Well this is it. We've started at the beginning of time (4,000 BC) to develop the necessary technology to conquer the world. With the discovery of the automobile and Armor, it's time for the battle to begin.
Time: 06:03 - 1,580 AD
The four discoveries for this age are: Flight (which allows a city to build a Fighter (4-2-10)); Magnetism; Electricity; and Advanced Flight (permits Bombers (12-1-8) and Carriers (1-12-5). Note that none of these discoveries or units is absolutely necessary to conquer the world. Fighters and Bombers are nice since they make it somewhat easier to attack a heavily defended city. They also make it easier when trying to explore a large area in a short time. However they are not as desirable as they might appear. While fighters may move ten squares during one turn, they must return back to one of your civilization's cities before the end of the turn. If it doesn't, then it's lost. The Bombers work in a similar fashion, except that they are permitted to move 8 squares in one turn and may remain away from a city at the end of the first turn. If they are not back in a city by the end of the second turn, they are also lost. The only function of carriers are to support fighters and bombers.
The first thing we're going to do is reset the tax rate to 90% taxes and 10% science. This is a war economy and most of the resources should be spent on military units (and settlers and diplomats) that will be used in fighting. With this allocation of resources, it will take a long time to discover flight.
The next task is to establish the supply lines. I've started each city in North and South America on building a unit of Armor, except for those cities where switching production would result in a problem (i.e., in a city that needs a Temple, I'll build the Temple before the Armor unit.) I'm also going to limit the production of Armor units to one per city to minimize the unhappiness they create. When a unit of Armor is finished, I'll send it to Washington DC. Then I'll shuttle the Transport unit between Washington and where I need the troops the most. There are already several cities in Southern Europe that we can channel units created by other cities. We can also use the ability to buy units near where they are needed by using funds from the treasury. Remember the most important part of a war is not a battle, but the supply line. He who has the most supplies will survive.
With the supply lines in operation, it's time think about the battle. Using the supplies in the cities I already have in Southern Europe, I'll begin to explore the rest of Europe, Asia and Africa. As I find enemy units, I'll attack and destroy them. If I can't defeat a unit on the first attempt, I'll continue to attack it until it is destroyed.
While I'm exploring, I want to locate enemy cities. When I do, I'll attack a city if I have sufficient resources to defend the city once I've captured it. Defending a captured city is critical, since if the enemy recaptures the city, they gain one of my advances. The best cities to attack are those that are closest to your current cities. Their close proximity to your cities makes it easy for you to move your units in to attack position. Remember this can work both ways, since it is just as easy for the enemy to move units into position to attack your cities.
Whenever possible, I try to use battleships to attack a city, since they have the highest attack and defense values. However this option is only useful for costal cities, and unless you have a transport unit with riflemen or armor on it, you can't capture a city. However, even if you can't capture a city, simply attacking a city over and over again until it is undefended takes away units that might otherwise be shifted to defend other cities.
When I can't use a battleship, I usually surround an enemy city with two or three armor units and attack it until it's defeated. Then I move one of the armor units onto the square to capture the city. After order is restored, I start the city building a rifleman unit. On the next turn, I spend the shields to speed up production of the unit. On the next turn, I fortify the unit and move the armor unit on to the next city to be attacked.
Based on all of this discussion, my plan for battle involves first sending my battleships around the coastlines and having them attack any city they can reach. I will then continue this process until I eventually capture these cities. It is quite likely after destroying all of the units fortifying one city and moving on to the next city, the first city will rebuild its defenses.
While the battleships are moving around the coastline, I am going to form a vertical line with my armor units and slowly move it eastward. Along the way, I'll capture any cities that I can to help solidify my base of operations. As I approach Eastern Europe and Asia, I'll send some units northward and eastward towards Northern Europe and Northern Asia and the rest of the units on towards India and Eastern Asia. At the same time, I hope to start another set of units in North Africa and have them move southward. Whenever possible, I'll try to use the same techniques that worked well in North and South America to explore and identify enemy units and cities.
Originally I had planned to give a blow by blow description of how I waged the war. But on rereading it, it was boring even to me. So rather than waste your time describing it, simply fight it out for yourself. Follow the guidelines listed above and enjoy yourself and see for yourself how easy it is to defeat the Aztecs, the Babylonians, the English, the Germans, the Indians, and the Russians. Just remember to save your game occasionally, especially if you think you are about to run into trouble.
Time: 6:49 - 1,740 AD
THE AMERICANS DEFEAT THE ENGLISH.
Time: 7:17 - 1,762 AD
AMERICANS CONQUER THE INDIANS.
Time: 7:21 - 1,766 AD
AMERICANS CRUSH THE RUSSIANS.
