Civilization IV: Info Center

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Most recent update posted on Monday, July
3rd, 2006

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The sections below cover everything you need, or want to know about Civilization IV. Click on one to begin, or

use “CTRL-F” to search

for

key-words.

Note: This article is best viewed under 1024×768 or higher resolutions.

  1. Introduction
  2. Newest Updates
  3. Civilization IV: Warlords
  4. The Big Picture
  5. Official Game Features
  6. Release Date
  7. Requirements to Play
  8. A New Expression
  9. User Interface & Control
  10. Landscape Characteristics
  11. Victory or Defeat?
  12. The 18 Civilizations
  13. Artificial Intelligence
  14. International Affairs
  15. Controlling Your People… by Decree
  16. A New Aspect: Religion
  17. The Influence of Great People
  18. City Essentials
  19. Building Options
  20. Wonders of the World
  21. Your Advances
  22. The Military Backbone: Units
  23. A New Combat System
  24. The Multiplayer
  25. Customization Flexibility
  26. In-Game Visuals
  27. Helpful Links
  28. Miscellaneous Article Information
  29. Update Information
  30. Current Sources

Info Center Introduction

Welcome to the Sid Meiers Civilization IV Information Center!

Box ShotThis information is meant to give anyone a deep, factual understanding of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV (the sequel

to
Sid Meier’s Civilization III
) as well as Civilization IV: Warlords
(the first expansion pack of the base game). The article will keep up to the very last detail of information that is

currently available to us.

Material is gathered from all sources available (in a detailed manner) and

put into this article as one organized piece. This should make it very easy to find virtually everything you want to know,

without having to surf

through multiple places on the web to find what you need. You don’t have to be a
Civilization III
veteran to understand what we are talking about here,

since this is a brand new Civilization… a historical simulation/strategy game series which has won multiple game

awards, and which is

accepted

the world over as being the greatest, and finest turn-based strategy game series on the planet!

The game has been released, but it does not mean that this article will not
be updated with more news as it comes (patches, expansions, etc)!
This information is up to date as of Monday, July 3rd, 2006, and up to the latest available bit of information.

As information changes, or is released, I will be updating this as soon as
possible so it evolves to be factual. I recommend that you check out the updates
(when they are posted), so that you stay informed, and up-to-date as well.
Checking the “Miscellaneous Information" section
occasionally can also give you a heads-up on some other things either in regards
to this article, or other information. From what we have gathered so far, as
well as the great reviews the game has been receiving, I believe we can all form
our own opinions of it.

This is the most detailed and extensive, most viewed, and also the most
updated place for all things Civilization IV from around the web.

Currently, there are a total of 360+ gathered game details, with nine

new additions! Don’t miss out, discuss the article!

Top


Newest Updates

This is the section for looking up all the current new updates on the go
from Monday, July 3rd. They are not organized in any way, so it is highly
recommended that you read through past this section and take a more in-depth
look at the rest.

  • Patch v1.61 has been released. There are many changes, fixes, and additions.
    Its size is 45.7MB and can be downloaded here.
    The SDK and PitBoss are also available. Get these here.

Top


Civilization IV: Warlords

This is the first expansion to

the original

Civilization IV. It is due out this summer, in late July (2006).

Top


The Big Picture

Here we’ll look at the very basics of the game, from its creators and the design elements they implement, to what

general game-play aspects

it

will contain.

  • Development & Producers: The new Sid Meier’s

    Civilization

    IV was

    developed by Firaxis Games (based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, U.S.A.).
    It is much more streamlined and full of personality. Unlike the Civilization III series, the publisher will not

    be Atari, as they have sold off the Civilization Franchise to Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two confirmed this on January 26th, although it has been known that Atari sold

    the Franchise since

    November 24th, 2004. The game was published under Take-Twos publishing label 2K Games.

    The senior producer of the game was Barry Caudill (he produced Sid Meier’s Pirates!), and the producer Jesse Smith.

    Jesse was the producer

    of

    Civilization III: Conquests as well (the last, and most commendable expansion of the
    Civ3
    series). The project lead, and lead designer

    of the game was Soren Johnson, he programmed and co-designed Civ3 along with company CEO, Jeff Briggs. For more

    information on Firaxis

    staff, check out the Bios section on their

    website.

    • About 38 people have been dedicated to certain segments of Civ4 (terrain, cities, interface, etc). It will

      take thousands of people

      hours

      to complete the project. Firaxis also says that they have many (100+) active Civilization fans testing and giving

      feedback to Firaxis.
      This number is rising. However fans have been giving feedback since

      June of 2004 in a private online forum.

    • News that Civilization IV was in the very early stages of development first came on December 4th, 2003.

      Development of
      Civ4
      most

      likely started around Spring time in 2003 (more than two years ago). At around the Fall time of the same year, Firaxis had

      an early Multiplayer

      version

      up and playing. The basic game-play elements were established then. After that period (around May of 2005) much more

      attention has been given to

      improving the AI (or Artificial Intelligence).
      The game hit Beta in August and from
      then on, much more attention was given to polishing up the different
      aspects of it. Civ4 went Gold on

      October 19th, and shipped on the 25th, although most people got

      their copy on October

      26th.

  • Good news for Macintosh Gamers! Civilization IV
    will be available for the Mac in early 2006 [source]. Aspyr Media
    is bringing the game to the Mac. Civilization III: Complete

    (featuring both expansions of Civ3: Play The World and
    Conquests
    ) will also be available for the Mac later this year, in December.

  • Firaxis Memo: Firaxis has updated their “Behind the Scenes” section on their
    website with a new Winter-edition Memo. The

    part below includes

    content on

    Civ4:

    Civilization IV has been flying off the shelves and has received loads of
    great reviews. We want to thank our fans for your unwavering support, and
    particularly for your tremendous feedback that helped get us through some
    initial technical issue right after the release of the game. Our team worked
    tirelessly to fix the problems quickly and post a
    patch to
    help those folks experiencing difficulties in running the game. Civ fans are
    truly extraordinary! And dont forget… Santa will be bringing another gem of
    a gift in January… the Civ IV SDK! This is an unprecedented offering and we
    cant wait to see what all of you budding Civ designers will create!

    • Civilization is much more of collaboration between
      our designers and our fans. We’ve had a lot of feedback over the years about what works and what doesn’t in Civilization

      and it’s had a big

      impact on the

      final
      game.
      ” – Sid Meier said in a GameSpy

      Interview.

    • Many conventions which have remained the same since Civilization I (which came out in 1991) have been

      rewritten
      to ensure a quality new game.

  • The game was written entirely from scratch using flexible XML data files, as well

    as the

    Python scripting language. Boost.Python (this allows for seamless interoperability between C++ and the Python programming language)
    was used as the

    interface layer between the C++ game code and Python. Python is used in the game for map generation, interface screens,

    game events, tools,

    tutorials,

    etc. If you want to see how this will affect customization of the game (or any other aspect relating to customization),

    look under Customization Flexibility. The new 3D engine will also allow for greater possibilities (find

    under A New Expression).

  • Firaxis main focus is aiming to keep the game true, simple, but mostly to lose

    aspects which are not

    fun (find

    under

    Controlling Your People… by Decree for aspects which have been removed because they are

    not fun to the player),

    and

    to maintain a successful Civilization Franchise.
    They also plan to break free of some bad habits from previous
    Civilization
    titles. For more information on maintaining a successful Franchise, see the PowerPoint entitled

    Dont Blow It!, by lead Civilization

    IV
    designer, Soren Johnson. An article that relates to the PowerPoint is “Civ4: A Model in

    Franchise
    Progression
    ” where Soren talks about the challenges of improving on a
    successful model while simultaneously keeping hardcore fans satisfied. That being said,
    Civ4
    will not be totally different in concept than

    Civ3. Don’t let this fool you into thinking that it will just be a small improvement over
    Civ3
    , though! Remember, it is

    rewritten from scratch, so there is a lot of change/alteration and major innovation.

    • In order to fight team fatigue, Firaxis will rotate its design responsibilities (with different lead

      designers).

    • Firaxis will not be afraid to slightly change its target audience a bit, as keeping the same audience will lead

      to the loss of a

      certain

      percent of people per cycle. They will still, however, make base fans comfortable with the same fonts, icons, and map

      placement, a similar number

      of

      units on the screen, etc

    • Civ4 being a maturation of the franchise (since it will focus on more multiplayer, and modability, unlike


      Civ3
      , as it was

      under a lot of pressure), they will keep adding more game-play/design innovation and not just adding more content or

      “Stuff.” Making everything a

      little better will be much less compelling to the player than a significant improvement in just a few areas. Soren also

      quotes
      Electronic Art’s (EA’s) Bing Gordon that “1/3 old, 1/3 improved, and 1/3 new” is a good rule of thumb. Simplifying

      old systems will leave

      room

      for new design elements.

    • Firaxis will also “borrow” useful elements mostly from Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. An example with
      Civ3
      was the distinct

      civilizations, unique units, abilities, and multi-unit forces or armies.

  • Civilization IV will continue on to what Civ3 has had
    The core game-play concept still remains the same. It is a turn-based, tile-based, historical simulation/strategy

    empire building game. You

    are put as the emperor of a powerful civilization, ruling your empire by decree, with one goal in mind: to stand the test

    of time (which has been

    the

    appropriate slogan of Firaxis). You start out with a small tribe and lead them to greatness, to the post-nuclear age and

    beyond.

    • The game is even more about strategy than ever.
      It is more about decision making and less about the established motions that have built up over the years.

Top


Official Game Features

Below is an exact quote of the official features of Civilization IV that the Publishers and Developers have released. Do not forget to go to Civ4.com
for much more information!!!

Overview

With over 6 million units sold and unprecedented critical acclaim from fans and press around the world, Sid Meier’s

Civilization is recognized

as one of

the
greatest PC game franchises of all-time. Now, Sid Meier and Firaxis Games take this incredibly fun and addictive game to

new heights by adding

new ways to

play
and win, new tools to manage and expand your civilization, all-new easy to use mod capabilities and intense multiplayer

modes and options.

Civilization IV

comes
to life like never before in a beautifully detailed, living 3D world that elevates the game-play experience to a whole new

level. Sid Meier’s

Civilization IV

has
already been heralded as one of the top games of 2005, and a must-have for gamers around the globe!

Features

  • Civ IV comes to life! – Beautiful 3D world with dozens of fully animated units (including culturally unique units)

    and totally

    customizable armies.
    Detailed cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back!

  • Greater Accessibility and Ease of Play – An easy-to-use interface will be immediately familiar to RTS and action

    game players, and

    newcomers to the
    series will be able to jump in and play.

  • Multiplayer -LAN, Internet, PBEM and Persistent Turn-Based Server (PTBS or PitBoss) offer players all-new strategies

    and ways to play when

    competing

    or
    cooperating with live opponents.

  • Team Play – Whether playing multiplayer or single player, team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances

    that result in shared

    wonder effects,
    visibility, unit trading and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options.

  • Mods and Community Tools – Designed from the ground up for modability, the game contains a powerful map editor with

    XML and Python

    support.

  • Choose Your Leader – Many Civs now have 2 leaders from which to choose, with each Leader having traits that provide

    various bonuses to the

    player and

    lots
    of replayability.

  • Civics – With the discovery of new techs, civic options can become available. Freedom of speech or slavery?

    Hereditary rule or open

    elections?
    This creates endless government choices and possibilities!

  • Religion – Now there are 7 religions in the game that are unlocked through researching. When unlocked, the

    religion spreads through a

    player’s

    empire
    allowing them to use the religion to help manage happiness, gain gold and create Great Prophets.

  • Great People – As the player uses specialists they gain Great People points in the city that is utilizing the

    specialists. Great

    People include

    the
    Artist, Tycoon, Prophet, Engineer, & Scientist. They can be used to get free techs, start Golden Ages, or join a city

    to increase its

    output.

  • Promotions – Each unit has a promotion path that emphasizes specific unit traits. Promotions include bonuses to

    Attack/Defend on

    specific

    terrains/features,
    movement bonuses, sight/visibility bonuses and increased withdrawal chances.

  • Tech Tree – Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along

    unique paths.

  • More Civs and all new Units and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.

  • Faster-Paced Fun – Game-play has been streamlined for a tighter, faster and more compelling experience.

  • In-Game Movies – Civ IV will have over 70 in-game movies and animated sequences.

Top


Release Date

Perhaps this is the most important question to most people. When will the game actually be released?

  • Take-Two Games has pushed the release of
    Civilization IV up by a few weeks.
    The game was released on October
    25th, although most people didn’t get the game by the 26th in North America. Click

    here (from the official Take-Two

    website) and
    here to read more on this

    (from

    GameSpot).

    • 2K Games had launched the Sid Meier’s Civilization IV Pre-order program. Here is a quote from

      GamesIndustry.biz:
      Customers who pre-order Sid Meier’s Civilization IV at participating retailers in North America will receive the

      Pre-Order Edition of the game

      at no

      additional cost. Shipping on the same day as the regular version of the game, the Sid Meier’s Civilization IV Pre-Order

      Edition will feature: collector’s

      packaging, a CD soundtrack

      of the game,

      a keyboard template, a tech tree map and a spiral bound version of the manual. The Pre-Order Edition will be offered

      through participating

      retailers while
      supplies last.

      Click here to read the full

      article.

    • The regular version of the game in the US comes with two CDs. The
      European version comes with a DVD. The tech tree poster comes standard with
      these.

  • Expansions are planned, and support for the game will
    continue after its release so things are kept fresh.

  • A Mac version of the game is also planed by Aspyr Media.
    It will be available in 2006.

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Playing Requirements

This section will deal only with the Official System Requirements for the game, as well as the ESRB Rating.

  • The Minimum System Requirements for the game are: 1 GHz CPU, 256MB RAM, and a 32MB video card with hardware

    transform and lighting

    capabilities.

    The recommended Specifications are: 512MB of ram, Pentium4 processor, and a recent graphics card (like the Radeon

    9800).

  • The rating of the game is “E 10+” by the ESRB (the
    Entertainment Software Rating Board).

Top


A New Expression

The look and feel of a game are very important to most players; the description of these can be found here. For

screenshots, visit the “In-Game Visuals” section.

  • The Graphics Engine Civilization IV is using is
    the NDL’s Gamebryo 3D graphics engine. Firaxis’ PC hit,
    Sid Meier’s Pirates!
    also uses it.

    • The engine will naturally provide an engaging 3D world with unparalleled scope and detail. Soren also mentions

      in his PowerPoint
      that the game has a “What-you-see-is-what-you-get,” approach to it, meaning that the terrain does not lie in terms of

      what it displays. An

      example of this

      are
      Great Wonders. When they are built they will be displayed on the terrain near the city which built it.

    • Rivers and resources such as horses and elephants
      are animated. You will also see different

      animations as
      the resources are being worked on, and of course, many other aspects which make the world more dynamic.

    • Due to the move to 3D, Barry Caudill (senior Civ4 producer) says that the largest maps in the game
      are slightly smaller compared to those of
      Civilization III.

    • The new 3D engine will allow for powerful, smooth zooming, from a global level, to a very local one. The tiles of


      Civ4
      are plain

      squares, rather than the diamond view we had with Civilization III (when
      viewing the game from the default position). The
      Camera views are very flexible. You can spin it around any way you like.
      There is a Civ3-Style Isometric view, and the classic
      Civilization I
      top-down view. You may zoom in and out by using the Mouse-Wheel (speaking of Mice,

      Civ4 will even have its

      own specific

      Mouse-Cursor).

    • You’ll see
      Aqueducts go from the mountains or hills into your cities when they are

      built.

  • A Random Map Generator, like previous Civilization titles,
    will form unique worlds reflecting the settings you put in. The Map Generator is one of Civilization’s most

    successful aspects, because

    one

    cannot play on the same map twice without wanting it, so replayability is very, very high.

  • Continents are the default world setting. “Standard Size” map you will have about five to ten cities. By that

    time, your borders

    are established and it is a race of who can advance through the tech tree faster. By that time, your oldest few cities will

    also be the “core”

    cities of you empire.
    Here are the different map sizes: Duel, Tiny, Small, Standard, Large, Huge and
    of course, Random. There are no restrictions on the number of Civilizations you
    are allowed to play with on a certain map size. You can have all 18 Civs on a
    Duel map. The map widths in Civ4 are about double than what they used to
    be in Civ3.

  • The Mini-Map starts out zoomed in when the player starts a new
    random game. As they explore, the Mini-Map will expand. This has been done so exploration is a lot more interesting each

    game.
    What it means is that when one starts a game, he or she does not know exactly
    where on the map they are. In
    Civ3
    the player always knew where they were exactly
    in the beginning. Now this is not the case at all.

  • There is a Global View, in which
    you see the whole planet. There, you can also use options to filter thing
    such as resources, units, trade networks, cultural borders, religions and
    more. Below are three

    examples of the powerful new zoom. Details such as cloud cover can
    also be seen in the Global View (first image):

  • Music for Civilization IV is also a major focus. Jeff Briggs (Firaxis’ CEO) himself is taking charge

    of this aspect of the

    game (and
    he is perfectly suited to do so as well, since this was his first career). Jeff anticipates that

    Civ4 will have much more music than any
    other game ever released. The game will include music from some of Jeff’s original compositions, as well as licensed

    performances by old greats
    such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, company, as well as contemporary greats like John Adams and Christopher Tin. Here is

    Civ4‘s
    opening soundtrack: Baba Yetu.

    • Jeff will also be composing the music for all 28 wonder movies included in the game as well as all of the game’s

      diplomacy music.

      Where

      possible,
      folk tunes are used to represent the character and attitude of each Civilization and each ruler. The music for Franklin D.

      Roosevelt for instance
      is the Marine Hymn. Jeff has also gone as far as to arrange each piece of music to fit the various time periods of the

      game. If you meet with
      Roosevelt in the early part of the game, you’ll hear ancient instruments playing the theme. By the end of the game, the

      tune will have swelled

      and
      taken on a more Sousa-like quality.

    • Firaxis is also hiring voice talent for various game parts. Ambient sounds can also be heard, when you are over

      different terrains. For

      example,

      if you are over the ocean or on its shore, you will hear waves splashing and breaking up. When you are

      over desert closer up, you will naturally hear very dry winds.

    • When clicking on a unit, that unit will respond in the language
      of your selected region or Civilization.

    • With each built improvement you’ll hear a sound related to it
      when it is accomplished.

Top


User Interface & Control

Control is a very important aspect for any game. With Civ4’s new interface, ruling you empire just got a whole lot

easier.

  • To start a Single-Player game: You must choose your map style (some
    options are: Archipelago, Continents, Custom Continents, Highlands, Great Plains, Inland Sea, Lakes, Oasis,
    Pangaea, and Terra) and size, climate and sea level and Civilization you want to play. You can also select whether you

    want aggressive AIs,

    Random Personalities, etc. Also, AI personalities are stored in XML data files.

    • In the "Custom Game" menu (there is also a "Play Now!" option which allows you
      to start games quicker) there are a variety of options and combinations. In
      regards to map scripts there are much more. The "Custom Continents" option
      allows you to select exactly how many continents you want in the game. The

      "Highlands" map scripts allows you to select everything from mountain density to
      lake size. Of course, the most random map options you have are the classic
      "Archipelago," the basic "Continents" setting, as well as the regular "Pangaea"
      option which allows you to also set in different shore options.

    • There also the “Aggressive” AI setting where

      AIs lean towards war instead of diplomacy.

    • While in the process of loading, the game

      will display tips for certain things from Hot-Key commands to strategies during war-time. Here is a screenshot which shows some of

      these. Note that when

      the game

      actually starts, you have a very similar Civilization introduction as in Civ3. You can see what I mean by clicking

      here.

    • At the start of the game, you do not start

      with a Worker unit as in Civ3. You must build your first one at the time of your own choosing. Note that whenever

      building a Settler or

      Worker, these

      units both use Hammers and Excess food to be built instead of Hammers only. The city also does not grow during this period,

      and when either of

      the units is

      complete, the city size does not shrink like it used to in Civilization III.

  • The Civilopedia is now available from the

    main menu of the game for easy access.

