The best thing about this game, as with previous installments in the series, is that there are multiple ways to play and a myriad of Civilization strategies 6 with which you can achieve one of the many types of Victory.
If you have already read all the guides that we have compiled in our Hub (LINK) this is the ideal place to finish cementing your path to glory in Civilization.
It does not matter if you need solid strategies to start the game, if you wonder what is the best way to direct your population towards the middle of the game or if what you need is a push to win the final sprint; we have all phases of the game covered.
Early game strategies in Civilization 6 to get off to a good start
The main theme of Civilization 6 is the Age of Exploration, which gives you a great clue as to what is the most important thing that you will have to achieve with your initial tactics. Before you begin to clear the edges of the fog of war, however, you will need to found your first city.
If your colonizer starts next to a river, there is no reason to move before founding that city, since access to drinking water is the most important factor at the beginning of the game because it will boost housing, and with it the growth of your city. Beyond that, you should be looking for a mix of terrain, with mountains being particularly beneficial for capitalizing on the adjacency bonuses of the Sacred Place and Campus Districts, as well as providing natural defense against looters.
Once established, the first thing you should build is an explorer and a monument, so you can get to know your surroundings and kickstart your Principles research. Don’t try to build workers yet; There is not as much need to have workers from the first shift as in other Civilizations, since your population will need a few turns to grow enough so that your workers can improve the plots.
What’s more, if you create plot improvements without a few troops with which to defend your land, you’re only going to get the barbarians to want to loot your city. With your scout and some basic warrior you can make your way in different directions to locate the barbarians. If you see a barbarian scout, kill him before he returns to his camp or he will alert you to your presence and you will receive a visit in your still weak civilization.
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Depending on the size of the map, as soon as you explore you should run into another civilization or at least one city-state. Research the Foreign Trade Principle early, create a merchant and capitalize on this lucrative opportunity; But don’t forget to secure the trade route with a soldier to avoid being assaulted by barbarians.
Choose the Government Policies that make the most sense in your current circ*mstances; Urban Planning brings extra production, which is always welcome, and if you find yourself surrounded by the barbarians, bet on Discipline to boost your attack force against them and prevent them from becoming a threat.
After the first dozen turns, you should start thinking about creating a builder to upgrade your starting city and a settler to found the second soon after. Now you can take a little more time to find the ideal terrain for your new city, taking advantage of different types of terrain but also leaving room for districts and wonders, each of which occupies a plot.
The first few turns of Civilization 6 are more flexible than in the previous games thanks to the many and varied bonuses enjoyed by both leaders and civilizations themselves, but ideally, by turn 60-70 you have three cities founded. Take your time to see what is the best way to take advantage of the bonuses of your leader and civilization and how to use them to advance your investigation of Principles and Technologies, especially those that interest you most. Once you have a plan of action and are placing Districts and associated buildings for the type of Victory you are looking for, it is time to consolidate your power.
Mid-game strategies in Civilization 6
As you progress towards the mid-game stage, around the Age of Renaissance, you should be strong on your starting continent. Depending on the map you play on and the specific leader and civilization bonuses, you may have started expanding out to sea with Shipbuilding technology and maybe even Mapping, which allows your units to move across ocean tiles. Most importantly, as you move through the Renaissance and Industrial eras, is to develop Technologies and Principles that help you achieve your ultimate goal.
The governments of these eras have up to six policies available, which gives you a lot of flexibility. Choose a Monarchy by the Principle of Divine Right if you want to improve your army; Theocracy (Reformed Church Principle) to enhance your religion, Merchant Republic (Exploration Principle) for flexible government with two wildcard policy slots, and gold acquisition enhancements through additional trade routes and discounts on purchases.
Although the type of government is flexible and allows changes, be clear about what you want to achieve and stick with the type of government that allows you to do it. This will ensure you have a government legacy bonus that increases over time and will reach its peak when you reach the end of the game.
The Policies, on the other hand, should be reviewed often to make sure they are serving your current priorities. If you have no plans to build military units in a while, change a military policy that speeds up unit production to one that reduces their upkeep or one that makes unit upgrades cheaper. This can help you turn your early game units into something more modern and useful to you.
