From: mcscs1amh@dct.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: CIVILISATION HINTS PART 2
Date: 26 Jan 93 15:27:07 GMT
Organization: Dundee Institute of Technology


                             CIVILISATION HINTS

        ===========================================================
          175 Tips, Hints, and Tools for Ruling Your Civilization
        or The Official Guide to Sid Meier's Civilization (PREVIEW)
      ===============================================================

                            Again, By Baser Evil

  This is only one section from the book THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO SID MEIER'S
  CIVILIZATION. Contained here are 175 Tips, Hints, and Tools (?) for
  Ruling Your Civilization. The complete book will come soon.



YOUR FIRST MILLENNIUM

 1. Put down roots quickly. Your first city doesn't have to have the
    world's greatest location: Better to get it up and running, pumping
    out new units and improvements, than to lose valuable time.
 2. Pursue writing before other cultural advances. No matter where you
    start - island or continent - the development of writing lays the
    groundwork for enhancing and expanding an exuberant intellectual
    culture composed of libraries, universities, and intellectual Wonders
    of the World which will serve your long-term goals on more levels than
    any other development in the game.
 3. Decide as quikly as you can what type of game you are going to play.
    If you are going to pursue world conquest, for example, you should
    begin building your armies and assembling your resources before the
    first millennium ends. If you're going to play a game of peaceful
    expansion and consolidation, you should shore up your homeland's
    defenses against those enemies less benevolent than yourself.
 4. Multiply, multiply, multiply! The race in Civilization often goes to
    the most fecund. By the end of your first millennia you should have at
    least three cities functioning and growing, with more on the way.
 5. Because reproduction and creation of new cities is so important, don't
    spend valuable settler time developing every square around a city. You
    can create additional settlers to do
    that later. Do enough development to get the city on sound economic
    footing, then move on to start another community.
 6. Place defensive perimeters around your emerging civilization. Expand
    those perimeters as your civilization grows.
 7. Build roads as you can afford the commitment of settlers. Not only
    do the roads increase your productivity, they also lay the groundwork
    - roadwork, as it were - for the rapid movement of forces should you
    be invaded.
 8. Put one city to work building a Wonder of the World as early as
    possible. The addition of wonders does much to boost your score, yet
    if you wait too long to create them, they may be acquired by other
    civilizations.
 9. Develop pottery by all means. You must have granaries if you are to
    hold any hope at all of increasing your population and growing your
    cities.
10. Be prepared to shift strategies: The road to failure is paved,
    sometimes, with peaceful intentions, and not every would-be conquerer
    can actually manage to conquer. Play with the flow of the game, not
    against it.
11. Alternate your cities' labor force between agriculture and resource
    development until the population is large enough to attend to both.
    Agriculture results in increased population; resource production
    boosts your treasury.


YOUR FIRST CITY

 1. Generally speaking, you should build two militia units and fortify
    them immediately, then two more for exploration, before building
    additional settlers, military units, or city imporvements. (If it
    quickly becomes clear that your civilization is located on an
    island, perhaps a single explorer is sufficent.)
 2. Do not put off the construction of your barracks improvement. Only
    with the establishment of a barracks can you produce veteran military
    units that are strong enough to face the test of combat.
 3. Don't forget to upgrade your defensive units once the barracks is
    completed. Units such as militia that were created before the barracks
    can then be moved to outlying areas or disbanded.
 4. Should the spiritual side of civilization become available to you, put
    a temple in your first city. Establish the people's happiness early
    on, and it's easier to maintain it as the game grows more complex.
 5. If your civilization is surrounded by other, stronger ones, build city
    walls. Although expensive in construction and maintenance, the walls
    amplify your defense force's ability to withstand attack, perhaps
    buying you enough time to prepare a militray response or seek a
    treaty.
 6. Develop at least two agricultural and one resource square before
    moving too far from your first city. These squares will give the
    city time to feed itself and generate enough income to grow during the
    early phases of the game.
 7. Study the loal terrain. If you've put down roots too quickly, and find
    yourself in a less-than-ideal spot for long-term growth, don't be
    afraid to move your capitol to a more fertile site once one becomes
    available. (Don't move too quickly, though: Make sure the new city is
    well established, defended, and growing before relocating your
    government there.)
 8. As your first city grows - or fails to - adjust the worker allocation.
    If the city is wellfed and prosperous from the beggining, you might
    want to create a scientist to boost the city's intellectual
    production, hastening your advances.
 9. Concentrate on population at least two turns out of three: Your goal
    is to have a civilization-wide population of more than a million by
    the year 1 A.D.
10. Build a marketplace as soon as that improvement becomes available.
    Better yet, buy the improvement. The increase in revenue will repay
    the expenditure very quickly.


YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH OTHERS

 1. Always accept the first treaty offer upon initial contact with another
    civilization: It costs you nothing, and gives you time to gather your
    resources, marshal your forces, and prepare a more considered, and
    perhaps antagonistic, relationship with the other civilization.
 2. The treaty established, use your militia to hold enemy expansion
    in check, positioning your units carefully, and fortifying them
    against enemy sneak attack. Use militia because they are easily and
    quickly produced, freeing your cities to concentrate the bulk of their
    productive time on more important units, city improvements, Wonders of
    the World, or civilization advances.
 3. Have some backup for your border guards, especially if your guards are
    militia or diplomats, whose defensive factors are low. Stronger
    offensive units in reserve close to the border, or able to reach the
    border quickly, can make the difference between a successful enemy
    invasion and one that's turned back.
 4. Once you've established a treaty with a neighboring tribe, get some
    diplomats into enemy territory as quickly as you can. During the
    treaty's tenure, your diplomats - and caravans, if you can produce
    them - enjoy essentially unlimited freedom of movement through
    enemy territory. This gives you the
    chance to obtain a good portrait of the interior of your neighbor,
    learning whether he is strongr or weaker than you.
 5. If you encounter an enemy at sea, try to follow his vessels back to
    their homeland, particularly if both of you are in triremes. The enemy
    may already have mapped the shortest paths between landmasses, saving
    you valuable exploration time.
 6. Send caravans into enemy territory even if you plan ultimately to
    wipe the enemy from the face of the planet. Earn income while you
    can!
 7. Use your ships to blockade - or observe - enemy ports. If you're
    playing for world domination, you'll want to contain the enemy to a
    single landmass. If taking a more peaceful approach, the presence of
    your ships will allow you to "shadow" the other civilization's
    vessels, giving you a good and useful picture of their expansions.
 8. Look for natural barriers to enemy expansion - an isthmus, a large
    lake - and place defensive units in the only available paths.
 9. Use your settlers to build forts at strategic points along the border
    with the enemy, then garrison the fort with defensive units.
10. If you can afford the allocation of units, place diplomats on
    fortification or sentry duty at various spots within the enemy
    civilization. They'll keep you posted of enemy troop and settler
    movement.


SECOND CITY

 1. Build your second city in the most ideal location you can find, making
    up for the haste with which your first city was created.
 2. Put your second city's citizens to work immediately on the constuction
    of a barracks and a granary. Defensive forces should accompany the
    settler unit from the first city. Move them inside the new city,
    reassign them to it, and fortify them. Your new city is instantly
    defended.
 3. Send settlers from your first city to develop the land around the
    second while it is busy producing the imporvements it needs.
 4. If you have the funds, buy the second city's initial improvements.
 5. At least one of your first two cities should be a port.
 6. Build a road between your first two cities as quickly as possible.
 7. If the enemy lies to the west, consider locating your second city to
    the east, minimizing the chance it will be attacked.
 8. Just as with your first city, establish a defensive perimeter around
    your second to stave off barbarians and unwanted neighbors.
 9. With your first city concentrating its production on units, you might
    want to use the second for Wonders of the World, for educational
    institutions. Or vice versa.
10. use the unit production of your second city to generate defensive
    forces for your third, and so on.


