What I love about this game!

It was clear from the beginning that civ3 has at least the same addictive quality as the previous games. But it took a little while to get used to the new rules. But now that I've slowly played a standard game on Regent (Prince level), all the way up to the early industrial age, I can confidently say....

**I love the new combat system because...

-Units in a stack defend individually!
-No home cities/support from cities ROCKS!!
-Artillery units (cannon, catapult, etc) are awesome!
-Armies are awesome!
-Naval units are way, way cooler, now that they bombard like the new artillery, instead of acting like ground units on water.
-Mobilization option is great, really helps with a war.
-I can't wait for air units!

**I love the border/culture system because...

-Non military improvements have added depth and importance
-It's great to have a real reason for the enemy to get away from your cities, and vice versa
-The way your culture rating aids/hinders your diplomacy is a very neat handicapping system
-Cultural assimilation!
-Your own cities can "throw off their oppressors" once taken over!

**I love the new city management mechanics...

-We love the king day fights corruption; ie: happiness helps your production
-Maybe corruption is too rampant, but at least courthouses now have a real need
-Trade is a required part of city management now, thanks to the cool effect of luxuries (and marketplaces)

**I love the trade/diplomacy system...

-bargaining table is awesome, a huge improvement over previous games
-Leaders react consistently and smartly (trade embargoes against me when at war, etc)
-Resource system gives you a major reason to care about diplomacy, since you need these guys to run your empire (when I lost furs from the Indians, a quarter of my cities went into dissorder, talk about tight game design!)

**I love the interface...

-New Civilopedia is great, navigation options greatly improved
-Direct control of production in cities from the main map!
-Dissorder *and* We Love the King Day are animated on the main map!
-Very helpful and detailed advisor screens (just fix that sorting bug on the Domestic Advisor!!)
-Interactive Tech Tree, plus queuing advances, is totally cool!
-The advisors give you a ton of useful info in the upper right corner, just keep clicking on "More"

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I could go on about small wonders, the three different kinds of water squares, so many things. There's a lot of whiners in this forum, who can't see the forest for the trees. This is a great game, it's impeccably designed, well balanced, beautiful graphics and music for a turn based strategy game, and it's a TON 'O FUN! People (including some reviewers) have been put off by how much some of the rules have changed and how different that makes the playing experience. But give it a chance!

It takes some getting used to, but try playing as if you know nothing about civ2, try playing as if you are leading a nation ("Hmmm, I think a marketplace would help my people in such a large city, and it is 1300AD!" instead of "Well, I know that a marketplace will increase my tax revenue by 50%..."). Basically, try playing like a newbie, discovering the game all over again. There's enough different that it's worth doing, and once you've figured out how the game works, you'll love it!

--LW

Wow. Positive feedback.

I agree totally with you. For all those reasons, it's IMO far better then I or II.

Now if they only will get the editor thing worked out.....

Great to see this rundown! One question, tho, can naval units actually bombard other naval units? That'd make naval warfare very interesting!

Originally posted by Morten Blaabjerg
Great to see this rundown! One question, tho, can naval units actually bombard other naval units? That'd make naval warfare very interesting!

Click to expand...

Neat idea. I haven't tried. That would be totally cool.

--LW

Originally posted by Morten Blaabjerg
Great to see this rundown! One question, tho, can naval units actually bombard other naval units? That'd make naval warfare very interesting!

Click to expand...

I tried bombarding a frigate with a destroyer last night... didn't let me do it... however I'm not sure if the same rule applies to battleships. I was using my battleship to support my marines in an amphibious assualt... Airpower is verrrrrrry cool!!! I had a carrier with 2 fighters and two bombers supporting the invasion as well.....

I completely agree. The added features that most people have been complaining about because it isnt the way they where in Civ 2 are ALL GREAT.

I mean the added corruption is more realistic, and forces you to have a smaller empire than you usually would. I like that a lot because with 30+ cities in Civ 2, I was really getting tired of all the micromanagement. In civ3 you can play a great game with 8 cities built fairly close together. Add a Forbidden Palace to that 8 city empire and you've really really cut down on your corruption (I did this last night worked great).

The real reason you might want to expand your empire is to gain access to resources. Perhaps instead of building a ton of cities over a large area, you could just build fortresses and colonies instead with roads connecting back to your main empire. That way you can get all the benefits of the resources without the need to manage highly corrupted cities that far out.

I much prefer spending my resources on improving my existing cities, although I wouldn't mind have a 20 city empire instead of 10-15 city empire. Remmeber the more cities you have the higher your corruption as well! These are all things that Firaxis added into the game to cut down on the late game tedium.