  • The general layout of the interface is this:
    The Mini-Map is on the bottom-right corner, unit statistics are on the bottom-left side, unit control and buttons
    are on the bottom

    center of the screen. On the top-right, we see a “?” sign (which indicates the
    Civilopedia. The Civilopedia is like the game’s manual. It includes all
    available information on the game) as well as the year and era. Technological

    research are located on the top, in the center. And finally the scientific research rate buttons
    are on the top-left side. On the same side,

    you can also find your income and Gold Per Turn (or “GPT”). There also appear to be landscape
    characteristics on the bottom-left side. This most likely appears as the
    player rolls over the terrain with the mouse. Here is a screenshot of the
    lower portion of the interface only. For City interface information, click
    here.

  • In
    Civilization IV you can left click on a unit,
    and then right click on the tile youd like that unit to go.
    This is very different compared to Civilization III.

  • Advisor screens: depending on which you open, you can see where all of your units are on a global map, or look at

    raw statistics like the

    average life expectancy of your people (versus the world average), your gross national product or approval rating.

  • Shanghai building a Market A more streamlined and intuitive interface should be familiar to any RTS player. This is one

    feature that will make

    the

    franchise more accessible and in line with PC gaming trends. In general, the
    interface and help screens are more modern, improved, and easier to use.

    • Many tool-tips and pop-up help features are available (such as the terrain characteristics I explained just above,

      and the ones you can

      see in

      the screenshot). Firaxis feels you should be able to play from the main map, and use other screens only if you are a true

      power user. All this is

      aimed

      at getting new players off and playing as quickly as possible. Again, this is
      the "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" concept. Below, in the next section, you
      will see that this concept is carried onto the Terrain Improvements as well.
      They will basically animate if a citizen is working that tile.

    • Sid Meier’s Tips on tool-tips (such as Units

      and Technologies) are included. This option can of course be turned off via the preferences screen. The preferences screen

      also allows the player

      to enable

      Single-Unit graphics instead of Multi-Unit graphics.

    • Numerous Advisor pop-ups also appear during the game which will recommend to you to build a certain building in a

      particular city or

      town. You can disable

      these if they are unneeded to you or become too annoying.

    • The game will prompt you to construct
      improvements if it sees an opportunity or it feels that you’ve missed an
      opportunity.

  • Playing the game either with a keyboard only

    or mouse only is easy (or you can of course use the two combined).

  • By default you’ll be moving units with the

    right mouse button. However in the preferences section, you can change that so you can move units with the left mouse

    button and have a

    right-click menu when

    clicking the right.

  • Wide-Screen resolutions are supported (as well as any other
    resolution you might be running your PC on. Civ4 also supports
    Dual-Monitor play. The game has to be in windowed mode and you have to give it a
    resolution which covers both screens.

  • Hot-Key commands: Just about 100.

  • City information such as its buildings, and workforce is now all accessible from the main screen. You
    are able to see what a city is building as well, including what state of religion it is in
    (although Cities can have more than one religion). To the right is an example of Shanghai building a Market. It is also Buddhist (as the icon above the city name displays).

  • Adjusting what you want to displayed on the map is easy. This includes city names and
    sizes. You can limit everything to a maximum and allow only Units, Cities (with no names), and Roads
    to be displayed. You can also turn on an option to display the properties of
    different tiles, you will also be able to turn on a resource plot location
    feature, mentioned here.

Top


Landscape Characteristics

To expand your empire, first you would need as much detail about the terrain as possible.

  • More tile/terrain improvements are

    included (each resource has its own specific improvement). Pastures, Wineries, Watermills, Windmills, Lumber Mills, Mines,

    Fishing Nets, Offshore

    Platforms,

    and Factories
    are all represented in detail on

    the terrain. 20 improvements in all are going to be included. Improvements being worked on with citizens will animate,

    which makes it convenient

    to see

    where your citizens are working. For example, if a Mine is being worked on by
    a citizen, you will see smoke coming out of its chimney.
    Details such as mine carts being pushed out of a mine are also available.
    This interface feature even helps you during war time, allowing the player
    to see which tile an enemy is using. Certain Technologies will make some

    improvements more productive as well.

  • Roads and Rail-Roads will only provide a movement bonus
    to your units and nothing else. This has been done so the player does not have Roads and Rail-Roads on every tile later on
    (unlike in Civilization III).

  • Improvements

    Camp
    Requires: Hunting
    Effects: Pillage yields 5 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Deer (+2 food, +1 health), Fur (+3 commerce, +1
    happiness), Ivory (+1 hammer, +1 commerce, +1 happiness)
    1. Cottage: +1 commerce
      Requires: Pottery
      Effects: Becomes a Hamlet in 10 turns (all of this is on "Normal" Game
      Speed!), Pillage yields 10 gold on
      average
    1. Hamlet: +2 commerce

      Requires: Nothing
      Effects: Becomes a Village in 20 turns, Pillage yields 15 gold on
      average

    1. Village: +3 commerce, and +1 additional commerce with
      Printing Press
      Requires: Nothing
      Effects: Becomes a Town in 40 turns, Pillage yields 20 gold on average
    1. Town: +4 commerce, +1 commerce with Printing

      Press, +2
      commerce with Free Speech, +1 hammer with Universal

      Suffrage

      Requires: Nothing
      Effects: Pillage yields 25 gold on average

    Farm:
    +1 food with irrigation, +1 additional food with Biology

    Requires: Agriculture
    Effects: Carries Irrigation, May be built only on flatlands, Pillage
    yields 5 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Corn (+2 food, +1 health), Rice (+1 food, +1 health),
    Wheat (+2 food, +1 health)


    Fishing Boats

    Requires: Fishing
    Effects: May be built in water only, Pillage yields 5 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Clam (+2 food, +1 health), Crab (+2 food, +1 health), Fish
    (+3 food, +1 health)
    Fortress
    Requires: Mathematics
    Effects: +25% defense on tile it is built on
    Lumbermill:
    +1 hammer, +1additional hammer with a Railroad, +1 commerce when next to
    River
    Requires: Replaceable Parts
    Effects: Pillage yields 5 gold on average
    Mine:
    +2 hammers, +1 additional hammer with Railroad
    Requires: Mining
    Effects: Small chance of discovering Aluminum, Coal, Copper, Iron,
    Uranium, Gems, Gold, or Silver on that tile; Pillage yields 10 gold on
    average
    Bonus Yields: Aluminum (+3 hammers, +1 commerce), Coal (+3 hammers),
    Copper (+3 hammers), Iron (+3 hammers), Uranium

    (+3 commerce), Gems (+1
    hammer, +5 commerce, +1 happiness), Gold (+1 hammer, +6 commerce, +1
    happiness), Silver (+1 hammer, +4 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Offshore Platform
    Requires: Plastics
    Effects: May be built in water only, Pillage yields 10 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Oil (+2 hammers, +1 commerce)

    Pasture
    Requires: Animal Husbandry
    Effects: Pillage yields 5 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Horse (+2 hammers, +1 commerce, +1 health), Cow (+1 food,
    +2 commerce, +1 health), Pig (+3 food, +1 health), Sheep (+2 food, +1
    commerce, +1 health)
    Plantation
    Requires: Calendar
    Effects: Pillage yields 5 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Banana (+2 food, +1 health), Dye (+4 commerce, +1
    happiness), Incense (+5 commerce, +1 happiness), Silk (+3 commerce, +1
    happiness), Spices (+1 food, +2 commerce, +1 happiness), Sugar (+1 food,
    +2 commerce, +1 happiness)
    Quarry
    Requires: Masonry
    Effects: Pillage yields 5 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Marble (+1 hammer, +2 commerce), Stone (+2 hammers)
    Railroad:
    Maximum of 10 turn movement and just like roads, makes trade networks
    (between cities, Civilizations, etc)
    Requires: Railroads
    Road: Faster Movement and a may create trade networks (between
    cities, Civilizations, etc)
    Requires: The Wheel
    Watermill: +1 hammer, +1 additional hammer
    with Replaceable Parts, +2 commerce with Electricity, +1 food with State
    Property Civic

    Requires: Machinery
    Effects: Requires to be built by a River, May only be built on
    flatlands, Pillage yields 5 gold on average
     

    Well
    Requires: Combustion

    Effects: Pillage yields 10 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Oil (+2 hammers, +1 commerce)

    Whaling Boats

    Requires: Optics
    Effects: May only be built on water, Pillage yields 5 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Whale (+1 hammer, +2 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Windmill: +1 food, +1 commerce, +1 additional commerce with
    Electricity, +1 hammer with Replaceable Parts
    Requires: Machinery
    Effects: Pillage yields 5 gold on average

    Winery
    Requires: Monarchy
    Effects: Pillage yields 5 gold on average
    Bonus Yields: Wine (+1 food, +2 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Workshop:
    -1 food, +1 additional food with State Property Civic, +1 hammer, +1
    hammer with Guilds, +1 hammer with Chemistry
    Requires: Metal Casting
    Effects: May be built only on flatlands, Pillage yields 5 gold on
    average
    Misc. Terrain Features Affect


    Tribal Village

    Provides bonuses such as more
    experience points for the unit that uncovered it, maps, technologies,
    etc. (Goody Huts, or Tribal Villages,
    cannot be built by the player.)
    City Ruins Sites of razed cities remain on the map
    (when you first capture a city, you may raze it, however this can be
    turned off so there is no city razing).
    Worked Tile Worked tiles have their own animations and icons.
    For example, if a Quarry is worked, the crane will move. If it is not,
    the crane will not move.

  • There are many new resources. When you are zoomed out to
    the Global View, resources are

    clearly marked for easy identification if you choose to mark them.

  • There is less restriction when it comes to resources. Firaxis will probably give players something to

    synthesize Oil, and Gunpowder

    units

    no longer

    require saltpeter.

  • All resources, including food ones are tradable. Food resources will help your city’s health status.

    • Securing the seven types of food resources can also lead your
      cities to become more healthy, as they represent nutritional variety. Each
      different food resource decreases your unhealthy population by one.

  • Better resource balance: Since Python Scripts are used to generate random maps, resource placement can be

    fine-tuned. This means

    that a

    resource of
    one group cannot be a certain distance from a resource from the same group (comparing
    luxury with luxury, food with food, strategic with strategic).
    The Civ3 dilemma where one faction gets more resources than another seems to be gone. Resource migration will also

    not happen

    anymore.

    Resource
    Strategic Resources
    Aluminum:
    +1 hammer
    Improvements: Mine (+3 hammers, +1 commerce)
    Requires: Industrialism (reveals it), Mining (enables Mine)

    Allows: Modern Armor, Jet Fighter, Stealth Bomber

    Coal:
    +1 hammer

    Improvements: Mine (+3 hammers)
    Requires: Steam Power (reveals it), Mining (enables Mine)
    Allows: Ironclad

    Copper: +1 hammer
    Improvement: Mine (+3 hammers)
    Requires: Bronze Working (reveals it), Mining (enables Mine)

    Allows: Axeman, Maceman, Spearman, Phalanx


    Horse
    :
    +1 hammer

    Improvement: Pasture (+2 hammers, +1 commerce)
    Requires: Animal Husbandry (both reveals it and enables Pasture)
    Allows: Chariot, War Chariot, Immortal, Horse Archer, Keshik, Knight,
    Conquistador, Cavalry, Cossack

    Iron:
    +1 hammer
    Improvement: Mine (+3 hammers)
    Requires: Iron Working (reveals it), Mining (enables Mine)

    Allows: Swordsman, Praetorian, Axeman, Maceman, Samurai, Spearman,
    Phalanx, Pikeman, Crossbowman, Cho-Ko-Nu, Knight, Conquistador, Cannon,
    Frigate, Ironclad

    Marble: +1 hammer
    Improvement: Quarry (+1 hammer, +2 commerce)
    Requires: Masonry (enables Quarry)

    Allows: Some city buildings get built faster with Marble

    Oil:
    +1 hammer
    Improvements: Well (on land; +2 hammers, +1 commerce), Offshore

    Platform
    (on water; +2 hammers, +1 commerce)

    Requires: Scientific Method (reveals it), Combustion

    (enables Well),
    Plastics (enables Offshore Platform)
    Allows: Tank, Panzer, Modern Armor, Gunship,

    Transport, Destroyer,
    Battleship, Submarine, Carrier, Fighter,

    Jet Fighter, Bomber, Stealth
    Bomber

    Stone:
    +1 hammer
    Improvement: Quarry (+2 hammers)
    Requires: Masonry (enables Quarry)

    Allows: Some city buildings get built faster with Stone

    Uranium
    Improvement: Mine (+3 commerce)

    Requires: Physics (reveals it), Mining (enables Mine)
    Allows: Transport, Destroyer, Battleship, Submarine, Carrier, ICBM

    Luxury Resources
    Dye:
    +1 commerce

    Improvements: Plantation (+4 commerce, +1 happiness)
    Requires: Calendar (enables Plantation)

    Fur: +1 commerce
    Improvement: Camp (+3 commerce, +1 happiness)
    Requires: Hunting (enables Camp)

    Gems: +1 commerce
    Improvement: Mine (+1 hammer, +5 commerce, +1 happiness)
    Requires: Mining (enables Mine)
    Gold:
    +1 commerce
    Improvement: Mine (+1 hammer, +6 commerce, +1 happiness)
    Requires: Mining (enables Mine)
    Hit Movies
    Require: Hollywood
    Effects: +1 happiness
    Hit Musicals
    Require: Broadway
    Effects: +1 happiness
    Hit Singles

    Require: Rock & Roll
    Effects: +1 happiness

    Incense: +1 commerce
    Improvement: Plantation (+5 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Requires: Calendar (enables Plantation)

    Plantation (+5 commerce, +1 happiness)
    Requires: Calendar (enables Plantation)
    Ivory: +1 hammer
    Improvement: Camp (+1 hammer, +1 commerce, +1 happiness)
    Requires: Hunting (enables Camp)

    Allows: War Elephant

    Silk: +1 commerce
    Improvement: Plantation (+3 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Requires: Calendar (enables Plantation)

    Silver:
    +1 commerce
    Improvement: Mine (+1 hammer, +4 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Requires: Mining (enables Mine)

    Spices: +1 commerce
    Improvement: Plantation (+1 food, +2 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Requires: Calendar (enables Plantation)

    Sugar: +1 food
    Improvement: Plantation (+1 food, +1 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Requires: Calendar (enables Plantation)


    Whale
    :
    +1 food

    Improvement: Whaling Boats (+1 hammer, +2 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Wine:
    +1 commerce
    Improvement: Winery (+1 food, +2 commerce, +1 happiness)

    Requires: Monarchy (enables Winery)

    Food Resources
    Banana: +1 food
    Improvement: Plantation (+2 food, +1 health)
    Requires: Calendar (enables Plantation)
    Clam:
    +1 food
    Improvement: Fishing Boats (+2 food, +1 health)
    Corn:
    +1 food
    Improvement: Farm (+2 food, +1 health)
    Requires: Agriculture (enables Farm)
    Cow: +1 food
    Improvement: Pasture (+1 food, +2 hammers, +1 health)
    Requires: Animal Husbandry (enables Pasture)

    Crab
    :
    +1 food
    Improvement: Fishing Boats (+2 food, +1 health)
    Deer:
    +1 food
    Improvement: Camp (+2 food, +1 health)
    Requires: Hunting (enables Camp)
    Fish: +1 food
    Improvement: Fishing Boats (+3 food, +1 health)

    Pig
    :
    +1 food
    Improvement: Pasture (+3 food, +1 health)
    Requires: Animal Husbandry (enables Pasture)
    Rice:
    +1 food
    Improvement: Farm (+1 food, +1 health)
    Requires: Agriculture (enables Farm)
    Sheep:
    +1 food
    Improvement: Pasture (+2 food, +1 commerce, +1 health)
    Requires: Animal Husbandry (enables Pasture)
    Wheat:
    +1 food
    Improvement: Farm (+2 food, +1 health)
    Requires: Agriculture (enables Farm)

  • Trading is established automatically when you make deals. Rivers are like roads in

    Civ4 (in terms of their trade potential), so if two cities are on one river, they are

    connected and no road is needed to establish the particular trade network.

    • Due to the expanded aspect of trading

      involving Rivers (making them like roads in terms of connectivity), City placement in
      Civ4
      is made much more strategic. If a

      river connects to a lake, then a worker is able to build a road to the lake and expand the Civilization’s Trade

      Network.

  • Defensive bonuses will now only be generated on Forests, Hills, and Jungles.
    Since this also relates to the combat system, click here to go to that
    section of the article.

  • Here are the known terrain types, as well as other information
    regarding the terrain:

    Terrain
    Coast:
    +1 food, +2 commerce

    Special Abilities: Defending units receive a 10% strength boost

    Desert
    Special Abilities: +1 commerce if by River, Improvements take 25% more
    time to build
    Grassland: +2 food
    Special Abilities: +1 commerce if by River
    Ice
    Special Abilities: Improvements get built 50% slower to complete
    Ocean:
    +1 food, +1 commerce
    Plains:
    +1 food, +1 hammer

    Special Abilities: +1 commerce if by a River

    Tundra:
    +1 food
    Special Abilities: +1 commerce if by a River, Improvements are 25% slower
    to get constructed
    Terrain Features
    Fallout: -3 food, -3 hammers, -3 commerce
    Special Abilities: Movement is decreased by 2, +0.50 unhealthiness in
    nearby cities, Improvements cannot be built on a tile containing Fallout
    Flood
    Plains
    :
    +3 food
    Special Abilities: +1commerce if by a River, +0.40 unhealthiness in nearby
    cities
    Forest:
    +1 hammer

    Special Abilities: Movement decreased by 2, +0.50 health in nearby cities,
    +50% strength for units stationed there

    Iceberg
    Special Abilities: Impassible Terrain
    Jungle:
    -1 food
    Special Abilities: Movement decreased by 2, +0.25 unhealthiness in nearby
    cities, Units stationed there receive +50% strength
    Oasis:
    +3 food, +2 commerce

    Special Abilities: Movement cost decreased by 2, source of fresh water,
    cannot build cities or improvements on Oases

Top


Victory or Defeat?

It all comes down to this: Achieving it against the AI earns you ego. Achieving it against another player earns you

respect.

  • There are a lot more difficulty levels than in previous Civilization games.
    Settler, Chieftain, Warlord, Noble, Prince, Monarch, Emperor, Immortal, and
    Deity are the available difficulties now.

  • The length of games is reduced from 540 turns (as in

    Civilization III) to 430. You are able to start in any era you wish
    (Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Industrial, Modern, Future. You start with a
    different amounts of units in each era, you will have more population in
    newly founded cities, as well as a few more buildings). Later era starts will give you larger starting cities, more

    settlers, and of course

    more techs. They will also have some limitation – earlier wonders and buildings may not be available. The developers

    are also constantly working to even out the pace of the game, hence the speed options described below.

    • There are four game speeds: Quick (mostly for Multiplayer, in Single Player mode (or

      SP) it is equal to

      Civ3‘s Accelerated Production mode), Medium (a bit faster than Civ3,
      15-20 hours of game-play), Epic (around 600 turns) and Marathon (introduced
      in patch v1.52). All of the game speeds (Quick, Normal, and Epic) retain all the flavor of Civ itself. So even
      though the speed is different, the feel will not change.

    • The different speeds of the game (Quick, Normal, and Epic) will
      have their Technology costs, Unit production costs, and Building appropriately tuned for the appropriate speed of the

      game.

    • The game still spans from 4000BC to 2050AD. That means you have 6,050 years to achieve one of the victories

      below.

    • Civilization IV seems to have struck the balance between explored land and years passed. What this means

      is that no longer will

      you have the entire world explored by 400AD. This, by the way, is the same for all three speeds (Quick, Medium, &

      Epic).

  • Most of the victory conditions have not changed from Civ3.
    Here they are:

    • The Time Victory: One can win this by having the highest score at 2050.
    • The Conquest Victory: By eliminating all rival Civilizations, you have achieved this victory.
    • The Domination Victory: This is awarded when you have a 25% lead in population over their best competitor, and

      65% of the global land

      mass.

    • The Cultural Victory: You can achieve this by having three cities with a
      50,000-point Culture rating.
    • The Spaceship Victory: Having first built all the components of a Space Ship and launching it to Alpha

      Centauri, earns you this

      victory.

