DrJones87
Chieftain
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2016
- Messages
- 20
Ive won a couple of games on Deity, and have won a game with every civ on at least Emperor. I think by now I have a pretty good understanding of tactics that work, and those that don't. I wanted to share some early-game strategys, which as you know is the most important part of the game and usually dictates how the rest of your game will go. So, let's get started...
1.) Kill your neighbor. Whether they're a rival nation or a city state, anyone within nine tiles of your capital should bow out before they reach classical era. AI doesn't prioritize building walls, and you'll have plenty of turns to get the advantage on them. On the higher difficulties you probably can't take enemy capitols, but you can at least take their other cities. The AI doesn't do a good job of leveraging losses either, and if they feel they are losing the war they will sue for peace with an extraordinary reward on higher levels (like 1k gold and 30 gold per turn). Your war path should continue until the point you see walls go up, at which point you should retreat. Once a wall is up you'll need siege weapons, which is costly and makes war no longer worth it. But go for early conquest until you can't.
2.) Dont build a monument right away. It was a reflex build in Civ V, but you lose a ton of time building a monument to start. In civ VI the eurekas will usually make up for lost time from a monument, and your early game should focus on triggering them. Instead, build a worker to get the three improved tiles for craftsmanship, then just build military units. You probably want three slingers and three warriors as a starting military (throw in a heavy chariot too if you can). Upgrade the slingers to archers as soon as possible (but make sure you don't research the tech until you have three slingers because the production cost difference is quite pronounced).
3.) Shift your focus, a lot. Make sure you don't waste any precious eureka moments. Eurekas will fill half of your tech/civic cost, and a lot of the early ones are things you'll do anyway. If you've researched more than half of the tech/civic but haven't completed the eureka, switch to another tech/civic and finish it out with Eurekas.
4.) Kill AI units, Dont wound them. Although you might be able to get off an early offense, for most of the game on Deity you'll actually be defending. The AI gets experience a lot faster than you, and if you just wound their units you can almost guarantee they will upgrade and heal them. On Deity the AI can heal 70 hp in one turn using this. For this reason, don't wound enemy units unless you know you can kill them without losing position. It's better to fortify and wait for them to spend their turn attacking so that you can heal, promote and kill them with ranged.
5.) Crossbows are a god send. Suppression crossbows with double attack can effectively lock down a city. You should get three of these as soon as possible.
6.) Remember to capture a city you have to have a melee unit in it. No matter how hopeless your situation looks, the AI isually only attacks from one direction. That brings your fighting down to 3-4 tiles, and you have an advantage because you can fortify and heal. Prioritize killing melee units, don't lose fortifications, and when you get an opportunity to advance do so. The AI will admit defeat and will usually sue for peace, often with exuberant rewards.
7.) Wide > Tall, but only if you cluster. The way buildings and districts work in civ vi is they're no longer percentage based. This means that population of cities is only relevant in so far as to how many districts you can build. Since you only really need 2-3 districts per city, and since some of have benefits that extend to other cities within range, you should focus on a high number of cities within close proximity. Remember that district cost increases as you advance in tech/civics, so early expansion is crucial. In any game, I usually build 6-10 cities in a radial pattern that are all centered around the capitol.
8.) Dont forget amenities. Aside from luxury resources, you will usually have a stable amenity economy if you have an entertainment district for every two cities. It is important to keep your cities happy because otherwise production sucks.
9.) Chop all wood not near rivers and all jungles unless you're Brazil. Although you theoretically generate less production in the long run, early production is critical and drives so much of the rest of the game. Also, any time you build a district on top of a bonus resource make sure you harvest it.
10.) District selection is necessary. Commercial districts have priority. You should have a commercial district in every single city. Commercial districts are even better than harbor districts even though they both provide trade routes because great merchants are much better than great admirals. If your Civilization has a unique district, build that in every city (because it's free). Industrial districts are mandatory in every city once you can build them, and you should build them based not on production bonuses but on locations that will hit the most cities within six tiles. You want to average 1 entertainment district per every two cities, and try to group them similarly so that you get tile bonuses. If you want religion, your first district should be a holy site, but other sites can wait until the rest of your economy is up and running. Theaters and Campuses are much less needed, so usually 1-2 being sufficient to keep up (unless you're going for their respective victories).
11.) Choose your government based on your current situation. The governments are pretty good at being situational. There's always an economy, offense, and defensive option. You should always pick the government that goes best with what your situation is. The best feature of this game is it lets you be very flexible at all times, and one big way it does this is government. That being said, make sure you do what your government excels at. Don't go theocracy and be peaceful. Don't go autocracy and not try to kill everyone. The way to win the game is to play the way the game needs at the moment.
12.) Lastly, don't neglect envoys. Suzerain is pretty hard to get and I personally don't focus on it much unless I've already gotten the bonuses from all the other city states. You get bonuses at 1,3 and 6 envoys, and your biggest return is at 1 envoy. So, you should try to have at least 1 envoy in every state you meet.
