Beginner Advice, Please

I'm subscribed to this thread, but I'm not getting email notifications of postings.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

WarGameNewbie said:

What is a succession game?

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See What is a Succession Game? by Pggar.

EDIT:
Pggar does a good job of explaining the mechanics of how as SG works.

WarGameNewbie said:

Are these Training Day SGs intended to be read online or downloaded into the game?

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Both. If there are saves attached to the game, you are able to download them, take a look around and do whatever you like to them. That would be true on any saved game attached to a thread. They are not private.

EDIT:
I always read them online and did download a save or two. But since some of those games are quite old, but be aware of what version of Civ you have. Ring City Placement (RCP) was a big part of city placement in vanilla and Play the World. In Conquests, the corruption model was redone and RCP went away.

WarGameNewbie said:

I'm subscribed to this thread, but I'm not getting email notifications of postings.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

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Well, I don't use email notifications. I did at first, but it got to be a bit spammy.

Instead I bookmarked my User Control Panel (My Account) since it will list for me the activity in threads that I posted in or where I have subscribed to the thread.

CommandoBob said:

See What is a Succession Game? by Pggar.

EDIT:
Pggar does a good job of explaining the mechanics of how as SG works.


Both. If there are saves attached to the game, you are able to download them, take a look around and do whatever you like to them. That would be true on any saved game attached to a thread. They are not private.

EDIT:
I always read them online and did download a save or two. But since some of those games are quite old, but be aware of what version of Civ you have. Ring City Placement (RCP) was a big part of city placement in vanilla and Play the World. In Conquests, the corruption model was redone and RCP went away.

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Thanks!!

CommandoBob said:

Well, I don't use email notifications. I did at first, but it got to be a bit spammy.

Instead I bookmarked my User Control Panel (My Account) since it will list for me the activity in threads that I posted in or where I have subscribed to the thread.

Click to expand...

Bookmarking the User Control Panel seems like a great idea. Thanks.

I think the best way to learn is to jump right in with very little knowledge of how to play.

It's always been the most "fun" for me when i didn't know the game too well and i was learning as i went. Give that a try!

WarGameNewbie said:

To be honest, I don't have the patience to read 100-200 pages of instructions (and trying to remember most of it) before playing.

I had hoped that the tutorial would lead me through a simple session, step by step, but it appears that the 'tutorial' game is not a true tutorial, but rather a very simple scenario.

Before I throw in the towel on this game I would like to ask whether there is a pain-free way for someone who is new to war games to learn Civ III?

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Write check lists, playing civ is as advanced as controlling an aeroplane For example, if an AI moves troops into your territory to start war on you (and they're not just moving troops through your territory to fight someone else):

* Lower the science and luxury sliders to 0% to get max +gold, and buy as much gold, maps, technology, workers etc as possible with gold per turn. When they declare war on you, you won't have to pay gpt to them so what you buy is freebies.
* Establish an embassy.
* Tell them to leave or declare war.
* Your people just got a little happier, so maybe you can lower the luxury slider.
* Make alliances with other AIs if you need help and don't have time to fight this war (maybe your busy somewhere else, and moving troops take time). Ally with with an AI that's between you and your enemy, and you'll probably never see another enemy unit again.
* If you want the war, regroup your troops which should consist of many catapults and a few defenders and finishers. If the enemy is coming by land, find good choke points and strongholds. If they're coming by sea, put useless units (or catapults) on mountains to prevent them from landing there. Build a few galleys and kill the enemy boats before they land, by catapulting them to 1 health and sinking them.

ahman, I just noticed your post.

Thanks very much for the advice.

I haven't given Civilization a 2nd try yet, but hope to next month.

Over the past day I've read 15 pages of Chapter 4, then started a new game using a Tutorial scenario.

Things went ok for several turns, but now I'm confused as to how to proceed.

I'd been checking the City View from time to time, but now I seem to be in a mode where I can double-click on my city and not get a City view.

In the Map view, there is a legend over my city that says:

"2 Rome 13
Settler 1" and a white star in a red background.

Moving around on the Map, I see four people: two warriors and two workers. I don't see a Settler.

The last time I was able to get into the City view, on the right-hand side there was a Settler in production with all of the units below him filled in. I assumed this meant that the Settler was completed and available. But, I don't see him on the Map view, so maybe my assumption is wrong.

Any tips as to how I should proceed?

Thanks.

a settler consumes two population points. your town has only 2 pop points though. therefore, the settler cannot be build.
in general, it is always helpful if you post pictures or a save if you ask for advice.
t_x

templar_x, thanks for the reply.

