Games PC SID MEIER S-CIVILIZATION IV User Manual

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

IN THE BEGINNING 3

Introduction...................................................................4

The Civilopedia .............................................................6

System Requirements.....................................................7

Installation......................................................................8

The Tutorial ...................................................................9

Starting a Game .............................................................9

The Civilization IV Web Site ........................................16

Saving and Loading a Game .........................................17

Chapter 2

THE BASICS 21

Introduction.................................................................22

Civilization IV Turn Structure.......................................22

The Interface ...............................................................23

Terrain .........................................................................29

Units ............................................................................32

Combat........................................................................39

Cities............................................................................45

Cultural Borders...........................................................63

Technology ..................................................................65

Workers........................................................................71

Work Boats ..................................................................76

Religion.......................................................................77

Civics...........................................................................82

1

Great People.................................................................91

Golden Ages.................................................................94

Wonders.......................................................................95

Diplomacy ...................................................................99

Victory.......................................................................105

Chapter 3

ADVANCED RULES 107

Introduction ...............................................................108

Terrain .......................................................................108

Resources...................................................................112

Units ..........................................................................123

Cities..........................................................................146

Civilizations................................................................159

Difficulty Levels..........................................................166

The Options Screen ...................................................168

The Custom Game Screen .........................................169

Multiplayer Games......................................................172

Mods..........................................................................174

Afterwords..................................................................175

APPENDIX 189

Reference Charts........................................................190

Credits........................................................................216

Limited Software Warranty

and License Agreement...............................................221

Warranty ....................................................................223

Product Support.........................................................224

Chapter 1

in the

beginning

2

3

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Sid Meier's Civilization IV®, the game in which
you match wits against the greatest leaders of all time in a bat­tle of warfare, diplomacy, religion, commerce and technology.
If you fail you will be destroyed, your empire just a pathetic
and sad footnote in the annals of history. But if you succeed,
your glory will live on forever,and you will build a civilization
to stand the test of time!

Civilization IV is the latest iteration of Sid Meier's Civilization,
first released in the early 1990's. From its inception the
Civilization series has been acknowledged as the first and best
world history simulation, lauded for its incredible depth of play
and its extraordinary addictive nature.

We believe that Sid Meier’s Civilization IV lives up to the qual-
ity of its predecessors. Herein you'll find greatly-enhanced
graphics and sound, new technologies, units and other game
elements, improved multiplayer capacity, and increased “modd­ability” (gamer modifications).We hope you enjoy it!

NEW PLAYERS:
WELCOME TO CIVILIZATION IV!

In Civilization IV, you start with a tiny group of settlers in the
middle of a vast and unexplored world. From these humble
beginnings you will build a new city, creating workers to
improve the land, scouts to explore the world, settlers to build
new cities, and warriors to protect what's yours.

Soon you will meet other civilizations. Some you will coexist
with peacefully, trading goods, wealth, and even new advance­ments in technology. Others you will fight – perhaps to the
death!

A game of Civilization IV can span the entirety of human his­tory. You begin at the dawn of the Stone Age, your people
primitive hunter-gatherers armed with stone weapons and clad
in the skins of animals, on the verge of extinction from starva­tion, animal attack, or from the encroachment of hostile tribes.
It's your job to see to it that they prosper and grow: expand
their territory, build and mold mighty cities, discover new

technologies, found religions, dominate their neighbors, and so
forth.

Under your guidance your citizens will learn how to construct
tools and weapons of bronze and how to domesticate wild ani­mals. They'll learn how to read and write, how to sail on the
oceans, how to harvest metals from beneath the earth. Your
cities will begin to expand, filled with barracks, libraries and
temples.

Eventually your people will discover the compass, the printing
press, and gunpowder. Their railroads will cross the country,
while their mighty frigates dominate the world's oceans.
Eventually their military will battle with their neighbors not
with muskets and cannon,but with rifles, artillery,bombers and
battleships - and perhaps someday with tanks, stealth bombers
and nukes! By game's end they'll have achieved all of the won­ders of the 21st century – and more!

If they survive, that is.And that's up to you.

In fact, pretty much everything is up to you. Civilization IV is
a game of choices.There are always decisions to be made, rang­ing from grand strategy to day-to-day city-management. And
they’re all important. That’s one explanation for the game’s
addictive quality.You are in charge – not the computer.Your
civilization rises or falls according to your wisdom or folly.

It’s good to be ruler!

Good luck, and enjoy.

FANS OF PREVIOUS
CIVILIZATION TITLES:
WELCOME TO CIVILIZATION IV

We’ve made a lot of changes in this version of Civilization.In
addition to the dramatic improvements to the game's audio
and graphic components, we have added many cool new tech­nologies, units, buildings and wonders.We have improved and
expanded the ways you control your cities and government.We
have streamlined or removed many time-consuming elements
of the previous games, especially in less enjoyable areas like
pollution control and civil disorder.

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We have greatly enhanced Civilization IV’s multiplayer capaci-
ty by adding many new gameplay options and vastly improv­ing game stability and connectivity.We have programmed the
game using XML (Extensible Markup Language) and Python
(a scripting language), which allows for much easier game
modification.

The best way to find out what we’ve done to improve
Civilization IV is, of course, to play it. But if you dislike sur­prises, you can check out the “Comparisons with Previous
Civilization Games” section of the Civilization IV web site, at

www.CivIV.com

tains much of the information found in this manual, but organ­ized for easy reference.The Civilopedia contains entries on vir­tually every item and concept in the game, and each entry con­tains hyperlinks to other related entries, which allows you to
quickly navigate to the precise info you’re looking for.

The Civilopedia is accessible from the “Main Screen” or via
“hotkey” (see later in this manual). Use it early and often – it
will quickly make you a Civilization IV master!

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

ABOUT THIS MANUAL

This manual will tell you everything you need to know in
order to enjoy Civilization IV.The manual is divided into four
sections: In the Beginning, The Basics, Advanced Rules, and
Appendices, Charts, and Tables. The section you’re reading
now, “In the Beginning,” introduces the game to you. “The
Basics” contains everything you need to know to manage and
mold your civilization during the first millennia or so.
“Advanced Rules” contains additional game rules, while the
“Appendix” contains, well, the appendix.

Perhaps the best way to learn how to play Civilization IV is to
go through the in-game tutorial, read “The Basics,” and then
start playing.You can check out the “Advanced Rules” section
later on, if you find that you need more information. Of course
we know that many of you will dive into the game head-first,
counting on your native intelligence and gaming experience to
guide you, referring to this manual only as a last, desperate
resort. Hey, go for it! It’s your game, after all. But be warned:
the leaders of the other civilizations are tricky – especially at
higher difficulties – and they know all the rules.

THE CIVILOPEDIA

The Civilopedia is accessible by pressing [F12] or by clicking
the Help icon at the top right of the main screen.The
“Civilopedia” is an incredibly helpful in-game resource. It con-

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

1.2GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent

256MB RAM

64 MB Video Card w/ Hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon
7500 or better) DirectX7 compatible sound card

CD-ROM Drive

1.7GB of free hard drive space

DirectX9.0c (included)

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

1.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equiva­lent/better

512 MB RAM

128 MB Video Card w/ DirectX 8 support (pixel and vertex
shaders)

DirectX7 compatible sound card

CD-ROM Drive

1.7GB of free hard drive space

DirectX9.0c (included)

SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS

Windows 2000 (plus Service Pack 1 or higher),Windows XP
(Home or Professional) (plus Service Pack 1 or higher)

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7

INSTALLATION

THE TUTORIAL

Insert your Sid Meier’s Civilization IV Disc 1 CD-ROM (or
DVD ROM, no disc number) into your drive. On the setup
screen, [Click] Express Install for a default installation without
further prompting. Advanced users can choose Custom Install
to customize the installation path.

Civilization IV is a big game. To ease the learning curve, we
have provided a tutorial to teach you the basics of controlling
your empire. We seriously suggest that you check it out, espe­cially if you’re new to the world of Civilization.

WHAT’S IN THE TUTORIAL

The tutorial is designed to teach the novice to play Civilization
IV.The tutorial describes the interface, explains the basic con-

cepts in the game, and shows you what you need to do to win.
You’ll learn how to manipulate your forces and your cities, and
you’ll get some strategy tips as well.

HOW TO START THE TUTORIAL

You must first install Civilization IV onto your computer as
described in the previous section. Once the game is installed,
follow the instructions in “Starting a Game” (the next chapter),
until you reach the Main Menu. One of the buttons on the
Main Menu says,“Tutorial.” Click on this button to begin.

STARTING A GAME

To p l a y Sid Meier’s Civilization IV you must first install the
game on your computer’s hard drive. See page 8 for installa­tion instructions. Once Civilization IV is installed, you are
ready to play.

