User Guide

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THE MAP
Civilization II uses an isometric grid instead of the old, square grid. This means each
square (what we call a terrain square, or just square) is now a diamond shape, as if you
are viewing it from an angle. Movement still proceeds along the compass points as it always
did. Some players may have difficulty getting used to this new view, finding it hard to tell
where a city’s radius begins and ends, for instance. If you have this problem, we
recommend you select SHOW MAP GRID from the VIEW menu or press the
c
and
G
keys
simultaneously. This activates a grid overlay which outlines each map square.
THE UNITS
Every unit icon in the game now carries a shield. The color of the shield body indicates the
civilization to which that unit belongs. As in Civilization, barbarian units are always red.
The colored strength bar at the top of the shield indicates the overall health of the unit. We’ll
go into detail in New Combat Concepts, but for now you should know that green indicates
a healthy unit, yellow means the unit is somewhat damaged, and red shows a critically
injured unit.
THE CITIES
You can choose what style of architecture your civilization prefers to build when you set up
a game. As your cities increase in size, the icons that represent them on the map also
change, reflecting the increasing urbanization and population of the site. Whenever you
capture a city, its icons change to reflect your preferred style of architecture. Once your
civilization reaches the industrial era, the architecture of your cities begins to reflect your
new level of technology.
THE DISPLAYS
Many screens and displays have been redesigned to better present new information and to
take advantage of the more sophisticated graphics now available. Most of the information
should be self-explanatory; all the major game windows are illustrated in Reference:
Screen by Screen.
NEW COMBAT CONCEPTS
Players of Civilization were occasionally disconcerted when a “lucky” veteran Phalanx
unit, fortified in an enemy city, destroyed an attacking Battleship unit. Mathematically it was
possible, but the image conjured up just didn’t sit right. How could ancient spearmen take
out a modern steel warship? To smooth out such freakish reaches of probability,
Civilization II has added two new statistics for each unit: hit points and firepower.
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