Home >> Computer Games

Directions for Sid Meier's Civilization 4

In order to master "Civilization IV," you'll have to get the basics right: planting your settlement, protecting your borders, building the right facilities and managing your populace. "Civilization IV" is a turn-based strategy game that begins with a town and ends in either a worldwide empire or eventual destruction at the hands of your many hostile neighbors. Along the way, you will need to learn how to defend against your enemies and work with your allies, all while creating an efficient civilization from the ground up.

Instructions

- 1
  Decide on what kind of city you want to build: Commerce, Production or Specialist. All cities will be a hybrid of these three types, but it's helpful to pick one to really focus on. The main goal of a Commerce City is to make your empire an economic powerhouse using research and financial centers. Or, your could go the production route, focusing on an industrial center that will allow you to crank out a strong military and build Wonders. Finally, you could focus on generating "Great People" - specialists who will generate science, commercial and cultural output, depending on what kind of specialist you choose.
- 2
  Look for a good place to start your city on the map. It should be built as far away as possible from other cities and near important resources and terrain such as hills and rivers for military purposes. Production cities in particular should be near hills and lots of resources like copper and stone. Commercial cities are better in areas with lots of grassland and forests with some hills, near valuable resources like gold and silver. Specialist civilizations are best in grassland near bodies of water and food resources in order to support lots of citizens.
- 3
  Focus on building cottages on flat tiles if you have settled on a commercial city and windmills on hills to provide commerce and food. Later, you will need to build mills and workshops to improve production, so leave tiles open for those. For a production city, build farms and production enhancements such as mills and workshops. A specialist city should focus on the food harvest, so have residents work on grassland farms.
- 4
  Build a granary, an aqueduct and a hospital in every city. A granary can help double the rate of growth in a city, and aqueducts and hospitals prevent health problems from cropping up. Build facilities such as marketplaces, temples and theaters if your populace is becoming unhappy.
- 5
  Manage your government in the "civics" window. Choose hereditary rule early in the game to keep residents happy, as you probably won't have enough money to build luxuries such as theaters yet. It's also useful during war to calm the residents of a conquered city. Only use police state if you plan to crush a large nation and need to produce large armies. You can also choose a legal, economic, religious and labor system, each of which has its own benefits and drawbacks in terms of citizen happiness, production and other aspects of the game.

Computer Games