The 'Civilization IV' Alphabet Quiz

Answer: Trade technologies

The technology tree is the key to the game as you advance through it, unlocking new weaponry and buildings. A player would not want to get too far behind and fall prey to more advanced civilizations. Trading technologies is one way to advance more quickly by skipping the research time needed.

The alphabet technology also unlocks the ability to build research, meaning using a city's production toward research rather than city improvements or units. In the 'Beyond the Sword' expansion, a player can build spies with the alphabet. Writing is actually discovered prior to the alphabet, something which I do not understand.

Answer: Great Wall

Barbarians have always been an annoying factor in the 'Civilization' game series, but now 'Civilization IV' has brought a new twist. The barbarians could build cities that could be conquered by the other civilizations. Having the Great Wall gives the civilization the advantage of not worrying about the encroaching barbarian forces along the border.

The Great Wall only works on the continent it was built on. An expansive civilization that builds a city on another continent should bear this in mind.

Answer: A minimum population in a city

Each corporation not only needs the corporation technology, but they require a secondary technology as well. For example, the founder of Creative Constructions must also have discovered combustion. Different corporations also consume different resources. Aluminum, Inc. requires the least with only coal, while others require multiple resources. Additionally different great people will be founders for different corporations, such as the great scientist being behind Standard Ethanol Co. Corporations add to the income of the civilization and can be spread to other cities, even those outside of the founder's civilization.

Answer: Chichen Itza

The Chichen Itza can be built once the code of laws has been researched. Walls and castles also increase the defense of the units of the cities. Attacking units can utilize the catapults, trebuchets and other siege weapons to lower the defensive bonus that a city provides its units.

The age of a city will also determine the strength of a defensive bonus. The percentage increase in defense is displayed above the city bar and is viewable by opponents. The first to discover code of laws will also be the founder of Confucianism.

Answer: A great merchant

Economics is a middle technology that is discovered after banking and university. With this discovery also comes the capability to have a free market civic. This civic adds a trade route to the city, generating more income, and it decreases the maintenance cost for corporations. Like all great people, the great merchant can settle in a city or work with another great person to create a golden age.

The great merchant can also be used to fast forward a technology or be the founder of Sid's Sushi Co. or Cereal Mills.

They can also uniquely carry out trade missions to far off cities, raking in a large cash settlement. Other great people are: the great prophet, the great general, the great scientist, the great engineer and the great artist.

Answer: Whale

Fishing boats are like workers, in that they can harvest resources in the water. However, unlike workers, they can only be used for one square. Fishing boats can be built once the civilization discovers fishing. To work a square with whale, the civilization requires optics to create whaling boats.

The only other water resource is oil, which requires researching plastics to generate oil for the civilization by building offshore platforms. Fishing boats, whaling boats, and offshore platforms require that the civilization to produce work boats.

Answer: Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal will give the building city a huge cultural bonus, but the main bonus is the automatic golden age. A golden age gives the entire civilization a bonus by producing extra commerce and production hammers. Golden ages are begun usually through the sacrifice of great people. For the first golden age, two unique great people are required, and for the second three are needed, and so on.

The Taj Mahal is the only other way to bring a golden age to the people. The Taj Mahal can be built once the civilization discovers nationalism.

Answer: Animal husbandry

Different resources are visible as a player climbs the technology tree. The horse resource allows mounted units to be built. Animal husbandry is an early technology that allows chariots to be created. Later mounted units include horse archers, knights, and cavalry.

They have the bonus of being quicker than most other military units on land. Other useful strategic resources are copper and iron that are required for powerful melee units.

Answer: Divine right

Islam is one of the last religions to be founded as divine right is a relatively late game technology. Although a player may pick 'choose religions' in the game set-up. When a player is the first to discover a technology that would normally found a religion, the player can choose one of the religions that have yet to be founded. Without picking 'choose religions', then the player must discover divine right. Divine right also opens up the possibility of building the wonders, Versailles and the Spiral Minaret.

The founder of a religion also has the option to build a wonder of the world associated with that religion with a great prophet. Once that building is established, they will earn one gold per city with that religion.

Answer: Aztec

Jaguars replace the standard warrior unit. They have an increased 10% attack against cities and an automatic Woodsman I promotion. Each civilization has a special unit that replaces a regular unit with special qualities. These special units are based on the actual history of the civilization.

For example, the Japanese have samurai that replace the maceman units and England has the red coats that replace the regular rifleman. This may make a difference in strategy on a civilization's proper time to strike against its neighbors.

Answer: Mongol

The capital is an important component to any civilization. It already comes with a palace, giving it a cultural bonus. A capital can be moved by building a palace in a different city. Sometimes this is a forced move if the capital is conquered and there are remaining cities.

As a civilization expands, cities farther from the capital have a higher upkeep cost to the civilization. Expansion can kill an economy in this way so expand wisely. The Forbidden Palace and Versailles location act as a capital in that they will lower these maintenance costs in cities nearby. Courthouses lower the maintenance costs in individual cities.

Answer: Gains 50% experience from combat

Different units earn different promotions. Promotions are normally earned from combat experience. If the leader is charismatic, the required experience is lowered for each promotion. Promotions can increase attack points, defense points, increase movement and in general give you a powerful army. Leadership can only be acquired by units linked with a great general.

The great general can generously bestow twenty experience points to units on its tile. Great generals appear after a certain number of experience is acquired by the military or the civilization is the first to discover fascism.

The Heroic Epic, a national wonder, also requires that one unit have a certain level of experience.

Answer: Organized religion

Organized religion can only be used if a civilization has discovered the monotheism technology. Organized religion also grants cities with the state religion a production bonus when building buildings. It does put a dent in the economy. In this game, all religions have a name but are equal in how they are used in the game. Missionaries give a big bonus to spreading your religion.

