Sid Meier's Civilization II

About Sid Meier's Civilization II

Sid Meier's Civilization II (1996) is MicroProse's turn-based strategy sequel in which a tribe founded in 4000 BC grows into a civilisation that wins by conquest, by reaching Alpha Centauri or by surviving to 2020.

Sid Meier's Civilization II in Depth

Players choose one of 21 historical civilisations, from the Americans, Aztecs and Babylonians to the Vikings and Zulus, or name their own, and compete against computer-controlled rivals, with barbarians as a further threat. The map is made of tiles with varied terrain, special resources and improvements such as irrigation, generated randomly to the player's specifications or pre-made. Starting in 4000 BC with a few units, including settlers to found the first cities, players explore the unknown world, and cities harvest food, trade and production from nearby tiles to build units, improvements and wonders of the world. Units, like chess pieces, mirror historical soldiers and occupations.

Once civilisations meet they open diplomatic relations, and in war one can conquer another's cities, eliminating a player who loses them all. Research is central, with advances grouped by era from ancient to modern. Victory comes from conquering every rival, launching a spaceship that reaches Alpha Centauri, or surviving until 2020 AD, after which a score is calculated. Compared with the original it adds and changes units, civilisations, wonders, tile specials and technologies, introduces diplomatic reputation and production waste, switches to an isometric map and improves the computer opponents. It also supports mods and scenarios that recreate historical, fictional and other situations.

Making Sid Meier's Civilization II

Brian Reynolds, Douglas Caspian-Kaufman and Jeff Briggs designed it; asked about Sid Meier's involvement, Reynolds said, "We sat down and brainstormed about it and hashed out ideas, that's about it." Meier said the original "greatly favored the military approach to achieving victory" and the balance was adjusted to make trade and diplomacy more integral. Released in 1996, it was second on PC Data's chart for April and the fifth best-selling US computer game of the year, passing its predecessor's 850,000 sales by August 1997 and reaching 1.2 million by April 1998. It won numerous awards and appears on many lists of the best games of all time. Activision ported it to the PlayStation, and Civilization III followed.