    • The Diplomatic Victory: After building the United Nations Great Wonder, your Civilization is voted on to take

      control over that

      organization. Since it is

      difficult to maintain good relations with all Civilizations (especially in large games), this is possibly the most

      difficult
      victory condition to achieve.

      Click on the United Nations link for more information
      on that wonder.

  • Winning the game also gives you a movie (no matter how you chose to win it).
  • The Spaceship (which is required for this) contains about a dozen components

    total. Some of the parts are: SS Casing, SS Cockpit, SS Docking Bay, SS Engine,
    SS Life Support, SS Stasis Chamber, and the SS Thrusters. You may boost production on this by constructing Laboratories in

    your cities or by

    construction the Space Elevator Great Wonder, which boosts Spaceship
    part

    production in all of your cities.

  • The game will calculate a running score for each Civilization. This is based on
    the following details: Civilization size, technology, military power, and more. If

    you leave your Civilization lightly defended or with obsolete units, other nations will take advantage of this.

  • There is still a replay at the end of the game (when it is won or lost), and after each game the replays are saved

    so you can later view

    them in the “Hall of

    Fame” and look at how well you did in different games. They show things such as the appearance of Great People, City

    foundations, Civs being
    wiped out, etc. The Hall of Fame screen not only remembers every game’s
    statistic under your profile (you can create different profiles in Civ4). It
    remembers Difficulty Level, Game Speed, Victory Achieved, Starting Era,
    World Size, Finish Date, as well as the Score Itself and more. It also saves
    every game’s replay so you can look back to any previous game which you have
    finished and watch how you developed. The score, by the way, is broken down
    in a detailed manner in-game as you move your mouse cursor over your name
    (the score is broken down to Population, Land, Technologies, Wonders, etc).
    These can also be saved separately from a regular game save and you can send
    these to other people.

Top


The 18 Civilizations

There are a lot of opportunities in the game to form allies, and that is necessary to fend off enemies.

  • 18 playable Civilizations are featured in Civilization IV.

    • There are 26 world leaders. Choosing between two leaders for a
      Civilization is a possibility. You can choose from two leaders from each Civilization, however not every Civilization

      has

      two leaders.

    • You can name the leaders after yourself, and
      pretty much name everything else throughout the game…

  • Unique Units for each Civilization are still in the game. Some of
    the known Unique Units (or "UUs") are below in the Civilization Chart.

  • You are able to see more of the leaders bodies, unlike in
    Civilization III
    , where one could not see them make hand and finger movements. An

    example of this can be seen when watching the “Game-Play

    Footage 2” video at GameSpot. Leader animations will also reflect their mood and natural personality.

    • An

      offer in
      the favor of Louis XIV or Hatshepsut will show animations of the leaders that suggest their happiness with the deal. They

      will simply act

      pleased.
      However some rulers are a bit more inscrutable. The only difference in personality you will see in the Chinese ruler, Qin

      Shi Haug is the

      elevation
      of his eyebrows… the same as the Mongol leader Genghis Khan. Rulers like
      Alexander the Great of the Greeks and Julius Caesar of the Romans are much
      more expressive in their emotions. Julius will give you a gladiatorial
      thumbs-up or thumbs-down in reaction to your proposal. Gandhi is generous
      to weaker nations, while Genghis Khan will shy away from any diplomacy at all.
      Basically, there are a variety of unique personalities, some warlike,
      peaceful, trustworthy, etc. You can also select Random Personalities at the
      start of the game so every leader acts differently than what they usually do.

  • Units of different nationalities can now share tiles. If you have open borders with a Civilization, your units can

    literally go to any

    tile (even in Cities!).

  • All the known
    Civilization properties
    have been listed below. Each
    Leader has two Traits. Each of these grants them a unique bonus and cuts the
    cost of two city improvements by half. Here are the statistics, and both of
    the following charts are brand new:

    Trait Benefit
    Aggressive Free
    Combat I promotion of
    melee and gunpowder units. Double production speed of Barracks and Drydock.
    Creative +2 culture per city.
    Double production speed of Theater, Coliseum.
    Expansive +2 health per city.
    Double production speed of granary and harbor.
    Financial +1
    commerce on plots with
    2 commerce. Double production speed of Bank.
    Industrious Wonder production
    increased 50 percent. Double production speed of Forge.
    Organized Civic upkeep reduced
    50 percent. Double production speed of lighthouse and courthouse.
    Philosophical
    Great People birth rate increased 100 percent. Double production speed
    of University.
    Spiritual No anarchy. Double
    production speed of the Temple.

  • Civilization & Cities Leader 1
    (Traits)
    Leader 2
    (Traits)
    Unique Unit Starting Techs Flag
    America

    Washington, New York

    George

    Washington

    (Financial & Organized;
    favors Universal Suffrage)

    Washington

    Franklin D.

    Roosevelt

    (Industrious & Organized;
    favors Universal Suffrage)


    Roosevelt

    Navy SEAL; replaces the Marine Fishing & Agriculture American Flag
    Arabs

    Mecca

    Saladin

    (Philosophical & Spiritual;
    favors Theocracy)


    Saladin

    -none-

    Camel Archer;
    replaces the Knight

    Mysticism & The Wheel Arabian Flag
    Aztecs

    Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Teotihuacan

    Montezuma

    (Aggressive & Spiritual; favors Police

    State)

    Montezuma

    -none-

    Jaguar; replaces the Swordsman Mysticism & Hunting Aztec Flag
    China

    Beijing,
    Canton, Shanghai, Tientsin, Tsingtao, Xinjian, Turfan

    Mao Zedong

    (Philosophical & Organized; favors State Property)

    Mao

    Qin Shi Huang

    (Industrious & Financial; favors Police State)


    Qin Shi Huang

    Cho-Ku-Nu; replaces the
    Crossbowman
    Agriculture & Mining Chinese Flag
    Egypt

    Thebes,
    Memphis, Alexandria, Elephantine, Pi-Ramesses, Byblos

    Hatshepsut

    (Spiritual & Creative; favors Hereditary Rule)


    Hatshepsut

    -none-

    War Chariot; replaces the
    Chariot
    Agriculture & The Wheel Egyptian Flag
    England

    London,
    Hastings, Warwick, Newcastle

    Queen Victoria

    (Expansive & Financial; favors Representation)

    Victoria

    Queen

    Elizabeth

    (Philosophical & Financial; favors Free

    Religion)


    Elizabeth

    Redcoat; replaces the Rifleman Fishing & Mining English Flag
    France

    Paris, Orleans

    Louis XIV

    (Creative
    and Industrious; favors Hereditary Rule)


    Louis XIV

    Napoleon

    (Aggressive & Industrious; favors Representation)


    Napoleon

    Musketeer; replaces the Musketman Agriculture & The Wheel French Flag
    Germany

    Berlin,

    Cologne, Munich, Dusseldorf

    Frederick

    (Creative & Philosophical; favors Universal

    Suffrage)

    Fredrick

    Bismarck

    (Expansive & Industrious; favors Representation)


    Bismark

    Panzer; replaces the Tank Hunting & Mining German Flag
    Greece

    Athens, Thermopylae

    Alexander

    (Aggressive & Philosophical; favors Hereditary

    Rule)


    Alexander

    -none-

    Phalanx; replaces the Spearman Fishing & Hunting Greek Flag
    Inca Huayna Capac

    (Aggressive &
    Financial; favors Hereditary Rule)

    Capac

    -none-

    Quechua; replaces the Warrior Agriculture & Mysticism

    Incan Flag

    India

    Delhi,
    Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Jaipur

    Mahatma Gandhi

    (Industrious & Spiritual; favors Universal

    Suffrage)


    Gandhi

    Asoka

    (Organized & Spiritual; favors Universal Suffrage)

    Asoka

    Fast Worker; replaces the standard Worker Mysticism & Mining Indian Flag
    Japan

    Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Edo


    Tokugawa

    (Aggressive & Organized; favors Mercantilism)

    Tokugawa

    -none-

    Samurai; replaces the Maceman Fishing & The Wheel Japanese Flag
    Mali

    Timbuktu,
    Djenne, Gao, Kumbi Saleh, Niani, Tadmekka, Walata

    Mansa Musa

    (Financial & Spiritual; favors Free

    Markets)


    Mansa Musa

    -none-

    Skirmisher; replaces the Archer Mining & The Wheel

    Mali Flag

    Mongolia

    Karakorum, Herat, Khanbalik, Old Sarai,

    Samarqand


    Genghis Khan

    (Aggressive & Expansive; favors Police State)


    Genghis Khan

    Kublai Khan

    (Aggressive & Creative; favors Hereditary

    Rule)

    Kublai Khan

    Keshik; replaces the Horse Archer Hunting & The Wheel Mongolian Flag
    Persia

    Persepolis, Susa, Pasargadae, Arbela, Bactria,
    Gordium, Tarsus

    Cyrus

    (Expansive & Creative; favors Representation)

    -none-

    Immortal; replaces the Chariot Agriculture & Hunting Persian Flag
    Rome

    Rome,
    Antium, Cumae, Neapolis, Pisae

    Julius Caesar

    (Organized & Expansive; favors Representation)


    Julius Caesar

    -none-

    Praetorian; replaces the
    Swordsman
    Fishing & Mining Roman Flag
    Russia

    Moscow,
    Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Rostov

    Catherine
    (Creative & Financial; favors Hereditary Rule)


    Catherine

    Peter
    (Expansive & Philosophical; favors Police State)


    Peter

    Cossack; replaces the Cavalry Hunting & Mining Russian Flag
    Spain

    Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, Salamanca, Santiago, Murcia,
    Cordoba, Seville, Zaragoza

    Queen

    Isabella

    (Expansive & Spiritual; favors Police

    State)


    Isabella

    -none-

    Conquistador; replaces the
    Knight
    Fishing & Mysticism Spanish Flag
    Barbarians

    Cherokee, Phoenicians

    Barbarian Flag

  • Barbarians in Civilization IV are not able to develop a full culture
    like the main 18 competing Civilizations, however you will see them forming
    independent cities and small militias. They are like a “mini-Civ” that can cause trouble at any time.

  • Barbarians may also capture and control your

    cities as well as the obvious pillaging of your improvements if you find them in your territory.

    • Animal attackers (which pose a similar threat as Barbarians do), such as Lions, Bears, Jaguars and wolves
      are present early on in the

      game.

Top


Artificial Intelligence

Perhaps a significant component of good game-play is a good AI. The AI is much improved in the new game…

  • Improving the AI has been a large priority. For months now, much focus has been dedicated to it.

  • The AI now seems to be blind. It does not know where certain things appear (unlike in Civilization III. On

    higher levels, the AI

    still
    receives production bonuses. In the end, rest assured, you are playing against a smarter AI, not a more cheating

    one.

  • The AI is more interactive and it will contact you much more often for various things in its interest.

  • The AI will no longer attack in a few huge stacks of units. Instead you will now see the AI attacking in steady

    waves of units that just

    keep coming!

  • The AI attitudes toward you can be either Friendly, Pleased, Cautious, Annoyed, or Furious). This the reasons for

    this are, again, very

    clearly laid out in the diplomacy window.

  • Selecting AI Random Personalities is also a possibility at the start of the game. This way, you do not know

    how the AI will behave

    (Gandhi may not always be
    polite, and Genghis Khan may not be warlike!).

  • The City Governor AI will also be more improved to assist you better. And that is an important part, because

    it naturally allows

    you to

    micro-manage less. And another main goal of Firaxis is to kill player micro-management.


  • When in the
    Bargaining Table,
    you can now see why the leader’s
    attitude is the way it is. Here is a positive point in the relationship and attitude: “+1 Years of peace have

    strengthened our

    relationship.” Here are also a few negative
    points which may occur: “-1 Our close borders spark tension,” “-3 We are upset that you have fallen

    under the sway of a

    heathen religion,” “-1

    You have traded with our worst enemies!” These can be seen here.
    Basically, the positive points are: If you have the same religion with that
    Civ, similar Civics, resource trading, fair trade relations, years of peace.
    The negative points may be: If you have a different religion than that Civ, if
    you have traded with an enemy of that Civ, closed borders (they spark
    tension), refuse to stop trading with a certain Civ. Different leaders will place different weights on these factors.
    There are true hard feelings in this system, and it is much harder to simply
    bribe an AI in diplomacy in order to make it do what you want it to do.

  • The game is sped up thanks to faster AI moves during the
    Middle and Late stages of the game. Some features tended to slow down the late game.
    They have been removed (for example: pollution cleanup, city riots, and units disbanding due to money issues). This means

    the late game
    is just as

    enjoyable
    to play as the rest of the game.

Top


International Affairs

Diplomacy 

ScreenAbove, the AI and Diplomacy virtually go hand in hand. Both are also improved… which means a much more

powerful

system.

  • The AI must respect your borders or declare war in
    Civilization IV.
    AI’s did not have to respect your border at all in
    previous Civilization titles. Look back at any game and most players will see frustration of how the AI

    kept wondering around in your own border, without you being able to do anything
    about it.

  • If you have a Defensive Pact with someone, and they get attacked, you will have the option to back down and

    not get involved in

    that war. This will
    of course damage your reputation, but remember that in Civ3 you absolutely had to get into a war
    no matter what.

  • Negotiating peace in diplomacy is now possible between two Civilizations which are at war with each other.

    On the other hand, it

    is also

    possible to make two other Civilizations go to war, even if you do not wish to get involved at all.

  • Your military still plays a large role in Civ4 however it has been balanced out with other options,

    such as diplomacy. A

    lot of
    emphasis has been put in in balancing different aspects of the game so the player does not focus on one
    aspect more than on another.

  • Trading made easy: There is a new screen that explains

    what other Civilizations have to offer and what they want to trade for (it also
    tells you what technologies and resources the AIs have). This is all in the
    foreign advisor screen. This screen also tells you the AI relations toward
    you, current ongoing deals, etc.

  • The player may gift units to the AI by moving a unit in their territory and pressing the “Gift” button which

    automatically makes that unit

    theirs.

  • The diplomatic victory condition is triggered by construction of the United Nations

    great wonder. When it is

    first constructed, a Secretary General is

    elected (every Civilization gets a vote during this. The builder of this does
    not automatically get to be the secretary General). If you get elected, you can get various resolutions passed.
    Here they are:

    • Free Trade – Free Trade removes all trading restrictions in the world between all

      Civilizations. It

      basically functions as if all Civilizations have open borders – No matter what their real diplomatic relationship may

      be.

    • Nuclear Non-Proliferation – As Thunderfall’s article has mentioned already, adopting this means that no nukes may be built, however

      existing nuclear weapons

      are not destroyed. Note that if this resolution passes before any nuke is built in the world, it means that the game itself

      will proceed without

      nukes appearing. This may be a benefit to you if you’re playing against aggressive Civilizations.

    • Universal Suffrage – All Civilization’s civics are changed to Universal Suffrage (+1

      Hammer from Town; Can

      spend gold to finish production) no matter if they have the required technology for that specific Civic (this counts for

      all UN Resolutions

      relating to Civics).

    • Free Speech – All Civilizations adopt the Free Speech Civic (100% culture
      in all cities; +2 gold from Town).

    • Emancipation – All Civilizations switch to the Emancipation Civic ((100%
      Growth for Cottage, Hamlet, Village; Unhappiness for civs without that civic).

    • Environmentalism – All Civilizations adopt the Environmentalism Civic
      ((+6 health in all cities; +1 happiness from jungle, forest).

    • And finally, Free Religion – All Civilizations Adopt this Civic (No
      non-state religion spread; +1 happiness per non-state religion in a city, +10%
      science in all cities).

    If you fail to get elected, you have to wait until the next election. You can use the UN as a diplomatic

    tool to force other nations to adopt certain policies which they normally wouldn’t.
    Note that after every three resolutions, a new Secretary General is up for
    election.

  • Building Spy units is possible just like in Civilization II (they
    now have a movement of two and cost 80 Hammers).
    The player is limited to the number of Spies you can have in the game. Before
    construction the player must have the following: Communism and the Scotland Yard
    National Wonder, meaning every Civilization may build its own (500 Hammers; +1
    Great People Points; More likely to generate a Great Scientist). You are allowed
    to have a maximum of four spies at any one time. They are invisible to other
    Civilizations just like Submarines. These units cannot be attacked or interacted
    with, however they can be exposed by rival Spies (you are able to expose enemy
    Spies as well). Other abilities of the Spy unit include:

    • Investigate City – This is rather basic. It allows you to have a peek inside an

      enemy city and see all

      its properties (what it is producing, Culture
      amount, what unit it has, etc, etc).

    • Destroy Production – If you order your Spy to destroy the production of whatever a city

      is producing (and if

      successful), half of whatever is being produced
      is destroyed (therefore slowing down dramatically production of, say, a Great Wonder). However, if the Spy fails, it is

      killed.

    • Sabotage Improvement – If a Spy is ordered to do so, and if successful, a terrain

      improvement will be

      destroyed (such as a valuable Oil Well). If
      unsuccessful, the Spy will be destroyed.

    • Steal Plans – First of all, the Spy has a much better chance of having success at this

      if the action is

      taking place in a City which contains either a
      Palace (therefore the capitol of that Civilization), a Forbidden Palace, or the Versailles Great Wonder (Requires Divine

      Right; Reduces

      Maintenance in nearby
      cities; City in which it is built in is more likely to generate a Great Merchant; Doubled Production speed with the Marble

      resource).

    The above actions need gold. Success depends on the amount of units the other Civilization has in the area of where the

    action is taking place.

    Nearby enemy spies
    also decrease the amount of success your Spy unit has.

  • Other Civilizations have different

    favored Government and Religious settings, and they will try to pressure players into changing to their favored religion or government to suit their

    desires in return for better relations with your Civilization.
    They can even ask you to stop using a Civics option you have set.

    • Leaders will appreciate other leaders that share
      their traits and civic or religious choices (as stated above), and they will tend to form blocs. If you find leaders that

      share your tendencies,

      it will be

      possible to form lasting
      (even permanent) alliances.

    • What you choose might affect other Civilizations as well. If you have already introduced Emancipation, it sometimes

      may lead to

      unhappiness and

      revolts
      within other nations without Emancipation, but to you, it does not give a direct benefit (so it provides a negative aspect

      to other Civs, if they

      don’t have

      it).
      Also, if your Civilization is the first to outlaw slavery, that will create discontent in societies that have

      slavery.

  • In diplomacy you can try to make another civ adopt a certain Civic or a Religion that you have. However the AIs are

    much more focused on

    their own agenda.

    Some Civs care more of your type of religion, others care more about your Civics, others follow whoever has the most money.

    AI Civilizations can

    even call up

    the human player and ask him/her to stop trading with a Civilization they hate. This make the player make decisions which

    impact relations a

    great deal.

  • Filling in the blanks: You can put a deal on the table and then ask the AI
    leader to fill in the blanks, no matter what combination is out there. You can also tell when a deal would never happen

    because the choices will

    show up in

    red on
    the list. On a related AI note, Soren Johnson (the Lead Designer for the game) is now totally focused on tweaking the

    AI.

Top


Controlling Your People… by Decree

All the power is in your hands. What you do with it can lead to your Empire’s victory or your utter demise.

  • World

    Religion, Civics and Great People are things many people have suggested be put into the game, Soren has described these

    as
    "killer" features in his PowerPoint. These are in Civ4, and they will have an influence on your whole

    empire. The factors

    which have

    a

    domestic affect are described below…

  • Factors which are not fun in the game such as corruption/waste, rioting, pollution, and maintenance
    are started from scratch or removed

    (this means that they are replaced by a much better concept that maintains game
    balance better). Pollution is most affected. It was dumped,

    although not completely removed. A more extensive health system is something new, although no details about it have

    surfaced yet. Annoying

    micromanagement tasks will also be decreasing dramatically, and more high-level control
    is provided.

    • The concept of corruption has been

      replaced with
      maintenance costs. This time instead of Courthouses being able to reduce corruption (since it is gone) they will actually

      lower
      maintenance costs.


