Share your tips for Civilization III

Cafe Society
21

With respect to selling technology: I just tried a few rounds with the suggestions mentioned, by generating a bunch of scouts. I ended up with about 8 more technologies than everyone else, but no one will pay. The most I saw was a culture with $50 and were willing to offer that up, but no one has ever been willing to give anything “per term.”

I read an old strategy once that recommended starting wars as often as possible and just defending. Their reason was that its easy to defend and after a while the attacking civ. will offer a peace treaty. But holding out for a really long time, they would demand $999999 per term.

But I have yet to see any civilation ever allow a per term value, am I doing something wrong?

22

Um. $99999 per turn? Most I’ve ever gotten was 50-something per, and that was when I’d gone against a paper tiger of a civ; impressive on paper, but rather weak against tanks and such in the 18th century:D

23

There used to be a bug where you could demand (effectively) infinite dollars per turn in a peace settlement, regardless of which side was winning, but this was fixed in one of the earlier patches. If you install fresh it’ll come back but YMMV if this is a legit exploit to win. used it once but got really bored since I could just rush build all my facilities.

24

BTW, it is possible to get more than one scientific leader person guy. Jeff, I wasn’t sure if you were saying you only got one, but I wanted to make sure folks knew it was possible. I’m playing Conquests on the other computer and I just now, with my most recent discovery, got another scientific leader:D Another Albert Einstein.

25

Scientific leader? I don’t know anything about Conquests, but I’m intrigued. How are they produced? What do they do? Do they have names that vary depending on the Civ you belong to, like military leaders?

26

I’ve only seen one so far. Are you playing as a Scientific civ?

27

Direct from the Conquests manual:

[quote]
Anytime you are the first tribe to reach a tech, the opportunity for receiving a Scientific Great Leader is increased. You can use them to boost science in a city for 20 turns or to Hurry City Production.

[quote]
I believe their names are idneed Civ-dependent.

28

Best tip I could give you is go to www.apolyton.net and join the best Civ community on the net.

29

Industrious, Expansionist Americans. I’m usually leagues ahead of everyone else in terms of science — I have musketmen and the Iroquois have pikemen — so I rack up major points for first to discover techs. And I build wonders, both for what they do for me (and thus what they can’t do for anyone else) and for the culture. Add both of those together and I’ve gotten two so far and I’m in 1495 right now. Back in Civ3 original, I got 3 Golden Ages, which I’m told was impossible (it happened, though I don’t have the file to access right now; I was doing a cultural victory), and I’ve no idea if it’s possible in Conquests; I’ve gotten at least one in this game and I think I might be in my second. This game is several months old and I took a break in the past few months, so I don’t recall when I had one or didn’t.

30

Hmm…I wonder if the numbers of Scientific Great Leaders and Golden Eras are dependent on the difficulty level.

31

It’d be nigh on impossible to figure out for sure because in a higher difficulty it’s more difficult to get identical conditions. In Chieftain vs. Warlord this difference is not all that substantial, but Chieftain vs. Demi is very much so.

FWIW, I’m playing Warlord where I’ve gotten two Sciguys, and my 3 Goldens were in Civ3 Original in Chieftain.

How long, for those who fight, do y’all like to build up troops and station them near the cities they’ll be taking, do y’all do so? I like to have between 3 and 5 strong units reserved for each city, with one or two extra for every two just to capture roving units. It means I have lots left over, to be sure (which are then disbanded for whatever city improvements I make once the area is secure), but it also means little lag time between declaring war and having the last bit of offending civ over.

32

Save the game very early. Perhaps after the first turn before you build your first city.

That way you can do a massive do over if necessary.

Like the time there was only ONE STINKING HORSE on the continent I shared with two other powers.
Grrrrr.

How many times have you just wanted to move a city over by one square, or know where those stinking Zulus or Russians were starting from because they so up at your doorstep with twenty goons and no tech and they want your tech.
Now you can go back and send four horse mounted units to smack them around and call them Sally.

