CivIII Complete on sale $1.49 at gog

[Puppeteer]

For 6-7 more days. https://www.gog.com/promo/20171009_weekly_sale_2k_games

Also Civ IV Complete for $7.49.

I already have vanilla, PTW and C3C on DVD--or are they old enough to be CD?--and CivIII Complete on Steam, but DRM-free and cd-patch-free for $1.49...ok.

Of course I bought several other on-sale things, so maybe it's not just $1.49 after all.

 

[Lanzelot]

Big question is probably: will it contain the PTW and Vanilla executables?

PS: yes, it's CDs! I still have my original German Vanilla Civ3 CD from 2002...

 

[tjs282]

Big question is probably: will it contain the PTW and Vanilla executables?

When it first went up on GOG earlier this(?) year, I actually re-purchased it and made a second installation, just to find this out (I also bought Civ IV and SMAC, so I got CivIII at a discount), but unfortunately it didn't That said, I don't know whether they've updated their package since then. GOG are usually pretty good at doing that kind of thing, but at the end of the day, they can only offer what Firaxis licenses them to sell.

Still, since it apparently remains possible to locate legit NoCD .exes online (certainly for Vanilla 1.29f, not sure about PtW 1.27), I see no reason why the Steam/GOG Civ3InComplete package shouldn't be 'Complete'-d by the end-user (e.g. the German PCGames website still -- as of ~2 weeks ago -- offers the Civ3 patchpaket for DL)...

 

[robbus]

I paid $79.95 for vanilla in 2001 0r 2.
Added PTW for $29.95 a couple years later.
About 5 years ago bought Civ 3 and 4 discs from amazon seller for maybe $20 at most....

1.49? OUCH!!!

 

[Lanzelot]

I paid $79.95 for vanilla in 2001 0r 2.

Wow that was expensive! I remember, I payed 49,90 Euro in early 2002, when it came out on the European market. I have no clue, what the conversion rate $ to € was at that time, but I would have expected something in the same range as the Dollar price as well. Because the conversion rate from Deutsche Mark to Euro was 1€ = 1.95 DM, and I remember from the end of the 90s, that 1$ = 1.80 - 1.90 DM, so € and $ should have been pretty much equivalent?!

 

[justanick]

Wow that was expensive! I remember, I payed 49,90 Euro in early 2002, when it came out on the European market. I have no clue, what the conversion rate $ to € was at that time, but I would have expected something in the same range as the Dollar price as well. Because the conversion rate from Deutsche Mark to Euro was 1€ = 1.95 DM, and I remember from the end of the 90s, that 1$ = 1.80 - 1.90 DM, so € and $ should have been pretty much equivalent?!

Between 2001/01/01 and 2002/12/31 the "ECB euro reference exchange rate: US dollar (USD)" varied between 1.0422 at 2002/12/30(the last trading day of the year) and 0.8384 dollar per euro at 2001/7/6 which is near the all time low of 0.8307 at 2000/10/25. For 2001 and the first half of 2002 the average is near 0.9, for the second half of 2002 it is near 1.0. Both now and during the formal introduction of the euro in 1999 the exchange rate was near 6 $ per 5 €.

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/pol...change_rates/html/eurofxref-graph-usd.en.html

 

[robbus]

I used to live in Sid meiers hometown.....

 

[gorggo69]

Damn I missed the free version on HB, I guess I will take this one

 

[WeirdoJoker]

I got Civ3Complete and CivIV from GOG as soon as I saw I could get them for less than $9. Haven't really had a chance to sit down & play yet, but I did notice I could open by last (and incomplete) Vanilla game and play it. There are buttons I do not recognize there, though, so I'm going to have to figure out the differences in play before I move forward (whether I try to finish that game, or start a new one).

 

[tjs282]

I got Civ3Complete and CivIV from GOG as soon as I saw I could get them for less than $9. Haven't really had a chance to sit down & play yet, but I did notice I could open by last (and incomplete) Vanilla game and play it. There are buttons I do not recognize there, though, so I'm going to have to figure out the differences in play before I move forward (whether I try to finish that game, or start a new one).

