Sid Meier Reflects Fascinating Story of the Eternal War in Civilization
Designer Sid Meier recalled the now-legendary story of Eternal War, the Civilization II gameplay that reached year 3991 and was dominated by an endless conflict involving nuclear weapons.
Although we will wait until next year for Sid Meier's Civilization VII, Take Two Interactive is slowly ramping up the game's marketing campaign. A video was published showcasing the famous gameplay, which lasted for over three thousand virtual years.
- In the video, Sid Meier, the father of the series, tells a story shared a long time ago by a fan nicknamed Lycerius. For ten years he played in one campaign in Sid Meier's Civilization II, wanting to see what the future simulated by this game would bring.
- No one will be surprised to learn that after a decade of gameplay, the world of Civilization II resembles hell on Earth. In 3991, the planet is divided into zones of influence by three competing powers, waging a 1700-year war for the remaining resources. During this time, the ice at the poles melted twenty times over, mainly due to the use of nuclear bombs, and 90% of humanity died from radiation and starvation.
- At first glance, the peace seems impossible. After signing the truce, it's immediately broken, most often by a nuke. Using spies to plant atomic bombs in metropolises has become the preferred tactic, as attacks on cities with missiles are practically impossible due to the advanced antimissile defense systems. In a typical game, this results in the entire world declaring war on the perpetrator, but such a scare tactic is ineffective when only three nations remain on the planet.
- Two powers led by AI (Vikings and Americans) are theocracies. At first, the player wanted to implement direct democracy, but the parliament consistently caused issues when declaring wars, leading to delays in responding to enemy actions. That's why Lycerius ultimately switched his country to communism.
- All three sides are in a war stalemate, as they have maximally developed technologies and cannot gain a military advantage. Maintaining this balance, however, requires dedicating most resources to armaments, so there is no possibility of improving the living conditions of citizens.
The player shared the story of his gameplay in 2012. It inspired the creation of a separate subreddit dedicated to the so-called The Eternal War. Users downloaded the save and attempted to break the deadlock, collaborating to develop potential strategies. Ultimately, this is how they managed to develop a plan that resulted in victory.
As Sid Meier explains in the video, one of the best aspects of being a game developer is watching players do things with your creations that you never anticipated, and Lycerius's story definitely fits this description.
