A CIVILIZATION Walkthrough

by Wayne S. Freeze

The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff or administration of Apolyton CS.

About a year ago, I bought a sound card/CD-ROM drive package. It came with a number of software packages including several games. I tried each of those games in turn for a few minutes and decided while they were somewhat interesting, I might have been better off buying a CD-ROM drive, without the software.


A few months later, I was bored and didn't have anything to do (except for mowing the lawn, changing the oil in the car, painting the house or something like that) and decided to dust off one of those old games. It was early on a Saturday morning when I started playing. The first few minutes of the game dragged by. I kept thinking: "This game is dumb. It's stupid. It's boring." Then my wife asked me what I wanted for dinner. Somehow while playing this game, I lost a day of my life. It wasn't the last.

The name of the game is SID MEIER'S CIVILIZATION. Over the next month or so, I bought first one and then another book to gain some insight on the game and to for some strategy tips. I found the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document on Usenet, and found some utilities and other sorts of information from several anonymous FTP sites. My wife also became hooked (thank god we had two computers) and spent uncounted hours playing the game. While I don't claim to be an expert on this game, I developed a strategy that would let me consistently conquer the world or colonize the nearest star.

To simplify the presentation of this strategy, I have broken it into eight different ages: The Bronze Age, The Gunpowder Age, The Age of Trade, The Age of Banking and Commerce, The Automotive Age, The Age of Flight, The Space Age and The Future Age. During each age, the primary focus is to achieve a relatively specific set of goals. The goals are usually defined in terms of acquiring either the ability to build a specific type of unit, wonder or technology advance, or taking a specific course of action, such as exploring or waging war.

As I write this article, I am playing a game using this strategy. Each age is presented as a series of times and dates. The time and date listed is the total time spent playing the game with the game's date at that time. The events and discussions included are based on the actual game I'm playing. Since this game will take a long (and I do mean long) time to play, giving a step by step walkthrough is impractical. Even if it were practical, many of the events that happen in this game are randomly generated, therefore it is impossible to play two identical games. Don't read this article and expect to win every game simply by following the strategy listed here. Consider this strategy a high level plan with many details to be filled in as the game progresses. Reading and understanding the manual is a necessity and from time to time I'll point out specific topics that you may want to review. You may also wish to study some of the other references listed at the end of this article. While this strategy has worked for me, it is not the ultimate strategy for this game. It won't generate a record number of points and won't let you conquer the world in the shortest amount of time. It will however let you successfully complete the game and have a lot of fun while doing it.

THE BRONZE AGE

Time: 00:00 - before the dawn of time

Let's start the game. Choose the EARTH. Choose CHIEFTAIN as the difficulty level (so I'm a wimp). Choose 7 CIVILIZATIONS as the level of competition (well maybe not a total wimp). Choose the AMERICANS as your tribe. Then sit back and watch the world be created.

By choosing to play as the Americans on Earth, you have a basis for a repeatable game. You can play this scenario multiple times with different strategies and have a basis for comparison. Choosing 7 civilizations makes the game much more interesting, while not really increasing the overall difficulty. While I've used this strategy successfully at higher levels of difficulty (and this shows up in the order chosen for the discoveries), playing at the chieftain level allows you to make mistakes and correct them without the problems that they would bring at the higher levels.

There are usually only two tribes in the western hemisphere, the Americans and the Aztecs. The rest are scattered over Europe, Asia and Africa. Choosing either the Aztecs or the Americans minimizes the risk that your budding civilization can be conquered before it is ready to defend itself. Choosing one of the other tribes involves more risk since it is possible to travel between Europe, Asia and Africa without traveling by ship. Choosing the Americans over the Aztecs gives you access to the richer resources of North America, however you must be careful since the Aztecs are one of the most aggressive tribes on the planet.

Time: 00:02 - 4,000 BC

The game starts out in the year 4,000 BC. There are 50 shields in the treasury, one settler unit and the following advances: Irrigation, Mining, and Roads. Depending upon the roll of the dice you may get a couple of other advances as well.

Before doing anything else, select OPTIONS from the GAME menu and turn off the INSTANT ADVICE. I do this for three reasons: 1) it often gives conflicting and inaccurate advice; 2) it can crash some older versions of the game (like mine); and 3) it really annoys the heck out of me.