  • Cultural Power
    You will have to develop your culture or risk being enveloped by a larger neighbor (so a nation

    can be completely

    engulfed by another’s

    borders).

    • The luxury slider is now a culture slider. The more culture you give, the happier your people will be, as well as

      producing more culture

      for

      your entire Civilization, meaning it can also expand your borders more, the more
      you increase it (but at the expense of Commerce and Science Research).

    • Culture basically modifies your borders in relation to the culture of your neighbors, so you can overwhelm your

      neighbors with a

      superior

      culture.

    • Culture now also increases a citys defensive value, and it helps smaller cities with more culture feel safer. Since

      it restarts when you

      capture a city, your top priority is to maximize culture in that city.

    • There is no more Cultural Dominance in flipping Cities. Instead, as your nation expands, foreign cities will begin

      to become more and more

      in

      awe with your Civilization as a whole. This will cause the people in those foreign cities to get unhappy, and therefore

      their Civilization will

      have to

      spend money to keep them happy. As this burden gets heavier, that Civilization might just offer to give you their Cities

      via diplomacy.
      One easy way to counter unrest in your cities due to your neighbors having
      superior culture is to station more units into that city.

    • Culture essentially represents a “Soft Power.” This means that nations can defeat other nations through more

      peaceful

      means.

  • Health is just as important as maintaining your treasury and the happiness of your people. Health
    is tied to available food and

    resources to simulate Epidemics. However, if you have Fresh Water near you, it will give you a health

    benefit.

  • There is a lot of built-in automation in the game (also aimed at reducing micromanagement). Setting units such as

    the Warrior to “Auto

    Explore” and find

    “Goody Huts” (which give you free bonuses such as a Settler, or something else) is a great idea.

  • Thanks to automation, when a Worker is available, the player is able to automate the worker and let the artificial

    intelligence take

    control of it. The

    worker will then build the best available option on each square, as well as link your cities together by roads.
    This improves the pace of the game immensely and is a very efficient process, since you don’t have to worry about manually

    moving the worker (you

    can do that

    still, however).

  • Variety in food can improve your citizens moods making them happier. Entertainers are also available,

    spending tax dollars to

    buy their

    happiness and city improvements.

  • In total, there are 25 Civics options. There are five categories and five options per each category. The five

    categories are:

    Government,

    Legal, Labor, Economy, and Religion. Some of the known Civics options are: Free Market, Environment, Slavery, Free Speech,

    Conscription,

    Emancipation,

    Religious Tolerance and the Nationhood (it magnifies culture accumulation). Below is a table of how you will see your

    Government system in the

    game. Having all these choices means that you will not have "fixed" governments
    anymore (simply known as Democracy, Communism, etc in Civ3). Note
    that Civics choices have an upkeep cost (depending on the Civic).

    • Changing to new Civic forms will have a dramatic effect on the character and success of your civilization.

      You’ll be able to boost

      or cut
      productivity, wealth, and happiness, make choices to increase/decrease the spread of religion, and even affect your

      ability to produce and

      maintain a
      large standing army. It is also never as simple as choosing the only the
      highest levels in the Civics section. "…You could end up with a really
      great government that puts you in the poorhouse," says

      Barry.

      Government Legal Labor Economy Religion
      Despotism: Low Upkeep Barbarism: Low Upkeep Tribalism: Low Upkeep Decentralization: Low Upkeep Paganism: Low Upkeep
      Hereditary
      Rule:
      +1 happiness per military unit in city. Medium Upkeep. Required Tech: Monarchy
      Vassalage:
      New Units receive +2 Experience Points. Lower unit support cost. High
      Upkeep.  Required Tech: Feudalism
      Slavery: May
      use population to rush production in a city. No Upkeep. Required
      Tech: Bronze Working
      Mercantilism: +1 Free specialist per city. No

      foreign trade routes.
      Medium Upkeep.
      Required Tech: Banking


      Organized Religion:

      Can build Missionaries without a Monastery. Cities with state religion
      construct buildings 25% faster. High Upkeep.
      Required Tech: Monotheism

      Representation: +3
      Science per specialist, +3 happiness in top 5 largest cities. Low
      Upkeep. Required Tech: Constitution


      Bureaucracy:
      +50% hammers, +50% commerce in Capitol City. Medium
      Upkeep. Required Tech: Civil Service
      Serfdom: +50%
      Worker build rate. Low Upkeep. Required Tech: Feudalism
      Free Market: +1 trade route per city; Low Upkeep.
      Required Tech: Economics
      Theocracy:
      +2 experience points in cities with state religion. No non-state
      religion spread. Medium Upkeep.  Required Tech: Theology

      Police State:
      +25% military unit production. -50% war weariness.
      High Upkeep. Required Tech: Fascism
      Nationhood:
      May draft 1 unit per turn. +2 happiness from Barracks. Low Upkeep.

      Required Tech: Nationalism

      Caste System:
      Unlimited Artist, Scientist, and Merchant in cities. Medium Upkeep. Required
      Tech: Code of Laws
      State
      Property:
      -100% maintenance costs from distance to Palace/Capitol
      City. +1 food from Workshop and Watermill. No Upkeep.
      Required Tech: Communism
      Pacifism:
      +100% Great People birth rate. +1 gold support cost per military unit.
      No Upkeep. Required Tech: Philosophy

      Universal Suffrage:
      +1 hammer from Town. May spend gold to finish
      production. Medium Upkeep. Required Tech: Democracy
      Free
      Speech:
      +100% culture in all cities, +2 gold from Town. Low
      Upkeep. Required Tech: Liberalism
      Emancipation:
      +100% growth for Cottage, Hamlet, Village. Unhappiness penalty for
      civilizations without Emancipation. Required Tech: Democracy

      Environmentalism:

      +6 health in all cities. +1 happiness from Jungle and Forest. Medium
      Upkeep. Required Tech: Medicine
      Free
      Religion:
      No non-state religion spread. +1 happiness per non-state religion in a city. +10% science research in

      all cities. Low

      Upkeep. Required Tech: Liberalism

  • When you are at peace,
    Free Markets, Emancipation, and Representation are fine choices as Civic options. During war, you can select Civic choices

    which are

    better suited for that situation (which may mean that your units are not as expensive to maintain, and therefore you can

    have a larger army). Of

    course, to

    prevent you from switching back and fourth, there will be a temporary anarchy period between Civic choices if

    switching.

Top


A New Aspect: Religion


Church Art

All

religions in the game are equal. However they also have an impact on diplomacy.
"It’s like culture without borders," as Jesse Smith Puts it.

  • State Religions can be declared by any Civilization. You can also switch this, but you will go through a

    period of anarchy,

    just like when
    switching the state of your government. Declaring a State Religion means that all cities in the Civilization with the same

    religion get extra
    happiness and produce more gold. The default to no-state religion is Paganism,
    which means there is no organized religion.

  • Founding a Religion is done when a Civilization discovers a
    technology that is linked to a certain religion. Afterwards, a Holy City is
    established. When a Religion is established in a city, it will gradually spread from there.

    • When a City has a religion which

      differs from the State Religion of the Civilization, the citizens in that city may become unhappy and eager to
      adapt the state religion.

    • Since cities which are not in the Civilization’s state religion do not share the happiness and commerce bonus,

      it is a good strategy

      for you

      to
      spread an unofficial religion. However, spreading too many religions to one Civilization is not always a wise tactic, The

      Freedom of Religion
      Civics option grants bonuses to civilizations which have many different religions.

    • You can see which State Religion of another Civilization you have made contact with by checking the small leader

      board in the

      lower-Right

      corner of
      the game screen.

    • Like what has already been mentioned before in prior updates, the first Civilization to discover a
      technology that enables a religion will be
      assigned a Holy City. Owning a Holy City gives you a line of sight for all cities in the world that share that religion,

      and therefore

      encouraging
      you to spread to spread your faith even more around the world. In the Holy City you can also build Great Wonders that have

      the ability to improve
      the happiness of people throughout your empire. Holy Cities are assigned to the AI by random, but most likely near the

      center of the empire, or

      the
      capitol of the empire.

  • Not only will you see Wonder Movies (CGI Cutscenes showing the construction of a wonder), but you will also

    see a movie each time

    you discover a religion. Winning the game also gives you a wonder movie (no matter how you chose to win it).

  • Every temple in the world dedicated to

    a religion
    will generate gold which will go to that religion’s Holy City. This makes it
    even more worth it to try and convert other cities around the world to your
    State Religion.

  • Conquered people who have a different religion than your state religion will naturally be pretty unhappy. In

    later eras you can

    research

    technology to mitigate these effects, but religion now has to factor into your overall strategy.

  • Seven real-world Religions are available in the game. There is also a special unit
    for all Religions: the Missionary. Below is a helpful chart of the religions in the game, and their

    real-life significance:

    • The Missionary may be sent out to try to convert other cities to your religion. Just like Civics, AIs will try

      to convert you to their

      religion the same way.

    • If you are successful in a city, you will also receive a line of
      sight bonus and if you capture or control the main holy city of each
      religion, you get line of sights in each city in the world that has that
      religion.

    • To keep your civilization’s religion strong, you must constantly be building religious buildings and pushing

      your own Missionaries to

      convert foreign cities. If you do not want foreign Missionaries to enter your lands, simply do not sign open borders.
      The only other time Missionaries can enter your borders are when a
      Civilization declares war on you.

    • While Closed Borders mean that other missionaries cannot enter your lands and spread their religion, it also

      means that you

      will not be able to trade with other Civilizations.

    • Success in spreading your State Religion to the AI will lead to
      better relations.

  • Religions will not have bonuses (most likely the developers like to keep everything perfectly balanced

    because it is a touchy

    subject), but

    they will impact diplomacy. If you ally yourself with a Civilization with the same religion as

    yours, it will enable
    you to curry favor with other like-minded peoples. However, they come
    with a memory, if you suddenly switch to their religion, they will not
    be as inclined to cooperate with you. You will need to be in their
    religion for a significant amount of time.

Top


The Influence of Great People


Great Merchant

Great

People also add a great deal of variety to the game. Some offer extremely great benefits as we’ll cover below…

  • There are five categories of Great People:
    Great Artist, Great Merchantman, Great Prophet, Great Engineer, and Great Scientists. All of them have a movement of

    two, and are invisible

    to other

    units. These will probably

    be triggered by City performance, therefore, they cannot be built. Each will also have three to four benefits, including

    culture boost,
    Academies
    (created by Great Scientists),

    multiple
    Golden Ages (when having two different Great People), and free techs, as well as wonder construction and city output.
    Please look at the first chart below for more details on their ability and
    historic figure.

    • Great People are easier to get in

      Civilization IV, and they
      will also be the only way a player can spark a Golden Age other than by constructing a particular Great Wonder.
      (Please see the chart below for more information on what exactly is required
      for a Golden Age when having available Great People.)

    • A Golden Age means that you get a boost in production and happiness (a
      Golden Age also lasts for eight (8) turns). Again, you can also have multiple Golden Ages (each subsequent golden age

      will
      require more Great People) unlike in Civilization

      III, where you were allowed only one.

  • You can get great leaders by specialized cities. You can customize each city to fit a specific purpose such

    as science or culture.

    Great

    engineers will allow you to rush production on a wonder,
    or other building and naturally, they may only be used once, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
    A Great Merchant may let you establish an extremely

    lucrative trade deal (meaning you will get a large boost in your treasury), or a
    Great Scientist will significantly boost your research
    or create an Academy. Look below in the chart for much more details on this.
    Also you may want to check out the Cities section for more information on
    specialization.

  • You can generate more “Great People” points
    by taking city population away from working the land and turning them into specialists. Also, certain civics choices are

    able to make your

    specialists more
    productive and that can also have a positive effect on your “Great People” point production.

    • For all but one (the Great Prophet), there are ancient and modern representations of the unit.

  • Great People can be turned into “Super Citizens” where they can give a city an ongoing bonus
    for a period of time, or they can be used to give your Civilization

    a large one-time bonus. Below is a detailed list of the Great People, how they can be used, and the historic figures they

    might represent:

    Great Person Benefits
    Great Artist

    (Emphasis on Culture)

    1. Has the potential to trigger a Golden Age (or GA).
      Requires two
      Great People for the first GA*.
    2. Can join a city and produce +3 gold and +12 culture per turn.
    3. Producing a "Great Work" grants the city
      4,000 culture points
      automatically. (Labeled as the "Culture Bomb").
    4. They can discover a Cultural-Related Technology, for
      example, Literature.
    Great Engineer

     (Emphasis on Production)

    1. Has the potential to trigger a Golden Age. Requires two Great
      People for the first GA*.
    2. Can join a city and produce +3 hammers and +3 science per turn.
    3. May rush production, like a Great Wonder.
    4. Can discover an Engineering-Related Technology
    Great Merchant

     (Emphasis on Wealth)

    1. Has the potential to trigger a Golden Age.
      Requires two Great People for the first GA*.
    2. Can join a city and produce +1 food and +6 gold each turn.
    3. Can establish a one-time trade mission for 1000~ gold.
    4. Can discover a Commercially-Related Technology, like Banking.
    Great Prophet

     (Emphasis on Religion)

    1. Has the potential to trigger a Golden Age. Requires two Great
      People for the first GA*.
    2. May join a city and produce +2 hammers and +5 gold per turn.
    3. May build one Shrine/per religion, in the city of the founded religion.
    4. Can discover a Religious-Related Technology
    Great Scientist

     (Emphasis on Science)

    1. Has the potential to trigger a Golden Age. Requires two Great
      People for the first GA*.
    2. May join a city and produce +1 hammer and +6 science.
    3. May create an Academy (boost of Science and Culture) in a city.
    4. Can discover a Scientific-Related Technology.
    * With each Golden Age Requiring more Great
    People… For more information on the other units, go here.

Top


City Essentials

Cities are like the many hearts of your Civilization. If you take care of them, they are bound to take care of

you.

  • Instead of shields, youll see hammers. The more you have, the
    faster you build units, buildings, etc. The amount you have is determined by
    the terrain, and improvements

    • There is some sort of Hammer/Beaker rollover (Hammers mean production,
      and Beakers mean Technology research as said before).

    • When viewing the City Screen, a bag of

      money = 5 gold,
      an anvil = 5 hammers, and a loaf of bread = 5 food.

  • City Specialists: The number of city specialists are limited.
    However, with the "Caste System" civic you may have unlimited city
    specialists. Even though specialists provide bonuses to your cities, they do
    consume food (just like unhappy citizens, which don’t provide any bonuses at
    all). The total number of specialists are five. They are: Scientists,
    Priests, Engineers, Merchants, Artists. Citizens are the ones who actually
    work on the land and give you benefits such as food, hammers, and
    gold/commerce.

  • Drafting can occur with either spending gold, or city population.
    Naturally, this depends on your Civics choices and it will also create
    unhappiness if you do draft.

  • Before founding your first City, the User-Friendliness of the game will immediately highlight attractive tiles to

    establish your first

    city, and later on,

    other cities. This feature takes into account nearby resources, terrain features and the proximity to other

    Civilizations.

  • GameSpot says

    that “Once you’ve

    settled down into your

    first city, the game bends over backward to be user-friendly.” Your first task after building a city
    is to select a list of offered and available

    technologies. Some of these are recommended to you before choosing them (it is very possible to ignore these

    recommendations). After selecting

    what you want

    to research, you will have to select what you want your city to build. Two of the options are recommended (just like some

    of the Technology

    Choices are). The

    recommendations are, of course, sound choices. But again, you can feel free to follow your own path.

    • Founding a second city quickly can be immensely helpful in solidifying a lead against your
      neighbor or neighbors.

  • To get more culture, in addition to the slider already described, Entertainment Specialists also help with

    culture generation.

    Building still

    matter, but they will just serve as cultural multipliers than producers.

  • A single city can sometimes be found with more than one religion. This usually happens when a foreign Missionary

    establishes its own

    religion in a city with

    a different established religion.


  • One-Tile City
    You

    are not guaranteed the nine-square territory when you first build a city
    in Civilization IV. You may find a city that owns only its base tile,

    and is completely engulfed in another Civilization’s borders. To the right is an
    example of this…

  • Cities do require a maintenance amount, and with
    each city that will increase (therefore one can’t just start building Settlers and Cities right away like crazy). Even

    though this is a

    significant change,

    the
    ability to build very large empires is still there. The difference is that it requires more strategy to do so. As cities

    grow, they
    are able to sustain
    themselves better without putting too much weight on the overall economy. Naturally, using diplomacy, religion, trade

    networks, and improvements

    will

    increase
    income (and that will help fight increasing maintenance costs).

    • Cities on the outer-most fringe of your empire will still build
      relatively quickly (as there is no corruption anymore). However their maintenance cost will be higher to
      compensate for that.

    • The game is more balanced towards not having as many cities. You
      will, however, still have a broad area. The focus is to have fewer but more specialized cities.
      Also note that there is no city limit. You may build as many as you wish
      however keep note of the previous comment in the last sentence.

    • The city
      maintenance cost puts pressure on rapidly expanding
      Civilizations, when rapid expansion might not be the best choice at the time. The AI will recognize this too, and they will

      not keep throwing

      settlers

      towards your
      boundaries.

  • Balancing out your priorities is the key. If you build cities too often, they will be very vulnerable.

    However, if you don’t build
    cities and expand fast enough, you will be left in the dust. Prioritizing between expansion, research, building military

    units, and
    improving your core cities is really essential. Reading the landscape for resources, and good city positions is also very

    important.
    Building cities on hills or on rivers will help them survive longer, and make them less vulnerable.

  • Civic improvements/buildings are shown off on the terrain, as
    well as wonders. Basically, everything that you build (other than units) is
    shown on the terrain near the city.


  • Buildings

  • Right-Clicking on a city will bring

    up contextual menus, which will show the player options such as build orders, and governor settings.
    Having said that, the city governor provides much more control over
    automation.

    • Information in the city itself is much clearer as well, for the players who do wish to get a more detailed

      picture. Each improvement

      in the

      city
      has the specific benefits it offers to the city itself. Contentment and culture are also present in more detail. This means

      that the player will

      no
      longer have to keep looking through the Civilopedia for what certain buildings or aspects add to the game-play.

    • In order to simplify your building choice in cities, you are able to Shift-Click on a city in order to select what

      you want it to build,

      this even without entering the main city interface. It will all be on the main interface. You will also be able to set

      Build Queue orders so you

      can

      select which things you want to build in a particular order (so if you select the Archer then Temple and then the Pyramids

      in this order,

      production

      will automatically switch each time a unit/building is done).

    • Selecting multiple cities makes
      management even easier. Jesse Smith states in this Developer

      Interview at GameSpot that the goal is to make everything as easy for the player as possible. This allows the player to

      set the same building

      orders to a few cities at once. These features (the Build Queue and the city selection method) along with the flexibility

      of options from the

      City

      Governor make managing cities extremely easy. There are six governor options
      which will make it easy for you to customize what you want from that city.
      Emphasize food, production, commerce, science, great people, and "Stop growth."
      These can be mixed, matched, etc, etc.

    • Setting common Rally Points to cities (or multiple
      cities via the Shift-Click method) is also possible. This allows units that have just been built to go to that selected

      spot automatically

      without the

      player’s input.

    • When entering the city menu itself, you will see that older-style
      text-based menus have all been replaced with graphical icons instead. The
      uppermost part of the screen includes Scientific Research (center), Income and
      current gold amount (left), and the date (right). Also in the upper part is the
      current production (units, buildings, etc), growth rate, City name, as well as
      the defensive bonus of the city (determined by improvements as well as culture),
      health status (healthy to unhealthy citizens) as well as happiness (happy to
      unhappy citizens, this also includes the reasons the citizens are happy or
      unhappy). The top-left includes Scientific Rate,
      Culture Rate (as well as the happiness it generates), and Tax Rate (these three
      are determined as a percentage). We also can see a Maintenance Cost. On the left
      side of the City Interface is a Trade Route Bonus display (these provide gold),
      as well as what your current Buildings are. Also visible is the percentage of
      your nationality and Culture rate per turn. The bottom part is the build queue
      (Units, Improvements, or Wonders — all represented as icons), the lower-right
      part are the City Governor options as well as the Mini-Map. The Right Side of the screen we can see the current city
      religion; Luxury, Strategic, and Food resources; the city specialists are also
      on the right side, as well as the Great People accumulation points. The middle,
      of course, is the City Display. The Circled tiles represent worked tiles by your
      citizens Since a
      picture can speak a thousand words, here is a perfect example of the city
      screen
      .

