Civilization Playing Tips

Sam gave me these tips for the game. These aren't “shoot the wizard twice in the butt and you get bonus points” type tips. They are configuration tips—things to make playing the game easier or more convenient.

Any tips you find for game play on the Windows version are applicable to the Linux version as well, since there are no game-play differences between the two.

• You can hit ctrl-Z at any time to minimize the game.
• If a CD-ROM is in the drive and readable, the game will try to play audio tracks from it. If the CD is mounted and the videos are not installed, the game will detect the mount path and read the videos from the CD. The game looks in the /etc/fstab directory for an entry using the iso9660 file system type for the CD-ROM device.
• Pressing caps lock will bind the mouse to the CivCTP window so scrolling works nicely. Pressing caps lock again will release the mouse.
• The middle button of a three-button mouse can be used to scroll the map by dragging it.
• CivCTP allows you to control mouse speed and CD volume using the normal system tools, and so does not need a control panel for those configuration items.
• The Linux version of CivCTP uses a text field implemented from scratch and has UNIX key bindings:

• ctrl-A: move to beginning of line.
• ctrl-E: move to end of line.
• ctrl-B: move backward.
• ctrl-F: move forward.
• ctrl-U: erase line.
• The -nocdrom command-line option prevents the game from trying to access your CD-ROM.
• Setting the environment variable CIV_FULLSCREEN to 1, then running the game as root will allow it to use the XFree86 DGA extensions and run in full-screen modes. Caution: This is an unsupported configuration and may lock up your display.
• You can set any window resolution you desire (800x600 or better) by editing ~/.civctp/userprofile.txt and changing the lines beginning with ScreenRes.
• If the pause key is not bound by the window manager, it will iconify the game.
• If the print-screen key is not bound by the window manager, it will take a screenshot of the game and dump it to ~/.civctp/screen.bmp.
• Your personal preferences and save games are saved to the ~/.civctp directory, allowing multiple users to play the game on a single machine.
• If the window manager toolbars get in the way of the game, you can use the Graphics options screen to change the size of the CivCTP window.
• If the window is the same size as the display, it will run without a title bar, but if the game runs in a different resolution, it will have a title bar.
• To prevent your cities from being converted by clerics, place walls around them (i.e., build “City Walls”).