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108-412: Civilization IV uses the 4X empire-building model for turn-based strategy gameplay, in which the player's main objective is to construct a civilization from limited initial resources. Most standard full-length games start the player with a settler unit and/or a city unit in the year 4000 BC. As with other games in the series, there are by default five objectives the player can pursue in order to finish

216-404: A campaign mode , which involves a series of matches against several artificial intelligence opponents. Finishing each match or mission will advance the game's plot, often with cut scenes , and some games will reward a completed mission with new abilities or upgrades. Hardcore strategy gamers tend to prefer multiplayer competition, where human opponents provide more challenging competition than

324-413: A mobile strategy video game. The origin of strategy video games is rooted in traditional tabletop strategy games like Chess , Checkers and Go , as well as board and miniature wargaming . The Sumerian Game , an early mainframe game written by Mabel Addis , based on the ancient Sumerian city-state of Lagash , was an economic simulation strategy game. The first console strategy game

432-402: A single player facing against one or more computer-controlled opponents , in hot seat mode, or through online multiplayer games . As with other turn-based strategy video games, the player can customize the look and feel of their game world as well as the difficulty of any game AI players before the game starts. Each map space has a terrain type, such as plains, tundra, or desert, that affects

540-423: A board game or paper map. Many later games adopted an isometric perspective. Even with the rise of 3D graphics and the potential to manipulate the camera, games usually feature some kind of aerial view. Very rarely do strategy games show the world from the perspective from an avatar on the ground. This is to provide the player with a big-picture view of the game world, and form more effective strategies. Exploration

648-580: A bonus to other units. Units may also have the ability to sail or fly over otherwise impassable terrain, or provide transport for other units. Non-combat abilities often include the ability to repair or construct other units or buildings. Even in imaginary or fantastic conflicts, strategy games try to reproduce important tactical situations throughout history. Techniques such as flanking, making diversions, or cutting supply lines may become integral parts of managing combat. Terrain becomes an important part of strategy, since units may gain or lose advantages based on

756-452: A city is founded, it will automatically begin extracting resources from surrounding spaces; the amount of spaces it can extract from is determined by the city's population size. The game automatically allocates the spaces a city uses and how its resources are maintained as the city grows, but the player is free to manage the city directly. This feature can be utilized to turn a part of the population into one of several specialized occupations; at

864-485: A fixed set of units, and downplay other strategic considerations such as manufacturing, and resource management. Tactical games are strictly about combat, and typically focus on individual battles, or other small sections in a larger conflict. Strategy games can take place in a number of settings. Depending on the theatre of warfare , releases may be noted as naval strategy games, or space strategy games. A title may be noted for its grand strategic scale, whether

972-442: A genre, strategy games are most commonly defined as those with a primary focus on high-level strategy, logistics and resource management. They are also usually divided into two main sub-categories: turn-based and real-time , but there are also many strategy cross/sub-genres that feature additional elements such as tactics, diplomacy, economics and exploration. A player must plan a series of actions against one or more opponents, and

1080-656: A larger volume of online data. By 2006, reviewers expressed disappointment with the titles produced thus far. Critics argued that strategy games are not conducive to massively multiplayer gameplay. A single victory cannot have much impact in a large persistent world, and this makes it hard for a player to care about a small victory, especially if they are fighting for a faction that is losing an overall war. However, more recent developers have tried to learn from past mistakes, resulting in Dreamlords from 2007, and Saga from 2008. In 2012, Supercell released Clash of Clans ,

1188-550: A little rough in places. The built-in server browser , for instance, will keep jumping around the list as you try to find a game." GameSpot also noted the lack of a "religion-based victory condition", which downplayed the influence that the revamped religion system was supposed to have on the game. In August 2016, Civilization IV placed 11th on Time 's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list. Civilization IV won multiple awards at various events and gaming websites. The editors of Computer Games Magazine named Civilization IV

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1296-476: A modest group of people from a base with initially scarce resources into a successful empire or civilization . The condition for winning the game is accomplished through one of the five ways: militarily defeating all other civilizations in the game world, controlling over two-thirds of the game world's land and population, building the first spaceship in the Space Age and sending it to Alpha Centauri , having

1404-480: A nation and the coordination of its resources. Diplomacy and war interact with each other and become the primary means of reshaping the world map consisting of various states. Players use their nation's resources to achieve national goals such as world domination, whether through military might, diplomacy, or economics. Unlike 4X games, Grand Strategy games might not include such elements as exploration, but it still can be there. Great examples of Grand Strategy games are

1512-419: A notable example. The latter games fall into the player-alternated TBS games category, and are subsequently subdivided into (a) ranked, (b) round-robin start, and (c) random, the difference being the order under which players take their turns. With (a), ranked, the players take their turns in the same order every time. With (b), the first player is selected according to a round-robin policy. With (c), random ,