Time: 7:35 - 1,778 AD
AMERICANS DESTROY THE BABYLONIANS.
Time: 7:41 - 1,784 AD
I CAN'T FIND THE GERMANS!
I've also just discovered flight. (See. I told you this would take a while.) This will let me build fighters, but they're not going to be useful in the search for the Germans. Most of the places I need to explore, I can't reach in the 10 turns permitted a fighter. I guess I'll continue to navigate the battleships around each landmass in the South Pacific and have some Armor units loaded onto Transports waiting for the Germans to be discovered.
Time: 08:06 - 1,798 AD
I found the Germans. They were hiding on one of those small islands just off southeast Asia. I brought one Armor unit ashore and destroyed their only city, Berlin. I've also started building an Armor unit in the nearest city to the Aztec's home.
Time: 08:08 - 1,800 AD
I've just vaporized the Aztecs. The world is mine. Mine I say. Mine. All mine....
Thank goodness the computer takes over and tells me how well I've done. Otherwise, being Emperor of the World might go to my head. Also, I've saved the game, just before I destroyed the Aztecs. This will either let me replay the ending or continue the game. Remember that Civilization lets you build a spaceship to try and colonize another planet.
In summary, I destroyed the English in 1,420 AD, the Zulu's in 1,740 AD, the Indians in 1,762 AD, the Russians in 1,766 AD, the Babylonians in 1,778 AD, the Germans in 1,798 AD and the Aztecs in 1,800 AD. My score is now 1, 348 with a 26% rating. There are 2,112 shields in the treasury and the total population is now 10,590,000.
I have 12 Settlers, 5 Phalanx, 10 Musketeers, 29 Riflemen, 1 Cavalry, 4 Chariots, 22 Armor units, and 4 Battleships. I also have a total of 40 cities with Washington DC being the largest city at level 15, followed by one level 13 city, one level 12 city, one level 11 city and one level 10 city. There are five level 9 cities, four level 7 cities, seven level 6 cities, five level 5 cities, five level 4 cities, five level 3 cities, three level 2 cities and 1 level 1 city.
Goals: 1. Conquer the world DISCOVERIES: 1. Flight 2. Magnetism 3. Electricity 4. Advanced Flight FOR A NEW CITY: 1. Build Riflemen 2. Build Armor. 3. Build Granary. 4. Build Temple. FOR AN EXISTING CITY: 1. Verify or build Riflemen (if in war area, buy them) 2. Build Armor (if needed) 3. Verify or build Granary. 4. Verify or build Temple. 5. Verify or build Marketplace. 6. Verify or build Cathedral. 7. Verify or build Aqueduct. 8. Verify or build Library. 9. Verify or build Courthouse. 10. Verify or build University. 11. Verify or build Bank. 12. Verify or build Colosseum. TYPE OF GOVERNMENT: 1. Despotism. WONDERS OF THE WORLD: 1. none. ACTION TAKEN WHEN MEETING ANOTHER CIVILIZATION: 1. Make peace when it is to your advantage. 2. Make war otherwise.
Time: 08:12 - 1,802 AD
If you are reading this, then you must not be solely interested in conquering the world. By leaving the Aztec city alone, you can begin the conquest of space. To build a spaceship, you need six main types of parts: Propulsion Components, Fuel Components, Habitation Modules, Life Support Modules, Solar Panel Modules. and Spaceship Structures. To build Propulsion and Fuel Components, you must discover Plastics. To build Habitation Modules, Life Support Modules, and Solar Panel Modules, you must discover Robotics. To build Spaceship Structures, you must discover Space Flight. Before you can build any of these pieces, you must build the Apollo program Wonder of the World.
To make matters slightly more complicated, we never finished the discoveries from the last age. Therefore we must continue to discover: Magnetism, Electricity, and Advanced Flight. Then we can discover the advances for this age: Democracy, Electronics, Computers, Rocketry, Space Flight, Plastics, Robotics, Mass Production, Superconductors and Recycling.
Since we no longer plan to wage war, we shouldn't stay a Despot. There are significant advantages of being a democracy, like improved productivity and reduced corruption. These factors will allow us to reset the tax rate to something more reasonable like 30% taxes and %70 science, while a despotism might have to set the tax rate to something like %60 taxes, 40% science. We didn't need to do this earlier because the cities were generally smaller, and we minimized the number of improvements in each city.
Electronics permits a city to build Hydro Plants and also the Hoover Dam Wonder of the World. Computers, Rocketry, and Space Flight permit us to build Spaceship (SS) Structures and begin working on the Apollo Program Wonder of the World. Plastics and Robotics permit building SS Components and SS Modules, respectively.