    • Just moving the mouse over the city will

      produce results such as how fast the city is growing, building status, resources collected, as well as culture and Great

      People

      information.

  • No longer will you be able to transfer production from one project
    to another. This exploit has remained for a long time, and it has been addressed.

    • An example of the above bullet point is that when you lose a wonder to
      another Civilization by a few turns, you will also lose all the production made on it, therefore you will no longer be able

      to transfer it to

      another project

      however you will be
      refunded a certain amount of gold. This rule is for units and other buildings as well. For example, if you switch

      production from a Settler to an

      Archer, the

      production will
      not shift to the Archer, however it will be saved for the Settler when you come back to it, and you will pick up from where

      you left

      off.

    • If someone beats you to a World Wonder, you will get a refund, mot likely in the hundreds of gold, depending on how

      much time you’ve spent

      on that wonder.
      This has been mentioned just above.

      This (the fact that you can no longer simply transfer production) makes it much harder for you to “monopolize” the Great

      Wonders. This is even

      more evident

      on the harder levels.

  • Cities will no longer riot, but unhappy workers will not work. Until you address the problem, it will remain

    so.

  • City names can also be changed by the player, as in Civ3.

  • The bigger your city gets, the unhealthier it becomes. And
    that can take a toll on the population, as the city will eventually begin to starve
    (unhealthy citizens are not able to do as much work). You can combat this by building certain types of buildings, such

    as

    aqueducts and
    hospitals. However improvements such as Factories tend to decrease the city’s health status.

Top


Building Options

Strategy comes to play even more here… there are a total of 102 buildings, and each has its own benefits. It is up

to you to be the

builder

Top


Wonders of the World

Even greater buildings, however, are the ones which build up your civilization as a culture, and put it along other

major powers: The

Wonders of

the World

  • In total, there are about 28 Great Wonders (Great Wonders may
    be built by only one Civilization), and about 12 Small Wonders (every Civilization

    is allowed to build these, and they are more city-specific. For example, a
    benefit of +100% science.

    • On top of that, what makes Wonders so exciting is the fact that Wonder Movies are back! Each time you build a

      wonder, you will be viewing

      a

      short clip of it. There are around 45 movies in all.

  • Below are all the known wonders and their Characteristics:

    Wonder Requires Cost Benefits
    Small/National Wonders
    Forbidden Palace At least 8 cities; 6 Courthouses 200 hammers +4 culture; +1 Great People points; Reduces maintenance
    for nearby cities; City more likely to generate Great Merchant
    Globe Theatre Drama; 6 Theatres 300 hammers +6 culture; No unhappiness in city; May turn 3 citizens
    into Artist; City more likely to generate Great Artist
    Hermitage Nationalism 300 hammers +100% culture; +1 Great People points; More likely for
    city to generate Great Artist; Doubled production speed if Marble

    is
    available

    Heroic Epic Literature; Barracks; Unit of level

    4 experience

    200 hammers +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +100% military unit
    production; More likely to generate Great Artist; May only be built in
    Renaissance and earlier starts; Double production speed with Marble
    Ironworks Steel; 6 Forges 700 hammers +2 unhealthiness; +1 Great People points; +50% hammers
    with Coal; +50% hammers with Iron; May turn 3 citizens into Engineer;
    More likely to generate Great Engineer
    Mt. Rushmore Fascism 500 hammers +4 culture; +1 Great People points; -25% War Weariness
    in all cities; More likely to generate Great Artist; Double production
    speed with Stone
    National Epic Literature; Library 250 hammers +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +100% Great People
    birth rate; More likely to generate Great Artist; May be built only in
    Renaissance and earlier starts; Double production speed with Marble
    Oxford University Education; 6 Universities 400 hammers +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +100% science; May
    turn 3 citizens into Scientist; More likely to generate Great Scientist;
    Double production speed with Stone
    Palace At least 4 cities [in order to be switched out of
    original capitol city]
    160 hammers +2 culture; +1 happiness; Marks the Capitol city of a
    Civilization
    Red Cross Medicine; 6 Hospitals 600 hammers +2 culture; +1 Great People points; Free Medic I
    promotion to units built in the city; More likely to generate Great
    Scientist
    Scotland Yard Communism 500 hammers +1 Great People points; Required to build/train a Spy;
    More likely for city to generate Great Scientist
    Wall Street Corporation; 6 Banks 600 hammers +1 Great People Points; +100% commerce; May turn 3
    citizens into Merchant; City more likely to generate Great Merchant
    West Point Military Tradition; Unit of level 5 experience 800 hammers +1 Great People points; New units receive +4 experience
    points; More likely to generate Great Engineer; Doubled production speed
    with Stone
    Great Wonders
    Angkor Wat Philosophy 500 hammers +8 culture; +2 Great People points; +1 hammer from
    Priest in all cities; May turn 3 citizens into Priest; More likely to
    generate Great Prophet; May be built only in Medieval and earlier
    starts; Doubled production speed with Stone; Obsolete with Computers
    Broadway Electricity 800 hammers +2 Great People points; +50% culture; Provides 5 Hit
    Musicals
    ; More likely to generate Great Artist
    Chichen Itza Code of Laws 500 hammers +6 culture; +2 Great People points; +25% defense in all
    cities; More likely to generate Great Prophet; May be built only in
    Medieval an earlier starts; Double production speed with Stone;
    Obsolete with Rifling
    Hollywood Mass Media 1000 hammers +2 Great People points; +50% culture; Provides 5 Hit
    Movies
    , +1 happiness; More likely to generate Great Artist
    Notre Dame Music 650 hammers +10 culture; +1 happiness in all cities on the same
    continent; More likely to generate Great Artist; May only be built in
    Medieval and earlier starts; Double production with Stone
    Rock & Roll Radio 800 hammers +2 Great People points; +50% culture; Provides 5 Hit
    Singles
    , +1 happiness; More likely to generate Great Artist
    Stonehenge Mysticism 120 hammers +8 culture; +2 Great People points; Free Obelisk in
    every city; Centers World Map; More likely to generate Great Prophet;
    May be built only in Classical and earlier starts; Double production
    speed with Stone; Obsolete with Calendar
    The Colossus Metal Casting; Forge 250 hammers +6 culture; +2 Great People points; All city water tiles
    receive +1 commerce; More likely to generate Great Merchant; May be
    built only in Classical and earlier starts; Doubled production speed
    with Copper; Obsolete with Astronomy
    The Eiffel Tower Radio; Forge 1250 hammers +6 culture; +2 Great People points; Free Broadcast Tower
    in every city; More likely to generate Great Merchant; Doubled
    production speed with Iron
    The Great Library Literature; Library 350 hammers +8 culture; +2 Great People points; +2 free Scientists;
    More likely to generate Great Scientist; May be built only in Classical
    or earlier starts; Double production speed with Marble; Obsolete with
    Scientific Method
    The Great Lighthouse Masonry; Lighthouse 200 hammers +6 culture; +2 Great People points; +2 trade routes for
    all costal cities; More likely to generate Great Merchant; May be built
    only in Classical and earlier starts; Obsolete with Corporation
    The Hagia Sophia Engineering 550 hammers +8 culture; +2 Great People points; Workers build
    improvements +50% faster; More likely to generate Great Engineer; May be
    built only in Medieval and earlier starts; Double production speed with
    Marble; Obsolete with Steam Power
    The Hanging Gardens Mathematics; Aqueduct 300 hammers +6 culture; +2 Great People points; +1 health in all
    cities; +1 population in all cities; More likely to generate Great
    Engineer
    ; May be built in Classical and earlier starts; Double
    production speed with Stone
    The Kremlin Communism 1000 hammers +2 Great People points; -50% hurry production cost; More
    likely to generate Great Artist; Double production speed with Stone;

    Obsolete with Fiber Optics

    The Oracle Priesthood 150 hammers +8 culture; +2 Great people points; 1 free technology;
    More likely to generate Great Prophet; May be built in Classical and
    earlier starts; Double production speed with Marble
    The Parthenon Polytheism 400 hammers +10 culture; +2 Great People points; +50% Great People
    birth rate in all cities; More likely to generate Great Artist; May be
    built in Classical and earlier starts; Doubled production speed with
    Marble; Obsolete with Chemistry
    The Pentagon Assembly Line 1250 hammers +2 Great People points; New units receive +2 experience
    points in all cities; City more likely to generate Great Engineer
    The Pyramids Masonry 450 hammers +6 culture; +2 Great People points; Enables all
    Government Civics; More likely to generate Great Engineer; May be built
    only in Classical and earlier starts; Double production speed with Stone
    The Sistine Chapel Theology 600 hammers +10 culture; +2 Great People points; +2 culture per
    specialists in all cities; More likely to generate Great Artist; May be
    built only in Medieval and earlier starts; Double production speed with
    Marble
    The Space Elevator Robotics; Space Race Victory must be enabled 2000 hammers +2 Great People points; +50% Spaceship production in all
    cities; More likely to generate Great Scientist; Can build at a maximum
    latitude of 30 degrees; Double production speed with Aluminum
    The Spiral Minaret Divine Right 550 hammers +8 culture; +2 Great People points; +1 gold from all
    State Religion buildings; More likely for city to generate a Great
    Prophet
    ; May be built in Medieval and earlier starts; Double production
    speed with Stone; Obsolete with Computers

    The Statue of Liberty
    Democracy; Forge 1500 hammers +6 culture; +2 Great People points; +1 free specialist
    on all cities on the continent; More likely to generate Great Merchant;
    May be built in Renaissance and earlier starts; Double production speed
    with Copper
    The Taj Mahal Nationalism 700 hammers +10 culture; +2 Great People points; Starts a Golden
    Age; More likely to produce a Great Artist; May be built in Renaissance
    and earlier starts; Double production speed with Marble
    The Three Gorges Dam Plastics 1750 hammers +2 Great People Points; Provides Power to all cities on
    the continent; More likely to produce Great Engineer
    The United Nations Mass Media; at least 3
    teams/Civilizations; Diplomatic victory must be enabled
    1000 hammers +2 Great People points; Triggers Global Elections;
    Guarantees eligibility for Diplomatic Votes; More likely to produce
    Great Merchant
    Versailles Divine Right 800 hammers +10 culture; +2 Great People points; Reduces maintenance
    in nearby cities; More likely to produce Great Merchant; May only be
    built in Industrial and earlier starts; Doubled production speed with
    Marble
    Projects (Cannot be Rushed)
    Apollo Program Rocketry; Space Race victory must be enabled 1600 hammers Required to create SS Casting, SS Thrusters, SS Engine,
    SS Docking Bay, SS Cockpit, SS Life Support, SS Stasis Chamber; Doubled
    production speed with Aluminum
    -SDI Satellites 750 hammers +75% chance of intercepting ICBMs; Doubled production
    speed with Aluminum
    -SS Casting Rocketry; Space Race victory must be enabled 600 hammers 5 Required for Space Race Victory; Doubled
    production speed with Aluminum
    -SS Cockpit Fiber Optics; Space Race victory must be
    enabled
    1000 hammers 1 Required for Space Race Victory; Doubled
    production speed with Copper
    -SS Docking Bay Robotics; Space Race victory must be enabled 1600 hammers 1 Required for Space Race Victory; Doubled
    production speed with Aluminum
    -SS Engine Fusion; Space Race victory must be enabled 1200 hammers 1 Required for Space Race Victory
    -SS Life Support Ecology; Space Race victory must be enabled 800 hammers 1 Required for Space Race Victory; Doubled
    production speed with Copper
    -SS Stasis Chamber Genetics; Space Race victory must be enabled 1200 hammers 1 Required for Space Race Victory; Doubled
    production speed with Aluminum
    -SS Thrusters Satellites 1000 hammers 3 Required for Space Race Victory;
    The Internet Fiber Optics 2000 hammers Grants all technologies known by 2 other
    Civilizations; Doubled production speed with Copper
    The Manhattan Project Fission 1500 hammers Enables building of ICBMs for all
    Civilizations; Enables building of Bomb Shelters for all Civilizations;
    Double production speed with Uranium
    Religious Wonders
    The Church of the Nativity Christian Holy City +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +1 gold
    per city with Christianity; Spreads Christianity; May turn 3 citizens
    into Priest; More likely to generate Great Prophet
    The Dai Miao Taoist Holy City +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +1 gold
    per city with Taoism; Spreads Taoism; May turn 3 citizens into Priest;
    More likely to generate Great Prophet
    The Kashi Wishwanath Hindu Holy City +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +1 gold
    per city with Hinduism; Spreads Hinduism; May turn 3 citizens into
    Priest; More likely to generate Great Prophet
    The Kong Miao Confucian Holy City +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +1 gold
    per city with Confucianism; Spreads Confucianism; May turn 3 citizens
    into Priest; More likely to generate Great Prophet
    The Mahabodhi Buddhist Holy City +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +1 gold
    per city with Buddhism; Spreads Buddhism; May turn 3 citizens into
    Priest; More likely to generate Great Prophet
    The Masjid Al-Haram Islamic Holy City +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +1 gold
    per city with Islam; Spreads Islam; May turn 3 citizens into Priest;
    More likely to generate Great Prophet
    The Temple of Solomon Jewish Holy City +4 culture; +1 Great People points; +1 gold
    per city with Judaism; Spreads Judaism; May turn 3 citizens into Priest;
    More likely to generate Great Prophet

Top


Your Advances

It is not the technology that matters It is how well you use it.

  • The Technology Tree, just like its technologies, is smart and flexible. You will have the ability to research

    different things, but

    they will

    lead to the same level of technologies. It will offer unique paths to guide your empire along. There are no longer static

    eras, as in
    Civilization III
    s

    case, that is, the tech tree is not split into eras at all (although, as
    previously said, you can start in different eras). To put it simply, eras do
    not restrict your Technology choices and progress.

    • Like buildings, the player is able to switch
      from one technology to another, however that research will not get accumulated for the new technology you are switching to
      (in "Beakers," the accumulation of technology. It is similar to "Hammers" when
      talking about production). And when you switch to the technology
      you were originally researching, you will get back where you left off. However this “banking” of resources or research is

      limited in terms that

      you will

      eventually
      start to lose production or research slowly over time. This change (production not carrying over to new buildings or

      technologies) has not been a

      large

      balance issue
      because both the AI and Human Players are “on a level playing field” (to quote Barry).

    • There are different ways to discover technologies, like the already
      mentioned Great People and Goody Huts.

    • You will also be allowed to skip whole branches of the Tech-Tree if you wish.

    • The direction of your research will have an impact on the kind of Great People that are born. The player is free to

      choose any path

      whether it

      be all-military,
      all cultural, all-science, balanced, etc. You also dont need all the techs that connect to the one you want. A

      connection to it is all that

      is

      needed.

  • Even with evenly spaced-out resources it can
    happen that in the early game a player may not always have a resource such as iron or horses. The tech-tree also balances

    that out should it

    happen. It makes

    it
    easy for the player to switch strategies and head in the direction of Gunpowder (for example).

  • There is no longer a minimum amount of turns in
    which you can discover a technology (in Civ3 it was four turns minimum). This makes it easier to come back and get

    older technologies you

    have not yet
    researched.

  • There are 125 paths to Civ4‘s
    Future Technology.
    This information has been gathered from grumbler’s post here in the forums.
    Check it out for more information.

  • Below are all 86 technologies in the game. This technology tree
    has been put together by CivFanatics’ Administrator, Thunderfall (taken from
    several separate screenshots). Below it are details of what each technology
    has to offer:

    Tech Tree

    Technology Requires… Leads To… Enables…
    Ancient Era
    Agriculture   Animal Husbandry & Pottery May order Workers to build a Farm
    Alphabet Writing Drama & Literature Can trade technologies, Can turn production into research
    Animal Husbandry Agriculture or Hunting Horseback Riding & Writing Can build a Pasture
    Archery Hunting   May train Archer
    Bronze Working Mining Iron Working & Metal Casting Enables Slavery; May
    train Spearmen; Reveals the Copper Resource; Workers can remove forest
    Compass Iron Working Optics May train Explorer, Construct docks
    Fishing   Sailing & Pottery Work Boat, Fishing Boats
    Horseback Riding Animal Husbandry   May train Horse Archer
    Hunting   Animal Husbandry & Archery Can build a Camp; May
    build a Scout, Spearman
    Iron Working Bronze Working Compass May train Swordsmen; Reveals the Iron
    Resource
    Masonry Mining or Mysticism   May build Walls & the Pyramids; The Great Lighthouse; Quarry
    Mathematics Writing Calendar, Construction, Currency May build the Aqueduct, & Hanging

    Gardens, May

    construct Quarry

    Meditation Mysticism Priesthood & Philosophy First to discover founds Buddhism;
    May build a Monastery
    Metal Casting Bronze Working Machinery May build the Colossus
    Great Wonder, Forge; Workers may build a Workshop
    Mining   Bronze Working & Masonry Can build Mine
    Monarchy Monotheism or Priesthood Feudalism, & Divine Right Enables Hereditary Rule
    Civic
    Monotheism Polytheism Monarchy & Theology First to discover it founds Judaism; Enables Organized Religion

    Civic

    Mysticism   Masonry, Meditation, & Polytheism May build Obelisk &
    Stonehenge
    Polytheism Mysticism Priesthood & Monotheism May build Parthenon; Founds Hinduism
    Pottery Agriculture or Fishing; Requires The Wheel Writing, & Metal Casting May build Granary, Plantation
    Priesthood Polytheism or Meditation Code of Laws, Monarchy, & Writing May build Oracle;
    May build a Temple
    Sailing Fishing Compass, & Calendar May build Galley; May
    build Lighthouse
    The Wheel   Pottery May build Chariots; May order Workers to
    build Roads
    Writing Animal Husbandry, or Pottery, or Priesthood Alphabet & Mathematics, Code of Laws, Feudalism, Theology May build a Library
    Medieval Era
    Banking Guilds Currency, & Economics May build a Bank; Enables Mercantilism Civic
    Calendar Mathematics Astronomy Makes Stonehenge &
    Obelisk obsolete
    Civil Service Code of Laws or Feudalism Nationalism, & Paper Can build Maceman; enables Bureaucracy civic
    Code of Laws Currency or Priesthood Constitution, Civil Service & Philosophy May build the Courthouse; Chichen

    Itza;
    enables Caste System Civic; First to discover it founds Confucianism

    Construction Masonry, Mathematics Engineering Enables building of Catapult, War

    Elephant; Colloseum

    Currency Mathematics Banking, & Code of Laws May build a Market, can turn production into gold
    Divine Right Monarchy, & Theology Nationalism May build Versailles, Spiral Minaret
    & First to discover it founds Islam
    Drama Alphabet Music & Philosophy Theatre
    Education Paper Liberalism, Economics, & Gunpowder University, Great Library
    Engineering Construction, & Machinery Chemistry May build Halberdier,
    Castle; Workers may build a Fortress
    Feudalism Monarchy, & Writing Civil Service, & Guilds May build Longbowman;
    Enables the Serfdom and Vassalage Civics
    Guilds Feudalism, & Machinery Banking & Gunpowder Knights; Grocer; Improved Workshop Production
    Liberalism Education, & Philosophy Communism Enables Free Speech and Free Religion Civics
    Literature Alphabet, & Polytheism Music Can Build Hermitage, National Epic small wonders
    Machinery Metal Casting Engineering, Guilds & Optics, Printing Press Enables Crossbowmen, Enables Watermills and Windmills
    Military Tradition Nationalism   Enables Defense Pact; May build Cavalry
    Music Literature, & Mathematics Military Tradition Notre Dame, first to Discover gets Great Artist
    Nationalism Code of Laws, & Divine Right, or Philosophy Military Tradition & Constitution, Fascism the Taj Mahal; Versailles; Nationhood Civic enabled
    Optics Compass, & Machinery Astronomy, & Medicine May build a Galleon
    Paper Civil Service or Theology Education & Printing Press Enables Map Trading
    Philosophy Code of Laws or Drama, Meditation Liberalism, & Nationalism Angkor Wat, Enables Pacifism Civic,
    First to discover it founds Taoism
    Printing Press Machinery, & Paper Democracy, & Replaceable Parts, Scientific Method  
    Theology Monotheism, & Writing Paper Sistine Chapel; Founds Christianity; Theocracy
    Industrial Era
    Artillery Physics, Rifling, Steel Rocketry Can Build Artillery
    Assembly Line Corporation, Steam Power Fascism & Industrialization Can train Infantry, build Factory, Coal
    Power plant, Pentagon
    Astronomy Calendar, Optics Physics, & Scientific Method Observatory, Opens up the seas for trade, Obsoletes

