BC4000 - Civilization Model

Category

Description of App

The BC4000 APP is a turn-based strategy game. The game has an online mode, a hot seat mode and a single player mode. You take on the role of the ruler of a civilization, attempt to build an empire in competition with other civilizations. The game begins in 4000 BC, before the Bronze Age, and can last through to AD 2100 with Space Age.

Along with the larger tasks of exploration, warfare and diplomacy, you have to make decisions about where to build new cities, which improvements or units to build in each city, when to expand your empire by new settlers, and how to transform the land surrounding the cities for maximum benefit. From time to time your cities may be harassed by units from other nations or barbarians. You should protect borders and maintain zones of control.

You can gain a large advantage if your civilization is the first to learn a particular technology and put it to use in a military or other context. Since only one technology may be researched at any given time, the order in which technologies are chosen makes a considerable difference in the outcome of the game and generally reflects your preferred style of gameplay. Please carefully consider about forms of government, tax rates and research priorities.

You can also build Wonders of the World after obtaining the prerequisite knowledge. These wonders are important achievements of society, science, culture and defense, ranging from the Pyramids and the Great Wall in the Ancient age, to Copernicus' Observatory and Magellan's Expedition in the middle period, up to the Apollo program in the modern era. Each wonder can only be built once in the world, and requires a lot of resources to build, far more than most other city buildings or units. Wonders provide unique benefits to the controlling civilization. For example, Magellan's Expedition increases the movement rate of naval units.

The game can be won by conquering all other civilizations or by winning the space race by reaching the star system of Alpha Centauri.

The strategy logic and user interactive concept are inspired by the original Sid Meier's Civilization. Most graphics, music, map and text materials come from public domain licensed by Creative Commons License or General Public License.

Version

1.6.0

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

Not Known

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone
iPad

iOS Version

15.1

Accessibility Comments

By triple tapping with two fingers on the screen, you can use the iOS selector to locate resources and units quickly on the map.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Other Comments

The developer answered our requests and made the app fully accessible using voice over. Hats off to him.

Recommendations

9 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Zack 1 year 11 months ago

Options

Comments

By DMNagel on Saturday, April 9, 2022 - 03:51

At least not in civilisation mode or under siv2 siv3/classic. When you have mapped the entire world, only cities of interests will be shown, regardless of distance. Not sure of augmented though.

By Panais on Saturday, April 9, 2022 - 03:51

I am 100% sure that sometimes units do appear on the list when revealed on the map. However I am equally sure that some other times they don’t. Trying to figure out the conditions.
I think that when a unit specifically reveals another unit on the map it does appear. When a unit was already visible and outside the radius of a city it doesn’t. I’m not sure though.

By DMNagel on Saturday, April 9, 2022 - 03:51

You are right about units picking up other units. The units of interest menu is no longer subject to cities alone. If one of your units can see another enemy unit, The units of interest menu will appear. It will remain there for as long as The enemy unit remain in your unit's sight.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

In the latest beta version, we will now be allowed to view all infrastructure without having to visit the mini map in the cities menu. From within a city's menu, there will also be a previous and next button that will allow you to jump between cities, along with a button that will allow your governor to automatically assign citizens according to your preferences. Furthermore, you can watch an advertisement in order to become a super player for one turn by selecting the world menu and view mode. When doing this, all units and cities will instantly become available on the map for one turn. Note however, that only the five closest units will be shown in the units of interest menu. The rest will have to be found by locating them on the map. As far as battlefield goes, I have yet to check things out.

By Panais on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

There is a new earth map which can be played with augmented ruleset.
Fortresses and airbases can also be added in the editor.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Once the super player view mode has been activated, double tapping on any enemy city will be equivalent to sending a spy into it. You will be able to view the cities production, improvements, population as well as its Minimap. In short, it will be similar to viewing your own cities. It's like spying on a city without using an actual spy. Furthermore, you can go into the world menu and under diplomacy, you can choose to get an intelligence report, even if you haven't made contact with the nation. The only thing that separates this mode from the actual spy, is the fact that the spy can-do sabotage. The super player mode is for viewing only.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Now this is not exactly a big deal, but it can often be a little confusing at times. Sometimes when I open the app, it will be in landscape mode with the charge port to the right for the most part. However, I've realised that sometimes when I open the app, the charge port will be to the left. Does anyone experience the same thing?

