Gaming's Defining Moments - Civilization II

One of my all-time favourite franchises is without a doubt Sid Meier's Civilization. The brilliantly addictive formula has seen me devote hundreds of hours building civilisations, fighting wars, and climbing the tech tree. There are so many moments in any given game of Civilization, that's its hard to pick which one to focus on, but for me, the first steps towards building your civilisation are the most important ones - and it all starts with that single, lonely settler unit.

My first experience with Civilization was when I watched a friend play it over at the youth centre when I was a kid. He had made a number of bad decision and at this point his civilisation was down to one single settler trying to escape a couple of barbarians in order to have enough time to build a city with some kind of defence. He failed. As most people know, once you're down to a single settler and you're being chased - it's a lost cause. Your civilisation is doomed - reboot and start over.

But it wasn't until Civilization II that I really got into the game, and since then there's been no looking back. Civilization III is probably my most played game in the series, and spin-off Alpha Centauri has a special place in my gaming heart.

All Civilisations start out the same way, whether it's the arcade style antics of Civilization Revolution, the science fiction flavoured Alpha Centauri, or the classic vanilla Civ we've come to love. These days in Civ you are almost always given a decent spot to start your first city from the bat, but in the old days, it was usually wise to have a quick look around before settling your first unit. Tile bonuses can make or break your civilisation, especially on smaller maps where war tends to come quickly.

Once you've settled you're faced with another dilemma. On a small map it's usually not too much of a dilemma as you won't have that many cities to worry about, but playing on an epic scale map naming your cities is an art in itself. I've gone through the planets of the Star Wars universe, NHL teams, and most local geographical names as I tried to have some kind of pattern to help me govern my sprawling empires. Obviously, you can use the defaults, but that's no fun.

My playstyle is usually not very aggressive, I tend to focus on expanding my territory and building strong cities, but that said I typically like to wipe out the closest neighbouring civilisation right away, to avoid being boxed in. That first encounter when your warrior unit runs into a scout (or similar), is also a big part of the Civ experience. Where are they located? How many cities have they built? How far along the tech tree are they, and have they discovered swordsmen? Catapults? Do you want to sign a treaty or attack straight away? There are so many important decisions you make in each round of Civilisation, and I suppose that's what really defines the experience. From the very first second you set foot on the map you're making decisions that will shape the entire future of your civilisation.

The settler is such a wonderfully designed unit. He can be taken, needs to be guarded, but if he is sent out and successful in establishing a new city and furthering your borders - his value can be immeasurable.

The greatness in Civilization can be traced to the settler, to that first moment you start exploring the map, it's addictive in its very nature, and it keeps pulling you back in. The end game in Civilisation, where you win the game by going to space, conquer the whole, map or win a vote in the United Nations, is not nearly as much fun as that first hour when your civilisation takes its first stumbling steps.