Civilization (video game): Difference between revisions

{{work|wppage=Civilization (series)}}

[[File:civ1.png|link=Screw the Rules, I Have Aa Nuke|frame|<small>Y'know, [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|if Gandhi were really pissed off]]</small>.]]

{{quote|''"I have discovered. I have led. I have conquered. I have inspired. I have [[Once an Episode|built a civilization to stand the test of time]]. [[Dare to Be Badass|What will your civilization stand for?]]"''|'''''Civilization V'' trailer'''}}

[[Civilization]] is a popular [[Four X|"4X"]] game developed by [[Sid Meier]]. The original game, seen by the World Video Game Hall of Fame as the [[Trope Codifier]] for the 4X genre, was developed in 1991, and there have been four [[Numbered Sequels|direct sequels]] ([[Mission Pack Sequel|all of which are sequentially improved refinements and updates on the basic concept]]), numerous expansion packs, and many spin-offs (''[[Sid MeiersMeier's Alpha Centauri]]'', ''[[Colonization]]'', ''[[In Name Only|Civilization: Call To Power]]''), as well as the much simplified ''Civilization Revolution'' for home consoles, the [[Nintendo DS]] and iPhone, and ''Civ World'' for [[Face BookFacebook]]. The game was originally inspired by a [[Board Games]], and has since [[Recursive Adaptation|spawned two others]]. Many polls and lists of the best computer games ever developed have, at various times, listed several of the games in the series, often at #1.

The general concept is that the player controls a civilization from the stone age through the present day into the space age. The first installments gave you two ways to win: conquering everyone, or [[Sid MeiersMeier's Alpha Centauri|sending a colony to Alpha Centauri]]. Later, three more conditions were added: get elected leader of the world by the [[United Nations]], controlling a dominant chunk of the planet (which kind of obsoletes the "conquer everyone" goal, which is probably why it was removed again later), or create a culture so influential that it engulfs everyone else's.

* [[Army of the Ages]]: the theme for ''Civilization IV: Warlord's'' box art.

** The Space Elevator in ''Civilization IV'' gives you a big boost to spaceship construction. Problem with it is that it's so frequently so expensive and requires a tech not needed for the spaceship that you're usually better off building another spaceship part in its place.

** The Great Colossus wonder in ''Civilization V'' used to be this. It had a nice benefit, but was lost once a certain, rather early, technology was discovered by any player. It was later patched to have a slightly different effect and not become obsolete.

* [[BFS]]:

* [[Chaos Architecture]]: In ''I'' through ''IV'', cities radically change their layouts over time as new buildings/wonders are added, often shifting around the existing wonders to make room. ''V'' makes it a little more realistic by only showing the city itself expanding without being close enough to see the actual buildings, and wonders remain in one place for the entire game. ''VI'' meanwhile goes further and introduces specialized districts that can be built separate from the main city.

* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: [[Catherine the Great|Catherine]] in ''Civilization IV'' has a unique aspect programedprogrammed into her AI that she is the ''only'' leader willing to attack a friendly if the player bribes her.

* [[The Computer Is Your Friend]]: The [[Master Computer|AI Entity]] in ''Call To Power'' allows you to run your civilization with absolute efficiency... until it [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|rebels against you]].

* [[The Cover Changes the Meaning]]: In ''Civilization V'', every leader has a theme based on a well known folk tune from his or her respective culture ("America The Beautiful" for Washington, "I Vow To Thee My Country" for [[Elizabeth I (miniseries)|Elizabeth I]], etc.) There are two arrangements for each tune - one for when you are at peace with the civ and one for wartime. The wartime tunes often change a decidedly pleasant and uplifting tune into something sinister.

* [[Cultured Badass]] and [[War for Fun Andand Profit]]: The Honor tree post 1.4.X, adopting it would give a culture bonus similar bonus to what Montezuma's special ability gives (and stacks with the former's ability doubling the culture output) and finishing it would allow you to earn money for killing enemy units, making [[War for Fun Andand Profit]] a viable tactic for fighting oriented Civs like Germany, Japan, the Aztecs and the like.

