Civilization Revolution Guide

Civilization Revolution is pretty deep and intricate for an iPhone game. While it’s much simpler than its PC counterpart, there is still plenty here that will leave you feeling baffled and clueless. It’d take the fun out of the experience if I gave a step-by-step guide to playing the whole game, here’s a bunch of tips that should get you on your feet to ‘building an empire to stand the test of time’.

 

 

 

Civilizations

The civilization you choose to control is crucial to what kind of how you want to approach the game. Do you want your empire to be cultural, expansive, or military? Well, presumably you want all these things, but each civilization has its specialities that will mostly have an effect on the early game.

• America/Lincoln – Good for wealth, expansion.

2% interest on gold reserves, Rush units at ½ price, +1 food from plains, Factories x3 production. Begin with Great Person.

• Arabs/Saladin – Good for early-mid game warfare.

Free Mathematics tech, more effective mounted units, 2% interest on gold reserves. Begin the game with Religion.

• Aztecs/Montezuma – Good for combat and wealth.

Units heal after combat victory, Temple = +3 Science, ½ price roads, +50% Gold production. Begin with wealth of gold

• China/Mao – Good for Culture, growth.

New cities have +1 population, Free Literacy tech, ½ price Library, Cities not affected by Anarchy. Begin with Writing.

• Egypt/Cleopatra – Good for expansion.

+1 food and trade from desert, Knowledge of Irrigation, +1 Rifleman movement, +50% Caravan gold. Begins with an Ancient Wonder.

• England/Elizabeth – Good for production, naval warfare.

+1 Longbow Archer defence, +1 naval combat, +1 production from hills, 2x naval support. Begin with Monarchy.

• France/Napoleon – Good for mid-game warfare

Knowledge of Pottery, ½ price roads, +2 Cannon attack, +1 Rifleman movement. Begin with Cathedral.

• Germany/Bismarck – Good for warfare.

New Warriors are veterans, +1 production from forest regions, ½ price Barracks, 2% interest on gold reserves. Begin with upgrades for elite units.

• Greece/Alexander – Good for research.

Knowledge of Democracy, More Great People, ½ price Library, +1 food from sea . Begin with Courthouse.

• India/Gandhi – Good for expansion.

Cities not affected by Anarchy, Free Religion tech, ½ price Settlers, ½ price Courthouse. Begin with access to all resources.

• Japan/Tokugawa – Good for early-mid game warfare.

+1 food from sea, +1 Samurai Knight attack, Cities not affected by Anarchy, New defensive units get Loyalty. Begin with Ceremonial Burial.

• Mongolia/Ghengis Khan – Good for early warfare, production.

Barbarian villagers join us, Cavalry speed +1, +2 production from Mountains, Free Communism tech. Begin with +50% trade from captured cities.

• Romans/Caesar – Good for wealth, culture.

½ price roads, ½ price Wonders, More Great People, New cities have +1 population. Begin with Republic.

• Russia/Catherine – Good for early expansion and mid-late game warfare.

+1 food from plains, New defensive units get Loyalty, ½ price Riflemen and Spies. Begin with local map

• Spain/Isabella – Good for wealth, production.

X2 exploration cash, +1 naval combat, +50% Gold production, +1 production from hills. Begin with Navigation.

• Zulus/Shaka – Good for warfare/expansion.

+1 Warrior movement, Rapid city growth, +50% Gold producion, ½ price Riflemen. Begin with overrun combat advancement.

 
Starting Out Tips

• FIRST CITY – Build your first city nice and quickly. Ideally put it in a hard-to-reach position with at least a couple of ocean tiles surrounding it. That being said, if you’re miles away from the ocean just build it ASAP with a good balance of resources surrounding it. Avoid desert spaces!

• DEFEND – The best defensive units in the early game are Archers. Make sure your border cities have at least 2 in each of them.

• EXPLORE – It’s important to know what civilization, resources and Barbarian tribes are in your vicinity. Send out a scout (or even a Warrior) and learn your land.

• ESTABLISH YOUR BORDERS– It’s crucial to establish good borders for your civilization. The best way to do this is build from the outwards in. If there are other civilizations nearby, build cities close to their borders (even if your nearest city is far away) to close them in. Establish your borders, and fill out your civilization with cities afterwards.

• PRODUCTION – Aqueducts in the early game then factories later are crucial to growth, giving your civ the edge in Technology, Culture, and Economy.

• POPULATION – Focus early City research into population growth. This generates gold and research, and sets you on course towards an Economic or Technological victory.

 

Warfare

The civilizations in the iPhone port of Civilization Revolution are unnaturally aggressive even on lower difficulty settings. Your relations can be perfectly sound with everyone in the world but, before you know it, you can find yourself at war with several people at once. It’s crucial to be prepared.

