You’re supposed to be confused in Civilization 7

There is a lot going on during every turn of Civilization 7. Each time you hit “next turn,” the computer is calculating the moves of other civilizations, factoring in your difficulty setting, proposing new wars, collecting new resources, selecting new items off the tech tree, and so on. Basically, math is always happening in Civilization 7. Why else did you think the turns take so damn long to calculate? All of that behind-the-scenes complex machinery is what makes Civilization Civilization, and it’s what veterans come to the series for — a way to build out what actually feels like an empire from scratch. But all of those moving pieces can make for a very stressful first-time experience. Worse, it can make you feel like you don’t understand the game. It could even make you feel like you shouldn’t play it. That feeling of a lack of understanding propelled me away from past Civilization games, even though I enjoyed the few matches I spent with them. But I’ve learned something after bouncing off more than one Civilization game before Civilization 7: You’re supposed to be confused. As I mentioned before, the Civilization series is complex, and there are a lot of moving pieces happening every single turn. Confusion is a completely natural feeling when faced with a thousand potentially important pieces of information in front of you. “What does Production do? How much Science do I need to research something? What does Happiness even do? Why can my unit move two spaces sometimes and one space other times? What do you mean they’re declaring war on me?!” I get it. But those questions are normal, and the way you feel is okay. You’re definitely doing a ton of stuff “wrong,” but I have excellent news for you: You can still win at Civ if you’re doing almost everything wrong, but doing one thing right. [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.01.22-17.20.28.68.png?quality=90&strip=all] Civilization 7 is a video game in which you learn by doing. Guides are extremely helpful for answering your specific questions, especially when the Civilopedia in-game can be less than helpful. (And to that end, you don’t want to miss our Civilization 7 guides.) But nothing teaches Civilization better than actually playing Civilization. When you’re first starting out, you want to pick a leader that means something to you, and a civilization that you have some affinity for. You’re going to be seeing a lot of your leader, and you’re going to be working on evolving your civ, so make sure if you pick Confucius, it’s because you’ve read one of his biographies or something like that. Connections and a desire to see Rome succeed (or wherever your extended family might be from) will pull you through when the deep confusion hits. Once you’re in the game, pick an advisor and stick with them. This will basically determine what victory path you’re going to go on. Maybe you like the idea of ruling the world by conquering it and you want to go for a Military Victory. Or maybe you’re fascinated by some of the incredible wonders of our world, or are interested in religion. Then follow the culture advisor to reach a Culture Victory. After you’ve selected a direction for your civilization, it really is as simple as boosting that one aspect as much as possible. If you’re looking to complete the Manhattan Project and win a Science Victory, get your Science up as high as it can go. Do whatever your Science advisor says. If you don’t understand why your units are moving weird or why you’re suddenly losing a battle you thought you would win, just know that you don’t need to understand that. You just need more Science. [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Base-Screenshot-2025.02.05-10.08.00.96.png?quality=90&strip=all] On the default difficulty, following your advisor is potentially enough to win the entire game, and you’ll walk out the other side understanding how to win that kind of victory in the future. Then, pick another civilization, another leader, and another victory condition for your next match. As the turns go by, you’ll begin to understand the things that confused you the last time around, and you can then compound that knowledge with what you now know about Science civilizations or whatever you did the first time. Like the cities in Civilization 7, knowledge about the game is built up, paved over, and rebuilt over time. You cannot read the Civilopedia or even our guides to fully grasp the game. You must read and play, or otherwise risk overloading yourself with information. The best and biggest advice I can give for coming into Civilization 7 is to resist that urge to restart your game because it isn’t going well. There are lessons to be learned every turn in Civilization, even ones where you lose entire armies or even cities. And even if you feel like you’re not learning as you play, I promise you are. Every turn, every age, and every match will get you that much closer to that “I think I finally get it,” moment. With enough practice, you might even fully understand it in time for Civilization 8.