Help a noob.

[Sargon of Agade]

Okay, Long story short I control a continent, there is 3 AI left on another continent, I am going 0% research and the one AI that I am not at war with is dieing and can't research for me. The two others have industrial age techs and I don't because they got them while I was at war with them. I popped my Golden Age, and I am getting a fair amount of GPT, Do I research Nationalism and Fascism or Communism just so I can get riflemen and the gov or do I wait until the civ asks for a treaty, take it and buy their techs, mind you this could be awhile?

I am the chinese, I already killed of the 3 people on my continent and took over a civ on a smallish island north of the 3 remaining civs, they have riflemen so I am in no position to attack their mainland just yet but the places they have colonized near me or far from them are fair game... I started this game to get me out of bad habits (From civ2 into AC and now Civ3 I have been a city perfectionist, from AC and Civ2 I am a huge wonder builder, and this is the first time I am trying a small culture huge warmongering game aswell as no wonder building and no research...) Any advise would be great. Thanks in advance, Sargon of Agade.

 

[nullspace]

Buying is only better than researching when you can turn around and sell the tech you just bought. Since there are only 2 AIs that are worth trading with, it will be very hard to pull deals like that, and you'd be much better off researching or stealing tech. With your large territory, you should be able to out-research them no problem. Your size and golden age should more than make up for any lack of libraries. But if you want to stick to "no research" stealing the tech would be better than feeding money to the tech leader by buying.

I don't think there's any hurry to get riflemen if your enemies are on another continent. Railroads and factories are much more important. If you've been having successful wars as a republic, you should stick with that and totally ignore the governements part of the industrial tree. But if you're a monarchy, a change to communism might be worth it.

Sounds like you're in a good position to win the game.

 

[rysingsun]

I don't think there's any hurry to get riflemen if your enemies are on another continent. Railroads and factories are much more important.

agreed. they are so overpowering among techs that i would make steampower and industrialization THE priorities. after that if you decide to do your own research id go for completing your libraries and universities and then go all out on research. if you think it will be hard to catch up in tech then go for espionage and start stealing techs. otherwise go for something else if you like. in my experience tech theft becomes very cost efficient late in the industrial age - that is if you are still behind and have techs to steal.

do not fret over the fact that for a while you cannot trade with the greater powers. it is not going to set you back much in the long run.

 

[Shadow Phoenix]

#1. Communism FIRST. it sounds like you have a large territory., therefore switching there would greatly decrease your corruption.
#2. Railroads. They will boost your economy significantly, and will make you almost impossible to invade.(riflamam dont have a lot of attack, only defence)
#3. Sanitaion to double your cities.
#4. Start researching at the rate OF ONE TECHNOLOGY FOR 4 TURNS. And get to REPLACEBLE PARTS. This will get you infantry with 10 defense.
#5. PLANES.
#6. TANKS.
#7. Clean-up. Kill AI's.

 

[juballs2001]

#1. Communism FIRST. it sounds like you have a large territory., therefore switching there would greatly decrease your corruption.
#2. Railroads. They will boost your economy significantly, and will make you almost impossible to invade.(riflamam dont have a lot of attack, only defence)
#3. Sanitaion to double your cities.
#4. Start researching at the rate OF ONE TECHNOLOGY FOR 4 TURNS. And get to REPLACEBLE PARTS. This will get you infantry with 10 defense.
#5. PLANES.
#6. TANKS.
#7. Clean-up. Kill AI's.

maybe he cant afford researching at one tech every 4 turns, the best thing to do is cause chaos between civs by signing alliances and ****, cause them to slow their own research and cath up with them through democracy, and then get tanks or marines and attack them with a large fleet

 

[Sargon of Agade]

Okay, I have already caused disruption, Babylon and Egypt are at war, and Babylon and Greece are at war... I made peace with the greeks and I have also done that with the babylonians(after I took 2 cities they built near me, and 4 near the island north of their continent. I own 66% of the population and 55% of land area so a domination is easy to get but I am going for my first real victory in solo play at all in over a year of not playing civ3 all that much. I am in Monarchy, I have switched to start researching at a rate of a tech every 6-7 turns while still making money.

I feel this is the end game so I don't want to give techs to the ai, but I may have to to gain money... The major obstacle I see is Babylon, they have nearly conquered the Egyptians and are running amok against the greeks, but I still have more forces then they do. I am afraid they will try and lock up that continent and then I will have a hard time killing them. So no my question is do I invade greece to get a foothold on the continent, or do I try and take a beach head from the Babylonians which I know will be harder... The Greeks are a stone throw's away from the Island I conquered north of their continent and so moving troops and reinforcements would be easier, but it would only deny territory to the Bab's, not take away any...

Any further comments and advise would be great and I thank you guys who have responded so far. Sargon of Agade.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Try to never buy Government techs, and especially not Nationalism (Mobilzation). Those techs are much more expensive. The AI demands way too much for it, you're nearly always better off researching them yourself.

 

[Science Rules]

You mentioned that the 3 Civs on the other continent colonized yours, I would expel these cities right away if you are looking for a domination victory. If invading Greece and/or Egypt is enough to gain that last bit to domination then I would invade then and do my best to pacify Bablyon; that way you will no need to mess with a military that seems to be at least a match of your own.

