Firaxis' Creative Director, Ed Beach, urges even veteran 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) featuring Age Transitions that necessitate civilization and legacy choices, and a world evolution.
Beach justifies the default "Small" map size, stating that the manageable number of opponents (three on the home continent, plus a few more later) facilitates learning the new Diplomacy system and managing Diplomatic Influence. He recommends "Continents Plus" map type for easier ocean exploration, crucial in the Exploration Age.
Civilization 7 automatically activates the tutorial upon initial launch. Beach strongly advises experienced players to keep it on for their first full campaign, emphasizing the numerous system upgrades and revisions. The game features four Advisors, each offering guided quests; Beach suggests focusing on one at a time initially. Even after mastering core systems, he recommends switching to the "Only Warnings" setting, allowing Advisors to alert players to potential setbacks – a practice even the Firaxis development team employs.
Firaxis also revealed Civilization 7's post-launch roadmap during a livestream (noting Great Britain's DLC status). Civilization 7 launches on PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on February 11th, with Deluxe Edition access starting February 6th.
