# Civ3 question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522 "2005-01-07T04:51:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/1 "2005-01-07T04:51:40Z")
I recently purchased Civ3. I am not completely unfamiliar with the game, having played Civ: CTP before, but I can’t figure out one thing. Can anyone tell me how to make a stack of units and lock them together so that they all move, attack, defend etc… as one? CTP had a little lock icon that did this, but I can’t figure out how to do it with Civ3, and it’s a PITA to move a bunch of units one at a time. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/2 "2005-01-07T05:01:07Z")
Short of building an Army and “loading” units into it, I’m not familiar with any function in Civ 3 that does as you describe, and I’ve played that game to death. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/3 "2005-01-07T05:52:25Z")
I guess “army” is an advance that I can discover as the game goes on, then? So if I want to attack a city, say, I have to march a bunch of units up to it one at a time and then attack one at a time? That’s a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/4 "2005-01-07T06:07:34Z")
I think there is a keyboard control to move all like units together. You have to press it each time you move the stack. It should be in the readme file, and make sure you have the latest version. Civilization: Call To Power is not the same game as Civilization 3, they are the same type of game, but Civ3 is not based on CTP. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/5 "2005-01-07T06:39:56Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > I guess “army” is an advance that I can discover as the game goes on, then? So if I want to attack a city, say, I have to march a bunch of units up to it one at a time and then attack one at a time? That’s a bitch. You create an army by first getting a great leader. Every time a veteran unit wins a battle, there’s a chance it will turn into a leader. I typically get maybe 2-3 leaders per game. Maybe more if I’m unusually militant. Take your leader to a city and you can either use it to hurry the building of a Wonder or turn it into an army. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/6 "2005-01-07T06:43:25Z")
In regular Civ 3, I’ve never been able to stack units - I had to install Play the World in order to do it (along with other things, like putting production items in a queue.) ---
**Author:** ![Gerome\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Gerome\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome_K)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/7 "2005-01-07T09:22:54Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > In regular Civ 3, I’ve never been able to stack units - I had to install Play the World in order to do it (along with other things, like putting production items in a queue.) If I recall, installing the most recent patch allowed me to do this with regular Civ3…although I could be mixing myself up, as i’ve got PTW and Conquests since. Still, it’s worth downloading the patch, it corrects a few significant bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/8 "2005-01-07T13:33:16Z")
In the _Civ3: Play The World_ add-on, that problem is corrected by having a button right on the screen (above the city screen in the lower right hand corner) to do just that. So I’m thinking if it isn’t on C3 (I only play PTW now), then I don’t think it’s in there (unless, as **Hirka T’Bawa** says, it’s a keyboard command.) ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/9 "2005-01-07T13:46:37Z")
Press J to move all troops from one location to another. They can’t make a simultaneous attack though, only armies can add strength of troops. Press ctrl+J to move only troops of the same sort. I’m pretty sure this is available in regular Civ3, at least after downloading all patches. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/10 "2005-01-07T14:16:40Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > You create an army by first getting a great leader. Every time a veteran unit wins a battle, there’s a chance it will turn into a leader. I typically get maybe 2-3 leaders per game. Maybe more if I’m unusually militant. Take your leader to a city and you can either use it to hurry the building of a Wonder or turn it into an army. Nitpicks: Veteran units may turn into elite units when they win a battle. Elite units that win a battle have a small chance to produce a great leader. The unit itself does not become a leader, you may rename it and it will produce no more leaders. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/11 "2005-01-07T14:51:24Z")
Maybe I’m doing something wrong: I’ve gotten only 2-3 leaders in my whole experience for the last year. I didn’t think I was unusually pacifist. Even when I was German and locked in constant war from start to finish (I landed on a penninsula - with two other civs blocking any expansion!) it took me close to the end of the game to get one. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/12 "2005-01-07T15:03:12Z")
Leaders are fairly rare in my experience. I’ve played many games without getting one but I’d say in about half the games I’ll get one, in about 5% of games I’ll get 2. I always make an army with my first one so that when it wins, I can build the Heroic Epic and increase the odds. Even without more leaders you can build the Military Academy and build armies. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/13 "2005-01-07T15:41:34Z")
