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As Civ3 is coming soon, it is time to reflect on Civ2 and its greatness. This may give us some insights not only on the past of the Civ franchise, but on its future.

While my intent here is to discuss some of the historical aspects of Civ2, first I must make an admission. Civ2 is not an "historical game" in many respects. This is not just a matter of random maps (for which historical maps may be substituted) or American or Viking civs appearing in 4000BC (which can be overcome by certain modpacks that allow only ancient civs) There are deeper things in the game design. There is the widely noted inaccurate movement factors, which are required to make the game fun and playable. There is the relatively abstract combat system (as contrasted with more accurate war games) There is the absence of unit supply rules, a feature which handicaps even the most accurate scenarios (it was quite amusing the first time I played 2194 days of war and saw the Afrika Korps attacking across the Libyan desert towards Khartoum - why didn't Rommel think of that? :) ). There is the simplified city model, in which one market serves an entire city, whether the p!
opulation is 10,000 or 1 million. To be sure Sid and company never let details of historical accuracy trump considerations of fun and balanced gameplay.

Yet despite this, there is an underlying historical vision, a philosophy of history that informs Civ2, and makes it an historically serious game, potentially a powerful educational tool, and not "just a game" despite the widely noted inaccuracies. There is throughout a sense of the driving forces behind history - nations struggle for survival, and must grow and dominate in order to do so, since to stagnate is to fall behind and perish. Yet the struggle for power impels them to move to ever more advanced military and economic technologies - and not just technologies, but toward more advanced political and social forms, and intellectual concepts. "Progress" is not an option, nor an accident, but the inevitable result of historical conflict. It is "the cunning of reason in history". These historic forces transcend individuals and the accidents of battle, though the way they manifest themselves in detail may be powerfully influenced by individuals and accidents. The world is n!
ot wholly deterministic, despite the existence of powerful impersonal forces. While these forces are impersonal, they are not wholly material in the Marxist sense. Religion and philosophy are powerful forces, and the intellectual dialectic is as important as the economic dialectic. And the forces of history do not proceed in a linear fashion - rather new things are engendered by their opposites - a thesis appears, generates its historical antithesis, and then comes to a synthesis. Many discussions of Civ 2 and 3 must be looked at in this context - the conflict of environmentalism and industrialism, the patterns of religion, and indeed the oft -discussed power of late democracy in Civ2. This last is a hint of the notion that late capitalist democracy represents the "end of history" as discussed in the work of Francis Fukuyama (perhaps not coincidentally published just before Civ was developed).

I would like to present some examples of the historical, dialectical insight that lies hidden in the Civ2 tech tree, and comment on the historical lessons therein. I will focus on those which involve social and intellectual techs, since I think many of the other combinations are more self-explanatory. I confine myself to the first half of the tech tree, yet even so there are a plethora of examples.


Ceremonial Burial + Code of Laws = Monarchy
This nicely captures the two sides of monarchy, the mystical/ceremonial side and the rationalist/legal side, both of which give it a legitimacy beyond despotism. A dialectical synthesis of two seeming opposites.

Monarchy + Warrior Code = Feudalism
Feudalism partook of both the legal side of monarchy (through feudal law) and the mystical side (through the cult of the bond of homage) but is distinctive in its notions of warrior honor and solidarity - unimaginable in a less warrior dominated society like China. This combination captures all that.

Writing + Code of Laws = Literacy
Widespread literacy was based on writing, but also on a certain level of social development.

Literacy + Code of Laws = Republic
If legalism plus the mystical cult of greatness gives monarchy, the same legal development plus the presence of a more intellectually developed populace is the prerequisite for both ancient and Renaissance republics.

Feudalism + Horseback Riding = Chivalry
Chivalry is a late development of feudalism, and is based on the cult of the horse riding knight.

Mysticism + Literacy = Philosophy
Socrates and Plato are envisioned here, as well as pre-Socratic philosophy - the verbal/intellectual side of philosophy is captured, as well as Platonic mysticism. Again, a dialectical synthesis of apparent opposites.

Mysticism + Mathematics = Astronomy
Captures both the precise, mathematical side of ancient and medieval Astronomy, and the spiritual turning toward the stars.

Republic + Trade = Banking
Banking as a technical development of a commercial society, but also the product of a more developed social and legal system - this combo is redolent of Venice and Genoa.

Masonry + Currency = Construction
The Roman advances in construction derive both from a technological background and developments in economy and society.

Mathematics + Philosophy = University
The dual intellectual origins of the medieval university.

University + Medicine = Chemistry
The empirical craft of medicine, with shades of alchemy, is transformed by formal study into a science.


University + Banking = Economics
The application of formal philosophical and mathematical thinking to advanced commercial practice creates the first social science.

University + Astronomy = Theory of Gravity
The development of astronomy by Copernicus, Tycho, and Galileo, combined with the advance of mathematics and philosophy give us Isaac Newton and his thought.

Engineering + Literacy = Invention
The spirit of invention a result both of technological knowledge, and more general intellectual development - Leonardo Da Vinci certainly the paradigm.

Invention + Banking = Democracy
A spirit of innovation and change, combined with a developed, literate, lawful commercial society form the prereqs for democracy.

Medicine + Engineering = Sanitation
The intersection of two very different disciplines makes possible the applied science of sanitation, and rise of large, modern cities.

Polytheism + Philosophy = Monotheism
The religious development of an earlier stage, combined with the advance of platonic, Aristotelian, and stoic philosophy give rise to Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, and lay the groundwork for Islam.

Monotheism + Feudalism = Theology
Thomas Aquinas springs to mind - the further development of monotheism under the conditions of feudal society.

Physics + Invention = Steam Engine
The spirit of innovation and tinkering, informed by the science of physics (Watt and others) gives rise to the invention that kicks off the industrial age.


I hope this gives a hint of Civ2's depth and enables some to see Civ2 in a new way. This is worth reflecting on as the final touches are put on Civ3, and as we all contemplate both the future of the Civ franchise, and of the serious side of strategy gaming.

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