Mass Production permits the city improvement of Mass Transit, Superconductor permits the SDI defense, and Recycling permits the Recycling Center. These last three are not directly related to building a space ship, however I included them as the last critical discoveries for playing this game. Mass Transit and the Recycling Center are important in terms of pollution control, while the SDI defense is important if you haven't conquered the world at this stage. If one of your opponents happens to discover Rocketry, watch out!
Time: 09:32 - 1,824 AD
We've finished discovering Advanced Flight and are ready to discover the first advance for this age, Democracy. I set the tax rate to 30% taxes and 70% science at the start of this age, but had to change it to 60% taxes and 40% science later, since the 2,000 plus shields in the treasury quickly dropped to less than 100. I concentrated most of this time preparing to convert to democracy. The first thing I did was to disband all military units that were hanging around doing nothing. Next, I began improving the areas around all of my new cities with irrigation and railroads. I set Washington DC on building Women's suffrage so that I would have funds set aside to build the Apollo Program when it becomes available.
Time: 09:39 - 1,836 AD
DEMOCRACY IS HERE. THE REVOLUTION IS ABOUT TO START.
Time: 10:36 - 1,871 AD
The revolution has succeeded, but it nearly failed. I had forgotten I had several fortified units stationed around North and South America. The cities supporting those units gave me quite a bit of trouble. To preserve the happiness in those cities, I removed resources from the City Map to create Elvii. In some cases, it took most of the production capacity of the city away. After the units were decommissioned I was able to restore the city to full production, except for those cities that had sent units to surround Tenochtitlan. (Remember we left that old Aztec city around so the game didn't end). I built new cities to surround Tenochtitlan and used to old military units to fortify the new cities.
If I didn't take these actions to correct the unhappiness in these cities, the citizens may choose to throw me out of office and anarchy will reign for a few turns, followed by despotism. Correcting this problem will take at least ten or twenty turns With only 129 turns left, you can't afford to waste time fixing this mistake.
Time: 10:40 - 1,873 AD
I just finished discovering Recycling, so it's time to retire. After saving the game, I counted 46 cities, with Washington DC still tops at level 17. Philadelipha is a level 16 city and Baltimore is at level 15. There are two level 14 cities, one level 12, one level 11, seven level 10 cities (I guess I should check and make sure that these cities have both Cathedrals and Aqueducts), three level 9 cities, one level 8 city, four level 7 and 3 level 6 cities. A total of twenty one cities are at level 5 or lower.
I have 54 Settler units improving the world, with an assortment of Phalanx, Musketeers, Riflemen, Chariots, and one Armor unit fortifying my cities. I have the Lighthouse, Great Wall, and Magellan's Expedition Wonders. I gave up on having Washington build the Apollo Program Wonder and switched that to Baltimore. Baltimore needs another 30 turns to finish it. The treasury has 1,440 shields and the tax rate is 40% taxes and 70% science.
The total population is now 16,430,000 citizens. All of this lead to a 12% rating and a score of 633. Note that this is about half of what it was when I conquered the world. The big difference is that I got a large bonus for conquering the world before 2000 AD.
GOALS: 1. Prepare to build space ship 2. Become a democracy DISCOVERIES: 1. Democracy 2. Electronics 3. Computers 4. Rocketry 5. Space Flight 6. Plastics 7. Robotics 8. Mass Production 9. Superconductor 10. Recycling FOR A NEW OR EXISTING CITY: 1. Verify or build Riflemen (if in war area, buy them) 2. Build Settlers (if needed) 3. Verify or build Granary. 4. Verify or build Temple. 5. Verify or build Marketplace. 6. Verify or build Cathedral. 7. Verify or build Aqueduct. 8. Verify or build Library. 9. Verify or build Courthouse. 10. Verify or build University. 11. Verify or build Bank. 12. Verify or build Colosseum. 13. Verify or build Mass Transit. TYPE OF GOVERNMENT: 1. Democratic WONDERS OF THE WORLD: 1. Apollo Project ACTION TAKEN WHEN MEETING ANOTHER CIVILIZATION: 1. Make peace (there should only be one other civilization at this point, otherwise the game would be over).
Time: 10:45 - 1,873 AD
This is the last age of the game. The primary goal is to build and launch the spaceship as close to 2,100 AD as possible. Secondary goals are to finish any unfinished discoveries so that we may begin working on future ones. Each future discovery is worth one point at the end of the game. We'll also begin building any Wonder of the World that hasn't already been built. Also, after the spaceship has been built, we'll try our best to increase the population and their happiness. Both translate into large points at the end of the game.
