Civilization IV - Gameplay

Gameplay

Civilization IV is a turn-based 4X game, in which the player leads a civilization from a small tribe to conquering the world over several centuries. Conquest can be done in at least four ways: diplomatically being declared the world's leader, using military to defeat all other civilizations, becoming technologically superior to the other players, or to win through expansion of the civilization's culture across the world. Additionally, the game scores each civilization based on a number of factors, and victory can be had if the player's civilization score far exceeds any other, or if at the end of a limited-turn game, the player has the highest score. The game can be played as a single player facing against one or more computer-controlled opponents, or through online multiplayer games alongside computer opponents.

At the onset of a game, the player determines how the world map will be generated, either loading a pre-defined scenario, or specifying a number of parameters, including player counter, climate, and landmass type, for a randomly-generated map. Players can then select one from 18 specific civilizations, or allow the game to select one for their randomly; these civilizations are loosely based on actual nations in mankind's history, and give the player a leader avatar, an initial set of technology, and unique units that that civilization can build. The player also can set the difficulty of the computer-controlled opponents prior to the game. When the game starts, the player and opponents are randomly located across the square grid map. Most of the map will remain dark to the player until they move units close enough to a space to see what is there, trade with other civilizations for their map, or acquire technology that reveals the map to them; further, the game uses a fog of war that unless the map space remains in sight of a player's units for that turn, the contents of that space are not shown. Each map space has a terrain type, such as plains, tundra, or desert, that affects what resources can be obtained from it, movement rate of units through it, and possible special resources that can be extracted from it.

Each turn, the player has the ability to move any units a number of spaces based on their movement rate and terrain, including attacking enemy units, instruct certain units to take specific actions, adjust the governing of each city they have settled, initiate diplomatic contacts, and review their current status. The player starts with a single military scouting unit and a settler unit, which is needed to found a city. As the player's civilization expands, they can found more cities and expand their military.