You’re fifty turns in. You’ve got a couple of cities, a few Archers, and you’re feeling pretty good about that +3 Campus next to the mountains. Then, out of nowhere, Trajan or Hojo Tokimune shows up with three times your Science output and a military that makes your Warriors look like they’re playing dress-up. It’s frustrating. It feels like the AI is cheating—and on Deity, it literally is—but most of the time, the gap exists because Civilization VI is a game about "adjacency" and "timing," two things the game's tutorial barely touches on.
Honestly, the biggest hurdle isn't learning the buttons. It's unlearning the "tall" playstyle from Civ 5. In this game, wide is king. If you aren't settling at least 8 to 10 cities by turn 100 (on standard speed), you've basically already lost the late game.
The Settler Problem and Civ 6 Tips and Tricks for Early Expansion
Most players treat Settlers like a "maybe later" project. That's a mistake. You need to be pumping them out until there is literally no land left to grab. But there’s a trick to it. You can't just raw-produce them in every city or you'll tank your growth.
The Magnus/Provision combo is the single most important "pro move" you can learn. Basically, you move Governor Magnus into your highest-production city and get him the Provision promotion. This makes it so your city doesn't lose a population point when a Settler is finished. Combine this with the Colonization policy card (+50% Production toward Settlers), and you’ve got a Settler factory. It’s the difference between struggling to keep up and absolutely suffocating your neighbors with borders.
Also, please stop ignoring the "Appeal" of your tiles. If you’re playing as Australia or trying to get high-neighborhood bonuses later, Appeal matters. But even if you aren't, checking the lens for water availability is huge. Settling off-water is a death sentence for your housing unless you're playing as the Maya or have a specific plan for an early Aqueduct.
Planning the "Mega-Industrial" Zone
You’ve seen the screenshots. Those +10 or +12 Industrial Zones that look like black magic. They aren't. They’re just the result of using the map pins.
Stop playing one turn at a time. Use the "Map Tacks" button above the minimap.
When you find a river, look for a spot where two or three cities can overlap their borders. You want to place your Industrial Zone next to a Dam and an Aqueduct. Because both those districts give a +2 adjacency bonus to the Industrial Zone, a well-placed Dam can turn a mediocre city into a production powerhouse. If you can sandwich an Industrial Zone between two Aqueducts from two different cities, you’re already at +5 or +6 before you even count mines or strategic resources.
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Why Your Science Is Low (It's Not Just Campuses)
Everyone builds a Campus. That’s easy. But what most people miss in Civ 6 tips and tricks discussions is the power of City-States and Great People.
If you see Geneva or Taruga, you protect them at all costs. Being Suzerain of a scientific City-State can boost your output by 15% or more just for being at peace. Moreover, the "Kilwa Kisiwani" wonder is arguably the best building in the game. If you have Kilwa and you’re Suzerain of two City-States of the same type, that city gets a 15% boost to that yield, and all your cities get a 15% boost. It’s massive. It’s game-breaking if used correctly.
Don't sleep on the "Eurekas" either. Half of your tech tree should be researched through actions, not just raw turns. Building two Galleys to trigger the Shipbuilding boost or killing an unit with a Slinger to boost Archery isn't just a "nice to have." It's a requirement for high-level play. If you're hard-researching every tech from 0% to 100%, you are effectively playing at half-speed compared to a pro.
The Cultural Secret: It's Not All About Tourism
Culture is your defense. It’s also how you unlock the best governments. If you neglect Culture because you’re "going for a Science victory," you’re going to get stuck in a Monarchy while your opponent is running Communism or Democracy with way better policy slots.
The Power of "Monopolies and Corporations"
If you’re playing with the New Frontier Pass content, Monopolies are the single easiest way to win. If you control 60% or more of a specific luxury resource on the map, you get a Tourism modifier. On many maps, this modifier is bugged in a way that makes it skyrocket into the thousands of percent. Even if it's not bugged, a single Corporation on a Silk or Tea tile can provide more Gold or Science than an entire district.
Warfare and the "Pre-Build" Strategy
War in Civ 6 is won with gold, not production.
Think about it. Producing a Knight takes forever. But producing a Chariot? That's cheap. One of the best Civ 6 tips and tricks for domination is the "upgrade path." You build 5 or 6 heavy chariots while you have the 50% production card active. You hoard your gold. The second you research Stirrups, you use the Professional Army policy card (which gives a 50% discount on gold upgrades) and turn all those ancient chariots into Knights in a single turn.