Even though I haven't built any cities yet, I usually take the time now to change the tax rate. By default, the output of all of your cities can be split between Taxes, Science and Luxuries. Since there are already 50 shields in the treasury, all resources should be devoted to science. This allows a civilization to gain technology faster in the early years when it's needed the most. Later in the game, these numbers will need to be readjusted and I'll discuss this subject in more detail then. For now it's sufficient to understand that allocating all available resources to science permits the fastest method to discover new advances.

For the first, last, and only time I'm going to give you a specific movement for a unit. Move the settler unit one square to the right (east). This takes twenty years and one turn, but will permit building a city on a better site than the one you are currently on. This will significantly improve productivity and is well worth the time spent.

Time: 00:03 - 3,980 BC

Build a city. Since we're playing the Americans, the computer will suggest a city name of Washington D.C. I used to rename the city to X01 and then when I built the next city, I would use X02 as its name. I did that to allow me to keep better track of my cities. Since the goal in this strategy is to conquer the entire world, this isn't important since eventually all cities will belong to you.

It is also time to give the city its first assignment: build more settlers. Settlers should take 20 turns to build. If you had built the city on the first square, it would have taken 40 turns to build them (unless you reallocated resources, which I'll discuss later). During this time the city is defenseless. Since there is only three minutes invested in the game at this point and the nearest neighbor is on the next continent (we hope) we shouldn't have a lot to worry about. If by some chance your city does get conquered, just start over. One of the keys to winning this game is to create as many cities as soon as possible.

Time: 00:04 - 3,940 BC

About this time the Science Advisor will pop up and ask you which discovery your civilization should be working on. The underlying philosophy behind the strategy presented here is to develop the most critical advances as quickly as possible in order to be the most technologically advanced civilization on the planet. The Bronze Age consists of the following discoveries: Bronze Working, The Wheel, The Alphabet, Masonry, Mathematics, Writing, Ceremonial Burial, Mysticism, Pottery, and Currency. Each should be worked on in the order listed. If you are lucky, you may already have one or more of these discoveries. In that case, simply go on to the next discovery in the list.

Assuming that you were given the same three advances I was: Irrigation, Mining and Roads (the three basic discoveries are always given) choose Bronze Working. When Bronze Working is discovered, your civilization will be permitted to build a Phalanx. This is the best type of defense in the early stages of the game. Musketeers are better, but they are a long way off (at the end of the Gunpowder Age). A Phalanx unit has an offensive strength of 1, a defensive strength of 2, and a movement value of 1.

The Wheel permits building Chariots, which have an offensive strength of 4, a defensive strength of 1, and a movement value of 2. This is best explorer/attack piece until Armor becomes available. (From now on, I'll use the same notation used in the manual: Chariot (4-1-2)). The Alphabet, Masonry, and Mathematics together permit building the Catapult (6-1-1). This is the best heavy attack weapon available until the Cannon arrives. I'll discuss the rest of the Bronze Age discoveries a little later.

Three discoveries should be ignored during the early part of the game (sometimes through the entire game - depending upon how long you play): Horseback Riding, Feudalism, and Chivalry. Horseback Riding permits you to build a Cavalry unit (2-1-2). While Cavalry is cheaper than Chariots (20 resource units verses 40), I believe that the lower offensive strength makes them much less desirable. Discovering Feudalism doesn't permit any new units, it merely permits working on the discovery of Chivalry. Chivalry permits you to build Knights (4-2-2). Since Knights and Chariots both cost 40 resources, the extra defense point isn't worth it. Remember that working on these three discoveries will also delay working on more important discoveries. It also should be noted that no Wonders of the World depend on any of these discoveries.

Time: 00:05 - 3,600 BC

During this period of time, you're waiting on the city to finish building a new group of settlers and finish discovering the advance you are working on. If you complete a discovery, select the next one on the list. You will continue this process for rest of the game.

