Quotations

Civiization VI is a 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) turn-based strategy game, my favourite computer game.

The aim is to take a civilization from the ancient era through the years into space and beyond, accumulating science, culture, faith and gold and using them to pursue a victory such as being the first player to reach the distant stars.

Here is a screenshot from one of my current games:

I am playing as the Mapuche, a South American people, led by Lautaro. I am at war with the Netherlands, led by Wilhelmina. I have just captured her city of Mbwila. That doesn't sound very Dutch, I hear you say? It was originally a city belonging the Kongo but the Dutch captured it; now they are getting their comeuppance. (She also captured Hong Kong, as you can possibly see; very rude)

Each turn I use each of my units - builders build improvements such as farms and mines, apostles spread religion, planes attack units, artillery bombards cities, etc. When I have finished my turn, the AI civilizations take theirs.

This particular game is moving into the end game: I am building a spaceport, although I'm still using my (now ancient) tank armies. But do not worry - I have just discovered uranium and am on my way to researching Robotics, after which I will be able to build Giant Death Robots - Wilhelmina, beware!

Here's another game I'm playing:

Here I am the Maori, on a true world map. The Maori, led by Kupe, started in the ocean in the game, discovered and settled New Zealand (obv) and have now settled Australia. Australia is led by WWII PM John Curtin but are absent without leave in this game!

Enough of this nonsense, I hear you say. What about the quotations? The Civilization series has always prided itself on historical authenticity and, every time you research a technology or a civic, the mellifluous tones of Sean Bean utter the words of some worthy. The words are always authentic (i.e. were spoken or written by the author) but not necessarily true (i.e. may have been fake news).

Here are some of them.

My favourite is:

• “NASA spent millions of dollars inventing the ball-point pen so they could write in space. The Russians took a pencil.” (Will Chabot) [Space Race civic]

These are for bloggers:

• “Writing means sharing. It’s part of the human condition to want to share things – thoughts, ideas, opinions.” (Paulo Coelho)
• "Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words." (Mark Twain) [both Writing civic]
• "Which of all my important nothings shall I tell you first?" (Jane Austen) [Social Media civic]

There are so many good ones that I had a hard time whittling them down to a few more, to complete this post:

• “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” (Winston Churchill) [Animal Husbandry tech]
• “I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder … Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.” (Capt. E.J. Smith, RMS Titanic) [Shipbuilding tech]
• “The good thing about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do.” (Ted Nelson) [Computers tech]

Finally, the iconic:

• “I’ll be back.” (Arnie as The Terminator) [Robotics tech]

You can read them all at https://lowrey.me/civilization-vi-quotes/

Play the game and enjoy Sean Bean's droll delivery!