33

Weird. I always play on Chieftain and never had more than one Golden.

34

At least I don’t think I did.

35
  1. Settlers. Lots and lots of settlers. Well, and a temple. Play like a virus; spread as fast as you can and worry about the details later.

A neat trick is to play Mass Regicide, which gives you 6-7 cheap defensive/exploration units to start the game. Use your little kings to run around revleaing the map, and then use them todefend your early cities. The computer is stupid about using them.

Don’t be TOO concerned about siting cities. It’s more important to get them started, and preferably on a fresh water source. Later you can just build another settler to cover the resources you missed. Do not be afraid to have overlapping cities! Expand expand expand.

  1. Well, it depends what civ you start with, but my priority is technological advances. However, situations differ.

I like getting Iron Working ASAP in order to see where the iron is. Getting an iron resource is a life-or-death issue in most games; knowing where the iron is can affect how you play the game if you need some extra effort to get it.

  1. Temple-Library-Marketplace-Cathedral-University.

  2. Never build them.

Other hints:

The size of your military is important; a larger military in many cases can actually be cheaper than a smaller one. The AI, especially with the Conquests expansion, is sensitive to the size of your army. An army of 60 units, costing X, might encourage a neighbour to attack, while an army of 90 units costing Y will dissuade them from attacking. The added cost of the larger army is FAR outweighed by the cash benefits of avoiding warfare until it benefits you. Obviously, the construction and deployment of nuclear weapons is a huge benefit.

Hamish’s point is also well received. The AI will perceive your overall strength in terms of raw numbers rather than positional strength. If you have 30 units protecting 25 cities, the AI perceives that as being better than 20 units defending 5 cities. Obviously, that’s wrong, but the AI doesn’t know that. Now, when war starts, the AI is sometimes surprisingly apt at assaulting isolated outposts.

However, building an immense army early, when your cities are poorly developed, is also a losing proposition because you fall behind in science, culture, and economy. I find my best games always involve keeping my military only as large as necessary early, then transitioning to a heavy military force around the Renaissance as may cities’ production starts to outrun new build options. So in a strange way, the run of optimal army sizes is sort of a parabola; small is good, and really huge is good, but medium sized is often bad - big enough to suck up money and production but not big enough to keep your enemies from starting wars.

In my experience, on a large map with powerful neighbours holding 15 or more cities, your army cannot be big enough. No matter how many units you have, you can use some more. I have had modern armies of 150+ units seriously bloodied by an attack, including one memorably amazing war in which the Celts launched an attack on one of my cities that, in a span of perhaps five turns, killed well over three hundred units on both sides. (The city, a size 22 metropolis called “Linebacker,” held.) Your impressive-looking force of 40 tanks will dwindle away pretty fast if you’re conducting an offensive against a large and deep country.

Another hint is to build true combined arms armies. A city defended by three divisions of infantry is good. A city defended by infantry AND artillery is oh, so much better. Artillery, especially late in the game, can tear apart enemy formations in the open in a most astonishing fashion. This becomes an especially effective tactic late, when you get railroads and can move a large force of artillery to a city that needs, AND fire them all, it in a single move. A force of 7-10 artillery peices can be moved around railroads and can essentially destroy a stack of enemy units all their own, from inside a beseiged city, with no risk at all to your army. Have a combined arms force - defensive specialists, armor, and artillery.

36

My wars tend to be too short for me to lose 300 units in toto, let alone defending a single city. I usually have between 3 and 6 units reserved to take each city and, if possible, a defensive unit reserved to garrison in there so the more offensive-minded unit can move on to something else. If possible, I also like to commit a dozen or five workers to road/railroad the newly-acquired territory; the movement advantage is distinct: the difference between having 18 tanks move five squares in two turns and having them move eight (or ten) squares in two turns can mean the difference between capturing one (or five) cities and having to sue early for peace because my people are tired of the last 100 years of war.

