Civilizations were a feature introduced in update 0.7.2 and function similarly to caves. With the exception that instead of enemies, there are passive NPCs, as well as shops. You can interact with the NPCs to talk to them or with the shops to buy potions, upgrades or, rarely, Recruitable NPCs.
All Civilizations have a shop on them, generally at the far right of the area. Potions and Upgrades can be bought in there and rarely, one may come across a Recruitable NPC.
Prices are calculated by using the following formula: Base Price × Number of Players, and if a player has a Translation Book, the prices will be halved. The list of all base prices is the following:
( * Fractions serve for calculation purposes and do not affect Shop Prices for 1 or 3 Player crews)
Shops can also be stolen from by breaking the shop cases. This will anger all Civilization Dwellers, thus making it a very risky endeavor due to the high health and damage output they have.