I suspect that most of the 'new' buttons you're seeing are the 'Advanced unit action' buttons -- a lot of these are for automated (Worker) actions, many are for commands which were/are already in Vanilla, but didn't/don't have visible buttons. But since you shouldn't be automating your Workers anyway you therefore won't 'need' most of them in-game: if you want to de-clutter your screen, you can turn off the AUA buttons in the Game-Preferences (Ctrl-P) screen.

That said, one of the minor changes from Vanilla to Conquests -- and thus one of the new buttons -- that I really like, is the 'Rename unit' ability ('ABC' button, hotkey = Shift-N), which you can now apply to any unit at any time (no longer restricted to Leader-generating elites, directly after their victory). Not that I rename all my units, but I do find it very useful for my transport-ships (e.g. Galley 1, Galley 2, etc.), and I also like to name my Armies, commemorating the Leaders who formed them and/or the battle they won (e.g. "Nelson's Waterloo Cavalry"); this allows me to be absolutely sure that I'm loading my units into the intended ship/ Army.

Major gameplay differences from Vanilla to C3C? Well, there aren't (m)any.

Spoiler Non-exhaustive list of significant (early-game) changes :

• Republic government has been buffed
  • Now gives free-unit support (1/3/4 for towns/ cities/ metros; although excess units now cost 2g per head instead of 1g)
  • (Still) pretty much the 'go-to' government for the vast majority of games, regardless of map-type or intended victory-condition (warmongering simply requires judicious use of the LUX%-slider)
• Philosophy now gives a free technology to the first Civ to research it; this (and the Republic-buffs) encourages the 'Republic slingshot' tactic:
  • Beeline as fast as you can along the Alphabet --> Writing --> CodeOfLaws --> Philosophy branch (in that order!), and then take Republic as your freebie
  • Gets you to the Republic commerce-bonus earlier than the AI-Civs usually do
  • Up to Monarch/Emperor, usually also gives you a whole bunch of techs that you can use as trade-bait for the ones you left the AI to do (IronWorking, HorsebackRiding, etc.)
• Barbararians
  • Have (unintentionally) acquired 'tunnel-vision' radar (NW-SE axis), and tend to fortify in place if there are no opposing units on-axis, making them less dangerous than in Vanilla/PtW
  • Add the line 'NoAIPatrol=0' to your conquests.ini file to get them to move around more
• New unit-abilities:
  • All units in the (resourceless) Archer (--> TOW-Infantry) upgrade-chain get a 'defensive free-shot' (Range=0 bombardment), when part of a stack
  • Mayan Javelineers (Warrior Code, replaces Archers?) may 'enslave' units when they defeat an enemy unit (Privateers and English Man-o-Wars can also Enslave)
  • Catapults (etc.) are now more 'accurate'
    • Vanilla: haphazardly killed population, destroyed city-improvements, and only occasionally knocked HP off a defender
    • C3C: target Walls first, then defenders; will only hit population and other improvements (unless the 'Great Wall Bug' is triggered) after all garrisoned units are redlined
  • Leaders
    • 'Scientific Great Leaders' (SGLs, occasionally awarded for being the first to reach a tech) have been added
    • Only SGLs can now rush Great Wonders -- no more Leader-fishing to build all the GWonders! (And don't use your SGLs to trigger a 'Scientific Golden Age' -- this is bugged!)
    • MGLs can now only rush-build Small Wonders and generic city-improvements, but that's OK, because you'll mainly want your MGLs for...
  • Armies!
    • C3C-Armies have been given multiple buffs (+1 MP over the slowest unit loaded, Blitz, free Pillaging without using MP, A/D-bonus based on units loaded and whether or not you've built your MilAcad)
    • Now arguably overpowered in the human player's hands, especially considering that the Conquests-AI has 'forgotten' how to load/use Armies reliably (rarely builds them, rarely puts more than 1 unit in them if it does build them, and then rarely if ever sends that 1-unit Army out to fight)
  • Some late Industrial-Age surface units (land and sea) have an additional 'Anti-aircraft defence' stat (which works in a similar fashion to the SAM-Site city-improvement)

And... erm... that's about it. There are some new (epic-game) Wonders, governments, and Civ-traits, but these are described in the Civilopedia, and the effects are fairly self-explanatory.