In my current game I just got done throttling an Iroquois expansion onto my land; I ended up taking all but, I think, two of their cities, and those are cities that are of no consequence, really. I’m in the process of making a road to the only coal I can find, and when that’s done I’ll have workers railroading roughly half the continent. I should be ready to take half the Incan civ within about a hundred years, as most of the world is easily 50 years (ten turns) behind me, if not more.

37

I’ve been playing Warlord lately, as either Greek or Iroquios. Usually a large map, and about 6-7 competing civs. Government-wise, I go for Republic, then Democracy. Science and Happiness are my main concerns. I’m usually dirt poor, since I spend my money as fast as I make it - on rushing production and upgrading units.

One of my strategies is, very early on in the game, to devote at least two cities to troop production (occassionally interrupted by key city improvements). By the modern age, I have at least 600 troops (not counting workers). I play mostly for space race victory - cultural is too easy, IMO. However, I enoy having a strong military & it doesn’t really affect my technological progress.

I declare war for any of the following reasons:

  1. My troops are the first to hit an unbalancing new tech level (ie, musketmen, tanks, etc.). At this point, I steamroll for as long as my population will tolerate it.
  2. Some idiot civ has set up camp “inside” my territory – you know, on that 1 tile on the peninsula tip, where your border hasn’t quite gotten to yet
  3. Another civ has a resource I want (either to have or deprive them of). I will rabidly hoard saltpeter and oil.

Playing as a warmongering democracy takes some timing (and lots of happies) to stave off war-weariness. I could go communist or fascist, but I enjoy democracy’s other perks too much. So, I alternate between peace and war a lot.

Most of my warfare is in my modern age - I love airdropping troops for quick mobilization and builds scads of bombers. Love, love, love the bombers - in my last world war, I used them almost exclusively to pick off enemy troops and prepare cities for occupation. Once a city is occupied, I move in a ton of troops, purchase an airfield, then get ready to launch another offensive. Poor Egypt got to the point where she was offering me multiple cities in return for a peace treaty. :smiley:

38

Another hint regarding keeping your people happy is that if you have war declared on you (the manual mentions this, but doesn’t go into nearly enough detail on how useful it can be). Build up your forces such that you can at least comfortably sustain aggression against a weaker foe. Then tell them to get the hell off your land (this is more easily accomplished if you go after a naturally expansionist/militaristic enemy; just make sure their unique unit isn’t in its prime). If you’re lucky, they’ll refuse, and in doing so they’ll declare war on you. You can keep this up for easily a dozen turns (or more) before war weariness starts to be a factor in negating the smiley faces. The effect I’ve observed is that it’s worth at least 10% luxury rate, sometimes 20% or more depending on factors the game obviously calculates. I wouldn’t depend on it if I needed to increase happiness through my realm, but it could be useful.

39

I detest having to use boats and love railroads, so I hate maps with lots of islands. Therefore, I never bother with all the nautical wonders, and some other wonders are just plain boring. I go for wonders that’ll make me money, give automatic improvments and maybe those that triggers a golden age. OTOH, switching to war time will give the same effect on the economy, but then, there’s a limit to what can be built.
So these wonders are a must, for different reasons:

  1. Pyramids (free granaries)
  2. Great Library (mostly for the amount of culture that keeps giving points, even after the pratical effect stops)
  3. Sun Tzu’s Art of War (Free barracks)
  4. Leonardo’s workshop (Upgrade units @ ½ cost)
  5. The chappel or cathedral (either, but at least one is important to reduce grumpy faces)
  6. Smith’s trading Co. (market places, banks, stock exchanges don’t dost maintenence largely increased revenue)
  7. The Internet (free science labs)

Once I get past 1 a.d. I always keep a couple of extra settlers handy. hey’re good for a couple of things:

  • Getting a bridge head. If you’re on the war path, your best unit will have a range of two (two steps+strike). If a city is three steps away, throwing up (and then discarding) a city can give you that extra square you need to be able to reach it.
  • Conquered cities might be in awkward positions. Burn them and put up your own.
  • Boosting population for existing cities.
  • Once cities reach a certain stage, no matter what you do, there will be the occasional overpopulation. I then build a settler to re-distribute people. Remember area+ population = high score. Even if a city is worthless due to corruption, that area and the size will earn points.

