Sid Meier's Civilization II is a turn-based strategy video game in the Civilization series, developed and published by MicroProse. It was released in 1996 for PCs, and later ported to the PlayStation by Activision.

The Story Behind Civilization II

In the United States, Civilization II was the third-best-selling computer game of the first six months of 1996, and the fifth-highest seller of the year as a whole. There are also some scenarios based on other MicroProse games such as X-COM, Master of Orion and Master of Magic "Jr." scenarios. On the PC Civilization II was developed for Windows 3.1 and later using the WinG API.

The artificial intelligence for the human player's opponents was also improved. Fantastic Worlds also contains a new scenario editor that allowed users to edit the statistics and icons used for units, city improvements, terrain, and technologies, as well as creating event triggers and other enhancements to the game. "Scenarios" are preset game files that emulate historical, fictional or other situations.

How Civilization II Plays

Typically, each civilization will constantly expand by founding new cities until all of the map is settled. A player, when creating a game, may pick one of 21 historical civilizations or a custom-named civilization. As a turn-based strategy game, Civilization II models the historical development of human civilization.

Players begin with primitive technology and hence limited possible actions. Analogous to chess pieces, the many different units vary in their functions, mirroring historical types of soldiers and occupations. A player's score is calculated after finishing the game.

Why Players Still Load It Up

Macworld Michael Gowan wrote, "Hard-core strategists will enjoy this game's complexity." Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "Overall, Civ II remains one of strategy gaming's finest hours and is a welcome addition on PlayStation. The same group also showed that their "non-linear Monte-Carlo search wins 80% of games against the handcrafted, built-in AI". In 2011, researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the University College London published the results of a machine learning system playing Civilization II, in its Freeciv implementation, which used the text from its official game manual to guide its strategy.

For those who are willing, it's a game of limitless possibilities." In 2007, Civilization II was ranked as third in IGNs list of the 100 greatest video games of all time, having previously rated it at number 15 in 2003. The journal article "Theoretical Frameworks for Analysing Turn-Based Computer Strategy Games" deemed it "significant and influential". PC Games argued that the game "cemented the franchise's place in videogame history." In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 2nd-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "intelligent, engrossing and entertaining beyond compare, it's one of the finest artistic achievements of the last decade".

Civilization II — Frequently Asked Questions