My Civ3 bucket list (or, 7 things to do in Civ3 before finally moving on)

[Acronym]

I've been playing Civ III on and off for over a decade now. It's one of my all-time favourite games. But it wasn't until I found these forums a couple of years ago that I realised how much more there was you could do with it.

A lot of other games await out there, and I do intend to move on from Civ III one day. But before then, I've got a bucket list of things I've always wanted to do with Civ III - and I'm worried that the dwindling community of Civ III players means that these will become harder and harder to do as time goes by.

So, I thought I'd put down that list here, to see how far I can get.

1. Beat the game on Emperor - thanks to the strategy articles on this site, and reading some of the old succession games, I've improved my game enough to beat it on Monarch; I reckon Emperor would be fun, but I've no desire to squeeze every last drop of blood out of the game by learning to beat it on Sid!
2. Complete all the Conquests - Civ III Conquests has 9 'Conquests' scenarios spanning human history, and I'm ashamed to say I've only completed two of them (Mesopotamia and Rise of Rome). I want to at least beat each of them once.
3. Play a Play-By-Email (PBEM) game - this is one I've manage to achieve, playing some CFC members in El Justo's incredible scenario, Age of Imperialism - the PBEM game has lasted nearly two years already, and still going strong. I'd like to play some more PBEM games before moving on - maybe completing some of the Conquests, above, as PBEM games (message me if you're interested!) - in progress
4. Play through some of CFC's amazing mods & scenarios - Related to the above - I've downloaded a few of these, but haven't had a chance to work my way through them. I'd like at the least to try and complete a game in each of the following: Age of Imperialism, Escape from Zombie Island 2, The Rood and the Dragon, Hegemon, the Medieval Europe Mod, The Desert and the Mountain, and The Cold War Deluxe - probably enough to keep me going for a life-time! (For anyone that's interested, I'm playing on a Mac and have managed to get all of the above to work on my computer)
5. Play in a Succession Game - I lurked one or two of these for a while, but the discussions became a bit too intense. Maybe this'd be another good way to work through the Conquests. As with PBEM, I'm worried the opportunity to do this will disappear before too long, as the community moves onto newer pastures - in progress - sign up here!
6. Compete in the Game of the Month (GOTM/COTM) competition - similarly, this is another community that seems on the verge of extinction, and another challenge I'd like to try while it still exists. I've managed to submit one of these - winning a purple shield for my diplomatic victory! - but one or two more would be fun. It's just a question of waiting for one at a level I can compete at (maybe the Scandinavian Monarch in July) - complete!
7. And finally, write a Civ III Story - inspired by the stories in Stories & Tales, I'd like to try and document some of my progress through all of the above in one or two hopefully entertaining stories to share on these forums.

One omission from the above list is to get my name on the Civ III Hall of Fame - mainly because I have no intention of becoming one of the best Civ III players of all time, but rather want to make sure I don't miss out of any of the fun hiding in its depths.

So - I'll maybe post back here as I tick things off this list, but what do you think? Has anyone else got a Civ III bucket list? Is there anything missing here that I absolutely should do before moving on? And how long do you reckon this will take me?!

 

[timerover51]

Hmmm, that list should keep you playing Civ3 for the nest decade or so. As for dwindling players, we keep getting recruits from Civ4 and Civ5 on a regular basis.

 

[tjs282]

That's a great list!

I'm still working on my Vanilla1.29 target... winning at Deity level using each Civ, on a standard-size random continents map with default geo-settings, random barbs, random opponents, all VCs enabled, taking whatever start I'm given, and playing until I've won (or it's obvious I'm going to lose!).

Given that losses are discouraging, I'm working up to that ultimate goal by playing each successive difficulty level until I can beat it reasonably reliably (my criteria: winning 3 games -- ideally consecutively -- at that level, using 3 different Civs). I've still got a long way to go though: right now I'm playing Monarch, and have only outright won a couple of games at this level so far (an English Histo Vic, and an Indian Space Vic; I've had several close American Space losses, but got totally overrun as the Russians).

Having played almost nothing but CivDOS for a looong time (2002-2010, won at King level using all the Civs on the Earth map), I finally bought CivIII at the end of 2009, and my main difficulty has been shaking off my CivDOS habits. At Monarch, I've generally been falling behind in tech too early and been unable to catch up (and no-one wants to sell me anything because I've got no cash, either). This seems to be because I've been trying to do too much research myself (bad habit inherited from CivDOS, no.13...), instead of trading up to parity at the early/mid stages.

That said, in my current run as the Iroquois (and having finally downloaded CivAssistII -- very useful app, highly recommend it ), I've done a lot more tech-trading and taken a lot more care of my trading reputation than usual (don't think I've deliberately broken _any_ deals this game). So far it's gone really well, despite a pretty poor start: in the middle of a massively jungled river basin, surrounded by mountains, and sharing a continent with the Egyptians (SW), the Zulus (North), and the Persians (SE)

My Archers and MWs quickly killed off the Egyptians in Ancient times, before they really got going (they had no horses, or iron -- bad luck Cleo!), and the Zulus were pushed off the mainland by my Knights, Longbows, Cats and Pikes. Having put up with relatively high corruption (but mitigated by near-perfect RCP) for a long time, my FP was finally GL-rushed in Zimbabwe. The Zulus' last small island cities later fell to several Stacks'o'Tanks (TM).

