Civilization IV Patch description
Sid Meier’s Civilization is a turn-based strategy game that challenges players to build and expand an empire.

Sid Meier’s Civilization is a turn-based strategy game that challenges players to build and expand an empire, throughout all of human history, and become the most powerful ruler in the world. Choose one of 18 nations to lead and go head to head with some of the most famous leaders in history.

Each civilization has its own special characteristics - some are fairly peaceful, while others are expansionists and conquerors. You’ll battle your foes with a huge arsenal of weapons, beginning with primitive archers and warriors, then catapults, knights and frigates, and eventually with modern tanks, submarines, mobile infantry, helicopter gunships, stealth bombers, and nuclear weapons. However, Civilization IV is more than just a great combat game: you can also achieve victory through diplomatic cunning, cultural or religious alliances, and technological dominance.
All is yours for the taking. Just dare!
Civilization IV delivers faster mid and late game AI turns, and offers greater control over your civilization's government and religions, while at the same time de-emphasizing the less fun micromanagement (cleaning up pollution, for example). And there’s more! Civ IV has been designed from the ground-up to deliver fantastic multiplayer gaming options, as well as unprecedented modding tools - allowing you to create new units, game maps, scenarios, and even entire new civilizations!

Here are some key features of "Civilization IV":

· Civ IV comes to life! - Beautiful 3D world with dozens of fully animated units (including culturally unique units) and totally customizable armies. Detailed cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back!
· 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.
· Multiplayer -LAN, Internet, PBEM and Persistent Turn-Based Server (PTBS or Pitboss) 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.
· 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 - Many Civs now have 2 leaders from which to choose, with each Leader having traits that provide various bonuses to the player and lots of replayability.
· 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 7 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.
· Tech Tree - Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along unique paths.
· More Civs and all new Units and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.
· Faster-Paced Fun - Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster and more compelling experience.
· In-Game Movies - Civ IV will have over 70 in-game movies and animated sequences.


What's New in This Release:

Changes:
· increased cost of Apollo Program...
· increased SS parts cost...
· Animal Husbandry reveals Horses
· tweaked Rifling, Chemistry, Steel, and Railroad tech costs...
· increased late-game tech costs...
· can now add two specialists in size 1 city with Mercantilism...
· final score is now modified by difficulty level...
· Speed up load times
· Global performance enhancements

Added:
· Include WB map size in the description field
· Save login name
· Added password encryption
· Added regenerate Map Button to World builder Map Mode...
· checkbox for using low resolution textures
· more logging for init failure
· minspec / video memory checking
· Added ability to change to and from fullscreen while in-game
· holding during startup will clean out the cache
· improved bink playback, added ini options

Fixes:
· ATI issue Failed to Init Renderer Fixed
· Multiplayer Lobby list jump problem and lobby crash fixed
· fixed war weariness calculation bug...
· units maintain their name when upgraded
· fixed Gold-for-Gold diplo exploit...
· fixed no research choice overflow exploit...
· Fix for voice initialization crash
· Fix addressing takeover AI and retirement OOS.
· Fixed issue with diplomacy text being always used in its first form in the translator.
· Popups, screens, and diplomacy properly cleared when exiting from main menu.
· Games protected by admin passwords (only) cannot be loaded if the version is different from the one that created the save
· Fixed bug where player could not offer any deal to other human in PBEM/Hotseat
· Sorting by date on domestic advisor now works.
· fixed bug where settlers could not move if the strategy layer was selected
· fixed Ironworks...
· fixed AI units not obeying open borders rules on declaration of war...
· fixed bug that prevent placing of units in world-builder
· fixed bug that prevented gifting of units to a human player
· stack attack infinite loop fixed
· Civic screen update fix (wasn't showing the right maintenance and anarchy values)
· ctrl-g crash fix, optimized city bar art
· fixed right-click menu crash
· Intro movie crashing problems