Hello, from a newbie

[Strontium_Dog]

Just dropped by to say hello.

I got the Civ3 pack, with Conquests and PTW about a fortnight ago, and have lost my life to getting used to this game
I used to play Civ2 a bit, on the PS1, but this has some differences. I was hopeless at that, and not much better now I've been reading through here though, and it's helping a bit.

So far I've quit on a few games, hopeless situations and the whole world declared war on me....................twice. Could'nt do much under constant attack. I played one out to 2050AD, won , but had an awfull score and ranked pathetic My current game is upto about 2020AD, I'm a bit of a warmongerer so have been playing China. Progress has been slow though, struggeling to get advances, only just got Destroyers, for gawds sake , still, I've wiped out 4 AI Civ's, might have time for a 5th, and a domination win, but times short.

A couple of points, is scientific advance naturally slow on Cheiftain? I know it may be me, but the AI's are worse, even the better ones. I might try a more scientific Civ next, like Persia. I want to have a go with those modern weapons

Is it just me, or is the combat a little screwy? It seems victory is almost random, with a bias towards the attacked (especially when you attack the AI). So many times I've seen weak, ancient units battering strong, modern ones. The worst one is I've just had a verteran Ironclad absolutly trounced by a regular Galley , but it seems fairly common.

Anyway, great site you have here.

 

[bingen]

Welcome to CFC.

Scientific research is slow on chieftain because the AIs are not contributing at all since they are heavily handicapped.

Combat is not screwy, it is intentionally created to give older units a slight chance. Otherwise the game would just degenerate to a race to tech x. Also, defending units often get a lot bonuses from terrain, fortification and cities. Download a combat calculator and play with that for 10 min or so.

I advise starting to play on warlord even if you do not know all the basics. With the basics in hand you should move up to regent and monarch (not much difference between regent and monarch).

 

[punkbass2000]

Just dropped by to say hello.

I got the Civ3 pack, with Conquests and PTW about a fortnight ago, and have lost my life to getting used to this game
I used to play Civ2 a bit, on the PS1, but this has some differences. I was hopeless at that, and not much better now I've been reading through here though, and it's helping a bit.

Welcome.

So far I've quit on a few games, hopeless situations and the whole world declared war on me....................twice. Could'nt do much under constant attack. I played one out to 2050AD, won , but had an awfull score and ranked pathetic My current game is upto about 2020AD, I'm a bit of a warmongerer so have been playing China. Progress has been slow though, struggeling to get advances, only just got Destroyers, for gawds sake , still, I've wiped out 4 AI Civ's, might have time for a 5th, and a domination win, but times short.

Don't worry about score, it's not that important. Same with the rank. It's really difficult to not get an insulting rank on chieftain (score is multiplied by difficulty level, ie. 1 for chieftain, 2for warlord, etc. Had you played a similar game on Warlord you would have received twice the score, for example.)

A couple of points, is scientific advance naturally slow on Cheiftain? I know it may be me, but the AI's are worse, even the better ones. I might try a more scientific Civ next, like Persia. I want to have a go with those modern weapons

Yes and no. Though the AI is quite handicapped in Chieftain, they are not handicapped directly techwise, and the human researchs at double normal speed. The fastest SS win I know of is ~570AD and it was on chieftain. Also, scientific civs aren't inherently the best for speeding up science, but they are generally good on lower levels. By all means play the PErsians, they are a great civ. I can't give too much advice without a save or screen, but there's probably two thing you can do to increase your science research dramatically; build more workers and road everywhere. Every tile that a citizen is working should have a road, it gives +1 commerce.

 

[Strontium_Dog]

Combat is not screwy, it is intentionally created to give older units a slight chance. Otherwise the game would just degenerate to a race to tech x. Also, defending units often get a lot bonuses from terrain, fortification and cities. Download a combat calculator and play with that for 10 min or so.

Thanks Bingham, I've read the ongoing discussions in other threads now. It just comes as a bit of a shock to see a Galley, a light wooden vessel armed with bows and arrows, sink a ship that's hull is clad with Iron plates and armed with cannon. I get it now, the unit itself is just a graphical representation, it's the numbers that count, plus a random element of luck.

Don't worry about score, it's not that important. Same with the rank. It's really difficult to not get an insulting rank on chieftain (score is multiplied by difficulty level, ie. 1 for chieftain, 2for warlord, etc. Had you played a similar game on Warlord you would have received twice the score, for example.)

Ah, I get it. Better scores on higher levels. I'm just trying to remember how Civ2 did it, but it was some years ago now. There was a percentage there, if I remember right. I launched the spaceship and only got 36% (probably because I cheated ).

