'' is a , and the players attempt to expand and develop their empires through the ages until modern and near-future times. It is also known simply as ''Civilization'', or abbreviated to ''Civ'' or ''Civ I''. It is generally acknowledged to be a pioneer in the genre of Turn-based Strategy games.
See Also: List of Wonders in Civilization
of the Russians]]
''Civilization'' is a single-player game. The player takes on the role of the ruler of a Civilization starting with nothing but a single Settler unit (sometimes two of them). The player attempts to build an Empire in competition with 2-6 other civilizations. The game is turn-based and requires a fair amount of Micromanagement (although less than any of the Simulation Game s).[ Civilization manual at Civ Fanatics ]
Along with the larger tasks of exploration, war and diplomacy, the player has to make decisions about where to build new cities, which improvements or units to build in each city, which advances in knowledge should be sought (and at what rate), and how to transform the land surrounding the cities for maximum benefit. From time to time the player's towns may be harassed by " Barbarian s", units with no specific nationality and no named leader. These threats only come from unclaimed land or sea, so that over time there are fewer and fewer places barbarians will emanate from.
Before the game begins, the player chooses which historical civilization to play. For the players this is a cosmetic choice, affecting titles, city names, musical heralds, and colour, but not gameplay (except when playing on earth, where civilizations start near their homeland). It does prevent the computer from being able to play that civilization. Computer-controlled opponents display certain traits of their civilizations. The Aztec s are both fiercely expansionistic and generally extremely wealthy, for example. Other civilizations include the Americans , the Mongols , and the Romans . Each civilization is led by a historical figure, such as Mahatma Gandhi ( India ns) and Joseph Stalin ( Russia ns).
The scope of the game is huge — larger than most other computer games. The game begins in 4000 BC , before the Bronze Age , and can last through to 2100 with Space Age technologies. At the start of the game there are no cities anywhere in the world: the player controls one or two Settler units, which can be used to found new cities in appropriate sites, and also alter terrain and build improvements such as mines and roads and, later, railroads.
As time advances, new technologies are developed; these technologies are the primary way in which the game changes and grows. At the start, players choose from advances such as unit becomes available after the Wheel development, and the Granary building becomes available for building after the Pottery development. The whole system of advancements from beginning to end is called the Technology Tree , or simply the Tech tree, a concept adopted in many other strategy games. Since only one tech may be "researched" at any given time, the order in which technologies are chosen makes a considerable difference in the outcome of the game and generally reflects the player's preferred style of gameplay.
Players can also build Wonders of the world in all the epochs of the game, subject only to possession of the necessary knowledge and if no other civilization built it first. These wonders are important achievements of society, science, and culture, ranging from the Pyramid s and the Great Wall in the Ancient age, to Copernicus' Observatory and Magellan's Expedition in the middle period, up to the Apollo Program , the United Nations , and the Manhattan Project in the modern era. Each wonder can only be built once in the world, and requires a lot of resources to build, far more than most other city upgrades or units. Wonders provide unique benefits to the owning civilization, for example, Magellan's Expedition increases the speed of naval units. Some wonders can be made obsolete by new technologies.
The game can be won by destroying all other civilizations, reaching the end of the modern era with the highest score or by succeeding at Space Colonization , in this case reaching the star system of Alpha Centauri .
Meier admits to "borrowing" many of the technology tree ideas from a Board Game also called '' Civilization '' (published in the United Kingdom in 1980 by Hartland Trefoil (later by Gibson Games ), and in the United States in 1981 by Avalon Hill ). The early versions of the game even included a flier of information and ordering materials for the board game. There is now a board game based on the computer game version of ''Civilization''.
Meier was the third major designer to plan a computer version of ''Civilization'', but the first to actually carry out that plan. '' and '' Colonization '' both contain elements of Bunten's ''The Seven Cities of Gold.'' Don Daglow , designer of Utopia , the first Simulation Game , began work programming a version of ''Civilization'' in 1987. He dropped the project, however, when he was offered an executive position at Brøderbund , and never returned to the game {Link without Title} .
