How to get into Civ 6?

I am an old strategy game player, yet I never seem to be able to get into the newer civilization titles as well as I was able to get into Civ 3/ Civ 4. Do you have any tips for starting civilizations or leaders that would be fun for someone who is not experienced?

 

What DLCs do you have? That way, we can narrow down what's best for you.

 

You can never go wrong with Rome.

 

I don't have any DLCs

 

Well then, Rome, America, and Arabia are the three Civs I would recommend for any beginner.

 

THat's probably for the best, the DLCs add a lot of new content and game mechanics that make learning the game harder as a newbie.

What kind of game style do you like? Are you a conquest kind of player, or do you like to turtle and simcity the game?

Don't be afraid to play it on the lower levels with small maps till you learn the game mechanics.

Key tip 1, builders only have limited charges! There are things you can do to increase this (build the pyramids it gives you +1 charge per builder, there's mid-game policy card that gives you +2 charges)

Key tip 2, districts and wonders take up a tile on the map! Think a little bit before you place them about how to get good adjacency bonuses. Holy Sites and Campuses are good next to mountains, harbours are good next to sea resources etc.

 

If you don't know anything then literally pick just anything and just do whatever you want until you understand what's going on, it isn't more advanced than this

 

My version of this: Play a Civ that intrigues you in real life; then do it better than they did.

By and large, the special units and buildings for each Civ correspond with the historical era they're associated with. So if you want a Civ whose special stuff will be available and useful right at the beginning of the game, play one of the Ancient or Classical civs.

Anyway, anyone who's played previous iterations of Civ won't be a complete noob in VI. It's been forever since I've played Civ IV, and I played V in between, but I think a lot of the concepts will be familiar. Also, if you're an old strategy gamer, hexes will feel more natural than squares. (The young'uns may not realize it, but a map that uses squares is a backwards step in game design.) The one-unit-per-hex, pseudo-tactical combat is real weird, and I think that was introduced in Civ V, so that may take some getting used to. But it's more of a conceptual stretch than a mechanical one. Basic concepts - putting your melee men in front of your archers, using siege weapons to attack cities that have erected walls - still work intuitively, for the most part. Why is the combat in a strategic-level game using tactical-level mechanics? Heck if I know. It is kinda fun, though, as long as I don't think about it too hard.

 

When starting a game dont try to learn all the stuff at once, for example dont go for religious game until you know the basics.

First game you should just experience with expanding your empire, trading and interacting with other empires, warfare etc.

Also better not to get any expansions yet, the base game has many mechanics to keep you busy! Later on you can get the excellent expansions.

 

I would prefer to turtle but am flexible.

 

If you like to turtle and sim-city then I would suggest Australia to start. Has good adjacency bonuses for any style you want to play (science, commercial, culture, religion); civ ability lets you build massive cities (land-area and population); outback stations let your cities keep growing and producing; and the leader ability lends itself to a defensive playstyle (100% production after a declaration of war means if you need to build an army quickly you can). Objectively speaking, they are probably a pretty overpowered civ - especially if you can get a couple of high-adjacency holy sites and take Work Ethic, your production and faith economy will be nuts - but I find them a lot of fun to play with. Even their UU, which is the weakest part of their kit, is fun to mess with if you want to go conquering abroad late game or just use them to liberate some cities for the production bonus.

 

Instead of overwhelming yourself with rule changes, I would start with the core rules, then gradually add on the expansions.

 

Take China for a spin; I think they'll suit your style well with their Great Wall UU and defense-oriented Crouching Tiger. Japan is also well-suited to turtling as their high adjacency bonuses encourage compact settling.