Features:

• Faster-Paced Fun – Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster, and more compelling experience.
• Greater Accessibility and Ease of Play – An easy-to-use interface will be immediately familiar to RTS and action game players, and newcomers to the series will be able to jump in and play
• Tech Tree Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along unique paths.
• Grow Bigger Empires – More Civilizations, Units, and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.li>
• Multiplayer – LAN, Internet, and Play-By-Email offer players all-new strategies and ways to play when competing or cooperating with live opponents.
• Team Play – Whether playing multiplayer or single player, team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading, and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options.
• Beautiful 3D World – Sid Meier’s Civilization IV comes to life with a beautiful 3D world, dozens of fully animated units (including culturally unique units), and totally customizable armies. Cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back!
• Mods and Community Tools – Designed from the ground up for modability, the game contains a powerful map editor with XML and Python support.
• Choose Your Leader – Most Civilizations now have two leaders from which to choose, with each Leader having traits that provide various bonuses to the player.
• Civics – With the discovery of new techs, civic options can become available. Freedom of speech or slavery? Hereditary rule or open elections? This creates endless government choices and possibilities!
• Religion – Now there are seven religions in the game that are unlocked through researching. When unlocked, the religion spreads through a player’s empire allowing them to use the religion to help manage happiness, gain gold and create Great Prophets.
• Great People – As the player uses specialists they gain Great People points in the city that is utilizing the specialists. Great People include the Artist, Tycoon, Prophet, Engineer, & Scientist. They can be used to get free techs, start Golden Ages, or join a city to increase its output.
• Promotions – Each unit has a promotion path that emphasizes specific unit traits. Promotions include bonuses to Attack/Defend on specific terrains/features, movement bonuses, sight/visibility bonuses, and increased withdrawal chances.
• In-Game Cinematics – Sid Meier’s Civilization IV has over 40 in-game cinematics.