Civilization II

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Civilization II
Developer(s)	MicroProse
Publisher(s)	MicroProse
Designer(s)	Brian Reynolds Douglas Caspian-Kaufman Jeff Briggs
Latest version	2.42
Release date(s)	February 29, 1996
Genre(s)	Turn-based strategy
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: E (Everyone)
Platform(s)	Mac OS, PlayStation, Windows
Media	Compact Disc
System requirements	33 MHz 486 CPU, 8 MB RAM, 2× CD-ROM
Input	Mouse, keyboard

Sid Meier's Civilization II, a.k.a. Civ II, is a turn-based strategy game designed by Brian Reynolds, Douglas Caspian-Kaufman and Jeff Briggs. Although it is a sequel to Sid Meier's Civilization, neither Sid Meier nor Bruce Shelley were involved in its development. Civilization II was first released in 1996 for the PC and later ported to the Sony PlayStation.

In 2002 Atari re-released the game for newer operating systems, such as Windows Me and Windows XP.

The Multiplayer Gold Edition was included in the Civilization Chronicles box set released in 2006.

[edit] Gameplay

In this screenshot of Civilization II most of the gameworld has been discovered, as can be seen by the "mini-map" located in the upper right of the screen.

Civilization II is similar to the first Civilization, with some changes to the units and civilizations and additional wonders, units, tile "specials" and technologies included. The graphics (greatly improved with clickable links and movable windows) have been changed from top-down view to isometric representation. The Artificial Intelligence, or AI, was improved upon as well, including the elimination of the situation where Wonders of the World were built somewhat randomly in the original Civilization, by now making the computer player go through the same production requirements as the human player.

Rivers no longer occupy the whole of each tile along its length. The river is just part of each topography square it flows through, adding productive value, defensive bonuses and movement ability. Rivers now act much like roads- moving one square along a river will cost only 1/3 of a movement point.

The game features entirely new concepts, such as firepower and hitpoints (meaning phalanxes cannot so easily beat battleships), and changes some units' abilities and strengths. For instance, engineers and settlers can be automated to improve surrounding areas, but no longer ignore enemy zones of control. Legions cost more and have greater attack and defense values; some new units are added such as stealth bomber and stealth fighter.

One memorable element in the game is the ability to consult the "High Council" for advice (as long as the player still has the CD in the drive). The council consists of film clips of young actors portraying advisors in the areas of the military (a brawny man, often drunk, angry or both; he becomes a stereotypical American general when you reach Modern Age), economics (a smooth-talking merchant, later a snooty and suave businessman), diplomacy (in the Modern Age, a saucy Femme Fatale with a vaguely Eastern European accent), technological progress (a nerdy scientist), and the people's happiness (an Elvis Presley caricature, wearing sunglasses even in the Ancient period). They often argue with and insult one another, as each advisor's department demands a different set of priorities. The counselors' costumes change with each new era. In many ways, the 'High Council' constitutes a bit of comic relief. Amusingly, when the player is experiencing anarchy, the characters begin talking at the same time, interrupting each other, and finally beginning to fight, with all counselor windows shutting down and turning into the "A" symbol of Anarchism.

There are two paths to victory in this game: to conquer every other civilization, or to build a spaceship and reach Alpha Centauri. The latter can be much more difficult because there are a limited number of turns in the game, ending in the year 2020. If the spaceship does not reach Alpha Centauri by then, the game will simply end. The player can continue playing after all civilizations have been conquered, the spaceship has reached its destination, or the year 2020, but there will no longer be any scoring. The sooner a player conquers every other civilization, or the space ship arrives, the better as far as scoring is concerned. However, there are many things that can be done to gain points, so it occasionally is better to hold off victory to gain more points by, say researching extra technologies.

There is a scoring system which will measure how well one did. Each happy citizen contributes two points, each content citizen contributes one point, and each unhappy citizen contributes zero points. This means that the higher the population of your civilization, the higher you can expect your score to be. Corrupt players may increase the luxury rate to the maximum (depending upon their government type) right before the very end of the game in order to inflate their scores. Each wonder of the world will also add 20 points to the end score. Each square with pollution deducts ten points. The final score will also give a civilization percentage, based on the difficulty level the game was played at (chosen at the very beginning of the game). The higher this percentage is, the better. Finally, a title will be given to the player. Particularly good ones include "Lion-Hearted," "the Great" with the greatest obtainable title being "The Magnificent."

