I’m going to share how I approach the opening of a Civilization VI match. Those first 50 to 100 turns are a delicate dance of discovery, expansion, and calculated risk, and a single misstep can send ripples across millennia, leaving you playing catch-up with your rivals. The path to victory is long, but the foundation of any successful empire is laid right at the start.
Let’s break down the five most critical early-game decisions that I’ve found separate a fleeting victory from an enduring one. We’ll go beyond the basic advice and get into the nuanced strategies that will help you build a resilient and ultimately triumphant civilization. It’s time to master the art of the opening, because it’s here, in the dawn of your empire, that you sow the seeds of victory.
Your Capital’s Location and Initial Build Order
Your first city is more than a starting point; it’s the heart of your empire. It’s the engine that will power your growth, production, and expansion. Where you decide to settle that first city, and what you choose to build in its first few turns, is probably the most impactful choice you’ll make all game.
Reading the Land: What I Look For
Before settling, I always take a moment to meticulously analyze my surroundings. A truly great capital location will have a mix of these key features:
- Fresh Water: Settling directly on a river, lake, or oasis is non-negotiable for me. It gives you a baseline of +3 Housing, letting your city grow without immediate roadblocks. Coastal cities only give +1 Housing, which really stunts early growth.
- Good Food and Production: Your capital needs to both grow and build. I look for tiles with a balanced yield of at least 2 Food and 2 Production. Grassland Hills and Plains Hills are premium spots. A good cluster of food resources like Wheat, Rice, or Cattle will fuel population growth, while plenty of hills and forests will provide the production needed to churn out units and districts.
- Strategic and Luxury Resources: Nearby luxury resources are vital for keeping your empire happy as it grows, and you can trade them for an early gold influx. Strategic resources like Horses and Iron are critical for any early military plans. Settling directly on a luxury resource gives you immediate access, which is a powerful early-game boost.
- Defensible Terrain: I always consider how easily I can defend my capital. Settling on a hill gives you a defensive combat bonus. Rivers and mountains can create natural chokepoints, making it harder for barbarian hordes or aggressive neighbors to roll in.
- District Potential: It’s important to think ahead. While you won’t be building districts right away, your capital’s long-term potential is tied to its ability to get great adjacency bonuses. A mountain range is a future high-yield Campus or Holy Site. A river can boost a Commercial Hub. A bunch of flat tiles might be perfect for an Industrial Zone complex.
The First Ten Turns: My Go-To Build Order
Once I’ve settled, my initial build order sets the tempo. This can shift based on my civilization and start, but here’s a flexible opening that I find works most of the time:
- Scout: My first build is almost always a Scout. Information is the most valuable currency in the early game. A Scout can find tribal villages (goody huts), meet city-states for those valuable first-impression bonuses, reveal the lay of the land for future cities, and, most importantly, spot barbarian camps before they become a real problem.
- Slinger: My second unit is usually a Slinger. This ranged unit is crucial for handling barbarian scouts and warriors. Plus, killing a unit with a Slinger triggers the Eureka for Archery, a vital early military tech.
- Settler: My third production choice is a Settler. Expanding early is everything in Civ VI. Getting a second city down early doubles your empire’s growth potential and lets you claim valuable land and resources before your rivals can.
- Warrior/Slinger: Depending on the barbarian threat, a second military unit is often a smart move. An extra Warrior can help escort my Settler and clear out nearby camps, while another Slinger gives me more ranged support.
- Monument: Once I have a basic military and a second city on the way, a Monument is an excellent investment. The +2 Culture per turn it provides is invaluable for speeding through the Civic tree, unlocking powerful early policies and my first government.
This opening gives a balanced approach, prioritizing exploration, defense, and expansion, and it lays a solid foundation for any victory type I might aim for.
Mastering Exploration and Taming Barbarians
The world of Civ VI is a vast and often hostile place at the start. What you don’t know can, and will, hurt you. I’ve learned that a proactive approach to exploration and a firm hand in dealing with barbarians are essential for survival and success.
The Art of Effective Scouting
That initial Scout is my window to the world. Its mission is critical:
- Mapping Your Home: The main goal is to reveal the surrounding terrain. I identify promising spots for future cities, keeping an eye out for fresh water, resources, and defensible features.
- Racing for City-States: Being the first to meet a city-state gives you a free Envoy, which provides a nice yield bonus in your capital. These bonuses can really speed up early development.
- Finding Goody Huts: Tribal villages are a welcome sight in the early game. They can give you anything from a free unit or population to a boost in gold, faith, or even a whole technology or civic.
- Meeting Other Civs: Knowing your neighbors is critical. Early encounters let you gauge their personality, set up trade, and identify potential threats or allies.
- Discovering Natural Wonders: Finding a Natural Wonder gives a great boost to your Era Score and can offer powerful tile yields or unique bonuses.
A single, well-managed Scout can do all of this. I use its high mobility to cover a lot of ground and don’t shy away from calculated risks to get valuable information.