It is also possible that during this time you may receive a traveler report saying that one civilization was destroyed by another. During the very early stages of the game, it is very easy to destroy a civilization that consists of a single unit of settlers or a single defenseless city. This happens quite frequently in Europe, Africa or Asia where it is possible for settler units to run into each other. This is why I said that choosing 7 civilizations wasn't that much more difficult than 3. By the time you're ready to go on the offensive, there may only be three or four other civilizations to worry about.

You may want to click on the city from time to time to check on its progress on building the new group of settlers. You may also notice that the city moves from a level 1 city to a level 2 city. When this happens, the population of your city just increased from 10,000 people to 30,000 people.

Time: 00:07 - 3,580 BC

Twenty turns has passed since I've built my first city. The defense minister pops up to tell you that "Washington build's settlers". You now have a new Settler unit ready for movement. For the time being, continue to let the city build Settler units.

Now it's time to do a little exploring. I suggest you move the unit northward, however the exact direction isn't important. You want to move the unit at least 4 or 5 squares from the current city. Since a settler unit can move one square per turn, this will take four or more turns depending upon if you move straight or diagonally. It is not important at this stage of the game to keep your cities this far apart, however it will become important. A city is located in the center of a 5 by 5 grid. Resources can be used from any of the squares inside the grid. By locating a city five squares apart, you'll reduce the potential for overlap.

While exploring, avoid any ancient civilization that you may find. You're not ready to disrupt them, since there is a significant chance that they turn and attack you. Remember those undefended cities - they're vulnerable to anything and so is your settler unit.

Time: 00:09 - 3,500 BC

Some care should be used when selecting a site on which to build your city. Where you build the city determines many of its abilities. Building a city near a river is much more desirable than building a city on the desert. Under ideal conditions you want to build a city on and near squares that have special resources, like game or coal. Take some time to review the terrain chart in the manual and study some of the area surrounding the city you have already built.

Time: 00:12 - 3,300 BC

Washington has built its second group of settlers. While it's important to build as many settlers as possible, this must be balanced with defending the city. In this age, I usually build two settler units then build a Phalanx unit to defend the city. Since I sent that last settler unit north, I'm going to send the new unit west.

Time: 00:14 - 3,180 BC

It looks like I must be doing something right, since the people of my civilization believe that my hovel of palace should be renovated and expanded. This will happen to you throughout the rest of the game and is another indicator that of how well you're doing.

The second group of settlers built by Washington has crossed the Mississippi River and built my third city. As with the previous two cities, I'm going to build more settlers and send them out to explore and create more cities. Rather than spend time and record when and where each city is built, I'm going to discuss what happens with Washington. You should assume that I'm doing the same thing with the other cities.

Time: 00:15 - 3,160 BC

Washington has built a Phalanx unit. I'm going to fortify this unit and start building a chariot unit. By fortifying the Phalanx unit, its defensive strength is increased by 50%.

Time: 00:17 - 3,060 BC

Once your Scientific Advisor tells you that Mathematics has been discovered, you should choose Writing, Ceremonial Burial, Mysticism, Pottery and Currency in that order. After Currency has been discovered, the Bronze Age is over and the Gunpowder Age will begin.

Writing allows you to build Diplomats. Diplomats are non-military pieces that cannot attack other pieces. They are, however, very good at establishing embassies and stealing technologies from other civilizations. You may not need Diplomats yet, but you will in the near future.

Ceremonial Burial allows you to build Temples. Playing at the Chieftain level, Temples are not critical this early in the game. However, on higher levels of competition, Temples are essential for any city above level 3.

Mysticism permits you to build the Oracle Wonder. Since the Oracle Wonder doubles the effect of Temples - it's not critical at this time for this level of competition. At higher levels this wonder is very important and should be built as soon as needed.

Pottery permits you to build Granaries. Cities grow by storing excess food into the food box. When the food box fills, the city expands to the next level and the food box is emptied. Granaries speed up city growth by reserving one half of the food box. Thus only one half of the food is required to grow the city to the next level compared to a city without a Granary.

Currency permits you to build Marketplaces. A marketplace will improve a city's productivity by 50 percent. This means that the time to build units and improvements will decrease by one third.

Time: 00:18 - 3,000 BC

After 50 turns, Civilization pauses for a moment to do a copy protection check. Until this time you can't save a game. After the check, the Civilization will automatically save the current game (if the Autosave option is set). At this point, I usually do an assessment of the mistakes I've made and decide whether or not to continue.

