I picked up "Civilization III: Complete" the other day. I must admit, it all seems pretty daunting, but I'm up for the challenge. But what I want to ask is; what's the best way to learn about the game? And I mean, just enough of the basics to get started. I know that playing it is the best way to learn the intricacies. But to learn just enough to start; is there a begginers guide out there or something?
New to the game.
- Thread starter metal134
- Start date
AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
There is a tutorial mode. thats how I learned - just plopped it in, turned on tutorial, and my roman empire was off and running!!
There is a lot, yes. You can have a lot of fun without knowing anything
There is a lot, yes. You can have a lot of fun without knowing anything
You can read some of the articles in teh War Acad and or look at some of teh training SG's to get more information.
CommandoBob
AbstractArt
Welcome to the forum, metal134!
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
If you play a game or two at the Chieftain (easiest) level you'll get a feel of the game mechanics. You'll learn how to build units, enter a new age, make treaties and trade and fight with the AI. You'll build a wonder or two, expand your empire and in general run roughshod over the AI. Eventually you will get bored with Chieftain.
Bored at Chieftain ?
What I did when this happened was to play some variants. Build no wonders (capture is OK). Keep the science slider at 0% so that all techs must be acquired by trade. Try for a culture victory. Set up some settler factories.
After this got old I got bold and jumped from Chieftain to Monarch. I had Play the World (which in included in C3C), so this was a jump of several levels, like going from playing PeeWee football to playing High School football. I also got involved in the Succession Game of the Month (SGOTM) and some Training Day SGs. The SGs really helped me because they required me to focus on only a brief set of turns and what could be done in those turns.
I read through a lot of SGs to get ideas on tactics and strategies also. In the SGs are lots of discussion of the finer points of the game, which can be more educational than just being told what to do. Initial city placement, tech strategies and wonder building are typically discussed in great detail and can be a goldmine of insights.
So, if you're ready for the challenge, we're ready to help.
Quiet Sound
- This title left blank -
I also started with the tutorial and went from there. And yes, there really is a lot to know but you don't have to know it all to do okay at the lower levels. You can just kinda blunder your way through on Chieftain and come out okay. Your biggest problem will probably be insufficient military so I would suggest doing a little reading on the subject of military to familiarize yourself with what units do what. And then dive in and experiment.
The two references I would recommend are the in-game Civopedia (more accurate than the manual as the manual cannot be changed to reflect updates) and the Civilization III Complete Reference File which is the second entry at that link.
The two references I would recommend are the in-game Civopedia (more accurate than the manual as the manual cannot be changed to reflect updates) and the Civilization III Complete Reference File which is the second entry at that link.
gmaharriet
Ancient Crone
I also began with the Romans in tutorial mode. After losing my first 2 games at chieftain, I did a Google search for "Civ III Cheats" and discovered this board...best thing that ever happened to me. I learned that there really aren't any cheats to speak of for Civ, but there is tons of information in the board's War Academy. I also read all of the "Quick Questions" thread at the top of the General Discussions area, and then started reading Succession Games.
While doing all this reading, I kept playing games (or parts of games) and finally won my 3rd try at Chieftain
, and just kept going with War Lord, then Regent, and so on.
You'll find this board has the most friendly, helpful members you could possibly find anywhere. We all help each other, and we all love giving advice (translate maybe as showing off a bit with how much we know.
) Welcome to CFC!!!
While doing all this reading, I kept playing games (or parts of games) and finally won my 3rd try at Chieftain
, and just kept going with War Lord, then Regent, and so on.You'll find this board has the most friendly, helpful members you could possibly find anywhere. We all help each other, and we all love giving advice (translate maybe as showing off a bit with how much we know.
) Welcome to CFC!!!Son_Of_Dido
Prince
- Joined
- May 31, 2005
- Messages
- 315
Getting back to what Quiet Sound said about not having a big enough military, I'd like to add that if you've played Civ 1 and Civ 2, as I had before playing Civ 3, it'll probably take some getting used to as far as this. I got by with a small army in Civ1 and 2 because, hey, when you're in republic, you have to, since they require shields to support and the people get angry when they leave to attack someone. Civ3 operates totally differently and it took me a while to readjust. They're supported by gold (a much better system, I've got chronicles but I can barely go back to the old ways of shield support) and you can send 'em anywhere. Which is good because quantity is much more important in 3, which again, it took me a while to get used to that.
This is a great place for getting tips on how to tighten up your game; folks here love to show off their knowledge in a helpful way.
Sometimes I like to bounce back between playing a game for a while, then popping on here to read an article, and go back and forth, maybe with new games maybe not, basically try to read one article and then spend a game (or part of a game, first 100 turns or whatever) trying to focus on implementing what that article talked about. Then go back and repeat and repeat.
I didn't bother with Tutorial mode, but it might help.
This is a great place for getting tips on how to tighten up your game; folks here love to show off their knowledge in a helpful way.
Sometimes I like to bounce back between playing a game for a while, then popping on here to read an article, and go back and forth, maybe with new games maybe not, basically try to read one article and then spend a game (or part of a game, first 100 turns or whatever) trying to focus on implementing what that article talked about. Then go back and repeat and repeat.
I didn't bother with Tutorial mode, but it might help.
The other reason you can get by with fewer troops in II is that a single unit kills the whole stack. This was one of the biggest problems with the game.
Cracker's Opening Plays is often recommended. I also recommend the Four Rules of Wonder Addiction and the Guide to Great Wonders. I recommend those two because you'll need to learn to weigh the relative benefits of the various wonders.