    Colossus

    Biology Chemistry, Scientific Method Ecology, & Medicine, Refrigeration +1 food from farms, enables farms w/o irrigation
    Chemistry Engineering, Gunpowder Steel, Scientific Method, Biology, & Steam
    Power
    Workshops gain +1 Hammer; May train
    Grenadier & Frigate, Obsoletes Parthenon
    Communism Liberalism, Scientific Method   Enables the State Property Civic;
    Can build Spy Unit; Can construct Scotland Yard & Kremlin
    Constitution Code of Laws, Nationalism Corporation, Democracy Can construct a
    Jail
    , Enables Representation Civic
    Corporation Constitution, Economics Assembly Line +1 Trade Routes per City; May Construct Wall
    Street; Obsoletes Great Lighthouse
    Democracy Constitution, Printing Press   Can build Statue of Liberty, Enables Universal
    Suffrage and Emancipation Civics
    Economics Banking, Education Corporation First to discover gets Great Merchant, Enables Free Market Civic
    Gunpowder Education or Guilds Chemistry, & Rifling Can build Musketman
    Physics Astronomy, & Scientific Method Artillery, Electricity, & and Flight First to discover it receives a Great
    Scientist; Reveals the Uranium Resource
    Railroads Steam Power, & Steel Combustion Can build Machine Gun; Workers can build Railroad
    Replaceable Parts Printing Press & Banking Rifling & Steam Power May build a Lumbermill; Increases Windmill production &
    Watermills receive +1 Hammer
    Rifling Gunpowder, & Replaceable Parts Artillery, & Rocketry Allows the construction of Riflemen, Obsoletes Chichen

    Itza

    Scientific Method Astronomy or Chemistry, & Printing Press Communism, Physics, & Biology Obsoletes Oracle,
    Angkor Wat, reveals Oil
    Steam Power Chemistry, Replaceable Parts Assembly line, Railroads Reveals Coal
    Steel Chemistry, Iron Working Artillery, & Railroads Can train Cannon, Ironclad; can build Drydock, and Iron

    Works

    Modern Era
    Combustion Railroads Flight, & Plastics Can build Transport, Cruiser; Obsoletes Whales; Worker can build Oil Well
    Composites Plastics, Satellites Future Tech Can Build Modern Armor, Jet Fighter, Stealth Bomber
    Computers Radio Genetics & Robotics Can build Laboratory; Obsoletes Spiral Minaret,
    Angkor Wat
    Ecology Biology, Fission, Plastics   Recycling Center, Enables Environmentalism

    Civic

    Electricity Physics Fission, Industrialism, Refrigeration, & Radio Windmills gain +1 Gold, Watermills gain +2
    Happiness; May Construct Bunker & Broadway
    Fascism Assembly Line, Nationalism   Mt. Rushmore; Police State
    Fiber Optics Computers, Plastics, Satellites Fusion ;Obsoletes Great Library; Can build SDI

    Defense

    Fission Electricity Ecology, Fusion Enables Manhattan Project, can build nuclear
    power plant
    Fusion Fiber Optics, & Fission   First to discover it gets a Great Engineer
    Flight Combustion and Physics Rocketry Aircraft Carrier, Fighter, Airport
    Future Technology Composites, & Genetics   Happiness and Health Bonuses
    Genetics Computers, & Refrigeration Future Technology  
    Industrialism Assembly Line, & Electricity Plastics Can build Marines, Armor, Destroyer; & Obsoletes Ivory; &

    reveals Aluminum

    Mass Media Radio   Broadcast Tower; Hollywood &

    United Nations

    Medicine Biology, Optics Genetics Battlefield Medicine
    Plastics Combustion, Industrialism Composites, Fiber Optics, Robotics Three Gorges Damn, Hydro Plant, Offshore Platform
    Radio Electricity Computers, Mass Media Can build Submarine, Bomber, Eiffel Tower
    Refrigeration Electricity and Biology Genetics Can Build Supermarket
    Robotics Plastics, Computers   Modern Artillery, Space Elevator, Assembly Plant
    Rocketry Artillery or Flight, & Rifling Satellites Can Build TOW Infantry, Helicopter, Missile. Can Build Apollo Program

  • Future Technology research gives you extra health and happiness, as described above. In

    Civ3 it is important to know that Future

    Technology did not do much for the player, and it is nice that that has improved as well.

  • Every time a Technology is researched, the grandfatherly voice of Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock himself!) kicks in with

    an appropriate quote

    from history.

Top


The Military Backbone: Units

There are many different types of units, and all have different abilities. On top of that, there are special

promotions as well. This makes

each

military unit unique.

  • Civilization IV will ship with a total of 83 units (this
    includes barbarian animal units, which the player cannot build in a regular
    unedited [via the World Builder] game. This includes domestic units such as workers, military ones (of course)

    and special units such as Great People.

  • Units can be upgraded by using your gold, as
    they become outdated. This is similar to the Civilization III way.

  • Unique combat animations are a priority,
    so you won’t see the same old animation for different types of units.

    • Units will also give verbal confirmation when you select them
      and give them orders, again, this will be a specific language to the
      Civilization that is chosen.

    • When a unit is victorious, a short music clip plays confirming
      the victory.

  • There are
    Medallions
    on top of flags units are carrying to indicate how many units are in that tile. If there are 15 units in a

    single tile, there will

    be 15
    Medallions above the flag on that tile.

  • Medallions

  • Picking units out of a stack is easy so the player won’t have to repeat the picking out of a unit many

    different times

    over.

  • The longer a unit stays fortified, the more advantage it will have when defending against other units. For

    example, being fortified

    for five

    turns gives the unit its maximum defense bonus of 25%. The unit does not get an instant bonus the moment it is

    Fortified.

  • "First Strike" is a system which simulates the advantages of
    ranged units such as archers. If a unit has this ability, it can make a
    "First Strike" against another unit before the combat actually begins,
    giving it an advantage.

  • Workers, when captured from another Civilization, build at the
    same rate as your own workers. There is no "half-normal" effectiveness as
    was the case with Civ3.

  • The game will also be using multi-unit graphics for individual units, they will also be carrying banners for

    their countrys flag

    and for

    easier

    identification. The Multi-Units represent actual hit-points. If you do not like
    to see multi units, you can turn this feature off so you see single-graphic
    units only. Below is a table of all known facts about units:

    Unit Strength Movement
    / Range
    Hammers (Cost) Requires Other Abilities
    Archery Units
    Archer 3 strength 1 move 25 hammers Archery 1 first strike; +50% city defense; +25%
    hills defense; Upgrades to Longbowman or Crossbowman
    Skirmisher

    (Mali)

    4 strength 1 move 25 hammers Archery 1-2 First Strikes; +50% city defense; +25%
    hills defense; Upgrades to Longbowman or

    Crossbowman; Replaces Archer

    Longbowman 6 strength 1 move 50 hammers Feudalism &
    Archery
    1 First Strike
    +25% city defense
    +25% hills defense; Upgrades to Rifleman
    Crossbowman 6 strength 1 move 60 hammers Machinery &

    Archery; Iron

    1 first strike
    +50% vs. Melee Units; Upgrades to Rifleman or
    Grenadier
    Cho-Ko-Nu

    (China)

    6 strength 1 move 60 hammers Machinery &

    Archery; Iron

    2 first strikes
    Causes collateral damage
    +50% vs. Melee Units; Upgrades to Rifleman or
    Grenadier; Replaces Crossbowman
    Armored Units
    Tank 28 strength 2 moves 180 hammers Industrialism &
    Rifling; Oil
    Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; Starts
    with Blitz; Upgrades to Modern Armor
    Panzer


    (German)

    28 strength 2 moves 180 hammers Industrialism &
    Rifling; Oil
    Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; +50% vs.
    armored units; Starts with Blitz; Upgrades to Modern Armor; Replaces
    Tank
    Modern Armor 40 strength 2 moves 240 hammers Composites & Computers;
    Oil & Aluminum
    1 First Strike; Doesn’t receive defensive
    bonuses; Starts with Blitz
    Gunpowder Units
    Musketman 9 strength 1 move 80 hammers Gunpowder Upgrades to Rifleman
    Musketeer

    (French)

    9 strength 2 moves 80 hammers Gunpowder Upgrades to Rifleman; Replaces Musketman
    Rifleman 14 strength 1 move 110 hammers Rifling +25% vs. mounted units; Upgrades to Infantry
    Redcoat


    (English)

    16 strength 1 move 110 hammers Rifling +25% vs. mounted units; +25% vs. gunpowder
    units; Upgrades to Infantry; Replaces Rifleman
    Grenadier 12 strength 1 move 100 hammers Chemistry +50% attack vs. Rifleman; Upgrades to
    Infantry or Machine Gun
    Infantry 20 strength 1 move 140 hammers Assembly Line & Rifling +25% vs. Gunpowder Units; Upgrades to SAM
    Infantry or
    Mechanized Infantry
    SAM Infantry 18 strength 1 move 150 hammers Rocketry Can intercept aircraft (40% chance); +50%
    vs. helicopter units
    Marine 24 strength 1 move 160 hammers Industrialism & Rifling +50% attack vs. machine gun; +50% attack vs.
    artillery; Starts with Amphibious promotion
    Navy SEAL

    (American)

    24 strength 1 move 160 hammers Industrialism & Rifling 1 first strike; 1-2 First Strikes; +50%
    attack vs. Machine Gun;
    +50% vs. Artillery; Starts with Amphibious and March promotion; Replaces
    Marine
    Mechanized Infantry 32 strength 2 moves 200 hammers Robotics & Rifling Can intercept aircraft (20% chance); Starts
    with March promotion
    Helicopter Units
    Gunship 24 strength 4 moves 160 hammers Rocketry &
    Flight; Oil
    Cannot capture enemy cities; Doesn’t receive
    defensive bonuses; Flies over terrain; Can withdraw from combat (25%
    chance); +100% vs. Armored Units
    Melee Units
    Warrior 2 strength 1 move 15 hammers +25% city defense; Upgrades to Axeman or
    Spearman
    Quechua


    (Incan)

    2 strength 1 move 15 hammers Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; +25% City
    Defense; +100% vs. archery units; Upgrades to Axeman or Maceman or
    Spearman; Replaces Warrior
    Swordsman 5 strength 1 move 40 hammers Iron Working; Iron +10% City Attack; Upgrades to Maceman

    Jaguar

    (Aztec)

    6 strength 1 move 35 hammers Iron Working +10% city attack; +25% jungle defense;
    Upgrades to Maceman; Replaces Swordsman
    Praetorian

    (Roman)

    8 strength 1 move 45 hammers Iron Working; Iron Upgrades to Maceman; Replaces Swordsman
    Axeman 5 strength 1 move 35 hammers Bronze Working;
    Copper or Iron
    +50% vs. Melee Units; Upgrades to Maceman
    Maceman 8 strength 1 move 70 hammers Civil Service &

    Machinery; Copper or
    Iron

    +50% vs. Melee Units; Upgrades to Rifleman or
    Grenadier
    Samurai


    (Japanese)

    8 strength 1 move 70 hammers Civil Service &

    Machinery; Iron

    2 First Strikes; +50% vs. melee units;
    Upgrades to Rifleman or Grenadier; Replaces Maceman
    Spearman 4 strength 1 move 35 hammers Hunting; Copper or Iron +100% vs. mounted units; Upgrades to Pikeman
    Phalanx 5 strength 1 move 35 hammers Hunting; Copper or Iron Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; +25% Hills
    Defense; +100% vs. mounted units; Upgrades to Pikeman; Replaces Spearman
    Pikeman 6 strength 1 move 60 hammers Engineering; Iron +100% vs. mounted units; Upgrades to Rifleman
    or Grenadier
    Mounted Units
    Chariot 4 strength 2 moves 25 hammers The Wheel; Horse Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; Can
    withdraw from combat (20% chance); Upgrades to Horse Archer or Knight
    War Chariot

    (Egyptian)

    5 strength 2 moves 25 hammers The Wheel; Horse Immune to First Strikes; Doesn’t receive
    defensive bonuses; Can withdraw from combat (20% chance); Upgrades to
    Horse Archer or Knight; Replaces Chariot
    Immortal

    (Persian)

    4 strength 2 moves 25 hammers The Wheel; Horse Can withdraw from combat (30% chance); +50%
    vs. Archery Units; Upgrades to Horse Archer or Knight; Replaces Chariot
    Horse Archer 6 strength 2 moves 50 hammers Horseback Riding & Archery;
    Horse
    Immune to first strike; Doesn’t receive
    defensive bonuses; +50% vs. Catapult; Upgrades to Knight
    Keshik

    (Mongol)

    6 strength 2 moves 50 hammers Horseback Riding & Archery;

    Horse

    1 first strike; Doesn’t receive defensive
    bonuses; Ignores terrain movement costs ; +50% attack vs. Catapult;
    Upgrades to Knight; Replaces Horse
    Knight 10 strength 2 moves 90 hammers Guilds &
    Horseback Riding;
    Horse and
    Iron
    Immune to first strikes; Doesn’t receive
    defensive bonuses; Upgrades to Cavalry
    Camel Archer

    (Arabian)

    10 strength 2 moves 90 hammers Guilds &
    Horseback Riding &
    Archery
    Immune to first strikes; Doesn’t receive
    defensive bonuses; Can withdraw from combat (25% chance); Upgrades to
    Cavalry; Replaces Knight
    Conquistador

    (Spanish)

    10 strength 2 moves 90 hammers Guilds &
    Horseback Riding;
    Horse &
    Iron
    2 first strikes; Immune to first strikes;
    +50% vs. Melee Units; Upgrades to Cavalry; Replaces Knight
    Cavalry 15 strength 2 moves 120 hammers Military Tradition,

    Gunpowder &
    Horseback Riding;
    Horse

    Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; Can
    withdraw from combat (30% chance); +50% attack vs. cannon; Upgrades to
    Gunship
    Cossack


    (Russian)

    18 strength 2 moves 120 hammers Military Tradition,

    Gunpowder &
    Horseback Riding;
    Horse

    Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; Can
    withdraw from combat (30% chance); +50% vs. Cannon; +50% vs. Mounted
    Units; Upgrades to Gunship; Replaces Cavalry
    War Elephant 8 strength 1 move 60 hammers Construction;
    Ivory
    Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; +50% vs.
    mounted units; Upgrades to Cavalry
    Naval Units
    Galley 2 strength 2 moves 50 hammers Sailing Cargo Space: 2; Cannot enter ocean; Upgrades
    to Galleon
    Caravel 3 strength 3 moves 60 hammers Optics Cargo Space: 1 (can carry Scout, Explorer,
    Missionary, Spy, or Great People); Can explore rival territory w/o
    triggering war; Upgrades to Frigate or Submarine
    Galleon 4 strength 4 moves 80 hammers Astronomy Cargo Space: 3; Upgrades to Transport
    Frigate 8 strength 4 moves 90 hammers Chemistry &
    Astronomy;
    Iron
    Can bombard city defenses (-10/turn);
    Upgrades to Destroyer

    Ironclad 12 strength 2 moves 100 hammers Steel &

    Steam Power;
    Iron &
    Coal

    Cannot enter ocean; Can bombard city defenses
    (-10%/turn); Upgrades to Destroyer
    Transport 16 strength 5 moves 125 hammers Combustion;
    Oil or
    Uranium
    Cargo Space: 4
    Destroyer 30 strength 8 moves 200 hammers Combustion;
    Oil or
    Uranium
    Can see submarines; Can intercept aircraft
    (30% chance)
    Can bombard city defenses (-15%/turn)
    Battleship 40 strength 6 moves 225 hammers Industrialism;

    Oil or Uranium

    Causes collateral damage; Can bombard city
    defenses (-20%/turn)
    Submarine 24 strength 6 moves 150 hammers Radio &
    Combustion;
    Oil or
    Uranium
    Cargo Space: 1 (carries scout, explorer,
    missionary, spy, great people); Invisible to most units; Can see
    submarines; Can explore rival territory; Can withdraw from combat (50%
    chance)
    Carrier 16 strength 5 moves 175 hammers Flight;
    Oil or
    Uranium
    Cargo Space: 3 (carries fighters)
    Recon Units
    Scout 1 strength 2 moves 15 hammers Hunting Better results from tribal villages; Can only
    defend
    +100% vs. animals; Upgrades to Explorer
    Explorer 4 strength 2 moves 40 hammers Compass Better results from tribal village
    Can only defend; Ignores terrain movement cost
    Starts with Guerilla I, Woodsman I
    Siege Weapons
    Catapult 5 strength 1 move 40 hammers Construction Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; Can
    withdraw from combat (25% chance); Causes collateral damage
    Can bombard city defenses (-15%/turn); Upgrades to Cannon
    Cannon 12 strength 1 move 10 hammers Steel;
    Iron
    Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; Can
    withdraw from combat (25% chance); Causes collateral damage; Can bombard
    city defenses (-20%/turn); Upgrades to Artillery
    Machine Gun 18 strength 1 move 125 hammers Railroads Can only defend; 1 first strike
    +50% vs. Gunpowder Units; Upgrades to SAM Infantry
    Artillery 18 strength 1 move 150 hammers Artillery Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses; Can
    withdraw from combat (25% chance); Causes collateral damage; +50% vs.
    siege weapons; Can bombard city defenses (-25%/turn)
    Air Units
    Bomber 16 strength 1 move; 8 range 140 hammers Radio &

    Flight;
    Oil

    Causes collateral damage;
    -50% vs. water units; Can destroy tile improvements and bomb city
    defenses (-15%/turn); Upgrades to Stealth Bomber
    Fighter 12 strength 1 move; 6 range 100 hammers Flight;
    Oil
    Can intercept aircraft (50% chance); Can
    destroy tile improvements and bomb city defenses (-5%/turn); Upgrades to
    Jet Fighter
    Jet Fighter 24 strength 1 move; 10 range 150 hammers Composites &
    Flight;
    Oil or Aluminum
    Can intercept aircraft (70% chance); Can
    destroy tile improvements and bomb city defenses (-10%/turn)
    Stealth Bomber 20 strength 1 move; 12 range 200 hammers Composites,

    Flight &
    Robotics;
    Oil &
    Aluminum

    Can evade interception (50% chance); Causes
    collateral damage; -50% vs. water units

    Can destroy tile improvements and bomb city defenses (-20% turn)

    Nukes
    ICBM 0 strength 1 move; global range 500 hammers Rocketry &
    Fission;

    Uranium

    Can nuke enemy lands;
    Requires The Manhattan Project
    Spies
    Spy 0 strength 2 moves 80 hammers Communism;
    Scotland Yard
    National Unit (4 allowed at a time);
    Invisible to all units; Can explore rival territory; Can expose rival
    spies in nearby tiles; Starts with sentry
    Domestic Units
    Settler 0 strength 2 moves 100 hammers Can found a new city
    Fast Worker

    (Indian)

    0 strength 3 moves 60 hammers Can improve tiles; Replaces Worker
    Worker 0 strength 2 moves 60 hammers Can improve tiles
    Work Boat 0 strength 2 moves 30 hammers Fishing Cannot enter ocean;
    Can create Fishing Boats, Whaling Boats, and Offshore Platform
    Religious Units
    Buddhist Missionary 0 strength 2 moves 40 hammers Buddhism; Buddhist Monastery

    May have three of them on the map at a time;
    May spread religion to your cities, or to foreign cities
    Christian Missionary 0 strength 2 moves 40 hammers Christianity; Christian

    Monastery

    May have three of them on the map at a time;
    May spread religion to your cities, or to foreign cities
    Confucian Missionary 0 strength 2 moves 40 hammers Confucianism; Confucian

    Monastery

    May have three of them on the map at a time;
    May spread religion to your cities, or to foreign cities
    Hindu Missionary 0 strength 2 moves 40 hammers Hinduism; Hindu Monastery May have three of them on the map at a time;
    May spread religion to your cities, or to foreign cities
    Islamic Missionary 0 strength 2 moves 40 hammers Islam; Islamic Monastery May have three of them on the map at a time;
    May spread religion to your cities, or to foreign cities
    Jewish Missionary 0 strength 2 moves 40 hammers Judaism; Jewish Monastery May have three of them on the map at a time;
    May spread religion to your cities, or to foreign cities
    Taoist Missionary 0 strength 2 moves 40 hammers Taoism; Taoist Monastery May have three of them on the map at a time;
    May spread religion to your cities, or to foreign cities
    Great People Since great people are in a class of their own, check
    the Great People section for more information on their abilities
    Animal Units
    Bear 3 strength 1 move Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses
    Lion 2 strength 1 move Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses
    Panther 2 strength 2 moves Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses
    Wolf 1 strength 1 move Doesn’t receive defensive bonuses

  • A nuclear explosion can cause severe damage to the tile targeted and the eight adjacent tiles. You are not able to

    attack your own

    territory or cities with the ICBM. Everything goes through a “kill check” (buildings, units and terrain improvements).