I’m not entirely sure that an army is worth more than just a big honkin’ mass of military units. I generally play games at Monarch or Emperor level, and I am always WAY behind by the Industrial Age. So I need those bastards to hurry up my wonders. In fact, I will generally keep one (even if it’s my ONLY one) in reserve to build Theory of Evolution, because sometimes that’s the only way to stay current in the techno-race without mortgaging my economic future trading per-turn gold for tech I don’t have. I’d rather have the overwhelming benefits of a wonder than the location-specific (and dubious) benefit of an army, especially when my units are inferior to my rivals’ to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/14 "2005-01-07T15:53:43Z")
> [@Happy Scrappy Hero Pup](#): > > I’m not entirely sure that an army is worth more than just a big honkin’ mass of military units. The thing is, without an army, you’ll never get to build Heroic Epic and Military academy. And without heroic epic, chances of generating leaders are greatly diminished. I typically generate 15-20 leaders in a normal game. The key is to always try to preserve your elite units. If an elite takes a hit, without winning, keep it safe and move in another unit. The more elite units you have, the more leaders you’ll get. And armies are great. There’s nothing, except nukes, to take aout a realy strongly defended city like 5-10 armies with 4 modern armor each. I play the Conquest build, and armies get an additional movement point, meaning an army of mod.arm. gets four movement - perfect for those hard to reach cities when you’re trying a blitzkrieg. At the very end of a game I tend to get more leaders than I can use, so they go to rushing ordinary improvments in corrupt ridden cities. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/15 "2005-01-07T16:22:05Z")
When you get the Conquest expansion (which I mostly play) Military Great leaders can no longer rush Great Wonders - they can only rush small wonders (like Wall Street or Battlefield medicine) or build armies. The armies in Conquest are also beefed up a bit - they get an extra movement point, so building them is the best option. And for those who don’t get many Great Leaders, here is a method of getting more (I usually get 5-20 a game, depending on if I am war mongering or not) - first, make sure you build only vetern units. When these win battles and become elite units, save the elites in reserve. Then, use conserve your elites by taking out the enemy’s obsolete units or using bombardment units (catapults, cannons, artillery, ect) to soften up the enemy’s better units down to one hit point. This will get you a lot more elite victories, and hence more Great Leaders. Also note, that bombardment units (especially artillery & then radar artillery) is the King of the battlfield in Civ 3. You should have at least many bombardment units in your attack force as you have other units (for example, 20 Knights, 15 musketmen, and 35 cannons would be a good offensive force), unless you have a bunch of bombers or nukes to spare. They are extremely useful if you get caught without rubber in the Industrial age - properly employed, a force of riflemen, calvary, and a bunch of artillery will wipe the floor with AI forces of infantry & tanks, even if they out number you. And note that defensive armies are extremely useful for protecting your stack of artillery units - even when the AI has tons of modern armour they will almost never attack a riflemen army outside of a city. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/16 "2005-01-07T16:37:46Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > There’s nothing, except nukes, to take aout a realy strongly defended city like 5-10 armies with 4 modern armor each. I thought that you could only have 3 or 4 armies at any one time. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/17 "2005-01-07T16:49:56Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > I thought that you could only have 3 or 4 armies at any one time. I’ve never experienced a limit on how many armies I could have, and I’ve definitely had more than 3 or 4. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/18 "2005-01-07T16:53:48Z")
Also, if you’re playing with the Conquests expansion, armies get a percentage bonus to attack and to defend. So even obsolete armies can be worth quite a bit in battle. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/19 "2005-01-07T17:09:00Z")
I think you need 4 armies in the field in order to build the Pentagon small wonder. I’ve found that even if the units in your army are obsolete, their sheer endurance can overcome a defender which you otherwise wouldn’t have a chance against. An army of knights can take out a rifleman but a single knight probably wouldn’t. And once you build the Pentagon, you can upgrade all your obsolete armies with one modern unit. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522/20 "2005-01-07T17:15:35Z")
What is the best way to build an army? Do you want all of the same type of unit or do you want to mix offensive and defensive units (which is what I usally do)? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civ3-question/283522.md?page=2)