[edit] Expansions

There were three expansion packs that slowly added more features to the game. The first was Conflicts in Civilization included 20 new scenarios, 12 created by the makers of the game, and 8 produced by fans. It also added an enhanced macro language for scenario scripting. It was followed by Fantastic Worlds which added 19 new scenarios as well as a variety of editors for the game. The final expansion was the Multiplayer Gold Edition, a re-release of the original game, which bundled all prior expansion packs and added options for networked and hotseat play.

Civilization II: Test of Time was released in 1999. It was a stand-alone game with new features, such as redrawn, animated units, support for multiple maps in one game, and some new campaign modes.

The World War II scenario running under Windows XP.

[edit] Reception

Civ II was placed on the IGN.com Top 100 Games list [1], coming in at #4. This list also included console games, and Civ II was the highest-ranked PC game.

[edit] Legacy

Civilization II is a game with longevity. While most PC games come and go in a matter of months, this game was still going strong after several years and inspired many titles including Activision's Call to Power series and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. This longevity, at least in part, is due to an unending stream of mods and scenarios produced by its enormous fan base. The game was followed by Firaxis' Civilization III.

[edit] Civilizations

In addition, if one looks at the programming, it reveals that the Arabs and Incans were originally to be in the game, one need only replace another available civilization's information with theirs to play them. It is also possible to edit the text and other data files to easily add a custom civilization.

[edit] Technologies

Listed above are the main 88 Technologies used in the game and found in the controlling file (rules.txt). There is also an entry for Plumbing, but it is not tied to anything and adds nothing significant to the gameplay when activated. In addition, there is a listing for 'Future Technology'. It is possible to research all of the advances by the later stages of a highly advanced game, and at that point additional 'Future Technologies' are learned in succession (Future Tech 1, Future Tech 2, Future Tech 3, etc.). Researching these additional 'Future Technologies' can increase the final score at the end of the game.

Lastly, the file includes at the end of the list an extra 10 Technology 'slots' that are not tied to anything (activated). This allows some level of customization (see Game Modification section), because you can insert them at various points and then use them as prerequisites for units or buildings.

[edit] Units

There are 51 units in Civilization II. Most of them existed in the original 'Civilization', but there are a few new ones (Paratrooper and Marines, for example), and a few have been renamed. (For example, Militia are now called Warriors, and Cavalry are now called Horsemen.) In addition, some previous units have had their properties changed. The biggest examples of this are how the Chariot's attack was reduced from 4 to 3 and how sea units can no longer conquer an enemy city.

For more details: Civilization II units

These units, along with their respective characteristics (prerequisite techs, ADM values, etc) are listed in the controlling file 'rules.txt', and can be altered to enhance gameplay (see Game Modification section). The 'rules.txt' file also contains support for 11 additional units, 3 with icons already included.

The Barbarians have a special version of the diplomat that acts as a 'leader' to various spawned units; 'capturing' (defeating) it will net the player a certain amount of gold, that amount depending on the difficulty level. A popup box will report this is a 'ransom payment'.

[edit] City Improvements

There are 34 City Improvements (buildings) that can be constructed to improve some aspect of that city's production, happiness, growth, defense, economical or scientific output. Many of them add cumulative benefits with their earlier versions (such as a Bank requiring but also working in addition to the Marketplace, and the same for the University building upon the benefits of a Library). Some improvements can be affected by an advancement or Wonder of the World (i.e., the effects of a Temple are doubled with the Oracle), whereas others are automatically granted (i.e., a Granary exists in every city that controls the Pyramids).

A special case exists for the Barracks improvement. With the development of Gunpowder, all existing Barracks become obsolete and have to be rebuilt (and cost 2-gold per turn instead of the original 1-gold per turn). Then, with the development of Mobile Warfare, Barracks become obsolete again and have to be rebuilt once more (with the cost of 3-gold per turn).

In additional to the 34 traditional buildings (above), there are 4 other non-Wonders that can be constructed in a city. First, after the discovery of Corporation, a player can 'build' the Capitalization improvement which greatly enhances economic output (for a time). Secondly, there are 3 types of spaceship improvements: SS Component (prerequisute: plastics), SS Module (superconductor), and SS Structural (spaceflight). These are built to complete the spaceship, which is constructed in the civilization's capital city. There is a minimum number of each type required to launch; and there is a maximum number of each that can be used in the overall construction of the spaceship. Note: using the maximum configuration greatly improves the score obtained with a successful landing.

[edit] Wonders of the World

Wonders of the World and gameplay

All Wonders of the World each have their own prerequisite technology in order to be able to construct them (i.e. Map Making for the Lighthouse, Bronze Working for the Colossus, and Pottery for the Hanging Gardens). Certain technologies also cause the expiration of a particular Wonder's benefits (i.e. Magnetism, Flight and Railroad for the three Wonders mentioned above, respectively). However, not all Wonders have technologies that make them expire!

