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yairm210/unciv

10,358KotlinAudience · generalComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

A free, open-source Civilization V remake for Android and desktop that runs on low-powered devices, skips high-res graphics in favor of fast performance, and supports community mods and translations.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Unciv))
    What it is
      Civ V remake
      Free open source
      Lightweight design
    Platforms
      Android phones
      Windows macOS Linux
      Google Play F-Droid Flathub
    Community
      Moddability
      Translation effort
      GitHub contributions
    Scope rules
      Matches Civ V features
      No scope creep
      Volunteer driven
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Code map

Detail Auto

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Play a fully featured Civilization V-style turn-based strategy game for free on Android or desktop without buying the original.

USE CASE 2

Install on an older or lower-powered Android device that cannot run the commercial Civ V.

USE CASE 3

Create and share game mods adding new civilizations, units, or rule changes without writing code.

USE CASE 4

Contribute translations to make the game playable in additional languages.

Tech stack

KotlinAndroidGoogle PlayF-Droid

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

In plain English

Unciv is a free, open source remake of Civilization V, the popular turn-based strategy game where you build an empire across history. The original Civ V is a commercial game from Firaxis that costs money and runs only on capable PCs. Unciv recreates the same style of gameplay, where you settle cities, research technologies, build units, and compete or cooperate with other civilizations, but runs on Android phones and tablets as well as Windows, Mac, and Linux desktops. The project is deliberately lightweight. The author is upfront that it lacks the high-resolution artwork, music, and animations of the original game. What it trades away in polish it gains in speed, small file size, and the ability to run on older or lower-powered hardware. The phrase used in the description is that it can still run on a potato. This makes it accessible on devices that would never manage the original Civ V. One of its strongest selling points is moddability. The game is built so that community members can create and share modifications, adding new civilizations, units, maps, or rule changes without needing to touch the underlying code. There is also an active translation effort, and the project tracks how complete each supported language is. You can install it through Google Play, F-Droid (an alternative Android app store), Flathub on Linux, standard package managers like Homebrew on Mac or Chocolatey and Scoop on Windows, or directly from the releases page. The project releases updates frequently. The scope is intentionally bounded: the goal is to reproduce Civ V faithfully, not to invent new features beyond what the original contained. Anyone can suggest ideas, but the clear-cut rule for what gets built is whether Civ V had it. That focus keeps the volunteer-driven project moving forward without scope creep.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I want to create a custom civilization mod for Unciv. Explain the JSON file structure needed to define a new civilization with a unique unit, a unique building, and a special starting ability.
Prompt 2
Walk me through installing Unciv on an older Android phone using F-Droid, from finding the app to starting my first game with a custom map size.
Prompt 3
I want to help translate Unciv into a new language. Which files in the repository contain the translation strings, and what format do they use? Show me an example entry.
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