
The combat system has been overhauled, removing stacking of military units and enabling cities to defend themselves by firing directly on nearby enemies. Many elements from Civilization IV and its expansion packs have been removed or changed, such as religion and espionage (although these were reintroduced in its subsequent expansions). The game is based on an entirely new game engine with hexagonal tiles instead of the square tiles of earlier games in the series.

In Civilization V, the player leads a civilization from prehistoric times into the future on a procedurally generated map, achieving one of a number of different victory conditions through research, exploration, diplomacy, expansion, economic development, government and military conquest.