TREATIES AND TRIBUTES

 1. Don't be afraid to reject entreaties from other civilizations. They
    may take your "insolence" as an insult and embark on a war, but they
    may also respect your independence and offer a treaty.
 2. Get to know your neighbors: Some of them can be trusted to honor their
    treaties, while others may stay friendly for no
    more than a turn or two. The computer leaders built into the game have
    distinctive personalities; it will behoove you to be observant as your
    civilization and theirs become acquainted.
 3. Generally speaking: Don't trust Mao, Stalin, Hammurabi, or Genghis
    Khan. And be wary of everyone else!
 4. Occasionally you'll be asked to join another civilization in an
    alliance aimed at yet another civilization. Weigh your response
    carefully. It may be that you can strike a more advantageous alliance
    elsewhere.
 5. Think twice beefore paying tribute. Civilizations that demand payment
    for peace are unlikely to leave you alone for long. Pay only when you
    have no other choice.
 6. Technology exchanges can be tricky. Your best bet is to exchange
    technology only with civilizations more advanced yet weaker than
    yours. Giving advances to strong, warmongering neighbors is foolish.
 7. Meet with other civilization leaders at least every third time they
    request a conference. It's time-consuming, but otherwise your
    avoidance is interpreted as a rebuff, and will lead to war.
 8. Even possession of the United Nations Wonder of the World can't
    completely protect you from treaty violations, especially late in the
    game. If playing peacefully, initiate negotiations immediately after
    the sneak attack; the enemy will offer a treaty. (This, too, will
    likely be broken again before the war ends.) If playing a warlike
    game, use the time bought by the United Nations to build and
    position overwhelming military force of your own; then use it to
    crush the enemy.
 9. Pay attention when an enemy's words are backed by nuclear weapons.
    Some of your enemies aren't afraid to use the Bomb, use it without
    warning, and use it more than once. Even if your able to eventually
    make peace with them, the pollution unleashed may ruin your score.
    Your best bet is to wipe out nuclear-powered enemies - if you can.
10. Weave together networks of alliances against strong enemies,
    especially early in a game of conquest. By building a league of
    weaker nations against stronger ones, you may be able to cut down on
    the time required for world conquest, boosting your score.


FINANCIAL TOOLS

 1. A city without a marketplace is financially and socially crippled. At
    higher levels, the same is true of a city without a bank.
 2. Visit each of your city screens every few turns - or more often, if
    you're really serious about winning the economic side of the game -
    and experiment with your population's labor allocations. Some
    exploitable squares are more productive and valuable than others, yet
    may not be producing for your city. Move your people around and boost
    your income.
 3. If you're planning to sell a city improvement - a step that should be
    taken in only the most dire of economic cicrcumstances - do so
    quickly, before the improvement is rendered obsolete by technological
    or social advance. Obsolete improvements can't be sold.
 4. Produce plenty of caravans, bearing in mind that each city can support
    only three trade routes. Send out caravans from every city.
 5. The game defaults to the three most valuable trade routes, but you
    can waste a lot of time and energy on routes of lesser value that
    will later be superseded. Send your caravans to the most distant and
    largest foreign cities you can find: These generate the largest
    amounts of income.
 6. The one time you should consider selling city improvements is just
    before they become obsolete. The develop of gunpowder, for example,
    renders barracks improvements obsolete. Since you'll have to replace
    your barracks anyway, why not earn some money from the old ones?
 7. Another good opportunity to sell off improvements occurs when you
    hold an absolute upper hand. Possession of the United Nations Wonder
    of the World is a good example. Since your enemies must offer to make
    peace with you, you may not need items such as city walls,
    particularly those located far away from enemy borders. Sell off the
    city walls, earn a fair piece of change, and relieve your cities of
    the burden of supporting those walls each turn.
 8. As you locate new civilizations with new, large cities, dispatch
    caravans to establish trading routes. These may be more valuable than
    routes already in existence.
 9. Give your citizens plenty of luxuries. This helps them appreciate
    your wisdom, often resulting in "We Love The King" days, which earn
    you generous bonuses.
10. In the latter days of the game, when some of your cities may be
    capable of producing vast engineering works in just a few turns, try
    building these works, then selling them as soon as they're completed.
    It's impractical advice for the real world, but can generate lots of
    cash in the game.
11. Monitor the amount your civilization costs in maintenance each turn,
    indexing that amount to your cash flow. If your treasury has grown
    fat, don't be afraid to spend, spend, spend for improvements or
    Wonders. Just keep enough cash in your treasury reserves to cover
    half a dozen lean turns or so.
12. If you really have a healthy treasury that can cover a few turns'
    loss of income, try this: Convert everything to luxury income
    for your citizens. They'll reward you with points beyond your wildest
    dreams.
13. Use caravans to help build Wonders. When a caravan arrives in a city
    building a Wonder, you have the option of assigning it's value to the
    completion of the Wonder. If you can build enough caravans quickly,
    this can hasten completion of the Wonder.
14. As your income rises, adjust your taxation level. Boost your
    science allocations, leaving enough in tax revenue to cover the cost
    of maintenance with minimal growth each turn.
15. For cities with more than enough food, turn some of those farmers
    into taxmen. Your treasury will appreciate it.
16. Build rail lines through all developable areas available to a city.
    Productivity will be increased by half.
17. Trade routes among the cities of your own civilizationm, no matter
    how far apart they're located, are raely worthwhile.
18. Invest in factories and manufacturing plants as you are able to build
    them, but create pollution-control corps of engineers (settler units)
    to deal with their effluent. You'll need two
    settler units per highly industrialized city to keep pollution under
    control.
19. Approaching the space race? Build the largest cash reserves you can -
    only global warfare is more expensive than getting into space.


