Civilizations (Civ2)

Civilization II features 21 playable civilizations. It includes the original fourteen civs from Sid Meier's Civilization and introduces seven new cultures, increasing the total number of civs per color group to three.

Color groups[]

As in the original Civilization, civs are grouped into one of seven colors (plus Barbarians). A civilization's color determines its order of action during the turn: White acts first and Purple acts last, with the barbarians following after all other civs.

**Civilization Team Color chart**
Color	HTML color	HTML font color	Order	Civilizations
WHITE	#EFEFEF	#FFFFFF	1	Romans	Russians	Celts
GREEN	#55AA24	#6DDB30	2	Babylonians	Zulus	Japanese
BLUE	#495DB6	#0071FF	3	Germans	French	Vikings
YELLOW	#FFFF00	#FFFF00	4	Egyptians	Aztecs	Spanish
CYAN	#34AEBE	#3CBAC7	5	Americans	Chinese	Persians
ORANGE	#EB8208	#F3B604	6	Greeks	English	Carthaginians
PURPLE	#8265B2	#B692FF	7	Indians	Mongols	Sioux
RED	#F30000	#F30000	8	Barbarians (NPC)

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 less than seven active civs can spawn additional players through civil wars. If not disabled in custom rules, 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 (Civ2)

Each civilization has one male and one female leader,^{[note 1]} represented by a stylized portrait in the Diplomacy screen. Depending on the user's settings, the portrait is accompanied by an animated herald dressed in the civ's livery. Unlike the original Civilization, a leader's government titles can vary by gender ("King" vs. "Queen"), and several leaders have custom titles under specific governments (e.g., a Japanese monarch is a Shogun, and a German democrat is a Chancellor).

Personality[]

A civilization's artificial intelligence is guided by preset personality traits, similar to those featured in the original Civilization. These are coded as part of the civilization, and do not vary between individual leaders. 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 Rational.^{[note 2]}
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.
Militarism influences a civ's starting advances (if any) and the AI's prioritization of military or civilian research.^{[note 3]} Ranges from Militaristic to Civilized.

City styles[]

Civilizations are categorized into one of four culture groups that determine the appearance of city sprites in the Ancient and Renaissance eras. These are:

Bronze Age Monolith
Classical Forum
Far East Pavilion
Medieval Castle

Modding[]

Main article: Modding (Civ2)/Civilizations

During game setup, the user can customize their leader name and gender, the civilization's name, and their government titles. They may also select an alternative city style.

The rules.txt file includes definitions for the Arabs and Incas, with accompanying city names in cities.txt. They are not recognized in the base game, but their code can be substituted for any existing civ; note that neither features custom leader portraits, and will use those of whichever civ they replace.

Footnotes[]

↑ In contrast to later games, the historicity of many of Civ II's female leaders is dubious: Amaterasu of Japan is a Shinto deity, and Sacajawea of the Sioux was Shoshone, for example.
↑ "Rational" is equivalent to "Friendly" in the original Civilization.
↑ For further details, see Modding (Civ2)/Advances § AI weights.