Next time, I'll post picture or save.

Any idea why I can't access City View?

no idea. you sure you did not lose the town? i could not think of any other reason...
t_x

Not sure if I lost the town. The town still appears on the map.

I've gotten into a mode where I can't access City view again, this time with a different game/tutorial.

I've done a Save, but I can't find the saved file to post it.

Things seem to be going smoother now. I'm not wrestling with mechanics much.

Now, to dig in and get a better handle on the rules.....

Thanks for the help, everyone!

WarGameNewbie said:

Over the past day I've read 15 pages of Chapter 4, then started a new game using a Tutorial scenario.

Things went ok for several turns, but now I'm confused as to how to proceed.

I'd been checking the City View from time to time, but now I seem to be in a mode where I can double-click on my city and not get a City view.

In the Map view, there is a legend over my city that says:

"2 Rome 13
Settler 1" and a white star in a red background.

Moving around on the Map, I see four people: two warriors and two workers. I don't see a Settler.

The last time I was able to get into the City view, on the right-hand side there was a Settler in production with all of the units below him filled in. I assumed this meant that the Settler was completed and available. But, I don't see him on the Map view, so maybe my assumption is wrong.

Any tips as to how I should proceed?

Thanks.

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"2 Rome" means that Rome has 2 population in it.
The 13 means that it takes 13 turns before the food box is full and you'll get another population.
The food box is filled with the excess food, visible in the city screen. Each population eats 2 food. The rest goes in the food box.
"Settler 1" means that the settler is ready to be built, so all shields are filled in the build box. However, and that's a bit tricky, the settler also needs 2 extra population to be build. So if the settler would be build now, you'd have a city without people, and that's not possible. So when the city grows to 3, you can build a settler. (the city will shrink to 1)
It's better to build a warrior first, and then build a settler.

Workers require 1 population, so a city needs to have 2 population to make one.

Theov said:

"2 Rome" means that Rome has 2 population in it.
The 13 means that it takes 13 turns before the food box is full and you'll get another population.
The food box is filled with the excess food, visible in the city screen. Each population eats 2 food. The rest goes in the food box.
"Settler 1" means that the settler is ready to be built, so all shields are filled in the build box. However, and that's a bit tricky, the settler also needs 2 extra population to be build. So if the settler would be build now, you'd have a city without people, and that's not possible. So when the city grows to 3, you can build a settler. (the city will shrink to 1)
It's better to build a warrior first, and then build a settler.

Workers require 1 population, so a city needs to have 2 population to make one.

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Theov, thanks for the explanation.

I've started reading Chapter 4 for the second time.

There's a lot to absorb.

Civ III is not a complex war game; that's one of the reasons I prefer it to CIV. Combat is ruled by the Attack, Defense, Movement values that every unit shows when you select it. For a warrior they're 1.1.1, for a spearman 1.2.1, for an archer 2.1.1, for a horseman 2.1.2. Those four units pretty much establish the parameters that cover most of the game until the late industrial when airplanes and paratroopers complicate things. When a battle starts, the attackers Attack ratio is pitted against the defender's Defense. If an archer (2 attack) fights a horseman (1 defense) he has the advantage; if the horseman attacks, the situation is reversed. There are troops good for defense, like spearmen, troops that are good attackers, but should have escorts if they're invading enemy territory (like archers), and troops that are more complicated. Horsemen are vulnerable to attackers, but with 2 movement they can often avoid being attacked unless the enemy's territory is thick with roads. Swordsmen (3.2.1) are excellent attackers who can also defend themselves. It's not quite as simple as the ADM stats -- terrain tweaks the defense stats a bit, from the minor default 10% on grassland to larger (100%, 200%) boosts in cities and mountains. Sea units are like this, too, though with less variety (as in practically none) until you hit the industrial age.

The fly in the ointment here is artillery, which can be used to decrease the attacked unit's hitpoints (most begin with 3, those little bars on every unit). If you use a lot of artillery and reduce a defending unit to one HP before attacking, you can effectively negate most of the advantages conveyed by hills, cities, that sort of thing.

Well, if you have managed to get Smellincoffee's attention, you are in very good hands.


My first time playing civ, ages ago, I didn't even know how to settle my first city. I just wandered around with my settler and (I think, it was early Civ II) a warrior.

Couple of days later, I was building knights and kicking booty on monarch (level of difficulty). So be patient. I sometimes wish I could go back to the days when the game was new to me.

