"I wanted to stay a democracy, but the senate would always overrule me when I wanted to declare war before the Vikings did. Every time a ceasefire is signed, the Vikings will surprise attack me or the Americans the very next turn, often with nuclear weapons." The three remaining nations have been locked in an eternal death struggle for almost 2,000 years. "You've heard of the 100-year war? Try the 1,700-year war. The competition between Lycerius' civilisation (the Celts) and his two rivals, the Vikings and the Americans, has resulted in endless warfare: There are three remaining super nations in the year AD3991, each competing for the scant resources left on the planet after dozens of nuclear wars have rendered vast swaths of the world uninhabitable wastelands. The world is a hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation. Yet, as quickly becomes apparent when you read through the rest of his post (as I urge you to do), even if Lycerius had dedicated all of his time to playing Civilization, it wouldn't have been wasted. He has carried on for an extra 2,000 years – although he is at pains to point out he doesn't just play Civilization II non-stop ("Naturally, I play other games and have a life."). It's addictive, vaguely educational and most sane people stopped playing some time around 1997 (both in real and game years), once they'd built a spaceship and reached Alpha Centauri. You start in 4000BC in a small village, which you gradually expand by farming, building things like libraries (so that you can develop technologies), and producing armies to conquer other territories. Just in case you are one of the few people not to have played Civilization, and are therefore unaware of the planet-shifting magnetism of Lycerius' post, Here's a quick primer.Ĭivilization is a game that – true to its name – enables you to build your own civilisation. I then thought that it might be interesting to see just how far into the future I could get and see what the ramifications would be." Though long outdated, I grew fascinated with this particular game because by the time Civ III was released, I was already well into the distant future. "I've been playing the same game of Civ II for 10 years. He (it must be a he!) posted the following extraordinary statement: I doubt, however, that you will have devoted quite as much of your life to it as a contributor to the Reddit forums going by the name of Lycerius. If you happen to have touched a computer some time within the last 20 years, the chances are you may well have spent a regrettably long time playing on one of the many instalments of Sid Meier's Civilization franchise.