Time: 00:21 - 2,880 BC

Washington builds its first unit of Chariots. While I'm going to send this unit southwest towards Mexico, I'm going to take some time and explore a little bit along the way. Before I start exploring, I'm going to start building a Granary.

Time: 00:23 - 2,780 BC

On the way to Mexico, the Chariot encountered a member of the English. Since most of my cities are undefended, I choose to make peace with them to buy some time before I am ready to go on the offensive.

Time: 00:25 - 2,660 BC

The Chariot unit is now in Mexico and I've fortified the unit so that no other civilizations can come up from South America by land without my knowledge. Another option would be to put the unit on sentry duty, which will leave the unit in a standby state until a unit from another civilization moves next to it. At that point the unit will become active, thus alerting you to their presence.

Time: 00:29 - 2,560 BC

The Scientific Advisor just popped up to say that currency has been discovered, so the Bronze Age has come to an end. Choose Code of Laws to Start the Gunpowder Age and save your game.

At this point, I thought I'd summarize where my game stands, (since every game is slightly different, your mileage may vary.)

I've explored about 1/3 of the North American continent, built 5 cities (2 are at level 1, 2 are at level 2 and 1 is at level 3). I have two active settler units that are nearly ready to build more cities, one fortified Chariot unit that is blocking access between North and South America, and one fortified Phalanx unit defending my first city. I have 3 phalanx units, one settler unit, and a Granary under construction. I have found two ancient civilizations that remain untouched and have met the English civilization and made peace with them. Two other civilizations have been destroyed by other civilizations.

After saving the game, I chose the option to retire. My total population was 140,000 and a had a score of 9. This translated into a rating of 0. I hope we'll see some improvement over the next age.

Strategy Summary for The Bronze Age

Goals:
Discoveries:
For a new city:
Type of government:
Wonders of the World:
Action taken when meeting another civilization:

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THE GUNPOWDER AGE

Time: 00:31 - 2,560 BC

Unlike the last age where most of the discoveries were made to permit new units or city improvements, this age is focused on a single discovery: Gunpowder and a single unit: Musketeers. Musketeers (2/3/1) are the best defense unit until the Automotive Age and Riflemen. To get to Gunpowder, the following discoveries must be made: Code of Laws, Literacy, Construction, Engineering, Invention, Iron Working, and finally Gunpowder.

Code of Laws permits building a Courthouse in each city to reduce corruption. This isn't really necessary at this stage of the game, but it will be useful in the future. Literacy permits building the Great Library. Since the American's are the most advanced civilization, the two additional discoveries that we would get from our opponents are probably ones that we deliberately chose to ignore. The resources required to build this wonder are better off channeled into Chariots and Settlers.

The discovery of Construction brings with it the ability to build the Aqueduct. An Aqueduct is not needed until a city is ready to expand beyond level 10. Engineering and Invention are useful only to help bring about Invention. Discovering Iron Working, permits you to build Legions (3/1/1), but Legions aren't really that useful in the scheme of things. Chariots have better attack and movement abilities, but cost twice as much to create. If you find yourself in a situation where it is more important to have larger numbers of slower moving troops, you may want to consider building Legions. But not in this game. All of these discoveries lead to the ability to discover Gunpowder.

It's also time to take a few minutes and check on the progress of each city. It won't take long at this stage of the game, but it's time to develop a habit. Depending upon the how the game progresses, it may become necessary to modify the rules a little bit. If a city is not growing fast enough and the guidelines suggest that you should be building a temple, a settler may be more appropriate. It is also when building a Wonder of the World, that another city (or civilization) beats you to it. Without periodically checking each city, the output over a long period of time may be effectively wasted.

Time: 00:34 - 2,460 BC

Washington builds a Granary. For the first time, we have built something that will require maintenance. Each turn, one shield will be deducted from the treasury to support this granary. This will eventually cause a problem since all resources are diverted to science. Since the treasury has 50 shields, I'm not going to address this problem yet.

