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The Civilization series consists of turn-based strategy computer games designed largely by Sid Meier and various sequels and spinoffs. The main purpose of this wiki is to provide information about and strategies for these games.

Descriptions originally came from the Wikipedia article Civilization (series).

Main series[]

Official Series
Base Game Game Abbr. Developer Release Descriptions
Civilization Original Civ/Civ1 MicroProse 1991
CivNet MicroProse 1995 A remake with improved graphics and sound, local and online multiplayer modes, and support for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95.
Civilization II Original Civ2 MicroProse 1996 Introduced the isometric view of the world map.
Conflicts in Civilization MicroProse 1996
Fantastic Worlds FW MicroProse 1997
Test of Time TOT MicroProse 1999 Includes the original Civilization II plus new scenarios and improved features, including an alien landscape.
Civilization III Original Civ3 Firaxis 2001 Introduced aspects of culture, including culture victories and takeovers of nearby cities.
Play the World PTW Firaxis 2002
Conquests Firaxis 2003
Civilization IV Original Civ4 Firaxis 2005 Introduced aspects of religion and government civics.
Warlords Firaxis 2006
Beyond the Sword BTS Firaxis 2007
Colonization
(Total Conversion)
Civ4Col Firaxis 2008 Remake of Sid Meier's Colonization with Civilization IV engine. The game is completely separate from the core Civilization IV game.
Civilization Revolution Original CivRev Firaxis 2008 The first game in the series designed specifically for consoles, iOS and Windows Phone; not released for the PC or Mac.
Civilization V Original Civ5 Firaxis 2010 Introduced a hex-based map instead of a square tile map used in previous titles, and "unstacked" military units, where only one unit of a kind may occupy one space. City States added. First game with DLC.
Gods & Kings G&K Firaxis 2012 Added religion and espionage/spies.
Brave New World BNW Firaxis 2013 Redesigned the Culture Victory using the Great Works and Tourism systems. World Congress and late game Ideologies along with new trade route caravans.
Civilization Revolution 2 Original CivRev2 Firaxis 2013 A mobile exclusive sequel to Civilization Revolution.
Civilization:
Beyond Earth
Original CivBE Firaxis 2014 A spiritual successor to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri built atop the Civilization V engine. Takes place in a science fiction setting.
Rising Tide BERT Firaxis 2015 Experiments with floating cities, and new diplomatic settings
Civilization VI Original Civ6 Firaxis 2016 Introduced "unstacked" city tiles, where city improvements are placed outside the main city grid space, and a separate culture improvement tree from the technology tree.
Rise and Fall R&F Firaxis 2018 Added Dark Ages and greatly expanded upon Golden Ages, and a new Loyalty system which interacts with your current age.
Gathering Storm GS Firaxis 2019 Added natural disasters and the effects of global warming. New Future Era as well as its technologies and civics. Canals, Rock Bands, Diplomatic Victory, World Congress, etc.

Spinoffs[]

Spinoff Titles
Title Developer Release Notes
Sid Meier's Colonization MicroProse 1994 Created by Brian Reynolds and Sid Meier while still at MicroProse. Would later be remade as Civilization IV: Colonization.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Firaxis 1999 Science fiction version of Civilization.
Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire Firaxis 1999 The expansion pack to Alpha Centauri.
CivCity: Rome Firefly Studios and Firaxis 2006 A city-building strategy game inspired by the series.
Civilization World Firaxis 2011 A Civilization game for Facebook. The game was discontinued in 2013.
Sid Meier's Starships Firaxis 2015 A tie-in game to Civilization: Beyond Earth.
Civilization: Eras & Allies Firaxis 2023-2024 A mobile game originally titled Conquests and Alliances.

Compilations[]

These bundles show compilations sold physically at stores, not digital only versions that can be changed over time. This is not a complete list.