Spoiler Editorial comments :

• Some(/all!) of the new Wonders are slightly underwhelming, e.g.
  • 'Temple of Artemis' (Polytheism) is expensive (500 shields), and its effects don't last very long (until Education)
  • 'Statue of Zeus' (Mathematics) needs Ivory; due to Lux-clustering, on a Standard-size map there's often only one Civ which can even start building it (that said, it can be very nice to be that Civ, and bloody scary if it's one of your Continental neighbours)
• Feudalism (early Medieval, required tech) and Fascism (early Industrial, optional tech) are 'niche' govs for very specific circumstances; and even then, probably only worth considering switching to/from if REL (max. 2-turn Anarchy per switch)
  • Feudalism's free-unit-support pattern is reversed (5/2/1 for towns/ cities/ metros, but 3g per head on excess units), encouraging use of CxC 'infinite city sprawl' (ICS); you might use it (and ICS) if e.g. you rolled an extensive waterless/ infertile (Plains/Desert) start, where your towns couldn't grow during the early game
  • The AI-Civs love to go Fascist during Industrial/Modern Age warfare, but often then destroy their productivity/research by conscripting and whipping down their population
• IND-Workers have been nerfed to 'only' 50% faster instead of 100%
• Agricultural (AGRI) allows faster growth, and is thus arguably the new 'best trait' (displacing IND)
  • By extension the Mayans (AGRI + IND) are the new 'best civ' to win with (and a good choice when levelling up)
  • Other AGRI-Civs are the Aztecs (+MIL), Celts (+REL), Iroquois (+COMM), Dutch (+SEA), Sumerians (+SCI), and Inca (+EXP); most tend to do well, even when (mis)managed by the AI...

As always: for anything else, feel free to ask!

 

[Lanzelot]

e.g. "Nelson's Waterloo Cavalry"

Didn't Nelson die at Trafalgar, around 10 years before Waterloo, though? "Wellington" would be more appropriate, I assume...

 

[Lanzelot]

Non-exhaustive list of significant (early-game) changes

One important change we should add to your otherwise very comprehensive list: the corruption model has been redesigned! This has two very siginifcant consequences for game play:

1. Ring City Placement no longer works.
2. The Forbidden Palace is no longer as powerful as it used to be.

Another important change is: unit upgrade costs have been increased by 50% (from 2 gold per shield to 3 gold per shield). This has a huge impact on things like "early swordsmen rush" or the "connect/disconnect strategy". (Upgrading 10 Warriors to Swordsmen for whacking the nextdoor neighbor now costs 600g instead of 400g. Upgrading 10 Horsemen to Knight costs 1200g instead of 800g. This is quite a drain on your treasury...)

Some(/all!) of the new Wonders are slightly underwhelming, e.g.

• 'Temple of Artemis' (Polytheism) is expensive (500 shields), and its effects don't last very long (until Education)

Depending on the situation, Temple of Artemis may be quite overwhelming, in particular for fast Domination games and sometimes also for fast 100K games. Just never research Education, and it lasts until the end of the game. If you milk this wonder to the last drop, Domination can be reached much much faster in C3C than in Vanilla/PtW. (Especially, if one of your neighbors is so nice to build Artemis for you early enough... )

 

[Civinator]

When it first went up on GOG earlier this(?) year, I actually re-purchased it and made a second installation, just to find this out (I also bought Civ IV and SMAC, so I got CivIII at a discount), but unfortunately it didn't That said, I don't know whether they've updated their package since then. GOG are usually pretty good at doing that kind of thing, but at the end of the day, they can only offer what Firaxis licenses them to sell.

Still, since it apparently remains possible to locate legit NoCD .exes online (certainly for Vanilla 1.29f, not sure about PtW 1.27), I see no reason why the Steam/GOG Civ3InComplete package shouldn't be 'Complete'-d by the end-user (e.g. the German PCGames website still -- as of ~2 weeks ago -- offers the Civ3 patchpaket for DL)...