MILITARY UNITS

 1. Don't produce too many military units without a barracks. Veteran
    units are, essentially, the only ones really worth producing.
 2. Develop mathematics as early as you can. This permits the creeation
    of catapults, the first real "artillery." Only by amplifying your
    abilities through the use of technology - catapults, gunpowdr,
    flight - can you enjoy an offensive edge.
 3. Early in the game, use cavalry and chariots to "blitzkrieg" your way
    through enemy homelands. Slower-moving units such as catapults can
    be brought up later.
 4. Upgrade your barracks the moment they become obslete, especially if
    you are at war. Use your treasury to purchase new barracks in those
    cities closest to the front or at the greatest risk of being overrun.
 5. Consider fortifying strong defensive units around enemy cities rather
    than laying direct assault to those cities, especially if the city
    possessed defensive walls or a large number of fortified units. Seal
    off the city and starve it slowly with phalanx-level units if
    possible.
 6. Build plenty of seagoing units. Naval power cannot be under-estimated
    in the world of Civilization.
 7. Consider keeping a strong naval unit on sentry duty inside your own
    harbors, especially if the war is going poorly. These units can spring
    to life from withing the city, attacking enemy vessels which mightt
    bombard your port.
 8. Use the "go-to" function to place units n patrol, covering large
    amounts of territory or sea with minimum input from you.
 9. Disband military units no longer needed or of unlikely value to your
    civilization. Don't forget to disband older defensive units in cities
    being garrisoned by more advanced units.
10. Keep a strong offensive unit on sentry duty - not fortified - along
    with your fortified defensive units in each city. The offensive unit
    will "awaken" at the approach of the enemy, and can attack in some
    cases before the enemy assault begins.
11. Cities susceptible to frequent attack by barbarians might need more
    than one offensive sentry either inside or close to the city. You
    need to kill the barbarians before they can pillage your developed
    countryside.
12. Never stack military units in an open terrain. They are far too
    vulnerable to being destroyed at a single blow, sometimes by a
    less-powerful enemy.
13. Blockade harbors with city walls; bombard thcse without them.
14. Especially in the age of transports, when a single vessel can carry
    eight units, escort your shipping with cruisers or battleships. Your
    advanced military vessels "see" farther than other units, and can
    alert you to the presence of enemy warcraft lying in wait for your
    convoy.
15. An aircraft carrier bearing bombers and fighters makes another good
    screening device for convoys.
16. Because of their extremely long range, nuclear missles are among the
    best advance observers. Launch them from strategically located cities,
    or from aircraft carriers, and use them to explore and observe. Just
    be sure you leave sufficent moves for the missle to return to a
    friendly city or carrier.
17. And be careful if you use nuclear missles in the manner described
    immediately above. One slip of your typing finger, and instead of
    surveillance your missle could unleash holocaust.
18. If your information reveals that an intransigently warlike enemy has
    developed nuclear weapons, launch a crash SDI building program. Only
    SDI can save your cities from nuclear attack.


