Player of Games
Nov 23, 2001, 01:30 PM
I started my first game as the English on monarch difficulty, on a huge, random map with continents, and with 12 other civilizations.
I started in a corner of what I eventually discovered was the main continent on my world. I began spreading my cities at what I thought was a sustainable rate, and soon met the Romans. I had decided to take a cautious approach in this game, and use the English commercial and expansionist advantages to develop a large, mercantile civilization. I wasn't very interested in expanding my power through conquest, especially not at the beginning when there was still a lot of empty territory to expand into. No use diverting resources to the military when there were so many other projects that would enrich my people.
First Civ I met were the Romans, who were of comparable size (slightly larger). I wasn't keen to anger them, as I knew they were militaristic and would soon have the legion to throw against me. I made friends with them, and soon contacted other civilizations. To my great surprise, the Persians, French, Greeks and Germans all had MUCH larger civilizations than me, with sometimes twice as many cities! Obviously the AI in Civ 3 makes expansion much more of a priority than Civ 2. I had to get cracking, and sent settlers to every nook and cranny I could find, and soon developed borders with the Russians, Persians and French. With the French I had a small military dispute which would eventually turn into a major war among all the powers on the main continent.
I took an unusual strategy which I never have before. I set my research to 0%, my luxuries to 10% and the rest for taxes. I built marketplaces and banks everywhere, as soon as I could, and began raking in the cash on a huge scale. I used it to buy technology from other civs, and then turned around and sold the tech to anyone I could. Often I would extort huge sums per turn from others, keeping their treasuries nearly empty while mine were overfull. Only the chinese and the russians kept ahead of me, and everyone else remained indebted to me for most of the game. I also used my money to rush a lot of city improvements, and my cities became the most developed of any.
After I had developed my territory a bit, I prepared for my first major war against the French, who had been expanding at the expense of my allies, the Romans. First, I convinced every other power on the continent (including the Chinese) to ally with me against the French, hoping this would mean they would have to fight on all fronts and be distracted from me. With riflemen and cavalry, I positioned my troops to take two French cities by surprise, and once I had, I dug in my heels to prepare for the inevitable backlash, which came in droves. I was amazed to see wave after wave of cavalry charged against me, and only through some rushed construction (MUCHO $$ for developing such a commercial civilization) and fortress strongholds was I able to turn them back, though at great loss to myself as well. In the battle one of my elite cavalry had turned into a great leader and I developed my first army of cavalry. With them, I marched into the great French city of Rheims and razed it to the ground. I guess the French saw that I was not to be trifled with, and a temporary peace was met. More likely, the other civilizations, especially the persians, greeks and chinese, had started to turn up the heat in other areas.
I soon became dismayed at what I had started. The Chinese and Greeks had begun taking city after city from the French and showed no sign of letting up. I became concerned at THEIR power, and began to covertly help the French in order to delay what was to become the inevitable demise of the French civilization. I traded vital resources with the French, practically GAVE them technologies and tried to interfere with the Chinese and Greeks in any way I could short of declaring war, but the die was cast. A lucky aside for me was that with some cities, they were completely destroyed them instead of capturing them, and as these newly opened territories were right on my border, I was first to settle them.
Around this time I had sent out an explorer ship into the deep ocean, hoping to find virgin lands to colonize (because I sure as hell wasn't going to get anything from my warmongering neighbours). To my surprise, I found the highly advanced American civilization which had developed alone on a large continent in the middle of the ocean. I was the first from the "old world" to contact them (and a couple other, minor civs), and I began trading with them for resources and tech, meanwhile jealously guarding my relationship from my neighbours. In time I would develop a "special relationship" with the Americans, and a mutual protection pact would benefit both of us.
I could see that all the other civs had MUCH larger militaries than I did, and since my empire was reaching the extent for size, I decided to swear off war. I switched to democracy, and soon entered my golden age at the expense of an egyptian caravel. I used my golden age to develop my cities and land. It was beginning to get too expensive even for me to buy technology, so every city that could got a library and university, and I cleverly grabbed the Theory of Evolution (only my second wonder) and jumped ahead of everyone else in technology. Meanwhile, the Greeks, Chinese and Persians were making short work of the beleagered French and I was grabbing the vacant territory. Thousands of miles of rails were laid down and my cities grew and grew, and my people loved me. Golden Age indeed, and by the end I had the most developed, richest and happiest civilization in the world. My new priority became using my economic power to discover new knowledge. This is where my game currently stands, in the year (approx) 1600.
As the game stands now, I'm the third largest civ in territory (and # of cities), the largest in population and (just barely) the leader in tech, with the russians and americans neck and neck. My military is severely lagging (I have more than adequate defenses, with many infantry), though everyone else has tons of cavalry which will soon become obsolete because of tanks and airplanes, which I will reach first.
This was my first game, and I had to learn from some early mistakes, foremost among them my failure to expand nearly as fast as my opponents. I found the strategy of buying technology to work well until the industrial age got underway. I suffered badly in terms of building wonders, which I think was because I didn't have a single city that was totally maximized for production. On a few occasions I had to dump these great projects, and many turns of work, because another civ finished the project first. But now, in the industrial age, I've made up for that lack by developing my territory very well and building factories everywhere. I'm in a tight race for the Hoover dam right now, which will increase my productive capacity even more.
Even though I'd supposedly "sworn off war" a few centuries ago, I'm now thinking of kicking some ass, Germany style, once I get tanks and airplanes. The Russians or the Greeks will be first to fall under my axe... either would be good to take down a few notches, as I foresee that the race at the end will be for the stars.
