Strategy & Tips Videos

I've been toying around with the idea of creating some videos. The overarching concept is a collection of short (30 second - 5 minute, preferably on the short side) videos each demonstrating a point with game action, or perhaps finding and editing the .INI or adding a mod.

I made a Civ3-Win7 install video, but it is much longer than I envision for the videos I'm considering in this thread.

Based on posts / articles that helped me and questions people ask on the forums, here are some topics I am considering covering:

• Manual worker actions versus automated worker
• Micromanaging city workers (perhaps separate videos for minimal and OCD)
• Using the F1 screen (sorting, changing production, micromanaging)
• Managing happiness (slider, luxes, markets, specialists usually say no to happy buildings)
• Warring in Republic
• Settler / worker pump use, locating and setup
• A video remake and/or reboot of Cracker's Opening Plays
• Would it be too basic to cover the following? Selecting options for a new epic game; using F6, trading and diplomacy screens; preferences screen (turn on wait at end of turn, effects of other options); clean map preferences and use; basic combat attack/defense/movement/hit points and modifiers; using the Civilopedia
• A quick braindump of other back-burner possibilities: participating in an SG, effects of governments / corruption on empire, taking a screenshot participating in GOTM/COTM, forum jargon ("epic" game, SG, etc), uploading a save game, using CivAssist II or MapStat

(More ideas edited in later: )

• Using suicide galleys/curraghs and why they're useful

My early plan is to put such videos on YouTube.

Some things I have to work out yet:

• How much / little meta info to put in each video, e.g. "Hi, I'm Jim, this is about X, you can read more about it on CivFan, blah blah blah". Clearly there can be too much and too little, and I haven't identified the "right" amount yet
• Language; should I try to keep it simple English and avoid colloquialisms or just talk like I normally do
• How hard should I try to remain strategy agnositc, e.g. I don't like temples and cathedrals, prefer Republic

So, basically I am just throwing this idea out there for comments and ideas for now. Mainly I'm wondering if there are enough Civ3 players 10 years after release to make it worth my time and effort to create the videos. I've had the install video on YouTube for about 3 1/2 weeks, and it has 103 views, so there is apparently at least some Civ3 interest out there still.

I may modify and use this thread as I create and upload videos, so I'll reserve a couple of posts after this one.

Here is a video I made totally unrelated to Civ3 or gaming, but it's a 1-minute video demonstrating one concept in two different situations, and it is the concise, purpose-based style I have in mind and demonstrates the zooming and callout features I have available: http://itkia.com/how-to-arp-a-in-ipv6/ (currently needs Flash). That's the concept I want to apply to Civ3 strategy videos: Short, quick, concise and with zooms and callouts to better deliver the point.

My first tutorial video attempts, March 2013

These are longer than I had envisioned, but we'll see how they are received. I was inspired by a number of players posting "help I suck" posts.

Early Game Play Tutorials With Korea

I looked through the civ traits and decided that Korea is the most generic early-game civ with no noticeable advantages (no fast work, cheap buildings, unique unit or scout) for the first 60-100 turns. My early bias for a tutorial is to find a start with no food bonus visible and predominantly grass/BG lands. In my mind the reference game is 2f/1s tiles with some 2f/2s tiles thrown in. Clearly the game is more varied and complex than that, but that is where I am centered and how I think it's best to demo very basic game play.

I play very slowly and over-think every move, so I am playing a set of turns and then replaying them to record as the tutorial.

Isolated Start: At 20 turns when the first settler came out it was clear I had my own corner of the world with a chokepoint at best and possibly even a lonely island start at worst. I then use CivAssist II to plan city placement, but I don't want to pursue this game because I think a generic tutorial needs a couple of neighbors to worry about.


Move the Settler?: I used the Isolated Start 4000 BC again because it begged the discussion of whether to move the settler to the coast or toward more workable land. I suggest why we might want to move and show how to scout to find out if we really want to.


I created a somewhat-dynamic outline for my tutorials. List items can be highlighted by clicking on them, and headers can be clicked to collapse the sections.

Reserved post for development, with different words to make vBulletin happy

Puppeteer said:

• Manual worker actions versus automated worker
• Micromanaging city workers (perhaps separate videos for minimal and OCD)
• Using the F1 screen (sorting, changing production, micromanaging)
• Managing happiness (slider, luxes, markets, specialists usually say no to happy buildings)
• Warring in Republic
• Settler / worker pump use, locating and setup
• A video remake and/or reboot of Cracker's Opening Plays
• Would it be too basic to cover the following? Selecting options for a new epic game; using F6, trading and diplomacy screens; preferences screen (turn on wait at end of turn, effects of other options); clean map preferences and use; basic combat attack/defense/movement/hit points and modifiers; using the Civilopedia
• A quick braindump of other back-burner possibilities: participating in an SG, effects of governments / corruption on empire, taking a screenshot participating in GOTM/COTM, forum jargon ("epic" game, SG, etc), uploading a save game, using CivAssist II or MapStat

Click to expand...