1620-552: A part of wider subgenre of strategy games, while others consider them as a separate video game genre. Some games of this subgenre, like The Settlers, can include warfare, but this is not an essential element in them. Other strategy video games sometimes incorporate CMS aspects into their game economy, as players must manage resources while expanding their project. For example, base building and resource management in XCOM series. Usually applied only to certain computer strategy games,

1728-512: A predefined square grid map. Like other strategy games , Civilization IV has a fog of war feature, in which unexplored territory remains darkened and territories without any units stationed on its designated square is shaded with darker colors. Most units that the player can generate and use are military units, with certain attributes such as combat strength and movement rate particular to each military type. Each unit can gain experience through combat, which later translates into promotions that

1836-612: A space will move to occupy that space. If the space is occupied by a city the player may choose to occupy and capture the city as their own or raze it. Other than combat, military units can also be assigned to fortify a specific space, perform sentry duties, destroy enemy city improvements, or explore the game world. Non-military units include settlers who are used to found cities, workers who are used to improve space and gather resources, spies who can perform counterintelligence and espionage , and religious missionaries who can be sent to convert different civilizations and cities. Also, with

1944-439: A specific and specialized goal. They are analogous to chess openings , in that a player will have a specific order of play in mind, however, the amount of the build order, the strategy around which the build order is built or even which build order is then used varies on the skill, ability and other factors such as how aggressive or defensive each player is. Early strategy games featured a top-down perspective, similar in nature to

2052-455: A structure that enables more advanced structures. Games with a large number of upgrades often feature a technology tree , which is a series of advancements that players can research to unlock new units, buildings, and other capabilities. Technology trees are quite large in some games, and 4X strategy games are known for having the largest. A build order is a linear pattern of production, research, and resource management aimed at achieving

2160-458: A team to achieve a victory condition which is to destroy the opposing team's main structure whilst protecting their own. Player characters , typically called "heroes" or "champions", are assisted by computer-controlled units that periodically spawn in groups and march forward along set paths (called "lanes") toward their enemy's base. Defensive structures, which are usually automatic "towers", are in place to prevent this. The first team to destroy

2268-432: A time. Expert players can quickly flip between many different tasks, while casual gamers have more problems with this." Ernest Adams goes so far as to suggest that real-time gameplay interferes with strategy. "Strategic thinking, at least in the arena of gameplay, does not lend itself well to real-time action". Many strategy players claim that many RTS games really should be labeled as "real-time tactical" (RTT) games since

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2376-487: A turn-based game is allowed a period of analysis before committing to a game action. Examples of this genre are the Civilization , Heroes of Might and Magic , Making History , Advance Wars and Master of Orion . TBS games come in two flavors, differentiated by whether players make their plays simultaneously or take turns. The former types of games are called simultaneously executed TBS games, with Diplomacy

2484-527: A unit, usually by clicking it with the mouse, and issuing an order from a menu. Keyboard shortcuts become important for advanced players, as speed is often an important factor. Units can typically move, attack, stop, hold a position, although other strategy games offer more complex orders. Units may even have specialized abilities, such as the ability to become invisible to other units, usually balanced with abilities that detect otherwise invisible things. Some strategy games even offer special leader units that provide

2592-473: A windowed interface to manage these complex challenges. Most strategy games allow players to accumulate resources which can be converted to units, or converted to buildings such as factories that produce more units. The quantity and types of resources vary from game to game. Some games will emphasize resource acquisition by scattering large quantities throughout the map, while other games will put more emphasis on how resources are managed and applied by balancing

2700-572: A winning formula." It was nominated as PC Gamer US ' s "Best Multiplayer Game 2005" and overall game of the year, but lost in these categories to Battlefield 2 . 4X">4X The requested page title contains unsupported characters : ">". Return to Main Page . Strategy video game Strategy is a major video game genre that emphasizes thinking and planning over direct instant action in order to achieve victory. Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, as

2808-473: A world with high fidelity. Although many of these may still involve combat in the sense that units can capture or destroy each other, these games sometimes offer non-combat challenges such as arranging units in specific patterns. However, the vast majority of computerized strategy games are representational, with more complex game mechanics. Strategy games include single-player gameplay, multiplayer gameplay, or both. Single player games will sometimes feature

2916-407: Is Icehouse . Some players dispute the importance of strategy in real-time strategy games, as skill and manual dexterity are often seen as the deciding factor in this genre of game. According to Troy Dunniway, "A player controls hundreds of units, dozens of buildings and many different events that are all happening simultaneously. There is only one player, and he can only pay attention to one thing at

