Civilization 7: Tutorial Key for Experienced Players

Firaxis' Creative Director, Ed Beach, urges even seasoned Civilization players to utilize the tutorial for their first Civilization 7 campaign. His Steam post highlights the game's significant departures from previous iterations, particularly the new Ages system (Antiquity, Exploration, Modern), which introduces Age Transitions impacting civilization selection, Legacy retention, and world evolution. This unprecedented system necessitates a learning curve.

Beach justifies the default "Small" map size, arguing that the reduced number of empires (three on the starting continent, with more discoverable later) provides a smoother learning experience, especially for the new Diplomacy system and its management of Diplomatic Influence. He also recommends the "Continents Plus" map type, citing the nearby islands as a helpful introduction to ocean exploration, crucial in the Exploration Age.

The tutorial, automatically enabled on the first playthrough, offers timely tips and explanations. Beach strongly advises veteran players to keep it active for their initial full campaign, emphasizing the numerous system upgrades and revisions. The game features four Advisors, each guiding players through specific game aspects via quests; Beach suggests focusing on one Advisor at a time to avoid information overload.

Even after mastering the core mechanics, Beach recommends switching to the "Only Warnings" setting, allowing Advisors to alert players to potential setbacks. He reveals that even the Firaxis development team uses this feature.

Firaxis also recently detailed Civilization 7's post-launch content roadmap during a livestream, confirming the game's release on February 11th (PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S), with Deluxe Edition access starting February 6th. (Note: Great Britain's inclusion is relegated to DLC.)