Civilization 6 is a turn-based strategy game. It’s a tried-and-true game that allows you to build your civilization up from scratch and potentially reach for the stars.
Civilization 6 is great for beginners. It has a fantastic tutorial and with a game setting of Chieftain it will challenge a beginner without overwhelming the player. The ability to choose a leader and country suited to your playstyle makes it all the easier to learn.
I’ve always found the Civ games to be easy to learn and play, and Civ 6 is no exception. The game gives you a solid foundation with the tutorial and even when playing the game it still provides helpful hints.
With all the leaders and difficulty settings you can tailor the game to your liking and experience level. As a beginner choosing an easier difficulty level like Chieftain will provide a much less aggressive AI, allowing you to work on fundamentals.
Choosing one of the many leaders is another big plus for a beginner. For instance, if you want to learn the basics of combat choosing Ambriox, King of the Eburones, is a good idea since he gets added production and a +2 combat strength, meaning you have a better chance of surviving any military blunders you might make. You could use reverse logic also and rely on the military bonus to prop up your units while you focus on other aspects of the game.
One popular favorite among players is Fredrick Barbarossa of Germany. He gets an additional military slot plus 7 combat strength when attacking city-states. This country also gets added production if it has Commercial Hubs, Aqueducts, Canals, and Dam districts.
And if you prefer to learn more about a Cultural approach to the game Gorgo of Thermopylae could be a good choice. She gets Culture bonuses for various things like City Centers and Water Parks.
The options are almost endless, the game provides an easy way to learn almost any aspect of it. One very good aspect to the game is that it will not let you ignore something, like selecting a new research item, before ending the turn. Great idea for a beginner who is likely to overlook things.
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Civ 6 Tutorial
If you’ve never played any Civilization games the tutorial is a must play. Even if you’re an experienced player with previous Civilization games taking the tutorial is an excellent idea.
You can start the tutorial as one of two leaders, either Cleopatra or Gilgamesh. Cleopatra “rules a civilization of strong allies and great city builders” while Gilgamesh “rules vast lands and is a respected conqueror.” Both tutorials play identically at the start so choosing either one will teach you the same basics.
You start the tutorial with a Settler and a Warrior unit. The first thing the tutorial will have you do is establish a city with your Settler. The tutorial is pretty clear and easy to follow. For example, there will be a tool tip that tells you to found a city plus an arrow showing you exactly which icon to click. Once your city is established, you’ll get various pop-up tool trips and advisor advice about how much area your new city controls and what the surrounding areas will produce for your city, and an explanation of what each yield icon represents.
Civilization 6 Warriors
The next focus is on Warriors and city defense. Barbarians are always a menace, even on lower settings, so it’s wise to have a Warrior or Slinger unit fortified in each city. The tutorial walks you through that process, first by showing you how to activate the production screen and then how to produce a Warrior.
While your Warrior is being built the tutorial will get you started on research and provide you with a few suggestions, like Mining or Animal Husbandry. It will walk you through the process for activating the research screen and choosing a research item.
Of course, Barbarian raiders are bound to arrive at your doorstep sooner or later and the game will show you how to handle them. Since you prepared for them you’ll have a Warrior unit ready to take out the Barbarian invaders. Once you select your Warrior the game will direct you to right click on the enemy unit to attack it. Prior to clicking a pop-up will appear showing the likely outcome of the battle. In this case it says it will be a major victory for you. In the tutorial you will easily wipe out the enemy unit and occupy his hex with little damage to yourself.
The tutorial will walk you through early exploration with your Warrior although this is not the ideal unit for scouting. You will discover a tribal village and the game will teach you how to enter it and get a reward, which in this case is a Scout, a much better unit for exploration since it has more movement points per turn than a Warrior unit.
The tutorial continues to help you establish more cities, build more units, and instructs you on how to create Builders so you can better exploit the resources around your city. A very good, solid tutorial that gives you a good understanding of the game fundamentals.
Game Difficulty
I started a game with Trajan on Prince level, which is the default difficulty setting. I was unfortunate enough to be next to a few Barbarian Camps, so I spent most of my early turns building military units to defend myself and getting a few units wiped out in the process, not a good learning experience for a beginner. My Scout was also pursued relentlessly by Barbarian Warriors, so rather than explore the nearby area I was constantly running him away from the threat and surveying areas I was not interested in yet.
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Dropping the difficulty level down to Chieftain practically eliminated the aggressive Barbarians and allowed me to focus on other things, like production and exploration. Everything was nice, peaceful and serene. It might make for a boring game, but it does give you the chance to learn the basics and experiment a little before taking on the harder levels.