To begin a game,insert the Civilization IV Disc 2 CD or DVD­ROM into your computer’s CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
Then double-click on the Civilization IV icon on your
desktop,or navigate to the folder where you installed the game
and double-click on the program, which is titled
“Civilization4.exe”.The game should begin immediately. If it
does not do so, see the “Tech Support” section of this manual.

8

THE MAIN MENU

Once the opening sequence is complete, you will be at the
Main Menu screen. This screen gives you the following
options:

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Tutorial: Click on this button to begin the Civilization IV
tutorial. See the previous chapter for details on the tutorial.

Single Player: Click on this button to begin a standard “solo”
game of Civilization IV – just you against the computer. Click
here also to resume a saved single-player game. Upon clicking
here you are taken to the “Single Player Game Menu.” See
below for details.

Multiplayer: Click on this button to begin a “multiplayer”
game of Civilization IV. In a multiplayer game,you play against
one or more human players.You may do so by taking turns at
one computer, or against others sharing a LAN (local area net­work), by email, or over the Internet.

Multiplayer gaming can be incredibly fun. However,it can also
be incredibly cutthroat and high-pressure.We recommend that
new players play solo against the computer a few times before
venturing into multiplayer gaming.

Game experience may change during online play.

Upon clicking on the “Multiplayer” button you are taken to
the “Multiplayer Game Menu.” See the “Multiplayer Games”
section of this manual for details.

Hall of Fame: Takes you to the Civilization IV Hall of Fame.
Soon your own exploits will be recorded here!

Advanced Menu: Takes you to the “Advanced Menu.” See
following.

Exit Game: Click here to exit the program and return to
your desktop.

THE SINGLE PLAYER GAME MENU

You come to this screen when you click on the “Single Player”
button on the “Main Menu.”This screen contains the follow­ing buttons:

Play Now!: Click on this to begin a new single player game.
Once you do so you will begin the “Game Options” sequence,
where you will design the world in which you will play. See
“Game Setup,” below.

Load Game: Click this button to load a previously-saved

game of Civilization IV. See “Saving and Loading a Game” for
details.

Custom Game: Click here to “customize” your game. See
the section on “Custom Games” in the Advanced section of
this manual for details.

Scenario: Click here to load a Civilization IV scenario.
Scenarios are pre-created situations designed to present new
and interesting challenges.A scenario might allow you to play
on a realistic map of Earth, for example. Or it might show the
Mediterranean basin and limit civilizations, technologies and
units to those that actually existed during the period of the
Roman Empire.

You can download scenarios from the official Civilization IV
website or other fan sites. Eventually you may even create your
own scenarios and share them online for others to download
and enjoy!

Check for Updates: This verifies that you are running the
most up-to-date version of Civilization IV and, if not, down­loads and installs available patches. (This requires that you be
connected to the Internet.)

Go Back: Click on this to return to the Main Menu.

THE ADVANCED MENU

You get to this menu from the Main Menu (see above). The
Advanced Menu contains the following:

About this Build:View version information about the game.
This is useful when looking for technical support on
Civilization IV.

Load a Mod: Load a “module” – pre-designed scenario – for
Civilization IV. See “Modules,” page 174, for details.

Options: Go to the Options Menu. (See “Options,” page 168.)

Movies: Click here to go to the “Movies Menu,” where you

can view the animated movies to be found in Civilization IV.

Check for Updates: Click here to find out if any Civilization
IV updates have been released. (You must be connected to the

Internet to use this option.)

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Visit Civilization IV Web Site: Click here to visit the

Civilization IV web site, where you’ll find a lot of Civ-related
news, updates, scenarios, and more. (You must be connected to
the Internet to use this option.)

Credits: Click here to roll the credits for this game.

Go Back: Click here to return to the Main Menu.

GAME SETUP

Once you click on the “Play Now” button on the “Single
Player Game Menu” (see above), you begin the process of cre­ating the world your people will inhabit.There are several steps
to this process:

Select a Map

There are many world templates available to play upon. Each
creates a different kind of landscape. The “Continents” tem­plate, for instance, creates a world with a number of sizable
continents, not unlike the planet we occupy. Pangaea, on the
other hand, creates a world with a single, massive continent
surrounded by endless water. (Note:While each template gen­erates specific types of worlds when chosen, each individual
world created will be different from game to game.)

When you click on a template,an image of a sample world will
appear on the screen next to the menu.This does not display
the actual world that you will be playing on, of course.

WORLD TYPES

Worlds may be of one of the following types:

“Terran” Worlds are very similar in layout to Earth.

“Continental” Worlds are multiple landmasses separated by

oceans.

“Archipelago” Worlds consist of many small areas of land
completely isolated by the surrounding oceans.

“Pangea”Worlds contain one giant landmass.

“Ice Age” creates a world in which every civilization

involved must make the best use of its available resources in
slightly rough terrain.

“Oasis”Worlds include a vast desert dotted by oases and sur­rounded by jungle.

“Lake”Worlds consist of one large landmass containing many
lakes.

“New World” Most civilizations start out on a single land mass.
To the east or perhaps west lies an uncharted new continent.

WORLD SIZE

After you have selected a map-type, you next choose the size
world on which you will play.World sizes run from “Duel” to
“Huge.”

The size of the world will have important effects on the game.
For one thing, it limits the number of civilizations that will be
in the world.A “Duel”-sized world can hold up to three civi­lizations, for example, while a “Standard” can hold eight, and a
“Huge” world a whopping twelve civilizations.

As a general rule, the larger the world, the longer the game will
take to complete. Civilizations will be larger and thus take
more effort to conquer. A larger world generally means that
there are more units and cities in play, and this means that each
turn will take longer to complete. It may be fun to conquer a
huge world, but it may also be a big time commitment.

We recommend that for your first few games you stick with
“Standard”-sized maps or smaller.

Once you have selected a world size, click “OK” to proceed.
Or click “Go Back” to return to the “Select a Map” screen.

CLIMATE

The world’s climate affects the type of “terrain” in the game.
There are five different climates to choose from:

Temperate: The world will have about the same climate as
our world does.There will be a mixture of plains,forest, desert,
jungle and tundra.This is a good climate to start with.

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Tropical: The world will be warmer than our world. It will
have more jungles and less tundra.

Arid: The world will be quite dry. It will have few rivers and
lakes and more deserts.

Rocky: The world will be covered with lots of hills and
mountains, rich in metal resources but perhaps poor in good
places to plant crops.

Cold: The world will be cold, perhaps having recently
emerged from an Ice Age.There will be more ice and tundra
and fewer deserts and jungles.

Once you have selected a climate, click “OK” to proceed. Or
click “Go Back” to return to the “World Size” screen.

SEA LEVEL

There are three possible sea levels to choose from.A “Low” sea
level indicates that the world will have larger continents and
smaller oceans.“Average” indicates that the ocean to continent
ratio will be comparable to our world. A “High” level means
that you are creating a world with larger oceans and smaller
land masses.

Once you have selected a sea level, click “OK” to proceed, or
click “Go Back” to return to the “Climate” screen.

DIFFICULTY

The difficulty level you choose has a number of subtle but
important effects on play. We’ll discuss this more in the
“Advanced”section of the manual; for now suffice it to say that
at easier difficulties you build cities and units faster and the AI
civilizations builds them slower, while at higher difficulties you
build them slower and the AIs faster.

Important: The game gives you useful play tips at “Settler”
difficulty – the easiest level.You should consider playing at this
difficulty for your first several games.

Once you have chosen a difficulty level, click “OK” to pro­ceed, or “Go Back” to return to the “Sea Level” screen.

GAME SPEED

The “Game Speed” determines how many turns it takes to

construct units, buildings and wonders, how many it takes to
research technologies, build “improvements” and so forth.
These settings let you experience the full epic sweep of time
inherent in Civ while allowing you to customize the game
based on how much time you have available and other prefer­ences. Game Speed DOES NOT have any effect upon the
amount of time you have to complete a turn – you always have
as much time as you want in a single-player game.

There are three game speeds to choose from:

Epic: It takes a longer number of turns to construct, research,
and improve.

Normal: It takes an average number of turns to construct,
research, and improve. (We recommend this for your first sev­eral games.)

Quick: It takes fewer turns to construct, research, and
improve.

Once you have chosen a game speed, click “OK” to proceed,
or “Go Back” to return to the “Difficulty” screen.

CIVILIZATION AND LEADER

On this screen you pick the civilization you want to play. Or
you can pick “Random” and let the Fates decide. Some civi­lizations have more than one leader to pick from: if you choose
a civilization with multiple leaders you’ll then need to choose
which leader you want to portray.

There are eighteen civilizations and 26 leaders to choose from.
Each civilization has its own unique unit and each leader has
two specialties allowing him or her to excel in certain areas
within the game.These are described in the “Advanced” sec­tion of the manual.You should definitely check them out at
some point, but for your first few games you might just want
to pick civilizations and leaders that you find particularly cool.

Once you have chosen a civilization and leader, click “OK” to
launch the game. Or click “Go Back” to return to the “Game
Speed” screen.