By Panais on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

There is no such issue for me. However after some update the charge port can be on the left of the screen, which was not the case in the past. Maybe the game detects how your device is tilted before you open the game, and the landscape mode is orientated accordingly.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

I could no longer stay away from this game.
I have decided to give it another shot and, hopefully, this time I will understand it.
If I need help, I will be requesting your assistance.
We'll see how it goes.
It sounds like an awesome game.

By Panais on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Ask all you like.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

OK. So… I have built my first city but when trying to build something else such as an aqueduct, it does not show me where it is being built.
The other thing is that when I sent settlers to another tile to work on her road or mine, it shows that they are building it but, if I decide to send them somewhere else, the tile where they were before does not show anything. Where is my road? Where is my mine?
Will it be built in turns?
If that is the case, perhaps I should let the settlers there until whatever project is finished. Right?
Please help. I think I'm missing something here. I have had to start over many times because my settlers go missing and explorers get killed. What's going on?
This game sounds extremely fun and I don't want to quit just because I don't understand it.
This sounds fun and I wanna have fun.
Thank you in advance for your help.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Things will be built over the cause of a few turns. You will be notified between turns when it is completed. When you build one city, the responsible settler for building the city is automatically lost. When a worker or settler is building roads, mines or irrigation, they will fall silent for as long as they are working on it. When they are done, they will become available for new orders, which is an indicator that they are done. By this point, the newly built infrastructure should show. Explorers die when they accidentally enter a hut with barbarians, or get killed by an enemy. Note that you can turn barbarians off at the start menu. I hope this was helpful.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

There is a city button. Double tap on it to view your cities. Double tap on the city you want to manage. All the info such as improvements can be viewed there. Double tap the change button to see the available improvement options and to select one to build.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Note that not all types of terrane can get mines. I believe only mountains, glaciers, deserts and hills can get actual mines. You can still mine on other terrane types, but it will merely change the terrane type. Mining a grassland will change it into a forrest and vice versa. Irrigating can also change certain terrane types. A forrest will become a plane if you irrigate it. The ultimate goal is to strike some balance between food, shield and trade for max production.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Thank you for the help, DMNagel.
So, once I send a settler to a certain tile I should not move him away from it until he finishes building the road or mine, right?
And, in that case, can I get new settlers to go to other tiles?
Thank you for your help.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

When someone is working, mining or irrigating a tile, leave them there until they start asking for new orders again, otherwise they won't be able to complete whatever they are doing. As for getting new settlers, you can most definitely get them by building them just like you would any other city improvement. The only catch is that they cost two population, so you will need at least a population of three in order to build a settler.

By Panais on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

When you finish building a building, the building doesn’t appear on the map. There is a button labeled improvements when you open the city interface, in order for you to know what buildings are currently built in the city.
Regarding tile improvements like irrigation, mines, roads etc., it’s better to use workers to build them because settlers are very very slow at it. Like DM said, once a unit is done improving the tile, it will be available again to order around. Also any improvement will be spoken by VO when tapping on the tile, both on the city mini map and the general map. You can also double tap on a tile of the map in order to view the improvements.
The best thing to do in order to learn the game in the beginning, is to create a game without enemies and without barbarians so you aren’t harassed by the computer and thus learn in peace.
The encyclopedia also has lots of useful information.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

I just saw that the settler just finished building a road.
I will look for a good place to build a mine or something.
Thank you for your help.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Note that you can also put settlers and workers on auto work by double tapping on the more button among the orders, should you wish to do so. This will make them automatically move around your city and build whatever is necessary, allowing you to focus on other things such as city improvements or units. Glad to see that you are starting to get the hang of it. Soon you will be building your very own world, but we will get to that as soon as you are ready.

