Civilization
PEACHES PUBLISHING PRESENTS:
A Guide to Civilization (as we know it)
By PJ Killian
Herein follows my advice for playing the Greatest Strategy Game In The Universe
in a (relatively) peaceful fashion:
OPENING (4000 BC-1000 BC)
GET POTTERY FIRST. If I were next to you, if you weren't reading, but talking
to me, I'd be shouting this advice. Get Pottery first. Get it? The Granary
is a wonderful thing to have, because it pays for itself in the time you
save. The only one of the first round of potential technologies (i.e. the
ones you can get with no prior knowlege) that's nearly as useful is Bronze
Working, and if your civ falls in the first ten turns because you didn't
have the Phalanx unit, what have you lost, exactly? Quit yer whining and
restart the game.
After Pottery you have a choice:if you're facing small hostile enemies,
try for Bronze Working or The Wheel. Even the most peaceful of civs will
get into a few tangles, so it's best to squash potential enemies like the
insects they are at the beginning, rather than get murdered by them later.
On the other hand, if you face large hostile enemies, make a few defence
preperations but for the most part, concentrate on internal improvements
designed to boost your technology level, while kissing up to the neighbors.
Sure, your pride might hurt you in the short run, but in the long run, when
your civ is capable of cranking out Armor and Mech Infantry units while
he has Musketeers, you'll feel just a little bit better.
If you see no problems with foriegners in your near future, build a small
military of fast, powerful units (e.g. Chariots) and then quickly concentrate
on building cities.
You should have a core of 2-4 well-placed cities, fairly close by one another,
connected by roads. If your road network's good, you can spend even less
on time-consuming military units and concentrate on making your cities nice
places to live.
While you do this discover new technologies. Follow the paths that get you
to Invention, Construction, and Religion as soon as possible. You should
have Construction by the end of this first stage, and might be really close
to Religion if you push hard.
Invention is important because it's the tough ingredient in the Steam Engine
advance, which is an ingredient for the all-important Railroad. Construction
is important because it's a pain to have to work on it later, when you really
need Aqueducts, plus it opens up Bridge Building, the other ingredient for
the Railroad advance. Religion is nice because it opens up (arguably) the
finest WOW (Wonder of the World) in the game, JS Bach's Cathedral as well
as the vital Cathedral improvement and the somewhat less impressive Michaelangelo's
Chapel WOW.
Your main cities should each have a Granary and a Marketplace. Once this
is done, build Barracks and City Walls in cities near enemies, and in a
big city away from front-line action, a Library and the Colossus WOW.
The Colossus is the best Aincent WOW to get, because it can boost your trade
(and therefore, your money and/or lightbulbs) which can give you a lead
out of the blocks in the technology race, and it lasts a LONG time--until
Electricity, when you hopefully will no longer need it.
As for the other WOWs, the Great Library is nice in high-level games, useless
in low-level ones. If you are stuck on a little island with nada in the
way of resources. The Great Library's one to build, it'll keep you competitive
in the technology race. The Great Wall is not very cool. It forces you enemies
to make peace with you, but doesn't really allow you to relax, because they'll
just sneak-attack you again in a few turns in they have any cojones. The
Hanging Gardens aren't too cool at low levels--but they're nice at high
ones where puny cities are considered "overcrowded" and in unrest.
The Lighthouse is nice, but you have better things to spend precious resources
on. The Oracle is obsolete too fast. The Pyramids are the only other "must-have"
aincent WOW. Being able to change govenments at will is a nice ability to
have. It also lasts forever-if Communism isn't the last form of government
you discover, you should have your head examined.
THE MIDDLE GAME (1000 BC-1500 AD)
The dates up there aren't exact-this era begins when you have your core
cities settled and producing, and ends when you come up with the two PIVOTAL
inventions of the game, Gunpowder and RailRoad. ALL your activities should
focus on getting these two advances, especially the RailRoad. In your Science
City, the one where you put the Library and the Colossus, you should build
a University, a Bank and Copernicus's Observatory, which will make your
Lightbulb production soar. Also, send Caravans from your Science City to
distant lands to get the trade bonus.
If you haven't switched governments yet, do so. Try to see if you can run
your country under a Republic or Democracy, your research will improve greatly.
Don't worry about the Feudalism or Chivalry Advances; they're a dead end
and if you devote a lot to science efforts, you'll have Gunpowder soon enough.
Concentrate your efforts on trade; appease belligerent neighbors as best
you can, then use Diplomats to steal technologies and cities from under
their nose. Shooting wars are too expensive to make into a habit, and they
slow you down. Once you have the technologies you're looking for, you'll
be able to kick butt. In the meantime, patience.
Like I said before, J.S. Bach's Cathedral and Copenicus' Observatory are
the WOWs to get. Magellan's Expedition is also nice, if you're on a small
island, but not necessarry.