Wonders of the World can be categorized into those that effect happiness, cities and buildings, units and movement, technology, diplomacy and finally economics. Wonders also can be city-specific or civilization-specific. City-specific Wonders only effect the city in which it was built (such as the Colossus which grants an extra trade arrow in utilized squares of that city's radius). Whereas civilization-specific Wonders affect the entire empire that controls it (such as the Hanging Gardens which grants +1 happiness in all cities of the same civilization).

When the civilization-specific Wonder also does not expire, its effects can dramatically effect gameplay. For example, building (or capturing) Michaelangelo's Chapel effectively puts a Cathedral in every city of the controlling civilization, greatly promoting happiness. Of course, this makes the cities that contain those Wonders all the more crucial to defend, since losing the city to conquest causes the benefits of that Wonder to be lost (and switch over to the capturing player). Accordingly, certain Wonders have a 'must' status in certain types of games or perhaps for certain types of players. For example, the Pyramids (+50% retention of food surplus after city growth), Michaelangelo's Chapel (Cathedral in every city) and Leonardo's Workshop (automatic unit upgrades - at least until the development of the Automobile) are critical for expanding empires and/or gameplay at the more difficult levels. Additionally, warmongering empires will also seek to build the Great Wall and Sun Tzu's War Academy.

Alternatively, you can cause havoc on a rival civilization by causing their Wonder of the World to expire, such as when any player learns Metallurgy causing the Great Wall to expire (and the free city-walls in each of the controlling player's cities suddenly disappear!).

[edit] Game modification

While expansions are sold separately, the PC version is programmed so that computer-savvy players can modify the game themselves. Amongst the files installed on the user's computer when the game is installed is a file called "rules.txt" which controls the game. The text file itself practically encourages the user to modify the game, giving instructions on how to change the various parameters of each main category, including: units, technologies, wonders, terrain and leaders. There is even a 'cosmic' section that controls more global settings pertaining to items such as governments, happiness levels, city sizes, and technology learning.

Each section lists the parameters you can change. For example, you can alter a specific unit's name, movement allowance, hit points, production cost, cargo hold (if applicable), technology that allows it, technology that makes it obsolete, and any one of a series of special abilities (reserved to handle the capabilities of specific units such as submarines). While the 'units' section has by far the most parameters, changing values in other sections can be equally intriguing. For example, you can change when a Wonder of the World expires, the prerequisites for a technology on the tech-tree, or alter the food output of a special tile (like wheat, for example).

Another text file that can enhance gameplay variation is the file "city.txt" which holds the list of city names that are used as defaults for each successive city built.

Advanced computer users can also modify the game by changing the visual files (such as units.gif or terrain.gif). While there is a risk of damaging the gameplay, it is possible to change the appearance of units, terrain, people, etc.

NOTE: It is advised that before modifying any of these files, the user copy these files to a safe location in case any file is changed in a way that affects the game irreparably.

A better solution may be to use the Scenario Editor and create a specific game with the various alterations you prefer. In addition, the newly created files (such as rules.txt and units.gif, mentioned above) can be copied to other locations (primarly the directory where the original games files are located), thus altering the conditions of gameply for random games too.

Lastly, the included Map-Editor allows for custom world building prior to playing a random game. In addition to setting the land mass and ocean shapes, you can set the 'resource seed' for how the special tiles are generated (the default value of '1' indicates random).

[edit] Multimedia

Civilization II's music is in the Red Book CD-audio format, the same as that found on normal music CDs. It is not in MIDI or digital format. The songs are quite varied; some are from the 19th century classical era, such as the Blue Danube Waltz, while others have a tribal, tropical sound to them. The music can be played back through any CD-ROM drive. Over 200 MB of space on the Civilization II CD is taken up by the music, 280 MB is occupied by the videos, whereas the actual program data takes up less than 30 MB.

Players wishing to sample the music without a computer can do so by simply placing the game CD (provided it is the original 1996 edition) into an ordinary domestic CD-player.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Civilization Fanatics Center
• Apolyton Civilization Site
• Civilization (series)

[edit] External links

• Moby Game's entry on Civilization II
• Civilized Online Gaming Community
• CivFanatics Civilization Forums
• Custom Civ2 Scenarios
• Game Demo
• Civilization Anonymous: site claiming to provide support to Civilization addicts; actually an example of stealth marketing