YOU CAN'T RUN A CIVILIZATION ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

 1. A city without a granary grows slowly at best.
 2. Your granary holds several turns' worth of food. If your granary is
    filled to bursting, shift your citizens to mineral resource work
    or convert them to specialists for a few turns, living off your
    surplus agriculture products. Just don't forget to return them to
    the fields before famine strikes.
 3. If you're having trouble getting a city's population to grow, shift
    all of the citizens to the fields. You may lose a little economic
    revenue, but before long your granary should begin to fill, and you
    can readjust the assignments of a larger, better-fed labor force.
 4. Look for the most efficent routes to follow if bringing irrigation to
    your city's enviorns. Don't build more elaborate irrigation channels
    than necessary.
 5. Clear pollution from agricultural squares before otther squares.
 6. Replace granaries immediately should they be destroyed. Granaries
    should be replaced before any other structure.
 7. When creating specialists, look at your granary supply. If it's
    full, take an agricultural square out of production. If you're
    short on food, remove a mineral or other resource square from the
    work force.
 8. When laying extended siege, pillage or occupy enemy agricultural
    squares, cutting off the city's food supply.
 9. Take advantage of seafood: Those fish symbols in oceans and lakes
    contribute mightily to cities located near them.
10. Irrigate oases when you have the chance.
11. If your granary is well stocked with foood, onsider onvrting one or
    more agriultural squares into forests. Just keep an eye on food
    levels after you do so.


WONDERS OF THE WORLD

 1. The most valuable Wonder of the World of the ancient world is the
    Great Library, especially if playing against a large number of enemy
    civilizations. You can't beat the boost in knowledge you get when
    two of those other civilizations make the same advance.
 2. The most valuable Wonder of the World of the Middle Ages is Johann
    Sebastian Bah's Cathedral, especially if you're ruling a republic.
    You can't beat it for generating quite a few "We Love The King"
    days, with their concomitant increase in population.
 3. The most valuable Wonder of the World of the modern world is the
    Apollo Program, if you're playing a space race game: Only with
    Apollo can you begin building your starship.
 4. If playing a game of world conquest, the most valuable latter-day
    Wonder may well be, ironically enough, the United Nations. Because
    this Wonder forces enemy civilizations to capitulate to you, you
    can marshal your fores almost at
    leisure, gatthering them at critical spots before launching all-out
    attacks.
 5. Be warned: Violating one treaty when you possess the United Nations
    Wonder seems to violate all of them. When you're ready to make war,
    make war on all fronts at once.
 6. As soon as you have three cities, put one of them - probably your
    capitol - to work building a Wonder. The other cities can produce
    military and settler units, if need be, that can be transfered to the
    capitol to shore up its defenses or further develop the terrain around
    the city.
 7. Use diplomats to seek out Wonder production in the cities of other
    civilizations. Then either sabotage that production or target those
    cities for capture, and the addition of their Wonders to your empire.
 8. If pursuing a peaceful strategy - trying to win through diplomacy,
    financial strength, and expansion to the stars, focus your attention
    on those Wonders of the World that force your enemies to sue for
    peace: The Great Wall and the United Nations.
 9. If playing a "peacful" game, build as many Wonders of the World as
    possible, concentrating on those that boost your citizens' happiness.
    Your score will benefit greatly.
10. When playing a peaceful game and concentrating on building Wonders,
    don't forget that they must be defended. Put plenty of strong units
    in and around cities holding Wonders of the World.
11. Some Wonders of the Wrold serve all the world: The Apollo Program is
    a good example. Use your diplomats to discover whether other
    civilizations are further along toward completing global Wonders of
    the World than you. If so, devote your resources to creating something
    exclusive to your civilization.