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THE

CIVILIZATION IV

WEB SITE

SAVING AND LOADING
A GAME

WHERE TO FIND IT

www.CivIV.com

WHAT IT OFFERS

The Civilization IV website is a valuable resource for detailed
game features and tips, information on the various civilizations
in the game, developer blogs, community details and much
more.The website also serves as a central destination for the
most popular mods and scenarios available for you to down­load, opening up the world of Civilization beyond the box.Also
check the website for the latest news, patches and information
about future Civilization products.

It’s easy to save and load games in Civilization IV.You can do
so at any point during the game.

SAVING A GAME

To save a game, get rid of any menus that are waiting for a
response from you (the “City Build” menu, for instance) and
then hit [Ctrl-s]. This will bring up the “Save Game” screen.
(Alternatively, hit [Esc] and then click on “Save Game.”)

Save Game Screen

Press [OK] to save the game in the default location with the
default name.You can rename the save if you wish: to do so
simply type in the new name.You can also save the file in a dif­ferent location; use the navigation box on the left-hand side of
the Save Game screen to navigate to the place where you want
to save the file. Once at the correct location, click [OK] to save
the game.The game will be saved and you will return to the
Main screen.

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LOADING A GAME

At the Start of the Game

Click “Load Game” rather than “Play Now” during the game­creation sequence (see “Starting a Game” on page 9).This will
bring up the “Load Game” screen.

17

During Play

Once again, get rid of any menus waiting for a response from
you,and then type [Ctrl-l]. (Alternatively, hit [Esc] and then click
on “Load Game.”) This will bring up the “Load Game” screen.

Load Game Screen

Once on the Load Game screen, click on the name of the
game you wish to load and then click [OK]. Or, if you saved
the game in a different location, navigate to the correct folder,
click on the game, and then click [OK]. The game will load
and you’ll resume play at the point where you saved the game.

Saved Game Locations

Games are saved in two locations: single games are saved in
“My Documents\My Games\Sid Meiers Civilization
4\Saves\single;” multiplayer are saved in “My Documents\My
Games\Sid Meiers Civilization 4\Saves\multi.” The “single”
and “multi” folders will contain sub-folders holding the special
“auto” and “quick” saves.

SPECIAL SAVES

Auto-Save

The program automatically saves the game every four turns.To
load an auto-saved game, bring up the “Load Game” screen
and then use the navigation box to open the appropriate
“auto” folder (see box). Once you’re in the correct folder, click
on the name of the game you want to load, and then click
[OK].

Quick Save

One other save/load option is available to you:“Quick Save,”
which is particularly useful when you’re in a hurry.Type [Shift­F5] to “Quick Save” your game.The game will be automati­cally saved without requiring further input from you. Only one
game can be quick-saved at a time: a future quick-save will
overwrite the current one.

Type [Shift-F8] to load the quick-saved game.

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Chapter 2

the basics

21

INTRODUCTION

This section of the manual provides an overview of Sid Meier’s
Civilization IV.This is all you need to get started; look this sec-

tion over and then start playing.Then check out the “Advanced
Rules” section if you’re seeking more in-depth info.

Don’t forget about the in-game online “Civilopedia,” either!
That is loaded with lots of very useful info.See page 6 for more
details on the Civilopedia.

THE INTERFACE

OVERVIEW

In Civilization IV, we have strived to create an interface that is
attractive and easy to use. We have followed standard gaming
conventions – right-click to move a unit, action icons for
active units, and so forth – where possible, hopefully making
the game easy for experienced gamers to pick up, but we have
also been willing to break conventions when necessary.

CIVILIZATION IV

TURN

STRUCTURE

OVERVIEW

Civilization IV can be played in several different turn formats.
The standard single-player game is “turn based” (see below),
while multiplayer games can be played in one of two ways.

TURN BASED GAMES

A solo game of Civilization IV is “turn based:” you take your
turn – move your units, conduct diplomacy, build and manage
your cities, and so forth – then each of your opponents take
their turns, then you take another turn, and so on until some­body wins. (In other words, you play it just like chess or Risk.)
You can take as long as you want to complete your turn.

Multiplayer games can be played this way, as well. However in
a multiplayer game you can use a “Turn Timer” to limit the
amount of time each player has to make his move. (See the
advanced section on “Multiplayer Games,” page 172, for more
information.)

SIMULTANEOUS TURNS GAMES

During a simultaneous turn game (available only during mul­tiplayer games),you and your opponents take your turns simul­taneously. Everybody moves units, manipulates cities, conducts
diplomacy and so forth at the same time. When everybody’s
done everything they want to do, the turn ends and another
begins.You can use a “Turn Timer” when playing simultaneous
games, as well.

Tech
Investment
Percentage

Details Box

Main Map

Unit Action
Box

Research
Bar

Change
Civics
Button

End Turn
Button

Date

Your
Banner

Civilopedia
Button

Advisor
Buttons

Current
Score
List

List of
Discovered
Civs (click
name to enter
diplomacy)

Mini
Map

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THE MAIN SCREEN

During a game of Civilization IV, you will spend most of your
time on the Main Screen. It is here that you move your units,
build cities and improvements, launch attacks against your
neighbors, and so forth. The Main Screen has the following
elements:

Main Map

This is where the action takes place.The Main Map displays all
of your “Known World” – therein you can see your cities, ter­rain, improvements, resources and units, and all neutral/foreign
lands that are “visible” to you.

NAVIGATING THE MAIN MAP

There are a number of ways that you can change your point of
view on the Main Map:

Zoom In and Zoom Out: Use your mouse wheel or
press [PageUp] and [PageDown] to zoom in and out on the
Main Map.

Scroll: Move your cursor to the edge of the screen to scroll
the Main Map in that direction.

Re-Center: Click on a space on the Main Map to center the
Main Map on that space.

Change Viewing Angle: Press [Crtl-left arrow] and [Ctrl­right arrow] to change your viewing angle by 45 degrees.

Auto-Center Upon Unit Activation:When a unit becomes
“active” during your turn the Main Map automatically centers
upon that unit.

Manually Center Upon Active Unit: press [c] to center on
the current active unit (sometimes necessary after scrolling
around during your turn).

Mini Map: Click on a space on the Mini Map to center the
Main Map’s view on that space.

Show Titles Yields Display

Ping Bare Map

Mini Map

Resource

Display

Scores
Display

Mini Map

The Mini-Map is a much smaller representation of the world.
As described above,you can re-center the Main Map by click­ing on a location in the Mini Map.

BUTTONS ATOP THE MINI-MAP

There are a number of buttons along the top edge of the Mini
Map; these allow you to manipulate what is displayed on the
Main Map.These buttons “toggle” – click once to turn on a
display, click again to turn it off.

Ping: This function is useful only during multiplayer games. It
allows you to mark a location on the map that is visible only
to players on your team. (See the section on Multiplayer
Games for more details.)

Show Tiles: This places a visible grid atop the tiles on the
Main Map.

Bare Map: This hides all units on the Main Map.

Yields Display: This displays the commerce, food and pro-

duction “yields” of each tile.

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Resource Display: This highlights all “resources” on the
Main Map.

Scores Display:This hides/reveals the scores display which is
atop the Mini Map.

Your Banner

This displays your civilization’s war banner. Roll your cursor
atop your banner to see details about your civilization and your
leader. Click on the banner to open your civilization’s capital
city.

End Turn Button

Click on this button to end your current turn.

Unit Action Box

When a unit is “active,” this displays its available “action icons”
(see “Units,” page 32). Roll your cursor over an action icon to
learn more about it; click on an icon to order the unit to per­form the action.

Details Box

The “Details Box” displays information about the currently
active unit.

Tech Investment Percentage

This displays how much of your civilization’s income is
presently invested in researching new technologies. Click on
the “+” (plus) symbol to raise that percentage; click on the “-”
(minus) symbol to lower that percentage.

Culture Investment Percentage
(Not Visible)

The Culture Investment Percentage appears when you learn
the “Drama” technology. It allows you to dedicate income to
culture, as the Tech Investment Percentage button (above)
allows you to invest in research. Note that the two investments
cannot exceed 100% – if you’re investing 70% of your income
in technology, you can invest a maximum of 30% in culture.
Each 10% invested in culture will add one “happy face” to your
cities.

Research Bar

The Research Bar shows what technology you are currently
researching and how many turns until research is completed.
[Left-click] on the bar to open the available research list and
then right-click on an icon to open the “Technology Tree.”
(See “Technology” on page 65.)

Date

This shows the current turn date. Note that the amount of
time that passes each turn changes over the course of the game.
Early turns consume as many as 40 years, while later turns con­sume five years or fewer.

Civilopedia Button

Click on this button to access the online “Civilopedia” (see the
“Civilopedia” section of this manual on page 6).