The Persians have taken much longer to dislodge: I'd been fighting border wars with them all the way through, but gaining ground only slowly (and losing too many marginal cities to culture-flips). Unfortunately they managed to get MecInf just before my planned final push began (maybe I should have just gone ahead and broken a luxury trade deal with them), so it took longer than I expected, even using CMs, but they're now history. And it's still (only) ~1810 AD (don't knock it -- this is a personal best for me!).

I'm now (at least) joint tech leader, and on course for the Spaceship win (my preferred VC), so long as the Germans don't beat me to it. I don't really want to have to go and give Bismarck a kicking, because the Germans have been my best trading partners, and I haven't had _any_ wars with them for the entire game. The Japanese (on the largest continent) pose a different risk. Having earlier finished off the Aztecs and recently the English, if they start beating on the Germans (again), I might lose to a Japanese Domination. We'll see...

EDIT:
Yay! Just launched my ship in 1850 AD!

As far as Conquests bucket-lists go, I only got Conquests earlier this year, and I've only played a couple of full games so far. My first was as the English at Regent (geo-settings as above), and I cleaned up; my second was as the Babylonians in the Mesopotamia scenario, I'm pretty sure at Monarch, and I won that too (on Victory points). I think I have another Monarch game in progress (as the Americans? Can't remember offhand), but right now I'm concentrating on my Vanilla Monarch games.

Funny thing is, even bearing in mind my lack of experience at Conquests, it seems to be easier than Vanilla at the same difficulty level, maybe because of the added Middle Age Wonders/ units. Has anyone else had that impression? If so, then if I get bored with Vanilla before I finish beating Deity, I might start playing Conquests at Emperor (using the above settings)...

 

[CommandoBob]

One omission from the above list is to get my name on the Civ III Hall of Fame - mainly because I have no intention of becoming one of the best Civ III players of all time, but rather want to make sure I don't miss out of any of the fun hiding in its depths.

I have several games in the Hall of Fame and I am nowhere near one of the best Civ III players of all time.

In fact, if you look around, at Emperor Level, Conquest victory condition, there are only 7 games submitted on a Huge map. You could take your lumps and not conquer the world until 2040 AD and still have that game be accepted.

My first HOF game was Conquest, Monarch, Huge, place 8 at 1848 AD. Place 7 was in 1774 AD. Great game for me but not a great game overall.

Consider this too: one of the HOF awards is completing a game on each Map Size. Another is for each victory condition. And yet a third for a large majority of the difficulty levels.

 

[Jivilov]

That's a great list!

I'm still working on my Vanilla1.29 target... winning at Deity level using each Civ, on a standard-size random continents map with default geo-settings, random barbs, random opponents, all VCs enabled, taking whatever start I'm given, and playing until I've won (or it's obvious I'm going to lose!).

I'm now (at least) joint tech leader, and on course for the Spaceship win (my preferred VC), so long as the Germans don't beat me to it.

EDIT:
Yay! Just launched my ship in 1850 AD!

Funny thing is, even bearing in mind my lack of experience at Conquests, it seems to be easier than Vanilla at the same difficulty level, maybe because of the added Middle Age Wonders/ units. Has anyone else had that impression? If so, then if I get bored with Vanilla before I finish beating Deity, I might start playing Conquests at Emperor (using the above settings)...

Greetings tjs, and congratulations on your last Spaceship win. I'd caution you though: Winning the Space Race at higher levels gets nigh impossible given the insane AI production discounts. I've won on Emperor (Conquests expansion) that way a few times, but domination gives you the initiative and is more predictable.

Speaking of Conquests, I'd say it's better for warmongering overall. There are the additional "power" units (Medieval Infantry, Berserker, etc.) and MA Wonders (which are better to capture than attempt to build yourself). Maybe best of all are Armies. They're powered up in Conquests--check out Theoden's article in the War Academy--with all sorts of bennies that the human can use against a clueless AI.

Anyway it's a great game that just keeps on providing challenges and surprises. Have fun!

 

[scoutsout]

Hi Acronym !

May I offer you a little unsolicited advice on a couple of those? Maybe you could gather a couple of friends together to play a friendly little emperor level succesion game, and kick TWO off your bucket list!

Just a friendly suggestion. And if you want, I'll help you.

Oh, and...I'm delurking.

So...do you want to start a succession game? I've kinda missed those...

 

[Acronym]

Hi scoutscout,

That's a great idea - thanks! I'd definitely be up for starting a Succession Game to tackle Emperor, and you'd be very welcome to join & share your wisdom. I'll put up a post in the SG forum with a save (or at least, the beginnings of a discussion for a game) later on this evening.

CommandoBob - thanks for the tip-off re: the Hall of Fame - I might have to go poking around to find the unfilled categories, and maybe try and rack up a win to my name there, too! I'll add it to the bucket list. If you fancy joining the Succession Game, too, please feel free.

tsj - thanks! Your list sounds like a great one, too, although I just don't think I've got the stamina to do the same. Congratulations on the Space Race victory - that's something I've never achieved myself (always seem to end up getting an unwanted Diplomatic or Culture victory first). Would you like to join a Succession Game at Emperor level, with the goal of a Space Race Victory? It might be a useful learning experience for both of us, if we can get a couple of the more experienced folk to join in too.

Edit: The Succession Game is GO! Sign up here!