Which tables are the most useful?

[Polonius]

Dear Wise Ones,

I’m brand new to Civ games and am still spending at least half my time playing “Hunt The Rules”. So I would be grateful for any advice about which are the most useful charts and tables to print out for handy reference, and also where they can be found.

Yes, I’ve read the manual (now on the 2nd time through), I’ve explored the Civilopedia, and I have made some progress using the editor to check out some of the rules. The Science adviser’s tech tree is handy but doesn’t tell me much about why I should choose a particular option, at least not without a lot of clicking and searching. It’s fine once you know more or less what you’re looking for, but pretty laborious when you have no knowledge at all yet.

The sort of things I’d like to be able to either print out, or make for myself, would be:

A) Tables with basic ADM details (done that – found it in the on-disc manual appendix).
B) Some sort of flow charts with details of what tech leads to what actual benefit (e.g. I can build a Caravel once I’ve researched astronomy).
C) Whatever info that other players have found useful to have handy.

Obviously, as there are so many possible paths and so much information, it’s not easy to lay the whole game mechanics out on one simple chart. But could anybody who has found some particularly useful charts and tables (either in the manual, the game, on a website, or by “Do It Yourself”) please post their recommendations.

Thanks.

[Smash]

civ2 came with a handy dandy poster that had the whole tech tree,all units(their #s and abilities) terrain and resource types.They didn't see the need for this with 3.

I can point to the main site.click

top left/main menu/civ3.There is some stuff there.Suitable for printing....look under "reference"

sounds like a worthwhile project........

[Polonius]

Thanks a million Smash, for such a quick and useful response. That reference link looks to have everything that I was hoping to find. Funnily enough I'd checked out the Tech Tree link above it, but didn't think to check Reference (doh!)

[belzedar]

Hi Polonius


This would be my ultimate list of handy tables/charts:
Tech Tree- with units, wonders, improvements, and cancellations. (There is a great wonders mod on this site to improve the wonder pics, if you dont have it get it )
All units with ADM values,capacity and bombard rate fire values, also unit upgrade paths and costs.
Units listed/sorted via resources required. eg. Hmm if i take that Rubber off the egyptians what extra stuff will i be able to build. Is it worth it?
Wonder details/time to build/culture/cancellations.
City Improvement Details/time to build/culture/cost per turn.
Terrain details, movement costs, special resources etc.
For the perfectionist, terrian food/resources/trade, for each goverment type, and for each improvement combination(R/RR/M/I/F).
Resource spawn locations
The most important i think until memorized is Goverment types, benefits, costs, supported units, prodcution, whipping vs money, corruption and space for extra notes.
Shortcut keys until memorized.
Civilization traits and special units. until memorized.
Small wonder triggers! i forget these all the time, and the benefits of small wonders.
Everything that can trigger Golden ages for each civilization.
AI values of techs (from game rules in editor)

And just a notepad to jot down anything cool you notice or learn and to keep track of trades!

-Zedar

[Ferd]

Go to here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showth...&threadid=7359

and download and print out the pdf file. It has LOTS of stuff on your wish list. And it looks great and makes things easy to find.

[Polonius]

Thanks guys for some great advice. I downloaded the PDF that Smash and Ferd pointed me towards, and WOW! What a great collection of information. I wonder why the manual couldn't have presented it as well as that - or, even better, included some fold out charts in the game box? Many thanks to LoneWolf5050 for a superb job on that one.

Nice to see a fellow Aussie on the forum Belzedar, and thanks for your tips on this and other posts I've read.

My wife came back from the shops today with a CIV3 Strategy guide for me (My local games shop having "helpfully" put a yellow sticker on the front saying "For Xerxes The Pathetic"!) so I've now got a nice pile of material to study. Look out Civs - once I've digested all this lot it will be "here comes Xerxes the Not Quite So Pathetic as He Was Last Week"!

It's a real joy to come to a forum like this and find so many smart and helpful people - especially after some of the game forums I've visited.