Advisor Buttons

These buttons allow you to access the various advisor and
information screens which help you manage your growing
empire:

Domestic Advisor

Finance Advisor

Civic Advisor

Foreign Advisor

Military Advisor

Technology Tree

Religion Advisor

Victory Screen

Palace Screen

Current Score List

This list shows the names and scores of all leaders currently
known to you. Click on a name to open diplomatic discussions
(or declare war) with that leader.

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THE KEYBOARD

The keyboard contains a number of “shortcut keys” which
allow you to perform various functions at the stroke of a but­ton (or buttons). If your keyboard is equipped with a number
pad, even better. The number pad controls unit movement,
among other things. See the “Shortcut Keys” diagram for a list
of all keyboard controls and shortcuts.

Conventions

KEYBOARD

This Sid Meier’s Civilization IV manual uses the following con-
ventions to indicate keystrokes:

[s] or [S] press “s”

[Shift-S] press “Shift” and “S”buttons simultaneously

[Ctrl + t] press the “Control” button and “t” simultaneously.

[Num 5] press the “5” on the keyboard’s number pad.

[Num Ins] press the Insert (or “0”) key on the number pad.

MOUSE

This manual uses the following conventions to indicate mouse
actions:

[Rollover] move your cursor atop the indicated item on the

game screen.

[Left-Click] place your cursor on the indicated spot and press

and then release your left mouse button.

[Right-Click] place your cursor on the indicated spot and press

and then release your right mouse button.

[Drag Left-Click] place your cursor at the indicated spot and press

and hold the left mouse button.While pressing
the button, drag the cursor to the appropriate
location.

[Double Left-Click] place cursor at the indicated spot and then

press/release your left mouse button twice.

THE MOUSE

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV plays best when you use a combina­tion of keystrokes and mouse-clicks to control the game.We
highly recommend that you use a mouse with two buttons and
a scrolling wheel when playing.

THE CIVILOPEDIA

As described earlier in the manual, Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
contains an online database called the “Civilopedia.”This con­tains a lot of useful information about the game. To reach the
Civilopedia, [Left-Click] on the “?” (question-mark) icon on
the Main Screen, or press

.

TERRAIN

OVERVIEW

In Civilization IV, the world is made up of land and sea “tiles”
(also known as “squares”or “plots”). Press the “Toggle Show
Tiles” button atop the Mini Map (see page 25) to make this
clearer. Each square has a number of classifications, including
height, terrain type, features, resources, and bordering. Thus
you might have a jungle square atop a hill adjacent to a river
with the ivory (elephant) resource, or a simple grassland square,
or anything in-between.

These elements help determine the usefulness of the square as
a place to build a city, as well as how easy or difficult it is to
move through the square. And a square’s terrain may have
important effects on any combat taking place there.

[Rollover] a square to see what kind it is: info about that square
will appear above the “Unit Info” box.

LAND OR SEA

All squares are either land or sea squares.Sea units cannot enter
land spaces (except for coastal cities), and land units cannot
enter sea squares, unless they are carried aboard “transport ves­sels” (see page 124). Some air units can enter both land and sea
squares. (See “Air Units” on page 128.)

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TERRAIN CHARACTERISTICS

Each square has a number of characteristics:

Movement Point (mp) Cost: This determines how quickly
units can move in that square. A square’s mp cost will be 1, 2,
or Imp (impassable).

Defensive Bonus: These are combat bonuses many units
receive when they are attacked while in a space.Terrain defen­sive bonuses run from 0 to 75%.

Productivity: Productivity determines how useful a space is
to a city built on or near to that space.A space’s productivity is
measured in three separate categories, each of which will have
a value of 0 to 3.

• Commerce: How much wealth the space provides.

• Productivity: How much raw materials (used to create

buildings and units) the space provides.

• Food: How much food the space provides.

Commerce Food Productivity

Health: How much “health” a city will receive if it is built on

that space. A space may have a health rating of 0 (normal) or
+2 (adjacent to fresh water).

Resources: A space may provide a special “resource” such as
rice, spices, or iron. Note that you may need knowledge of spe­cial technologies to utilize (or even see!) certain resources.

(See “Resources” below for more details on resources.)

PEAKS

Peaks are tall mountains. Peaks are impassable: units cannot
move into peaks, and cities cannot draw production from them.

RIVERS

Rivers run alongside land squares,not in them. Crossing a river
negates the movement benefit of roads until the discovery of
“Construction” (see “Roads,” page 71). Rivers also reduce an
attacker’s combat strength when the target is on the other side
of the river. Rivers improve adjacent squares’ health and com­merce as well. Finally, rivers can be used as part of your “trade
network” (see page 72).

SEA SQUARES

There are two different kinds of sea squares: ocean and coast.
Some naval units must stay in coastal squares and cannot enter
ocean squares, while other units can move freely through both.
Land units cannot enter sea squares – ocean or coast.

RESOURCES

The land and sea are filled with various “resources” that can aid
in a civilization’s growth and development. During a game,you
will want to build your cities near to resources so that they can
take advantage of the resources’ bonuses. In order for a civi­lization to utilize a resource, a “worker” must build an
improvement on it – for instance, the gold resource requires
construction of a mine. A city will get the benefits of an
improved resource if that resource is within the city’s “city
radius.” If not, the improved resource must be connected to the
city by a “transport network” of roads, rivers and coastlines for
that city to gain its benefits.

Some resources are visible at the start of a game, while others
won’t become visible until your civilization has mastered the
appropriate technology. The iron resource, for instance, isn’t
visible until your civilization has learned the “Ironworking”
technology.

See “Advanced Resources” for a full list of resources.

TERRAIN EFFECTS

Terrain effects are more fully described in the “Advanced
Terrain” portion of this manual. However, the easiest way to
learn about terrain is to [Rollover] your cursor on various
spaces on the Main Map.

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UNITS

OVERVIEW

In Civilization IV, the term “unit” refers to anything that can
move around the map.There are a number of different types of
units in play – military units, workers, settlers, missionaries and
so forth – with military units forming the bulk of them.At the
start of the game, you’ll probably have two units: a settler and
a warrior or scout.

UNIT CATEGORIES, STATISTICS AND
ABILITIES

In Civilization IV, units are divided into several categories.
These include “melee units,” “mounted units,” “air units,” and
the like. In addition, all units have two basic statistics (or
“stats”): movement speed and combat strength. Many units
have one or more special abilities, as well.You can find out a
unit’s classification, stats and abilities by [Rolling Over] the
unit or by checking it out in the Civilopedia.

UNIT CATEGORIES

Units are grouped into 11 different categories. During the
early part of the game you are likely to run into the first seven.
The categories are:

Civilian (Non-Combat) Units: settlers, workers, work
boats, etc.

Recon Units: scouts, explorers, etc.

Archery Units: archers, longbowmen, crossbowmen, etc.

Mounted Units: chariots, horsemen, war elephants, etc.

Melee Units: warriors, axemen, spearmen, swordsmen, etc.

Siege Weapons: Catapults, cannon, etc.

Naval Units:Work boats, galleys, caravels, ironclads, carriers, etc.

Gunpowder Units: Musketmen, riflemen, infantry, etc.

Armored Units: Tanks, panzers, modern armor.

Air Units: Fighters, bombers, etc.

Helicopter Units: Gunships.

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MOVEMENT SPEED

A unit’s movement speed determines how quickly the unit can
move around the map. Movement speeds range from 1 to 8
(though early units most often have movements of 1 or 2).

Air units have special rules governing their movement. See the
“Air Units” section (page 128) for details.

COMBAT STRENGTH

A unit’s combat strength determines how tough the unit is
when fighting an enemy unit.Early unit combat strengths range
from 1 to 6, while modern units have strengths of up to 40.

Some units have combat strengths of 0, which indicates that
the unit cannot fight or has special rules governing its combat.
See later sections for more details.

UNIT ABILITIES

As discussed above, many units have special abilities in addition
to movement and combat. Military units most often have com­bat-related abilities – bonuses when attacking specific kinds of
units or when defending in specific terrain, for instance. Once
again, check the unit’s entry in the Civilopedia or [roll over] a
unit to see its special abilities.

EARLY UNIT CATEGORIES, STATS
AND ABILITIES

Following are the units you are most likely to possess and/or
run into during the early turns in a game:

ARRIOR

W

Melee Unit, Strength 2, Movement 1

Special Abilities: None.

ARCHER

Archery Unit, Strength 3, Movement 1

Special Abilities:

1 First Strike:When attacked, the archer
has a chance to damage the attacker before the
attacker can do any damage. This is negated if
the other combatant has first strike as well.

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+50% City Defense:When attacked while
in a city, the archer’s current strength is
increased by 50%.A fully healthy archer’s base
defensive strength in a city would be 4.5.

+25% Hills Defense:When attacked while
atop a hill, the archer’s current strength is
increased by 25%.

SPEARMAN

Melee Unit, Strength 4, Movement 1

Special Abilities:

+100% versus Mounted Units:When in
battle against mounted units (horsemen, chari­ots, elephants, etc.), the Spearman’s current
base strength is doubled from 4 to 8.

