OVERVIEW

By some people the Civilization series is considered the best of all times (me too). While playing keep in mind this game dates back to 1996. This cuts both ways: on the one hand there is no outstanding graphics (although it is really good) but on the other hand you don't need a Pentium 2 GHz & Geforce 3 machine to play it. Well then, what is Civilization 2 like? It's highly addictive, that's for sure. It's demanding too. Finally it's really long. To complete the game at the large map you'll need more than 24 hours, I'm telling you. But let's focus on the characteristics. Civilization 2 is a turn-based empire-building strategy. This game is, in fact, the ancestor of all games of this type. You begin with only one unit. You have to build a town, develop it, create more units, build more cities, develop technology, and finally defeat enemies who are doing exactly the same. For those of you who prefer fight to economy, there are over 50 different military units in the game. From warriors, phalanx and chariots you advance to cruise and nuclear missiles and paratroopers. Remember that it takes a lot of time to learn this game, so don't worry if you lose in the beginning.

GAMEPLAY

Like I said, at the start (4000 BC) you've got only one unit - a settler. First task is to find a proper place for a city. The best place is grassland or plains. Look for areas with resources - featured by buffalos, wheat etc. Resources increase benefits from the given tiles. You should avoid building cities in deserts, forests and mountains (at least in the beginning). Also, don't waste too much time to search for the superb place. Just find a not-too-bad place and establish a city. Having done that click twice on your city's icon on the map. A new window should show up. This is a city screen - the second important screen in the game. Here you can check city's effectiveness and assign workers their jobs. Your people produce 3 "items": food (for growing in size), shields (for building improvements and units) and trade (for technological research and money). All of them are crucial. In every city you can build some improvements. There are plenty of those, and each of them brings some benefits. I can tell you, from my experience, that you should go for libraries and temples, then marketplaces and aqueducts, and finally factories and plants. There are also some special improvements - Wonders of the World. Only one civilization can build one particular wonder and only one reaps the benefits - so hurry, especially in the beginning. Of course, it takes time to build a wonder, but it's worth the effort. The most valuable wonders are: Pyramids, Great Library, Michelangelo's Chapel, Leonardo's Workshop, Women's Suffrage, Hoover's Dam and Manhattan Project. Every city can produce only one item at a time - either unit or improvement or wonder. At first you should build some settlers to build new cities and improve tiles around existing cities - this lets your workers achieve better results. There is another significant factor that might influence the rate of your development - that is the type of government. In the beginning it's always despotism, the best types and your aims are republic and democracy. To change government type you have to make a revolution - be careful with it. When you establish at least 10 cities, focus on developing them by building improvements, wonders, improving tiles and doing research. The last thing is probably the most important - you won't get far without new technologies - remember that you can research only one tech. advance at a time. When your empire is strong you can take up expanding your power. There are two options: war and diplomacy. To win the game you should either defeat all enemies or launch a spaceship. Throughout the game you'll have to face the unhappiness of your men (which will be more difficult to deal with than other civilizations) and the barbarians too. That's all! Happy gaming!

STRATEGY AND TIPS

• if you want to win you'd better stay ahead in the research race;
• remember you can choose what you want to do with your trade benefits (3 options: research, money, citizens' happiness);
• when your cities are really big (over 20) you can turn your workers to experts increasing your money/happiness/research output;
• improve tiles around cities (build irrigation, roads etc);
• some wonders stand in for certain improvents in ALL your cities (e.g. Pyramids act as a granary in every city);
• Leonardo's Workshop upgrades your units each time a better weapon is available;
• if you really want to use artillery, support some infantry protection for it;
• switch to the Republic as quickly as possible - you won't get far with Despotism;
• SDI Defence in the city protects it from nuclear attack;
• explore villages - sometimes you unleash barbarians, but most of the time it has positive effects;
• while attacking enemy in the modern times use bombers to break the defence (preferably stealth) and then send in the tanks to occupy the ground;
• to decrease the pollution level build Hoover's Dam;
• if you intend to break treaties frequently, switch to Fundamentalism;
• if you don't want to wait for the improvement/wonder too long you can buy it (but this will cost you much);

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• 486 Processor or higher;
• RAM: 8 MB;
• CD-ROM speed: 2X;
• Video Mode: SVGA;
• Sound Card;
• Windows 3.1 or higher;

CHEAT

At any time you can turn on the cheat mode from the upper menu which allows many tricks.
While playing a game (with cheat mode on), enter the following code to change attitude: [Ctrl] + [Shift] + T
To build roads and railroads on the ocean, get a settler or an engineer on board, go to the position in which you would like to build the road or railroad and press R. Thanks to this you'll get extra trade.

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