Time: 12:55 - 1,924 AD
The spaceship is complete and ready to launch. At the start of this age, I reset the tax rate to 20% science, 60% tax, and 20% luxuries. Happy people are productive people, and I wanted sufficient capital to build the spaceship parts as I was ready for them.
I chose four of my largest cities and set them to build the Components and then the Modules. After the treasury had climbed to about 2-3,000 shields, I would then visit each of the cities and buy the component. This worked well in that I was able to control when I had enough of the Components and when to switch production to the Modules. I was also able to redirect funds into other worthwhile city improvements or Wonders of the World after building all of the Modules and Components. I also selected about 10-12 other cities that were relatively productive to build the SS structures. By the time the Modules and Components were finished, so were the Structures.
The spaceship now has a 100% probability of success and it will take about 15 years to arrive. Therefore, I'm going to be a little conservative and launch it around 2,083 AD. Since I've got about 140 years or so to kill, I'm going to start building the remaining Wonders of the World.
Time: 13:38 - 1,935 AD
Eleven years in a little over thirty minutes. Whew! I've just finished discovering all the remaining advances. I'm starting Future Technology #1. Most of the recent discoveries have been occurring about a year or two apart, so I'm going to change the tax rate to 10% science, 70% taxes, and 20% luxuries. This should slow down the rate of discoveries, while raising more money for building the remaining Wonders.
Time: 15:18 - 1,980 AD
I've finished building all of the Wonders of the World. This is getting worse. I nothing more than an account at this point. I'm almost ready to launch the spaceship without finishing the game. But I won't. Currently my population is nearly 67 million people. That's a far cry from the 16 million or so that I had a hundred years ago. About six cities have reached the point where there are no more city improvements to build, except for City Walls and Barracks. What I'm doing now in those cities is building City Walls and selling them when they're built. This makes more money so that I can buy rest of the city improvements in other cities, so that they too can build City Walls. Arggg!
Time: 19:35 - 2,084 AD
I just launched the spaceship. It will arrive at 2,099. I'm going to continue building improvements
Time: 20:02 - 2,094 AD
Time to reset the tax rates. I'm going to set 70% luxuries and 30% science. I have about ten thousand shields in the treasury and it costs about 2,000 shields per turn to maintain all of the infrastructure. Therefore I should have just enough money to last me through the end of the game.
Time: 20:14 - 2,099 AD
The space ship has arrived at Alpha Centauri. The game is over. I can retire now. Whew!! The final score is 3,216 and my rating is 64%. This means I'm a better ruler than Winston Churchill.
My total population is 145,430,000. Of these people, 57% were happy and 42% were content. None were unhappy.
There was one level 37 city (Kiev), one level 35 city, two level 34 cities, 1 level 33 city, two level 32 cities, and two level 31 cities. Seven cities were between level 26 and 30, and fourteen were between level 21 and 25, including Washington DC at level 23. Between level 11 and 20 there were eighteen cities. There were fourteen cities at level 10 or below.
This game took a long time to play. In many ways the last age wasn't worth the effort. While I achieved a much higher score than conquering the world, I spent most of the time playing accountant. For most of the cities near the end of the game, I had built all of the improvements possible and spent most of my time building and selling city walls. This let me keep the tax rates low and use funds for other more worthwhile projects.
GOALS:
1. Build spaceship and launch spaceship, so that it arrives at
2,100 AD.
2. Discover future technologies.
3. Increase population.
4. Increase happiness.
DISCOVERIES:
1. Monarchy
2. Horseback Riding
3. Feudalism
4. Chivalry
5. Genetic Engineering
6. Theory of Gravity
7. Atomic Theory
8. Communism
9. Labor Union
10. Nuclear Fission
11. Nuclear Power
12. Fusion Power
13. As many future discoveries as possible.
FOR A NEW OR EXISTING CITY:
1. Verify or build Riflemen.
2. Build Settlers (if needed to improve the surrounding land)
3. Verify or build Granary.
4. Verify or build Temple.
5. Verify or build Marketplace.
6. Verify or build Cathedral.
7. Verify or build Aqueduct.
8. Verify or build Library.
9. Verify or build Courthouse.
10. Verify or build University.
11. Verify or build Bank.
12. Verify or build Colosseum.
13. Verify or build Mass Transit.
14. Verify or build Recycling.
15. Verify or build anything else that strikes you fancy.
TYPE OF GOVERNMENT:
1. Democratic
WONDERS OF THE WORLD:
1. All of them that are not already built.
ACTION TAKEN WHEN MEETING ANOTHER CIVILIZATION:
1. Make peace (there should only be one other civilization at this point,
otherwise the game would be over).
This article is Copyright (C) 1994 by Wayne S. Freeze for Game Bytes
Magazine. All rights reserved.