In your cities, the state religion gives bonuses depending on the civic to the city. By spreading your religion to other civilizations, you increase the chance that you'll share your state religion and will be on friendlier terms.

Theocracy will prevent non-state religions from spreading.

Answer: Mt. Rushmore

World wonders can only be built once per game. National wonders can be built once per civilization. Therefore, Mt. Rushmore can be built by as many civilizations as are in the game, which can be confusing given reality. Each city can only build two national wonders, so plan ahead.

There are fourteen national wonders that can be built. Mt. Rushmore will decrease the war discontent in all cities. It can be built after fascism is discovered.

Answer: Hammam

As stated earlier, each civilization has a special unit. The same holds true with buildings. The hammam replaces the aqueduct. Normally the aqueduct provides two health points to the city. The hammam also gives two happiness points to the city. The Ottomans are required to build a hammam before they can potentially build the Hanging Gardens wonder. Again, these special city improvements are based on historical reality. Spain can build citadels rather than castles which gives experience points to siege units. Americans build malls instead of supermarkets for an economic and happiness bonus.

Answer: Apollo Program

Projects cannot be be rushed like wonders. Usually building endeavors can be rushed by chopping down woods or jungle and even paid for via gold. The Apollo Program is considered a team project as every civilization has the opportunity to build one. The Apollo Program is required before a civilization can begin building parts for a spaceship.

The world wonder, the Space Elevator, can decrease the cost of spaceship parts, as do laboratories within individual cities.

Answer: Marble

Stone and marble both require a quarry. Before workers can build a quarry, the civilization must discover masonry. Both stone and marble can double the production speeds for particular wonders. For example, stone can double the speed for building the Pyramids while marble can double the speed for creating the Parthenon.

These resources are essential in a race to build wonders with other civilizations. A leader with the trait for industrial will also double the speed for wonder building.

Answer: All of these

The length of anarchy is dependent on the length of the game and the number of civics that are changing. A leader with a spiritual trait eliminates the state of anarchy. All total there are five different categories of civics that mold the shape of the civilization's society: government, legal, labor, economy, and religion. Each civic within these categories have different bonuses and some drawbacks with different maintenance costs.

A leader must choose what is best for his/her society and not all civics are available at the beginning. Pyramids do allow a civilization access to all government civics.

A civilization cannot have a revolution until a certain number of turns have passed after the previous one.

Answer: Gold

A civilization's score is tabulated by the civilization's level of technology, population, wonders built (world and national) and the amount of land within its borders. Scores are visible to all civilizations that have contact with each other. While gold is not calculated into the score, it is essential to maintain a healthy economy. Gold supports the maintenance of the cities. Those costs depend on the civics used and distance from the capital. Gold also can be used to rush production and used to trade for technology.

However, when deciding on research and cultural levels (which directly effects the gold earned), remember that accumulating gold will not help in the end.

Answer: False

Generally terrain produces food, commerce (which contributes to research and gold), and hammers (for the city to build with). Desert and ice produce none of these. The world also contains resources that can yield extra happiness, health, or a strategic resource which is needed to produce a particular military unit or speed production.

A civilization only needs one of these resources to reap the benefits. For example, having access to two squares of banana will have the same affect as one. However, a civilization can trade one of those banana resources with another civilization to gain access to a resource it does not have.

Answer: Three cultural points

The university also increases the research output of the individual city by 25%. Culture is a must of the civilization as it is required to grow the boundaries around individual cities, which in turn will give it more access to resources and land. Cities that border other civilizations can find themselves in culture wars. If a city is not outputting enough culture and the other civilization is, then that city could be lost through revolt.

While wonders can affect the well-being of the entire civilization, regular buildings that improve the life of individual cities should not be neglected. Oxford University, a national wonder, requires the civilization to have six universities and be built in a city with a university.

Answer: Peace

There are actually five ways to win 'Civilization IV'. Time means that the maximum number of turns has been reached (in the year 2050). No other victory conditions have been met so the victor is one who has the highest score. Conquest is when one player has eliminated all other players completely. Domination is when a player has taken a certain percentage (depending on the land size and number of players) of land and population .

A diplomatic victory requires that the Apostolic Palace or United Nations has been built and the members have declared the victor to be the ruler. Finally, a player may completely construct a spaceship for travel.

Answer: A hamlet

Workers are essential to the improvement of the landscape around the city and connection of cities that increase the output of production of that land. They are still bound to only creating what has been discovered via research. For example, workers cannot build a farm until agriculture has been researched.

They also are able to harness special resources. Workers are able to create cottages. Hamlets are only formed when a portion of the city population works on the square that contains a cottage. Hamlets later become villages which in turn become towns.

The larger the settlement, the more commerce they will provide the city.

Answer: Egyptian

For easy differentiation between civilizations, the game utilizes color coding. Borders are shaded with this color and units will sometimes have a sash or other part of their uniform with this color. Military units also carry flags that announce their allegiance. Memorization of these colors can help when coming into contact with these nations and easily tell the difference between friend and foe. Barbarians are always black and always foes.

Answer: Shaka

In the game start-up, leader and civilization choosing can greatly effect the game play as each one is unique. Each leader has its own traits, giving the leader an advantage in areas different from the others. Shaka's traits are aggressive and expansive. An aggressive leader gives its melee and gunpowder units an upgrade in combat and double production speed of barracks and dry docks.

The expansive trait gives the cities two additional health points, faster production of workers, and double production speed for the granaries and harbors.

The Zulus also begin with two technologies: agriculture and hunting. Each civilization begins with two, but they depend on which civilization. As stated above, civilizations have unique buildings and units.