I just bought Civ 3 with that GoG offer, as I think it´s always good to have a working non-Steam version of Civ 3 as a "reserve".

The current GoG version still has no exe for Civ 3 Vanilla, but here, as said, the PCGames patch is working very well. None of those PCGames patches is working with PtW. Here you have to add the exe from a cd version of PtW and start it with that cd. If I remember well, the PtW exe could also been started with a C3C cd, but this was long ago and I don´t know, if this was really the case.

 

[tjs282]

Didn't Nelson die at Trafalgar, around 10 years before Waterloo, though? "Wellington" would be more appropriate, I assume...

Lanz ol' buddy... if I cared about historical accuracy, I wouldn't be playing Civ!

One important change we should add to your otherwise very comprehensive list: the corruption model has been redesigned! This has two very siginifcant consequences for game play:

1. Ring City Placement no longer works.
2. The Forbidden Palace is no longer as powerful as it used to be.

Another important change is: unit upgrade costs have been increased by 50%

Wow, can't hardly believe I forgot to mention those two! Mind you, up to now @WeirdoJoker has been playing Vanilla 1.29 at Chieftain/Warlord level, so I'm not sure how much -- if ever -- he's felt the need to use RCP and disconnect-reconnect...

None of those PCGames patches is working with PtW. Here you have to add the exe from a cd version of PtW and start it with that cd.

I tried doing that on my Win8.1 machine last year, and -- not really surprisingly -- it didn't work, since my Conquests 1.15 CD (like most older Civ3 CDs) uses the secdrv.sys-based SecuROM copy-protection which MicroSoft disabled on Vista+ machines in late 2015.

So... that option is likely now only possible if someone has a Conquests or Civ3Complete disk which doesn't use SecuROM -- or is still playing Civ3 on a WinXP machine! Unless M$ have since issued some kind of workaround in a recent update?

If not, then Civ3-players using a DL-version on a post-Vista machine will (still) need to go hunting for a working No-CD Civilization3X.exe v.1.27, if they want to play PtW...

 

[Civinator]

I tried doing that on my Win8.1 machine last year, and -- not really surprisingly -- it didn't work, since my Conquests 1.15 CD (like most older Civ3 CDs) uses the secdrv.sys-based SecuROM copy-protection which MicroSoft disabled on Vista+ machines in late 2015.

So... that option is likely now only possible if someone has a Conquests or Civ3Complete disk which doesn't use SecuROM -- or is still playing Civ3 on a WinXP machine! Unless M$ have since issued some kind of workaround in a recent update?

If not, then Civ3-players using a DL-version on a post-Vista machine will (still) need to go hunting for a working No-CD Civilization3X.exe v.1.27, if they want to play PtW...

tjs282, this cried for a little test. I copied my PtW exe to the GoG Civ 3 Complete PtW folder. When clicking on the PtW-exe, the demand about the cd poped up. First I tried to start the exe with a normal C3C cd, but PtW demanded the Civ Complete cd. When I started it with my Civ Complete cd 1, the GoG version of PtW with the added exe started without any problems.

I have Civ III Complete from the Civilization Chronicles Compilation. Here three cds are needed for the installation of Civ Complete. The starting cd for a game is the cd 1. My pc runs with win 10, 64 bit. Can it be Civ III Complete in the Civilization Chronicles Compilation is much better than a normal Civ III Complete?

 

[tjs282]

Can it be Civ III Complete in the Civilization Chronicles Compilation is much better than a normal Civ III Complete?

Yes, this was/is one of the few C3C-versions that I know of which doesn't use SecuROM.

IIRC, the German budget-games publisher 'Green Pepper' also produced a DRM-free version of C3C at one point -- but they do not have it listed in their current website catalogue, so a prospective buyer would have to go looking for it elsewhere (bearing in mind also, that version was/is presumably the German-language edition -- but I don't know enough about programming to be able to say whether that's likely to be a problem, for someone who just wants to get hold of legal Vanilla and PtW .exe files).

 

[Civinator]

Yes, this was/is one of the few C3C-versions that I know of which doesn't use SecuROM.

This is always a good feeling having made a good deal.