That should help get your game off right.
1.) Kill your neighbor. Whether they're a rival nation or a city state, anyone within nine tiles of your capital should bow out before they reach classical era. AI doesn't prioritize building walls, and you'll have plenty of turns to get the advantage on them. On the higher difficulties you probably can't take enemy capitols, but you can at least take their other cities. The AI doesn't do a good job of leveraging losses either, and if they feel they are losing the war they will sue for peace with an extraordinary reward on higher levels (like 1k gold and 30 gold per turn). Your war path should continue until the point you see walls go up, at which point you should retreat. Once a wall is up you'll need siege weapons, which is costly and makes war no longer worth it. But go for early conquest until you can't.
2.) Dont build a monument right away. It was a reflex build in Civ V, but you lose a ton of time building a monument to start. In civ VI the eurekas will usually make up for lost time from a monument, and your early game should focus on triggering them. Instead, build a worker to get the three improved tiles for craftsmanship, then just build military units. You probably want three slingers and three warriors as a starting military (throw in a heavy chariot too if you can). Upgrade the slingers to archers as soon as possible (but make sure you don't research the tech until you have three slingers because the production cost difference is quite pronounced).
3.) Shift your focus, a lot. Make sure you don't waste any precious eureka moments. Eurekas will fill half of your tech/civic cost, and a lot of the early ones are things you'll do anyway. If you've researched more than half of the tech/civic but haven't completed the eureka, switch to another tech/civic and finish it out with Eurekas.
4.) Kill AI units, Dont wound them. Although you might be able to get off an early offense, for most of the game on Deity you'll actually be defending. The AI gets experience a lot faster than you, and if you just wound their units you can almost guarantee they will upgrade and heal them. On Deity the AI can heal 70 hp in one turn using this. For this reason, don't wound enemy units unless you know you can kill them without losing position. It's better to fortify and wait for them to spend their turn attacking so that you can heal, promote and kill them with ranged.
5.) Crossbows are a god send. Suppression crossbows with double attack can effectively lock down a city. You should get three of these as soon as possible.
6.) Remember to capture a city you have to have a melee unit in it. No matter how hopeless your situation looks, the AI isually only attacks from one direction. That brings your fighting down to 3-4 tiles, and you have an advantage because you can fortify and heal. Prioritize killing melee units, don't lose fortifications, and when you get an opportunity to advance do so. The AI will admit defeat and will usually sue for peace, often with exuberant rewards.
7.) Wide > Tall, but only if you cluster. The way buildings and districts work in civ vi is they're no longer percentage based. This means that population of cities is only relevant in so far as to how many districts you can build. Since you only really need 2-3 districts per city, and since some of have benefits that extend to other cities within range, you should focus on a high number of cities within close proximity. Remember that district cost increases as you advance in tech/civics, so early expansion is crucial. In any game, I usually build 6-10 cities in a radial pattern that are all centered around the capitol.
8.) Dont forget amenities. Aside from luxury resources, you will usually have a stable amenity economy if you have an entertainment district for every two cities. It is important to keep your cities happy because otherwise production sucks.
9.) Chop all wood not near rivers and all jungles unless you're Brazil. Although you theoretically generate less production in the long run, early production is critical and drives so much of the rest of the game. Also, any time you build a district on top of a bonus resource make sure you harvest it.
10.) District selection is necessary. Commercial districts have priority. You should have a commercial district in every single city. Commercial districts are even better than harbor districts even though they both provide trade routes because great merchants are much better than great admirals. If your Civilization has a unique district, build that in every city (because it's free). Industrial districts are mandatory in every city once you can build them, and you should build them based not on production bonuses but on locations that will hit the most cities within six tiles. You want to average 1 entertainment district per every two cities, and try to group them similarly so that you get tile bonuses. If you want religion, your first district should be a holy site, but other sites can wait until the rest of your economy is up and running. Theaters and Campuses are much less needed, so usually 1-2 being sufficient to keep up (unless you're going for their respective victories).
11.) Choose your government based on your current situation. The governments are pretty good at being situational. There's always an economy, offense, and defensive option. You should always pick the government that goes best with what your situation is. The best feature of this game is it lets you be very flexible at all times, and one big way it does this is government. That being said, make sure you do what your government excels at. Don't go theocracy and be peaceful. Don't go autocracy and not try to kill everyone. The way to win the game is to play the way the game needs at the moment.
12.) Lastly, don't neglect envoys. Suzerain is pretty hard to get and I personally don't focus on it much unless I've already gotten the bonuses from all the other city states. You get bonuses at 1,3 and 6 envoys, and your biggest return is at 1 envoy. So, you should try to have at least 1 envoy in every state you meet.
That should help get your game off right.
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