Civilization III Advanced Tips

[Theov]

It is my understanding that there are mods using something like this. A building that requires no maintence costs, cost few shields(10 or 20) and gives only 1 culture per turn. If it really requires no maintenance there would be a strong incentive to build them unless culture flips had been deaktivated.

That C3C 1.22 lacks such efficient means to get the culture can be frustrating as getting the first culture expansion is a bit of priority. The most efficient city placements tend to require the first culture expansion and at the coast they are always required.

Which mod? I'd like to include it.

I added more units capable of enslaving in my mod and activated sacrifice (have to see if the AI uses it though....)
But I use the slaves (and later the Prize Ships) alsmost exclusively as workers (and the boats as transports) because they are free...
The cultural expansion seems more a landgrabbing thing.... maybe it's the level or style of play. I'm mostly a conquer the land kind of player and don't play much pangaea.

Another note on governments: don't do what I did back in my n00bie days and change your government with every opportunity. You go from despotism to republic or monarchy or maybe to feudalism, and most players go to communism or fascism (democracy is not popular), though some stay in republic for the duration. The bottom line is don't do despotism-monarchy-republic-feudalism-democracy-communism-fascism or such. You're going to waste a bazillion turns of production.

very true words.

Most of the games try to go Despo -> Republic/Monarchy -> (stay in one of those) / communism.
There are rare opportunities to use fascism, feudalism or democracy, but these are specific situations.

 

[agonistes]

The cultural expansion seems more a landgrabbing thing.... maybe it's the level or style of play.

My mod has an improvement called an Obelisk that costs about 6 shields, has no advance requirement, and produces 4 culture a turn. Its the first thing I always build in a city. A cultural buffer zone will prevent the AI from dropping a city 2 tiles away from yours if you get the 2nd pop. Of course, if you just wipe out everything anyways, it doesn't really matter. But some of us, and our numbers are growing, play status quo games.

My palaces also have a nice cultural boost. Nice for the European civs on a world map.

 

[Theov]

My mod has an improvement called an Obelisk that costs about 6 shields, has no advance requirement, and produces 4 culture a turn. Its the first thing I always build in a city. A cultural buffer zone will prevent the AI from dropping a city 2 tiles away from yours if you get the 2nd pop. Of course, if you just wipe out everything anyways, it doesn't really matter. But some of us, and our numbers are growing, play status quo games.

My palaces also have a nice cultural boost. Nice for the European civs on a world map.

what graphics do you use for it?

 

[Kurgan117]

Do the AIs build the Obelisks?
I ask because I modded a game and made workers free of support, so I built so many workers that if they were not free of support, they would have cost over 100 Gold per Turn and all of my unit support. I improved all of my territory so fast that that the AI could never catch up because the AIs never built more than their usual workers which is already a pathetic amount.

Are Marines worth researching the tech and paying the extra 20 shields more than a tank which has better attack/defense/movement?
That and they would probably have trouble taking on the stats of the infantry.

 

[walletta]

Marines are fun! Blaze away at an enemy's coastal city with your navy and Air Force, soften them up with a cruise missile or two and then send in the marines! Awesome!

PS what obelisks?

 

[Lord AJ]

PS what obelisks?

Read agonistes' post.

 

[Lord AJ]

:
Are Marines worth researching the tech and paying the extra 20 shields more than a tank which has better attack/defense/movement?
That and they would probably have trouble taking on the stats of the infantry.

Marines are units meant for use in special situations. For example 1 tile islands with a city on top can't be captured using ordinary units. They're also helpful when you have no space to land your stack because AI units occupy all tiles near a target city. Use Marines to clear one rule Ave land your stack there.

 

[walletta]

Marines are fun! Blaze away at an enemy's coastal city with your navy and Air Force, soften them up with a cruise missile or two and then send in the marines! Awesome!

PS what obelisks?

Ah, thanks

 

[justanick]

Marines tend to be worth the effort. Instead of having to wait a turn till your troops can attack you can take cities directly, unload the bulk of your troops and take many further cities before a turn has passed. That is quite an advantage, especially if that helps to eliminate all enemy nukes. Having enough Marines to fill up 1 to 3 armies really helps in some situations. But as marines are not very efficient in regular combat you should not build them in big numbers. Tanks and modern armour are way better attackers and using marines for defence is mediocrely insane anyway.