3024-413: Is a key element in most strategy games. The landscape is often shrouded in darkness, and this darkness is lifted as a player's units enters the area. The ability to explore may be inhibited by different kinds of terrain, such as hills, water, or other obstructions. Even after an area is explored, that area may become dim if the player does not patrol it. This design technique is called the fog of war , where

3132-588: Is also a growing subgenre of purely tactical games, which are referred to as real-time tactics , and turn-based tactics . These types of games are sometimes categorized as "strategy" games. Game reviewers and scholars sometimes debate whether they are using terminology such as "tactics" or "strategy" appropriately. Chris Taylor , the designer of Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander , has gone so far as to suggest that real-time strategy titles are more about tactics than strategy. But releases that are considered pure tactical games usually provide players with

3240-456: Is also sometimes considered a subgenre of real-time strategy , and thus may in this context exist as an element of gameplay or as a basis for the whole game. It is differentiated from real-time strategy gameplay by the lack of resource micromanagement and base or unit building, as well as the greater importance of individual units and a focus on complex battlefield tactics. Example titles include Warhammer: Dark Omen , World In Conflict ,

3348-414: Is awarded money for killing creeps, and this money can be used to buy more towers, or buy upgrades for a tower such as increased power or range. A good example of a game of this genre is Clash Royale made by Finnish developers Supercell . The term turn-based strategy ( TBS ) is usually reserved for certain computer strategy games, to distinguish them from real-time computer strategy games. A player of

Civilization IV - Misplaced Pages Continue

3456-433: Is initiated when moving military units are moved onto the square occupied by an opposing force's military units and cities, and combat is then resolved with calculating statistics of each unit combined with some random chance . Defeated units are removed from the game (apart from workers and settlers, which are captured by the attacking force), and any attacking units that are able to defeat the last defending military unit on

3564-502: Is much more open to modification than its predecessors were. Game data and rules are stored in XML files, and a Software Development Kit was released in April 2006 to allow customization of game AI . The map editor supports Python . The World Builder allows a player to either design a map from scratch or edit a preloaded template map as a starting point for a new game. The player can modify

3672-682: Is placed upon economic and technological development, as well as a range of non-military routes to supremacy. Many 4X games also fit into the category of grand strategy . Games can take a long time to complete since the amount of micromanagement needed to sustain an empire scales as the empire grows. 4X games are sometimes criticized for becoming tedious for these reasons, and several games have attempted to address these concerns by limiting micromanagement. The earliest 4X games borrowed ideas from board games and 1970s text-based computer games. The first 4X games were turn-based , but real-time 4X games are also not uncommon. Many 4X games were published in

3780-502: Is seeking to present new candidates worthy of being known for "thought strategy" rather than "dexterity strategy". While Herzog Zwei is regarded as the first true RTS game, the defining title for the genre was Westwood Studios 's Dune II , which was followed by their seminal Command & Conquer games. Cavedog's Total Annihilation (1997), Blizzard 's Warcraft (1994) series, StarCraft (1998) series, and Ensemble Studios ' Age of Empires (1997) series are some of

3888-452: Is strong enough. The high levels of culture gathering and attainment are also one of the default conditions that can be used to win the game. Once the first city has been founded, the player can select their first technology node from the game's technology tree to research, once the required number of research points have been accumulated, the technology is obtained. As with other types of technology trees, more advanced technology nodes require

3996-651: The Close Combat series, and early tactical role-playing games such as Bokosuka Wars , and Silver Ghost . Tower defense games have a very simple layout. Usually, computer-controlled monsters called creeps move along a set path, and the player must place, or "build" towers along this path to kill the creeps. In some games, towers are placed along a set path for creeps, while in others towers can interrupt creep movement and change their path. In most tower defense games different towers have different abilities such as poisoning enemies or slowing them down. The player

4104-548: The Wars and X-COM series, as well as tactical role-playing games such as the Jagged Alliance series , Fire Emblem series and Final Fantasy Tactics . Wargames are a subgenre of strategy video games that emphasize strategic or tactical warfare on a map, as well as historical (or near-historical) accuracy. The primary gameplay mode in a wargame is usually tactical: fighting battles. Wargames sometimes have

4212-535: The Golden Joystick Awards 1989's Herzog Zwei is often considered the first real-time strategy game, although real-time strategy elements can be found in several earlier games, such as Dan Bunten 's Cytron Masters and Don Daglow 's Utopia in 1982; Kōji Sumii's Bokosuka Wars in 1983; D. H. Lawson and John Gibson's Stonkers and Steven Faber's Epidemic! in 1983; and Evryware's The Ancient Art of War in 1984. The genre

4320-423: The "Culture" resource that contributes towards both the area upon which the city can influence for extracting resources and the overall civilization's cultural value. When two cities of different civilizations are adjacent to each other, the culture values of each city influences the space they can control; it is even possible that a city close to another civilization's city will join that civilization if their culture