Compilations
Title Release Contents
The Explorer 1997 Civilization and the Colonization spinoff.
Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition 1998 Civilization II and its two expansions: Conflicts in Civilization and Fantastic Worlds.
Civilization III: Gold Edition 2003 Civilization III and the first expansion, Play the World.
Civilization III Complete 2005 Civilization III and its two expansions: Play the World and Conquests.
Civilization Chronicles 2006 All the games from the main series from the first Civilization to Civilization IV.
Civilization IV: Gold Edition 2007 Civilization IV and its first expansion Warlords, as well as a bonus poster illustrated by artist Greg Hildebrandt.
Civilization IV Complete 2007 Civilization IV and its two expansions: Warlords and Beyond the Sword.
Civilization IV: The Complete Edition 2009 Civilization IV, its two expansions, Warlords and Beyond the Sword, and Civilization IV: Colonization. It does not have any DRM (copy protection).
Civilization V: Game of the Year Edition 2011 Civilization V and all DLC prior to the Korea and Wonders of the Ancient World packs released through Steam.
Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gold Edition 2013 Civilization V plus the Gods & Kings expansion with all the DLC released between them both.
Sid Meier's Civilization V: The Complete Edition 2014 Civilization V plus the Gods & Kings and Brave New World expansions with all the DLC released between them.
Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gold Edition 2018 Civilization VI plus Rise and Fall expansion with all DLC released between them.
Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Platinum Edition 2019 Civilization VI plus Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions with all DLC excluding the New Frontier Pass.
Sid Meier's Civilization VI Anthology 2021 Civilization VI plus Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions with all DLC including the New Frontier Pass.[1]

Related games[]

Due to licensing disputes between Avalon Hill and MicroProse, the Civilization: Call to Power series was developed by Activision instead of MicroProse. However, the series was consolidated into the Civilization franchise when Hasbro purchased Avalon Hill and Activision in 1999. Additional games, such as Freeciv and FreeCol, have taken inspiration from games within the Civilization franchise, but were developed by third parties unrelated to 2K Games or Firaxis.

Related Titles
Title Release Developer Notes
Freeciv 1996 The Freeciv developers A free and open source clone of Civilization.[2]
Imperialism 1997 Frog City Software
Civilization: Call to Power 1999 Activision, license from Hasbro Interactive Not worked on by Sid Meier.
C-evo ?? Steffen Gerlach A freeware game loosely based on Civilization II, created by Steffen Gerlach.[3]
Call to Power II 2000 Activision, license from Hasbro Interactive Sequel to Civilization: Call to Power. Due to licensing issues, Civilization not in the title.[4]
FreeCol 2003 The FreeCol developers An open source clone of Sid Meier's Colonization.[5]
NewCol 2007-2011 Frédéric Vernier and associates
CivilizationEDU 2017 GlassLab A modified version of Civilization V aimed to be used in the classroom as an education tool to examine the interaction between military, technology, political and socioeconomic issues. Development is in partnership with GlassLab.[6] The project and GlassLab Games studio were both shut down in 2018.[7]

Board and card games[]

Title Release Notes
Civilization: The Boardgame 2002 An officially licensed board game published by Eagle Games and based on Civilization III.
Civilization: The Card Game 2006 A card game designed by Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson and based on Civilization IV.
Civilization: The Board Game 2010 An officially licensed board game published by Fantasy Flight Games and based on Civilization IV.
Civilization: Fame and Fortune 2011 The first expansion to the 2010 Civilization based board game.
Civilization: Wisdom and Warfare 2013 The second expansion to the 2010 Civilization based board game.
Civilization: A New Dawn 2017 A board game published by Fantasy Flight Games and based on Civilization VI.

DLC[]

Platforms[]

Platform

I

II*

III

IV V VI Rev RevII BE
Personal Computers
DOS
Windows**
Mac / OSX***
Linux
Amiga
Consoles
Atari ST
Sega Saturn
Super NES
Nintendo Switch
PlayStation
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Xbox 360
Xbox One
Mobile Consoles
Nintendo DS
PlayStation Vita
Mobile
iOS
Android
Windows Phone

* Expansions for Civilization II aren't necessarily on all platforms.
** There are multiple versions of Windows.
*** The first three Civilization games are on the original Mac operating system. The rest are on the OSX operating system.

References[]

External links[]

Civilization Series
Game Expansion packs
Civilization
  • None
Civ II
Civ III
Civ IV
Civ V
Beyond Earth
Civ VI
Official Spinoffs
Other Games
Comparisons
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