I do road everywhere punkbass , first I try to link the city's, if not too far apart (my placement can be a little haphazard), but also balanced with roading the city's radius, and making improvements, once they're sorted and workers are idle, I fill in the rest of my culteral area. Unless there are resources/ luxeries, which I'll road to earlier. I'm figuring out how to do things, and what things mean etc., as I never got a manual. Been trying to figure it out from the Civilopedia, here, and my own ability to work stuff out. It's only in this last game I've figured out how to establish Embassies, contact other Civ's (been waiting for them), build Armies (got a GL in one of the games when under constant attack, hadent got a clue what to do with him ), stuff like that. I'll attach my latest save, let me know what you think.

Let me know if there's a problem with the attachment, I'm figuring out this forum too

 

[oopsy poopsy]

i hesitate to give any advice since I"m very new here too. One of your problems may be corruption. If you're building roads on all worked tiles for the commerce, which drives science, then maybe you're losing a lot of it to corruption, which you can make a lot worse if you don't plan out city placement. There are some really good articles on city placement in the war academy and in the threads. I didn't look at your save so that's about it.

 

[Evil_Napoleon13]

As a veteran to Civ 3, corruption will always be a major problem. Even with the construction of police stations and courthouses in every city, those cities beyond 10 grid units from a palace or a Foribben Temple/Secret Police HQ will have tremendous corruption. I have worked persistently to solve this problem and the best way I have found is to use Democracy (peace-time) and Fascism (war-time).

A message to the newbie, before you go to war gain as much money as possible and try to gain a mutual protection pact with those countries surrounding the one you are going to attack or will attack you. Avoid going to war with a civilization that has a mutual protection pact with another country or else you will relive World War I. Allies are not very helpful but they do act as a deterrant.

Hope it helps- Later

 

[Mr. Do]

Also avoid signing MPP's with a civ that is already at war with someone, as you could very quickly find yourself pulled into their own war, and if you already have any sort of deal with your potential ally's enemy, it will be broken and your reputation torn to shreds. MPP's can be very tricksy at times.

 

[Mr. Hyperbole]

Strontium Dog; would you happen to have any screen shots or save games to post? It would give the more experinced of those here a chance to critique your strategy.

Welcom to CFC!

 

[Strontium_Dog]

Thanks for the advice folks

I've been learning to deal with corruption as best I can, playing on standard size continents, and expanding as much as possibile, it's been a problem I've had to deal with, but the tips are most welcome.

I got dragged into a war, via an MPP, in my last game. It actually served in my favour, as I was nearly complete in gearing up to attack them anyway , so placed my forces around the cities, pillageing, while the AI battered the cities. I'd step in and mop up, claiming the city. Ended up with the AI losing lots of units, while I claimed 75% of the land

Mr. Hyperbole, there is a savegame attached to my second post. It shows my second full game, at 2022AD. I'd not long dispensed with the Aztecs, in order to gain some land on that continent. I'm still learning, so there's a few things I know to be wrong, but it gives a good idea of where I'm at.

 

[AA-battery]

Hey, um, yeah, I'm sort of a newbie too. I've been playing Civ3 for a while but um, I'm new at this. I agree that it would be bad to sign a MPP with an AI at war with another AI that you have agreements with, but um, is it so bad to break deals? I did once and I ended up dominating and getting a score of over 4000. I'm not sure whether to start off good or bad.

 

[Turner]

Well, of course breaking deals depends on your situation.

If you have all eight luxs, and all eight strategic resources, and tech superiority, then break all the deals you want.

Simply put, breaking a deal means you probably won't get a GPT deal. Unless something really weird happens. Your rep is shot, and will be for the rest of the game.

Of course, if you can win without any help from other people, then go for it.

 

[Strontium_Dog]

I haven't been doing too many deals. Trading, on Chieftain, is hard, because the AI has no tech's, resources or gold to trade with. They only have luxeries, which they only trade for exhorbitant sums. Breaking deals hasen't really been an issue, yet.

I think I'll change the game setup next time, give Warlord a try

 

[Turner]

Try regent. The AI has no penalties or bonus' at this level. You'll be on even footing.

 

[AA-battery]

Yeah, I don't really like playing on the easier levels because the AIs are too friendly and you don't really score a lot of points. In other words, its just boring and there is no use in playing the game unless you want to make a point by making the AIs suffer so much. One time I played chieftain and I took a warrior to the AI's only city. No military. I took it over with no hassle. I don't really feel much pleasure in that.I like to play when I get this:
Yeah, well this is a game, and fun is what games are about right?