I’ll start by examining the rewrite.py script to understand how to use it for this task.I’ve found that the opening notes of Sogno di Volare really get to the heart of every Civilization player. It’s the sound of pure potential, of a story that’s just about to unfold. But before you can take your people from a small tribe to a massive empire, you have a lot of choices to make. The way you set up your game and play the first fifty turns is a careful balance of planning and adapting, and it’s what your entire legacy will be built on. If you do it right, you’ll be on the fast track to winning. If you mess it up, you could spend the whole game trying to catch up, just a small part of someone else’s story.
I’m not just going to give you another list of basic tips. This is my own detailed checklist for starting a new Civ 6 game with the kind of precision you’d expect from a grandmaster. I’ll walk you through every key decision, from setting up the game to the small but important choices you’ll make in the first few dozen turns. Get ready to go from just playing the game to truly taking control from the very first move.
Pre-Game Setup: Building Your World
Before you even see your first settler, you get to shape the world you’ll be playing in. These settings aren’t just something to click through; they’re the foundation of your entire game.
Getting the Map Right: Your World, Your Rules
The map is more than just a pretty background; it’s a key part of your strategy. The type and size of the map you choose will completely change how you play.
- Map Type: For a classic, well-rounded Civ game, I always go with Continents or Pangaea. Continents will make you build a navy for exploring and expanding later in the game, while Pangaea puts everyone on one big piece of land, which means you’ll be meeting, and maybe fighting with, other civilizations much earlier. If you want a game that’s all about naval power, you should try Archipelago or Seven Seas. For a different kind of challenge, Highlands gives you a rugged, production-heavy map with lots of natural barriers, which is great for defensive players with strong land armies.
- Map Size: The size of the map determines how many civilizations and city-states there are, and how fast the game moves. I’ve found that a Standard or Large map gives you a good mix of space to grow and opportunities to interact with other players. Smaller maps, like Tiny or Small, will throw you into conflict almost immediately. On the other hand, Huge maps give you a ton of room to build your empire in peace at the start, but they can get pretty overwhelming to manage in the late game.
- World Age, Temperature, and Rainfall: These settings make subtle but important changes to the terrain. A New world will have more mountains and hills, which is great for production and defense. An Old world will be flatter with more open land, which is perfect for civilizations with strong cavalry. Temperature changes the amount of desert and tundra, and Rainfall affects how many forests and jungles you’ll see. For a game where you want to build a lot, I’d recommend a New, Wet world. For a science-focused game where you can use desert adjacency bonuses for your Holy Sites and Campuses, an Arid world can be a surprisingly good choice.
Setting the Challenge: Difficulty and Game Speed
These two settings have the biggest impact on how hard and how long your game will be.
- Difficulty Level: If you’re new to the game, I’d suggest starting on Prince. On this level, the AI doesn’t get any major advantages, so it’s a fair fight. As you get more comfortable, you can move up to King, Emperor, Immortal, and eventually, Deity. Just be ready: on higher difficulties, the AI gets big bonuses to production, science, and culture, and it starts with extra units. A Deity game is a real test of your skills, and you have to play your best from the very first turn.
- Game Speed: Standard speed gives you a good, steady pace. Quick speed makes everything happen faster, which means early advantages are even more important. Epic and Marathon speeds slow things down a lot. I love these slower speeds for planning big military campaigns, since your units stay useful for a longer time, giving you the chance for some really detailed tactical moves before they become outdated.
Picking Your Leader and Civilization
Choosing your leader and civilization is the biggest decision you’ll make. Each one has unique abilities, units, and buildings that will shape your playstyle and how you achieve victory.
Matching Your Choice to Your Victory Goal
Before you even look at the leaders, you should have an idea of how you want to win.
- Science Victory: To win this way, you need to focus on technology and production. I’ve had a lot of success with civilizations like Korea (Seondeok), with her amazing Seowon campus, or Germany (Frederick Barbarossa), who gets an extra district and production bonuses from the Hansa. Scotland (Robert the Bruce) can also be a great choice for a science victory, since he gets extra science and production from happy cities.
