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:

We wanted all of the Civs to feel very different both visually through architecture and unit appearance and more important through their game play mechanics. Nowhere is this more obvious than with the Egyptians and the Japanese. The Japanese naturally settle on the coasts because they get food from sea squares. That means they can get an early scientific or monetary lead while still growing their cities. They can also jump out to a quick cultural advantage because they start with knowledge of Ceremonial Burial. Knights are the most devastating early/mid units and the Japanese get +1 from their Samurai Knights – that also gives them an advantage militarily. When playing as the Japanese do your damage (whichever way you choose) early before anyone can catch up with you. Tokugawa is the leader but numerous leaders in feudal Japan actually used this surname. We believe that you were traditionally not allowed to look upon Tokugawa and he was often only viewed behind a screen. We toyed with the idea of displaying him only as a silhouette but that wouldn't have allowed the artists to have as much fun.

The French are initially very strong culturally because they start the game with a Cathedral in their capital. That means they are churning out culture early and you can use that to your advantage if you like to push culture like we do. They start also with knowledge of Pottery and we believe that's because pottery gives you access to the wine resource. In the industrial era the French get +2 attack for their cannon units. That means a cannon army gets +6 to its already formidable attack stats. Our animators had a field day with Napoleon climbing up his stepladder and even getting knocked off it. Don't let his stature fool you though…Napoleon is a formidable opponent especially at the higher difficulty levels.

Nothing screams Sid Meier's Civilization like Gandhi threatening you with nuclear weapons while he shakes you down for technology. The Indians start off with the ability to use all resources without having to research the prerequisite technology. That means they can pretty much do whatever they want depending on the map and their starting location. In the Medieval era they get Religion for free and that means Fundamentalism if you're warlike and Cathedrals if you're not. Later they get half cost settlers and finally half cost courthouses. The settlers don't come into play late in the game for city creation but you can use them to bolster a production or trade city that has little food. Courthouses really help you to push your influence passively especially when you have built the Magna Carta wonder.

The Arabs start the game with the ability to go into a Fundamentalism and then they get Catapults as soon as they hit the Medieval era. That is a dangerous combination and you should use it to your full advantage when you play as them and be very afraid of it when you are playing against them. They're also great for economic players because they get a bonus from caravans as well as a late game 2% interest on their gold reserves. Of course you could use that money to rush more units… We started including the Arabs in Civ 3 and Saladin has always been a great icon.