlap. Try to maximize the adj bonuses while you plan your cities. Try to always get a +3 or better on your campuses since it boosts rationalism. I'll often skip campuses in cities where I can't get a +3 since you'll probably get better use out of a different district. That's up to your discretion.

Like others have said you do want the techs that apply to the resources around you first. Improving citizen yields early on is important and you'll want luxuries and strategic resources early. Unlock animal husbandry and bronze working early. The two best units in the classical are Horsemen and Swordsmen. If you have one and not the other this tells you how to plan your army. I find the "no iron starts" a lot more forgiving since coursers were added.

Getting political philosophy asap is a priority in the civic tree. Get a scout out early on to find three CSs right away. That can sometimes be that hardest eureka to hit when you need it depending on how the map laid out.

 

[Okigen]

Thank you guys for the suggestion. I'm now starting a new game with all cities being happy and noone declaring war on me yet, so I think it is an improvement. Will keep you posted.

Spend most of the ancient and classical expanding your borders. The rule of thumb that gets thrown around a lot is 10 cities by turn 100 on standard speed. That's a tough benchmark and you can win with fewer cities but if you shoot for the stars you'll at least make it to the moon.

10 cities!!!! Uhm... The highest number I have so far is 5 cities in 150 turns. How do you do it? Normally it takes ages for a city to have 2 citizens, and then take a lot more for it to produce a settler (because with only 2 citizens the city cannot have much production I think), then it takes a while to move the settler to a spot outside of existing cities. Inbetween there are also turns spent on getting warriors and districts... Or should I skip them? But if I don't have enough warriors all other countries will declare war really quickly ..... . Or shall I just pluck settlers out of the capital city (normally it's the city with most population, production etc so easiest to build anthing), whilst other cities build districts?

 

[Leucarum]

You're definitely asking in the right place. Everyone here is really helpful.

10 cities!!!! Uhm... The highest number I have so far is 5 cities in 150 turns. How do you do it?

You don't have to build your own cities. The easiest way to get to 10 cities by turn 100 is to take them from someone else...

Some things that may help with settlers though:

• Prioritize expansion before building unneccessary districts.
• Develop your cities with builders as soon as possible. Early in the game a few tiles with 2+ food and production or better can go a long way. Pick city locations where you can get some tiles like that whenever possible.
• When you get early empire there is a policy card which reduces settler cost by 50%. You are also going to want to have an army to defend those cities. At craftmanship there is the agoge card which reduces unit costs by 50%. For most civs that will help you build the most important units in your army.
• This may feel like an exploit but it is working as the designers intended.. It's a good idea to place districts (they get more expensive each age) but switch production to something else and don't build them until later (this is because the cost is set by when you place them).

As others have said, Rome is a beginner friendly civ that's good at fast expansion.

 

[linaker]

The automated city management seems to value total yield on a tile most, so your first citizen may be set to work on a 1F 1P 1Science tile rather than a 2F 1P tile which will halve the time it takes your city to grow to double size. Use the city management screen to look at the tiles being worked and alter them (temporarily) if necessary. Maximise your production by getting a builder. A farm on grassland rice will get you 4F and turbo charge city growth. Place your cities so that they will grow (eg plains/tundra cities are hard to grow) and if necessary buy a high yield tile when you have 50G.

You can buy your first settler for 320 gold. If you have gold yielding resources (like copper), sell a couple of resources to other civs, pop a few goody huts for gold and clear a couple of barbarian camps, that total can be reached quickly. I'll build a settler rather than buy one though, if I'm not rich.

Some might consider this an exploit, but if your scout or warrior hangs around a neighbour's city, you can often capture a settler. You see the population drop in a city and you know it's produced a settler. Look for it, as they often get sent out alone, or separate from the military escort at some point. You do need some practice in this because sometimes 4 warriors will descend on you and your captured quarry, but most of the time its easy to get away.

I usually buy or build one settler before researching Early Empire, but once I have that, my settler building only happens when my Government runs the Colonization policy. You will then build settlers faster or you can chop down woods, harvest stone etc and get a 50% boost to the yield. If playing R&F+, appoint Governor Marcus and you get a 50% bonus added to chops. Marcus also has a promotion that means your city population doesn't decrease when you build a settler. In R&F+, if you get a golden age, then you can choose monumentality which means you can buy settlers more cheaply and with faith as well as gold. Again in R&F+, you can build the Government Plaza and then ancestral hall.

Since your OP, Knighterrant81 has produced this guide:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...he-decidedly-average-feedback-welcome.644711/

You might also look at some you tube vids. In his one, (which is deity) civtrader6 holds back Norway with 2 warriors and builds lots of cities