- Culture Victory: This is all about getting tourists by creating Great Works, building wonders, and establishing national parks. Greece (Pericles) is a powerhouse here, with his extra wildcard policy slot and culture bonus from city-states. Kongo (Mvemba a Nzinga) is fantastic at getting Great Artists, Merchants, and Musicians, and his ability to get their Great Works without being the suzerain of their city-state is a huge advantage. Sweden (Kristina) can also be a cultural force, since she can easily theme her museums and get big bonuses from wonders.
- Domination Victory: If you love a good fight, you should pick a civilization that’s built for war. Scythia (Tomyris) can flood your enemies with light cavalry, since she can build two units for the price of one. The Aztec (Montezuma) can use his Eagle Warriors to capture enemy units and turn them into builders, which is great for fueling your war effort. Gran Colombia (Simón Bolívar) has incredible military mobility with his Comandante General and the unique Llanero cavalry unit.
- Religious Victory: This is all about spreading your religion across the world. Russia (Peter) is amazing for this, with his Lavra district that gets Great Prophet points quickly and his ability to settle in the tundra, giving him a lot of uncontested land. Spain (Philip II) can also be a strong religious contender, with his Inquisitors who are great at getting rid of other religions.
- Diplomatic Victory: This is about making friends with other civilizations and city-states. Canada (Wilfrid Laurier) is perfect for this, with his ability to build farms in the tundra and his unique Mountie unit that helps him create national parks and earn diplomatic favor. Georgia (Tamar) can also be a good choice, with her bonuses to protectorate wars and her ability to get envoys in city-states that follow her religion.
Why Your Starting Bias Matters
A lot of civilizations have a “starting bias,” which means they’re more likely to start near certain types of terrain. For example, Egypt usually starts near rivers and floodplains, and Norway almost always starts on the coast. If you know about these biases, you can guess where you’ll start and plan your early moves accordingly.
The First Ten Turns: Making Every Move Count
The first ten turns are a blur of activity. Every decision you make will have a lasting impact on the rest of the game.
Turn 1: Choosing Your First City’s Location
Your starting spot is a bit of a lottery, but where you decide to settle your first city is a calculated move. Before you do anything, take a look around.
- The Most Important Rule: Fresh Water and Production: I always make sure my first city is on a tile with fresh water (a river, lake, or oasis). This gives you a big housing bonus, so your city can grow faster. You also need to think about production. Look for tiles with high production, like hills, forests, or resources like stone or deer. A city with good production can build units, districts, and wonders much more quickly.
- Luxury and Strategic Resources: Look around for luxury resources (like spices, cotton, or diamonds) and strategic resources (like horses, iron, or niter). If you settle near them, you’ll get amenities to keep your cities happy and the materials you need for strong military units.
- The “Settle Here or Move?” Question: Sometimes your starting spot is good, but not great. You might be tempted to move your settler a tile or two to a better location. This can be a good idea, but you have to think about what you’re giving up. Every turn you spend moving your settler is a turn you’re not producing anything in your capital. As a rule of thumb, if you can make your city much better in the long run by moving one or two turns, it’s usually worth it. But I wouldn’t recommend moving any further than that.
Your First Builds: Laying the Foundation
What you choose to build first will set the stage for your early game. The best build order can change depending on your civilization and where you start, but here’s a solid and reliable way to begin:
- Scout: I almost always build a Scout first. Exploring is so important in the early game. A Scout will let you see the map, find tribal villages (which give you great bonuses), and meet city-states and other civilizations. The information you get from your Scout will help you make all your future decisions.
- Slinger or Warrior: After your Scout, you’ll want to build a military unit. A Slinger is a good choice because you can upgrade it to an Archer, which is a powerful early-game unit. A Warrior is a stronger melee unit that can protect you from barbarians or let you attack a nearby neighbor early on. Your choice depends on what’s happening around you. If you see a barbarian camp nearby, a Warrior might be the better option.
