Sid Meier's Civilization
| Year | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Release platform | PC |
| Genres | strategy |
| Developer | MicroProse |
| Country | USA |
| Era | Sixteen bit, 1989 to 1995 |
| Importance |
Why it matters
Civilization has you lead one people from its first settlement in the fourth millennium BC to the launch of a ship to another star. A turn consists of decisions of different scale: where to place a city, what it produces, which discovery to research next, which form of government to establish. All of them are tied together by a technology tree, where writing is needed for one thing and the wheel for another, and the order of research determines what the state will look like a hundred turns later.
More important than the individual mechanics here is the way time is handled. A game compresses thousands of years into a few hours and shows history as a set of forks in the road. There are two ways to win: destroy everyone else or be the first to reach Alpha Centauri, and both lines require the same economy. MicroProse released a turn-based program at a moment when the company was known above all for vehicle simulators, and got a formula that is still being reissued today.
Watch it played
Facts
- A game begins in 4000 BC with a band of settlers.
- Discoveries are linked into a tree where one requires another, and the order of research changes the course of the whole game.
- You can win by military means or by launching a ship to Alpha Centauri.
- The form of government affects production, taxes and unrest in the cities.
- An early prototype ran in real time; it was abandoned in favor of turns.
