Corporations

Beyond the Sword added seven corporations to Civilization 4 (Aluminum Co., Cereal Mills, Civilized Jewelers, Creative Constructions, Mining Inc., Sid's Sushi Co. and Standard Ethanol). Each is founded by spending a specific Great Person after the Corporation tech and one more, spreads by Corporate Executives to cities with its resources, and yields food, production, gold, culture, research or a new resource in return for maintenance.

Beyond the Sword added seven corporations to Civilization 4: Aluminum Co., Cereal Mills, Civilized Jewelers, Creative Constructions, Mining Inc., Sid's Sushi Co. and Standard Ethanol. You found one by researching the Corporation tech plus one more and then spending the right Great Person in a city with access to one of its resources; Corporate Executives then spread it, like missionaries, to other cities that have those resources. Each city with the corporation gets food, production, gold, culture, research or a whole new resource for every matching resource it can reach, the headquarters' owner collects gold from every city it is in, and every city pays maintenance for it. GameSpot's review summed them up as acting "like late-game religions".

Quick facts

Corporations	7
Added in	Beyond the Sword
Techs	Corporation, plus one more for each corporation
Founded by	A specific Great Person, in a city with one of its resources
Spread by	Corporate Executives, paid in gold
Blocked by	Mercantilism (foreign corporations); State Property (all corporations)
Cost	City maintenance in every city that has one
Name joke	Sid's Sushi Co., a play on Sid Meier's name (GameSpot)

All seven corporations

Corporation	Second tech	Great Person	Resources consumed	Benefit per resource
Mining Inc.	Railroad	Great Engineer	Coal, Iron, Copper, Gold, Gems or Silver	+1 gold (as printed in the manual)
Creative Constructions	Combustion	Great Engineer	Iron, Copper, Marble, Aluminum or Stone	+0.5 production
Sid's Sushi Co.	Medicine	Great Merchant	Crab, Clam, Fish or Rice	+0.5 food
Cereal Mills	Refrigeration	Great Merchant	Wheat, Corn or Rice	+0.75 food
Civilized Jewelers	Mass Media	Great Artist	Gold, Silver or Gems	+1 gold, +3 culture
Standard Ethanol	Plastics	Great Scientist	Corn, Sugar or Rice	Produces Oil; +2 research
Aluminum Co.	Advanced Flight	Great Scientist	Coal	Produces Aluminum; +2 production

Source: Beyond the Sword manual, pp. 21-22. Every corporation also needs the Corporation tech, which the manual calls "Corporations". Ordered by the second tech's cost in the original tree, with Beyond the Sword's Advanced Flight last.

Two corporations make resources rather than yields. Aluminum Co. turns coal into the aluminum resource and Standard Ethanol turns corn, sugar or rice into oil, the manual (p. 20) explains, which can matter for units and buildings that need those resources (see Resources). Mining Inc. is the one entry in doubt: the manual's list gives it "+1 Gold per required resource available", while its own overview speaks of corporations giving production among other yields; check the in-game Civilopedia.

Founding a corporation

A corporation needs two techs and a Great Person. All seven require the Corporation tech plus a second one that varies, and then a specific Great Person moved into a city that has access to at least one of the corporation's resources, where it is spent to found the Corporate Headquarters, per the Beyond the Sword manual (p. 20). The manual lists the seven headquarters among Beyond the Sword's new wonders (p. 28).

Founding works like founding a religion: GameSpot's preview explained that "if you are the first to create a corporation, you can send out agents to spread the corporation to other cities" (GameSpot, Jun 22, 2007). The Corporation tech itself costs 1,400 in the original game's tree, needs Constitution and Economics, and also gives +1 trade route per city and Wall Street (see Technologies).

Spreading and earning

Corporate Executives spread a corporation the way missionaries spread a religion. The headquarters city trains them, each spread costs gold (more for a foreign city), the Executive is used up, and a corporation can only go to a city that has one or more of its resources, per the manual (pp. 20-21).

The headquarters pays. Its owner receives gold for every city in the world with the corporation, "similar to the way that a Shrine provides a gold bonus for each city that has its religion", and the manual adds that "you receive five gold per city with your corporation in it" for spreading it (pp. 20-21). The target city gets "all of the benefits/penalties of the corporation".

Every city pays for its corporations. Beyond the Sword's city maintenance has four parts, the number of cities, distance from the capital, overseas cities and "corporations present" (manual, p. 23), and the manual warns (p. 20) that corporations used "injudiciously" can cause "a great deal of trouble". GameSpot's preview put it this way: each corporation "sucks up gold and resources in each city, so the effects can balance each other out", and "the key is to not spread your corporations in your territory but in someone else's lands" (GameSpot, Jun 22, 2007). Economy covers maintenance in full.

Competing and blocking

Corporations that eat the same resource cannot share a city. A city can hold several corporations, but placing a second one that consumes the same resource removes the first (and costs more to place), and no corporation can spread into a city holding a rival's headquarters, per the manual (p. 21). Rice, for example, feeds Sid's Sushi Co., Cereal Mills and Standard Ethanol alike.

Two Civics keep corporations out. Mercantilism stops new foreign corporations from entering your cities and, per the manual's civic changes, makes foreign corporations have "no effect" in them; State Property makes every corporation in your cities inoperative, though "the corporations will return once you change civics again" (manual, pp. 21 and 47).

Corporations in scenarios

Beyond the Sword's Crossroads of the World scenario, by Liam Collins, is set in the 13th-century Middle East and built around corporations (Beyond the Sword manual, pp. 34-42); see Scenarios.

What critics said

GameSpot's review called corporations and espionage "interesting additions that bring even more variety to the game, though they aren't always practical or all that useful", and said corporations "essentially act like late-game religions" with "substantial maintenance costs" (GameSpot, Jul 25, 2007). Its earlier hands-on noted that the effects of religion "taper off about halfway through the epic game, so corporation serves as a replacement of sorts" (GameSpot, Jun 22, 2007).

Frequently asked questions

How many corporations are in Civ 4? Civilization 4 has seven corporations, all added by Beyond the Sword: Aluminum Co., Cereal Mills, Civilized Jewelers, Creative Constructions, Mining Inc., Sid's Sushi Co. and Standard Ethanol.

How do you found a corporation in Civ 4? In Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword you research the Corporation tech and the corporation's second tech, then spend the required Great Person in a city that has access to one of the corporation's resources.

Which Great Person founds Sid's Sushi Co. in Civ 4? A Great Merchant founds Sid's Sushi Co. in Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword, after Corporation and Medicine, in a city with crab, clam, fish or rice; it gives +0.5 food per resource.

What does Standard Ethanol do in Civ 4? Standard Ethanol, founded in Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword by a Great Scientist after Corporation and Plastics, turns corn, sugar or rice into the oil resource and gives +2 research per resource.

How do you stop corporations in Civ 4? In Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword the Mercantilism civic blocks foreign corporations and the State Property civic switches off every corporation in your cities until you change civics.

Are corporations worth it in Civ 4? Civilization 4's corporations bring yields and headquarters gold but add maintenance to every city they enter; GameSpot found them interesting but not always practical, and its preview advised spreading them mainly into other civilizations' cities.