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''Sid Meier's Civilization IV'' ('''''Civilization IV''''' or '''''Civ4''''') is a '', was released worldwide between July 18 and July 30 2007 . ''Civilization IV'' is a turn-based game in which the player builds an , increasing the Culture ratings of three different cities to "legendary" levels, and by being declared "World Leader" after first becoming Secretary-General Of The United Nations . If the game's clock runs out (by default in the year 2050 AD) with none of these goals fulfilled by any nation, the nation with the highest score is declared the winner. ''Civilization IV'' was released in English , German , French , Spanish , Italian , Japanese , Chinese and Polish . Fans have also made Russian , Finnish and Czech translations.12 GAMEPLAY Diplomacy Diplomacy in ''Civilization'' generally involves the trading of goods. Specific technologies are required to trade different commodities (for instance, one must know the secret of Paper to trade World Map s). Players may trade technologies, resources (including luxuries such as wine), maps (to reveal information about the rest of the world) and gold. Advanced diplomacy options include the creation of trade embargoes, the promise of military aid, and the adoption of particular civics and/or a religion. Finally, the United Nations wonder allows the passing of global Resolutions (e.g. the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ) in addition to granting access to the diplomatic victory. Unlike real-world resolutions, ''Civilization IV'' resolutions are binding. The reasoning behind diplomacy is more transparent when compared to '' Civilization III '' (''Civ3''): the Diplomacy window now not only displays the other leader's disposition towards the player (from friendly to furious), but ''why'' they feel that way (e.g "-2: You refused to stop trading with our worst enemies!"). When a leader is sympathetic towards another civilization, they are more likely to accept deals without unfair bargaining. Combat Instead of receiving generic increases in rank as in ''Civ3'', the player is allowed to "promote" ''Civilization IV'' units with specific upgrades that provide bonuses in certain situations (+10% city defense, +1 movement over forests, etc). There are 41 different types of combat promotions. It is also now possible for players to examine "combat odds" before attacking, giving the player an idea as to whether a given attack will succeed or not. Units no longer have separate attack and defense values; instead, its health points are also its attack value. Prior to the 1.52 patch, a damaged unit had its combat strength likewise reduced; after the patch, flat base strength was used, allowing damaged units to still fight at full strength. After the 1.61 patch, damaged units fight with the average of their current and full strengths. Production and trade The game features 32 types of resources which require a terrain improvement (such as a farm or an oil well) to be utilized or traded. Resources enable construction (a Knight unit cannot be built without Horses and Iron ), double the speed of construction (the Pyramids are built twice as fast with stone available) or simply add production, happiness and/or gold to the city's output. To trade goods or to send them to other cities within one's border, they must have some form of connection between the goods and the city. In the later game, this connection can be through ocean tiles, but in the early game, it is limited to roads and rivers. Cities on the same river or same coastline (with the Sailing technology) are automatically connected for trading purposes. Unlike in ''Civ3'', the player is no longer able to transfer all production from one project to another, but all production on an already-begun project will remain. For example, if the player is building a Temple but decides to switch to a Harbor , production on the harbor will start from scratch, but the temple will stay in the building queue and retain all previous progress, aside from some decay over time. As an ancillary rule, if one culture is building a World Wonder but another empire completes it first, the losing culture is compensated with gold proportional to the amount of production points lost in the failed attempt to build the wonder. Trade can be conducted with any civilization that the player has made contact with. AI Civ leaders tend to view resources in two groups. There are key resources such as stone, Iron, Uranium, and the like that assist in weapon and building production. The AI will typically not trade these resources away unless another Key resource is being given. Thus all key resources are considered of equal value to the computer. Similarly all other resources that do not affect units and building are considered equal as well. This can lead to exploitation by using a less valuable Key resource to obtain a high demand one. For instance Ivory (Elephants) can be traded equally for Uranium and the AI will gladly oblige if they are on fair terms with the player. Trading for a resource gives you all