4428-449: The "inside [of] a Civanon meeting for [Civilization] addicts," the first of which being played during E3 2005 once an hour at the 2K Games booth. These "video testimonials of supposedly recovering Civilization addicts" also featured cameos by Sid Meier. In addition to this, an "official" website was created by 2K Games with extra content. The Civilization Anonymous campaign was brought back for the following game Civilization V. Break described

Civilization IV - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-843: The 11th-best-selling computer game of 2005, and it rose to ninth place on the firm's annual computer game sales chart for the following year. It returned to NPD's year-end top 20 in 2008 with a 13th-place finish. The game also received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. According to Take-Two Interactive, sales of Civilization IV surpassed 3 million units by March 2008. Civilization IV received universal critical acclaim with an aggregate score of 94 on Metacritic and an aggregate score of 93.36% on GameRankings . Critics such as GameSpot's Andrew Park praised not only

4644-569: The Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod based on Warcraft III, is largely attributed as being the most significant inspiration for the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) format. Since the format was tied to the Warcraft property, developers began to work on their own " DOTA -style" games, including Heroes of Newerth (2009), League of Legends (2010), and the mod's standalone sequel, Dota 2 (2013). Blizzard Entertainment ,

4752-720: The Beyond the Sword expansion, new units are added such as executives, who can spread corporations to new cities. Throughout the game, players may also generate a special unit called a "Great Person". These are named after historical figures and can be used for one-time advantage boosts in various ways; examples include Great Engineers who increase overall production levels and Great Scientists who improve technology. Assigning inhabitants of cities to work as 'specialists' (scientists, engineers, artists, spies, merchants or priests), building certain wonders or discovering certain technologies can improve

4860-479: The Storm , and Smite being popular. MOBA games are well-represented in esports as well. In 2018, prize pools reached over US$ 60 million, 40% of the year's total esports prize pools. In management simulation games, players build, expand or manage fictional communities or projects with limited resources. Tycoons, city-building, business simulation and transport management games are considered by some authors as

4968-420: The Sword , as well as the stand-alone expansion pack Civilization IV: Colonization , which were all combined in 2009 into one release edition titled Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition . Civilization IV follows some of the 4X model of turn-based strategy games, a genre in which players control an empire and "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate", by having the player attempt to lead

5076-434: The advantages associated with both of the main types of strategy games. Most strategy video games involve a mix of both strategy and tactics . "Tactics" usually refer to how troops are utilized in a given battle, whereas "strategy" describes the mix of troops, the location of the battle, the commander's larger goals or military doctrine , as well as the act of building up something (a base, economy, etc.). However, there

5184-429: The artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence opponents often need hidden information or bonuses to provide a challenge to players. More recently, massively multiplayer online strategy games have appeared such as Shattered Galaxy from 2001. However, these games are relatively difficult to design and implement compared to other massively multiplayer online games , as the numerous player-controlled units create

5292-442: The availability of resources between players. To a lesser extent, some strategy games give players a fixed quantity of units at the start of the game. Strategy games often allow the player to spend resources on upgrades or research. Some of these upgrades enhance the player's entire economy. Other upgrades apply to a unit or class of units, and unlock or enhance certain combat abilities. Sometimes enhancements are enabled by building

5400-423: The available resources players can extract from their environments and the movements of certain units through that terrain. The player is then given a total of 18 different civilizations to choose from, each with their own pros and cons , plus a leader avatar, an initial set of civilization technology, and any units unique to that civilization. When the game starts, however, it chooses random locations to place across

5508-476: The best computer game of 2005, and presented it with their awards for "Best Strategy Game", "Best AI" and "Best Interface". They wrote, "It's a towering achievement, even for a series as revered as this one. Even for long-time fans of the series, playing Civilization IV is like discovering it for the very first time." Civilization IV also won PC Gamer US ' s "Best Turn-Based Strategy Game 2005" award. The magazine's Dan Stapleton called it "a huge facelift to

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5616-589: The best-selling games for the personal computer. It has been praised for pioneering the use of unique "factions" in RTS gameplay, and for having a compelling story. 2002's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos has been an influence on real-time strategy games, especially the addition of role-playing elements and heroes as units. More than the game itself, mods created with the World Editor led to lasting changes and inspired many future strategy games. Defense of

5724-427: The campaign as "hilarious", while Kotaku described it as a "great promotional campaign" that "comes across as terrifyingly realistic". Destructoid shared this view, saying the support group campaign is "a clever marketing tool", but wishing it existed as "we all know there really are people who suffer from one-more-turn-itis". VantureBeat said the campaign was "incredibly clever and funny", adding "what made it so powerful

