Beginner Tips & Starter Guide

Despite some streamlining of mechanics, Civilization 7 feels as complex as ever. If it’s your first time playing a Grand Strategy/4x game, your first time with the Civilization series, or your first time specifically playing Civilization 7, there’s a lot to learn to get good at Civ 7.

Though the game does explain quite a lot, there are some mechanics and gameplay quirks that can be hard to understand. These best Civilization 7 starter tips will help you understand the basics of Civ 7 and help get you on your way to establishing a civilization that will stand the test of time.

1

Play On Scribe Difficulty To Learn The Game

Take Your Time & Learn The Game Before Raising Difficulty

There is no shame in taking on a lower difficulty to learn a new game, especially if you aren’t familiar with it. This is especially true for the Civilization games or players who have never experienced the Grand Strategy/4x formula.

Difficulty just gives yield and combat bonuses, it doesn’t actually change how AI opponents behave.

Playing on Scribe difficulty as a new Civilization 7 player is the best way to learn how Civ 7 works without being punished too much for mistakes. Even if you’re an experienced Civ fan, playing on Scribe difficulty can be helpful to learn all the Civ 7 changes before jumping into Governor or higher difficulties.

2

Read Every Tutorial Thoroughly

The Civ 7 Tutorials Explain A Lot As You Progress

Compared to previous Civ games, Civilization 7 does a great job of introducing players to most mechanics via its Tutorial system. By default, Tutorials are enabled, and will guide you through almost every major mechanic in the game as they are revealed to you.

Don’t skip through these menus – Civ 7 is a complicated game, and these tutorials explain the nitty-gritty of everything you need to know to play the game effectively.

3

Pick A Legacy Path & Stick To It

But Don’t Neglect Other Facets Of The Game

There are four Legacy Paths, and four Victory Conditions, in Civ 7: Cultural, Economic, Military, and Scientific. Each Age has Legacy Paths which are kind of like mini-victories with their own conditions for each age, while Victory Conditions are how you win the game in the Modern Age.

Decide which Legacy and Victory path you want to go for and do everything you can to support it to unlock Golden Age Legacy bonuses and other benefits in future Ages.

On the Age Progress screen, click the Track Progress button to see milestone goals for the Legacy Paths you want to pursue.

4

Build Two Scouts Before A Granary

Explore Your Surroundings For Narrative Events & Intel

At the start of the game, after founding your first city, produce a Scout instead of a Warrior. It will spawn on the next turn, and you can then choose between a Granary or another unit to produce.

Though Growth is incredibly important in early Civ 7, Scouts can reveal Discoveries and the world map to give you more information on your surroundings. Build another Scout and send them in the opposite direction to your first Scout unit and explore your surroundings – two Scouts means double the Discoveries. Use the “Search” action to reveal these in the nearby Fog of War.

5

Army Commanders & Armies Are Essential

Independent Hostiles Will Be A Thorn In Your Side

In previous Civilization games players could easily get through an entire run without hardly any investment in their military presence. Things are different in Civ 7: one of the best tips for beginners and experienced Civ fans alike is to always have a standing army.

Hostile Independent units will relentlessly attack any settlement that is undefended, and enemy players may declare War on you and send armies of their own your way. Combat is a constant threat in Civ 7, but if you build your military out and have an Army Commander to lead them, you should be able to deal with invaders.

6

Towns & Cities Are Different Settlements

Towns Fuel Cities, Cities Have A Production Queue

When you found a settlement aside from your founding City in Civ 7, you will create a Town. Towns are different from Cities in a few key ways. They do not have a production queue, and you can only purchase buildings for them with Gold. They don’t have as many Resouce slots as cities, and can only use Bonus resources. Until they reach 7 Population, they can’t do anything but grow and send gold back to your Cities.

You can upgrade a Town to a City with a hefty sum of gold, but you can also set a Town Focus at 7 Population, which specialized the town in one of several ways. Don’t go into Civ 7 expecting every settlement to work the same way – think of Towns as being a funnel for resources to your Cities.

7

Influence Is Incredibly Important

Befriend Hostiles, Establish Endeavors, War Support, & More

One of the new Yields in Civ 7 is Influence, which is tied to the new Diplomacy and trading system. Inluence is used for a huge variety of important things that essentially all boil down to trade and relationship-building. Influence is very powerful – when used correctly.

It can be used to grant yourself War Support, befriend hostile and friendly independent people to become their Suzerain, to fund Endeavors and other Diplomatic actions between Leaders, and it can even be used to reject a Denounce action.

Don’t underestimate this resource, and use it wisely to quite literally Influence the world as you see fit.

8

After Natural Disasters, Repair Tiles

Using Gold Or Production, Restore Tiles Destroyed By Disasters Or Pillaging

Natural Disasters can happen at any time. Random squall thunderstorms, river floods, volcanic eruptions, blizzards, and other Natural Disasters can destroy tiles and even damage units.

After a Natural Disaster occurs, click on the affected city and use your Gold or Production to repair the destroyed tiles. While destroyed, these tiles will not grant any bonuses, so it’s very important to get these fixed quickly.

It costs way less Gold relative to the Production cost to repair a tile, and will repair a tile instantly rather than over several turns.

9

Keep An Eye On Your Age Progress

And Track Your Quests To Finish Legacy Paths

As you progress through Legacy Paths and establish a civilization to stand the test of time, the Age Progression (on the top-left of the screen) will continue to advance. At about 60% through the age, a Crisis will begin, forcing every player to adopt negative Social Policies. If you keep an eye on the Age Progression, you can prepare for the inevitable negative consequences.

When a player meets a Legacy Path milestone (or finishes a Future Tech/Civic research), the Age Progression will suddenly get boosted. Future Tech and Civics advance the age by about 5 to 8 percent.

If you are already done with your path, research these over rand over to rapidly advance the age and lock out other players from getting a victory condition.

10

Use The Civilopedia

It’s There For A Reason!

If you are having trouble understanding anything in-game, the ultimate guide to all Civilization 7 beginner tips is actually available in-game via the Civilopedia. The Civilopedia can be accessed by clicking on the golden book icon on the top-right of the screen.

The Civilopedia contains entries for just about every mechanic, unit, tile, and other gameplay feature of Civ 7. If you don’t understand what something is, or want to learn more about a Civ or Leader’s history, check out this useful in-game resource.