How long did it take you?

[nameless_one]

i am a little curious how long it took some of you guys/girls to understand this game and the strategies.. at my current point i can play the game but i really dont feel like i am understanding all of if ..... i feel like i am missing some major points.. can you really understand the whole game or will i always feel like i could know more?

 

[Speaker]

Welcome to CFC One who will remain Nameless. I didn't get good at Civ3 until I read articles at the War Academy (especially "Cracker's Opening Play Sequence") and read several of the Succession Game threads, especially Sulla's Training Day Game. I went from a Monarch player to a Deity player in about a month. Good luck!

 

[wilbill]

Understand the whole game? Not yet, certainly. But I think I got to the point of feeling comfortable with the game after a couple of months, when I won my first Monarch game.
As opposed to earlier Civ games, in Civ 3 you're not just playing against AI's, but against the game itself. It throws things in your path and figuring out how to work around those little obstacles is part of the learning process. Be patient, but keep pushing yourself at the same time.

 

[CrackedCrystal]

Well, I had experience with Civ1 and SMAC which helped alot. But it took me a good amount of tim to understand the little tricks that help to squeeze every bit out of your strategy.

I would suggest playing some "builder style" games on small maps. The reduced number of cities will help you give more attention to each. The extra attention will help you learn the in's and out's of cities. Once you learn how to produce effeciently, you can work on troop movements. The extra production skills will cover any military mistakes you make early on.

But the most important thing in Civ3 is to learn diplomacy. That is the key to good players in my opinion. The elite players can trade their way from last to first place. I unfortuantly am not at that level yet

 

[Sultan Bhargash]

You will eventually reach a comfort zone but as you progress up each level of skill you will have to learn more. That and they'll patch in changes and come out with more expansions.

I was pretty comfortable with the game at warlord level right away, it took me a year to consistently master regent, but the switch over to monarch has required that I learn new strategies and ways of doing things.

 

[cromagnon]

Despite plenty (read: too much) experience with Civs 1 & 2, I sucked at Civ 3 early on. Even after 4 months, I'm only a Monarch level player.

 

[Sultan Bhargash]

4 months?

 

[cromagnon]

Yep. I bought the game in November, as a present to myself...uh... for being such a good boy!

 

[jeannie]

It took me about a month to go from Chieftain to Warlord - and that included playing about 12 hours a day over my Christmas vacation, not to mention that I'd played Civ 1 and 2 since 1996.

I remember trying to learn Civ 1 - it took about a week to just read enough of the manual to get to the point where I could even start the Tutorial game, and about another two weeks to get to the point where I understood that I actually had to balance science, production and gold to keep from going bankrupt! It took me close to three months before I ever attempted to start a game of my own rather than use the Tutorial game!

 

[nameless_one]

I guess my problem is the fact that i have no previous civilization experience.. so am starting from scratch.. i have moved up to the 2nd difficulty setting but once i got up the the third the AI's are to mean to me and push me around.

 

[jeannie]

Originally posted by nameless_one
I guess my problem is the fact that i have no previous civilization experience.. so am starting from scratch.. i have moved up to the 2nd difficulty setting but once i got up the the third the AI's are to mean to me and push me around.

Through reading posts in General Discussion and the Strategy section, I've started playing on smaller maps with fewer than the default number of civilizations, adding more civs as I make progress. It's forced me to try different strategies and vastly improve my ability to wage war and to negotiate with the AI.

It took me about two weeks to get from Warlord to Regent level, and I expect to be able to start working on the next level soon (3 weeks of experimenting on Regent level).

 

[gugalpm]

Civ3... one week playing like 1 hour per day...
But I had a great experience with civ2, that took me longer...

 

[Stapel]

I managed to play civ III succesfully on monarch level. It was challenging. Only after reading a lot on this forum I managed to play succesfully on emperor en deity level.

The brilliant thing about civ III: By choosing other civ's, maps, barbarian levels or victory types it is still challenging! Winning on deity level on a crowded small map will probably stay on my wish list for a while

That's funny Gugalpm: IMHO civ2 was NOT Challenging at all. CTP made me I bought it and gave it away to my brother within 2 weeks.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

I still don't understand it fully, I still occasionally cannot win on Emperor and Deity

 

[Stapel]

@Killer:
That is exactly why it is still challenging for experienced players!

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

ah, stapel: winning on deity on crowded map is one of the easiest exercises! That just takes military and proper use of it.

Try a map with a lot of room - a lot tougher as the AI has room and time to use their advantages.

 

[Stapel]

Hmmm, I'm more the builder type. In my 'average game' I'm lucky to have one GL. But I will certainly try.

Last games I have been using military more and more. I just have to learn to be patienced.

Do you know a story (war academy?) on a small map high level conquest victory?

BTW Killer: thanks for the help with bic edit. It did do the trick.