Also, Washington has grown to a level 4 city, with a population of 100,000. When it becomes a level 6 city, we are going to have a problem with the citizens becoming unhappy. At the chieftain level, the first six citizens are born content, the seventh citizen is born unhappy. After this, the government must take action to correct this problem. The easiest solution for now is to build a temple. This will make two unhappy citizens content.

Time: 00:39 - 2,260 BC

The temple that Washington started building 20 turns ago is now finished. In choosing the next thing to build, remember that filling up the food storage bin will cause the city to grow to the next level. Since Washington doesn't have a large surplus of food, I'm going to build some settlers to irrigate the land surrounding the city.

As previously discussed, the granary costs one shield per turn to operate. The treasury is now down to 34 shields. We're not yet out of money, however, something will need to be done shortly in order to generate some income.

Checking the list of discoveries shows that the Americans now have engineering and are very close to gunpowder. While each discovery takes more resources to complete, with seven cities working together, the discoveries are coming closer together. A number of cities have reached the stage where they are building Phalanx units. When Gunpowder is discovered, Musketeers become available. Rather than continue to invest resources in the Phalanx units, I'm going to change them to chariots. Later, I can change them to Musketeers

Time: 00:46 - 2,100 BC

One of the advisors just told me that funds are running low. I've got about 25 shields left in the treasury. Washington is still at level 4, but almost ready to become level 5. Since a temple is not required until the city reaches level 6, I'm going to sell the temple and start building another. Selling the temple will add 40 shields to the treasury and will permit me to continue to invest 100 percent of the resources generated each turn into science. At this stage of the game the discoveries are still most important.

The English have raised their heads again by sending and fortifying a phalanx unit near my fortified chariot unit. I'm going to send a second chariot unit to backup the first one just in case of trouble.

Time: 00:54 - 1,940 BC

I've finally got gunpowder. A message notified me that all old barracks are obsolete. Barracks are very good at improving the effectiveness of troops, however periodically they become obsolete. The first time is when Gunpowder is discovered and the next is when Combustion is discovered. Since we're not waging a military campaign at the moment, they're not necessary. They will become necessary later, when we're using Battleships and other military units to conquer the world.

With Gunpowder, the Americans have the ability to defend themselves and operate a moderately aggressive military campaign against the English in South America. Since we're about to start the Age of Trade, the next discovery is somewhat obvious, Trade.

As I did at the end of the previous age, I saved the game and retired. The total population is now 460,000 people, the score has increased to 25, but my rating is still 0%.

I've explored about 1/2 of the North American contestant, built 9 cities (2 are at level 1, 2 are at level 2 and 3 are at level 3 and two are at level 4). I have two fortified chariot units near South America. I have 6 cities building chariots, and one city (Washington) building a temple. No other civilizations have been destroyed during this age.

Strategy Summary for The Gunpowder Age

Goals:Discoveries:For a new city:For an existing city:Type of Government:Wonders of the World:
Action taken when meeting another civilization:

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THE AGE OF TRADE

Time: 00:59 - 1,940 BC

Trade is a very powerful tool for growing a civilization. In this age, we will begin to develop trade routes between the cities within our civilization and with other civilizations. The first step in this process is to discover Trade and begin to build Caravans.

After trade has been discovered, select Astronomy. Astronomy permits the building of Copernicus's Observatory, which will double knowledge production until the discovery of the automobile. Choosing Map Making after Astronomy permits us to build Triremes. Forget it. In a world with lots of land, the Triremes are useful, but on the Earth any ship that is restricted to two squares from land will have a difficult time crossing the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. Better ships will be available soon.

The next discovery should be Navigation which permits you to build Sail (1- 1-3) ships. These are much better than Trireme (1-0-3) since they don't get lost at sea if they are not next to land at the end of a turn. Physics is developed only to permit the development of the Steam Engine. Developing the Steam Engine permits you to build the ship I promised, the Ironclad (4-4-4). Use the Ironclads in combination with the Sail ships to transport Settlers, Caravans and Diplomats to other continents.

Now that we have the ability to cross the ocean, it's time to discover two more advances that will help unit movement inside a continent. First Bridge Building will allow settlers to build bridges across rivers. Then Railroads will allow building railroad tracks between cities. Together these discoveries permit a civilization to quickly move units from one place to another. This becomes very important when you need to defend your homeland against other civilizations or move other units to the front lines of a battle zone. You must be careful, however, since the enemy units may use your road and railroads against you.