* [[Cutscene]]: The Wonders get them. In ''Civilization II'' these [[Full Motion Video|were made of]] [[Stock Footage]], later games have renders.

{{quote| ''This form of government was quite popular in [[Those Wacky Nazis|certain states in Central Europe]] during the last century but other states didn't much like it, and it was ultimately abandoned after some unpleasantness.''}}

* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: In ''Civ V'', Harald Bluetooth and the Denmark faction are available as a DLC faction, but interestingly glimpses of a Viking-type faction can be seen in the opening cinematics.

* [[Everyone Is Bi]]: Leaders who flirt with the player at high relation do so regardless of the gender of the leader selected by the player. Catherine the Great in ''Civilization IV'' is particularly notorious.

{{quote| '''Catherine''' ''We were defeated, so this makes me your slave. [[Fetish Fuel|I suppose there are worse fates]].''}}

* [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears]]: Bears are the greatest menace to early explorers in ''Civilization IV''... at least until the roving barbarians get their hands on [[It Got Worse|bronze weaponry]].

* [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]: The aforementioned Giant Death Robot. Yes, that's the official name.

* [[Fan Service]]: ''Civilization V'''s leaders of either gender. Among the males we have Ramkamhaeng, Montezuma, and [[Downloadable Content|Kamehameha]], all of whom are [[Walking Shirtless Scene|basically shirtless]], while among the women we have Catherine the Great, whose [[Pimped-Out Dress]] has an [[Impossibly Low Neckline]].

** There still is "We Love the King/President/Leader Day".

* [[Hollywood Global Warming]]: Better watch that pollution, or your cities will sink! More recent games have backed off on this and will instead occasionally alter a terrain square to an inferior type, such as grasslands to deserts.

** ''Call To Power'', which continued much further into the future than a normal ''Civilization'' title, took this concept to its logical conclusion. The problem got much, much worse before ultimately getting better through the use of advanced technology (and, possibly, ecoterrorism). Of course, by that point, the majority of your population will have likely already relocated to undersea cities and/or space, rendering the point somewhat moot.

* [[Hollywood History]]: There has not been a single game where Roman Legionaries or the Kremlin have been properly depicted.

* [[Humans Are White]]: With the exception of special units, all units in ''Civilization III'' and ''IV'' are white. However, the ''Beyond the Sword'' expansion for ''Civilization IV'' added different skin sets for different civilizations (Mali has black swordsmen, etc).

* [[Humongous Mecha]]: ''Civilization V'' features the "[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Giant Death Robot]]", which can only be acquired in the late game and is a way to cement your [[Curb Stomp Battle]] victory.

* [[Inferred Holocaust]]:

* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha]]: ''Civilization 5V''{{'}}s Giant Death Robot (yes, it's actually called that.)

** Or, more egregiously, by cultural victory. In ''Civ IV'', for example, you win instantly for getting your third city up to legendary culture, regardless of whether it's in the process of being destroyed.

** Domination was taken out, and ''Revolution'' added Economic: Have 200,000 gold and build the World Bank wonder. Sadly this was not included in 5.

* [[My Rules Are Not Your Rules]]: When playing on the higher difficulty levels in ''Civ V'', the AI doesn't actually get smarter but instead relies on simply ignoring the game rules that limit the player's own success to do as it pleases.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Giant Death Robot in ''Civ V.''

* [[Narrator]]: In more recent games, they've had most of their descriptive text be read aloud, following in the footsteps of ''[[Sid MeiersMeier's Alpha Centauri]]''. Though in this case, they only have one person doing the job:

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: In ''Revolution'', the modern era diplomacy advisor is clearly modeledmodelled on Condoleeza Rice.

* [[No Swastikas]]: The Third Reich is conspicuous in its near-total absence, although there is one quote from [[Adolf Hitler]] for ''IV''{{'}}s Fascism tech, and Erwin Rommel is featured as a Great General in ''Warlords'' (though Rommel wasn't actually a Nazi). The strange people who yearn for Hitler's inclusion in the series tend to note that [[Josef Stalin|Stalin]] and [[Mao Ze DongZedong|Mao]], who were just as nasty if not quite as infamous, are playable leaders (though [[Banned in China|no country with paying customers will ban the game because of them]]).

