User Guide

of interesting decisions. (Still, we made one very small change
which made a big difference in worker management – by giving
them two moves, players could move the workers AND give them
an order on the same turn, helping decrease the amount of task
juggling.) In previous versions of Civ, worker options were most-
ly limited to farms or mines, increasing food or production.The
tedium came from the fact that there were only two choices – and
often one of them was the obvious best choice.
Therefore, we added a slew of new worker options.Workshops,
windmills, and watermills became new choices for increasing food,
production, or commerce depending on the local environment.
Cottages created an interesting option for commerce – over time,
they would grow into hamlets, then villages, and finally towns, with
each level producing more and more commerce.A number of new
improvements were created to match the resources, such as pastures
for cattle, plantations for silk, and wells for oil.
Another area of the game in which we drastically increased user
choice was the civic system, which replaces the old monolithic
governments. Instead of static choices, like despotism or republic,
the player can now select from a variety of options in five gener-
al categories. Free Trade or Environmentalism– Universal Suffrage
or Hereditary Rule– Theocracy or Freedom of Religion– This
system was obviously inspired by Alpha Centauri although we
wanted the choices to be more distinct this time around, encour-
aging unique playing styles. Representation, for example, gives
extra research for all specialists while Mercantilism provides a free
specialist in each city, which creates a powerful combination.
The tech tree layout was also drastically changed to increase
player choice.We dropped the distinct eras of Civ III, which often
hemmed in the player by limiting research options. Further, we
introduced “or” gates into the tree. All previous versions of the
game had used “and” gates exclusively (you must have Code of
Laws AND Philosophy to research the Republic). Civ IV allows
alternate paths via “or” gates (you only need Guilds OR
Education to research Gunpowder). This one change breathed
new life into the tech tree – each trip through it could be radical-
ly different.
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This development was exciting from a historical point of view as
well – Civilization is a game about alternative histories, yet too often
the tree mapped out only what did happen instead of what could
have happened. Does a civilization actually need Flight to discover
Rocketry, or could scientists simply be inspired by Artillery? Playing
a game of Civilization should inspire the imagination to consider the
alternative paths history could have taken, and the new, more open
tech tree explores many of these possibilities.
Speaking of alternative histories, the introduction of real world
religions to Civ IV created some other interesting possibilities.
What if the Aztecs founded Buddhism? What if Rome had not
adopted Christianity, helping to spread it in the classical age? What
if Judaism had developed a missionary tradition? For Civ IV,the
introduction of religion creates a new gameplay vector which
stands on its own while also interacting with the other systems. A
civilization with multiple religions can build multiple temples,
allowing extra priest specialists. A well-spread state religion could
enable a powerful army of holy warriors with the civic Theocracy
or a burst of building construction via Organized Religion.
Like many game systems that we have experimented with,
though, religion did not become fun until the player was given a
level of control over it. Our first attempt at modeling religion
involved a complicated, under-the-hood algorithm to model its
spread along trade routes from centers of devotion to new lands.
This system may have accurately shown how little control politi-
cal leaders often have over religious fervor, but it was frustrating
for players not to have a say in a system so important to the game.
Thus, we introduced the missionary unit, allowing players to
devote resources to spreading their religion throughout the world.
The most important reason to be proactive in the spread of reli-
gion is diplomacy. A problem that diplomacy suffered from in previ-
ous Civ games was a lack of motive – it often felt quite arbitrary that
one civilization might like you while another hated you. Religion
provides a useful back-story to give diplomatic dealings more logic.
Choosing a different state religion than your neighbor may lead to
animosity and possibly war. However, some well-placed missionaries
in their largest cities could sway their people to your own religion,
winning a long-term ally.
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