mirrek23
Oct 31, 2001, 07:42 AM
Picked up the Limited Edition at Electronics Boutique yesterday, fled home, and got busy... Sort of. My video card was not happy with Civ 3 -- anyone with a Creative GB0010 should jump to the nvidia website to get the latest drivers...
Anyway, all was fine then, my computer setup is 768 MB RAM, Pentium 3 1000 MHz, 7200 RPM 40 GB Hard Drive...
The game was 8 opponents (me included) on Chieftain level on a huge map (random, not Earth, with defaults for age, climate, etc.).
My first observation was that the game is sluggish even on my machine. I left the animations on, but I think turning them off (duh) will significantly speed things along. I started on a smallish continent all by myself (think Australia). Barbarians were not a big issue -- I found that using warriors and spearmen out in the field, going after their enclaves was the most effective way to keep them at bay. :D
The first thing I noticed about the game mechanics was that you gain technology at a *very* slow rate initially. I also automated all the workers -- big mistake. When I took them over by hand, I was much better able to speed growth in my cities. I would say they are similar to the workers in Alpha Centauri in terms of efficiency.
By 1 A.D. I had cities on most of the useful land on my continent, and I've been struck by how much "wasted" land there is -- lots of desert and lots of mountains... The interesting thing, of course, is that the mountains are chuck full of resources, and I found a lot of my energy was spent building roads to those resources... Sadly, those camps are prime targets for barbarians. :mad:
It took me forever to get to Monarchy, probably because I wasn't too intelligent in the path I took. Based on the second game I started, getting to Monarchy quickly is huge (just as it was in Civ2). Anyway, corruption is terrible and trying to extend your empire too quickly results in cities that don't add a whole lot to your empire right away.
I finally managed to get Mapmaking and found a nearby continent, which was almost totally occupied by the Aztecs and Iriquois. Here's where things got much more interesting. They were very willing to trade their world maps (a nice change from Civ2) and their techs. They must not have built any harbors because I was totally unable to get trade routes with them initially. I had to grab a city on their continent, build a harbor in it, and then build a road to a nearby city (that I guess had a road to their capital). Whew!
In a case of deja vu (from Civ2), the Aztecs landed on my continent and started a little city on the one corner I hadn't bothered to put a city. :mad: I tried cajoling, begging, threatening, and they wouldn't give up the city. Sigh. I built up a fairly large force (of knights and longbowman) and took the city. By this time, I also had 7 cities on their continent, 2 on the side facing my continent and five on the opposite edge -- having sent galleys on a *long* journey to get something established.
The war lasted about 30 turns (give or take), and I managed to take 2 cities and purge one (beyond the one that started the war) and lose two of my fledgling ones. They sued for peace. I found the catapults to be completely useless. Not once did a bombardment attack cause any damage. I found that attackers seem to have the edge (I was using knights and longbowan against spearmen in cities), but then again, I sent most of my guys out against barbarians until they were at least veteran status. With the 200% bonus against barbarians on the Chieftain level, they weren't much of a challenge.
All the while, I was trying to explore the map. By 1450 A.D. I finally managed to slip a galley to the other side of the map and discover the major continent, which had the other 5 civs (English, French, Zulus, Japanese, and Chinese). We all exchanged maps, and I exchanged contact with Aztecs and Iriquois for contact with some of them (my first contact was with the English). Keep in mind: I *never* would have been able to make it to this continent without The Lighthouse.
Comment on the Wonders: I built every single one of the Wonders up through Bach's Cathedral. All of them. None of the other Civs beat me to the punch. So even though my progress was glacial (relative to the way I'm used to things going in Civ 2) I was still easily ahead of the other Civs in terms of the wonders... However, I was only one or two techs ahead of them on average. Strange. I also never completed Ironworks or Heroic Epic. Apparently, I hadn't met the criteria for being able to build them... I also put all but two of the Wonders in Washington. By the time I quit, Washington had 2744 culture points accumulated. The only reason I mention this is that I was dominating in culture, but never had *any* enemy city join me, and I was at peace with everyone except the Aztecs (and that war was relatively brief).
I'm wondering if distance from your capital (and particularly when it's on a different continent) has an effect on how impressed everyone is. My foreign adviser said that the other civs were all "in awe" of my culture. I guess awe doesn't get you what you hope for. :D
Anyway, I wound up retiring in 1550 AD with a score of 347 or so (Mark the Pathetic). :cry:
The replay feature is really neat at the end... All in all, a good learning game. As for the interface, mixed feelings. Although Civ 2 had "cartoonish" graphics in the major screens (e.g., city screen), it was much easier to tell happy from content from sad. The subtle palette in Civ3 is definitely an adjustment. Also, as I mentioned in the beginning, I was shocked by how slow things seemed -- not between turns, but during my play -- ship movement was excruciating, especially when they changed directions. I'll be very curious to hear other people's experiences...
