Civilization (computer game)
Civilization is a computer game created by Sid Meier for Microprose in 1991. The game's objective is to develop a great empire from the ground up. The game begins in ancient times and the player attempts to expand and develop his or her empire through the ages until modern and near-future times.
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2 Description 3 Legacy 4 Civilization's introduction 5 Books 6 External links |
Civilization was originally developed for the DOS operating system running on a PC. It has undergone numerous revisions for various platforms (including Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Amiga and Super Nintendo) and now exists in several versions. Beginning with Civilization III, the game has been developed by Firaxis Games and published by Infogrames (now Atari).
Civilization is a single-player game (though there was a separate multiplayer version called CivNet and both Civilization II and III have multi-player versions). 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 a number of other civilizations (from 2 to 6). The game is rigidly turn-based and requires a fair amount of micromanagement (though less than any of the Sim games).
Along with the larger tasks of exploration, war and diplomacy, the player has to make decisions about which improvements or units to build in each city, where to build new cities, and how to transform the land surrounding the cities for maximum benefit. From time to time the player's towns may be harassed by "barbarians", units with no specific nationality or leader. These threats disappear later in the game when no unclaimed land is available for the marauding barbarians to settle.
Before the game begins, the player chooses which historical civilization to play. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, which only really affect the very beginning of the game: some civilizations start with the Pottery advancement and some don't, for example. When played by the computer though, certain traits of specific civilizations do come through. The Aztecs are fiercely expansionistic, for example. Other possible civilizations include the Americans, the Mongols, and the Romans. Each civilization is led by a historical figure.
The scope of the game is huge—larger than most other computer games. When the game begins, the player controls one or two Settler units, which can found new cities and also alter terrain and build improvements such as mines and roads and, later, railroads. The time at the beginning is 4000 BC, and, if you manage to last so long, the game forces you to retire in 21st century.
As time advances, new technologies are developed; these technologies are the primary way the game changes and grows. Players choose from, at the beginning, advances such as Pottery, the Wheel, and the Alphabet to, at the close of the game, Nuclear fission and Space flight. Players gain a large advantage if their civilization is the first to learn a particular technology, the secrets of flight, for example. Each advance gives access to new units, city improvements or derivative technologies: for example, the Chariot 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.
Players can also build Wonders of the world in all the epochs in the game. These wonders are often important human achievements of society, science and culture in human history. From Pyramids, Great Wall in Ancient age, to the Statue of Liberty in Industrial Age, up to Apollo Program, the United Nations and Manhattan Project in modern era. Each of these wonders can only be built by one civilization and takes up a lot of resources to build (far larger than other city upgrades or units). However, each of these wonders provides unique benefits that can be gained by no other methods. Wonders can also be made obselete by technological advances.
The game can be won either by destroying all other civilizations or by being the first civilization to succeed at space colonization, in this case reaching the star system of Alpha Centauri. In the latest version, Civ3, other ways to win have been added.
This game has been one of the most popular strategy games of all time, and has a loyal following of fans. This high level of interest has even spawned a number of free versions, such as Freeciv and C-evo. There have been many rip-offs of the basic idea by other developers as well.
Civilization II was released in 1996 and eventually spawned two expansion packs. A Multiplayer Gold Edition was released in 1999. Civilization III was released in 2001, along with two expansion packs of its own which add multiplayer capability.
Sid Meier admits to "borrowing" many of the technology tree ideas from a board game originally designed by Francis Tresham, published in Britain in 1980 by Hartland Trefoil (later by Gibson Games), and in the US in 1981 by Avalon Hill also called Civilization. In an ironic twist, there is now a board game based on the computer game version of Civilization.
The game Alpha Centauri is also by Sid 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.
Between Civilization II and III, Activision released a knock-off game . They acquired the rights to the name for a time and took advantage of it by releasing the game using the property in its title.
This is the text of the introduction movie shown when a new game is started in Civilization I. The movie was added to give players something to look at while the game world was being created. Later editions of Civilization no longer include such an introduction, presumably because world creation could be done almost instantaneously.
Platforms
Description
Legacy
Civilization's introduction
Books
External links