    Buildings are either

    destroyed or come out unharmed if they pass. Units can be destroyed if the “kill check” fails or damaged or unharmed if

    they pass. Wonders, roads

    and railroads are not affected by a nuclear strike. In addition to these potential damages, radioactive fallout must be

    cleared by workers when

    the Ecology technology is researched. Otherwise the affected tiles are unworkable.

  • Each time a nuke is used, the attitude of a Civ nuked goes down by 2 points (read more).

    Your relationship with

    other Civilizations around the world will also be negatively affected.

  • The UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty bans the construction and use of all nuclear weapons, but existing nukes do

    not disappear. If this

    resolution passes before the Manhattan Project is complete, you will not even be able to finish that project and therefore

    no nuclear weapons

    will be built or used throughout that game.

  • You can, of course, defend yourself from nukes by building the SDI Project which has a 75% chance of intercepting

    enemy nuclear weapons

    throughout your territory. You may also build a Bomb Shelter in cities. This reduces damage from ICBMs by 75%. Without the

    Bomb Shelter, the

    City’s population can be reduced as much as 50% by a single ICBM.

Top


A New Combat System

How will you wage war? What new systems are involved? This is the section for the warmonger.


  • Spearman
    The

    battle system is something that has been ameliorated (it is like an RTS
    "rock-paper-scissors" concept). It has been made to actually encourage players to use the array of forces they

    have.

    Players are able to group units, as an interface change. For example, you can group a Settler and

    a

    Spearman, and they will always be together (unless you
    decide to re-group). Workers can be grouped together as well, and then their actions
    within that group can be queued. This has been changed so you will favor most different units, and not stick to your

    most powerful, for instance.

    • Using mixed attacks such as ground and aerial bombardments and not just on a single overwhelming stack of units

      (commonly known as the Stack of Doom) is highly encouraged. This brings more strategy to battles, and also makes them

      more realistic.

    • The fact that
      Artillery can attack all units in a stack forces players to spread out their forces to avoid damaging more units
      (artillery units can damage all units in a tile because of the collateral
      damage feature they have). Note that Artillery units such as catapults attack
      like normal units, although they can bombard cities and reduce their defenses.

    • The terrain also takes a large part in Combat. However, it can also be said that it is more simplified.
      The only time you will get a defensive bonus is when over hills, forests, or
      jungles.

  • Great Artists may also have a military-related use to them. If you capture a city and it is rioting,

    dropping a Great Artist and

    giving the

    city a 1,000 point culture boost
    should quickly suppress all rioting and change the mood of the citizens in the city. The only way you could
    suppress rioting in Civ3 was to basically start building a lot of cultural buildings such as Temples and

    Libraries.

  • Selecting any or all units in a given square has many shortcuts to
    it. The game determines the best attacker when you give a

    stack attack order or the best defender when your stack is attacked.

    • Stack attack works by stacking a bunch of units and giving them
      the attack command. If you are using combined arms in that stack (a balance of defensive and offensive units), the game

      will automatically look

      at who you

      are attacking
      and who their defenders are.

    • The amount of damage a unit does to another unit is now
      out of a scale of 100, even though that’s more or less hidden from the user. The amount of damage a unit does is relative

      to its different

      strengths. So now

      when a
      spearman attacks a tank, he may hit three times, but that’s only going to take off a quarter of the tank’s hit points.

      Meanwhile, a tank hitting

      a spearman

      only has to hit
      him once or twice, and he’s gone entirely.

    • To further explain the combat system: Two units of
      the same relative power will do about 20% damage per hit, so it would take five hits to kill a unit. When one unit is much

      more powerful (a tank

      for

      example), the
      more powerful unit does a higher percentage of damage than the less powerful one (a Spearman for instance). In other words,

      if both manage to hit

      three times

      in a
      battle, the Spearman would have done only around 40% damage, while the more tank would have already killed the spearman.

      However that is not all

      to the

      combat
      system. Many more calculations are going on behind the scenes that make for fewer lucky strikes, which further balance the

      system.

  • In the options screen, players can turn on an option
    that will let them see bars over units so they can judge their chances of winning or losing before even entering the

    combat.

  • In all, Civ4 will offer about 41 different promotions for
    units (with 20 different promotion types. However some have more than one
    level, as you will see below. Units may receive up to 20 promotions as well). This allows each unit to be extremely

    flexible in its

    abilities. So,

    how do units get these promotions? Well, they might get them from a battle, depending on how difficult it has been. The

    great thing about

    promotions is

    that they are not triggered by technology either. As they win, they will gather experience points.

    You will make specialized units without changing any of their previous
    specializations; you can also change their paths with certain
    situations.

    • Auto Promoting units is also an option you have. However you can always promote them manually.

    • The numbers and types of available bonuses
      differ per unit type and only land and sea military units can acquire them (air units are different).

    • There are no XPs (experience points) from bombarding
      fortifications or if the opposing unit withdraws.

    • Units can also gain experience from a Barracks
      (land units), a Drydock (sea units) or a goody hut.

    • Some wonders, civic choices, and leader traits can
      give units extra experience or even certain promotions. As you might expect, the first promotion comes rather quickly,

      while each subsequent

      promotion

      requires more
      XP. Here are the different types of promotions and their abilities below:

      Promotion Benefit to Unit
      Amphibious Gives no penalty when attacking across a river
      Accuracy I +10% City Bombardment Damage
      Accuracy II Better chance of damaging enemy units
      Accuracy III Better chance of damaging enemy units
      Barrage I More collateral damage
      Barrage II More collateral damage
      Barrage III +50% Collateral Damage; +10% versus Gunpowder Units
      Commando Grants speed bonus for units; Use of enemy rails/roads
      Combat I Grants 10% extra power
      Combat II Grants 20% extra power
      Combat III Grants 30% extra power
      Combat IV Grants 40% Extra power
      Combat V Grants 50% extra power and healing benefit
      Sentry +1 Visibility Range
      Mobility -1 Terrain Movement Cost
      Drill I One Extra First Strike Chance
      Drill II +1 Extra First Strike
      Navigation I +1 Movement Range
      Navigation II +1 Movement Range
      Guerilla I +20% Defense on Hills
      Guerilla II Double Movement on Hills; +30% Defense on Hills
      Medic I Heals Unit in the same tile; Extra 10% Damage per Turn
      Medic II Heals Units in adjacent tiles; Extra 10% Damage per Turn
      Flanking I +10% Withdrawal Chance
      Flanking II +20% Withdrawal Chance
      Shock Gives bonus against melee units
      Formation Gives bonus against cavalry
      Cover Gives bonus against ranged units
      Woodsman +20% Jungle Defense; +20% Forest Defense
      City Garrison I City defense strength +20%
      City Garrison II City defense strength +40%
      City Garrison III City defense strength +60%
      City Raider I +20% City Attack
      City Raider II +40% City Attack
      City Raider III +60% City Attack

  • Some Units might also have an invisible characteristic. Great People
    (and possibly spies) are an example of this.

  • Infantry will have defensive bonuses in difficult terrain, while cavalry will have an advantage attacking

    ranged units such as

    archers.

    Artillery/Siege units are stronger and will allow for damaging all of the units in a stack. Bombardment units are now like

    a hybrid of previous

    games. The damage a unit has is relative to their strength. Again, these changes were done to encourage use of combined

    arms.

  • There are no longer separate attack or defense bonuses such as in Civ3. They will have only one base

    strength that might or

    might not

    increase or decrease. Units also have advantages or disadvantages against certain units. Pikemen will have a decided

    advantage over mounted units

    and

    Axmen are especially good against melee units.

    • Units strength is represented by the number of units. At full strength, a unit will have three units, and when it

      takes damage it loses a

      single unit until it is destroyed.

  • Armies have been eliminated (in Civ3 terms, now they will only serve as moving of units together), but

    more customization

    and

    countering is available in return as describe above.

  • Surrounding and isolating a foreign city with your forces is now
    a new strategy. This puts pressure on the foreign leader and he might

    eventually offer it to you via diplomacy. If he or she does not want to trade the city to you, the city itself has a good

    chance to riot because

    the

    city’s population would want to join your Civilization.

  • You can
    blockade cities,
    for example, by moving your naval units close to an enemy city (that means that city can no longer

    work its water tiles).

    Water

    resources can also be harvested (this has been known for a long time). If you’re getting all your
    Oil from the water, you are in trouble because another Civ can cut off your oil supply, unless

    you can do something about it and defend your weak points.

  • The infamous "Spearman defeats Tank" phenomenon is now gone,
    needless to say.  This has caused a lot of headaches

    for Civ fans in the past. This will mean that units that are inferior will not be able to win against more modern

    ones.

  • Early on the best city defense unit is

    no longer the Spearman, it is the Archer. Spearmen are more useful against other Cavalry units.
    Warriors are the weakest unit, however they are perfect for escorting Settlers and/or workers through danger zones (filled

    with wild
    animals as well as Barbarians).

Top


The Multiplayer

Some people, of course, like to play with others online. How the multiplayer mode seems so far is promising.

  • This time, Civilization IV will have an integrated multiplayer so you won’t have to wait for expansion

    packs like we did

    with the
    Civ3
    series. A new co-op feature allows for more satisfying game-play than before when playing with other people,

    as you will form

    alliances against

    the AI, or other opponents. The map generator ensures that everyone starts equally as well, as the map is generated

    randomly. Player in MP will

    also be

    able to form
    permanent or temporary alliances with one or more players. Every game starts
    out with the server host picking rules, players picking factions (and sides
    if applicable) and then entering the game.

  • Youll be able to play a very quick online game with a friend or

    play long, ruthless campaigns lasting months. In MP, you can start out early, and end up playing well into the modern age,

    something which was

    difficult to achieve with Civ3s MP. In MP, there are five speed
    settings: Blazing, Fast, Normal, Slow, and Snail.

    • Even though, through PitBoss, players

      can play as long as they like, there is a mode which also lets players to play shorter games (100
      turns, from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age for example).

  • Right out of the box Civ4 supports up to 18
    players online. This allows basically every Civilization to be played.

  • Players are able to compete in traditional turn-based or simultaneous move games either on a network or via

    the Internet.

  • If and when a player or players are disconnected from the game, a screen (labeled “Democracy”)
    pops-up giving the other players still in the game to vote on what to do. The options are: Kick the player out of the game

    and replace his

    Civilization with

    an AI player,
    save the game and continue playing until the player can join back, or just wait for the player to re-connect and proceed

    with the ongoing game.

    Games are

    generally
    easy to save, even if the circumstances are not so bright.

  • Team Play: Players can form alliances with each other in multiplayer games. Allied nations will put their

    accomplishments together,

    join forces

    in combat and share all information, even line of sight, benefits of wonders, research (two players, for example, can

    research one thing at the

    same

    time to discover it faster), unit trading, and sharing of territory. These additions deliver a plethora of new strategic

    and tactical options to

    the

    players. Team-Play is available both in MP and SP (Single Player) modes.

    • In Multiplayer, the server browser will include buddy list
      functionality to keep track of friends easier.

    • Timers are set in Multiplayer in order to make everything
      move smoothly (and so people can’t stand there doing nothing for a longer time).

    • Missionaries are very valuable in
      Multiplayer. It’s even possible to force another civilization to adopt your religion, which can potentially bring in a tidy

      sum of money for you.

      Citizens

      can become very unhappy
      should their way of life change so dramatically, however.

  • Teams can

    easily communicate with each other. Example: You are able to put signs
    on tiles and draw lines on the terrain and other players are able to see that and know where to go

    (if a specific location is your goal. This is available in Single-Player mode as
    well). Players can even send little pings to alert teammates of important events happening around their map. Support for

    voice over IP also allows players to talk while playing.

  • You can go in and protect your ally’s cities unlike in Civ3.

  • There is also a new “Double City Elimination”

    in Multiplayer which means that if you lose two cities, you lose the game. To go
    into more detail, there are different modes of it. If you take one city it can
    instantly burn to the ground, and therefore you are at an instant advantage.
    You can also set it so the city does not get razed, and if your opponent takes
    back that city, the score is leveled out. The “One City Challenge” option means that you can have only one city. There

    are

    the “Always War” and “Always Peace” options as well. For a game, you can chose one or the other (you are, obviously, unable

    to select both at the

    same time).

    These features can be mixed to create the MP game you want.

  • A particularly hardcore game can be created

    by playing with teams and handicaps. With two teams (one with one person, set the level to the easiest difficulty so that

    player gets a bonus on

    most all

    areas of game-play) and one with several other people on a normal, or harder difficulty for a greater challenge.

  • In addition to the standard internet, Hot Seat, and LAN modes, Civ4
    is playable by email (PBEM), or on a persistent turn-based

    server, or PTBS (named PitBoss).

    • The Pit Boss
      persistent turn-based server will allow for players to play as long as they like and leave when they like without

      disrupting the game. Players

      can

      also fill in for AI players and join when they like
      (so it is possible to jump in right in the middle of a game and take an AI’s
      role). The server will download the current game state, then a player takes their turn and the server
      afterwards saves for the next player. It is like playing a streamlined version of play by e-mail or hot seat

      multiplayer.

    • The
      Multiplayer pit boss, which will allow persistent multiplayer games of Civ4,
      was released in December.

    • Firaxis will cull all sorts of statistics from multiplayer
      matches, which will let it rank players, which is aimed to avoid some of the frustration when you find yourself in a

      multiplayer match with

      ruthless Civ

      pros.

  • Connectivity: From Jesse “Friedrich
    Psitalon” Fletcher’s MP article
    GameSpy NAT negotiation allows people behind routers, firewalls, etc, to
    play with no trouble at all – no opening or closing of ports, zones, etc. If
    needed, Direct IP still exists, and WOULD require playing with ports, but the
    only port you need to open is 2056, or whichever port you specify in your INI
    file. No more OOS. Except if you are playing a different version of the game.
    The game has even shown the ability to "resynch" itself if a genuine
    problem arises temporarily (hotjoining players sometimes cause a 1 or 2 second
    OOS).

  • Protected copies of all original files will guarantee that everyone in a game
    is playing by the same rules (be it in a casual MP game, or

    in a
    Tournament).

Top


Customization Flexibility

People do not lie when they tell you some like to customize the game just as much, or even more so than to actually

play it. What’s new

here?

View Section Notes

  • Civilization IV will set a new standard for user-modification allowing gamers to create their own

    add-ons using Python and

    XML. It
    is the most customizable version of Civ to date! Basically, full mod support is offered here, and almost nothing

    in the game is

    hard-coded

    (unlike in Civilization III. Firaxis has also said that a fully customizable Government system

    will also be

    available,

    among the many other things…Below are the four modding levels Firaxis games has released information on, ranging from the

    easiest (the Map

    Editor),

    to the most difficult (the Software Developer’s Kit).

  • In-Game Editor ShotMap Editor: This will probably be like the Civ3 Map Editor. It is the easiest way to mod the game your

    way, and yes, anyone

    at all can

    do it

    with ease. Just open the editor and you’ll see the ability for you to tweak and change everything from Cities,

    Technologies, Units, and

    Diplomacy. For cities, you

    are able to add a specific population number (as the screenshot to the left illustrates), culture points, gold amounts and

    even change that

    city’s religion.

    Adding technologies to the ones you already have is also possible. For units, you are able to change the level and

    promotion type of any

    available unit as

    well. Changing the terrain type is also another distinct possibility. Just like you are able to edit Technologies, Cities,

    and Units for your own

    Civilization, you are given the option to change these same aspects for the other available Civilizations in the game just

    as easily. The World

    Builder even

    goes as far as letting you change diplomatic options and relations. The editor also opens the way for cheating.

    Quoted from CivFanatics’ Hands-On preview. The World Builder can be

    launched at any time during a game so players can add new cities as well as creating new starting conditions. The created

    maps are stored in a

    text-based format, which can

    be opened in a text editor. What this does is basically make it easy for you to edit without even starting the

    game.

  • The Flexible XML (eXtensible Markup Language) Files: All values of the data for the aspects

    of the game such as

    units, terrain, texts,
    camera controls, graphics scales, mouse and keyboard mapping, links to
    Python, audio scripts, and so forth are stored here. Game

    speed will also be Moddable through the XML files. A perfect example of this is that a player can make

    some units get build

    really

    fast, while making other improvements get built at a slower rate. There are lots of tutorials on the Web for this, so you

    may want to check out

    this

    sections notes and get prepared for it if you are enthusiastic about modding the game (as so many people are). Every art

    asset has a scale value

    is in

    XML, and it can be modified
    the way you like (these include buildings, trees, units, improvements, resources, etc).
    You can also modify terrain-specific movement just by doing a change in the
    XML file(s). An example is "Mountain Infantry". Also, through XML, players can add new unit or building

    types, change the cost of

    wonders, or add new civilizations. Players can also change the sounds played

    at certain times or edit the play list for your soundtrack. NOTE: You can have custom soundtracks simply by adding music to

    the custom folder.

    You only need

    to edit the XML in order to assign certain pieces to specific eras or remove certain pieces.

  • Python: Moving up to a more difficult modding level for most players, Python is a very powerful scripting

    language that will allow

    people

    familiar with the scripting language to do things from changing and totally reorganizing the interface (as all of the

    interface is written in

    Python)

    to changing more algorithmic parts of the game like map generation, combat, triggers/events
    (there are, by the way, around 30 triggers including new unit, building, end
    turn, unit move, etc), and even the AI.
    A Python interpreter is also added to the game which makes it possible for
    the player to open it during a game and generate code "on the fly" or check
    other variables. Players will now have the ability to add scripted events to the game like automatically

    generating units when a tile is reached, having specific situations trigger automatic war, or get this, bringing back Civil

    Wars caused by

    unrest, Civ II

    style!

  • AI Software Developers Kit (or SDK): For even more advanced modders, Firaxis is offering the entire AI and

    Game Code of the game.

    Here,

    players

    can change literally everything about the game they want. They can even create and write their own game types to pretty

    much building their own

    game,

    loosely based on Civilization. Literally everything can be changed
    (including the camera position). It has been said that it is very, vary rare for such an amazing modding

    level to be released for a strategy game. The AI SDK will be available shortly after the game ships,
    in early 2006. Modders can do anything short of changing the basic graphics engine, the core Civ engine, or

    the network code.

  • Some new modding tools are the: Unit Formation
    Editor (this gives control of where units stand on a tile, how many units are in
    a formation, and under what situations a certain formation is used), Hot-Swapping of Assets (meaning that the computer

    detects any changes
    and can load them "on the fly"), Python Scripting for the World Builder,
    Python Interpreter Console, Python Editable UI, L-System (Lindenmayer System) City Building
    (which makes the city graphics look random with each build, but it is also
    used to generate terrain features such as trees),
    Colored Map Overlays… The GameCore DLL is a "Pluggable Module," which
    will make no assumptions about the underlying platform and hardware,
    [and more].