The Barbarian Problem: From Nuisance to Opportunity
Barbarians can be a persistent and frustrating threat. But with the right strategy, you can turn this menace into an opportunity.
- The Scout Hunt: The key to managing barbarians is to intercept their scouts before they reach your cities. A barbarian scout with an exclamation mark over its head has seen one of your cities and is running back to its camp to spawn a raiding party. If you can kill that scout before it reports back, you can prevent a major headache.
- Proactive Defense: I don’t wait for the barbarians to come to me. I use my starting Warrior and early Slingers to actively hunt down and destroy their encampments. Clearing a camp gives you gold and Era Score.
- The Power of Promotion: Fighting barbarians is an excellent way to get early promotions for your units. A promoted unit is significantly better in combat.
- Farming Eurekas: Killing three barbarians triggers the Eureka for Bronze Working, which reveals Iron. As I mentioned, killing a unit with a Slinger triggers the Eureka for Archery. I use the barbarians to speed up my tech progress.
- The Discipline Policy Card: One of the first military policy cards you can unlock is Discipline, which gives a +5 combat strength bonus against barbarians. This is an essential tool for handling the early-game barbarian threat.
By actively exploring and methodically dealing with barbarians, you not only secure your own borders but also gain valuable resources, experience, and technological advantages that will serve you throughout the game.
Charting Your Course Through the Tech and Civic Trees
The Technology and Civic trees are the roadmaps to your civilization’s advancement. The paths you choose early on will define your immediate capabilities and set you on a course towards a specific victory condition. I find having a clear plan for the first 50 turns is crucial for unlocking my civ’s full potential.
Key Early Technologies
My early tech choices focus on unlocking essential resources, units, and infrastructure. While the best path varies, here are some high-priority technologies I aim for:
- Animal Husbandry and Mining: These are often my first two techs. Animal Husbandry reveals Horses and lets you build pastures, while Mining reveals Stone and allows for mines, a vital source of production.
- Pottery: This tech unlocks the Granary, a key building for city growth, and lets you harvest Rice and Wheat. It’s also a prerequisite for Writing.
- Writing: Unlocking the Campus district is a top priority for a Science Victory, but the library’s science output is good for any playstyle. Writing is a gateway to more science.
- Archery: Upgrading Slingers to Archers is a significant military power spike. Archers are the backbone of early armies and are essential for both defense and offense.
- Bronze Working: Revealing Iron is critical for building Swordsmen, the best melee unit of the Classical Era. Even if I’m not planning an early war, knowing where Iron is located is vital for long-term planning.
- Celestial Navigation and Sailing: For coastal starts, these techs are essential for unlocking Harbors, a great source of gold and trade routes, and for building a navy.
Your Civic Foundation
The Civic tree is just as important as the Tech tree. Your civic choices unlock powerful policy cards, new governments, and key cultural advancements.
- Code of Laws: This is your first civic and unlocks your first policy cards, including Discipline (for fighting barbs) and God King (for generating early Faith).
- Foreign Trade: This civic unlocks the Trade Route, a vital source of gold and diplomatic visibility. It also leads to Early Empire.
- Craftsmanship: Unlocking the Agoge policy card, which gives a +50% production bonus towards ancient and classical era melee and ranged units, is a game-changer for early military production.
- Early Empire: This is a critical civic to rush. It unlocks your first Governor and the Colonization policy card, which provides a +50% production bonus towards Settlers.
- Political Philosophy: This is arguably the most important early-game civic. It unlocks your first Tier 1 government (Autocracy, Oligarchy, or Classical Republic). Rushing Political Philosophy is a cornerstone of any strong early-game strategy I employ.
The Power of Eurekas and Inspirations
To speed through the trees, you have to actively chase Eurekas and Inspirations. These are mini-objectives that boost your research by 40%. Some key early ones I always try to get are:
- Eureka for Archery: Kill a unit with a Slinger.
- Eureka for Bronze Working: Kill three barbarian units.
- Inspiration for Foreign Trade: Discover a new continent.
- Inspiration for Craftsmanship: Improve three tiles.
- Inspiration for Early Empire: Grow your total population to 6.
By consciously planning my actions to trigger these boosts, I can significantly outpace my opponents.
A Proactive Expansion Strategy
In Civilization VI, a wide empire is almost always a strong one. The more cities you have, the more districts you can build, the more resources you control, and the more science, culture, faith, and gold you can generate. A proactive and well-thought-out expansion strategy isn’t just a suggestion; it’s a necessity for victory.
When to Expand
The ideal window for my first wave of expansion is after I’ve established my capital, built a small military to handle barbarians, and researched the Early Empire civic. As I mentioned, this civic unlocks the Colonization policy card, which makes producing Settlers much faster. My goal is usually to settle at least two to three new cities by turn 50-60 on standard speed.
Where to Settle
The placement of new cities is just as important as the timing. Each new city should be a strategic asset.
- Prioritize New Luxuries: Settling near a new luxury resource that I don’t already have is a top priority. This provides amenities to keep my cities happy and can be traded for a steady gold income.