As of late 2004, Atari , the latest publisher of a ''Civilization'' game, sold the Intellectual Property of the ''Civilization'' brand to Take 2 Interactive Software , who will distribute ''Civilization'' games under the 2K Games label. Take 2 went public with news of the sale on January 26 2005 .
There have been several sequels to ''Civilization'', including '' Civilization II '', '' Civilization III '' and, '' Civilization IV ''. There is also a new Civilization title due to come out in late 2008 '' Civilization Revolutions ''. An open source clone of ''Civilization'' has been developed under the name of '' FreeCiv '', with the slogan "Cause civilization should be free". Currently it can be configured to match the rules of both Civilization II and Civilization III.
In 1994 Meier produced a similar game called '' Colonization ''. ''Colonization'', while being very similar to ''Civilization'', never became as popular. It has also been criticized for leaving out Slavery and other historically important features in the creation of many nations and empires. ''Civilization IV'', however, recognized slavery in the game play.
The game '' Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri '' is also by Meier and is in the same genre, but with a futuristic/space theme. Many of the interface and gameplay innovations in this game eventually made their way into ''Civilization III'' and ''IV''. ''Alpha Centauri'' essentially picks up where ''Civilization'' left off, with your space ship arriving at Sol's closest neighbour.
In 1993 MicroProse published ''''.
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The designers of the historical strategy 1997 Game '' Age Of Empires '' received much inspiration from ''Civilization'', with many similar features (e.g. technologies, wonders). The main difference here is that ''Age of Empires'' is not Turn-based , but plays in Real-time .
In 1999 '', a sequel of sorts to '' Civilization II '' but by a completely different design team. Gamers that year had a choice between a new game with the ''Civilization'' name but no involvement of Sid Meier; and a "space"-themed civilization game without the name but clearly designed by the same team ('' Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri ''). ''Call to Power'' spawned a sequel in 2000, but by then Activision had lost the right to the '' Civilization '' name and could only call it '' Call To Power II ''.
Will Wright's '' Sim City '' series, established in 1985, has similar elements of politics and resource allocation, though ''Sim City'' is focused on managing a single city.
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''Civilization'' was originally developed for MS-DOS running on a PC . It has undergone numerous revisions for various platforms (including Macintosh , Amiga , Atari ST , PlayStation , N-Gage and Super Nintendo ) and now exists in several versions.
A contentious aspect of the game occurs in combat when a modern unit is fighting an obsolete or ancient unit. The ancient unit can sometimes win what most players consider to be an impossible battle. The most notorious of this is the infamous "spearmen defeats tank" phenomenon in which ancient combat units could defeat modern ones (such as tanks and, amazingly, aircraft) due to status modifiers such as terrain, fortifications, and veteran status.
''"Veteran players of ''Civilization'' were occasionally disconcerted when a veteran phalanx unit fortified behind city walls on a mountain would defeat an attacking battleship. Mathematically it was possible but the image just didn't sit right. How could ancient spearmen destroy a modern steel warship?"'' Civilization II manual
The historian and anthropologist Matthew Kapell has published an essay critical of the Civilization series. It suggests that the game uses unique American Myths of Progress and the Frontier in culturally elitist fashion. (“Civilization and its Discontents: American Monomythic Structure as Historical Simulacrum.” ''Popular Culture Review'' Vol. XIII, No. 2 (Summer): 129-136.)
This game has been one of the most popular Strategy Game s of all time, and has a loyal following of fans. The game (by means of all its versions and updates) has endured for over a decade and a half, with product being offered for sale the entire time in retail stores. This high level of interest has spawned a number of Free Software versions, such as '' Freeciv '' and '' C-evo '', and inspired similar games by other commercial developers, as well.
'' CivNet '' was released in 1995 and was a remake of the original game with added multiplayer, improved graphics and sound, and Windows 95 support. Gameplay was almost identical to the original game. There were several methods of multiplayer, including LAN , primitive Internet play, Hotseat , modem, and direct serial link.
In 1992, ''Civilization'' won the Origins Award for ''Best Military or Strategy Computer Game of 1991''.1
In November 1996 '' Computer Gaming World's '' Anniversary Edition, ''Civilization'' was chosen the #1 of the 150 Best Games of All Time, and it was described as follows:
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