HAIL, CONQUEROR

 1. He who conquers the world fastest conquers the world best: If playing
    for global domination, every turn is vital. You can't stop to smell
    the roses if you want the world at your feet.
 2. Strike the strongest civilizations first, with as much military might
    as you an muster. Use your diplomat skills to keep weaker nations
    weak, for easy destruction after the "big guys" are gone.
 3. Coordinate, coordinate, coordinate! Establish a treaty with a
    civilization you plan to destroy. Flood the civilization with
    diplomats even as you mass your assault forces along its borders.
    When you hit, hit all at once, using diplomats for subversion and
    sabotage before invading with ground forces. Break the enemy's back
    during the first twrn of the war.
 4. If necessary, sell off improvements in your heartland to finance the
    final stages of a war on the frontier. Use the funds to subvert enemy
    cities first, to bribe enemy units second.


THE UNFRIENDLY SKIES

 1. As soon as you develop aircraft capabilities, begin cranking out
    fighters and, later, bombers. Don't wait a single turn: You can't have
    too large an air force, particularly in heated games of global combat.
 2. Try to garrison a couple of fighters in every city - not just those
    near the front. Fighters can respond quickly to enemy threats, saving
    you from the dangers of surprise attack, or invasion from an
    unexpected direction.
 3. Your fighters can attack - and keep on attacking. This makes them
    especially valuable when you're facing waves of enemy units. Go for
    stacked units first, of for transport raft that might be carrying
    several units.
 4. If your resources are running low, don't station your fighters or
    bombers too close to the front - in harbors, for example. They are too
    vulnerable there to enemy bombardment. Base them a few squares back
    in a city or on board a carrier. Then, when enemy ships or bombers
    appear, you can fly out to engage them.
 5. Bombers have as much strategic value in Civilization as they do in
    the real world. A squadron of bombers can turn the tide of war, even
    against overwhelming odds.
 6. If you're planning to make war on a civilization with whom you enjoy
    treaty status, take advantage of the peace and get your air force
    in position to attack. Try to target three bombers for each city
    you're planning to hit, more if you can afford it. Attack stacked
    units in the open first.
 7. Don't overlook the surveillance capabilities of your aircraft,
    particularly the bombers. Their long range makes them perfect for
    exploring the interior of enemy continents and islands.
 8. Carrier power is ideal for isolating and containing an enemy island.
    Position a couple of carriers at either end of the island, support
    them with cruisers to guard against enemy ships, and use their
    to patrol the enemy coastline.
 9. Remember the lessons of Desert Storm: Once you've launched an air
    war, don't let up.
10. Desert Storm Lesson Two: Once the air war has taken its toll, be sure
    you have plenty of fast, mobile ground forces in position to mop up.
11. Desert Storm Lesson Three: In this Civilization, you don't have to
    stop. If your air power has made it possible for you to roll all the
    way over the enemy, do so, assuming that suits your overall
    strategic plan.


AND ALL THE SHIPS AT SEA ...        