THE P.R.P.S. (Post-RailRoad,Pre-Space) ERA (1500 AD-1900 AD)
Like the title of the section implies, the benchmark technologies of this
era are RailRoad and Space Flight, and if you plan well, you'll get them
around the times above.
All research in this era should be towards the goal of putting a man on
the moon first, indicating that you have the lead in the space race.
Once you have the RailRoad advance, go nuts. Put railroads everywhere. They
boost the production in every space they're in, PLUS they make you able
to move units around at will. What else gives you such dominant military
AND civilian advantages? On top of that, the RailRoad gives you the Darwin's
Voyage WOW, good for two free advances. Such a deal!
Once this is settled, use spinoff tecnologies from space research to get
the Automobile advance, which gives you the peerless Armor unit, which will
enable you to inflict fearsome damage on anyone who attempts to distract
you by making the mistake of attacking you.
Other things to get: Factories in your cities to boost production, the Conscription
advance, which gives you Riflemen, a cheap defense unit, and the Hoover
Dam WOW, the game's second-best Wonder, which will put pollution worries
on the back burner.
ENDGAME (It's the race into space, y'all!!)
Plastics and Robotics are the Improvements to grab here, they let you build
the space ship that will (hopefully) win the game for you. The world gets
more warlike here, so get the Women's Suffrage WOW, the warmonger's friend.
It's the only way to fight a full-scale war and stay under a representative
government. And you want to do that, because you'll need a lot of production
capacity to build a decent space ship. Also, get the Manufacturing Plant
in as many cities as possible.
Once your ship is launched, remove expensive, polluting Factories and Manufacturing
Plants, and sell your Palace (assuming you're under Democracy). Boost prodution
of luxuries, and if almost all of the Advances have been discovered, try
to get the others so you can start building Future Techs. Clean up all the
pollution you can, it's a huge drain on the score. Finally, try and build
as many of the remaining WOW's as possible, each one's big points!
Finally, kick back and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Or
as is more likely, scream at yourself about how awful you did, and try it
again.
OTHER STUFF
I know that many people are not too thrilled by the space race; they prefer
to conquer the earth. I think the opposite--I think that conquering the
planet is kind of a silly goal. Why? Well,
1) Conquering the world (in reality) is an impossible task. There is too
much land, too many different cultures, many of whom have passions that
extend far beyond petty government. Look at, for example, the Bosnian Serbs,
Croats, and Muslims, who are fighting a horrible civil war for no good reason,
without any of them being really happy about it, with the rest of the world
unanimously disapproving, and knowing full well that if any of them wins,
all they end up with is Bosnia, which is not exactly prime real estate,
geopolitically speaking. Any would-be "world conqueror" would
have to subdue this kind of infighting. Why use a simulation to simulate
something that could never happen?
2) Conquering the world is a goal that doesn't really go along with the
game. The game emphasizes war as a means of improving one's economy more
than a way of gaining territory. This is why one's civ is expressed in terms
of economic units (cities) rather than "Territories." It's not
really a wargame; a wargame would be much more complex in its execution
of military conflicts and would forget all of the Civilization Advances
stuff. The reason Civilization is so unique as a game is that it's not just
another wargame.
There are a number of published books about Civilization. I've read three
of them. The following items are capsule reviews:
Sid Meier's Civilization, or Rome on 640K a Day, is by far the best. It
is the most complete treatment of the game, and doesn't waste much time
discussing the technical details of the game you could get by reading the
manual, and instead discusses the strategy of the game. It also offers a
historical perspective and a sense of humor that neither of the other two
books provide. It is also very hard to find these days--perhaps many people
disagree with my assesment of the book.
The one you probably can find is Civilization Strategies and Secrets, which
will probably go down in history as the worst fifteen bucks I ever spent.
It's filled with useless hints (e.g., It tells me that roads and railroads
make your units go faster. If didn't understand that, do I really have the
intelligence to turn this computer ON, much less play a game?) and unopinionated
commentary on most elements of the game. For some reason, it's also the
only one in stores these days.
The Offical Guide to Sid Meier's Civilization is OK, covering much of the
same territory as Rome on 640K a Day, but with less wit and duller writing.
Glance at them both, see which approach speaks to you.
Let me hear from you! My AOL screen name is PeachesK, send email if you
read this, whether you like it or not. Give me advice, I'll write more if
people use this. If YOU like this, and you use these hints, and you want
to support a struggling writer continue his career, send whatever you think
this is worth to PJ Killian, 2721 Simpson Street, Evanston, IL 60201. You'll
get mentioned in the Pulitzer acceptance speech for sure.
This document is the property of the author. It may be reproduced and distributed
freely in its unaltered state and with this message attached to it.
PJ Killian.
Written between the hours of 2 and 4 AM on the day before Bastille Day,
1995.