I don't want you to get bogged down with info at this point, so won't give any tips/advice, other than that settlers and workers are very important, and where you choose to settle a city is important.

Try to settle near cattle/wheat (you can right click on tiles to check out the terrain). Both give food bonuses, and the more food you have, the faster a city will grow.

Also look for resources, such as wine, silk, and ivory. Settle near them, and use workers to build a road from the resource to your capital. Try to keep your cities connected with roads. I would try to have a least 1 worker per city (I aim for a least 2 myself).

Practice micromanagement by opening up cities and clicking on worked tiles. See what happens to the little faces at the bottom of the city window screen, and what impact the faces have. You can focus a city or two on troops, and some others on gold/settler production.

agonistes said:

I would try to have a least 1 worker per city (I aim for a least 2 myself).

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If a city grows every 10 turns and it takes a worker 1 turn to move, 6 turns to mine and 3 turns to road, 1.0 workers can exactly keep up with the tile development. It's a common situation so I guess you could use 0.5-2 workers as a simplified rule, but the whole truth is not very complicated:

1. Get as many citizens as possible as fast as possible. First expand before the AI steals the land, then make your existing cities larger...

2. ...so they can work tiles. But working undeveloped standard tiles, for example a grassland, is a complete waste. The 2 food from it gets eaten by the citizen.

Summary: always grow as fast as possible (never stop) but without working undeveloped tiles. With too few workers to keep up with growth, you'll work undeveloped tiles. Too many workers isn't good either, because every worker could be a city citizen instead.

I started playing Civ3Complete around 2005 or so and I was quite young and enjoyed playing almost immediately. I dont remember much of the early gameplay I did. One of the early games I do remember was the Conquest Middle Ages, and I liked playing as the Vikings at that time. I remember just declaring war on everybody and destroying cities with the Berserks (not exactly sure what I was trying to accomplish). Couple years later I became somewhat good at the game. I varied between the difficulties Chieftain and Warlord, sometimes playing Chieftain more. For the past few years I have been playing Warlord mainly and now just switched to Regent and probably move up soon. Even after all these years im still developing new strategies and adjusting my strategies. Also recently just started playing multiplayer more with the CivPlayersCiv3League and learning how to play mp better.

Here are some strategies I used for Singleplayer:

Build 2-3 warriors on start and then usually have enough citizens in capital for settler. make sure you explore in a circular motion around the capital to get a good view for your next city. And so I usually have a 2nd city before the AI on Chieftain and Warlord. You can only build at least 2 tiles away from a city (leaving 1 tile in between). I would recommend building between 3-5 tiles away from each city depending upon the situation, just make sure the borders join up. Also it may be good to have a set sequence you do when developing a 2nd city and onwards. I usually first build a military/defense unit if I didnt have one to go into it. Then I start building a barracks or walls and then worker, again depending upon the sitiuation you are in. Keep an eye on the "heads" which represent citizens and also the growth in so many turns to the left of the production box which is on right hand side of the city screen. Since you need 2 citizens for one settler, if under pressure to build cities quick, you can time when you are able to build a settler, and by looking at how many turns a settler is, can start building it if it comes in line with the growth in so many turns.

When on the government Despotism, irrigating grassland does not help the terrain. It is better just to road it until a later time. Make sure you have enough irrigation for food in your cities. Irrigating plains and desert help alot to. On other governments it is somewhat beneficial to irrigate grassland but it doesnt have to be first priority necessarily. Also you need to make sure you have at least a few mines around a city doesnt matter if right next to it or on the outskirts of the boundaries of the city. Because mines bring shields which help production of the city. You can right click a terrain tile to see the food, shields, and gold it generates.

You are to keep an eye on your gold situation so you can keep researching techs and other things. It maybe helpful to not build such buildings like colosseum, cathedral, and similar, when trying to keep above shrinking and build them later when your doing a little better on it or gradually build them in cities. Wealth Improvement in the city also helps you keep above positive but this stop production of units and buildings.

Cities may occasionally disorder or burn when unhappy. You can do several things to stop it from doing it. On the main page of advisors is a happiness dial which can help stop the burning but also costs money to do so. I usually contact the governor and change at least the first 3 boxes to yes (Manage Citizen Moods etc,), although I usually do the first 4 boxes. This stop it from burning and then rarely burns again, but this does mean the city may not be as efficent in the tiles that are chosen in the city screen. If you change the tiles that are chosen in the city screen, it will start burning again.