Civilization Revolution Era Bonuses Revealed

Civilization Revolution is the first foray onto videogame consoles for Sid Meier's famed PC turn-based strategy series. Built from scratch to suit the particular limitations and advantages of consoles, Civ Rev both adds and subtracts from its computer-based predecessors in an effort to craft the perfect living room Civ experience.

One new addition to the franchise is the era bonus system, which adds culture-specific advantages as players progress through the game. There are 16 different cultures in Civ Rev, and all receive different bonuses automatically as you plow through your own personal history. We asked the staff at 2K Games/Firaxis to walk us through the era bonuses for each individual culture in Civilization Revolution, and here's what they had to say:

A military powerhouse! Right from the start your warriors are veterans and that means you are only three combat victories away from elite…and all of your elite units automatically upgrade. You'll love the Germans the minute you research Feudalism and all of your elite warrior armies are suddenly elite knight armies…happy hunting. When you hit the medieval era suddenly all of your forest tiles get +1 production. We can't remember how this came up in the design meetings but we were trying to pay tribute to the great industrial production and efficiency of Germany and then someone said something about the Black Forest…it's a blur now. Bismarck was again a natural choice because of his tremendous legacy and the wonderfully iconic image he presents.

The Russians get +1 food from plains at the start, based on the idea of the great Russian Steppe. They also start the game with a local area map. On reflection this may be the weakest starting power of any Civ in the game but they make up for it later with automatic loyalty (defensive) upgrades and 1/2 price riflemen and spies. Russians have always been known for their hearty resilience, hence the defensive upgrades, and the 1/2 price units are a tribute both to the county's ability to quickly mobilize as well as the long standing cold war between the US and USSR. Catherine, like so many of the leaders, has been featured in numerous Civ games and in many ways Civilization Revolution is a "greatest hits" of sorts. The artists took quite a bit of artistic license in creating her for the game but it's always best to let creative people be creative right?

China is currently the most populated country on the planet, and has been for most of its history, so we start off by making each city one bigger when you build it. This is a great advantage because you can usually be making food, production, and trade right from the start – something that doesn't happen normally as the AI governor usually opts to start you with food and production and you need to wait until a city grows to get trade. This means you start research essentially on the first turn without sacrificing anything. Later they get literacy automatically in the medieval era and half price libraries so you can easily play for a science advantage quickly and efficiently. We always choose Mao because he is iconic to us and we have very little visibility into many of the other leaders from China's past. We also love the fact that the same woman who did the "Firaxlish" for all of the female characters in the game also did the voice of Mao.

The US has always been regarded as a wealthy and productive country and a bastion of capitalism so it only makes sense that America gets 2% interest on gold reserves and the ability to rush units at half price. Later – in tribute to amber waves of grain and fruited plains – the Americans get +1 food from those plains. Later still the Americans get the benefit of those purple mountain majesties by getting triple production from factories. America is equally adept at military or economic pursuits and can move very quickly in the event they are trying to go for a space race victory. With apologies to George Washington no leader is more known and iconic in this country than Abraham LincolnWe probably went with the Raymond Massey portrayal of honest Abe when he was being created…look it up young'uns.