How 2 play Civ3?

[2new2Bgood]

I am new to CIV and turn based games and I don't understand what it is all about. My background is RTS (AoE, C&C, TA) and I love simCity but this turn based concept is doing my nut.
I know this is a total newbie question so please don't flame. I have read the manual, played a bit, tryed to do the tutorial, read the FAQ's and browsed through the forums but alas still confused.

1) So, do each of my units get one go each?
2) When does each Civ get a turn? IS it mine, then Civ 1 (say america), then Civ 2 (say rome), then civ 3 then mine...
3) If my population is 100,00 why do I only have a few faces in the city screen. Is it like 1 face for 10% of population of something
4) If I have 100,00 population and only 10 warriors isn't that a bit strange?

Please answer these questions and any other explaination about turn based style playing. Did anyone else who plays RTS have problems getting into Turn based

 

[WickedWombat]

1) So, do each of my units get one go each?

Yes, each unit has the capability to do something every turn. Sometimes they may be fortified which uses up their turn and they also might be terraforming (in the case of workers) and it takes a minimum amount of turns to complete their task. Otherwise they should be available for use every turn.

2) When does each Civ get a turn? IS it mine, then Civ 1 (say america), then Civ 2 (say rome), then civ 3 then mine...

Yes, each civ takes turns in succession.

3) If my population is 100,00 why do I only have a few faces in the city screen. Is it like 1 face for 10% of population of something

I'm not sure what the exact number of citizens a face icon represents, but I believe it is around 10,000

4) If I have 100,00 population and only 10 warriors isn't that a bit strange?

Once again, 1 warrior should represent a group of units, possibly like a battalion. If not, that's a freakin' lot of faces.

 

[2new2Bgood]

WickedWombat you are more a WonderfulWombat, Thanks!

Carrying on, you said:
"...Sometimes they may be fortified which uses up their turn and they also might be terraforming (in the case of workers) and it takes a minimum amount of turns to complete their task..."

A unit that is fortified or working I want to stop him and make him do something else, but the computer goes so fast I don't get change to change his order. Is there a way to stop a unit from doing what he is doing?

 

[Black Fluffy Lion]

if you select 'always wait at end of turn' from the preferences menu then at the end of each turn you will be able to look over your empire to activate/ wake up any units. To do so click on them, or right click and select wake up/activate unit. With workers it will give you the choice to let the worker carry on what he is doing or to switch ot a new task.

 

[2new2Bgood]

thanks, most helpful.

Resource management, I see piles of iron ore. do I build a mine on this? do I need a road to contect it to one of my cities?

I also see animals which I assume I use as food. how do I get these animals?

 

[WickedWombat]

Originally posted by 2new2Bgood
thanks, most helpful.

Resource management, I see piles of iron ore. do I build a mine on this? do I need a road to contect it to one of my cities?

I also see animals which I assume I use as food. how do I get these animals?

No you do not need to build a mine on it, but you have to do one of the following:

1. If it is within your national borders, you can just send a worker to build a road to it and as long as it is accessable (by road) to other cities in your empire, you can use it, or
2. If it falls outside of your national borders, you can build a colony and connect that via roads to your cities. The only drawback to this is that you lose your worker in the process

In the case of the animals (cows, etc. I presume), those can only be used if the resource is within the city radius, by that city. Just connect it with a road.

Hope that helps..

 

[Black Fluffy Lion]

in civ3 there are 3 types or resource:

1. strategic (needed to make certain units/improvements, tech required to see the resource in brackets, needs to be connected up to a road):

Aluminum (0 food/2 shield/0 commerce, Rocketry)
Coal (0/2/1, Steam Power)
Horses (0/0/1 -The Wheel)
Iron (0/1/0 -Iron Working)
Oil (0/1/2 -Refining)
Rubber (0/0/2 -Replaceable Parts)
Saltpeter (0/0/1 -Gunpowder)
Uranium (0/2/3 -Fission)

2. luxury (make people happy, needs to be connected up to a road):

Dyes (0/0/1)
Furs: (0/1/1)
Gems (0/0/4)
Incense (0/0/1)
Ivory (0/0/2)
Silks (0/0/3)
Spices (0/0/2)
Wine (1/0/1)

3. bonus (give extra shields/commerce/food) :

Gold (0/0/4)
Wheat (2/0/0)
Fish (2/0/1)
Cattle (2/1/0)
Whales (1/1/2)
Game (1/0/0)

 

[2new2Bgood]

thanks for sticking with me. That makes sense.

I've beening reading other postings and I see stuff about 'Great Leaders' (GL) and Armies. What is an army? is it when you have several units on the same tile or is it more particular than that.

What are these great leaders about as well? I guess i haven't got far enough to see them yet

Thanks

 

[Black Fluffy Lion]

you sometimes get a great leader (chance is 1 in 16 I think, unles you're a militarisitc civ, then it's 1 in 12) when one of you elite units wins a battle. You can use the GL to either create an army or rush something that you are building in a city. An army is a group of units, 3 is the limit, unless you have built the pentagon (small wonder), then it's 4. THey have all their hitpoints merged into one which means it is very strong but can only attack once each turn.

 

[Jason Fox]

Originally posted by WickedWombat
Sometimes they may be fortified which uses up their turn

Not to nitpick but it sounds like you're saying to fortify a unit means you lose his turn. You can fortify a unit and still wake and move him in the same turn (but to fortify him at the end of the turn he can't exhaust all his movement.) Alos, you'll have to remember where your fortified units are as you aren't prompted to move them.

Just to clarify for 2new2Bgood

 

[WickedWombat]

Originally posted by Jason Fox


Not to nitpick but it sounds like you're saying to fortify a unit means you lose his turn. You can fortify a unit and still wake and move him in the same turn (but to fortify him at the end of the turn he can't exhaust all his movement.) Alos, you'll have to remember where your fortified units are as you aren't prompted to move them.

Just to clarify for 2new2Bgood

Oops my bad, not nitpicking at all. Thanks for the clarification.