Moderator Action: If the contents of this tutorial are invalid for you, please see this post for a possible alternative method of installing Civ3 on Linux. - Vincour
If you are like me, and run Linux in preference to Windows, you probably want to run Civ3 without having to reboot into a Windows partition. This thread hopefully will help those in this situation.
Firaxis has said that they have no intention of coding for OpenGL, or any other easily ported graphics system. They intend to stick with DirectX. So don't hold your breath waiting for any native *nix port of the games.
Fortunately, there is an answer to our needs: Cedega!
Cedega is the renamed WineX application. Civ3 was playable with version 3, and Conquests was playable with version 3.3. Cedega is Winex Version 4.0, and Civ3 is (almost) beautiful. There are a few minor glitches, but the gameplay is fine, and I have been enjoying Conquests again for hours at a time, without ever leaving my Linux desktop!
Start by subscribing to Transgaming: http://www.transgaming.com/
The "paid-for" version of the system has proprietary DLLs that are not available in the "free" versions that you can pick up. And they make a tremendous difference!
Now download the "Point2Play" package. At the time that I write this, the latest version is 1.3-2. It is available as an rpm, a deb, and a tarball. Choose the right variant for your system. (All dependencies are bundled with it.)
Install the Point2Play package on your system, and start it up. Use it to download the latest version of Cedega.
Once Cedega has been installed, insert your Civ3 disk, and click the "Install" button in Point2Play. Install should go as smoothly as it does in Windows. I went ahead and installed PTW and C3C, and C3C patch v1.22 all in the same session. Be sure to install the expansion packs to the same installation as the original Civ3; otherwise, Cedega won't find the earlier install, and you will get error messages.
Once you have the game installed, you will want to configure it within Point2Play to run properly. This page has some good info on configuration. It is for Civ3 Gold, but that isn't really any different than any other version of Civ3.
Once the game is configured, just select it, and click the "Play" button. A new window will open, and after a moment, you will see and hear the game intro. (In my case, a second window opens before the intro plays ...
... but otherwise it works fine.) The Intro seems to be rather "glitchy", but my understanding is that is "normal" in this case. 
My only complaint is the sound. I am led to believe that if you use the OSS sound drivers by default, there is no problem. But many of us use the ALSA drivers, and Cedega apparantly has a little trouble with them. When I play, I hear rythmic snatches of sound throughout the game - just a little distracting.
Overall, Civ3 gets a 4 out of 5 rating for play with Cedega. If we can put up with a few minor deficiences, we can still get our Civ3 fix!
If you are like me, and run Linux in preference to Windows, you probably want to run Civ3 without having to reboot into a Windows partition. This thread hopefully will help those in this situation.
Firaxis has said that they have no intention of coding for OpenGL, or any other easily ported graphics system. They intend to stick with DirectX. So don't hold your breath waiting for any native *nix port of the games.
Fortunately, there is an answer to our needs: Cedega!
Cedega is the renamed WineX application. Civ3 was playable with version 3, and Conquests was playable with version 3.3. Cedega is Winex Version 4.0, and Civ3 is (almost) beautiful. There are a few minor glitches, but the gameplay is fine, and I have been enjoying Conquests again for hours at a time, without ever leaving my Linux desktop!
Start by subscribing to Transgaming: http://www.transgaming.com/
The "paid-for" version of the system has proprietary DLLs that are not available in the "free" versions that you can pick up. And they make a tremendous difference!
Now download the "Point2Play" package. At the time that I write this, the latest version is 1.3-2. It is available as an rpm, a deb, and a tarball. Choose the right variant for your system. (All dependencies are bundled with it.)
Install the Point2Play package on your system, and start it up. Use it to download the latest version of Cedega.
Once Cedega has been installed, insert your Civ3 disk, and click the "Install" button in Point2Play. Install should go as smoothly as it does in Windows. I went ahead and installed PTW and C3C, and C3C patch v1.22 all in the same session. Be sure to install the expansion packs to the same installation as the original Civ3; otherwise, Cedega won't find the earlier install, and you will get error messages.
Once you have the game installed, you will want to configure it within Point2Play to run properly. This page has some good info on configuration. It is for Civ3 Gold, but that isn't really any different than any other version of Civ3.
Once the game is configured, just select it, and click the "Play" button. A new window will open, and after a moment, you will see and hear the game intro. (In my case, a second window opens before the intro plays ...
... but otherwise it works fine.) The Intro seems to be rather "glitchy", but my understanding is that is "normal" in this case. My only complaint is the sound. I am led to believe that if you use the OSS sound drivers by default, there is no problem. But many of us use the ALSA drivers, and Cedega apparantly has a little trouble with them. When I play, I hear rythmic snatches of sound throughout the game - just a little distracting.
Overall, Civ3 gets a 4 out of 5 rating for play with Cedega. If we can put up with a few minor deficiences, we can still get our Civ3 fix!
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