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The "Nuclear Gandhi" myth: Fact or Fiction in the World of Civilization?

The infamous "Nuclear Gandhi" bug from the original Civilization game is a legendary tale among gamers. But was this nuclear-armed pacifist a reality, or a product of fervent imagination? Let's delve into the history and truth behind this enduring myth.

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The Genesis of the Legend

Gaming lore is rich with urban legends, from Herobrine to Ben Drowned. "Nuclear Gandhi" holds a similar place in the Civilization community. The story claims that in the original Civilization, a coding quirk transformed the peaceful Gandhi into a nuclear-obsessed warmonger. But was this a genuine glitch, or a captivating fabrication?

The Legend's Core

The legend posits that leaders in the original game possessed an aggression value (1-10, or 1-12 depending on the account), with 1 representing pacifism and 10 representing aggressive warmongering. Gandhi, being a pacifist, started at 1. Upon adopting Democracy, his aggression supposedly decreased by 2, resulting in a -1 value.

The crucial element: this value was allegedly an 8-bit unsigned integer (0-255). The negative value supposedly caused an integer overflow, flipping it to 255 – making Gandhi extraordinarily aggressive. Coupled with the availability of nuclear weapons post-Democracy, this led to Gandhi unleashing nuclear devastation.

The Myth's Spread

The "Nuclear Gandhi" story spread rapidly, captivating the 4X gaming community and beyond. Interestingly, its peak popularity wasn't concurrent with the game's 1991 release but rather in the mid-2010s. By then, verifying the legend was challenging due to the game's age and dwindling player base.

Debunking the Myth

Sid Meier himself, the game's creator, declared the "Nuclear Gandhi" bug "impossible" in 2020. He cited two key reasons: integer variables were signed, preventing the overflow, and government types didn't influence aggression levels. Brian Reynolds, lead designer of Civilization II, corroborated this, stating the original game only had three aggression levels.

The reality is that the legend was a fabrication. There was no unsigned variable in the code, and even exceeding the maximum aggression wouldn't have triggered the described behavior.

The Legend's Persistence (and a Twist)

Despite being debunked, the myth persists, likely due to its ironic appeal. The story's origin is traced back to a 2012 TV Tropes entry. However, Civilization V did feature a Gandhi with a high nuke-building preference, a deliberate design choice by Jon Shafer.

While the original game lacked a "Nuclear Gandhi" bug, the Civilization V iteration fueled the legend's spread. Civilization VI even acknowledged the joke. With Gandhi absent from Civilization VII, the myth might finally rest—but some legends are immortal.

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