By Panais on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

I think this button is gone with the new update and is replaced by the work button.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Although I'm not sure if the latest public update is available yet. In any case, if not, then double tap on the more button. Otherwise, all buttons including the work button will be part of one single menu in the latest update.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

I ended a turn and I got a message saying that my tribe ran out of hit points because it was not supported by the city.
What does that mean?
How do I prevent this from happening again?
Thank you for your help.

By Panais on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

That means that you are playing the augmented ruleset which you shouldn’t do at the moment under any circumstances. It’s much more complicated than the normal ruleset and it will give you a very hard time.
Start a new game and make sure you are using the civ2 civ3 ruleset

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

I will start a new game as you advise.
Thank you very much for your help.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

What can I do when the turn is ended and it says:
Citizens have stopped working on (46, 32).
does that mean that the unit has been lost?

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

When you go into a city's interface and accidentally double tap on a tile in the mini map, you will stop the citizen from working there. To fix this, you must either double tap on that tile again, or use the max food button to automatically arrange citizens for max food production.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Knowing that this can be fixed so easily is definitely a relief.
Thank you for helping me.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Would you say that it would be better to disband some explorers or should I turn them into something else. Maybe they can be turned into settlers. Can they? I think I got too carried away but my city started creating warriors from the beginning. I didn't notice that until it was too late. Now I have two cities and the other one apparently has an archer.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

It's okay to have as many explorers as you want. However, archers and warriors, along with other military units is better left at home, which is to say in their respective cities. Having too many military units exploring the fields will cause citizen unhappiness which can later turn into city disorder. In theory, The more explorers you have, the faster you will unlock the entire map, not to mention finding hidden huts with scrolls, treasure, units or friendly cities. However, given the citizen unrest, it becomes a trade off. Some units can be upgraded later in the game, as long as they are standing within their own cities. I hope this was helpful and you're welcome.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

You can either disband some of your units, or send them into cities and have them stand sentry. If you let a unit stand sentry, it will stop bothering you with orders every turn and wait for you to activate it from the nation control menu when you feel like using it again. However, in the event that someone is trespassing close to your sleeping unit, it will wake up again, indicating trouble.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

I really appreciate your help.
Now I know what to do. Thanks again.

By DMNagel on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

Glad I could help.

By Panais on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

The developer just added online support via game Center. Now you can play online against other players.

By KE7ZUM on Monday, May 9, 2022 - 03:51

wow, awesome. I have not touched the game in a while, might want to start over to take advantage of the new features etc.

By The_pineapple on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

Does anyone else think it would be cool to have more sci-fi and fantasy nations? I'm not saying that there aren't enough nations to play with; there are plenty, it's just that well I was looking through the list and the Trekkie in me thought hey it would be kind of cool to play as a Klingon or a Vulcan. :)

By DMNagel on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

Imagine an option to create your own nation. Wouldn't that be something.

By The_pineapple on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

That would be even more cool.

By DMNagel on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

We'll be getting a new ruleset (alien). I'm currently beta testing it right now. Also, I'm not sure how I missed this, but multiplayer is also a ruleset. So it seems like I have some catching up to do, although I'm excited to see the new alien stuff. Happy gaming.

By DrummerGuy on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

This game is getting better and better every time.
Hope to see that new update very soon.
I also hope that we have an update for DD Heroes in the near future.

By DMNagel on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

I'm not playing that game, as it seems to be a little incompatible with my bird brain lol. However, I believe the game will be updated sooner or later. BC4000 is probably his most popular game, hence all the updates. To think I almost didn't get this game either, but the world building feature helped me an awful lot.

