Beginner's Guide

New Civilization 4 players should play the tutorial, start on Settler or Chieftain difficulty at Normal speed, build a Warrior, an explorer, a Worker and then Settlers, found cities on rivers and coasts about 4 to 5 tiles apart, and watch city maintenance on the Financial Advisor (F2).

To learn Civilization 4, play the tutorial, then start a game on Settler difficulty, where the game gives play tips and the manual suggests playing "your first several games", or on Chieftain, at Normal speed. Build a Warrior, a unit to explore, a Worker and then Settlers; found cities on rivers and coasts about 4 to 5 tiles apart, as the manual advises; and keep an eye on city maintenance, because every new city costs gold. Civ 4 rewards planning over speed: there is no single right build, and the manual's own last word on the opening is "Try stuff out and see what happens." The fifteen tips below, from the game's four manuals, Soren Johnson's designer notes and GameSpot's guide, cover what a new player needs in the first game; the next step is Early Game Strategy.

3D map seen from high above: forests, lakes and hills divided by colored border lines, with city labels including Motown, Spearman; Grooveville, Barracks; Orleans; and Persepolis, Stonehenge. — Gameplay on 2K's Civilization IV page: a wide view of the map with orange, purple and teal cultural borders around cities such as Motown, Grooveville, Orleans and Persepolis. Firaxis Games and 2K

Quick facts

Easiest level	Settler: the game gives play tips
Default level	Noble: the AI plays under the same conditions as you
Levels the manual names	Settler, Chieftain, Warlord, Noble, Monarch, Immortal, Deity
Speed for a first game	Normal
First builds	Warrior, a unit to explore, Worker, Settler with an escort
City spacing	About 4 to 5 tiles apart; never within two tiles of another city
Saving	Autosave every four turns; quick save Shift+F5, quick load Shift+F8
Advisors	F1 Domestic to F10 Capital; F12 Civilopedia

Source: Civilization IV manual, pp. 14-15, 19, 46, 59-60, 166-167; Beyond the Sword manual, pp. 50-51.

Before your first game

1. Play the tutorial first. The tutorial is on the main menu and is narrated by Sid Meier himself, but GameSpot's 2005 review warned that it "only covers about half the game's key concepts". Treat it as a tour of the interface, then learn the rest by playing.

2. Choose Settler or Chieftain, at Normal speed. The manual recommends Settler (where the game gives tips) and Normal speed for your first several games. Difficulty cannot be changed once a game has started. Easier levels are kinder in concrete ways: on Chieftain your cities start with 3 health and 6 happiness, against 1 and 3 on Deity, barbarians come later and fewer, and tribal huts give better results. At Noble, the default, the AI plays "under the same conditions as the human players"; above it, the AI gets discounts. Every level is on Difficulty Levels, and every setup option on Game Setup.

3. Pick a leader whose traits fit your plan. Each leader has two traits. GameSpot's guide (Doug Radcliffe, Jan 18, 2006) suggests using an Aggressive leader's military bonuses to conquer, a Creative leader for a culture victory, or a Philosophical leader to "cultivate great people". The traits and their exact effects are on Leader Traits.

The first turns

4. Found your capital on the first turn. GameSpot's guide says start positions are "basically balanced" and warns against spending three or more turns moving the Settler while rivals found their capitals and start researching. Settle where you stand unless a clearly better spot is in view.

5. Follow the manual's opening build. The manual's "Early Objectives" (pp. 59-60) are: build a Warrior and fortify it in the city, build a unit to explore, build a Worker once you know the techs it needs, then build a Settler with a military escort. A city building a Worker or Settler does not grow, because its surplus food goes into the unit; GameSpot's guide suggests letting the capital grow first, "perhaps even up to size three", unless valuable resources are waiting to be improved.

6. Put cities on rivers, coasts and resources. The manual's tips for city sites (p. 46): near resources, on or near rivers, on coasts (best at a river mouth or near ocean resources), near a mix of hills and grassland, and about 4 to 5 tiles from your other cities so each can work its whole radius. Cities cannot be founded within two tiles of another city. A city next to fresh water gets +2 health, and rivers add commerce to the tiles beside them. More on Cities.

7. Research for the land you have. GameSpot's guide advises planning early research around the resources near your capital: Agriculture for farms (only useful with fresh water early on), Fishing for seafood, Hunting or Animal Husbandry for camps and pastures, and Masonry when Stone or Marble is nearby, since those speed many wonders. Bronze Working reveals Copper and lets Workers chop forests for production (Slavery and Chopping). If you want a religion, leaders who start with Mysticism have a head start, and the guide notes that some AI will go for Buddhism, "the easiest to found". Paths through the tree are on Technologies.