Workers are paramount. The quicker you can improve all your territroy, the more you gain.

Get railroads and then replaceable parts ASAP. Railroads increase productivity and you can get your guys from one end to the other so fast. The AI is often really stupid about distributing troops. It’ll always have lots of troops in the capital and a spearman or two in outlaying cities. I have one conscripted guy in the capital. If a war is reaching that far, I’ve lost anyway. Crack troops on all the borders instead. And those infantry guys can really hold their own. Four infantry in a city, means it’s almost impossible to take until modern armors hsows up. With railroads, you can move reinforecements in quickly too.

Be careful with those elite troops. Elite means a potential leader and once you have heroic epic, you can really start cranking them out. I think 7 leaders in one turn (yes turn) is my record.

I don’t bother with SAM or coastal fortress. The AI always bombs adjoining squares, not the city it self.

I, too, have no idea what the point of the helicopter is. And since I never play with lots of sea operations, building marines makes no sense either.

I find a lot of use for spies, but am irritated that you can’t use them untill the industrial age. So, the Greeks or Romans didn’t use spies, huh? Stealing the plans of the enemy is always useful.

Selling luxuries, or strategic resources, can bring in even more money than a tech. I’m don’t want to give away techs or maps, but trading coal so the AI builds railroads, making life easier for me, can earn me lots cash.

I seldom build forbidden palace until late in the game. I can move the capital around, as my empire expands, but the FP stays put. Its location is crucial in winning the game, since the surrounding area, about 5-6 cities deep, will be as productive as your the original area. Amd it’s nice to be able to crank out a modern armor in one turn.

Hills are the perfect environment, maybe with some flood plain to boost the food. Hills yield food and shields. Mountains only shields and grassland/plains are low on shields. With hills, you can get population (which is needed for a high score) and shields. Forrsts sucks and I chop them down.

The AI stays away from jungle. I like it. Many luxuries and lots of empty space to expand into.

Workers again: Keep as many as needed to convert any virgin territory into productive land in two turns, preferably one. That means at least 50 workers, and higher is great.

Avoid building warriors. Even with the latest patches and versions, they can only be upgraded to guerilla, which isn’t bad, but you can start out with a spearman and end that troop as a mech.infantry. If you have 5-6 M.I. in a city, the enemy will have to use nukes to take it.

And cheat as much as you can. The AI does, so why shouldn’t you?

40

I like to play as the Americans, just because not to would be well, un-American. I like to play random everything on a huge map. Much of what you do in the first few turns determines your lot-

Your capital should be at or near your starting position. Unless you see a compelling reason to move a square or two, don’t wait to found that first city.

Mine the grasslands. Irrigation won’t help you under despotism anyway, just go for the extra shields.

Roads, roads, roads. Get those resources and luxuries.

I like to work for alphabet first. Then, depending on the situation, go on the path toward Literature so I can build the Great Library or, if it looks like my landmass is small, so I can work toward Map Making.

If you can build scouts, do so if your landmass is at all large. Those goody huts are worth their weight in gold. Better you get them than the enemy. If you can’t build scouts, send a couple warriors out to forage for huts.

When your borders are pretty well established and the frontier is not too long, defend all along the border with a line of warriors or archers. Keeps the AI from wandering about your territory.

Hold off on the Forbidden Palace until you really know the dynamics of the game. If you think you can someday wipe out a civ on the far side of the map, wait till you do so and then use a GL to rush a FP.

Form an army with your first Great Leader. Make sure you make that first battle one you can win. Barbarians are great for this. Then build the Heroic Epic.