By Zack on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

When I see alien in reference to a Civ-style game my mind jumps to a 1999 game called Alpha Centauri, which was basically a sequel to Civ and had a ton of neat features. Surely this isn't anything like that, it would take a ton of work to add :)

By DMNagel on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

I am unfamiliar with the game you are referring to, but this definitely seem to be a new siv style game with new technologies, buildings and new races. It might even be the game you are referring to. Who knows?

By Tayo on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

Hi:

Does anyone have some general tips on starting to play this game? I've tried, but never got very far. I've heard this one is even better than DD Heroes, but I find heroes easier to understand for some strange reason.

By DMNagel on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

For some reason, I just can't seem to get a grip on heroes. Anyway, using a settler, the first thing you would want to do is build a city bye finding a good spot, such as a piece of grassland or plane. If you can find a resource on the tyles, all the better. Tap the city button among the actions to build your city. Tap the city button at the menu above the action buttons to see your cities, change their productions and manage them. Once you have changed the production, set your taxes and check your research options before selecting turn done. You will be notified when buildings or units are ready in between turns.

By DrummerGuy on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

I may be doing something really wrong because I've already played something like 200 turns and I still don't see any action. I am starting to get bored.
Building workers, building settlers, they seem to do the same thing over and over.
Exploring, irrigating, building roads, but that's it.
Citizens becoming unhappy for who knows what reason.
I don't seem to be going anywhere.
What am I doing wrong?
The other day, all the citizens got sick and now my city has a black star.
What should I do about that? Is that the end of the game for me?
I am starting to think that this building and managing is not for me.
I like a game such as DD Heroes because it has action.
I honestly feel kind of dumb about this game because when I think that I am starting to understand it, it turns out that I am wrong.
For some reason, DD heroes scenes to work better for me.
I still don't wanna give up on this game.
I want to give it a try, one more try.
Hopefully, I will figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong.
As of right now, I am just thinking "when do I start conquering other cities and when do I get to conquer the world?"
Almost all my turns say something like "no big news ".
Oh, and I'm still waiting for an update for DD Heroes.
Anyway, I will go play some more and hopefully I will see some action today.
Please tell me if I'm doing something wrong here. I am about to say no to this game and I don't wanna do that just yet.
I see that most of you are having lots of fun with this game and I want some fun too.

By DMNagel on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

The black star is a new addition to the game. It indicates that the city you are working with is your capital. As for not being able to find action, I first need to ask a few questions. Are you playing alone, or are you playing with other nations? How many nations did you choose? If there are other nations, the trick is to obviously find out where they are in the first place. Also, I'm not sure what map you are playing on, so you might want to activate the super player mode bye double tapping on game at the top, then select super player and watch the advertisement in order to become the super viewer for the tern. Next, double tap on the world button and check under the cities of interest tab. A list of enemy cities should appear there, along with their locations. Once you have a preferred city in mind, you will obviously want to build A military unit such as a warrior, horseman or anything that can perform an attack and are available. Once this unit is built, you can command them to move to that location. Also, make sure to constantly check your production, so you don't miss out on anything. Sometimes, when you accidentally leave it, The city will start building coinage and continue to do so if left unchecked. If you are really having a hard time, you can always try the world building feature by going to civilisation and custom maps. You can build your own map, as well as choose where you and the enemy should begin, so you can find them much easier. You can play around with a feature and if you struggle, I can try to walk you through it.

By Firefly on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

This morning, I started a game with the alien race. It’s going quite good so far, but is the super player mode available in any of the maps? Also just a bit of a hint, but it seems like when you put workers on auto work it automatically increases your production or something like that.

By DMNagel on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

When you put workers on auto work, they will automatically irrigate tyles, build roads or in some cases transform tyles if that technology is available. Yes, super player mode is available. Just double tap on game, then super player mode.

By DMNagel on Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 03:51

So far, it looks like the next version will allow us to create our own maps using the alien ruleset. There will also be policies for the augmented ruleset. Furthermore, should we lose the game, we can now act as observers and watch the rest of the game unfold. Haven't tried it out yet, but I just woke up this morning to find the update on test flight.