Your neighbor won't know what hit them. They’ll see a "Weak" military score on one turn and a stack of armored cavalry at their gates the next.
- Chop Everything: Do not "save" forests for later. A forest chopped today is a District finished 10 turns earlier. The compound interest of getting a library 10 turns sooner outweighs the +1 production of a forest tile over the course of the game.
- Internal Trade Routes: Early on, send your Traders between your own cities. Food and Production are better than 4 Gold from a foreign city. You need your new cities to grow fast.
- The "Sell Your Luxuries" Rule: The AI will often pay 8 to 15 gold per turn for a luxury you have a duplicate of. Early game, 10 gold per turn is a fortune. Use it to buy a Granary or a Slinger immediately.
Faith Is Not Just For Religion
A lot of players ignore Holy Sites if they aren't going for a Religious Victory. That is a massive error. Faith is a "flexible" currency. If you get the Monumentality Golden Age dedication in the Classical or Medieval era, you can buy Settlers, Builders, and Traders with Faith.
Imagine settling three cities in three turns because you saved up 600 Faith. It’s incredibly fast. Even in the late game, the Grand General's Chapel in your Government Plaza lets you buy land units with Faith. If someone surprises you with a declaration of war, you can instantly manifest an army at your city center as long as your Faith reserves are high.
Diplomatic Visibility Is a Combat Bonus
This is something Catherine de Medici mains know, but everyone else forgets. If you have higher Diplomatic Visibility over an opponent than they have over you, your units get a combat strength bonus.
Send a Delegation the very first turn you meet someone. It’s only 25 gold. If you wait, their "opinion" of you might drop, and they’ll refuse it. That Delegation gives you a level of visibility. Later, a Spy or a Trading Post increases it. A +3 or +6 combat bonus might not sound like much, but it's the difference between a unit surviving with 1 HP or being wiped off the map.
Fixing Your District Placement
Stop placing districts just because a tile is "available."
The "Internal Triangle" is a classic strategy. You want your City Center, your Commercial Hub, and your Government Plaza to touch each other. Because every district gives a +0.5 adjacency bonus to others, clustering them creates a "cluster effect" that builds on itself.
Also, look at your tiles. A +4 Commercial Hub next to a Harbor and a River is worth more than a +2 Campus. Money can buy Science (via buildings or Great People), but Science can't always buy you out of a bankruptcy.
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The Mid-Game Slump
Around Turn 120, most people get bored or lost. This is where you need to check your "Victory Progress" screen.
If you're going for Science, are you working toward the "Industrialization" tech? That's the most important tech in the game. It increases the production of every mine on a resource.
If you're going for Culture, have you built any Museums? Have you started "Theming" your art? (Theming gives you double the Tourism and Culture from those slots).
If you're going for Domination, do you have Siege units? Trying to take a city with "Urban Defenses" using just melee units is a suicide mission. You need Trebuchets or Bombards, and more importantly, you need a Great General to move them and fire them on the same turn.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Session
To actually see a difference in your win rate, try these specific adjustments in your next game.
First, focus on the "Magnus Chop." Get Magnus into a city with lots of woods or rainforest. Get a worker. Use the "Agoge" policy card. Chop the woods to finish an Encampment or a Wonder in two turns. It feels like cheating, but it's the optimal way to play.
Second, don't settle your second city too far away. Keep them within 4 to 6 tiles of each other. This allows them to share district bonuses (like the Factory or Power Plant's 6-tile reach) and makes them much easier to defend with a single Archer.
Third, always check the "Global Settings" for City-States. If you see a City-State that gives a bonus you need, put one envoy in it immediately just to get the +2 yield in your capital.
Lastly, remember that "Eurekas" and "Inspirations" are basically free Science and Culture. Open the tech tree and look at the bottom of the icons. If it says "Trigger a Eureka by building a Mine on a resource," go do that. Don't wait. Those boosts are the only way to keep up with the AI on Higher difficulties like Immortal or Deity.
The game isn't about having the best luck with your starting location; it's about how efficiently you use every single gear, beaker, and faith point the map gives you. Master the adjacency, prioritize expansion, and don't be afraid to chop down every tree in sight to get ahead.