Pirates:
If you want to make your crew happy, get at least half of them slaughtered in battle.
Civ 3:
No one really gives a shit about Free Artistry.
Because of Civ II and III, I know that the Hoover dam is providing clean hydro power to every city on the continent.
Due to the geology I’ve learnt in Civ III, we can expect to hear about a massive oil field in the Sonoran desert within the next 10 years.
Or Music Theory.
Or Printing Press
Civ III:
Uranium is the most common resource on the planet with huge stocks located in every semi-rough terrain, while saltpeter is extremely rare, good horses impossible to find, there are maybe 5 or 6 oil wells open to use, and iron is super-rare and extremely valuable.
What a fabulous thread! I’ve played all 3 games but will confine my comments to Civ 3:
- Crossing the continent by rail is much quicker than air travel
- It is impossible to die when bombed by aircraft
- Ancient triremes can easily transport two armor units
- A spacecraft near completion will be completely destroyed on news of the fall of the capital
- Horses can be trained to pull chariots without knowing how to ride them
- Technologies can easily be mastered by peeking into straw huts
- Barren deserts in your continent have great appeal for neighboring nations to build cities in
- Helicopters are useless
- Once railroads and tanks can be built, trans-continental invasions are doomed to failure
- Neighboring civilizations who let their troops wander throughout your territory will be incensed if one of your workers steps over the border
From Civ 1:
– Other countries are allowed to encroach on your territory. If you encroach on their territory in return, you will forever be known as “O, most untrustworthy leader of the infidels”.
– Happy people spend all their time boinking okay, so that one’s true.
– During the 1500’s, it takes several decades to voyage across a continent on foot.
– Nukes make good scout planes.
From CtP;
– Stonehenge was an advanced form of grain storage.
– Most countries go to war without intending to actually take any territory.
– Contraception makes you happier than sports and religion, combined.
– There is no such option as “Stay out of my territory, and this time we REALLY MEAN IT”
– When main battle tanks are supported by cannons, the best tactic is to have the cannons in front, with the tanks providing long-range fire.
I dont think I can top that one :sigh:
Civ II taught me that I really miss the “We Love the President” parade from Civ I.
Civ III, (which I got yesterday) is teaching me that sleep is not necessary and that the leaders are too upity about kicking my ass.
Bug theaters? I didn’t think Meier was working on a sequel to Starship Troopers. That was Activision’s guys, who not incidentally cursed humanity with the heretical abomination that is Civilization: Call to Power.
I know this is not a serious thread, but I learned a whole lot from reading the biographies of the members of the Continental Congress in Colonization. It has lead to some great historical discussions around the water cooler at work.
Until you get the patch for Civ 3, you’ll find that Meier really changed his tune on the whole “Democracies don’t have corruption!” thing left over from the two earlier games. I hear the patch makes a tremendous difference.
Civ 1, Civ 2 and Civ 3 taught me that nuclear war is fun.
Civ 2 taught me that missiles can be flown from airport to airport without assistance.
Civ 3 taught me that Joan of Arc rules France.
Civ 1 (DOS release) taught me that shift-12345678 will open my eyes and show me everything I want to see.
Civ 2’s engineers taught me that the Sahara desert can be converted to fertile grassland in a few short years if enough people work on it.
Civ 3 taught me the law of dimishining returns - or, more accurately, the law of no returns once you’re already getting techs at one every four turns.
All the Civs taught me that the world is actually a mercator projection, and while it wraps east-west, you cannot cross either pole.
And that whaling, far more so than mere fishing, makes the world go 'round.
For a coastal city to be prosperous, it really needs to have offshore pods of whales (or 2, or 3) and an offshore oil rig. (Never mind that in the real world, the development of fossil-fuel extraction in the Middle East undermined the demand for whale oil as fuel…)
From Railroad Tycoon:
Trains can only stop at stations.
Even if a bridge has been out for two years, any train heading towards the washed-out bridge will thunder right towards it without slowing down, and fall right through the gap.
Dan Quayle was the worst political leader in the history of the United States.
Civ 2 taught me that every time you build a huge cool wonder, your entire populace gets to see a multimedia video presentation how cool it is.
Civ 3 taught me that the people got too freaked out about it so they stopped it. 
I really miss the “King” as my entertainment advisor. he was always such a friendly face when the world was turing on me.
Pirates! taught me the geography of the Caribbean and the locations and nationalities of colonies in the 1660s. To this day, I refer to Kingston, Jamaica as Port Royale.
From Civ II:
With modern technology, it’s easier to establish a large city on a small, remote island in the middle of the ocean than in a desert.
It takes an airplane several years to fly halfway around the world, and it has to stop for refueling, but a ground unit can be airlifted halfway around the world instantly.
If your Republic citizens are unhappy with your foreign wars, just institute a police state. This also works with a Democracy, but not as well.
There is an upper limit to the knowledge you can research; once you reach it, you should become Fundamentalist and build a massive army. If you plan correctly, you won’t have to pay anything to maintain hundreds of units.
If there is a single square of land in the middle of your territory that is not part of any of the nearby cities’ radius, another nation will build a city there and interfere with your production, especially if they are your ally.
Don’t let Ghandi control the United Nations or he will nuke you with impunity, and your reputation will suffer greatly for defending yourself.
Civ 2:
- the Vikings and Japanese are prone to sneak attacks so BE PREPARED
- Spain is way to enthusiastic about expanding on your continent
- Gemany = spies spies n’ more spies grrrrr
- ‘he’ who rules the UN rules the world
Civ 3: - Abe uses the best ‘threats’ around
- if you don’t have at least one lux near your capital, or have jungles, escape and start again
- Cleopatra is a beeeeeotch!
- Privateers Rock!
I do miss the Elvises in 3. 
All the Civs taught me one major fact:
Ronald Reagan was right and the Strategic Defense Initiative is a good idea.
[Civ II Geek]She!. The Spy Unit in Civ II is female, the only identifiably female unit in the game.[/Civ II Geek]