Thanks! This helps waiting

The AI likes to build lots and lots of cites.... I was falling behind and was more or less forced to expand.

I like the idea about the closeness of the cities though. I had all of mine spread apart for maximum usage of the city radius. That didn't work too well....

I'm gonna try a tighter packing on my cities in my next try...

I have found that even if some of your city radius's occasionally overlap its not too detrimental. I'd rather have 15 cities with low corruption and sharing a few tiles with each other (usually not more than 3), then those same 15 cities spread out more, but with higher corruption.

plus think of this... If your cities are closer together they are..

1. Easier to defend
2. Easier to network with roads
3. Easier to build irrigation from one city to the next
4. Easier to "share" workers, meaning you could have 4 workers in city A, take a short trip to city B to build some terrain improvements
5. Easier to solidify your borders which avoids that issue with the AI coming in and building a city inside a "gap" in your border, which could really suck epsecially if that civ has lots of culture
6. The game is also easier to play, cause your not jumping around so much, so its easier to keep track of your units, etc..


Try invading another civ and just razing their cities. I haven't tried it, but it might be a good alternative. Then just build roads/colonies/fortresses to secure the resources.

Civ 3 is a different bird than Civ 2. A shinier, faster bird, that keeps me playing with it until 3:30am

Yes... Yes... You are right. I tried to play like civ2 and it didn't work. See my post about comabt woes... That strategy usually worked for me in the past...

Civ3 is new, and I need to re-shape my thinking. I also stayed up way too late last night... and can't wait to do it again.

I do like this game.... it's just going to take time for me to ramp up to this version.

There is a learning curve, even if you aced I & II.

There were a couple of things you loved that I was curious about:
1- I've found catapults are not terribly useful (unless perhaps you're going against a city <7 with walls and need to knock down the walls).

<<BUG ALERT? I disbanded 1 catapult from the city screen but got no resources. When I disbanded from the world map screen I got resources added to production?>>

2- I find we-love-the-king-day MUCH more effective than courthouses in fighting corruption. I'd advise leaving courthouse until you have a big happy city with a marketplace and library.

3- The tech tree is cool, but names (or clearer pictures) for the things the advance makes available would be nice for slower machines.

4- Are frigates useful? I haven't tried them yet. Cool concept tho'.

All in all a GREAT game!

Originally posted by mote

4- Are frigates useful? I haven't tried them yet. Cool concept tho'.

Click to expand...

I don't know about frigates... But I do know I didn't have much luck with privateers... They are so weak that it's hard to take down a galley... I was picking on the Aztecs which are militaristic... maybe their galleys had a higher experience rating...

I lost a lot of privateers.... gonna need to do more experimenting with this unit before I find out what they are good for...

oops. I meant privateer. Thanks!

Best use of privateers might be to interdict enemy overseas trade routes (by blockading a port.) I'm not sure if that works, but it's harder than it looks, because most cities have a number of possible routes to get their resources. (By land, sea, and possibly air - even through your territory if you aren't at war with them!)

I think Privateers are probably best for blockading harbors, since their attack is so low. Privateers were generally private citizens with ships, basically pirates for hire. So they should be no match for a frigate. They lived off ransacking trading vessels.

--LW

Wow, i tried my first game today... amazing graphics, and i love the way they fight.

Originally posted by LoneWolf5050
I think Privateers are probably best for blockading harbors, since their attack is so low. Privateers were generally private citizens with ships, basically pirates for hire. So they should be no match for a frigate. They lived off ransacking trading vessels.

--LW

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Too bad they can't do that either... galleons have what? 2 defense?

Yes, it would be nice if they attacked at 2 so they could at least have a fair fight with caravels and galleons. But interdicting trade (blockading a harbor) only requires occupying all the water squares around a city. You can certainly use Privateers to do that, and that was their historical use, but don't expect them to last long when the military comes knocking.

--LW

Looks like a job for the editor.... Make privateers have a better defense?

Originally posted by Johnny_Vegas

Try invading another civ and just razing their cities. I haven't tried it, but it might be a good alternative. Then just build roads/colonies/fortresses to secure the resources.

Click to expand...

I tried Razing Cities, Its not a very nice thing to do in the eyes of the world, Long story short, I was fighting the germans in a very very very early game, in the BC, I captured small cities and were razing them, the germans got allainces against me pretty easy, i was soon at war with 6 civs...Razing Cities seems to be a big Bully feature, it doesnt help your reputation at all...

So be careful when razing cities...