  • The new Bitmap Converter lets you import BMP files and turn those into
    Civ maps, letting you download a topographical map (or a picture of your
    favorite celebrity) and have the game extract sea levels, mountain ranges and
    other information straight from it. Giving the Bitmap Converter any BMP image
    and it will make a Civilization IV map from it. Everything blue becomes water, everything green becomes grass – with

    the proper image even

    entire mountain formations can be achieved
    (fives images: Terrain type, plot type (mountain, hills, flat, water), rivers,
    features (jungle, forest) and resources..
    This tool is already available. Click here to download it (it

    did not ship with
    the game).

  • A debugging mode is included, so you can switch off the FoW (otherwise known as the “Fog of War”) and watch how the

    AI behaves and

    plays.

  • A number of pre-built scenarios will also be available with the
    game as it ships that also have different victory conditions. The World War II scenario, for example, will start you with

    all your cities and

    military units

    already built,
    and instead of conquering the whole world, you may have a more focused goal, such as taking or defending Paris.
    There will also be a World-Map included. An American Revolution scenario will be included in the game as well. Here is a

    screenshot of it.
    Greek World, Earth 1000 AD and Desert War are also some scenarios which have
    been included in the game.

    • Even more Scenarios and a really top-notch tutorial (to help new players out) will also be included in
      Civ4
      . There is also no doubt that

      with the presented modding abilities, we will see some very exciting creations from all corners of the Civ

      community!

Top


In-Game Visuals

Here, you will be able to see all that the game has to offer for the eye. Movies, screenshots, and more! For all

known screenshots, go to

CFC’s

Screenshot section. For all videos, go to the

Videos section.

Top


Helpful Links

This section includes helpful links, from Tech Support, to helpful threads regarding Modding, etc.

  • The official Civilization IV website has their support
    section up. Click here to check it out if you have

    common problems with
    installing and running the game.

  • Patch v1.52 is out! Get it either through the game’s main menu
    (Advanced > Check for Updates), or get it here.
  • Having an ATI
    Radeon graphics issue?
    This thread

    has a solution taken

    from Civ4‘s
    official website.

  • If you do discover a bug in the game, make sure you post about it in our Bug Reports forum!
    Guidlines for posting bugs.

  • Need a place which compiles solutions to various problems? Here is a thread
    which does just that!

  • Get your facts straight regarding graphics cards and T&L (Transform & Lighting) here.

    • Know what the latest Drivers for your ATI Graphics card are in this thread!

  • The
    Unofficial Tech Support FAQs
    thread.

  • Planning to Mod Civ4? Make sure you post in this thread!

  • Modding: The Modders Guide to

    Civ4.

  • Cheating – Learn how to enable it here!

  • World Builder – If you want to learn how to use this tool in
    detail, read forum member Dale‘s manual. You

    can check this helpful

    information

    here.

  • New! Patch v1.61 has been released including many changes, fixes and
    additions. You can get the patch from here, as well as

    read what it brings to
    the game. The SDK and PitBoss are also available. Get these here.

Top


Miscellaneous Article Information

Some answers to your questions might get answered here, if you needed help. This section concerns the article

only.

  • Credits: This information has been first
    put together and maintained by Civrules

    (posted on December 6th,

    2004). The
    article was also first transferred to its HTML version from the forum version
    by Thunderfall on May 31st, 2005. Since much

    more information has been

    coming
    out just before the game’s release, and therefore not all information could be
    pin-pointed and added to the article, Ex Mudder
    and Aks K had the task to

    gather and insert

    missing information (mainly in the
    charts). The missed details were posted on the 61st and 62nd article updates.

  • Customization Flexibility” — Section Notes: If you want to learn how

    to mod
    Civ4
    even

    before it is released, through Python, check out Gingerbread

    Mans

    lessons, and tutorial on how to use the Python programming language. Click here to go to his thread, and here to enter his tutorial site. If you are interested in XML, click on the XML Tutorial for more information, on XML’s official site. ^

  • Contact Information & Feedback: If you have any suggestions, know of more information that

    could be added here,

    or you

    see that some of the current information is inaccurate or needs editing… or you simply need help, please let me

    know either through the

    Article’s discussion thread,
    Private Message (if you

    are registered at the forums), or

    E-mail. I will make sure to make additions/changes as soon as possible when need be,

    and proper credit will

    be

    given.

  • Article Usage: If anyone intends to use this information for similar purposes, please, you must put

    this, or the site itself

    (CivFanatics) as a source, just as I have done for other sites below,

    in the Current Sources section.

Top


Update Information

This is the place where all updates — past and present — are kept. Each update also has a link to the exact

information source; be it

screenshots, previews or other source links.

  • Update Information: Items above marked as “New!" are from the most recent update. Smaller updates,
    however, occur all the time as I do update this often for things that need
    very minor improvements or changes. For reference, I have added all updates which I have posted up to

    this point below:

    Bold Text – An article change that does not
    necessarily include an informational update.

    Update Date & Number Update Information
    First posted on Monday,

    December 6th, 2004

    Included first basic Civilization IV information mainly from the January issue

    of PC Gamer Magazine,

    and the information

    Frictionless Insight Reported.

    I also changed the

    publisher from Atari to Unknown (as Atari had sold off the franchise since November 24th, 2004).

    (1) Tuesday, December 7th Made some corrections with the posted information.
    (2) Friday, December 10th Updated with a little extra missed information from the PC Gamer magazine ("Great
    People," and the "Health System").
    (3) Tuesday, December 14th Updated information on very first sighting on the Civ4 release date from the Computer and Video games site.
    (4) Wednesday, December 22nd Added information from

    Firaxis’ new site (mentions new

    Civilizations, units, and technologies).

    (5) Thursday, December 23rd Added a missed bit from the Firaxis site which states that Jesse

    Smith will be producing Civilization IV.

    (6) Article Recreated on Sunday, December 26th It has been recreated so

    that more posts could be

    reserved for future information.

    (7) Monday, December 27th Put an update with information from the PC Gamer UK magazine. Describes the games

    interface, and also puts

    up a different release date for

    the game of early 2006 (which is most likely not correct).

    (8) Tuesday, December 28th, 2004 Added an update with more information from the same magazine, including the priority of

    Firaxis to put an

    emphasis on combined unit

    attacks.

    (9) Tuesday, January 4th, 2005 Ive put up a very small update which yet again differs in release dates. It suggests

    the release date to be

    in mid-October, from an EB

    Games employee, and later similar information was found on GameStop, at Civ4s section.
    (Now the information has

    expired.)

    (10) Sunday, January 23rd Added some more rumors that have been going around, and made some improvements

    throughout the article, with a

    minor redesign. Moved away

    more obvious information from the Rumors and Presumptions section (now gone). Also removed the 2006 ETA as it

    seems to be the more

    unlikely

    date.

    (11) Tuesday, January 25th Added a similar article navigation as is included in the Sid Meier’s

    Pirates!

    — Pre-Release Information. Also changed up the colors so they are not as bright and distracting.

    (12) Wednesday, January 26th It has been confirmed

    that Take-Two Interactive

    is the owner of the Civ Franchise, and that it will be published under the companys label of 2K Games. Take-Two

    confirmed that the game

    will be

    scheduled for release later this year.

    (13) Saturday, January 29th Reorganized the information sources.
    (14) Sunday, January 30th Removed the Brief Summary section because it was unneeded. And also because I wanted

    to free up more

    space.

    (15) Saturday, February 5th Added the Memo from Sid and Jeff

    regarding the progress of

    Civ4 and other things regarding their games and the new partnership with Take-Two.
    (The Memo has been replaced with a more recent

    addition.)

    (16) Sunday, February 6th Added short, but convenient descriptions to each section.
    (17) — Saturday, February 12th Rearranged the title and the Article Navigation, as well as other minor

    changes.

    (18) Sunday, March 6th With the latest update, Ive removed the Rumors & Presumptions section. Added

    more content from Sorens

    PowerPoint. Confirmed that the 3D engine used

    in

    Civ4 is NDL’s

    Gamebryo Engine.

    (19) Saturday, March 12th Added in a minor detail which mentions the use of Boost.Python in
    Civ4
    . Mustafa Thamer (Civ4 lead programmer) mentioned

    this on Mail.Python.

    (20) Saturday, March 19th Added information from the Game Informer Magazine. Includes number of civs, tech tree,

    religion and great

    people details, and more!

    (21) Wednesday, March 23rd Added new Civ4 music which was posted on the Media

    Page of Firaxis’ site. (Music has been removed, because it was probably a
    Civ3 music clip after all.)

    (22) Thursday, April 7th Removed music clip from the article, as it was removed from Firaxis’ site as well.

    Added a few other details

    from Game Informer

    Magazine.

    (23) Thursday, April 28th Posted information from a new Article

    from CVG.

    (24) Sunday, May 1st Added a lot more info from the PC

    Zone and Computer Gaming World Magazine Previews.

    (25) Monday, May 2nd Added in some missed information from yesterdays update.
    (26) Wednesday, May 4th Posted some additional informational pieces from the same PC Zone Preview.
    (27) Saturday, May 7th The Articles sections have been expanded. Added a lot more details from the German

    Magazine, Computer Bild Spiele.

    (28) Thursday, May 12th Posted some minor information from the brief UGO article. Also corrected some info and updated Tech-Tree chart, and Civilizations chart.
    (Note that most of the information

    from that article was later proven to be wrong and corrected.)

    (29) Friday, May 13th Included more information from a PC Zone screenshot along with a few other

    details.

    (30) Saturday, May 14th There are mostly corrections, and a few extra information pieces from the German

    magazine, Computer Bild

    Spiele.

    (31) Tuesday, May 17th Put up an update from the first online Civ4 Preview posted by IGN. There are also some brand new Screenshots.

    The first official ones posted online. Civ4 was also featured on 2Ks site today, with some minor details.

    (32) Wednesday, May 18th Posted new screenshots which were released on GameSpot. There is also a new Pre-Show Report, as well as the E3 Impressions.
    (33) Thursday, May 19th Added additional info from GameSpot Videos and

    the E3 IGN Report.

    (34) Friday, May 20th Added GameSpy
    Civ4
    preview article and

    additional new information.

    (35) Wednesday, May 25th Added the Spring Memo from Jeff

    Briggs and Sid Meier on

    Firaxis’ site which mentions Civ4‘s progress and a few extra details not relating to the game itself.

    (36) Thursday, May 26th Included info & screenshots from the new

    Civ4 article which was posted on Firaxis’ Civ4 section.

    (37) Tuesday, May 31st For the first time, the article has been featured as a HTML document on CivFanatics’ main site. The Article was transferred to HTML first by Thunderfall, and no new Civ4 information bits were included.
    (38) Wednesday, June 15th The entire HTML article has been overhauled and improved in many, many ways. I’ve also

    added the missed

    information from the days I had not

    updated it (because of the improvements I had to work on). Missed previews were from ActionTrip, GamesRadar, HardGame Question & Answer article with Barry Caudill, and the GameReactor video (which was later made to run for members only). Today’s new Preview comes from Strategy Game

    Informer. It is an

    interview with 2K Games.

    (39) Thursday, June 16th Included the new Screenshots and the new

    Q&A GameSpot posted

    with Barry Caudill

    (senior

    producer of Civ4). Information is also included from Next

    Level Gaming.

    (40) Friday, June 24th Update posted with the huge IGN Preview, the new screenshots, and
    the new videos.
    Information has also been put from the GameSpy preview.
    Civ4‘s Opening Movie

    Music has also been

    added.

    (41) Sunday, June 26th Added information from the updated GameSpot Impressions
    and Jesse Smith’s Developer

    Interview.

    (42) Tuesday, June 28th Added more information from Yahoo!’s GamesDomain Preview.
    (43) Wednesday, June 29th Included the new 1UP Preview

    and Developer Interview with Jesse
    Smith.

    (44) Tuesday, July 12th This update feature information mainly from the IGN Interview
    article with Sid Meier
    , as well the video interview with

    Producer

    Jesse
    Smith
    . Other more minor information is also gathered from the
    GameDaily

    Preview
    as well as the Digital Entertainment News Preview,
    and the WorthPlaying Preview.

    (45) Wednesday, July 20th Information from this update has been put from GameSpot’s "A
    Bigger, Better Civ
    " preview. Also there is a new
    Video Developer Interview
    with Jeff Briggs (CEO of Firaxis Games.
    (46) Saturday, July 23rd Added new screenshots from the GameSpot update.
    (47) Wednesday, August 3rd Added information from the August edition of GameDeveloper Magazine regarding the

    moddability of Civ4.

    (48) Wednesday, August 10th Added new screenshots and Game Arts from the GameSpot
    screenshots update.
    (49) Friday, August 12th Added more details on Great People from the IC-Games

    Preview. From
    that preview, and the CVG preview, I also

    updated the

    "Great People"
    historic names list.

    (50) Saturday, August 13th Firaxis’ "Behind the Scenes" section has been updated with a
    Summer-edition Memo.
    (51) Saturday, August 20th Updated the article with clarification on Paganism (from Firaxis’
    "Ask Sid" section). Also included

    are five new screenshots, a video
    interview with Soren Johnson
    , as well as a

    written-up Q&A article with Civ4‘s Senior Producer
    Barry Caudill, all from GameSpot.

    (52) Wednesday, August 31st Added info from a short WorthPlaying Preview, as well as its
    included screenshots. This article was actually the first Designer
    Diary, written by Senior Producer Barry Caudill. Miscellaneous minor info also put in from previous
    days. Also included is minor info from the GameSpy Interview

    with Sid
    Meier
    (although no real game details were uncovered then).

    (53) Saturday, September 3rd No new information included, but improvements have been placed
    throughout the article. New screenshots were introduced to the article,
    and the sections have been made easier to follow. Miscellaneous [very]
    minor updates were also placed where appropriate.
    (54) Thursday, September 8th Added info on Take-Two pulling up the release of

    Civ4 by a
    few weeks. Also added in the Pre-order program

    launched by 2K

    Games.

    (55) Saturday, September 10th This update contains eight new screenshots that

    were released on various sites: GameSpot,
    IGN, etc. Also added an article Barry Caudill (Senior Producer) wrote
    about Civics
    . The new and official Civilization IV

    website
    is also about to be launched! Check it out. I’ve also changed the “Official
    Features
    ” section to include the updated official features which are
    found on the preview of Civ4‘s official site. However, note that
    the information there is not new.

    (56) Wednesday, September 14th Updated with new screenshots

    and an article focusing mostly on

    Civ4
    ‘s Multiplayer
    . These were posted by IGN. Also added a radio
    file
    from PC Gamer Podcast
    (PCGP Episode 3).

    (57) Saturday, September 17th This update includes information from the GameSpot Hands-On
    Multiplayer preview
    , as well as GameSpy’s Multiplayer

    Hands-On

    preview. Also
    included are five new

    screenshots posted by

    GameSpot

    at the same time
    (although GameSpot posted twelve screenshots in total, only five of them
    were new).

    (58) Saturday, September 24th The largest update to date, the information here is mainly from
    GameSpot’s two previews, “World Exclusive

    Hands-On” (posted on September
    20th), “Hands-On –

    The Middle and Late

    Eras of the Game” (posted on Sept
    22nd), as well as the Game-Play Movies 8-10

    (posted on Sept 20th), the
    Game-Play Movies 11 & 12, and the Video Preview (posted on Sept 22nd).
    There is also a single Game-Play movie (#13) which was posted on September
    23rd and one which was posted today, it is #14.
    However, GameSpot has also posted many, many new screenshots (a total of
    58 in three days spanning from September 20th-23rd). The WarGamer Site
    has also posted the Second Developer Diary

    by Barry Caudill,

    which
    focuses on the game’s Modding features. Among other things, this update
    includes the GameSHOUT podcast files (an interview with Soren Johnson,
    Sid Meier and Jeff Briggs). Get Part

    I and

    Part II. This update also
    includes various article improvements and screenshot rotations.

    (59) Sunday, September 25th Added in a few missed details from yesterday’s update. Mainly missed
    leader names, a leaderhead (Isabella), and some chart updates.
    (60) Saturday, October 1st Put in GameSpot’s “Profile Preview – Civilizations and
    their Leaders
    ,” as well as the 26 new

    screenshots and GamePlay
    Footages
    #15 & #16. Also included are more details from previous
    screenshots and videos. More information has been added from ShackNews’ preview entitled, “Eleven Things You Didn’t Know about Sid

    Meier’s Civilization

    IV."
    2K has also released six new screenshots which you can find on IGN (they were originally posted on September 29th). IGN also
    started a “Civilization of the Week” feature, in which the first Civilization is Mali.
    Also confirmed and posted on Civilization.de
    is that the game will be released on November 4th in Germany. They also
    have a high resolution German box

    art (which is similar to

    the US version). A preview
    interview was also
    posted
    on PCGames.de in German, but it has been translated to English by forum member DarkDude
    for everyone to enjoy. That interview was made with QA-manager Timothy
    McCracken of Firaxis Games.

    (61) Saturday, October 8th Added the second part of Shacknews’ article “Eleven
    Things You Didn’t Know About Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
    .” There is also a wonder movie (the Hanging Gardens). I’ve
    also added the six new

    screenshots posted at GameSpot. IGN has also
    posted 48 new screenshots, as well

    as a three-page preview.
    Also added information from Soren

    Johnson (Civ4‘s lead designer)
    that Rail-Roads’ movement will now be limited at 10 turns (instead of
    unlimited movement). Added screenshot of the American Revolution
    scenario. Added some additional information regarding the technology
    tree thanks to the post created by

    grumbler.
    Lots more missed additions have been added back thanks to Ex Mudder.

    (62) Sunday, October 16th
    • CivFanatics — Hands-On Preview information has been added from my
      own Hands-On preview (Six new screenshots),

      as well as

      Thunderfall’s
      Nuclear Weapons in Civilization

      IV” article

      (Eight screenshots
      & Two animated .gif shots). Apolyton Civilization Site has also posted
      two Hands-On previews (by MarkG (Five screenshots),

      co-owner of
      Apolyton and by Solver (Five screenshots), Civ4 forums co-moderator).

    • The official Civ4 site is up and

      alive! Check it
      out. There are many new things to find there, from MP3 soundtracks to unit
      animations and much more!

    • IGN’s Civ of the week are available for the past two weeks (Arabs
      & Persians). This includes no game-play info. IGN has also posted
      fifteen new screenshots
      (from October 8th to this update).
    • GameSpy has also posted a preview of Civ4

      with
      11 new
      screenshots
      (from October 8th to this update).

    Do you like Civilization related humor? If so, go to PlanetFargo:
    A Civilization Movie Pitch
    !

    (63) Sunday, November 6th

    This is the first update after the game’s release.
    Even though it has been a few weeks since the article has been
    updated, the below information is all the information which came out
    between October 16th and today. This article will continue to get
    updated in the future as well. Just because the game has been
    released, doesn’t mean that I have finished with working on it!!!

    (64) Sunday, January 1st
    • The second patch for Civilization IV has been released.
      You can get it here.
      The Direct2Drive patch is also available.
    • There is also a Demo! Get it here.
    • Most tables have been redone with information from v1.52 if the
      game.
    • Included Civilization IV‘s official websites in German,
      Italian, Spanish, and French.
    • www.firaxis.com has a new
      poll on their site. Give feedback of what you think should be
      included next time!
    • Linked to the Xfire developer chat.
    • Check out our Articles section for

      more reviews of
      Civilization IV
      (and there are a lot of them!)

    (65) Saturday, March 25th Civilization IV: Warlords has been announced and will be
    available this summer. Details have been gathered from the Firaxis
    website as well as XGP Gaming.
    Check out the expansion’s own section in this article for more
    details!
    (66) Sunday, April 16th The latest patch for Civ4 has been released (v1.61) on Thursday, April
    13th. It is 45.7MB in size and includes many fixes, changes, and
    additions. You can download and see all the patch notes by clicking
    here.
    The SDK and PitBoss are also available. Get these here.
    (67) Monday, July 3rd Inserted link in the Warlords section which leads to Civilization
    IV: Warlords’
    own Info page.

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