Need help with island-civs

[metamike]

Basically, I need help.

Every time I build an empire, it ends up getting to a certain point where my gpt is -1 to +3 with all of my towns creating wealth

I don't know what I'm doing wrong! My -gpt for units is 0!

Please look at this Civ 3 Vanilla save and tell me what's wrong.

Or if you don't have civ 3 vanilla/don't want to help, look at this screenshot and tell me what's wrong!

South Empire-

Spoiler :

North East Empire-

Spoiler :

North West Empire-

Spoiler :

And here's how my economy looks-

Spoiler :

Map save below, thanks in advance!


edit: Never mind, can't host save because it says file is too big for some reason However, I don't think anything inside my towns will make a difference except by 2-5 gpt.

Can you guys judge what I'm doing wrong by my screenshots?

 

[psweetman1590]

Well, right off the bat, I can tell you one huge problem. You're spending 40% of your income on science (which is, if anything, lower than it ought to be in most cases), and 60% on luxeries. This is waaaaay more than you should be needing, even at war in democracy.... and you still have small cities and a gov that allows military police. Oh, and if 40% goes to science, and 60% goes to luxeries, how much is going to your treasury? What's left? 0%.

Turn that lux slider back down to 0. This will give you a very sizeable increase in money (to the order of 41 gold per turn -- what you're currently spending on luxeries). I'd advise you raise the science rate after doing so, as well.

The luxery slider should only really be used when military police and entertainers are no longer adequate. Otherwise, that money should be going into your coffers and your scientists' labs.

 

[Aabraxan]

I see clowns where I suspect tax collectors or scientists would solve any unhappiness problems.

And at 420 AD, you're still in despotism.

 

[metamike]

Exactly, because I haven't discovered Monarchy yet - which is exactly why my science is so high.

And if I drop luxury to 0% all my towns will go ka-blunk, complete revolt all over.

I guess I could to try balance it out with beakers and tax collectors....let me try.

 

[metamike]

Ok, just did what you said - and it didn't work.

Why?

1) I still don't have any other government because I'm isolated from other civs resulting in slow tech pace
2) Any attempts to put more than 1 tax/beaker in a town results in instant Shortage, because I don't have any rivers around for bonus food meaning all my tiles are no more than 2 food per tile.
2) As soon as I put the luxury meter to as low AS 50%, all of the towns except for several go into disorder.

I guess I wouldn't be having this problem if I was with another civ to advance through techs faster, and if I wasn't on Monarch

Any other suggestions?

 

[vmxa]

Note that anyone here can load a vanilla save as you have it to play any of the civ versions. No save is posted however.

Taxmen in vanilla only yield 1 gold, not the 2 as in C3C. You need to notice that you are on an island and go for tight spacing and get as many as you can on the coast.

This allows harbors to use those coast tiles and get 2 gold and 2 food. You have to not make units other than workers, at least as few as you can get away with. Not make structures that cannot pay for themselves as you have too little gold to support them.

You want to get out those suicide ships asap. You have to wait for Map in vanilla though.

 

[Apollo XI]

I think another problem, in addition to everything everyone else has mentioned is that you're producing Wealth in every city.

Wealth should not be made until MUCH later in the game (after you discover Economy), when your cities are waiting for Hospitals. Instead of producing so much Wealth, you could instead be building marketplaces or other improvements to improve your economy.

Also, I don't know what difficulty you're on (that would probably help us find the source of this mass unhappiness, since unhappiness gets worse with increasing difficulty), but, if you haven't yet, you should build improvements to increase happiness, and thus take pressure off of that luxury slider. Unless you're playing on Emperor or something, I don't know where this massive unahppiness is coming from, other than maybe a lack of happiness improvements.

I think one HUGE problem is that you have no luxuries on your island. At least from these pictures, you don't seem to have any. This is a gigantic disadvantage, and is probably why your unhappiness is so horrible that you have to rely on the luxury slider. If this is the source of the problem, I then also suggest trying to send a "suicide" ship into the ocean to desperately try to find new land or another civ.

Also, why are you building the Forbidden Palace on your own island? o_O

 

[Sashie VII]

Don't you have any luxury resources within reach nearby?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there's only one unit serving as military police per town according to your picture. Why not build more warriors for more content faces? IMO you have enough free unit support for those. Especially on island maps, spears for mp is a waste when you could have the same benefit for half the cost in shields.

