VybeCiv

Goal

Grow from one tribe on Earth to an empire across the Solar System and the Galaxy. Two ways to win:

• Intergalactic Gate — reach the Galaxy and be the first to build it.
• Domination — take two-thirds of the cities your rivals founded, on every map, and hold them for 10 turns in a row (from turn 40). Your own cities and the space natives' worlds don't count; a city you raze counts as taken.

Rivals can win the same ways. If nobody has won by turn 300, the highest score wins. Lose every city and you have 10 turns to found another before your civilization ends.

Three maps

Earth, the Solar System and the Galaxy are separate maps, each with its own cities, units and rivals. You cross to the next one by building a Project in a city (The Road to Space in the sidebar):

• Space Expedition — on Earth, needs a Spaceport → Solar System
• Interstellar Ark — in the Solar System, needs a Jump Gate → Galaxy

Your old map becomes a single tile on the new one and keeps producing for you. Rivals race you for it. Switch maps with the tier buttons in the sidebar or [ and ].

Up there you are not alone. Each space map has native factions with colonies and fleets of their own. Ringed icons in open space are anomalies — derelicts, caches, signals, ruins: the first unit to reach one takes its Science, Gold, materials or ship.

Map & Camera

Pan: drag the map · Zoom: mouse wheel or pinch · Select: click a unit or city

Dark tiles are unexplored. Move units nearby to reveal them.

Units

Select a unit, then click a highlighted tile to move. Units have limited movement per turn.

• Settler (Colony Ship, Ark Ship in space) — press Found City to build a city
• Worker — Build does what the tile needs: a resource post on a resource inside your borders (that resource 1 → 3 a turn), otherwise an improvement (+50% of what the tile yields, one of three charges)
• Explorer — fast, for revealing the map
• Military — each map has its own; Earth armies stay on Earth

To attack, select a military unit and click an enemy unit or city. Melee units must be adjacent; ranged units reach 2 tiles or more. Wear a city down to zero, then attack it with a melee unit to take it.

Defenders on hills or forest are 50% stronger, and a fortified unit stronger still. Click any tile to see its defence.

Cities

Click a city on the map or in the sidebar to choose what it builds. Cities grow when their food fills up.

Rush: spend Gold to finish the current item at once.

Nothing left to build? Set the city to Wealth or Research: half its production becomes Gold or Science every turn. Cities on the maps below you do this by themselves, switching to Research when their treasury is full.

Happiness: every city, and every extra citizen, costs happiness. When it falls below zero, growth and production slow down. An Amphitheater (+3), Granaries and Markets (+2) and Walls (+1) help, and so do Fusion Power and Galactic Communication. Cities on maps you have left behind cost half.

Research & Ages

Pick a technology in the Research panel or press T. Science builds up each turn. When you've researched enough, the next age begins on its own, bringing new units and buildings.

Resources

Resources such as Horses, Iron and Wood come from resource posts and stockpile each turn. Stronger units use them up when trained; the city screen shows what each unit needs.

Keyboard

• N or Space — next unit still waiting for orders
• Enter — end turn
• B — found a city with the selected unit
• F — fortify · H — rest and heal · S — skip this unit
• T — research · Esc — deselect or close
• [ and ] — move down and up a map

Save, sound & music

Save and Load are in the sidebar footer. The game is saved in this browser only. turns sound effects on and off, and does the same for the music.