8. Explore with a Scout and visit tribal huts. Huts can give maps, gold or a technology, and there are only a limited number on the map. The manual says results are better on easier levels, and a hut gives a Settler or Worker only on Warlord or lower. Scouts get better results from huts, and GameSpot's guide recommends moving them by hand to uncover as much of the map as possible.

Running an empire

9. Expand, but watch maintenance. Every city costs gold to maintain, more the farther it is from the capital and the more cities you own. The manual (p. 156) warns that "expanding too far too fast" drains the treasury and slows research; Courthouses halve a city's maintenance. Soren Johnson, the lead designer, wrote that this flat cost per city replaced Civilization 3's corruption so that a sprawl of tiny cities "would be very difficult". The Financial Advisor (F2) shows where your gold goes. Money is explained on Economy.

10. Spend your gold instead of hoarding it. Commerce is split between research and gold by a slider; research starts at 100%, and if your treasury cannot cover it the game lowers the rate for you but never raises it again. GameSpot's guide says a big bankroll "may seem comforting but it's not really the best use of your funds": surplus gold can pay for another city, a stronger civic or, under Universal Suffrage, rushed production.

11. Keep cities happy and healthy. Each new citizen brings one more unhappy face, and unhappy citizens beyond the limit eat but refuse to work; each citizen eats 2 food, and each unhealthy face over the limit costs 1 more. Johnson wrote that this replaced the riots of earlier games. Luxury resources (Gold, Silk, Wine and others) add happiness and food resources add health once improved and connected by road, river or coast; temples, religions and some civics help too.

12. Use the advisors and the keyboard. The Beyond the Sword manual lists F1 Domestic, F2 Financial, F3 Civics, F4 Foreign, F5 Military, F6 Technology, F7 Religion, F8 Victory, F9 Demographics and F10 Capital, with F12 for the Civilopedia. GameSpot's review found several on-screen icons "extremely small" and best ignored in favor of these shortcuts. The game also autosaves every four turns; Shift+F5 saves at once.

13. Read the odds before you attack. Every unit has one Strength value, changed by terrain, promotions and bonuses against other unit types. Equal modified strengths mean even odds and double the strength means 2 to 1. Hovering an attack shows the exact odds; Johnson wrote in a 2010 column that this display "drastically increased player satisfaction" with combat. Against a stack, its best defender always fights. More on Combat.

14. Never leave a city empty. The manual's first early objective is to protect the city, or it "will be captured by the first barbarian or enemy unit that finds it". Higher difficulty brings more and earlier barbarians; GameSpot's guide adds that Workers and Settlers need escorts. Archers, once you have Archery, defend cities and hills better than Warriors.

15. Decide early how you want to win. Civ 4 has six victories: Time (highest score at the end, usually 2050 AD), Conquest, Domination, Cultural, Space Race and Diplomatic. The Victory screen (F8) shows how close everyone is. Each has its own guide: War Guide, Culture Victory Guide and Space Race Guide, with the rules on Victory Conditions.

What to play next

Once a game on Settler or Chieftain feels comfortable, move up one level at a time; Noble is the first level where the AI gets no help from the rules in either direction. Beyond the Sword, the second expansion, includes everything from Warlords, so it is the version to play if you own both. GameSpot's review of Beyond the Sword said its added clutter "may still seem intimidating to beginners" and that the expansion "isn't necessarily for people who have never played Civ", so a first game in the base rules is a fair choice. How economies grow later is on Cottages and Specialists.

Frequently asked questions

What difficulty should a beginner play in Civ 4? Civilization 4's manual recommends Settler, the easiest level, for your first several games, because the game gives play tips there. Chieftain is the next step, and Noble is the default level where the AI plays under the same conditions as you.

What should I build first in Civ 4? The Civilization 4 manual's opening is a Warrior fortified in the capital, then a unit to explore, a Worker once you have the techs it needs, and a Settler with an escort. A city stops growing while it builds a Worker or Settler, so GameSpot's guide suggests letting it grow a little first.

How far apart should cities be in Civ 4? The Civilization 4 manual suggests about 4 to 5 tiles between cities so each can work its whole radius with little overlap. Cities cannot be founded within two tiles of another city.

Why is my gold going down in Civ 4? In Civilization 4 every city costs maintenance that rises with its distance from the capital and with your number of cities, and civics and units cost upkeep too. Build Courthouses, lower the research slider, or slow your expansion, and check the Financial Advisor (F2) for the breakdown.

Is the Civ 4 tutorial enough to learn the game? Civilization 4's tutorial, narrated by Sid Meier, teaches the interface and basics, but GameSpot's 2005 review said it covers only about half the game's key concepts. Play a full game on Settler afterward, where the game keeps giving tips.

Which Civ 4 version should a new player use? Most players today play Beyond the Sword, Civilization 4's second expansion, which includes the Warlords additions. GameSpot's 2007 review noted it is aimed at people who already know Civ, so some start with the base rules.