I still don't have any other government because I'm isolated from other civs resulting in slow tech pace

I notice that you have map making, as Besancon have a harbour. Build some galleys and go exploring. Find new friends to trade your techs and maps with. Trade for luxuries if possible too.

Any attempts to put more than 1 tax/beaker in a town results in instant Shortage, because I don't have any rivers around for bonus food meaning all my tiles are no more than 2 food per tile.

As soon as I put the luxury meter to as low AS 50%, all of the towns except for several go into disorder.

First off, I would suggest lowering the luxury tax down a bit in your turn, and then see if you can fix those towns by assigning a specialist. Try to avoid entertainers, but if you really have to, then don't hesitate. Compare the amount of gpt you're spending when you raise the lux slider to keep all cities happy and when you raise it a little just to keep core cities happy while fixing the rest with specialists. Choose the path that will save you more gpt, and I'm guessing the latter approach

if I wasn't on Monarch

For coastal cities with harbours, working the coast gets you 1 extra gpt (although no shields, so it needs to be balanced). Monarch still offers you two content faces like regent, so it's not much different.

 

[metamike]

Hmmm...

And what improvements should I use to increase gold income other than marketplace, because I'm not there yet tech-wise.

Other than that, thanks for the help, I'm going to start over on a different map and try again

 

[Sashie VII]

And what improvements should I use to increase gold income other than marketplace, because I'm not there yet tech-wise.

Harbours, as vmxa pointed out. Water tiles give you 2gpt instead of 1 gpt for a non-river land tile.

 

[psweetman1590]

2) Any attempts to put more than 1 tax/beaker in a town results in instant Shortage, because I don't have any rivers around for bonus food meaning all my tiles are no more than 2 food per tile.

Let them starve then. A content and productive size five city is definitely better than an unruly size 8 that requires you to jack up the luxuries like that. You're ruining your economy the same way the Romans did - bread and circuses.

 

[geminisama]

I would just start a new game. I hate starting isolated like that. =/

 

[Aceman101]

I would just start a new game. I hate starting isolated like that. =/

Weakness.

Harbours, as vmxa pointed out. Water tiles give you 2gpt instead of 1 gpt for a non-river land tile.

I thought it was also an extra food per turn for coastal squares if a harbour is built.

Let them starve then. A content and productive size five city is definitely better than an unruly size 8 that requires you to jack up the luxuries like that. You're ruining your economy the same way the Romans did - bread and circuses.

I agree.

 

[drakdan]

Try searching for a training game. There's probably a few in the succession games subforum that will show you what to do. The main thing is to lower your luxury spending (60% is ridiculous) and connect more luxury resources.

For that game I'd just restart. Try a small, Pangaea map on a low difficulty.

 

[ecuwins]

^^^ That was going to be my suggestion. After following a succession game my economies have become much stronger.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193136
This is a good vanilla one to look at. You get to see some good players argue about what is the best path to take and why.

BTW on an island start like that, as soon as you realize that you are on an island like that you should beeline to Map Making then start making galleys. Send them across ocean if you have to even if it means losing some of them.

 

[Sashie VII]

I thought it was also an extra food per turn for coastal squares if a harbour is built.

That, too. I neglected to mention it as the original question was on gpt.

 

[civverguy]

If you are stuck on an island, research Map Making ASAP and send galleys to get contact.

 

[Aceman101]

This thread took forever to load - Dial up. Anyway, I think the problem is, because you had this bad Island start, you don't need any more settlers, I did notice you had a few gaps still though.

And because you aren't building settlers or workers, your cities are getting big and your citizens are getting cranky, and also you probably don't have any lux resources. Which results in you having to switch up the lux slider. and also still having science at 40%. Which means your getting bankrupt. There is no money coming out. I would get lot's of tax collectors and starve the towns down by doing that. Starve them down to about size 4-5. Maybe even lower.

So lot's of tax collectors and then build LOTS of galleys! Your going to need them. When you find an Island and can safely travel through the path to it (No point in loading boats with settlers up if your going to loose them most of the time anyway) make all the tax collectors just citizens and start build huge amounts of settlers. Your new towns on the other Island will most likely be far away which means there corrupt, this really, really sucks.

But your going to have to do it anyway. Anyway, when you filled as much land as you can possible on the other Island, use your main productive Island to start pumping out units and workers. This will solve your problem, but will take a while. I honestly wouldn't blame you if you restarted.