User Guide

CITIES AND CIVILIZATIONS
Civilizations appeared when agriculture and technology developed to the point
where humankind could gather and live in cities. With only part of the population
needed to provide food for all, the rest could afford to specialize in the tool
making, trading, engineering, and managing that urbanization made possible.
Specialization improved efficiency and production. Cities encouraged a rapid
exchange of ideas. A teacher could reach many students at once, not just a few.
City residents cultivated the nearby fields, logged the forests, and gathered fish
from the rivers, returning each night with the results of their labor. This produce
and raw material was bartered in the city markets for the goods and services of
others. Charcoal from one area and iron ore from another might be taken to the
town smelter who made the iron that the blacksmith turned into tools.
But cities developed unique problems. As they
grew in size it became more difficult to provide
sufficient food from nearby farmland.
Overcrowding, menial jobs, and living
conditions often led to unrest among the poorer
citizens. Prosperous cities became tempting
targets for rival civilizations and barbarian
invaders. Cities and civilizations that developed
better management and new solutions to these
problems grew and prospered. Those that failed
have left their ruins around the world as
warnings.
In Civilization, as in history, a key step and a fundamental concept is the
founding and management of cities. The civilization that you are to rule begins as
a prehistoric wandering tribe that has just reached that critical point where it is
capable of building cities. The first step is to build one city and from there
expand. As your civilization grows, cities will spread over an entire continent, or
part of a continent, or over several islands and continents.
Each city acts as a giant processing plant for the food, resources, and trade of
the adjacent lands. The people of a city go out and work the nearby farmland,
mines, and forests, and the city converts the result of their labor into more
Astronomy
(Mysticism & Mathematics)
CopernicusÕ
Observatory
The past civilizations of Alexander the Great,
the Hittites, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, and
others all held pride of place on the world’s
stage at one time, but all eventually collapsed.
You are challenged in Civilization to build an
empire that stands the test of time. You may
succeed where your predecessors failed. If you
locate cities properly, build them soundly,
defend them aggressively, and neutralize the
danger from potential enemies, the descendants of your tribe may not only
survive, but lead the colonization of space.
Alphabet
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3
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CIVILIZATION
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CIVILIZATION
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