I started in a corner of what I eventually discovered was the main continent on my world. I began spreading my cities at what I thought was a sustainable rate, and soon met the Romans. I had decided to take a cautious approach in this game, and use the English commercial and expansionist advantages to develop a large, mercantile civilization. I wasn't very interested in expanding my power through conquest, especially not at the beginning when there was still a lot of empty territory to expand into. No use diverting resources to the military when there were so many other projects that would enrich my people.
First Civ I met were the Romans, who were of comparable size (slightly larger). I wasn't keen to anger them, as I knew they were militaristic and would soon have the legion to throw against me. I made friends with them, and soon contacted other civilizations. To my great surprise, the Persians, French, Greeks and Germans all had MUCH larger civilizations than me, with sometimes twice as many cities! Obviously the AI in Civ 3 makes expansion much more of a priority than Civ 2. I had to get cracking, and sent settlers to every nook and cranny I could find, and soon developed borders with the Russians, Persians and French. With the French I had a small military dispute which would eventually turn into a major war among all the powers on the main continent.
I took an unusual strategy which I never have before. I set my research to 0%, my luxuries to 10% and the rest for taxes. I built marketplaces and banks everywhere, as soon as I could, and began raking in the cash on a huge scale. I used it to buy technology from other civs, and then turned around and sold the tech to anyone I could. Often I would extort huge sums per turn from others, keeping their treasuries nearly empty while mine were overfull. Only the chinese and the russians kept ahead of me, and everyone else remained indebted to me for most of the game. I also used my money to rush a lot of city improvements, and my cities became the most developed of any.
After I had developed my territory a bit, I prepared for my first major war against the French, who had been expanding at the expense of my allies, the Romans. First, I convinced every other power on the continent (including the Chinese) to ally with me against the French, hoping this would mean they would have to fight on all fronts and be distracted from me. With riflemen and cavalry, I positioned my troops to take two French cities by surprise, and once I had, I dug in my heels to prepare for the inevitable backlash, which came in droves. I was amazed to see wave after wave of cavalry charged against me, and only through some rushed construction (MUCHO $$ for developing such a commercial civilization) and fortress strongholds was I able to turn them back, though at great loss to myself as well. In the battle one of my elite cavalry had turned into a great leader and I developed my first army of cavalry. With them, I marched into the great French city of Rheims and razed it to the ground. I guess the French saw that I was not to be trifled with, and a temporary peace was met. More likely, the other civilizations, especially the persians, greeks and chinese, had started to turn up the heat in other areas.
I soon became dismayed at what I had started. The Chinese and Greeks had begun taking city after city from the French and showed no sign of letting up. I became concerned at THEIR power, and began to covertly help the French in order to delay what was to become the inevitable demise of the French civilization. I traded vital resources with the French, practically GAVE them technologies and tried to interfere with the Chinese and Greeks in any way I could short of declaring war, but the die was cast. A lucky aside for me was that with some cities, they were completely destroyed them instead of capturing them, and as these newly opened territories were right on my border, I was first to settle them.
Around this time I had sent out an explorer ship into the deep ocean, hoping to find virgin lands to colonize (because I sure as hell wasn't going to get anything from my warmongering neighbours). To my surprise, I found the highly advanced American civilization which had developed alone on a large continent in the middle of the ocean. I was the first from the "old world" to contact them (and a couple other, minor civs), and I began trading with them for resources and tech, meanwhile jealously guarding my relationship from my neighbours. In time I would develop a "special relationship" with the Americans, and a mutual protection pact would benefit both of us.
I could see that all the other civs had MUCH larger militaries than I did, and since my empire was reaching the extent for size, I decided to swear off war. I switched to democracy, and soon entered my golden age at the expense of an egyptian caravel. I used my golden age to develop my cities and land. It was beginning to get too expensive even for me to buy technology, so every city that could got a library and university, and I cleverly grabbed the Theory of Evolution (only my second wonder) and jumped ahead of everyone else in technology. Meanwhile, the Greeks, Chinese and Persians were making short work of the beleagered French and I was grabbing the vacant territory. Thousands of miles of rails were laid down and my cities grew and grew, and my people loved me. Golden Age indeed, and by the end I had the most developed, richest and happiest civilization in the world. My new priority became using my economic power to discover new knowledge. This is where my game currently stands, in the year (approx) 1600.
As the game stands now, I'm the third largest civ in territory (and # of cities), the largest in population and (just barely) the leader in tech, with the russians and americans neck and neck. My military is severely lagging (I have more than adequate defenses, with many infantry), though everyone else has tons of cavalry which will soon become obsolete because of tanks and airplanes, which I will reach first.
This was my first game, and I had to learn from some early mistakes, foremost among them my failure to expand nearly as fast as my opponents. I found the strategy of buying technology to work well until the industrial age got underway. I suffered badly in terms of building wonders, which I think was because I didn't have a single city that was totally maximized for production. On a few occasions I had to dump these great projects, and many turns of work, because another civ finished the project first. But now, in the industrial age, I've made up for that lack by developing my territory very well and building factories everywhere. I'm in a tight race for the Hoover dam right now, which will increase my productive capacity even more.
Even though I'd supposedly "sworn off war" a few centuries ago, I'm now thinking of kicking some ass, Germany style, once I get tanks and airplanes. The Russians or the Greeks will be first to fall under my axe... either would be good to take down a few notches, as I foresee that the race at the end will be for the stars.