Video: Ars talks Civilization with the man himself: Sid Meier

This "War Stories" video explores how <em>Civilization</em> almost wasn't a turn-based game.

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[Kazper]

Someone else called Civ "lightning in a bottle" and I'd have to disagree because of how many other great games Sid Meier has to his name (Pirates, Silent Service, F-15 & F-19, Railroad Tycoon, and more). It must be concluded that it was his skill rather than just a singular moment of creative genius, but I guess it's fair to say that Civ was the absolute pinnacle of his career.

 

[Kazper]

I wonder how many people were introduced to the concept of integer rollover bugs by coming across that famous one.

I don't remember if I ever came across that particular one in my playthroughs, but Civ 1 was the first game I ever found my own cheese strat for which did result in a different integer bug.
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The integer rollover bug here is the one that turned Gandhi into a warmonger. He was supposed to be ultra peaceful, but the rollover would cause that to wrap around into aggression.

Oh yeah, sorry. I know about the bug. Just never actually had it happen in a game.

Or I did and because I was in like, 4th or 5th grade didn't notice.

Probably that second thing.

It's kind of hard not to notice. You and Gandhi are friends with plenty of trade for hundreds or even thousands of years. Then out of nowhere, Gandhi nukes 4 of your cities and starts invading.

See when I was a kid and playing Civ1, I'd be rolling tanks after building up my forces for hundreds of years on the other side of the map and all brought over to the other side in one turn via rail. There's no chance for anyone to ever nuke me because I'd absolutely go to war to stop them.

Come to think about it, I still do this.

Yeah. I never experienced this bug because anyone (but me) building nukes led to an immediate invasion. At least until SDI defense, which I then bought in all my cities.