- Settler: Your third build should be a Settler. Expanding early is key in Civ 6. The more cities you have, the more science, culture, and production you’ll generate. I try to have at least three cities by turn 50.
The Next Forty Turns: Growing Your Empire
Now that your capital is set up and you have your first few units, it’s time to expand your empire and start working on your long-term strategy.
Expanding Your Empire: Where to Settle Next
You should place your second and third cities in strategic spots to get valuable resources and block other civilizations from expanding into your territory.
- Getting Strategic and Luxury Resources: I try to settle my second city near a strategic resource that I don’t have in my capital. If you started with horses, look for a spot with iron. If you don’t have either, find a place with good production and a new luxury resource.
- Forward Settling: “Forward settling” is when you build a city close to another civilization’s borders to claim land and resources before they can. This can be a risky move because it can make your neighbor angry and lead to an early war. But if you can do it successfully, it can give you a huge strategic advantage.
- Placing Cities for District Bonuses: As you decide where to put your cities, start thinking about district adjacency bonuses. For example, a Campus gets a bonus for being next to a mountain, and a Commercial Hub gets a bonus for being next to a river and a harbor. If you plan your cities with these bonuses in mind, you’ll get much better yields in the long run.
The Tech and Civic Trees: Planning Your Path
The path you take through the technology and civic trees should be based on how you want to win and what you need right away.
- Getting the Early Game Essentials: In the early game, you’ll want to focus on technologies and civics that give you the tools you need to expand and protect your empire. Some key early technologies are Animal Husbandry (to see where the horses are), Mining (to clear forests and improve hills), and Archery (to upgrade your Slingers to Archers). Some essential early civics are Code of Laws (which gives you your first policy cards) and Foreign Trade (which lets you create trade routes).
- The Power of Eurekas and Inspirations: Civ 6 has a system of “Eurekas” (for technologies) and “Inspirations” (for civics) that give you a big research boost. You can get these boosts by doing certain things in the game. For example, if you kill a unit with a Slinger, you’ll get the Eureka for Archery. I always keep an eye on these boosts and try to get them whenever I can. They’ll save you a ton of research time over the course of the game.
Dealing with Barbarians
Barbarians are a constant problem in the early game. They’ll pop up from camps in unexplored territory and will attack your units and cities without stopping.
- Why You Need a Standing Army: The best way to deal with barbarians is to have an army. A few well-placed Warriors and Archers can easily protect your cities and clear out any nearby camps.
- Hunting the Scouts: Barbarian camps will only start creating units after a barbarian Scout has seen one of your cities and made it back to the camp. If you see a barbarian Scout, you should do everything you can to kill it before it can report back.
- Farming Barbarians (If You’re Brave): While barbarians can be annoying, they can also be a way to get experience for your military units. If you’re feeling aggressive, you can “farm” barbarian camps by letting them create a few units and then killing them for promotions.
First Contact: Meeting Your Neighbors
As you explore the map, you’ll eventually meet other civilizations and city-states. How you first interact with them will affect your relationship for the rest of the game.
- Sending a Delegation: When you first meet another civilization, you’ll have the option to send them a delegation. It costs a little bit of gold, but it will make them more likely to be friendly with you. Unless you’re playing an aggressive, warmongering civilization, I think it’s almost always a good idea to send a delegation.
- The Value of City-States: City-states are neutral and can give you powerful bonuses if you become their suzerain. You can gain influence with them by sending them envoys. You can get envoys in different ways, like through certain policy cards and by being the first to meet a city-state. Pay attention to the quests that city-states give you, because completing them will earn you extra envoys.
A Foundation for Victory
If you follow this checklist, you’ll have built a strong foundation for your civilization. You’ll have a successful capital, a growing empire, a decent military, and a clear plan for how you want to win. The world of Civilization VI is huge and full of possibilities. Now, go and write your own story. The ages are waiting.