Oh, and definitely gloss over the manual. A lot of the commands for workers do *not* appear on screen, and you have to know the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl-R to build a road from the current spot to a chosen destination, for example)...
Anyway, all was fine then, my computer setup is 768 MB RAM, Pentium 3 1000 MHz, 7200 RPM 40 GB Hard Drive...
The game was 8 opponents (me included) on Chieftain level on a huge map (random, not Earth, with defaults for age, climate, etc.).
My first observation was that the game is sluggish even on my machine. I left the animations on, but I think turning them off (duh) will significantly speed things along. I started on a smallish continent all by myself (think Australia). Barbarians were not a big issue -- I found that using warriors and spearmen out in the field, going after their enclaves was the most effective way to keep them at bay. :D
The first thing I noticed about the game mechanics was that you gain technology at a *very* slow rate initially. I also automated all the workers -- big mistake. When I took them over by hand, I was much better able to speed growth in my cities. I would say they are similar to the workers in Alpha Centauri in terms of efficiency.
By 1 A.D. I had cities on most of the useful land on my continent, and I've been struck by how much "wasted" land there is -- lots of desert and lots of mountains... The interesting thing, of course, is that the mountains are chuck full of resources, and I found a lot of my energy was spent building roads to those resources... Sadly, those camps are prime targets for barbarians. :mad:
It took me forever to get to Monarchy, probably because I wasn't too intelligent in the path I took. Based on the second game I started, getting to Monarchy quickly is huge (just as it was in Civ2). Anyway, corruption is terrible and trying to extend your empire too quickly results in cities that don't add a whole lot to your empire right away.
I finally managed to get Mapmaking and found a nearby continent, which was almost totally occupied by the Aztecs and Iriquois. Here's where things got much more interesting. They were very willing to trade their world maps (a nice change from Civ2) and their techs. They must not have built any harbors because I was totally unable to get trade routes with them initially. I had to grab a city on their continent, build a harbor in it, and then build a road to a nearby city (that I guess had a road to their capital). Whew!
In a case of deja vu (from Civ2), the Aztecs landed on my continent and started a little city on the one corner I hadn't bothered to put a city. :mad: I tried cajoling, begging, threatening, and they wouldn't give up the city. Sigh. I built up a fairly large force (of knights and longbowman) and took the city. By this time, I also had 7 cities on their continent, 2 on the side facing my continent and five on the opposite edge -- having sent galleys on a *long* journey to get something established.
The war lasted about 30 turns (give or take), and I managed to take 2 cities and purge one (beyond the one that started the war) and lose two of my fledgling ones. They sued for peace. I found the catapults to be completely useless. Not once did a bombardment attack cause any damage. I found that attackers seem to have the edge (I was using knights and longbowan against spearmen in cities), but then again, I sent most of my guys out against barbarians until they were at least veteran status. With the 200% bonus against barbarians on the Chieftain level, they weren't much of a challenge.
All the while, I was trying to explore the map. By 1450 A.D. I finally managed to slip a galley to the other side of the map and discover the major continent, which had the other 5 civs (English, French, Zulus, Japanese, and Chinese). We all exchanged maps, and I exchanged contact with Aztecs and Iriquois for contact with some of them (my first contact was with the English). Keep in mind: I *never* would have been able to make it to this continent without The Lighthouse.
Comment on the Wonders: I built every single one of the Wonders up through Bach's Cathedral. All of them. None of the other Civs beat me to the punch. So even though my progress was glacial (relative to the way I'm used to things going in Civ 2) I was still easily ahead of the other Civs in terms of the wonders... However, I was only one or two techs ahead of them on average. Strange. I also never completed Ironworks or Heroic Epic. Apparently, I hadn't met the criteria for being able to build them... I also put all but two of the Wonders in Washington. By the time I quit, Washington had 2744 culture points accumulated. The only reason I mention this is that I was dominating in culture, but never had *any* enemy city join me, and I was at peace with everyone except the Aztecs (and that war was relatively brief).
I'm wondering if distance from your capital (and particularly when it's on a different continent) has an effect on how impressed everyone is. My foreign adviser said that the other civs were all "in awe" of my culture. I guess awe doesn't get you what you hope for. :D
Anyway, I wound up retiring in 1550 AD with a score of 347 or so (Mark the Pathetic). :cry:
The replay feature is really neat at the end... All in all, a good learning game. As for the interface, mixed feelings. Although Civ 2 had "cartoonish" graphics in the major screens (e.g., city screen), it was much easier to tell happy from content from sad. The subtle palette in Civ3 is definitely an adjustment. Also, as I mentioned in the beginning, I was shocked by how slow things seemed -- not between turns, but during my play -- ship movement was excruciating, especially when they changed directions. I'll be very curious to hear other people's experiences...
Oh, and definitely gloss over the manual. A lot of the commands for workers do *not* appear on screen, and you have to know the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl-R to build a road from the current spot to a chosen destination, for example)...