Newbie Question: Razing, Gov, victory strategy?

[lazarus319l]

So I'm new to CIV III and playing my first game on Reagent to get the hang/feel of the game before moving up. Have a few questions and have seen some responses on here already but at the same time some seem to be conflicting one another. I play CIV III Complete (whatever version that is)

1.) When is it good to raze a city or not raze a city? Initally I razed 1 city and all the AI players hated me for it. 1000 years later and all the CIVs are still furious with me.

2.) Is it better to completly wipe out a civilization or try for peace, assuming no WW. I settled for peace with a couple CIV's and they still tried to move a SOD deep into my territory, declaring war when i asked them to leave.

3.) If you are playing a game with no distinct/obvious plan for victory (culture, dominance, space ship) what's the best form of government. I played facism and did fine in war but my culture suffered. I switched to Demo but was attacked and the WW made all my cities useless. My corruption seems to be off the charts too, not sure if that's just a fact of CIV or something I can do besides court houses and police stations, which don't seem to have too much effect.

4.) Is it best to go into the game with a specific victory in mind and stick too it? It seems like I went into this game aiming for culture but the AI has constantly been dog piling me every 20 turns or so...

5.) Ok last one...protecting your borders. Is it best to keep your troops in a base to make citizens content (monarch, comi, facism, etc) or simply pile them along your border to prevent people from entering your territory. Seems like a good idea with pinch points but with a large territory, you'd need to have tons of troops out of bases to have a good size wall/


Sorry for the lengthy post but all the FAQ's and articles seem to have such conflicting information I can't seem to tell what works without trying it out.

 

[Bartleby]

Welcome to CFC! I hope the following is helpful:
1) Raze vs. capture depends on the strength of your culture. If the AI has more culture than you, generally razing is better to avoid the risk of cities flipping back. Don't worry about the other AI's attitudes unless you want to win by UN vote.
2) If you can, I'd wipe them out. If they're already mad at you they will almost always declare war if you try to boot them out.
3) Republic is the best government for most games, unless you're always at war.
4) Generally, yes. Have a goal and stay focussed. If you want to win by culture, you still need to build enough military to stop them from attacking you.
5) Defend border cities (preferably with fast-moving offensive units) to deter invasions. If you're in Republic, you don't get miltary police for happiness.

 

[anaxagoras]

In the middle of posting when Bartleby's answer came up. Yeah, like what he said!

 

[lazarus319l]

Thanks for the response...so republic is best one...what about WW? Just boast the luxury slider and get tons of luxuries in general to quell unhappy people?

 

[Aabraxan]

Don't forget that marketplaces increase the effectiveness of luxuries. In Republic, fight short, oscillating wars. Use artillery to keep your losses low.

Other than that, you pretty much summed it up:

...Just boast the luxury slider and get tons of luxuries in general to quell unhappy people?

 

[anaxagoras]

Thanks for the response...so republic is best one...what about WW? Just boost the luxury slider and get tons of luxuries in general to quell unhappy people?

Yes. A common newbie mistake is not to use the lux slider. Remember it is proportional (calculated as a percentage in each city). So big cities will use more money to make happy faces, which is exactly what you need, of course. That the short-term solution. Longer term, pile up the luxury resources and build marketplaces to multiply the effects.

 

[lazarus319l]

Thanks for the response...so republic is best one...what about WW? Just boast the luxury slider and get tons of luxuries in general to quell unhappy people?

 

[Snarkhunter]

Thanks for the response...so republic is best one...what about WW? Just boast the luxury slider and get tons of luxuries in general to quell unhappy people?

Don't lose cities, don't lose units. I give away cities to other civs rather than lose them, if there's a good chance of it, & other players do the same. Don't send isolated units out after wounded ducks; you just give the AI a shot at taking out a unit. Keep yourself stacked when fighting. Use plenty of whatever passes for arty during your age: cats, trebs, cannons, etc. And I do mean plenty: 8-20 units per stack, depending on how much opposition there is & how advanced it is techwise. Try to keep units in your territory as much as possible--you do have to advance into enemy ground to take cities, but don't advance just for the sake of advancing. By the same token, get rid of enemies on your ground.

Best of all, get yourself some war happiness by getting the AI to declare on you instead of vice versa, preferably with its units on your turf. this will offset WW for a while.

But most important--don't lose cities! 3 or 4 turns of losing cities each turn will have a drastic effect on WW.

It's been said that you can't fight long wars in Republic, but I find I can usually manage at least 20 turns without much trouble, unless I have no luxes, & 20 turns is usually enough to take out any AI, or at least reduce it to no-longer-a-problem status. If you do leave an AI up, remember that it will take a considerable number of turns to reduce WW to the point you can fight that particular AI again, or else WW picks up right where it left off.

kk