This is a glossary of sorts for players of Civilization games.
General glossary
- Babs - Babylonians
- Apolyton - http://www.apolyton.net/
- Civ - Civilization (either the game or a civilization within it)
- Epic Game - A single-player random or customized map, as opposed to a scenario.
- Goodie hut - Minor Tribe (Civ), Unity Pod (SMAC); "pod" is more common for the latter.
- ICS - Infinite City Sprawl, also derisively Infinite City Sleaze and other uncomplimentary phrases
- MP - Multiplayer game
- OCC - One City Challenge. An attempt to complete the Epic Game with only one city. More specifically, an organized contest involving this.
- PBEM - Play by e-mail
- Territory - What you do not have enough of and everybody else has too much of
- Village - See "goodie hut"
Civ2 Glossary
- ToT - Test of Time (special edition of Civilization II)
Civ3 Glossary
- C3C - Civilization III: Conquests (expansion pack)
- PTW - Play the World (expansion pack)
Call to Power glossary
- CTP - Call to Power
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Glossary
- SMAC - Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
- SMAX - Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire
Freeciv glossary
- Smallpox - Freeciv term for Infinite City Sprawl; see ICS in general glossary
Differences of terminology among games
The Civ games tend to share identical concepts, though sometimes they are referred to by different names. Differences between units will not be listed here except for very basic types common to all games. SMAC has the most different terminology, being an unofficial Civ game (although designed in part by Sid Meier) and being set in the future on another planet. For differences in terminology among the Test of Time games, consult the manual. Freeciv always uses the Civ2 term.
Warning: This may not be accurate yet, and does not include Call to Power terms.
| Civ1 Term | Civ2 Term | Civ3 Term | SMAC Term | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food | Food | Food | Nutrients | Increases city growth |
| Shields | Shields | Shields | Minerals | Builds units/improvements |
| Trade | Trade | Commerce | Energy | Goes to taxes/research/luxuries |
| Taxes | Taxes | Taxes | Energy | Portion of trade that goes into your treasury |
| Science | Science | Science | Research | Goes to developing new tech |
| Luxury | Luxury | Luxury | Psych | Goes to keeping citizens content/happy |
| Settlers1 | Settlers1 | Settler | Colony Pod | Establishes a new city |
| Settlers1 | Settlers1 | Worker | Former | Enhances terrain |
| Government | Government | Government | Social Engineering | Affects bonuses and penalties of your civilization |
| Barbarian | Barbarian | Barbarian | Mind Worm | Unit associated with no civ; raids player units |
| Minor tribe2 | Minor tribe2 | Minor tribe2 | Unity Pod | Causes random event |
| Happy citizen | Happy citizen | Happy citizen | Talent | Offsets unhappy citizens |
| Content citizen | Content citizen | Content citizen | Citizen | Ordinary citizen |
| Unhappy citizen | Unhappy citizen | Unhappy citizen | Drone | Causes disorder riots if exceeds number of happy citizens |
| Civil disorder | Civil disorder | Civil disorder | Drone riots | Production ceases |
[1] In Civ1 and Civ2, Settlers function both as city-building units and terrain-enhancing units. If we were to follow Civ1 terminology here, the word "Settler" would create ambiguity for Civ3 and SMAC players. Therefore, the Civ3 terminology for "Settlers" and "Workers" has been adopted as an exception to the general rule to use Civ1 terminology. Civ1 and Civ2 players can simply read both words as "Settlers".
[2] The word "village" is synonymous with Minor Tribe. They are invariably called "goodie huts" by fans, because they usually dispense "good" things such as free technologies or money and in most graphics sets they are represented by a hut (or small number of huts). "Goodie hut" is often abbreviated to "hut".