Civilizations (Civ1)

Civilizations are playable factions in Sid Meier's Civilization, each of which represents a historical nation, empire, or cultural group. The game features 14 different civs,^{[note 1]} up to 7 of which will feature simultaneously in any given game.

Color groups[]

Civilizations are grouped into one of seven color groups (plus Barbarians). A civilization's color determines its order of action during the turn: White acts first and Grey acts last, with the barbarians acting in the periphery.

**Civilization Team Color chart**
Color	Order	Civilization	Leader	Capital
WHITE	1	Romans	Caesar	Rome
WHITE	1	Russians	Stalin	Moscow
GREEN	2	Babylonians	Hammurabi	Babylon
		Zulus^{[note 1]}	Shaka	Zimbabwe
		Japanese^{[note 1]}	Ieyasu	Tokyo
BLUE	3	Germans	Frederick	Berlin
BLUE	3	French	Napoleon	Paris
YELLOW	4	Egyptians	Ramesses	Thebes
YELLOW	4	Aztecs	Montezuma	Tenochtitlan
CYAN	5	Americans	Abe Lincoln	Washington
CYAN	5	Chinese	Mao Tse Tung	Beijing
PINK	6	Greeks	Alexander	Athens
PINK	6	English	Elizabeth I	London
GREY	7	Indians	M. Gandhi	Delhi
GREY	7	Mongols	Genghis Khan	Samarkand
RED	0	Barbarian (NPC)	Attila	N/A

Only one civ of each color group can be present on the map at a time, meaning a maximum of seven playable civs will be active in any game. A game that has fewer than seven active civs can spawn additional players through civil wars. When a civ is vanquished, a new civ of the same color group can appear in unclaimed territory; it begins with the standard Settlers and few, if any, advances.

Leaders[]

Main article: Leaders (Civ1)

Each civilization is represented by an animated sprite in the Diplomacy screen. Unlike later games, there is no mechanism to track a leader's gender, which is presumed male: Elizabeth I's government titles (Empress, Queen, etc.) are custom-coded to Diplomacy dialogue; they are otherwise masculine in the rest of the user interface, such as the Intelligence screen. Dynamic gender mechanics are first introduced in CivNet.

Personality[]

A civilization's AI is guided by preset personality traits. Each civ has three personality traits, each with three possible values (two weighted, and a neutral or "balanced" middle):

Aggressiveness determines the AI's tendency to launch and maintain war and its general attitude during diplomacy. Ranges from Aggressive to Friendly.
Expansionism determines the AI's prioritization of founding new cities versus developing existing ones (i.e., "building wide" versus "building tall"). Ranges from Expansionist to Perfectionist.
Civility influences a civ's starting advances (if any) and the AI's prioritization of military or civilian research.^{[note 2]} Ranges from Civilized to Militaristic.

Modding[]

Secretciv1civs — "View Spaceship" menu listing the three unused civs

Main article: Modding (Civ1)/Civilizations

During game setup, the user can customize their leader name. CivNet also allows customizing the civilization's name.

Hex editing CIV.EXE reveals definitions for three unused civilizations: the Persians (cyan), Muslims (pink), and Hittites (grey).

Footnotes[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 The second Green civ varies between the PC and Super Nintendo versions of the game: the Zulus on the PC, and the Japanese on the SNES.
↑ For further details, see Modding (Civ1)/Advances § AI weights.