* [[Not Even Bothering Withwith the Accent]]:

* [[Nuke'Em]]: Across all the games, nuclear weapons are by far the most devastating weapon it's possible to build (but see [[One-Hit Kill]] below). Using them, however, is something of a [[Moral Event Horizon]] as far as the game is concerned, causing all AI players to declare war with you automatically and leaving horrendous pollution behind, beginning a catastrophic period of [[Hollywood Global Warming]]. Interestingly, in ''IV'' you can get the [[United Nations|UN]] to sign a nonproliferation treaty banning the building (but not use) of nuclear weapons, and an advanced player can sometimes do this after building his own nukes, [[Manipulative Bastard|leaving himself the sole nuclear armed power in the game]].

** That cutscene is inspired by, and [[Suspiciously Similar Song|borrows the music from]], ''[[Akira (Manga)|Akira]]''. That says everything you need to know right there.

** Its method of operation, on the other hand, is a [[Homage|direct tribute]] to the [[Star Trek II: theThe Wrath of Khan (Film)|Genesis Device]].

* [[Opening Narration]]: In the first game, this was used to cover the [[Loads and Loads of Loading]]. In the fourth game, it was brought back as a tribute... And recited by [[Leonard Nimoy]]! ''V'' has [[Gargoyles (Animation)|Xanatos' dad]] doing the opening narrations as well as the quotes for when you research something.

* [[Puppet State]]:

** In one of the Expansion Packs for ''Civilization IV'', any sufficiently powerful civ can make any sufficiently weak civ into their vassal state. If the vassal grows powerful enough (there are exact numbers), it can regain independence.

** In ''Civ 5'', you can't make an entire civ into one, but when you conquer an enemy city you have the option between annexing it (which simply makes it on of your civ's cities, but generates a lot of unhappiness until a courthouse is built) or making it a puppet (which gives all the science, culture, and gold it generates to your civ, but you cannot control its production, for either buildings or units).

*** Puppeted towns are also automatically set to focus on gold production, making them fairly useless for any other purpose.

** ''Civilization V'' uses this for city state requests. Especially when they ask for a certain resource or want another city state eliminated. ''Brave New World'' meanwhile brings back certain elements from ''IV'' in terms of random events.

* [[Randomly Generated Levels]]: In general, the games offer a variety of randomly generated maps, in addition to preset ones.

* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Aa Nuke]]: Invoked by the leaders before the negotiations in the first two games: "Our words are backed with NUCLEAR WEAPONS!"

* [[Shout-Out]]: Many.

** The picture for "The Internet" world wonder is Al Gore.

** Some of the leaders' quotes are movie references ([[Die Hard (Film)|"Now I have a machinegunner. Ho ho ho."]]).

** ''III'' will ask for confirmation when you change government types: "[[The Beatles (Musicband)|You say you want a revolution?]]" Your choices are "you know it's gonna be alright," and "you can count me out!"

** The [[Cosmetic Award|achievements]] for ''Civilization V'' are almost entirely [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]]. [[Dr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog|"The World Is a Mess, and I Just Need to Rule It"]], [[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|"Ruler of the Twelve Colonies"]], [[Doctor Who|"Exterminate! Exterminate!"]]...the list goes on. [[Pokémon (Franchise)|And on.]] [[Star Trek (Franchise)|And on.]] [[Daft Punk (Music)|And on.]] [[The Lonely Island|And on.]] [[LOLcats|And on.]] [[Back to Thethe Future (Filmfilm)|And on.]] [[Altum Videtur|And on.]] [[Overly Long Gag|And on.]] [http://wwwcivilization.gamespotwikia.com/pcwiki/strategy/civilizationv/achievements.htmlSteam_achievements_in_Civ5 Here's] a list.]