the benefits of it. However dependency on Key resources can be hazardous for if they are cut off any units needing those resources (for instance Iron to make a swordsman) will not be able to be made. Religion The concept of actual , Christianity , Confucianism , Hinduism , Islam , Judaism and Taoism . Each religion is associated with a specific technology on the tech tree; the first civilization that gains the technology founds the religion. The four later religions (Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, and Taoism) begin with a free Missionary unit for reasons of game balance; missionaries can later be trained at a city that has constructed an associated Monastery . Other than this, there are no special traits or bonuses associated with any particular religion in order to avoid controversy. Religion factors into a number of existing game mechanics. Civilizations that share a common state religion will find themselves more agreeable in their diplomatic dealings; conversely, civilizations with differing state religions will not be as close diplomatically. The religion's founder receives an economic benefit: if that civilization expends a Great Prophet at their religion's holy (founding) city, they will receive that religion's most sacred building, which generates 1 gold for every city that hosts said religion. Finally, if a civilization has a state religion and owns that religion's holy city and sacred building, they will receive line-of-sight in every city hosting said religion. The new civics model of government also has a strong effect on religion. Players can found a state religion, declare religious freedom, or take other actions that have profound impacts on the religious lives of their subjects. If a civilization has no declared religion, they are exempt from all described bonuses and penalties. Civilizations and leaders Eight of the eighteen civilizations have two leaders. Each leader offers bonuses based on what conditions were exceptional during the historical reign of that leader, and each leader acts as differently as if they were a separate civilization and have distinct personalities. Several historic figures not used in previous Civilization games are , Cyrus II , Franklin D. Roosevelt , George Washington , Hatshepsut , Mansa Musa , Kublai Khan , Peter The Great , Qin Shi Huang , Saladin (though Saladin was a hidden leader in '' Civilization II ''), and Queen Victoria . Some art assets existed in the game files for a Sumerian Civilization led by Gilgamesh. The Modding community was able to introduce the Sumerians back into the game using this unfinished art. Other unfinished art included leaderhead artwork for Pericles, Augustus, and Menes. Gilgamesh, Pericles and Augustus were latter added officially in the expanion packs. {Link without Title} All civilizations have some element of uniqueness and all leaders have certain traits based on their achievements in life. All civilizations also have a unique unit, which replaces a standard unit (such as Persian Immortals replacing Chariots). Below is a summary of the unique features of each civilization. Technologies As in prior versions of ''Civilization'', there are technologies for the civilizations to discover. There are a total of 85 technologies in the game, up from 80 in '' Civilization III ''. Technologies have many uses; they can be used for trade, for the construction of new units, buildings and wonders, for the founding of new religions, or for the development of new forms of government. To discover a new technology, it is first necessary to discover the technologies that lead up to it (for example, Democracy can only be discovered after the Printing Press ). However, for some new technologies, not all technologies leading up to it need to be discovered (for example, to discover Gunpowder either Guilds or Education must be discovered first, but not necessarily both). See List of technologies in Civilization IV for complete list. ) are not linked to by any technology and must be found from scratch. The game's tech tree displays all the techs in the game and their relation with one another, and allows the player to queue any number of techs for research. If multiple paths lead to the target tech, the AI will pick the shortest. The final tech in the game, as in previous versions, is called "Future Tech", followed by a number; each iteration of it imparts a happiness and Health bonus to that nation's cities. The discovery of each tech is announced by the game's narrator, Leonard Nimoy of '' Star Trek '' fame. In the single-player game, he reads off a famous quotation pertaining to the technology; the sources of the quotes range from The Buddha , Charles Darwin and the Bible to Lonnie Donegan , Steve Wozniak , Dan Quayle , and a monotonic "Beep. Beep. Beep." attributed to the Sputnik space probe. In multi-player games, Nimoy simply declares, "You have discovered of Technology ." Scoring System In ''Civilization IV'' the leadership skills of players are compared to a subjective list of twenty of the best or worst leaders in history, similar to the list