Overview
This section can also be called, "What in the world am I doing here?" Civilization can be an intimidating game for rookies. But hey, we were all newbies at one point, so don't fret. (And trust us, some of these Civ players around here play like they're still rookies.) This section will give you the rundown of what's going on, as well as a general timeline of how a game progresses.
The Four X's |
Civilization IV is a 4X Strategy game. The X's stand for, in order, eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. That's about as succinctly as a given match can be distilled, but don't think four words means a short, shallow game. Still, it's a good base to start from if you've never played one.
- EXPLORE
Humans didn't know what the whole world looked like until very modern times. Heck, until certain explorers sailed toward the "edge of the world," most didn't realize the entire continents of North and South America existed.
When you start a game, you'll find that you know... nothing. Yep, 99% of the land around you is a mystery, with only your immediate surroundings being revealed. This makes your first priority just trying to figure out what's going on. After all...
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do then by the ones you did. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Knowledge is power, and knowing the lay of the land will allow you to plan for the next X...
EXPAND
You can't do much with only a single city. Well, okay, there are those insane Civilization players who do the famous "One City Challenge" and play an entire match with only a single city, but they're not reading this guide anyway.
History teaches us that, generally speaking, the more land you have to work with, the greater your power. The former USSR, the United States, China... these three countries have generally been the world leader of power at some point or another in the last two millennia, and they had the land masses to house large structures and even larger populations.
More land, quite simply, means more resources. More resources lead to faster research and a powerful military. Placing cities randomly will be counter-productive however, hence the need to explore the continent and plan where to place your cities. With enough of an expansion, it's time to move to...
EXPLOIT
Resources are there, but they're finite. Oil, iron, horses, uranium, all are only present in a certain number of areas in a given match. If your civilization manages to possess these resources when (or better yet, before) your opponents do, you'll be at least able to survive an attack.
Once you've got your fill of resources, get more. And once you have more than you know what to do with, you can move on to the final step...
- EXTERMINATE
Wars exist because someone is jealous of someone else's wealth, power, culture, or simply their inferiority. An oversimplification, perhaps, but true all the same.
Not that extermination in Civilization IV necessarily equates to violence. The majority of my matches, for example, end in a space victory. With a varied number of victory conditions, you can have winners who never raise a single weapon.
Still, whether by diplomacy or death, there must be a winner. At some point, the land on the world will all be claimed, and someone will have to be removed for the benefit of your own society. The sooner you prepare for it, and the sooner you start the process, the better.
SUMMARY
Although the game has been simplified to four important concepts, almost every one of your turns will be some mix of at least two of the concepts. This is especially true of the middle-end game, when you'll more than likely be doing all four at once.
Just remember that just because the ultimate goal is to be on top and the only civilization the history books will devote any amount of time to listing, you are not alone. It pays to have friends, and seeing the other civilizations as nothing but targets is a quick, sure method to suicide. Diplomacy must be balanced with all other goals, else you'll find yourself on the wrong end of the fourth X.
The rest of this guide will help you avoid that, although it's highly recommended you try some matches against a few computer-controlled civilizations first on an easy difficult mode. Some of the human players you'll find on multiplayer servers are just absolute bears... but don't tell them I said that.
Victory Conditions |
There are six ways to win matches in Civilization IV. By default, all are active; if you set up a Custom Game, you can disable any of these in any combination, making for a truly customized match.
- Time: The match will end in the year 2050 AD. If none of the other conditions have been met, whatever civilization has the highest score at this point wins the match.
- Conquest: The most straight-forward condition, the game will end if only one civilization remains on the map.
- Domination: If a civilization possesses at least 75% of the world's land and 75% of the world's population, it wins. Generally, if all conditions are on, a Domination win will occur before a Conquest win.
- Culture: If a civilization possesses at least three cities that have achieved the maximum culture level, it will win. This is by far the hardest condition to fulfill, and if you want to go for it, you have to plan accordingly from the beginning.
- Space: Once certain technologies are researched, civilizations can start creating space ships. If a space ship is created and launched successfully, the civilization immediately wins.
- Diplomatic: One civilization can eventually create a wonder called the United Nations. Once done, one civilization is elected leader. The leader can call for a vote that would end the game with a diplomatic vote. If enough civilizations vote for the same rival, the rival will end up winning. This is generally ineffective in multiplayer matches.
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