User Guide

Where Barbarians Appear: They can land on any coastal square. There is
nothing you can do about this, so keep your cities defended. They can rise up in
any square outside of the radius of a city. As time goes by, they appear farther and
farther away from cities. The best defense against Barbarian uprisings is a blanket
of cities throughout the continent. If the radii of your cities cover enough of the
continent, the Barbarians have nowhere to spring from. Any Minor Tribe (the hut
symbols on the map) may turn into a Barbarian horde when you enter its square.
Sea Raiders: Barbarians who raid from the sea are looking for a city to capture.
They do not pillage, but instead attack your cities. Their ships may attack units
defending coastal cities.
Barbarian Uprisings: Barbarians who rise up in the interior cause destruction.
They pillage (destroy) any irrigation or mines that they encounter. These are the
most annoying of the Barbarians. They provide a strong incentive for expanding
throughout your continent because doing so eliminates the areas from which they
can rise up.
Barbarian Leader Ransoms: Most Barbarian hordes are accompanied by a leader
who looks like a Barbarian Diplomat unit. When a Barbarian leader is captured,
your civilization is paid a ransom of 100 coins. This can be a substantial sum early
in a game. To capture a Barbarian leader, wait until he is alone in a square and
attack him. If you win the attack, the leader is captured, earning the ransom.
Diplomacy
When you discover another civilization and move next to one of its cities or
units, emissaries from the other ruler appear and offer to talk. For now, agree to
meet with all kings you encounter.
Opposing civilizations may offer to trade technology. Again, for now, accept all
offers to trade. In other games at higher difficulty levels, there may be times when
you consider it wise not to trade technology.
As a beginning player, agree to peace with everyone. War may come to you
eventually, and you can break the peace when you wish if you think that is best.
In the meantime, concentrate first on growth and expansion.
If the opposing king demands technology or cash in tribute, consider the
position you are in. If his units are threatening to capture one or more of your
cities, pay what is demanded. A few hundred coins or a piece of technology is
A few general suggestions about expansion follow.
The Settlers Pipeline: Every city with a population of 2 or more should be
building a Settlers unit or be supporting one already. Keep pushing your Settlers
out to the frontier of your civilization to found new cities. As they push out,
spend some time connecting existing cities with roads, both for the increase in
trade and to make it easier for military units to move around your civilization. (A
Phalanx unit moves one square per turn without roads and three squares along
roads, for example.)
Phalanx Pipeline: Once you have acquired the Bronze Working advance,
upgrade the unit defending each of your cities to a veteran Phalanx. It may be
useful to have one city with a Barracks make several Phalanxes. New Phalanxes
can be marched to another city and make it their home (from the Orders menu
choose the option “Home City” when the unit is in the new city). Send out a
veteran Phalanx with a Settlers unit. When the Settlers found a new city, the
Phalanx can make the city its home and provide defense. The new city can begin
producing a Granary or Barracks right away and not build the weak Militia unit
for defense.
Militia Screen: Use Militia units to screen other civilizations from good city sites.
These Militia units may have been replaced for city defense by Phalanxes. Grab as
much territory as you can and place new cities behind your screen. Other
civilizations are going to attack you sooner or later, so build as fast as you can and
be prepared to go to war. Cities close to the frontier should build a Barracks and
be ready to switch over to making military units when war starts.
Basic City Defense: At the minimum, have one unit fortified in your cities. Cities
on the coast or interior frontiers should have two fortified defending units.
Connect your cities with roads and have a Chariot unit or two available to move
quickly to any threatened areas. Once you have acquired Masonry, City Walls are
available. However, they are expensive to maintain and shouldn’t be considered
until the city has a population of 5 or more and already possesses a Barracks,
Granary, and Temple.
Barbarians
After a few years have passed, Barbarians begin to appear. These are the red
units that can land from ships or rise up in uninhabited parts of the interior. They
can appear almost anywhere. Never leave cities undefended or the Barbarians may
walk right in and capture them. Barbarians are discussed in more detail later in
Chapter 3. For now, there are few things to know about them.
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CIVILIZATION
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CIVILIZATION
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