in the first '' Civilization '' game. The score is based on a number of factors, including military growth and success, technological advancement, turns taken to win, construction of wonders and economic growth. The released version of the game abandoned ''Civilization III'' Multiplayer A multiplayer game of ''Civilization IV'' tends to play very differently to a singleplayer game. The relatively predictable reactions and diplomatic relationships with AI controlled civilizations can no longer be relied upon. This has many ramifications for the success potential of various strategies employed in the game. Most notably, the game tends to become very focused on quick-hit warmongering tactics. Multiplayer games of ''Civilization IV'' almost never reach the modern era. Generally, multiplayer games of Civ are set up with a turn timer, which limits the time players can spend conducting their turns, and in simultaneous mode, which means that all players' turns are taken at the same time. The differences between multiplayer and singleplayer games of ''Civilization IV'' have led to much debate on fan forums regarding which mode of is the more strategic and/or enjoyable. NEW FEATURES Gameplay Many aspects of ''Civilization IV'' are new to the series. These include:
Interface changes
Audio-visual : ''See also: Music In Civilization IV ''
CUSTOMIZATION ''Civilization IV'' is much more open to modification than its predecessors. Game data and rules are stored in XML files, and a Software Development Kit was released in April 2006 to allow AI customization. Major parts of the interface, map generation, and scripted events are written entirely in Python and can be customized. World Builder The World Builder allows a player to create a map from scratch or to use an in-game situation as a starting point for a new scenario. The terrain can be altered, and resources, military units and cities on the map can be added, removed or modified. Additionally, each civilization's technological progress as well as its diplomatic and military ties to other civilizations can be edited. The World Builder for ''Civilization IV'' is in-game, in contrast to previous ''Civilization'' games where the Map Editor was an external application. XML More game attributes are stored in XML files, which must be edited with an external text editor or application. Barry Caudill, a senior producer at Firaxis Games, said {Link without Title} in September: At the current time the XML processing in Windows is more permissive of minor errors than in Mac OS X. As a result, some XML files which will work on the Windows version of the game need some slight tweaking before they function on the Macintosh version. Python The game uses Boost.python to allow the Python Programming Language access to many parts of the game (including the style and content of all interface screens). Python can also be used to modify random map generation and to add complex scripted events. The version of Python present in the Windows version of the game differs from the version in Mac OS X up to and including version 10.4.7, and as a result, while most Python files for the Windows version will work on the Macintosh version, not all will. Software Development Kit The Civilization IV Software Development Kit was released on April 13 2006 to coincide with the release of the v1.61 patch. The kit allows players to view, modify, or completely re-write the game's DLL Source Code , enabling the modification of the game's AI and other integral parts of the game. {Link without Title} As of the first official patch for the Macintosh version (v1.61 Revision A), there is no SDK for the Macintosh version of the game. In fact the Macintosh version lacks the separate library of game related code which the PC version uses, but instead includes the code compiled into the main executable. There is as of yet no indication of whether this will change in a future patch. CRITICISM Launch problems The release of ''Civilization IV'' included some technical, production and shipping problems.
PATCHES
PLATFORMS ''Civilization IV'' is available for two different platforms currently, Windows (PC) and Mac OS X . It can also be played on Linux through the Cedega Windows Emulation system. The Mac OS X version is published by Aspyr and was released in June 2006. Though it lacks some of the customization features which were added to the PC version in v1.61, it is otherwise identical to v.1.61 of the PC version. The game was released as a Universal Binary , running natively on both X86 - and PPC -based Macintoshes. Mac OS X users may also, in addition to the cross-platform GameSpy service (although Revision B is required for GameSpy), use GameRanger to play multiplayer games. Multiplayer games involving both game platforms work, but require the use of one of the multiplayer options other than "Internet Play" due to the incompatible formats employed. CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS
RECEPTION Critics' scores
Awards
SEE ALSO REFERENCES Official sites
Third-party sites
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