Well, I started a game on Cheiftan as the Romans and it didn't take me very long to declare war on both the Americans and the Netherlands, lol. I declared war on America just for the heck of it and on the Netherlands because I had to move my warrior units through thier territory to get to America and they kept threating me. They'll probably crush me, but I not really trying to win at this point, just learn.
CommandoBob
AbstractArt
Can you post a save of the game?
AutomatedTeller
Frequent poster
yeah- Tutorial mode is really only good for learning what can be done and the mechanics. once you get that down, you just have to go with it.
I took a quick look at your save and here's what I see. First of all, check your preferences. Turn on "Always Wait at End of Turn."
It's 1200 BC and you don't have enough cities. It looks like you're playing the regicide game and maybe with accelerated production on? The first phase of the game is the expansion phase: settlers, workers and those that protect them (if necessary). You'll want to spread out fast but be careful of spacing your cities too far apart. The total area that can ever, ever, ever be worked by a city
looks like this:
uxxxu
xxxxx
xxCxx
xxxxx
uxxxu
Where C is the city, "u" is unreachable, and x is a workable tile. You'll often hear it called the "city radius" or the "fat cross." The closest cities I see are at CxxxxC, which is the maximum spacing you can have without having tiles that will never be used. Even though you didn't space Rome and Cumae any further than you did, it will be a long, long time before you can use all of your available tiles. Your other city (Antium) is spaced off even further than that.
City spacing is very important and the subject of much debate. The debate is basically: do I waste tiles for part of the game in exchange for having hugely productive cities later, OR do I make sure all available tiles are being used early, for a denser empire in which there's lots of overlap later?
As you've got your cities right now:
Honestly, I'd have at least 3-4 more cities in the area currently within your cultural boundaries.
Also, there's a Dutch warrior right next to Rome. I'd say whip a spear in Rome to scare him away. You'll lose a citizen, but you'll also lose that unhappiness problem in Rome.
You've got way too much gold for this time period. You've got >200 gold. After you whip the spear in Rome, move the slider down as far as you can while still getting mapmaking in 1 turn (that'll save you some gold). Then pick your next tech (I'd recommend math for the catapults), and crank up research as far as you can stand. Run a negative gpt to speed up research. Go talk to Joan. Sell her mapmaking & see if you can trade her out of a tech and some gold. You might also consider trying to bribe her into a war against the Dutch.
See if you can get your military units into stacks. You've got them spread out and they'll survive better and increase your kill ratio if they work in stacks.
Road the iron southeast of Rome. Hook it up to the whole empire and start building Legionaries. Then hook up the furs southwest of Rome for the happiness effect. Build more archers and warriors. You shouldn't need very many spears, if any.
Hope this helps. Good Luck.
It's 1200 BC and you don't have enough cities. It looks like you're playing the regicide game and maybe with accelerated production on? The first phase of the game is the expansion phase: settlers, workers and those that protect them (if necessary). You'll want to spread out fast but be careful of spacing your cities too far apart. The total area that can ever, ever, ever be worked by a city
looks like this:
uxxxu
xxxxx
xxCxx
xxxxx
uxxxu
Where C is the city, "u" is unreachable, and x is a workable tile. You'll often hear it called the "city radius" or the "fat cross." The closest cities I see are at CxxxxC, which is the maximum spacing you can have without having tiles that will never be used. Even though you didn't space Rome and Cumae any further than you did, it will be a long, long time before you can use all of your available tiles. Your other city (Antium) is spaced off even further than that.
City spacing is very important and the subject of much debate. The debate is basically: do I waste tiles for part of the game in exchange for having hugely productive cities later, OR do I make sure all available tiles are being used early, for a denser empire in which there's lots of overlap later?
As you've got your cities right now:
- many tiles are not currently being worked
- many tiles will not be worked for a very long time
- military units have to travel a long way across your empire to protect a city
Honestly, I'd have at least 3-4 more cities in the area currently within your cultural boundaries.
Also, there's a Dutch warrior right next to Rome. I'd say whip a spear in Rome to scare him away. You'll lose a citizen, but you'll also lose that unhappiness problem in Rome.
You've got way too much gold for this time period. You've got >200 gold. After you whip the spear in Rome, move the slider down as far as you can while still getting mapmaking in 1 turn (that'll save you some gold). Then pick your next tech (I'd recommend math for the catapults), and crank up research as far as you can stand. Run a negative gpt to speed up research. Go talk to Joan. Sell her mapmaking & see if you can trade her out of a tech and some gold. You might also consider trying to bribe her into a war against the Dutch.
See if you can get your military units into stacks. You've got them spread out and they'll survive better and increase your kill ratio if they work in stacks.
Road the iron southeast of Rome. Hook it up to the whole empire and start building Legionaries. Then hook up the furs southwest of Rome for the happiness effect. Build more archers and warriors. You shouldn't need very many spears, if any.
Hope this helps. Good Luck.
Synobun
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2006
- Messages
- 24,583
I also began with the Romans in tutorial mode. After losing my first 2 games at chieftain, I did a Google search for "Civ III Cheats" and discovered this board...best thing that ever happened to me. I learned that there really aren't any cheats to speak of for Civ, but there is tons of information in the board's War Academy. I also read all of the "Quick Questions" thread at the top of the General Discussions area, and then started reading Succession Games.
While doing all this reading, I kept playing games (or parts of games) and finally won my 3rd try at Chieftain
You'll find this board has the most friendly, helpful members you could possibly find anywhere. We all help each other, and we all love giving advice (translate maybe as showing off a bit with how much we know.
There are trainers... Those are considered cheats I suppose.