If you have no oil Marines are your best unit for attack, so then you might build them in some greater numbers.

 

[Kurgan117]

I just lost my America game. This isn't the first time sav files have just completely disappeared, so I am starting a new game. I am going to be a nation that I have never been before, but I have yet to decide which one. I will keep you posted.

 

[Buttercup]

Don't forget to check your Autosaves. If you've already started a new game then, nevermind.

 

[tjs282]

I just lost my America game. This isn't the first time sav files have just completely disappeared

Just out of interest, where have you installed Civ3? Because what you describe here simply should not happen, if you still have free space on your HDD . So if you are (or Civ3 is) regularly having trouble (re)locating .sav files, this might well be a VirtualStore problem, which I wrote about a few pages back (under Spoiler).

 

[Kurgan117]

Already checked auto saves. Wasn't there. I have started my game as the Spanish destroy the Scandinavians. The Incas have almost all the wonders, so I make take them over.

 

[Kurgan117]

Just destroyed the Scandinavians.

 

[Theov]

When you find yourself in times of trouble, find out who's at war with who?

By making an Alliance with the Inca vs the English and Byzantines (they were at war with them both) I got:
Mathematics, Literature, Polytheism, Construction, Currency and Shipbuilding and Piracy (2 small techs after Map Making).

So that's 7 AA techs and some cash just to be at war with 2 countries.... we will see what it costs me, but even if it costs me some units, it brings me back into the tech race.

 

[walletta]

When you find yourself in times of trouble, find out who's at war with who?

By making an Alliance with the Inca vs the English and Byzantines (they were at war with them both) I got:
Mathematics, Literature, Polytheism, Construction, Currency and Shipbuilding and Piracy (2 small techs after Map Making).

So that's 7 AA techs and some cash just to be at war with 2 countries.... we will see what it costs me, but even if it costs me some units, it brings me back into the tech race.

Who's at war with whom! Please, Theov, as a Dutch person who almost certainly speaks English better than most English people, it is your bounden duty to maintain the standards of my insular, barbaric race

Nice tip btw. I am still wracking (racking?) my brains trying to think of an advanced tip. It's as much as I can do to answer a newbie question and when I do someone usually shows up to correct my answer

 

[Theov]

Who's at war with whom! Please, Theov, as a Dutch person who almost certainly speaks English better than most English people, it is your bounden duty to maintain the standards of my insular, barbaric race

Nice tip btw. I am still wracking (racking?) my brains trying to think of an advanced tip. It's as much as I can do to answer a newbie question and when I do someone usually shows up to correct my answer

*Wrecking.
I was wondering what the rule was when I typed it. That was also the moment I stopped caring.
Thanks.

Yes, it works best with the following conditions (the more applicable, the better):
A: if your ally is between you and the enemy
1: if the Civ you're joining is strong (more armies from them, means less energy the opponent can throw at you.)
2: if the Civ you're at war with is on an island.
3: if you are on an island
if not 2 or 3, then:
4a: if there's someone between you and the civs you're at war with
or
4b: if you're stronger and you wanted to murder the civ you're going to war with anyway.
5: if the ally is on your naughty list and you want to murder them till they're dead when they've thrown everything they've got at the enemy.
6: if it's an alliance against the french (because they deserved it, carry on)

 

[Desertsnow]

*Wrecking.

Racking.

As for Marines, I don't use them much, except for war with someone on another continent (or, yes, on an island). By the time they come around, I've usually cleared enough of my own continent to deal with any neighbors with land units (as opposed to amphibious ones). Just my own 2gp worth.

 

[Kurgan117]

I cannot open Civ because of error code 28. Any suggestions? I tried what was said on this website and on a couple of others, but it didn't work.

 

[tomart109]

I never used feudalism because it looks like it stinks, can anyone confirm or deny? The unit support is interesting.

I love Feudalism. It comes soon after Monarchy (with which it shares some traits) but it's easier to build a big army, very important to me. You'll see that it supports more units than Monarchy, a big plus, but don't go over the limit too much - you pay thru the nose three times what most other govts pay. But hopefully, when you reach that limit, you're about ready for a war! Which increases your towns and reduces units, both of which bring you back under.
I might prefer Monarchy, as it lets you pay to rush, but it doesn't support enough units for me, since i have a lot of small towns at first.