 1. Never send a loaded tireme out into uncharted waters. It's one thing
    to risk a ship to loss at sea, quite another to risk valuable units.
    Chart your course before moving cargo.                             
 2. Early on, designate one or two coastal towns as major shipyards.
    Manipulate their population and resources so as to be able to
    produce ships at a rapid rate. (You should have another seaport within
    easy sailing distance, to which newly constructed ships can be
    reassigned in order relieve the shipyard of the burden of support.)
 3. Build fleets in the major oceans and gulfs, along with seaports to
    support and load them. Cut down on the necessity for moving ships
    all over the globe.                                              
 4. As soon as you can build cruisers, battleships, and submarines, do
    so - their extended range of view is invaluable for spoting enemy
    craft, and equally invaluable for opening up any remaining hidden
    areas of the sea.                                                  
 5. Use your advanced naval craft to patrol the coastlines of unexplored
    enemy islands and continents. Advanced ships "see" an adjacent two
    squares, which can give you a good picture of another civilization's
    coastal defenses.                                                  
 6. Don't forget naval power during ground assaults. Look for isthmuses
    and narrows through which enemy ground transport must move. Position
    a battleship or cruiser on either side of the landmass and open fire
    on enemy units stranded in your sights between turns.              
 7. If bombarding a fortified harbor with a value of nine or higher,
    bring at least two warships. You'll likely lose one.               
 8. Transports are worth their weight in gold, not just for mounting   
    amphibious invasions. Fill your ships with caravans and send them to
    all the corners of your world. A successful                        
    leader is one whose merchant fleet is as large as his navy. And your
    merchant fleet may be even busier.                                 
 9. Plot your invasion routes so the transport vessels reach landfall on
    the first move of their turn. That lets you move the ships after
    debarking some of their forces, spreading your troops across the
    broadest possible front.
10. Submarines make terrific blockade vessels, but their limited movement
    capability all but requires that you kepp some fast, long-ranged
    cruisers nearby to take their place shoul they be sunk.              
11. Be careful, early in the game, about building ships before the       
    immediate area around the harbor is fully explored. You might wind   
    up with a landlocked tireme stuck in a lake with nowhere to go!      


GETTING AROUND                                                           

 1. Use the Go-to key only occasionally. While it takes some of the burden
    of issuing orders from you, it rarely moves your units along the most
    effecient routes, nor does it take full advantage of the movement  
    benefits offered by rail transportation.                           
 2. Pressing H will return your bombers and fighters to the nearest    
    friendly city or carrier, if the aircraft possess sifficent movement
    points.                                                            
 3. Moving through a city costs movement points. Build railways around
    cities as well as up to them, letting you conserve movement points
    for your units.                                                    
 4. When engaged in a continental war, continue driving rail lines to the
    front. It's worth commiting extra settler units to this task,       
    especially if you're conquering enemy territory at a good clip.     
 5. Study the world map as it's revealed. Its layout can give you good  
    guidance in the placement of cities proximate to advantageous sea   
    routes.
 6. Look fro rail lines along the coasts on newly discovered continents
    or islands, or enemy continents or islands you're revisting. Debark
    your diplomats and caravans on squares with railroad track and they'll
    be able to move farther when the next turn arrives.
 7. Centralize your embarkation points for units bound overseas. The
    central locations need not be a city. Run a rail line to a remote area
    near an advantageous shipping lane. Send the units you wish to move
    overseas to that point first, picking them up with your cargo vessel.
    Of course, you'll eventually want to put a city there, and probably
    should do so sooner than later. It's also smart to protect such remote
    loading zones with a ship or two, to prevent enemy craft from sneaking
    in and opening fire on your sentried units.
 8. Build cities on remote islands to serve as island-hopping airbases.
    These need to be the most viable islands for long-term development,
    but should be well fortified against enemy assault. Islands lying
    just off enemy coastlines make the most valuable airbases of all.
 9. Pillage enemy inter-city roads and rail lines if possible during
    wartime. Cutting their lines of transport gives you the chance to
    catch enemy units in the open, unable to move.
10. If forced into a long retreat, pick a spot at which to cut your own
    transportation lines. Doing so in the right place can help you
    establish a "killing field" where the enemy units will be halted and
    vulnerable to your fire.


DIPLOMACY                                                                

 1. The diplomat is arguably the most valuable unit in the game; certainly
    it's the most flexible. Produce plebty of diplomats and send them
    throughout teh world.
 2. Don't overlook the value of the diplomat as a "place-holder." On
    sentry or fortification duty, your diplomat will alert you to the
    presence of enemy forces. The advantage is that the diplomat can
    attempt to bribe teh forces over to your side, if you have the money.
 3. Stealing technology is an and violates any treaties in existence
    between you and your target. If you have several diplomats traveling
    inside enemy territory, make sure all are in a position to make their
    move during the same turn. Otherwise you run the risk of losing them
    to enemy retaliation.
 4. If a city looks vulnerable to subversion, try it. Weaker cities can
    generally be subverted for less money than wealthier ones.
 5. Try to get two or three diplomats in position around each of the
    enemy's major cities just before you invade. Use the diplomats one
    after another to sabotage enemy production and destroy enemy
    improvements.
 6. Don't use diplomats to uncover serendipity squares. They are too
    easily wiped out by barbarians.


