Civilization VII Nukes Gandhi Myth Debunked

The "Nuclear Gandhi" myth: A Civilization legend debunked

The infamous "Nuclear Gandhi" bug from the original Civilization game is a well-known gaming legend. But was it real, and how did it supposedly work? Let's explore the history of this legendary glitch.

The legend claims that a bug in the original Civilization (MS-DOS) transformed the peaceful Gandhi into a nuclear warmonger. The game's AI leaders had an aggression parameter (1-10, or in some accounts 1-12), with 1 being pacifist and 10 being aggressive. Gandhi, being a pacifist, started at 1. Upon adopting Democracy, his aggression allegedly dropped by 2, resulting in -1.

The myth continues that this -1 value, stored as an 8-bit unsigned integer, caused an overflow, flipping it to 255 – making Gandhi incredibly aggressive. With nuclear weapons available after adopting Democracy, this supposedly led to Gandhi launching nukes relentlessly.

However, the truth is different. Sid Meier, the game's creator, confirmed in 2020 that Nuclear Gandhi was impossible. Integer variables were signed, preventing the overflow. Furthermore, government type didn't affect aggression. Brian Reynolds, lead designer of Civilization II, corroborated this, stating the original game only had three aggression levels, and Gandhi wasn't unique in his pacifism. There was no unsigned variable in the code, and even exceeding the maximum aggression wouldn't trigger the described behavior.

The myth's popularity exploded in the mid-2010s, long after the original game's active player base dwindled. Its spread was likely fueled by a 2012 entry on TV Tropes, which was then picked up by gaming publications.

Interestingly, while the original game lacked a Nuclear Gandhi bug, Civilization V featured a design choice where Gandhi's AI had the highest possible preference for nukes. This might have contributed to the myth's origins. Civilization VI even playfully acknowledged the legend.

The legend of Nuclear Gandhi, though untrue in its original form, highlights the enduring power of gaming myths and the sometimes blurry line between fact and fiction within online communities. With Gandhi absent from Civilization VII, the legend might finally rest.