AXEMAN

Melee Unit, Strength 5, Movement 1

Special Abilities:

+50% versus Melee Units:When in battle
against melee units (warriors, spearmen, axe­men, and so forth), the axeman’s strength is
increased by half.

CHARIO

Mounted Unit, Strength 4, Movement 2

Special Abilities:

When a chariot makes an unsuccessful attack,
there’s a 20% chance that it will cease the
attack before it is destroyed.

Receives no bonuses for defending in good
defensive terrain or in cities. Cannot “fortify”
(see below).

T

20% Chance of Withdrawing from Attack:

Doesn’t Receive Defensive Bonuses:

SCOUT

Recon Unit, Strength 1, Movement 2

Special Abilities:

Better Results from Tribal Villages: Scouts
will not rouse “angry villagers” when they
enter tribal villages (see below).

+100% versus Animals: Scouts’ combat
strength is doubled when fighting animals.

Can Only Defend: Scouts cannot attack
other units.

SETTLER

Civilian Unit, Strength 0, Movement 2

Special Abilities:

Can Build a City:This unit can build a
new city. See “Building Cities,” page 45, for
details.

ORKER

W

Civilian Unit, Strength 0, Movement 2

Special Abilities:

Can Build Improvements:This unit can
build farms, mines, roads, and so forth. See
“Workers,” page 71, for details.

ORK BOAT

W

Civilian Naval Unit, Strength 0, Movement 2

Special Abilities:

Can Build Sea Improvements:This unit can
build fishing boats, whaling boats, offshore plat­forms. See “Work Boats,” page 76, for details.

ACTIVATING UNITS

A unit must be “active” to do anything. An active unit is indi­cated by a blinking cursor at the unit’s feet. During your turn,
the computer will activate each unit one by one, until all of
your units have been given orders. However, the computer will
not activate units that are “fortified,” “asleep,” or in the middle
of carrying out previous orders – such as “explore,” “heal,” or

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“go to.” See below for descriptions of these and other orders.
Once a unit has used up all of its movement points it can do
nothing else during that turn.

You can also activate any unit by clicking on it,even if that unit
is in the middle of carrying out other orders. If one unit is
active, you can click on another and it will become active; you
can then return to the previously-activated unit later.

MOVING YOUR UNITS

During play you’ll spend a lot of time moving your units
around the map.You’ll send units out to explore the unknown
world; you’ll send military units off to conquer enemy cities;
you’ll send out settlers to build cities and claim more terrain
for your civilization, and you’ll use your workers to improve
the land around your new cities.

Where You Can Move Your Units

Your land units can move onto any land space (except for
peaks). Land units cannot move into coastal and ocean squares
(see “Terrain,” page 29).

Note to Veteran Players: Unlike prior Civilization games,
you may move onto the same space as a unit from another civ­ilization without declaring war.When you do so a popup will
appear asking if you want to attack the other unit or just move
peacefully into the space. (If you’re at war with the unit’s civ
already, you automatically attack the unit when you move into
its space.)

How to Move Your Units

To move a unit you must make sure that it is “active” (see
above) and it cannot have used up all of its movement points
that turn. You can move an active unit with your mouse or
your keyboard.

MOV IN G A UNIT WITH YOUR MOUSE

[Right-Click] on the space that you want the active unit to
move to.The unit will figure out the fastest route to that space
and then proceed on its way. If the unit reaches the target space
and still has movement points remaining, it will remain active
and await further orders.

If the unit cannot reach the target space in one turn, it will go
as far as it can. During subsequent turns it will continue to
move on its own until it reaches the target. If the unit cannot
find a path to its target space, it will cease movement and await
further orders.You can also interrupt a unit’s journey by acti­vating the unit and giving it new orders.

MOV IN G A UNIT WITH
YOUR KEYBOARD

You can direct an active
unit’s movement with the
keyboard.The number pad is
pre-configured to move
units: see the diagram. You
can only move a unit one
space at a time with the key­board.

789
456
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Cultural Borders and Movement

When civilizations construct cities (see below), they gain con­trol of the areas surrounding the cities.The bigger and more
cultured the city, the larger area it dominates. Land under a civ’s
domination is said to be within its “cultural borders.”

A unit cannot cross another civ’s cultural borders unless the
civs have the “Open Borders” diplomatic agreement (see page

103). Otherwise, such movement is an act of war. If you order
a unit to cross a cultural border, a pop up will appear asking if
you want to declare war on that civ. If you say “no,” your
movement orders are canceled. If a unit occupies a space that
becomes part of another civ’s cultural borders, the unit will be
displaced to the closest friendly or neutral space – unless the
two civs are at war or have the Open Borders agreement.

If you’re at war with another civilization,your units will not get
the movement benefits of that civilization’s road (and later, rail)
network. If you have an Open Borders agreement with the
other civ, your units will be able to use that civ’s road/rail net.

UNIT ACTIONS

In addition to moving and attacking, many units can perform
special “actions” during their turn. If an active unit is eligible

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to perform special actions, “action icons” appear in the “Unit
Action Box” on the Main Screen.

[Rollover] an action icon to see what it does. Below is a list of
the military unit actions you’re likely to run into in the early
stages of the game. (Worker and Settler actions appear in later
sections.)

Flashing Action Icons

If an action icon is flashing, the computer is telling you that
action is particularly useful. For example, the “fortify” action
will flash if an archer is in an empty city. (But remember that
the computer doesn’t know about your strategic situation –
that archer may very well be more needed elsewhere.)

Early Unit Action List

Remember that not all units can perform all of the listed
actions. If a unit can perform an action, that action will appear
in the “Action Box” on the Main Screen.

Delete the Unit: Remove the unit from play.

Go To Mode: Order the unit to move to a square.

All Units Go To: Order all units in the square to

move to a square.

All Units of the Same Type Go To: Order all units
of the same type in the square to move to a square.

until you give it new orders. (Some units – notably mounted
units – cannot fortify.)

Sleep: The unit goes inactive. It remains where it is
until you activate it.This action is used by units that are
ineligible for the “fortify” action.

Sentry: The unit remains inactive until an enemy unit
enters an adjacent square.

Pillage: The unit destroys an improvement in the
space it occupies. If there is more than one improve-

ment in the space, the unit will destroy the most valu­able. (In other words it would take two actions to destroy both
a farm and a road in a space.)

Promotions: If a unit has earned a promotion, icons

for all available promotions will appear in the unit’s

action box. See “Promotions” for more details.

Fortify/Sleep Until Healed: An injured unit will

fortify or sleep until it has regained all of its combat

strength; then it will reactivate.

UNIT MAINTENANCE COSTS

Depending upon the size of your civilization and the civics
you are employing, you may have to pay “maintenance costs”
each turn to support some or all of your units. If you are run­ning low on cash you may want to disband units to reduce this
cost. Check out the “Financial Advisor” screen ([click] on the
button on the Main Screen or press [F2]) to see how much
your units are costing you.

38

Explore: Order the unit to explore unexplored por­tions of the map.The unit will stop exploring when it
can no longer reach any unexplored spaces.

Skip Turn: Order the unit to do nothing for the
remainder of the current turn.

Fortify: The unit “digs in” to better resist attack. The
unit gains a 5% defensive bonus per turn, to a maxi­mum bonus of 25%. The unit will remain fortified

COMBAT

There are several different kinds of combat in Civilization IV:
standard combat, bombardment, and bombing. Bombing will
not occur very early in the game; for now we’ll concentrate on
standard combat and bombardment.

Standard combat occurs when a unit attempts to enter a space
occupied by a hostile unit. When this occurs the computer
compares the combat strengths of the two opponents (modi-

39

fied as appropriate for terrain and special abilities) and gener­ates a result. If the defender is victorious, the attacker is
destroyed and the defender remains where it was. If the attack­er is victorious the defender is destroyed and if the space is now
vacant of hostile units the attacker moves into it. Certain spe­cial abilities may allow for different outcomes; we’ll discuss
these later.

HOSTILE UNITS

Units are considered “hostile” if their two civilizations are at
war with each other. Otherwise, the units are neutral, and can
occupy the same space without combat. Barbarian and animal
units are always hostile to everybody.

HOW TO ATTACK

To attack another unit, order one of your units to enter its
space. If that unit is hostile, combat will ensue immediately. If
that unit is neutral, the program asks if you want to attack the
unit or move peacefully into its space. If you choose to attack,
you declare war on the unit’s civilization and fighting begins.

Note that some special rules come into effect if you are attack­ing a space containing more than one defending unit (see
below).

Most Units Can Make Only One
Attack per Turn

In general, units can make only one attack, per turn,even if the
unit has movement points left after the first attack. The “Blitz”
promotion (see page 137) allows a unit to make more than one
attack in a single turn.

A unit can defend against any number of attacks in the same
turn, as long as it survives.