"Manual vs Automated Workers" I don't see working too well as a video. It could be done, I'm sure, but I can't think of any way that using a video will get across more complete information than a short paragraph. Similar consideration regarding "Warring in Republic," as I don't see how it would convey information any better than a short paragraph or even just a handful of bullets.

The bolded items in the last two lists are ones I can see working easily in video format and being of use. The others are, I think, basic or easier to explain in a non-video format.

Some things I have to work out yet:

• How much / little meta info to put in each video, e.g. "Hi, I'm Jim, this is about X, you can read more about it on CivFan, blah blah blah". Clearly there can be too much and too little, and I haven't identified the "right" amount yet
• Language; should I try to keep it simple English and avoid colloquialisms or just talk like I normally do
• How hard should I try to remain strategy agnositc, e.g. I don't like temples and cathedrals, prefer Republic

Click to expand...

1 and 2) Personally, I would say reserve the video itself to simple, concise English, with a short introduction at the beginning (name and subject, not necessarily in sentence format if written). This is well-done, I think. Maybe a bit too much fun with the zooming, but it doesn't detract in any way that I noticed.

Anything that you think should be included, but can't come up with a way to put it in the video without too much effort could simply go in the description box (links, for example).

3) In general, I would recommend staying away from strategic subjects like government and improvement choice outside of their own videos. If you do include opinions in other videos, though, unless you come across as a "NEVER do this or you will FAIL and I will beat you with a stick!" type of person, I don't think there'll be any problem unless you digress from the topic of the video.

I've had the install video on YouTube for about 3 1/2 weeks, and it has 103 views, so there is apparently at least some Civ3 interest out there still.

Click to expand...

Where is it?

Where is it?

Click to expand...

You just linked to it!

ChaosArbiter said:

This is well-done, I think. Maybe a bit too much fun with the zooming, but it doesn't detract in any way that I noticed.

Click to expand...

That's my install video. Thanks! I guess there is a lot of zooming, but I was trying to be sure people watching at lower resolutions could still see the text clearly, and I was trying to keep viewers understanding what they were looking at in the larger perspective. I suppose it may be less necessary in an in-game video to start zoomed out and then zoom in; I could start zoomed in for clarity assuming the viewer has played the game, which is the target audience.

3) In general, I would recommend staying away from strategic subjects like government and improvement choice outside of their own videos. If you do include opinions in other videos, though, unless you come across as a "NEVER do this or you will FAIL and I will beat you with a stick!" type of person, I don't think there'll be any problem unless you digress from the topic of the video.

Click to expand...

Yeah, as evidenced in these forums there is disagreement on the best government and war strategy to take. Government comparisons might be useful, and I'm starting to think that if I'm making a video it has to be in my voice and my opinion (else it would be too dry / boring), but I could show practical differences, keep my opinion mild and say I use Republic for these reasons, but others disagree. And refer them to CivFanatics for further discussion on the merits.

Thanks for all comments!

Random Thoughts

I would suggest creating a five second intro to each video and use that time to introduce the video's subject. Nothing very elaborate, maybe just have some text fade-in on the screen saying 'Trading in CivIII' or 'Establishing Embassies' over a common background and music. That would serve to tie all your videos together.

Somewhere you would want to state which verion of Civ you are using. And while some still play PTW and vanilla, focusing on Conquests from the start should be okay.

In your install video you had a list you followed. I liked that. For some topics, a step by step recap might be needed. Or show links to articles in the forum that discuss the subject in more depth.

Sort of thinking out loud here, but it seems like a lot of the subjects mentioned so far could start out as basic Powerpoint slides and then be jazzed up with video, using the Powerpoint as a storyboard. Comparing governments, for instance, is bad enough with the civopedia. Surely there is a way to spice that information up and make it visual, entertaining and informative.

Hi Puppeteer! I don't know how much room you have planned for trading, but I think that would be helpful to show. Maybe showing fast curraghs or galleys jumping to other continents to meet the trading partners would be good visually.
If you're going to focus on trading, have you thought about introducing CivAssist in your videos as well?

Suicide galleys/curraghs! Great idea!

Yes, I would like to cover CivAssist II and MapStat. I haven't figured out yet how much if any to include them in other videos (trading, managing happiness) and how best to present them. I still think keeping the videos brief is key to having them most useful (unless I'm demonstrating a particular long task like installing the game).