How to win in Civilization IV – an ultimate guide to the strategy game. Civilizations overview - by John Sinitsky

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Introduction

Sid Meier’s Civilization was THE computer game when it was introduced in 1994 and was first real turn-based strategy ever. The latest PC playable version of Civilization is “Civilization IV”, launched in October 2005.

With the victory options described in the first article, and most of the pre-game selections (choosing the map, the climate and sea level, Difficulty Levels etc.) covered, we now turn our attention towards choosing the civilization you wish to play.

Civilizations

After you have made a variety of choices including difficulty level, world size and game speed you are asked to choose a civilization to control. In the original Civ IV there are 18 nations:

  • American
  • Arabian
  • Aztec
  • Chinese
  • Egyptian
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Incan
  • Indian
  • Japanese
  • Malinese
  • Mongolian
  • Persian
  • Roman
  • Russian
  • Spain

More have been added in the expansions, but we currently prefer to deal with the above ones.

Civilization Differences

Of course, you can always choose “random” and let the fate decide for you, but even so you have to be aware of the fact that each civilization has its advantages, inviting certain strategy of play.

In previous versions of the game, the differences included unique units for each civilization and different starting technologies. In Civilization IV the differences are more drastic, as each nation has a leader(s) with certain character that defines (or being defined by) 2 “traits”. Each trait means there are certain buildings that are easier to construct (double production speed) and one “game concept” effect: culture, Great people generation etc.

The full list of traits are as follows:

  • Aggressive
    • Free promotion (Combat I) for all melee and gunpowder units.
    • Construct at 1/2 Production Cost: Barracks, Drydocks
  • Creative
    • Effect: +2 culture per turn per city.
    • Construct at 1/2 Production Cost: Colloseum,Theatre
  • Expansive
    • Effect: +2 health per city
    • Construct at 1/2 Production Cost: Granary, Harbor
  • Financial
    • Effect: +1 commerce on spaces generating 2 or more commerce.
    • Construct at 1/2 Production Cost: Bank
  • Industrious
    • Effect: +50% wonder production.
    • Construct at 1/2 Production Cost: Forge
  • Organized
    • Effect: -50% civic upkeep cost.
    • Construct at 1/2 Production Cost: Courthouse, Lighthouse
  • Philosophical
    • Effect: +100% Great People birth rate.
    • Construct at 1/2 Production Cost: University
  • Spiritual
    • Effect: No anarchy
    • Construct at 1/2 Production Cost: Temples

Summary

This piece is an overview of civilization selection. In the next articles we will examine nations and leaders in order to construct a winning strategy for each one.

This post is part of the series: Civilization IV - Guide To Sid Meier’s Civilization IV PC Game

This series on Civilization IV tells you how to get the best out of the classic Sid Meier PC game. Game strategy and options are reviewed and disscussed

  1. Mastering Civilization IV - Victory Conditions
  2. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game Part I – Selecting a Map (A)
  3. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part II – Selecting a Map (B)
  4. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part III – Climate and Sea Level
  5. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part IV – Map Size
  6. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part V – Difficulty Levels (A)
  7. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part VI – Difficulty Levels (B)
  8. Mastering Civilization IV – Starting the Game - Part VII – Game Speed
  9. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing the civilization - Overview
  10. Mastering Civilization IV – The American Empire in Civilization IV
  11. Mastering Civilization IV – The Arabian Empire in Civilization IV
  12. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Your Player Nation – Aztec Empire
  13. Mastering Civilization IV – Playing As The Chinese Empire - Choosing Your Playable Nation
  14. Mastering Civilization IV – Playing as the Egyptian Empire in Civ IV
  15. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Your Nation – English Empire
  16. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Which Nation to Play – French Empire
  17. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Playable Nations – German Empire
  18. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing A Playable Nation – Greek Empire
  19. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Which Nation to Play – Incan Empire
  20. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing the nation – Indian Empire
  21. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Which Nation to Play in Civ IV – Japanese Empire
  22. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Which Nation to Play – Malinese Empire
  23. Mastering Civilization IV – Mongolian Empire in Civ IV - Choosing the Nation to Play in Civ IV PC Game
  24. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing Playable Nations – Roman Empire
  25. Mastering Civilization IV – Choosing the Nation to Play in Civ IV – Russian Empire
  26. Mastering Civilization IV – Playing as the Persian Empire in Civ IV - Player’s Guide to Choosing their Nation in Civ IV
  27. Mastering Civilization IV – Selecting Playable Nations in Civ IV – Spanish Empire