DETERMINING THE ODDS

Basically, if an attacker and defender have the same (modified)
combat strength at the start of a battle, each has an equal
chance of winning the combat. If one unit has double the
strength of the other, it has a 2-1 chance of obtaining victory.
And so on.

However, as discussed, a variety of things might modify a unit’s
strength during a combat. Here are some of the most important:

INJURY

When a unit takes damage in battle, its combat strength is
reduced until that unit “heals” (see below).

FORTIFICATION

Some units can “fortify” – build temporary defenses such as
trenches or light walls.A fortified unit gains a defensive bonus
of 5% per turn it remains motionless, to a maximum bonus of
25%. A unit loses this bonus if it attacks or moves from its
square.

FORT

If a unit occupies a space in which a worker has built the “fort”
improvement, it gains a defensive bonus of 25%.

DEFENSIVE TERRAIN

Many units gain bonuses when they are attacked while occu­pying certain kinds of terrain. Melee, archer and recon units
get a defensive bonus of 50% when defending in forest or jun­gle, for instance, while mounted and siege units do not.

CITY DEFENSES

Units defending inside cities may get defensive bonuses for a
city’s fortifications or for its “cultural defensive bonus” (see
“Cities,” page 45).

UNIT TYPE BONUSES

Some units receive bonuses when fighting specific unit types.
For example, spearmen units receive a hefty +100% bonus
when facing mounted units.

PROMOTIONS

A unit may have received one or more “promotions” (see
below) which give it combat bonuses.

MULTIPLE UNIT COMBAT

If a unit is attacking a space containing more than one defend­er, the computer figures out which defending unit has the
best odds of defeating the attacker, and then those two units
fight it out.

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Multiple Unit Combat Results

If the attacker loses the combat, that unit is destroyed as usual.
If the attacker wins, the defender is destroyed. However, the
attacker cannot occupy the defender’s space if other combat
units still survive there. All defenders must be destroyed before
the attacker can occupy the space.

SPECIAL UNITS

Certain units have special rules governing their combat.

Catapults – Bombards and Barrages

Catapults are “siege weapons.” Catapults have the special
“bombard” attack which they can employ against enemy cities.
In a bombardment, the catapult attacks the enemy’s defensive
works, decreasing their effectiveness by 10% or more (the
amount depending on the unit’s promotions). Bombardment
attacks are always successful. A catapult cannot bombard an
enemy city once its defenses have been reduced to zero.
Bombardment never affects units inside the city.

Catapults can also engage in melee combat like other military
units. Catapults have a special “barrage” ability, allowing them
to damage more then one unit during an attack (if multiple
units are in the defending space). Catapults can receive pro­motions allowing them to increase the collateral damage of
their attacks.

Settlers and Workers in Combat

If an attacker moves into a space containing a worker, the
worker is captured. If the attacker moves into a space contain­ing a settler, the settler turns into a worker and is captured.

Invisible Units

Some units such as spies are invisible.They cannot be harmed
in combat, even if an enemy unit moves into their space.

Air or Naval Units in Cities

If a ground unit attacks a city, any naval or air units in that city
do not take part in the combat. If the city is captured, the naval
and air units are destroyed.

Mounted Unit Withdrawal

Mounted units have a special “withdraw” ability which comes
into play when a mounted unit attacks a non-mounted unit. If
the mounted unit is losing the battle and is about to be
destroyed, that unit has a small chance to “withdraw” from the
unsuccessful battle, stopping the fight before it is destroyed.
Note that mounted units can withdraw only when attacking:
they cannot withdraw when defending.

COMBAT INJURIES

A unit which survives combat may have sustained “injuries”
which temporarily lower the unit’s combat strength.The unit’s
strength remains lowered until the unit “heals” the damage.

Recovering from Injuries

If an injured unit doesn’t move during a turn, it will heal a cer­tain portion of the damage it has sustained. If a unit stays still
long enough, it will eventually return to full strength.

The “Heal” Order

If you give an injured unit the “heal” order, the unit will for­tify (or sleep) and remain where it is until it is fully healed.You
can give the heal order by clicking on the action icon, or by
typing [h] on the keyboard.

Recovery Speed

Units heal fastest when they are inside their cultural borders.
The healing process is slowed somewhat if the unit is in neu­tral lands, and it is slowed even more if the unit occupies
enemy territory.

MEDIC PROMOTIONS

Units who have received the “Medic” promotion heal 10%
faster, as do other friendly units occupying the same space.
(The more advanced “Medic II” promotion extends this ben­efit to units in adjacent spaces.)

PROMOTIONS

When a unit has gained a certain amount of experience in bat­tle, it becomes eligible for “promotion.” Promotions give the
unit special abilities, making the unit stronger, faster, or better

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43

in some other way. Some promotions are available only to cer­tain unit types; some require that the unit possess other pro­motions before they are available.

There’s no limit to the number of promotions a unit can
receive.

EXPERIENCE POINTS

When a unit wins a battle, it gains one or more “experience
points” (xps).A unit may begin the game with xps if it is con­structed in a city containing a barracks, and certain “civics” (see
page 82) will give new units xps as well. When the unit has
accrued enough xps, it is eligible for promotion.

A unit receives the first promotion when it has 2 xps.The sec­ond requires 5 xps, the third 10, the fourth 17, and so on.

The Details Box displays how many xps the currently-active
unit has, and how many are needed for the next promotion.

COMBAT EXPERIENCE POINTS

The amount of xps you get for winning a battle depends upon
whether you’re attacking or defending and the relative
strengths of the units involved. A unit gets twice as many xps
for attacking as it does when defending. Further, if you defeat
a stronger opponent you get more xps than you do for defeat­ing a weaker opponent.

Note that units get NO xps for defeating non-combat units
(like settlers and workers).

XP LIMITS WHEN FIGHTING
BARBARIANS AND ANIMALS

Animals: A unit with five or more xps gets NO additional xps
for defeating animals. A unit with four or fewer xps does get
xps for defeating animals.

Barbarians: A unit with 10 or more xps gets NO additional
xps for defeating barbarians.A unit with nine or fewer xps does
get xps for defeating barbarians.

NON-COMBAT EXPERIENCE
POINTS

The following are cumulative.

Barracks: Units start with 2 xps if constructed in cities with
barracks.

Vassalage Civic: Units start with 2 xps if constructed by civ­ilizations using the “Vassalage” legal civic.

Theocracy: Units start with 2 xps if constructed in a city with
the state religion while the civilization is employing the
“Theocracy” civic.

PICKING THE PROMOTION

When your unit is eligible for a promotion, the available pro­motions appear in the unit’s action buttons. Click on a button
to acquire that promotion.

PROMOTIONS LIST

See page 136 for a complete list of promotions available to units.

CITIES

Cities are vital to your civilization’s success.They allow you to
build units, buildings and wonders. They allow you to gain
wealth and research new technologies.They allow you to dom­inate terrain. Cities are fairly complex entities, and a good deal
of your time will be spent on their maintenance and manage­ment.You cannot win without powerful, well-situated cities.

BUILDING CITIES

Cities are built by settler units. If the settler is in a place where
a city can be built (see next), the “build city” action will appear
in the settler’s action box. Simply click on the action button
and the settler will disappear, to be replaced by the new city.
The program suggests a name for this city, or you can give it
any name you want. (Once built, city names cannot be
changed.)

WHERE TO BUILD CITIES

A city’s ultimate success or failure will depend greatly upon
where it is constructed. Determining the best site is complex,
and must take into account the availability of food, production,
commerce and resources,your transportation network,and the

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proximity to friendly cities as well as to potential enemies.
Though cities are usually sited to expand one’s borders and to
take the best advantage of local resources, a city may also be
built for purely geopolitical reasons – to obstruct another civ­ilization’s expansion, for instance.

Where You Can’t Build Cities

Cities cannot be constructed within two spaces of another city.
Cities cannot be constructed in impassable spaces. Cities can­not be built in another civilization’s territory.

Tips for Finding Good City Sites

Consider building cities in the following locations:

• Near resources.

• On or near rivers.

• On coastlines, especially on the mouths of rivers or near
ocean resources.

• Near a variety of terrain types, including hills and grassland.

• About 4 to 5 spaces away from your existing cities. This
allows each city to access all spaces within their “city radius”
(see below) with little or no overlap.

• To obstruct other civilizations. Other civilizations’ units can­not pass through your territory without your permission. It’s
often extremely useful to build cities to block their expansion.

YOUR CAPITAL CITY

The first city you construct becomes your civilization’s “capi­tal” and the heart of your nation. The government of your
nation is here, residing in the “Palace,” a special building that is
built automatically when the capital city appears.

Corruption: The “Distance Penalty”

City governments tend towards corruption, and the problem
grows worse the farther the city is from the capital city. This
effect is called the “distance penalty” and it reduces a city’s
commerce. Cities built near to the capital city suffer little from
corruption, while distant cities suffer greatly.

