Editing Civilization (video game) (section)

==Gameplay==
[[File:CivilizationAmigaAGA.png|thumb|left|A world map screenshot from the [[Amiga]] version of ''Civilization'']]

''Civilization'' is a turn-based single-player strategy game. The player takes on the role of the ruler of a [[civilization]], starting with one (or occasionally two) settler units, and attempts to build an [[empire]] in competition with two to seven other civilizations. The following civilizations appear in the game: [[Americans]], [[Aztecs]], [[Babylonia|Babylonians]], [[Chinese people|Chinese]], [[Egyptians]], [[English people|English]], [[French people|French]], [[Germans]], [[Greeks]], [[Indian people|Indians]], [[Mongols]], [[Roman people|Romans]], [[Russians]] and [[Zulu people|Zulus]].

The game requires a fair amount of [[micromanagement (gameplay)|micromanagement]] (although less than other [[simulation game]]s).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civfanatics.com/civ1/manual/civ1_man.htm#2a |title=Civilization manual at Civ Fanatics |publisher=Civfanatics.com |access-date=November 6, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708184142/http://www.civfanatics.com/civ1/manual/civ1_man.htm |archive-date=July 8, 2013 }}</ref> Along with the larger tasks of [[exploration]], [[warfare]] and [[diplomacy]], the player has to make decisions about where to build new cities, which improvements or units to build in each city, which advances in knowledge should be sought (and at what rate), and how to transform the land surrounding the cities for maximum benefit. From time to time the player's towns may be harassed by [[barbarian]]s, units with no specific nationality and no named leader. These threats only come from huts, unclaimed land or sea, so that over time and turns of exploration, there are fewer and fewer places from which barbarians will emanate.

Before the game begins, the player chooses which historical or current civilization to play. In contrast to later games in the ''Civilization'' series, this is largely a cosmetic choice, affecting titles, city names, musical heralds, and color. The choice does affect their starting position on the "Play on Earth" map, and thus different resources in one's initial cities, but has no effect on starting position when starting a random world game or a customized world game. The player's choice of civilization also prevents the computer from being able to play as that civilization or the other civilization of the same color, and since computer-controlled opponents display certain traits of their civilizations this affects gameplay as well. The [[Aztec]]s are both fiercely expansionist and generally extremely wealthy, for example. Other civilizations include the Americans, the [[Mongols]], and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]]. Each civilization is led by a famous historical figure, such as [[Mahatma Gandhi]] for India.

The scope of ''Civilization'' is larger than most other games. The game begins in [[4th millennium BC|4000 BC]], before the [[Bronze Age]], and can last through to AD 2100 (on the easiest setting) with [[Space Age]] and "future technologies". At the start of the game there are no cities anywhere in the world: the player controls one or two settler units, which can be used to found new cities in appropriate sites (and those cities may build other settler units, which can go out and found new cities, thus expanding the empire). Settlers can also alter terrain, build improvements such as mines and [[irrigation]], build roads to connect cities, and later in the game they can construct railroads which offer unlimited movement.

As time advances, new technologies are developed; these technologies are the primary way in which the game changes and grows. At the start, players choose from advances such as [[pottery]], the [[wheel]], and the [[alphabet]] to, near the end of the game, [[nuclear fission]] and [[spaceflight]]. Players can gain a large advantage if their civilization is the first to learn a particular technology (the secrets of flight, for example) and put it to use in a military or other context. Most advances give access to new units, city improvements or derivative technologies: for example, the [[chariot]] unit becomes available after the wheel is developed, and the [[granary]] building becomes available to build after pottery is developed. The whole system of advancements from beginning to end is called the [[technology tree]], or simply the Tech tree; this concept has been adopted in many other strategy games. Since only one tech may be "researched" at any given time, the order in which technologies are chosen makes a considerable difference in the outcome of the game and generally reflects the player's preferred style of gameplay.

Players can also build ''[[Wonders of the World]]'' in each of the epochs of the game, subject only to obtaining the prerequisite knowledge. These wonders are important achievements of society, science, culture and defense, ranging from the [[Egyptian pyramids|Pyramid]]s and the [[Great Wall of China|Great Wall]] in the Ancient age, to [[Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernicus' Observatory]] and [[Ferdinand Magellan|Magellan's Expedition]] in the middle period, up to the [[Apollo program]], the [[United Nations]], and the [[Manhattan Project]] in the modern era. Each wonder can only be built once in the world, and requires a lot of resources to build, far more than most other city buildings or units. Wonders provide unique benefits to the controlling civilization. For example, Magellan's Expedition increases the movement rate of naval units. Wonders typically affect either the city in which they are built (for example, the [[Colossus of Rhodes|Colossus]]), every city on the continent (for example, J.S. Bach's Cathedral), or the civilization as a whole (for example, [[Second voyage of HMS Beagle|Darwin's Voyage]]). Some wonders are made obsolete by new technologies.

The game can be won by conquering all other civilizations or by winning the [[space colonization|space race]] by reaching the star system of [[Alpha Centauri]].