5832-528: The city's growth and barracks produce better military units, while later buildings such as factories increase general production levels. There are also a number of unique buildings throughout the game. Most notable are World Wonders , which can be accessed through research nodes in the technology tree and construction through the worker unit. World Wonders provide advantages that are unique to each civilization, as they are limited to only one or two players. Through buildings and specialists, each city also generates

5940-506: The considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics in generally small-scale confrontations as opposed to more strategic considerations of turn-based strategy (TBS) games. Turn-based tactical gameplay is characterized by the expectation of players to complete their tasks using only the combat forces provided to them, and usually by the provision of a realistic (or at least believable) representation of military tactics and operations. Examples of this genre include

6048-483: The cost of having one less space from the city, these specialists increase gathering and production of the resources of their targeted specializations. Each city can only produce one military unit or one building at a time; any additional units or buildings are placed into a queue . The rate of construction is determined by the amount of material collected from the surrounding spaces; players can also choose to speed production by sacrificing gold or population if they adopt

6156-410: The cost of wonders, or add new civilizations. Players can also change the sounds played at certain times or edit the play list for your soundtrack." The Civilization IV software development kit was released on April 13, 2006, to coincide with the release of the v1.61 patch. The kit allows players to view, modify, or even completely re-write the game's DLL source code , enabling the modification of

6264-440: The first player is, of course, randomly selected. Almost all non-computer strategy games are turn-based; however, the personal computer game market trend has lately inclined more towards real-time games. Some recent games feature a mix of both real-time and turn-based elements thrown together. Turn-based tactics ( TBT ), or tactical turn-based ( TTB ), is a genre of strategy video games that through stop-action simulates

6372-455: The following series of games: Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings. Artillery is the generic name for either early two- or three-player (usually turn-based ) computer games involving tanks fighting each other in combat or similar derivative games. Artillery games are among the earliest computer games developed; the theme of such games is an extension of the original uses of computer themselves, which were once used to calculate

6480-580: The game AI was much more intelligent than it was in Civilization III , which designer Soren Johnson stated was thanks to their "secret pre-beta group" testing the game before release. Game Revolution remarked that "the multiplayer... actually works this time" and GameSpot added that both "single-player and multiplayer options have been improved in Civ IV ." Though it had received mostly positive feedback, video game critics pointed out functions in

6588-621: The game is real-time, or turn-based. Strategy games also draw on a number of historical periods , including World War II , the medieval era, or the Napoleonic era . Some examples of these are: Hearts of Iron IV , Europa Universalis IV , and Victoria II . Some strategy games are even based in an alternate history , by manipulating and rewriting certain historical facts. It is also common to see games based in science fiction or futuristic settings, as well as fantasy settings. Some strategy games are abstract, and do not try to represent

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6696-494: The game on particular sets of video drivers , which were later resolved by a Firaxis patch , according to GameSpy. By the end of March 2008, the game sold over three million units. Firaxis Games has also published two expansion packs for Civilization IV , entitled Civilization IV: Warlords and Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword . A remake of the original 1994 Sid Meier's Colonization , rebuilt with Civilization IV' s game engine and titled Civilization IV: Colonization ,

6804-408: The game play revolves entirely around tactics, with little or even no strategy involved. Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG or MMO) in particular have had a difficult time implementing strategy since having strategy implies some mechanism for "winning". MMO games, by their nature, are typically designed to be never-ending. Nevertheless, some games are attempting to "crack the code," so-to-speak, of

6912-406: The game which could have been improved to enhance their enjoyment of the game. Steve Butts from IGN suggested that in-game announcements about enemy achievements should be displayed more prominently, and that the multiplayer feature could have included "an option to save my username and password." Likewise, GameSpy's Dave Kosak pointed out other flaws of the multiplayer interface , stating that it "is

7020-400: The game's AI and other integral parts of the game that were previously not accessible. The game engine for Civilization IV was built entirely from scratch, with some help from NDL's Gamebryo engine. This decision resulted in a full 3D immersion of the game, which was the first in the series, and which allowed easier readability and smoother, more in-depth zooming capabilities. Some of

7128-404: The game's new religious system, according to Firaxis Games producer Barry Caudill, was added to increase gameplay depth over the entire game. The game features seven religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism) that are founded by the first civilization to research a certain technology which varies per religion. Religions can then be spread actively through

7236-542: The game: conquering all other civilizations, controlling a supermajority of the game world's land and population, building and sending the first sleeper ship to the Alpha Centauri star system, increasing the "Culture ratings" of at least three different cities to "legendary" levels, or winning a "World Leader" popularity contest by the United Nations . If the time limit for the game is reached and none of

7344-414: The genre by other studios, such as Teamfight Tactics , Dota Underlords , and Hearthstone Battlegrounds releasing soon after. Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a genre of strategy video games in which each player controls a single character with a set of unique abilities that improve over the course of a game and which contribute to the team's overall strategy. Players work together as