Time: 01:01 - 1,920 BC

Washington has built a new settler unit. Rather than continue to use settlers to build some new cities, I'm going to use them to begin improving the land surrounding Washington. By irrigating or mining the land, and building roads to the nearest cities, I hope to increase the population of this city beyond level 4. In general, a larger city is more efficient and will work towards creating knowledge at a faster rate.

Time: 01:07 - 1,840 BC

The computer just displayed a graph listing the civilizations ranked by power. The Americans are first, followed by the English, Russians, Indians, Zulus, French and Aztecs. Note that the computer may restore some civilizations that were prematurely destroyed. It is tempting to test the strength of the English at this point in time since the list doesn't give any clue as to the relative strength of each civilization.

Trade has been discovered, so I'm changing the next settlers that Washington is building into a Caravan. I'm going to send it to the furtherest city on this contentment to see how much this trade route is worth.

Time: 1:09 - 1,800 BC

I've finished exploring North America and found several ancient cities. Now that all of the American cities have been secured using either a fortified Musketeer or Phalanx, it's time to begin attacking those ancient cities. During this turn, I attacked two different cities and was rewarded by finding metal deposits worth 50 shields and by discovering an ancient scroll of wisdom that gave me the advance of Monarchy. I wasn't planning to work on Monarchy for a while, but since it's free...

Time: 1:20 - 1,580 BC

Time to begin exploring South America. The English left several fortified units next to my fortified units. Since there isn't a way to get around them, it's time to start a war. Starting a war in Civilization is easy, simply move one of your units onto a square occupied by another civilization. If you're lucky, your unit will destroy the other unit (or units). If not, you better hope that your cities are well defended. Luckily, my Chariots were able to defeat the fortified Legions of the English.

Before it let me attack the English unit, my advisor asked if I wanted to break the treaty we had with the English. If I were a Democratic or Republic form of government, I would be forced to keep the treaty. This is probably the main reason for staying a Despot.

Time: 1:27 - 1,460 BC

I've just gained three more advances plus a new type military unit. Astronomy and Map Making by the industrious efforts of my brilliant citizens, and The Republic and a Cavalry unit by my mighty military conquering some ancient civilizations.

The same mighty military attacked the English city of London. After positioning four units next to the city, I decided to attack. The first Chariot unit reduced the city size from 4 to 3 and left defenseless. The second and third units reduced the city size to 1. The fourth unit attacked and destroyed the city. I received 16 gold piece for my efforts. I guess in the long run I would have been better off not destroying the city, but making peace. This way, I could have established a trade route from each of my cities to London. This would have generated a lot more revenue in the long run.

Time: 01:33 - 1,360 BC

The Caravan from Washington reached New Orleans, which is about 15 squares away. This trade route is worth zero shields per turn. Hardly worth the effort. I'm going to wait a little bit more before I build any more Caravans. If only I hadn't captured London.

Time to be introduced to the your first Civilization cheat. Remember the saved games. There's no rule prohibiting you from restoring the last game you saved and starting over again. In this case, I'd be out about half an hour's effort. Should you try this, you may want to note that there are still random factors that direct the game play. You might not get the two advances and money from those ancient cities and you may not defeat the English troops as easily. In general, I won't restore a saved game for mistakes like this. If I get wiped out late in the game I'd probably restore, especially if I'm trying for a new high score, largest city or other goal, otherwise I'd just start over.

Time: 01:44 - 1,200 BC

About half of South America has been explored. I've found the Aztec civilization. It consists of a single level 4 city called Tenochtitlan. I've surrounded it with fortified Chariots. The Aztecs attacked and destroyed one of the Chariots, but offered peace. Since I would like to have another civilization with which to trade, I'll work to keep this one around for a while (at least until I've established several trade routes, then I'll attack it.)

