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The Civ games tend to share identical concepts, though sometimes they are referred to by different names. Differences between units will not be listed here except for very basic types common to all games. SMAC has the most different terminology, being an unofficial Civ game (although designed in part by Sid Meier) and being set in the future on another planet. For differences in terminology among the Test of Time games, consult the manual. Freeciv always uses the Civ2 term.

Warning: This may not be accurate yet, and does not include Call to Power terms.

Civilization 1 term Civilization 2 term Civilization 3 term SMAC Term Meaning
Food Food Food Nutrients Increases city growth
Shields Shields Shields Minerals Builds units/improvements
Trade Trade Commerce Energy Goes to taxes/research/luxuries
Taxes Taxes Taxes Economy Portion of trade that goes into your treasury
Science Science Science Labs Goes to developing new tech
Luxury Luxury Entertainment Psych Goes to keeping citizens content/happy
Settlers[1] Settlers[1] Settler Colony Pod Establishes a new city
Settlers[1] Settlers[1] Worker Former Enhances terrain
Government Government Government Social Engineering Affects bonuses and penalties of your civilization
Barbarian Barbarian Barbarian Mind Worm Unit associated with no Civ; raids player units
Minor tribe[2] Minor tribe[2] Minor tribe[2] Unity Pod Causes random event
Happy citizen Happy citizen Happy citizen Talent Offsets unhappy citizens
Content citizen Content citizen Content citizen Worker Ordinary citizen
Unhappy citizen Unhappy citizen Unhappy citizen Drone Causes disorder riots if exceeds number of happy citizens
Civil disorder Civil disorder Civil disorder Drone riots Production ceases


  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 In Civilization 1 and Civilization 2, Settlers function both as city-building units and terrain-enhancing units. If we were to follow Civ1 terminology here, the word "Settler" would create ambiguity for Civilization 3 and SMAC players. Therefore, the Civilization 3 terminology for "Settlers" and "Workers" has been adopted as an exception to the general rule to use Civilization 1 terminology. Civilization 1 and Civilization 2 players can simply read both words as "Settlers".
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 The word "village" is synonymous with Minor Tribe. They are invariably called "goodie huts" by fans, because they usually dispense "good" things such as free technologies or money and in most graphics sets they are represented by a hut (or small number of huts). "Goodie hut" is often abbreviated to "hut".