7452-406: The improvements in the turn-based strategy genre that carried over from other installments in the series , but also noted the game's more advanced 3D computer graphics , difficult AI opponents , and multiplayer feature. The Times praised the improvements of the 3D engine used to generally build the game, and GameGuru appreciated its ability to zoom onto individual squares. IGN commented that

7560-442: The intention being to satirise how addictive the game was. With the slogan "No More Turns", the premise was the following: "Rumors have begun to circulate that the newest edition of the "One More Turn" franchise is on its way. STAY AWAY from this game at all costs. You will likely be powerless to its extreme addictive properties once exposed". Various characters were created, and their scenarios were included in various trailers showing

7668-498: The landscape. Some strategy games such as Civilization III and Medieval 2: Total War involve other forms of conflict such as diplomacy and espionage. However, warfare is the most common form of conflict, as game designers have found it difficult to make non-violent forms of conflict as appealing. Strategy games often involve other economic challenges. These can include building construction, population maintenance, and resource management . Strategy games frequently make use of

7776-500: The leading video game producers in the turn-based strategy genre, and has been listed as one of the best video games of all time. Civilization IV sold over 3 million copies by 2008 and won multiple awards, including several Game of the Year awards. Its title song, " Baba Yetu ", was the first piece of video game music to win a Grammy Award . Two major expansions were released, Civilization IV: Warlords and Civilization IV: Beyond

7884-772: The map by placing and modifying any number of rivers, landmasses, mountains, resources, units, and cities, as well as their attributes such as Culture generation. The World Builder for Civilization IV is in-game, in contrast to previous Civilization games where the Map Editor was an external application. More game attributes are stored in XML files, which can be edited with an external text editor or application. On September 20, 2005, Firaxis Games senior producer Barry Caudill stated that "[e]diting these files will allow players to tweak simple game rules and change or add content. For instance, they can add new unit or building types, change

7992-467: The mid-1990s, but were later outsold by other types of strategy games. Sid Meier 's Civilization and the Total War series are important examples from this formative era, and popularized the level of detail that would later become a staple of the genre. In the new 2000 millennium, several 4X releases have become critically and commercially successful. Grand Strategy games emphasize the management of

8100-416: The moniker real-time strategy ( RTS ) indicates that the action in the game is continuous, and players will have to make their decisions and actions within the backdrop of a constantly changing game state, and computer real-time strategy gameplay is characterised by obtaining resources, building bases, researching technologies and producing units. Very few non-computer strategy games are real-time; one example

8208-423: The most dominant Culture ratings over other civilizations, or becoming "World Leader" through the United Nations votes. Additionally, there are multiple game scores for each civilization throughout the game based on the actions of each civilization and a number of different factors, allowing for a win condition based on the total of these points if the game timer runs out. The game can be played in multiple modes: as

8316-473: The most popular RTS games. Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy games , also known as MMORTS , combine real-time strategy (RTS) with a persistent world . Players often assume the role of a general, king, or other type of figurehead leading an army into battle while maintaining the resources needed for such warfare. The titles are often based in a sci-fi or fantasy universe and are distinguished from single or small-scale multiplayer RTS games by

8424-484: The most successful series of strategy games of all time. 4X games are a genre of strategy video game in which players control an empire and " e x plore, e x pand, e x ploit, and e x terminate ". The term was first coined by Alan Emrich in his September 1993 preview of Master of Orion for Computer Gaming World . Since then, others have adopted the term to describe games of similar scope and design . 4X games are noted for their deep, complex gameplay . Emphasis

8532-532: The need for direct action upon an opponent. Nevertheless, some authors consider construction and management simulation games, in particular city-building games, as a part of the wider strategy game genre. Although strategy games are similar to role-playing video games in that the player must manage units with a variety of numeric attributes, RPGs tend to be about a smaller number of unique characters, while strategy games focus on larger numbers of fairly similar units. The player commands their forces by selecting

8640-432: The number of players and common use of a persistent world , generally hosted by the game's publisher, which continues to evolve even when the player is offline. Real-time tactics (abbreviated RTT and less commonly referred to as fixed-unit real-time strategy ) is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics . It

8748-405: The opponents' main structure wins the match. The genre is seen as a fusion of real-time strategy games , role-playing games , and action games , however, players usually do not construct either buildings or units. This type of multiplayer online video games gained popularity in early 2010s, with Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft III , League of Legends , Dota 2 , Heroes of

8856-482: The option of selecting which set of government civics or state religions that the player wants their civilization to follow, but not all civics and religions can be encompassed. Once the player has formally met another civilization, they can perform diplomacy at any time. For example, if the two civilizations are on friendly terms, the player can ask to trade units and/or technology for gold and vice versa, or request opening of national borders in order to freely explore in