COUNTERING CORRUPTION

The distance penalty can be countered in a number of fash­ions. The “National Property” civic removes the distance
penalty entirely. The “courthouse” building decreases corrup­tion in the city where it is built.The Versailles and Forbidden
Palace wonders cause their cities to become additional centers
of government, greatly decreasing corruption in themselves
and surrounding cities.

Trade

International trade routes are traced from your capital city to
the other civ’s capital city. If that path is blocked, the two civs
cannot engage in trade. Further, your resources must be con­nected via trade route to your capital to be able to be traded
with other civs. Likewise, your cities gain the benefit of
resources acquired from trade only if they are connected to the
capital.

Changing Your Capital

You can move your capital from the original city to another by
building a Palace in the new city. Upon completion, the orig­inal Palace disappears and the new city becomes your nation’s
capital.

Losing Your Capital

If your capital city is captured or destroyed, another city in
your civilization is assigned as your capital and provided with
a Palace.

CAPTURING CITIES

You can capture barbarian cities or cities belonging to civiliza­tions that you are at war with.To do so you must enter the city
with a military unit; this usually involves destroying the enemy
units defending the city.When you capture an enemy city you
have the option of destroying the city or installing a new gov­ernor. If you choose to destroy the city, it and everything it
contains is done away with. If you choose to install a new gov­ernor, the captured city will usually go through several turns of
“resistance” (see following) before joining your civilization. If
the captured city has a population size of 1 or has no cultural
value, you will automatically destroy the city.

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Resistance

After you capture a city, it may be a while before its citizens
recognize their good fortune in having gained such a wise and
benevolent leader as yourself. In the meantime, they may
“resist” your rule. Further, cities under great cultural pressure
may go into resistance before revolting and “flipping” to
another civilization’s control (see “Cultural Borders,” page 63).

Note that your cities are more likely to flip if their religion is
different from your state religion and the same as the state reli­gion of the civilization putting pressure on them.

Effects of Resistance

No Production, Commerce or Food: If a city is in resistance,
its population refuses to work.Thus the city produces no food,
production, or commerce for the duration of the resistance.

No Cultural Radius: The city has no “cultural radius” (see
page 61).

No Cultural Defensive Bonus: The city receives no defen­sive bonus for size or culture (see “City Defenses,” page 49).

Duration of Resistance

The duration of a city’s resistance is based upon the city’s sim­ilarity or dissimilarity to your civilization. If you recapture one
of your own cities shortly after it was taken from you,you’ll see
little or no resistance.A foreign city that has been under a lot
of cultural pressure from your civilization will tend to spend
less time in resistance,as will a city that shares your civilization’s
religion. A large, established foreign city with a lot of culture
and a different religion will resist longer.

You cannot do much to shorten the duration of resistance
once it is in progress. However once the resistance ends you
can lessen the chances of the city returning to that state by
passing your state religion to that city and building temples and
such, and by raising the city’s culture and reducing any outside
cultural pressure on that city. It is also a good idea to have one
or two units garrisoning a city in resistance.

A “Great Artist”(see “Great People,” page 91) can instantly end
resistance in a city by creating a Great Work in it – but be
warned that this will consume the Artist.

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CITY DEFENSES

Cities are defended from capture by the units inside them.
Archer units get a defensive bonus (see page 138) when
defending inside cities; this makes them particularly good
choices for early garrisons. You can construct a number of
buildings to enhance a city’s defense: walls and castles, for
example.

A city with a high “cultural value” (see page 50) will give a
defensive bonus to the units defending the city. However, the
physical and cultural defensive bonuses are NOT cumulative:
the units receive whichever of the two bonuses is higher.

Note: Modern military units – musketmen and later – get no
benefit from man-made defenses (walls and castles).They do
get cultural defensive bonuses, however.

THE CITY SCREEN

To get to a city’s city screen, double-click on the city on the
Main Map. The city screen contains a number of important
elements to aid you in managing the city. It looks quite com­plicated at first, but you can ignore a whole lot of it in your
early games (see “Early City Management,” below).

Production Bar

Food Bar

Window

City Map

Unit List

City Build MenuPortrait

Culture
Display

Production

Percentages

City

Display

City
Maintenance

Trade
Income
List

City
Building
Roster

City
Nationality

Investment

City Cultural Defense Bonus

Health Display

Happiness Display

Religion
List

Resource
Box

Specialist
Display

Great
Person
Points
Bar

Minimap

City Management Menu

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UNIT LIST

The unit list displays all of the units that currently occupy the
city.You can activate a unit by clicking on its icon in this list.

CITY PRODUCTION DISPLAY

The city production display tells you what is currently being
produced in the city and the number of turns until completion.

CITY BUILD MENU

The city build menu lists all of the military units and buildings
that can be constructed there.You can change a city’s current
production by clicking on an item in the list. Buildings that
appear greyed out have been “unlocked” but cannot currently
be built. [Rollover] the grey button to get popup help about
why that building cannot be constructed at this time.

CITY MANAGEMENT MENU

The city management menu has a variety of functions. It
allows you to “hurry” city production (if you have the appro­priate civics). It allows you to “automate” your city’s produc­tion (see page 152 for details). It allows you to tell your city to
emphasize food, production, commerce, research, the creation
of great people, or force the governor to avoid growth in that
city.

The City Management Menu is discussed in detail in the
“Advanced Cities” section of the manual.

CULTURE DISPLAY

The culture display shows you how many “culture points” your
city is generating. It also tells you what your city’s current cul­tural “rank” is. The ranks are poor, fledgling, developing,
refined, dominant, and legendary. See “Culture Points” below.

CITY BUILDING ROSTER

The city building roster displays what buildings you have con­structed in your city.The roster also displays how much culture,
happiness, gold, production,and other assets the buildings pro­vide. [Rollover] a building to get more info on it.

CITY CULTURAL DEFENSE BONUS

This displays the cultural defense bonus your units get from
the city.

CITY NATIONALITY

This displays the nationality breakdown of the city: what per­centage of the population is your nationality, and what per­centage represents other nationalities. Cities with high foreign
nationalities are more likely to revolt and “flip” to that nation­ality, and they suffer greater “war weariness” unhappiness if you
go to war against that nationality.

CITY MAINTENANCE

This displays the city’s current “maintenance” cost to your civ­ilization.

RELIGION LIST

This tells you what religions are present in the city, and what
percentage of the population worships each.

FOOD BAR

This shows you how much food your city currently has in
storage, and how long until the city’s population expands.

PRODUCTION BAR

This shows you how much production your city currently has
in storage, and how long until the city completes its current
project.

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS DISPLAYS

These displays show you how “healthy” and “happy” your city
is. (See below.)

TRADE INCOME LIST

This displays any cities that this city is regularly trading with,
and the income the city is getting from that trade.

SPECIALIST DISPLAY

This shows you if any of your population has been assigned to
be a “specialist” and how many specialist slots are still open. See
below.

RESOURCE BOX

The resource box displays what resources your city has access
to – including local, national, and trade-based resources.

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THE CITY MAP

In the center of the city screen is the “city map.” It displays
your city in the center and the “city radius” – the area around
your city that your city’s population can work. (See below for
more details on the city radius.) The map shows which of the
squares are currently being worked – these are indicated by cir­cles around the square.

The city automatically assigns its population to work squares
that provide it a balanced supply of commerce, food and pro­duction.You can change a city’s priorities in a number of ways;
see “Advanced Cities” for details.

The City Screen “Lite”

You can access a simplified version of the city screen by click­ing on the city’s name on the Main Screen, rather than on the
city itself.This is an important distinction: double-click on the
city itself to reach the City Screen; click on the city’s name to
reach the “Lite” City Screen.

CITY MANAGEMENT

As said above, cities are somewhat complex entities in Sid
Meier’s Civilization IV. However, they’re also heavily automat-

ed, and to a large degree they’ll govern themselves.For the first
few games all you really need to think about is what the city
will build and how to protect the city and connect it to your
other cities.

Once you have a few games under your belt you might want
to check out “Advanced Cities” to learn how all of the but­tons, levers and dials work. In the meantime, here are a few
things that affect the success of your city. If you have questions,
check the Civilopedia or the “Advanced City Rules” section.

City Growth and Starvation

The “Food Bar” on the Main Screen (as well as on the City
Screen) tells you if your city is growing, stagnant, or declining.

A city survives on the food it gathers from the surrounding
countryside. If the city takes in more food than it is using, the

city’s population will grow. If the city takes in less food than it
needs, the city’s population will decline. Your workers can
increase a city’s food supply by “improving” the land around
the city with farms and by clearing forests and jungles.

City Commerce

Each of your cities generates a certain amount of “commerce”
each turn. The base amount is determined by the land sur­rounding the city: e.g., gold mines generate a lot of commerce,
as do squares bordering rivers, while desert squares produce no
commerce.This base amount is modified by a large number of
factors, including your civilization’s civics, whether or not the
city is located on a coast, and so forth.

