Advanced Civilization Preview
Jennifer Schlickbernd
This article was printed in the July 1991 issue of Strategy Plus Magazine.
Written by me. Reprinted by permission.
[This preview is based on the Advanced Civilization final playtest version.
There may be last minute changes which this article does not reflect.]
Advanced Civilization is the third and by far the most comprehensive expansion
to Avalon Hill's game Civilization, originally published in 1981. The first
expansion added new trade card sets, and the second added a new map panel, and
a new country, Iberia. Frances Tresham designed the game and the first two
expansions, but this expansion is designed by a team headed by Bruce Harper
without any input from Mr. Tresham. That may automatically turn off fans of
the traditional Civilization, but I'd ask that they at least gave Mr. Harper's
game a good look.
Advanced Civilization adds new rules, more trade cards (but no new sets), a
whole new group of Civilization cards, new calamities, and victory points.
The game has a definite different feel to it. I believe that it does keep the
flavor and the intent of the original game, while adding to the playability of
the game.
I was part of the design team that helped Bruce create the new game. I can
modestly say that I gave the suggestion to have some sort of help for Civil
War, discouraged the initial rule where whenever you lost a city to a player
because of a calamity you lost a trade card, did lots of playtesting in
general, and also did the final proofing of the document before it was sent to
Avalon Hill. It was my first experience really playtesting/designing a game,
and I must say I enjoyed it thoroughly. It really helped that my husband is a
real fanatic of Civilization, since I could then bounce a lot of ideas off of
him, and he could help with making sure the original feel of the game was
kept.
Many people had two major problems with Civilization. The first was that the
game had to be played to the end to truly determine a winner, and the second
was that the leader of the game could be determined possibly hours before the
game ended, but there was no practical way to get the leader. Yes, the
infamous trade embargoes could be tried, but particularly for games with less
than 7 players, many times the embargoes weren't enforced, or the leader had
such a lead that it didn't matter, or the leader had that last Salt and you
lost a lot of points for not trading with her. You could try taking down a
couple of cities, but unless you could make the leader go backward on the
A.S.T., it was a lot of effort without a lot of return. Calamity trading was
Just Not Done in many Civilization playing groups, since the calamities could
be so devastating to the unprepared that the recipient would suicide against
the person who played the calamity on them. People also had a problem with
the fact that only so many civilizations could have certain technologies.
Once coinage was discovered, why couldn't all civilizations coin money?
I personally didn't like the fact that you could lose a 6-8 hour game in the
first two hours by buying the wrong Civilization cards, and in fact buying
Civilization cards could be more an exercise in numbers than in what your
Civilization needed. "Lessee, with the cards I have now, if I buy Clothmaking
for 45 points then it will be next to impossible to make it past the 1000
point barrier with only 11 cards". This seemed silly and very unrealistic.
The trading was not as fun as it could be, with those able to do math quickly
in their heads at a clear advantage to those of us who needed to really think
about the value of what was being traded in order to figure out if we were
being robbed or not. Being that the intent of Civilization was not to reward
mathematical whizzes, I felt that the game wasn't well served by such rules.
Last but not least, many of our games were won by those who counted Grain, in
order to avoid the infamous Civil War card. This seemed tedious to me.
Either the calamity should not be so severe, or you should be able to do
something about it before the end game (when Democracy was likely to be
purchased).
These issues and more have been addressed in Advanced Civilization. First
off, let me describe the changes to the components of the game. The
documentation suggests that the Western Expansion Map be used and I'd
certainly agree, since it gives Africa more room to expand which it will
desperately need in this game. The number of trade cards for many of the
commodities has been increased, resulting in more points to spend on
Civilization cards. All calamity cards are now brown-backed, although the
traditionally red-backed ones cannot be traded. This was done so that the
players would not know which calamity was about to be drawn, and also to allow
for a variant that would permit the trading of those calamities. There is
also a Gamer's Guide. This contains several articles dealing with the changes
to the game, and also suggestions for variant rules. There are good strategy
hints provided too in all the articles.
There are extensive rule changes. There are now rules for late arriving
players and early departures and also for a time limited game. The game now
accepts eight players instead of seven. The board is awfully crowded with
eight, and I'd really recommend the Western Expansion board if you were going
to attempt the game with eight. The set-up for the trade decks has changed.
Now, tradeable calamities are shuffled into the deck, they are no longer
automatically at the bottom of the commodity pile. There are four new
calamities and changes to some existing calamities, to be described later in
this preview. Conflict resolution has changed. Now, if you lose a city, the
plundering player gets to draw a random trade card from your hand, and also
transfer three tokens from her stock to her treasury.