8964-484: The other civilization's territories. The player can also use the diplomacy menu to request help in a war against a third civilization, or formally declare war on any civilization in which they engage diplomacy. Religion plays a much more important role in Civilization IV than in the previous installments of the franchise. Impacting many of the game's key mechanics like government civics and diplomatic relations,

9072-563: The owner of Warcraft property, developed a game inspired by DotA titled Heroes of the Storm (2015), which features an array of heroes from Blizzard's franchises, including numerous heroes from Warcraft III. Former game journalist Luke Smith called DotA "the ultimate RTS". Since its first title was released in 2000, the Total War series by the Creative Assembly has sold over 20 million copies, becoming one of

9180-512: The player can see the terrain but not the units within the explored area. This makes it possible for enemies to attack unexpectedly from otherwise explored areas. Strategy video games are categorized based on whether they offer the continuous gameplay of real-time strategy , or the discrete phases of turn-based strategy . These differences in time-keeping lead to several other differences. Typically, turn-based strategy games have stronger artificial intelligence than real-time strategy games, since

9288-424: The player can use to assign military units new bonuses. Initially, most combat takes place on land, but further advancements in the game's technology tree can allow the player to build ships and planes with which to fight battles on sea and in the air. Any number of units can be stacked onto a single space and move as a group if so assigned, but the overall combat phase is resolved by one-on-one unit battles. Combat

9396-654: The player's ability to explore or manage an economy. Even though there are many action games that involve strategic thinking, they are seldom classified as strategy games. A strategy game is typically larger in scope, and its main emphasis is on the player's ability to outthink their opponent. Strategy games rarely involve a physical challenge, and tend to annoy strategically minded players when they do. Compared to other genres such as action or adventure games where one player takes on many enemies, strategy games usually involve some level of symmetry between sides. Each side generally has access to similar resources and actions, with

9504-464: The previous goals has been fulfilled by any players including game AI players , the civilization with the highest total game score is declared winner. A large departure from earlier Civilization games is a new graphics engine created from scratch, based on the Gamebryo engine by Numerical Design Limited (NDL). The game has received critical acclaim and was hailed as an exemplary product of one of

9612-498: The production of missionary units or passively through means such as trade routes. Religions may be spread to domestic and foreign cities and there is no limit to the number of religions that can be present in any single city. The player may only choose one state religion at a time and all seven offer identical advantages (e.g. cities with the state religion receive bonuses in happiness, and potentially in production, science, gold and even military unit experience points). Civilization IV

9720-462: The quotes relating to the technology tree and narration for the game were provided by Leonard Nimoy . The soundtrack for the game features compositions of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque origin, and design for the title music was influenced by The Lion King . Composer Christopher Tin wrote the opening theme song " Baba Yetu " ( Swahili "Our Father"), a rendition of the Lord's Prayer , which

9828-404: The rate at which Great People are generated. Great Generals are generated when a player's forces achieve a certain number of victories, and can be used either to give a small amount of extra experience to all units trained in a city, or a very high level of experience to one unit. However, like other units, Great People of all kinds can be attacked and killed before the players can use them. Once

9936-480: The reduction of enemy forces is usually a goal. Victory is achieved through superior planning, and the element of chance takes a smaller role. In most strategy video games, the player is given a godlike view of the game world, and indirectly controls game units under their command. Thus, most strategy games involve elements of warfare to varying degrees, and feature a combination of tactical and strategic considerations. In addition to combat, these games often challenge

10044-457: The relationship between economic growth, technological progress, and conquest. That same year, Nobunaga's Ambition was a conquest-oriented grand strategy wargame with historical simulation elements. The Lords of Midnight combined elements of adventure, strategy and wargames, and won the Crash magazine award for Best Adventure game of 1984, as well as Best Strategy Game of the Year at

10152-707: The required governmental policy; called civics . The player can instead specialize the city towards gathering a particular resource instead of constructing additional units or buildings. Also, in order to produce some units or buildings, certain resources must be collected within the empire and connected to the empires trade network by roads or harbours (for example, horses are needed for mounted units, and iron for swords, while stone or marble increase production of certain Wonders.). Buildings perform any number of different functions depending on building type; for example, early buildings such as granaries improve food storage to boost

10260-531: The research of other previous technology nodes. The player can also select a future technology and immediately place into the game queue any technology nodes between the current technology level and the specified technology node. Technology can also determine another win condition; several endgame technology nodes are required to develop a colony ship to reach Alpha Centauri. Within the technology tree are technology nodes relating to government civics and state religions, each with their own pros and cons. The player has

