3850 B.C.

One of the aspects of Civ2 that have made it so enduring is the insanely addictive “one more turn” effect it seems to have on people. Once you get into a good game or scenario it can easily eat up days or weeks of your spare time. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, but if your happy then what the hell!

Another reason for the game’s popularity is that it is accessible for new players but has hidden depths for experienced ones to explore. Getting started is easy, even my seven year old daughter has had a go. I encouraged her to have a go as it is a good way to learn how mankind developed some of the base technologies like the Alphabet and Pottery and how this allowed them to develop up to the modern age. I have been playing for over a decade and I am still finding out new things about how the game works and coming up with new techniques.  There are players who’s goal is to ‘ace’ the game by squeezing as much out of it as they can to build space ships by the middle ages. Others prefer to play historical scenarios with set victory objectives.

My favourite mode of play is multiplayer. I love to pit my wits against human opponents, forge alliances and hatch plans. The most intense form of multiplayer game is the two player head-to-head game which really gets the brain working. I liken it to a colourful game of chess. I play my multiplayer games at the German website Civilization Forum or Civ Webring as I know it. These games are played in turn with each player save being posted in the scenario’s thread in the forum for the next player to download and play and so on… It is also possible to play simultaneously via a network, though I have not had very much experience of this yet.