Time: 01:50 - 1,040 BC

A new message screen shows the Happiest civilizations. They are the Americans, the Zulus, the Indians, the French, the Russians and the Aztecs (I wonder why). Also, I was reminded that my funds are running low. On the previous turn, I had 62 shields. This turn I had 55. With seven granaries in seven cities each costing one shield per turn, I guess this makes sense. If I don't do something in the next 8 turns, I'll have a real problem on my hands.

I'm going to set the tax rate to 10% taxes, 90% science, and 0% luxuries and see how that works.

Time: 01:52 - 960 BC

The treasury is down to 24 shields. I'm going to reset the tax rate to 40% taxes, 60% science, and 0% luxuries. I'll keep it this way until I reach 75 to 100 shields in the treasury and then I'll readjust it.

Washington now has a population of 150,000 and is a level 5 city. It just finished building a Marketplace and I'd better start work on a Temple to keep the citizens happy.

Time: 02:04 - 900 BC

I've finished exploring South America. I've built a handful of Caravans and have a few more under construction with the goal of sending them to Tenochtitlan. The treasury is now growing. Philadelphia has built a caravan and has several settlers out working around the city. I'm going to build a temple even though the city is at level 3. When the temple is finished, I'll either sell it to raise money, or keep it if the city size justifies it.

Time: 02:10 - 860 BC

I just discovered Railroad, so it's time to start Philosophy and the next Age. After saving the game, I now have 34 shields in the treasury. Population is 890,000. I have 8 active settler units (which if I built cities would mean that my total population would be nearly one million. I often use the total population as a check on how well I'm doing. My target is to have a population of at least one million by 0 AD.)

I have the same nine cities that I had at the start of this age, however they are now much larger. There are three cities at level 5, two cities at level 4, and four cities at level 3. I have four temples, three caravans, and two settlers under construction. The military consists of two active Phalanx units, three fortified Phalanx units defending cities, six fortified Musketeers units defending cities, four fortified Chariot units and one fortified Cavalry unit surrounding Tenochtitlan. I also have five active caravan units on their way to South America.

The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan has dropped in size to level 3 and the English civilization was destroyed during this Age. All of North and South America were explored and all ancient civilizations have been removed. For all this effort, I was rewarded a total score of 39 and a 0% rating.

Strategy Summary for The Age of Trade

Goals:Discoveries:
For a new city:
For an existing city:
Type of Government:
Wonders of the World:
Action taken when meeting another civilization:

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The Age of Banking and Commerce

Time: 02:16 - 860 BC

This will be a relatively short age in terms of the number of discoveries made. This age is primarily a transition between developing the Age of Trade and the Automotive Age. The first discovery made is Philosophy. Like some other discoveries, this one has no direct value. It is discovered merely to gain other more important discoveries such as University and Religion.

After discovering Philosophy, focus your efforts on University. This permits building the city improvement, University, which helps increase knowledge production within a city. Religion permits building a Cathedral, which is important if a city is to grow beyond level 10. It also permits building J.S. Bach and Michelangelo's Chapel Wonders of the World.

The Republic is the first discovery that permits us to change to a more advanced government. We're not going to bother changing governments at this stage of the game. But we have the option in the future.

The final discovery for this age is Banking. This permits us to build a Bank in each city and permits us to discover Industrialization, the first step towards building the automobile.

Strategy Summary for The Age of Banking and Commerce

Goals:

Discoveries:
For a new city:

For an existing city:

Type of Government:

Wonders of the World:
Action taken when meeting another civilization:

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Strategy Summary for The Automotive Age

Goals:Discoveries:
For a new city:

For an existing city:

Type of Government:

Wonders of the World:

Action taken when meeting another civilization:

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Strategy Summary for The Age of Flight

Goals:
Discoveries:
For a new city:

For an existing city:

Type of Government:

Wonders of the World:

Action taken when meeting another civilization:

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Strategy Summary for The Space Age

Goals:
Discoveries:
For a new city:

For an existing city:

Type of Government:

Wonders of the World:

Action taken when meeting another civilization:

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Strategy Summary for The Future Age

Goals:
Discoveries:
For a new city:

For an existing city:

Type of Government:

Wonders of the World:

Action taken when meeting another civilization:

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Bibliography:

Civilization manual
Civilization or Rome on 640K a Day
Civilization Strategies & Secrets
Usenet FAQ for Civilization

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