10368-580: The strengths and weaknesses of each side being generally balanced. Although strategy games involve strategic, tactical, and sometimes logistical challenges, they are distinct from puzzle games . A strategy game calls for planning around a conflict between players, whereas puzzle games call for planning in isolation. Strategy games are also distinct from construction and management simulations , which include economic challenges without any fighting. These games may incorporate some amount of conflict, but are different from strategy games because they do not emphasize

10476-474: The tanks, the velocity or "power" of the shot fired and the angle of the tanks' turrets. Auto battler , also known as auto chess , is a type of strategy game that features chess -like elements where players place characters on a grid-shaped battlefield during a preparation phase, who then fight the opposing team's characters without any further direct input from the player. It was created and popularized by Dota Auto Chess in early 2019, and saw more games in

10584-550: The trajectories of rockets and other related military-based calculations. Artillery games have been typically described as a type of turn-based tactics game, though they have also been described as a type of "shooting game." Examples of this genre are Pocket Tanks , Hogs of War , Scorched 3D and the Worms series. Early precursors to the modern artillery-type games were text-only games that simulated artillery entirely with input data values. A BASIC game known simply as Artillery

10692-420: The true real-time strategy MMOG. One method by which they are doing so is by making defenses stronger than the weapons, thereby slowing down combat considerably and making it possible for players to more carefully consider their actions during a confrontation. Customizable units are another way of adding strategic elements, as long as players are truly able to influence the capabilities of their units. The industry

10800-507: The turn-based pace allows more time for complex calculations. But a real-time artificial intelligence makes up for this disadvantage with its ability to manage multiple units more quickly than a human. Overall, real-time strategy games are more action-oriented, as opposed to the abstract planning emphasized in turn-based strategy. The relative popularity of real-time strategy has led some critics to conclude that more gamers prefer action-oriented games. Fans of real-time strategy have criticized

10908-671: The wait times associated with turn-based games, and praised the challenge and realism associated with making quick decisions in real-time. In contrast, turn-based strategy fans have criticized real-time strategy games because most units do not behave appropriately without orders, and thus a turn-based pace allows players to input more realistic and detailed plans. Game theorists have noted that strategic thinking does not lend itself well to real-time action, and turn-based strategy purists have criticized real-time strategy games for replacing "true strategy" with gameplay that rewards "rapid mouse-clicking". Overall, reviewers have been able to recognize

11016-533: Was "updated for modern concerns, like the franchise's broader audience and iPhone editions of the game acting as a gateway drug." Civilization IV was published for the Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Aspyr released the Mac OS X version on June 26, 2006, and a Mac digital version was released January 2010 on gameagent.com. Users who quickly purchased the game after initial release reported having problems playing

11124-553: Was a Risk -like game called Invasion, released in 1972 for the Magnavox Odyssey . Strategic Simulations (SSI)'s Computer Bismarck , released in 1980, was the first historical computer wargame. Companies such as SSI, Avalon Hill , MicroProse , and Strategic Studies Group released many strategy titles throughout the 1980s. Reach for the Stars from 1983 was one of the first 4X strategy games, which expanded upon

11232-597: Was not the near-flawless execution and fine detail; it was the fact that it could have been real". 'Ctrl-Alt-Play: Essays on Control in Video Gaming' noted the spoof highlighted the series' "hyper-addictive turn-based gameplay". As part of the Civilization V version of the campaign, 2K Games asked Civilization addicts to submit stories via video in order to win $ 2,500 and a "framed, limited edition Civilization Anonymous poster signed by Firaxis Games". The 2010 version

11340-439: Was performed by Stanford University 's Talisman A Cappella . The song, when rereleased, became the first piece of video game music to be nominated for and to win a Grammy Award . Sid Meier's Civilization IV also released some bonus content, mainly to show modding capabilities : The game had a viral marketing campaign, revolving around a fictitious self-help organization known as Civilization Anonymous (shortened to CivAnon),

11448-501: Was popularized by Dune II three years later in 1992. Brett Sperry, the creator of Dune II , coined the name "real-time strategy" to help market the new game genre he helped popularize. Real-time strategy games changed the strategy genre by emphasizing the importance of time management, with less time to plan. Real-time strategy games eventually began to outsell turn-based strategy games. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide by February 2009, StarCraft (1998) became one of

11556-403: Was released for Mac and PC as a standalone game and later bundled with the two expansions as Civilization IV: The Complete Edition . Civilization IV was a commercial success, and sold more than 1 million units by mid-March 2006. By that time, it had held a top-10 position on every weekly computer game sales chart released by The NPD Group since the game's launch. NPD declared Civilization IV

11664-466: Was written by Mike Forman and was published in Creative Computing magazine in 1976 . This seminal home computer version of the game was revised in 1977 by M. E. Lyon and Brian West and was known as War 3 ; War 3 was revised further in 1979 and published as Artillery-3 . These early versions of turn-based tank combat games interpreted human-entered data such as the distance between

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