Your civilization’s income is the sum of all commerce generat­ed by your cities plus commerce generated through trade with
other civilizations, minus your expenses and losses from cor­ruption (see “Corruption,” page 46).

You expend your income in a variety of ways: to support mil­itary units, to hurry production of units (under certain civics),
to purchase items from other civilizations and so forth, and a
large portion of your income is spent on technology research.
You can see how all of your money is being spent by opening
the “Financial Advisor” screen [F2].

INCREASING CITY INCOME

There are several things you can do to increase a city’s income.
Your workers can build improvements such as “cottages” and
“mines” around the city.They can also connect your cities with
roads to produce trade routes and increase commerce.You can
construct income-generating (or expense-reducing) buildings
like Courthouses, Markets and Harbors in the cities. If there
are unhappy citizens in the city, you can build temples and such
to get them happy and back to work.And a variety of Wonders
improve a city’s income, as well. Check ‘em out.

In addition, to improve your civilization’s overall cashflow, you
can change “civics,” some of which can have great effects on
your commerce. You can also reduce the amount of income
you spend on technology research by clicking on the [-] minus
symbol of the “Technology Research Percentage” button on
the Main Screen.

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For further information on this subject, see “Advanced Cities.”

City Health

The City Health/Happiness Display on the City Screen tells
you how healthy your city is. Further, if a city is unhealthy, an
“Unhealthy City” icon (see diagram) will appear next to the
city’s name on the Main Screen.

A city can be healthy or unhealthy. In general, the larger a city
is, the more unhealthy it is. Cities sited near jungles or flood­plains tend to be unhealthier than ones surrounded by grass­lands. Cities near to rivers or freshwater lakes are healthier than
ones that aren’t. Cities with factories are less healthy than cities
without them, and so on.

A city’s poor health has a number of detrimental effects. Most
importantly, an unhealthy city requires more food to sustain its
population, and cities that are too unhealthy may begin to
starve.You can improve a city’s health by clearing jungles, pro­ducing certain buildings, and by accessing more kinds of food
resources.

City Happiness

The City Health/Happiness Display on the City Screen tells
you how happy your city is. Further, if a city is unhappy, an
“Unhappy City” icon (see diagram) will appear next to the
city’s name on the Main Screen. Unhappiness is caused by a
number of factors, including overpopulation and war.

If a city’s inhabitants are unhappy, some of them will refuse to
work.These slackers continue to consume food, however, but
they bring in no food, production, or commerce.

You can increase a city’s happiness by constructing certain
buildings – temples and coliseums, to name two. Various
resources will increase a city’s happiness, as will certain civics.

WE LOVE THE KING!

If a city is especially well-run, your happy people may reward
you with a “We Love the King” celebration.

REQUIREMENTS

We Love the King occurs randomly to eligible cities. In order
to be eligible, the city must meet the following criteria:

• The city’s population must be greater than 7.

• The city must have no angry citizens.

• The city must not be losing any food because of unhealthi­ness (see “Advanced Cities” for details on city health).

EFFECTS

A city that loves the king pays no maintenance costs that turn,
which can be a significant financial boost to your empire.

Specialists

When your city has grown a bit in size, you might want to
consider creating one or more “specialists” in that city.
Specialists are created by taking a population point of the city
and assigning that population to a specific job: priest, engineer,
artist, and so forth. Each of these specialists provides a specific
bonus to the city; in addition, specialists allow the city to gen­erate those incredibly useful “Great People” (see page 91).The
more specialists a city has, the faster that city will generate a
great person.

WHEN YOU CAN APPLY A SPECIALIST

A fresh new city doesn’t have the population or facilities to
support a specialist. Each specialist removes one population
point from the workforce: thus, if your city has a size of 1 and
you create a specialist, no one will be working the fields and
the city will starve.As the city reaches medium size, you may
be able to assign a specialist without starving your city, and
once a city becomes large enough, it will have excess popula­tion who can be turned into specialists without much ill
effect on the city’s intake of food, commerce or production.
In addition, the city must have a certain level of infrastructure

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to support specialists.You cannot create a priest in a city that
has no religious buildings, for example, or a scientist in a city
without libraries, universities and so forth. These and other
buildings will support one or more associated specialists. In
addition, certain wonders allow the creation of specialists, as do
certain civics. See the Civilopedia for more details.

SPECIALIST TYPES

Artist: +1 Research, +4 Culture, +3 Great Person Birth Rate

Artists increase the odds of a city generating a Great Artist.

Engineer: +2 Production, +3 Great Person Birth Rate
Engineers increase the odds of a city generating a Great
Engineer.

Merchant: +3 Gold, +3 Great Person Birth Rate
Merchants increase the odds of a city generating a Great
Merchant.

Priest: +1 Production, +1 Gold, +3 Great Person Birth Rate
Priests increase the odds of a city generating a Great Prophet.

Scientist: +3 Research, +3 Great Person Birth Rate
Scientists increase the odds of a city generating a Great
Scientist.

Citizen: +1 Production
The citizen is the “default” specialist. If your city has more
population than it needs to work the lands, all excess popula­tion is put into this category. If you create another kind of spe­cialist, the city will use a citizen if available, rather than a pop­ulation point working the fields.

ASSIGNING A SPECIALIST

If you are eligible to create a specialist in a city, a small “+”
(plus sign) will appear next to the specialists you are able to
create. Click on the plus sign to assign a citizen or population
point to that specialty.You can remove a specialist by clicking
on the “-” (minus sign) next to the specialist.

Note that some wonders automatically create specialists in
cities.You cannot remove those specialists from their assigned
tasks. Certain civics and wonders also grant free specialists in all
of your cities; you can choose to make them whatever special­ists you like, but you cannot turn them back into population.

City Symbols

One or more icons may appear next to a city’s name on the
Main Map. Here’s what they mean:

Some citizens in the city are unhappy.

The city is unhealthy

The city is connected to the capital by a trade route.

Buddhism is practiced here.

Christianity is practiced here.

Confucianism is practiced here.

Hinduism is practiced here.

Islam is practiced here.

Judaism is practiced here.

Taoism is practiced here.

The city is in revolt. (The number tells for how many
turns it will remain in revolt.)

This city produces the most research points for your civ.

This city produces the most wealth for your civ.

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This city produces the most production for your civ.

This city has a “center of government” in it, either the
Palace, Forbidden Palace national wonder or the
Versailles world wonder.

CONSTRUCTING UNITS AND
BUILDINGS IN A CITY

When you first build a city, the “City Build” menu appears on
the screen.This menu displays all of the buildings and units that
this city can produce at this moment in time.Each entry is fol­lowed by a number in parentheses; this number tells you how
many turns the unit or building will take to produce.The com­puter may “recommend” one or two units or buildings it
thinks might be useful at this time. It also tells you why it is
recommending that unit – to improve your “military,” “econ­omy,” etc. You do not have to follow the computer’s recom­mendations of course. Just click on the entry you want the city
to build and it will start production.You can [Rollover] the
selection to see hints on what they do.

If you click on the “Examine City” button, that city’s “City
Screen” will open up.The City Build menu is at the bottom­center of the City Screen; click on an item there to begin con­struction.

Changing Construction Orders

If you want a city to temporarily halt production on one item
and begin production on another, go to that city’s City Screen
and click on the new item in the City Build menu. Production
on the new item will begin immediately; once the new item is
completed the city will resume production on the earlier item.
If you realized you made a mistake and never want to return
to construction of the first item, click on its name where it
appears in the bottom-left corner of the city screen to remove
it from the building queue.

Completing Construction

Once your city has completed construction, the city’s City
Build menu will appear again, asking you what the city should
construct next.

Constructing Workers and Settlers

When a city is constructing workers and settlers, the city’s
excess food is consumed, as well as the city’s production.Thus
cities building workers and settlers will not grow in population
until the units are complete.

EARLY BUILDINGS AND UNITS

The units and buildings you construct should reflect your
objectives. Your specific objectives will vary from game to
game and over time during a game, but the “Early Objectives”
list is a good place to start.

Build a Warrior

The “Early Objectives”list suggests that the very first thing you
need to do is protect your city.To do this you need to build a
military unit to garrison your new city – otherwise the city
will be captured by the first barbarian or enemy unit that finds
it. Generally, at the start of the game the warrior unit is the
only one available to you. Build it right away; once it’s com­plete,“fortify” the unit right in the city.

Build a Unit to Explore

You need to see what’s out there. After you’ve built your war­rior, you should build another unit that will go out and take a
look around.You might want to build a scout (if one is avail­able to you),otherwise you’ll want to build a warrior or archer.

Build a Worker

You can build a worker to start “improving” the lands around
your city.You’ll need to know certain “technologies” in order
for your worker to do many of the improvements; if you don’t
have these techs, you might want to hold off on building the
worker just yet. (And keep in mind that your city isn’t grow­ing while it’s building the worker.)

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