• In the likely case that you get attacked early on, don’t charge headlong into battle. Against ground units take up a position two spaces away from your attackers, wait until they are with one space of you, and then attack.. Against horsemen, try to attack them before they attack you.

• When you can, get the Extra Movement upgrade for your troops. This will mean you can retreat a space after your attacks, never allowing 1-move units to attack you first and giving you the chance to heal in the process.

• Try to attack offensive units before they attack you. Catapults, Cannons, Mounted Units and Tanks are much weaker defensively than they are on the attack

• Amass your defensive units (Archers, Longbowmen, Riflemen) in your border cities.

• Make sure you always have road access to your frontlines. Roads are cheap and instant to build but are essential .

• Taking enemy cities

In the later game (particularly on higher difficulties) it’s essential to weaken enemy cities with planes and ships. If an enemy city is near water, position battleships next to them and they will provide crucial naval support.

Use spies to disrupt enemy fortifications.

When three units of the same type share a space, group them into armies. This makes them move as one and triples their combat abilites. Do this with land, sea and air units to wage successful warfare.

 
Great People

• Throughout the game, you will get rewarded with Great People as your civilization flourishes in the areas of Economy, Science and Culture.

• With all Great People you have a choice of either settling them in a city, granting a permanent boost to either Gold, Science, or Cultural production. Alternatively, you can use them to receive a large, instant injection of culture, cash, or a free technology.

Unless you’re in a desperate situation, always settle your Great People. It’ll pay off in the long run!

• Great Generals are different to other Great People units. When your combat units have gained enough experience in combat. They move with your units and grant a 50% bonus to their combat abilities.

 

Wonders

• Wonders are great for giving your civ boosts in specific areas such as military, science and culture.

• Always try to correlate your wonders with what your civilization needs at the time. During wartime, build wonders that boost combat units and production. If you need to catch up in science, build a science-boosting wonder etc. Don’t just build wonders at random, or ones that you think ‘sound cool.’

• As well as their specific benefits, all wonders produce 3 culture points per turn. While some expire once certain technologies are discovered, they always continue to produce culture.

 

 
Winning the Game

1) CULTURAL VICTORY

To win a Cultural Victory, your civilization must contain 20 Great People and Wonders (combined).

If you’re looking to win this way, it’s a good idea to save your Wonder-building for the later game. At first, stabilise your civ and make sure your borders are well protected.

Workshops are great for boosting production, which will increase the speed with which you build wonders. Libraries are good for culture.

All Wonders boost culture, which leads to more Great People. The best culture-boosting wonders are:

Shakespeare’s Theatre, Magna Carta,

Markets and Banks help produce Great Traders. Also, try to avoid rushing production where possible.

Once you can build wonders fairly quickly, you’ll find that the boosts they provide will increase production of Great People.

 

2) ECONOMIC VICTORY

To win this way, you need to have 20,000 gold in your treasury then build the World Bank.

Like with a Cultural Victory, an Economic surge usually happens in the later game. Markets, Trade Routes and Banks will help you achieve this.

If you’re nearing the end of the game, nearly have 20,000 gold, but it’s too close to call, commit your City Research to investing in gold rather than Science research.

Once you have over 20,000 and have started work on the World Bank, you can usually rush production without having to worry about the financial impact. In the likely case that you’re at war and having to fend off enemy forces, don’t hesitate in rushing production on defensive units to protect your civ and ensure victory.

Useful wonders for victory:

Colossus of Rhodes, East India Company, Internet, Trade Fair

 

3) DOMINATION VICTORY

Capture all enemy capitals.

This is a fairly easy way to win the game on Chieftain and Warlord difficulty settings, but from King upwards it’s tough. See ‘Warfare’ earlier in this guide for fighting tips.

With the natural aggression of all civilizations in the game, you’ll find that you’re at war most of the time. There are few benefits to being diplomatic in this version of Civ so always be ready for war.

Try to make sure there are as few ‘fronts’ to your civilization as possible. There’s nothing worse than being surrounded by enemies.

If you’re in a stalemate against an enemy, try sending units on ships to explore enemy territory. More often than not, an enemy capital is vulnerable to naval attack. If their capital is far from the frontlines of the war, there are usually few troops defending it and you can sneakily take it. This will seriously disrupt the enemy’s war effort and bring you a step closer to military victory.

Useful military wonders:

Himeji Samurai Castle, Manhattan Project, Miltary-Industrial Complex

 

4) TECHNOLOGICAL VICTORY.

Learn all the technology necessary to build a spaceship, then launch it to Alpha Centauri..

This is usually the most long-winded way of winning the game.

Dedicate yourself to building libraries in the early game, and universities later.

A useful Wonders for a Tech victory is the Great Library of Alexandria, Oxford University