As for Technologies, you should have Military Engineering, which allows you to build roads manually using the Military Engineer unit. It is useful for connecting cities that have not been visited by a merchant at the beginning of the game. If you are surrounded by enemies on multiple fronts, there are a fair number of powerful combat options during this stretch of the game, both defensive and offensive, depending on what suits you.
Siege Tactics is a boring and excellent way to increase the defense of your cities with Renaissance Walls and forts. Military Science and Ballistics, meanwhile, can give you the edge you need to eliminate leaders who have placed cities too close to your borders for you to feel comfortable.
By now, you should have a certain number of districts in your cities and you should be watching how to maximize the bonuses they offer you. Again, the type of government and policy choices can make a difference, but it’s even more important to spend some time thinking about how districts interact with each other and how they actively and passively serve your empire.
For most leaders, the Neighborhood district will arrive around the bottom of this mid-game stretch, preventing your city’s growth from stalling. Make sure you keep the bourgeois population happy with access to enjoyment to tackle the all-important final phase of the game.
Other Civilization 6 guides
Civilization 6 Guide – How to lead your civilization to glory.
A guide with tips and tricks to master the game.
Civilization 6 – Gold: the best ways to get money and what to spend it on
How to get money in Civilization 6 – how much gold is too much?
Civilization 6: List of Governments and Policies – all requirements for Policies, Government bonuses and more
Governments and Policies in detail.
Civilization 6: Leaders List – Master every Agenda, Trait, and Unique Unit
Discover all the leaders, their unique abilities, their traits and more.
Civilization 6: Districts – How they work, the best placement of plots and how to get adjacency bonuses
Discover the new feature in Civilization 6 and its many benefits.
Civilization 6: Religion and Faith Explained – How to Achieve Faith, Found Pantheons, and More
All the ways to get Faith in Civ 6 in detail and more.
Civilization 6: Victory by Military Domination – conditions of war, Casus Belli, and how to win military victory
How to win in Civilization 6 by military victory, victory conditions and new types of warfare.
Civilization 6: Scientific Victory – How to win the Space Race and obtain Scientific Victory
Master the tech race to Mars in Civilization 6.
Civilization 6: Science Explained – how to earn Science and how to use it
All the information you need to overtake all your Civ 6 rivals in the Tech Tree.
Civization 6: Religious Victory – how to win through Religion, get Followers and convert cities
We break down the new Civ 6 Religious Victory and the best ways to get it.
Endgame strategies in Civilization 6
Devastating military units, jaw-dropping scientific progress, mind-blowing religious wonders, and tourist attractions await late in the game in Civilization 6. If you’ve been working on a Science Victory, you should be focusing on discovering Rocketry for the Spaceport District it unlocks.
Beware of aggressive leaders who are already unhappy with you right now. Endgame military units, let’s not talk about nuclear war, can destroy your attempts at peaceful victory, so you should sign a Defensive Pact with a trusted leader as a deterrent against your most violent enemies.
It’s also true that the entire Information Age portion of the Tech Tree is replete with weapons of mass destruction, so regardless of your objective, it’s important to build powerful defensive units. You may be entering an arms race, but at least you will get out of it fighting with fighter jets instead of blunderbuss.
If you’ve been covering different victory options (a very risky way to play), now is the time to decide on a single path and pick up the pace. There are enough policies, district bonuses, and Principles down the road to make up for lost ground, but with a last minute change of plan it’s always going to be difficult to compete with someone who has been planning a Cultural Victory for a couple of millennia.
That said, filling the map to the top with preachers to convert cities en masse and accelerate Religious Victory works, as they can be moved across the territory and can only be stopped by rival religious units or directly with an act of war.
The ultimate goal of a Cultural Victory is to reach the bottom of the Information Principles Tree as soon as possible. In this way you will find the principle that launches Social Networks, with access to the economic policy Online Communities that provides you with a tremendously useful 50% bonus to Tourism with civilizations with which you maintain an Exchange Route.
Furthermore, if no one seems to be leading the way in a victory type, both Social Media and Globalization can be investigated multiple times to allow for a Score Victory.
Even so, we are sure that using all the tips and hints that we have given you in the pages of this guide you will have a civilization organized enough to win in another way; if not, a victory is a victory and you will have learned a lot along the way for your next game. In the meantime, can we invite you to play just one more turn?
