How would a Civilization 2 map look after running for nearly ten years? Redditor, Lycerius , has found out, and has posted the current status of humanity in the year 3991 AD. Things are NOT GOOD.

"The world is a hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation," says Lycerius. "There are 3 remaining super nations in the year 3991 A.D, each competing for the scant resources left on the planet after dozens of nuclear wars have rendered vast swaths of the world uninhabitable wastelands."

A 1700 year war has wiped out 90% of the world's population in a nuclear holocaust that seemingly has no end. The polar ice caps have melted and reformed 20 times. Land that isn't rock or mountain has been reduced to festering, irradiated swampland. Every nation's resources are devoted to pumping tanks to the front line, where they bash out an everlasting stalemate, and are occasionally nuked. Large cities are long gone. Every time one gets too big, an enemy nation's spy sneaks in a nuke, and BOOM. The three nations, the Celts, Vikings and the Americans, are poised to continue the war forever.

"The military stalemate is air tight. The post-late game in civ II is perfectly balanced because all remaining nations already have all the technologies so there is no advantage," Lycerius explains. "There are so many units at once on the map that you could lose 20 tank units and not have your lines dented because you have a constant stream moving to the front.

"This also means that cities are not only tiny towns full of starving people, but that you can never improve the city. "So you want a granary so you can eat? Sorry; I have to build another tank instead. Maybe next time."



Lycerius has been dipping into the game every so often for almost a decade, and is determined to break the stalemate that's emerged. He wants to bring back farmland and start restoring his cities. As such, he's been taking some advice from the hundreds and hundreds of comments that have been posted in response.

"Diplomacy's failed in this world," DonutEF declares, "you’ve got to hit em hard and take over the world for the greater good. Then you can spend turn upon turn under the blanket of enforced religious peace fixing it with hundreds of engineers if you like!"

"Its for the greater good," he adds.

"Fundamentalism is what you need," suggests snarc. "Fanatics are cheap as anything. Let the enemy nuke them: one nuclear missile costs far more than the Fanatics it might kill. It's about making him spend his resources killing chaff, while you protect the interior where you're building the army that will win the war."

Civilization is brilliant. Have you been playing any huge, long-form games (not of Civ, necessarily)? How did they turn out?

2K have announced that Civilization V's existing mod browser feature will be overhauled and replaced with the Steam Workshop following the release of the Gods & Kings expansion.

The change will affect all players, not just those who've bought the add-on. It'll allow you to rate mods and subscribe to collections and authors in exactly the same way as Team Fortress 2, Skyrim and Portal 2.

Check out Tyler's hands-on for more information on the expansion. Later in the week, 2K will be posting further instructions for existing modders on the game's official forums. Civilization V: Gods & Kings is due on the 19th of June in North America and the 22nd everywhere else.

Is Workshop support enough to rekindle - or start - a Civ addiction, readers?

2K have just announced that a new expansion is incoming for Civ V. We got to chat with the game's producer, Dennis Shirk about the expansion a few days ago: "We wanted to take the experience to a deeper level," he said. "We’re giving you new challenges to face."

There'll be a new focus on religious mechanics, along with nine new civilisations and a heap of fresh units. You'll also get to sample one of nine new leaders, including Prince of Orange and Boudicca.

Gods and Kings will also bring spies to the world of Civ. They'll break in to your opponents cities and have a rummage around for exclusive info. Get a super sneaky one involved and they might even steal you some advanced technology and help to rig elections in your favour. Dirty buggers. We'll also get to interact with two new city-state types: Mercantile and Religious. As Dennis mentioned: "Earning a diplomatic victory is now more about being a good Global Partner to all the states, and less about amassing a lot of gold and spending it on them."

The expansion is due in Spring this year. We're not sure of the price, yet. Click through for an image of the updated interface.