Trading is different. Instead of giving points when you offer a trade, you
must tell the other person two of the cards you propose to trade. You must
still trade at least three cards. This both allows for easier calamity
trading, and also eliminates the hated math previously involved. All
calamities in play must be played, you can no longer discard calamities. If
you keep a calamity that you drew, its effects must be resolved against you.
Calamities can be traded multiple times in a trading session. When the
trading session is over, whoever has the calamity is stuck with it. At first
these rules seem to be at least disconcerting..."why would any trade session
ever end?" one thinks. But in fact trade sessions do end, and people do
accept the inevitable. This rule certainly makes trading more frenetic than
previous, and a poker face, or at least one that isn't open as a book can be
of benefit here.
Resolving calamities has changed too. Calamities are resolved before
acquiring Civilization cards so that you no longer can buy Medicine to offset
that pending Epidemic. All secondary effects of calamities now must be dealt
out, no more Mr. Nice Guys. This change to the game was included to be able
to better get the leader of the game. A player that has been hit with one
calamity, and made the secondary victim of two or three more is likely to lose
position in the game. A player can be the primary victim of only two
calamities, even if she receives more. The two are chosen randomly instead of
in order as it was previously.
Religion has been added as a new Civilization group. There is no longer a
limit on the number of Civilization cards you can hold in your hand, and there
are no limits on the number of Civilization cards available (although you
can't hold duplicates). This changes the Civilization card acquisition
strategy tremendously. You can actually buy what you can afford and what you
think you may need. A.S.T. order is still used to determine who acquires
when, but most times acquisition can be simultaneous.
The A.S.T. itself has undergone some changes, and the requirements to move
from Age to Age have changed. Stone and Early/Late Bronze Ages are the same,
but to enter the Early Iron Age you need four cities, Civilization cards from
all five groups (remember Religion has been added) and nine Civilization
cards. Entry into the Late Iron Age requires five cities and the number of
points (which has been increased) printed on each space you are trying to
enter. A significant change to movement on the A.S.T. is that if you don't
have at least the required number of cities while in an epoch, you cannot move
forward until you again meet the city requirements. So if you entered the
Early Iron Age with four cities, but calamities or aggression took you down to
three cities, you won't move forward until you have four cities in the A.S.T.
movement phase again.
A victory point system is now used to determine the winner. Simply, you add
the value of your Civilization cards, your trading cards in hand, and your
treasury. You also get points for your A.S.T. position (100 points for each
space) and 50 points for each city you own. This means that you can make a
good determination as to who is leading, and also the game can be called at
any time and you can still determine a winner.
The following is a short description of the new and changed calamities. Note
that the primary victim is the person who had the calamity at the end of the
trading session.
Stack 2
Earthquake/Volcano (changed)-You now must lose a city to a Volcano,
sacrificial virgins (single tokens) are no longer accepted. If you have no
cities on a Volcanic site, you lose a city to Earthquake. Engineering causes
you to have a city lost to Earthquake reduced instead of eliminated.
Treachery (new)-You lose one city to the person who traded you the card.
Stack 3
Famine (changed)-Grain used to offset Famine may not be used to acquire
Civilization cards in the same turn.
Superstition (new)-Three cities belonging to the primary victim are reduced.
Religion Civilization cards reduce the effect.
Stack 4
Civil War (changed)-The Music and Drama & Poetry Civilization cards allow the
first faction to be increased by five unit points each. The Military
Civilization card (new card) removes five unit points from each side, after
the sides are chosen.
Slave Revolt (new)-Fifteen tokens belonging to the primary victim may not be
used to support her cities. The primary victim undergoes an immediate city
support check. If the victim has Mining (new card), the number of tokens are
increased by five; if the victim has Enlightenment (new card), the number of
tokens are reduced by five.
Stack 5
Flood (changed)-If the primary victim has no units on a flood plain, she loses
a coastal city.
Barbarian Hordes-Fifteen tokens belonging to one of the nations not being
played show up in one of the primary victim's starting areas and start
marching around, doing the maximum amount of conflict damage possible. After
combat in each area, they leave the number of tokens permitted by the
population, and move on to another of the primary victim's areas if possible.
Crete is immune to Barbarian Hordes.
Stack 6
Epidemic (changed)-A player holding Roadbuilding (new card) loses an
additional five unit points to Epidemic.
Stack 7
Civil Disorder (changed)-The number of the primary victim's cities reduced is
increased by one if the primary victim holds Military or Roadbuilding.
Stack 8
Iconoclasm and Heresy (changed)-The number of cities lost to Iconoclasm and
Heresy are reduced by three if the victim holds Theology (new card), and
increased by one if the victim holds Monotheism (new card) or Roadbuilding.