ENERGY                                                                   

 1. In terms of long-term scoring, the best energy sources are those that
    pollute the least.
 2. The game, or its designers, has a built-in bias against nuclear
    fission: Be wary of building nuclear plants until you'vre developed
    fusion. At the very least, build nuclear plants only in the most
    socially stable of cities.
 3. Build Hoover Dam. This Wonder of the World provides clean power to
    your whole continent - and the game defines continent liberally.


RULING                                                                    

 1. Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven: You may not be able to be
    as nice as you want while you play the game.
 2. If you're going to war, do so as a despot of a monarch. Otherwise, the
    war carries too high a social cost.
 3. Alternate your form of government often, depending on your short-term
    goals.
 4. Go for "We Love The King" days, earned by giving your people the
    "good life" of luxuries. You'll end up with more people.
 5. Try a strategy that focuses your attention and production on cures for
    cancer, women's sufferage, and other social benefits. You might be
    surprised at the effect this has on your people's willingness to
    support your choices.


SPACE TRAVEL                                                             

 1. If playing to win by reaching Alpha Centauri first, commit everything
    you have to the space race once it begins. Spend the time waiting for
    that beginning by building up your perimeter defenses against
    attack. Once you've undertaken to build a starship, you'll need the
    productive output of every city you can spare, and you can allow
    nothing to interefer with that production.
 2. Since starship modules take longer to build, start them first. Have
    at least three cities of roughly equivalent size working on module
    production.                                                         
 3. Starship structural pieces are the easiest to build, yet are the
    pieces you'll need in largest quantity. Find a couple of cities that
    can crank these pieces out and get them going.                      
 4. The more propulsion units your starship has, the faster it reaches
    Alpha Centauri. The more colonists you attempt to deliver to Alpha
    Centauri, the more your starships' weight. Try to install two        
    propulsion units for every complete colonist package - habitation,   
    life support, and solar power modules - you intend to launch.        
 5. Guard your capitol! Losing it brings your interstellar program to a
    crashing close.                                                      
 6. Watch the clock. You must reach the Alpha Centauri system before your
    reign expires, or all your work is for naught.                       
 7. Watch the other civilizations' starship development. If they launch
    before you do, you may want to make a mad dash for their capitol in
    hopes of capturing it before their starship reaches its destination.
 8. Consider selling off some improvements in order to buy more colonists
    and life-support modules. The more colonists you deliver to Alpha
    Centauri, the higher your score.
 9. Once your starship is launched, convert all starship-related
    production to other ends. After launch, no further starship production
    can take place unless your craft is lost or recalled by the loss of
    your capitol. Shift your resources and production to items likely to
    boost your overall score. Remember, after launch, the game is counting
    its way down to the finish line.
10. Don't launch unless your arrival time is less than 20 years. If it's
    more than that, add more fuel and propulsion units.
11. Not tired yet? Take a deep breath, reboot and restart Sid Meier's
    Civilization, and begin again, pretending that now
    your settlers are taming an unknown world, in orbit around Alpha
    Centauri.


TWO GREAT UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES

 1. Tired of facing the same old enemies? Press Alt-R to randomize the
    personalities of the leaders of other civilizations.
 2. In the earliest copies of teh game, pressing Shift-1234567890t lets
    you get a complete world map, see into enemy cities, and generally
    peek behind the scenes. This "feature" was discontinued after the
    first release, but it's worth a try just in case.


           The Courts of Chaos - 501-336-9661 - Sysop Baser Evil

 Regards to the Worthy - Rygar, Scooter, Munchie, Razor Blade, 2-Tuff, Flex

END.