The sun Rises in the year 4000 BC. Since dawn of time immortal your forum has lived a nomadic way of life. After years of wandering the multiverse, the great Toady One has foretold that your people should settle down and found your first city.
Bay12Games! your people have placed their absolute power in you, trusting that you can build a civilization that stands the test of time!
What is this? (I'm sure many of you know this part. But for posterity) Civilization 4 is a game of empire building, where you take control of a small fledgling city-state and transform it into a world-spanning empire. In your favor you have the will of your people. They will build cities, improve the land, and prosper under your rule. Against you, you have vicious wild animals, dangerous barbarians, the harsh hand of nature, and rival powers. Our goal? To dominate the world through technology, culture, conquest, or diplomacy.
In this particular game I will be playing, following the instructions given to me by you, the viewers. YOU choose what we build, where our soldiers go (and die) and what research we follow towards a brighter tomorrow. All I do is actually play the game and give you detailed reports of what happens. (In the end I will also provide a save to you.)
How are we going to do this? A bit of structure is going to be required to keep this from getting bogged down too much.
Game Settings: Pace - Marathon
Update Rate - 10 Turns (It's a little light for the speed, but once war happens you'll probably wish it was even lower)
Map Size - Huge
Map Type - Continents
Difficulty - Prince
Expansions - Warlords and BtS
My own experience level - Monarch+
Number of Civs - 20 (Yes, you read that right.)
Starting Era - Ancient
Our government Our government begins play with a number of leaders, each of which dictates what direction part of your nation undertakes. As we play we will get different options for how our civ is run (called Civics) which change how our civ functions. These also may change officials out of the game. We begin with Despotism (Legal), Decentralization (Government), Tribalism (Economic), and Paganism(Religious). This gives us the following officials:
Chief (Military) - In charge of all military units. The Chief determines how you scout, how you wage war, and how.
-In times of war (and only then) the Chief may demand any one citiy at a time produce military units.
Keeper (Production and Finances) -In charge of all economic units. He determines city placement, improvement types, and coordinates the leaders of each city. (As well as being in charge of cities with inactive mayors). He does not, however, get to determine production in cities.
-The Keeper is in charge of the Capital's Production, and acts as that city's leader.
-The Keeper demand any one city at a time (aside from the capital) produce a worker or settler.
Bard (Foreign Relations) -In charge of ALL foreign relations and espionage. The Bard is responsible for keeping AI leaders happy (or not)
-To start an offensive war, the Bard and the Chief must both agree before it may be declared.
-The Bard may demand any one city at a time build a missionary or scout.
Alchemist (Science and Culture) -In charge of all scientific research, the Alchemist determines what research path should be taken.
-The Alchemist has direct control over all Great People that are born in our country.
-The Alchemist decides what the official state religion is.
-The Alchemist may demand any one city at a time to allocate a specific type of specialist.
In addition to the big four, we also will have
Tribal Leaders Tribal leaders are the heads of individual cities. They determine the production of their city (Excepting demands from higher officials) and choose how to allocate improvements in their city. If a tribal leader fails to post, their city will be automated
All officials will initially be voted in by majority vote. As civics change the method for picking officials and types of officials may also change. Each official in an office remains in office until a new age OR our legal civics change.
Starting out Before we begin, I need to know what civilization you want to play (and what leader). You can find out more at
http://www.civ4.wikia.com as well as nominate and vote for our first set of leaders. Naturally a name for your civ and first city would be useful as well.
I can promise you I haven't told you everything about this Let's Play. Expect a few twists. There will be no reloading and no cheating at all in this game. I will be locking all assets to prevent any tampering. At the end I will provide saves for each turn for everyone to look over.