Stack 9
Piracy (changed)-The primary victim loses two coastal cities to pirates. Two
cities chosen by the person trading the cards are replaced by neutral city
tokens. The victim then designates two other coastal cities to be replaced by
pirate cities. Both of those cities may not belong to the same player.
So, those are the calamities in a nutshell. Treachery, Superstition,
Barbarian Hordes are all tradeable calamities, along with of course Epidemic,
Civil Disorder, Iconoclasm and Heresy, and Piracy, just like in Civilization.
They have a big impact on the game now, and a significant amount of your
strategy will be devoted to dealing with them. In the Gamer's Guide, there
are a number of articles that talk about calamities, including The Wrath of
The Gods, an article specifically on calamities, written by yours truly. The
important thing is to choose your Civilization cards wisely, which brings us
to a description of the new and changed Civilization cards. I didn't repeat
the cards' effects on calamities in the following descriptions.
(Changes) The Craft cards provide a 10 point credit to Monotheism. The
Science cards provide a 20 point credit to Theology. The Art cards provide a
five point credit to Enlightenment.
Crafts
Roadbuilding (140 credits, new)- A player who hold Roadbuilding may move her
tokens through one land area into a second land area as long as her tokens are
the only ones in the first land area entered.
Mining (180 credits, new)-Mining allows the holder to increase the value of
any set of Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gems or Gold by one card when acquiring
Civilization cards. It can only be used once per turn.
Craft/Science
Engineering (140 credits, changed)-A player must own Engineering before
acquiring Roadbuilding or Mining. Engineering now gives an offensive bonus
for attacking cities.
Sciences
Metalworking (changed)-Metalworking gives a twenty point credit to Military.
Science/Arts
Mathematics (230 credits, new)-Mathematics provides a 25 point credit to
Philosophy and Theology.
Arts
Architecture (120 credits, changed)-Players who hold Architecture may use
tokens from stock once per turn to assist in the building of one city. At
least half of the tokens used to build the city must come from on the board.
Civics
Democracy (changed)-A player holding Democracy is immune from tax revolts.
Military (180 credits, new)-A player holding Military moves after all other
players not holding Military.
Religion (new group)
Mysticism (Religion/Arts-50 credits)-Provides a 15 point credit to all other
Religion cards.
Deism (80 credits)-Provides a fifteen point credit to all other Religion cards
except Mysticism.
Enlightenment (150 credits)-Prerequisite for Monotheism or Theology. It
provides a 15 point credit to Monotheism and Theology.
Monotheism (220 credits)-At the end of the calamity phase, a player holding
Monotheism can convert the occupants of any one area adjacent by land to her
own tokens. This applies to both cities and tokens, but not to Pirate cities
or Barbarians. Players holding Monotheism or Theology are immune to the
effects of Monotheism.
Theology (250 credits)-Provides immunity to Monotheism.
I hope you have been intrigued by this preview of Advanced Civilization. This
article is not meant to be a replacement for the rules, but to allow you to
get a good feeling for how the game is constructed. For those of you who want
to know how the game plays, well, it's definitely different. More frenetic,
more random, but still a lot of strategy and long term planning. I had gotten
to the point where Civilization was no longer an interesting game for me, but
this new expansion really has me excited about the game again. Hopefully it
will give a more enjoyable and different game for the traditional Civilization
players, as well as attract new players to the game.
--
Jennifer Schlickbernd Jet Propulsion Laboratory
jenn...@jato.jpl.nasa.gov or elroy!jato!jenn...@csvax.caltech.edu
72466...@compuserve.com Voice:(818) 354-8617
Brendan Mahony
-A victory point system is now used to determine the winner. Simply, you add
-the value of your Civilization cards, your trading cards in hand, and your
-treasury. You also get points for your A.S.T. position (100 points for each
-space) and 50 points for each city you own. This means that you can make a
-good determination as to who is leading, and also the game can be called at
-any time and you can still determine a winner.
At least one rule that would help the playability of Civilisation.
I can see a lot of people adopting this for the standard game.
--
Brendan Mahony | bre...@batserver.cs.uq.oz
Department of Computer Science | heretic: someone who disgrees with you
University of Queensland | about something neither of you knows
Australia | anything about.
Nick Roworth
|>
|> -A victory point system is now used to determine the winner. Simply, you add
|> -the value of your Civilization cards, your trading cards in hand, and your
|> -treasury. You also get points for your A.S.T. position (100 points for each
|> -space) and 50 points for each city you own. This means that you can make a
|> -good determination as to who is leading, and also the game can be called at
|> -any time and you can still determine a winner.
With a city worth 50 points, does the end game not degenerate into wars to try and destroy other peoples cities? Destroying a city now has three times the effect, reducing the number of trade cards collected, reducing the score by 50 points and in