 

[Sargon of Agade]

Okay, I now control over 70% of the population and I have exactly 60% of the land mass, the Egyptians have 4 cities left, the greeks have around 5. I have a foot hold of three cities on the enemy continent, and they control only some smal islands to the south west of my continent. I took the cities that colonized near me and the former German holdings(the civ that started on an island north of the other civs). I have plenty of cavalry, I am in communism and I have several riflemen coming to garrison the cities. My question now is do I wait until I have an overwhelming force to take more cities from the Babylonians who I am at war with again, or do I a try and take the easier greek and egyptian cities and get the 6% that way? Communism may have made some of my best cities a bit worse, but it cut my corruption in half, I am using the extra cash for research, mainly to get Infantry... I think I can win within the next 10 or so turns so I am wonding if I should go for the domination victory or wait and slug it out for the conquest victory...?
I am building Artilery in the cities on the island near the front, and cavalry and infantry at home... is it better to focus just on numbers(meaning lots of cavalry and artilery) or is it better to have a mixed force(less cav, more infantry+guerillas....)?

 

[juballs2001]

go for the domination victory if u have it on. If egypt and greece control 6% it will give u exactly enough land and pop. to win via domination

 

[Sargon of Agade]

Okay, I won, had to capture 5 more cities and then have one of the already captured cities to expand in culture(which is hard to do, it was size one and I was in communism), however I did this by taking Babylonian cities not greek or egyptian which would have been easier... I scored just under 2000 points, on Warlord, and the final stats were 66% of population and 75% of population... To give you an idea my best score ever at the end of a game on Warlord was 3201... so although this is my first solo win, I have done better when playing with another human player, and it was with the Mayans so they may fit my play style better, I was the chinese btw, not sure If I metioned that... At the end there was no coal on my continent, even though 4 civilisations had started there, and the Babylonians and I got to infantry, the last tech I got was the corporation... Thanks for all the help, now I just need to decide what civ I should play next(I want a commercial civ) and work on the mistakes I made in this game(need more workers, better city placement (From civ2 and Alpha I have the habit of keeping shared squares to a absolute minimum...) Any more advise on how to improve or instructions on how to post a save if someone wants one is welcome...

As always, SoA

 

[Sargon of Agade]

Can I get people's opinion of the Iroquois(spelling?) and of the commercial trait in general... I am trying a more aggressive, less perfectionist and generally more varied and more disciplined style of Civ, and any advise on the civilization, the trait, and the civizations with the trait would be great. My basic strategy has not changed much since Civ2 and Alpha so any help that anyone can give so I can go up a couple of difficulty levels( I have always been a King/Librarian ect... player, I play more for the fun and not the challenge, but I noticed that as soon as I got the game the AI was so different( alot more agressive, complex ect,) that I was getting my butt handed to me on everything but Cheiftan and Warlord...) that would be great.
As always, SoA

 

[predesad]

the iroquois are awesome, one of the best civs in most player's opinions. the commercial trait has minimal impact at the start of the game, but can give huge benefits in the later stages of the game. plus, the agricultural trait should help you grow faster meaning the benefits of the commercial trait will kick in sooner. and the UU is no slouch either. you should check out a review of the iroquois for further advice. This would probably be a very good civ to try if you want to bump it up to regent.

 

[Sargon of Agade]

I just read the review of them from the link and I think they are the civ I will play with next.

 

[predesad]

are you going for a regent? go for a regent, you can move up with them. agr trait, if you get a river start and a food bonus, instant settler factory. besides, you can get al the help you need here at civfanatics

 

[Sargon of Agade]

Okay, so I am planning on starting a game with them, I want to continue to train myself out of old habits and learn the tricks that will let me play on 1 or 2 difficulties above Regent. I went without building a wonder last game, should I continue with that? Can I now build a few, or as I see fit? How do I train myself to build more cities for size 12 and not for size 20...?

 

[predesad]

dont build any wonders, especially not the Great Library or happiness inducing ones, it will help your learning curve. If you are indeed moving up to regent from warlord with this game as the Iroquois, keep in mind you will only have 2 content citizens to start. My suggestion is to never build a wonder again until you get to the point that you no longer desire to build them, then when you dont want to build wonders it's fine, but of coure you won't because you don't want to. Did that confuse you? An exception, of course, is if you are going for a cultural victory.

Build cities 3 - 4 tiles apart, no exceptions, when you get a space of terrain in which there are tiles not being used, but a city will not fit good there without serious overlap (in other words a location where you might not place a city in the past) put a city there anyway. Perhaps you should give yourself a rule - maximum distance between cities is 3 tiles, but city placement, IMHO, is not something that can be taught easily since every map is different.

Good luck, keep me posted, and move to regent if you have not decided to do so already. What are you going to learn on Warlord anyway?

 

[Sargon of Agade]

Okay, so the move up has been made, and I can confirm first hand that if the culturally connected start box is clicked that all the american civs will appear(Not sure the exact nature of the bug, but I remember hearing about it, and sure enough the incan's and mayan's are on my continent, and the aztecs and americans and some other people are on another continent.) My capitol has become a great settler factory(first one, works like a charm) but now it has suffered because of disease and so I have to build a couple of settlers in other cities. I have one question, I am at the position where one of my neighbors is weak and isolated and yet I still have lots of room to build cities... should I eliminate the competition(if they built galley's they could get to this area but I have them cut off from it with my own territory) or just pump out settlers, grab the territory and worry about them later?

 

[Sargon of Agade]

Quick Question, I read this phrase alot and don't know what it means... "ICS," Could someone explain what ICS means?

 

[Tomoyo]

Infinite City Sprawl - You build as many cities as you can, usually each one tile away from the other.