* [[Shown Their Work]]: ''Rhye's and Fall of Civilization'', a historical simulator for ''the entire world'', is ridiculously detailed, with pretty much every tile named after a city that really exists there, [[Istanbul (Not Constantinople)|and they change according to the controlling CivCi]]v. It's a [[Game Mod]], not something made by the developers, although one that usually gets included as a bonus in expansion packs for the game.

** The Tech quote for "Machinery" in ''IV'' is "[[Deus Ex Machina|A god from the machine]]."

* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]: In ''Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword'' the ordinary spy at earlier ages is a woman disguised as a shepherd with a fake beard. When the age advances she drops the act and dons a [[Spy Catsuit]].

* [[Symbology Research Failure]]: The Kremlin world wonder... [[Running Gag|is actually]] [[wikipedia:Saint Basilchr(27)Basil's Cathedral|St. Basil's Cathedral]]. By ''V'', this has become a running gag since the wonder portrait that pops up when you build the Kremlin depicts the actual Kremlin, while the wonder still looks like a cathedral on the world map.

* [[Tech Tree]]: Generally containing upwards of 80 technologies. Of course, it does take 6,000 years to climb to the top of it. In later games, there's generally enough flexibility to pursue certain tech paths far ahead of their historical equivalents.

* [[Video Game Caring Potential]]: [[Hundred-Percent100% Adoration Rating|"We Love The King Day celebrated in <city name>."]]

* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: Poison your neighbors' water supplies! Bomb farmlands and cause the starving deaths of millions! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWzMeLdU6FA Nuke Gandhi!]

* [[Video Game Remake]]: Not any of the games themselves, but various scenarios from the games are updated versions of earlier scenarios--for instance, the Mongol conquests DLC scenario from ''V'' is an improved version of the one in ''IV: Warlords''. In addition, ''Civilization IV: Colonization'' is a direct remake of the original ''[[Sid Meiers Colonization]]''.

* [[We Will Have Perfect Health in Thethe Future]]: One of the wonders in ''Call To Power'' is an immunity chip.

* [[War for Fun Andand Profit]]: Something that the A.I. civilizations invoke in ''Civ V''. They will declare war against another civilization that they have military parity with, then rather than pour all their resources into beating down that civ, they will just fight it to a stalemate. After getting bored of this, it will then propose a peace treaty, with terms highly favorable to themselves and costly to the other civilization. In doing so, it gets to loose some of the military units it has been paying maintenance on, and get some nice access to luxury and strategic resources, and a fair amount of money to boot.

** The Greek theme, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kpVrmRkPWk Epitaph of Seikilos,] is the single oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition from anywhere in the world and is roughly 2000 years old. The song was found carved on a tombstone by Seikilos to his (presumed) wife Euterpe. For a more accurate version, try [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xERitvFYpAk here.] It also makes a return as the Greek theme for ''VI''.

{{quote| "It may surprise you to learn that cities cannot be built at sea."}}

{{quote| "Ships cannot be airlifted, silly."}}

** ''Call to Power 2'''s "Nuclear Detente" is the ''[[Star Trek: the Original Series (TV)|Star Trek theThe Original Series]]'' episode [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/A_Taste_of_Armageddon_(episode) A Taste of Armageddon] {{smallcapssmall-caps|[[In Space|on a planet]]}}, complete with names.

* [[Writer Onon Board]]: Some of the Civics descriptions in ''Civilization IV'' are a bit ... odd. The one for Pacifism basically denounces it as hypocrisy. [[Democracy Is Bad|And guess what the one about Universal suffrage says]].

* [[Zeppelins Fromfrom Another World]]: Zeppelins are unlocked by the late-mid-game tech "physics", while heavier than air ships are unlocked latter via "flight" tech (not ''that'' far after physics, but some turns worth). Depending on the games tech progress, these might not go out of style for a long time. Unit wise, Airships can only bomb ground and sea units for a bit of damage, which is helpful given how strong garrisoned units can be, though it's not much damage (only able to reduce them to 80% of their max HP), and have no counters (short of taking the city they are based in) before "flight" (and if only ''you'' have that...).

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