- Secure Strategic Resources: Claiming territory with Horses and Iron is crucial for my military ambitions. Even if I don’t plan to use them immediately, denying them to my opponents is a strategic win in itself.
- Plan for Districts: Just like with the capital, I consider the long-term district potential of new city locations. A city near mountains can become a science hub, while a city on a river with flat tiles is a prime spot for a commercial and industrial center.
- Mind the Gap: Loyalty: In the Gathering Storm and Rise and Fall expansions, loyalty is a critical factor. Settling cities too far from my capital or too close to a rival can lead to loyalty pressure and even rebellion. I aim to settle my early cities relatively close to one another to create a loyal core from which I can expand further.
- Forward Settling: Settling a new city close to a rival’s border is a high-risk, high-reward strategy. It can let you claim valuable land before they can, but it will also generate grievances and can be a prelude to war. If I choose to do this, I make sure I’m prepared to defend the new city.
Jumpstarting New Cities
A new city is vulnerable and unproductive. To get it up to speed quickly, I often:
- Purchase a Builder: If I have the gold, buying a Builder in a new city can immediately improve its tiles and boost its growth and production.
- Send a Trade Route: A trade route from my capital to a new city provides a significant influx of food and production, accelerating its development.
- Assign a Governor: Assigning a governor with a relevant bonus, like Magnus for growth or Pingala for science and culture, can give a powerful boost to a new city.
By expanding early and intelligently, I lay the groundwork for a powerful and resilient empire that can compete for any victory condition.
Leveraging Pantheons and Governors
Beyond the tangible decisions of what to build and where to settle, Civ VI has a layer of more subtle, yet equally impactful, choices. Your first Pantheon belief and your first Governor are powerful levers that, when chosen wisely, can provide a significant and lasting advantage.
Choosing Your Pantheon
A Pantheon is the first step towards a religion, but its benefits are available to everyone. You can choose one once you have 25 Faith. The right choice depends heavily on your start and long-term goals.
- Location-Based Pantheons: If I start in the desert, Desert Folklore (+1 Faith from desert tiles) is a powerful choice. If I’m surrounded by tundra, Dance of the Aurora (+1 Faith from tundra tiles) is a must-have. For starts with lots of pastures, God of the Open Sky (+1 Culture from pastures) can provide a great cultural boost.
- Production-Oriented Pantheons: If my focus is on early production, God of the Forge (+25% Production towards Ancient and Classical era military units) can give me a decisive military edge. God of the Sea (+1 Production from Fishing Boats) is fantastic for coastal civilizations.
- Growth and Expansion Pantheons: Religious Settlements (a free Settler and +15% border expansion) is one of the most powerful Pantheons, allowing for rapid expansion. Fertility Rites (a free Builder and +10% city growth) is another excellent choice for kickstarting growth.
- Generalist Pantheons: If no other Pantheon seems like a great fit, Divine Spark (+1 Great Person points from key districts) is a solid all-around choice that will benefit you throughout the game.
Appointing Your First Governor
You typically earn your first Governor Title by researching the Early Empire civic. The governor you choose and where you assign them can have a profound impact.
- Magnus the Steward: Magnus is an incredibly popular and powerful first choice. His Provisions promotion lets a city produce Settlers without losing population, a massive boon for early expansion. Assigning Magnus to my capital can turn it into an expansionist powerhouse.
- Pingala the Educator: For a Science or Culture victory, Pingala is an excellent choice. His Librarian promotion provides +15% Science and Culture in the city. Placing him in my most populous city can significantly accelerate my progress.
- Amani the Diplomat: If I’m surrounded by city-states, Amani can be a powerful diplomatic tool. She can help me become Suzerain with fewer Envoys and can exert loyalty pressure on nearby rivals.
- Liang the Surveyor: Liang is more situational but still valuable. Her Guildmaster promotion gives Builders an additional build charge, making her great for a city focused on improving tiles or chopping out wonders.
- Victor the Castellan: In a game where I’m facing early military pressure, Victor can be a lifesaver. His promotions enhance a city’s defenses, making it much harder for an opponent to capture.
The choice of your first Governor should be a deliberate one, aligned with your immediate needs and long-term goals. A well-placed Governor can amplify your strengths and give you a crucial edge.
The Dawn of an Empire
The early game of Civilization VI is a complex and rewarding puzzle. These five areas—your capital and build order, exploration and barbarians, your tech and civic path, your expansion strategy, and your choice of Pantheon and Governor—are the pillars upon which your empire will be built.
By mastering these critical choices, you move beyond simply playing the game and begin to truly command it. You’ll learn to read the map not as a static landscape, but as a tapestry of potential. You’ll see barbarians not as a nuisance, but as an opportunity. And you’ll make every decision with a clear focus on your ultimate goal: victory. The path to triumph is forged in these early turns, and with these tips, you’re now equipped to lay a foundation so strong that your civilization will stand the test of time.