How to choose climate and sea level in Civilization IV - by John Sinitsky

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Introduction

It is widely known and recognized that Sid Meier’s Civilization had become THE computer game when it was introduced. It was first real turn-based strategy ever. The latest PC playable version of Civilization is “Civilization IV”, launched in October 2005. 3 years is an eternity for a computer product - but not for Civilization series game. “Civ IV” is still very enjoyable today and poses quite a few challenges to the player. With game victory conditions described here, we are now going to continue the overview of pre-game selections – choosing the map, the climate and sea level.

Maps selection

There are two maps left uncovered by previous articles:

Pangaea

Named after a predecessor of modern continents – a huge land mass that was drifting along Earth big ocean millions of years ago before breaking into smaller continents – this option will generate a map with single continent, surrounded by sea. With land mass defined, you can still control the shoreline – it can be either natural, pressed ,or solid.

Terra

As the name suggests, the option will generate an “Earth-like” map with continents shapes resembling those of our planet. All the civilization start in the Old World – so discovering America has much importance here, as the land is rich with resources.

Climate and Sea level

After selecting the map you are taken to the next screen, where you have to select climate and sea level – if they are not predefined by the map. The climate options are: Temperate - resembling the Earth climate, with various terrains exist more or less equally; tropical - warm map with more jungles and less tundra; arid - dry climate with few rivers and many deserts; rocky - many hills and mountains and resources but problematic in terms food and city growth; cold – more ice and tundra and less deserts. The sea level defines if you will have larger continents and generally more land (low sea level) or smaller islands and more ocean squares (high sea level).

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