In any case, the game was originally a 2.6 MB DOS game, and it looks like it. Civ has always been a long game after all, you are building an empire over the span of some 6,000 years. They run the old games in a version of DOSBox, and while there is a way to save your game (and for something like Civ that really matters), it looks like you are sharing the Save space with other users, so I am not certain your save files will last for a long time there. But I can only recommend it for seeing what they games was like. But you can also play it online in a browser at Play Classic Games, which is an invaluable site if you are interested in reliving some of your early game experiences. I have a boxed set called Sid Meier’s Civilization Chronicles which contains the versions from Civilization through Civilization 3, and you might find a used copy. As for the game itself, it is long out-of-print. But if you have an interest it can perhaps be found in used bookstores. I know I had a copy at one time, but it seems to have gone away, and to be fair I wouldn’t have a use for it now. There was a classic strategy guide for the game called Civilization or Rome on 640K a Day (1992) by Computer Gaming World editors Johnny Wilson and Alan Emrich. And if the actions I mentioned (researching technologies, building units, etc.) sound familiar, it is because the template created by Civilization was very influential on games that came later, so that by now they are considered standard game elements in a wide variety of games. The graphics were pretty primitive since this was developed for DOS and the relatively low-powered computers of the time, so it didn’t look like much, but the gameplay was great for the time. The alternative path to victory is just to wipe out everyone else, resulting in a military victory, and for some players that was the preferred option. If you build your empire successfully and are the first to build the spaceship and land your colonists on Alpha Centauri, you win the game. And there is a technology tree where you learn new technologies that help you advance, unlocking new buildings you can build or new military units you can train. Some of these wonders give you empire-wide effects, as contrasted with the buildings that apply to a single city (and have to be repeated in each city where you want that benefit). Then there are Wonders you can build along the way, starting with the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, but adding more wonders as you progress through time, such as Michelangelo’s Chapel or the Eiffel Tower. Along the way you build settlers to found new cities, build buildings to improve your cities, and military units to defend your cities, or to attack someone else’s cities. The idea is that you build a civilization from the beginning, starting as a wandering tribe of nomads in 4000BC and finally ending with sending a ship full of colonists to Alpha Centauri. These days, staying up to 10pm is an all-nighter for me. Of course, I was younger then and could get away with it. Many times I saw the Sun rise (to my complete surprise) because I had been so focused on playing the game I paid no attention to the time. It was (and still is) a turn-based 4X strategy game (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate), and it introduced me to the experience of what all Civilization die hards call the One More Turn phenomenon. I don’t know exactly when that was, but certainly in the early 1990s since the game came out in 1991, and Civ 2 did not come out until 1996, and I had many hours put in by that point.Īlthough the first release was for DOS, the version I got was the Windows version which came out a little bit later. It all started for me when I picked up a copy of the first Civilization. But for me, it is just a game, not a moral statement. I hope in this series I will introduce some people to games they will enjoy, or maybe remind them of games they haven’t played in some time. But I don’t play at the highest difficulty settings, and only move up the settings if the level I have been playing at is no longer fun for me. I will give some tips about game play in some instances, and will mention places you can go for more information should you want more. I play for my own enjoyment, and I think you should do so as well. But for any game I discuss there are people who know a lot more than me. I make no claim to be the ultimate expert, though I have learned a few things along the way.
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