Newbie to Civ 3. Numerous Questions for perfecting early game play

[WeirdoJoker]

No, the dromon has lethal bombardment, not enslavement. Personally, I prefer the lethal bombardment.

Crap. Memory's the second thing to go...

 

[justanick]

Or decline tribute and let the AI send sacrifices your way....

There are times when that is convenient. But it is more likely the other way. When you are ready for war AI is less likely to risk war. A human plyer should become a developed republic first and wage war only after that. That is of course assuming that there is a reasonable amount of land that can be aquired using just settlers. If war is inevitable, then war has to be waged earlier than convenient.

 

[Aabraxan]

So here is the save from restart. I used archers to attack in stack as was recommended since I was military and industrious. I think I am stronger....

I started with the 1000 BC save, and from what I can see, I don't really need to go back to the 3000 BC save.

I see 7 cities, including one named Hattusas! 3 archers (2 elites and a vet) and a spear are ready to move on Hattusha. Very nice indeed.

You're 3 techs up on Mursi, and Henry is willing to trade you Math (which you're currently researching) for Philo. I'd take it for the cats, but it's not critical. Mursi is up MM, but he's not willing to give it for peace yet.

Mursi is down to 2 cities, Henry has 3 and your military advisor says you're strong compared to both of them.

Gold is at +0, but you're not in the negative. That will resolve itself with expansion. Happens to me all the time in the early days of a Republic.

You have horses and spices hooked up and a worker roading the iron. Note that if you roaded to your empire, you could then sacrifice a worker to build an outpost to claim the iron. It costs a worker, but it's instantaneous. Outposts are only available outside your borders, but if you build one, then settle next to it, the outpost disappears, leaving the resource roaded (I'm pretty sure).

I see a settler on the move. Where's he going? Be careful about unescorted settlers. I've had many killed by barbs or the AI over the years.

You're in good shape.

Watch Hittite units to be sure they don't poach any of your workers. Be careful of settlers without escorts. You have barbs around.

I'd swap Canton to a rax. I haven't run the #s, but I'll bet it finishes with the chop S of it. Building veteran units is important.

Take Hattusha. Settle near the iron. Hook up the wines and iron. Keep expanding and push everyone else out of the way.

Oh, and you have another neighbor.

...Interestingly AI (Portugal and Hittites both) place a city next to Beijing same place each time and then they get annoyed with me....

Handy hint: The AI knows where all the resources are, even when you can't see them. This will sometimes drive its settlement. If you see the AI sending a unit halfway around the world to settle a 2-tile desert island, and it does it repeatedly (as in after you've destroyed its city there), there's a reason.

 

[tjs282]

You have horses and spices hooked up and a worker roading the iron. Note that if you roaded to your empire, you could then sacrifice a worker to build an outpost to claim the iron. It costs a worker, but it's instantaneous. Outposts are only available outside your borders, but if you build one, then settle next to it, the outpost disappears, leaving the resource roaded (I'm pretty sure).

Colony, not Outpost, but yes to everything else.

In general, in the early game when Workers are still scarce, building Colonies is very situational, though.

It's usually preferable to obtain a resource by Settlement on that resource, or by roading through the tile and then Settling beyond it to get the resource inside your borders. So a Colony is really only worthwhile if for some reason you can't do that, e.g. for a coastal Mountain out on a corner of your continent, more than, say, one Cultural expansion away from your nearest town. You also need to consider how easily/ quickly you'll be able to replace the lost Worker, and/or get a new Worker out to where the old one was.

So I'd only consider dropping a Colony if I can replace the Worker in (significantly) fewer turns than simply roading to the resource-tile and Settling on/beyond it would have required, e.g. a Gems- or Iron-Mountain would require 1+9 turns to road (if not Industrious), so dropping a Colony on such a tile just beyond my borders might be sensible. But a Horse on a Plains tile would likely not be worth Colonising.

 

[Aabraxan]

Colony, not Outpost, but yes to everything else.

That's what I get for posting before coffee.

In general, in the early game when Workers are still scarce, building Colonies is very situational, though.

It's usually preferable to obtain a resource by Settlement on that resource, or by roading through the tile and then Settling beyond it to get the resource inside your borders. So a Colony is really only worthwhile if for some reason you can't do that, e.g. for a coastal Mountain out on a corner of your continent, more than, say, one Cultural expansion away from your nearest town. You also need to consider how easily/ quickly you'll be able to replace the lost Worker, and/or get a new Worker out to where the old one was.

So I'd only consider dropping a Colony if I can replace the Worker in (significantly) fewer turns than simply roading to the resource-tile and Settling on/beyond it would have required, e.g. a Gems- or Iron-Mountain would require 1+9 turns to road (if not Industrious), so dropping a Colony on such a tile just beyond my borders might be sensible. But a Horse on a Plains tile would likely not be worth Colonising.

Agreed on all counts. I just didn't know if @ArenE was even aware of colonies.

 

[Aabraxan]

....Colony, not Outpost, but yes to everything else.....building Colonies is very situational, though....

I will add that I would likely colonize the iron in this situation. Being able to quickly put a few swords into that stack of archers and spears would be awfully nice.

 

[ArenE]

Thank you all! I definitely did not know about colonies. That helps getting luxuries faster especially when they are so far away.

It seems AI cheats a lot too. Please correct me if I am wrong. Ex. I had veteran swordsman (and Elite horseman) next to a Portugal city on a hill and yet it did not attack. When my elite Archer came closer to that city on a hill 1 turn away on another hill and when I moved veteran swordsman to cover my archer they attacked with regular swordsman against veteran with hill defense and easily destroyed him.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

It seems AI cheats a lot too. Please correct me if I am wrong. Ex. I had veteran swordsman (and Elite horseman) next to a Portugal city on a hill and yet it did not attack. When my elite Archer came closer to that city on a hill 1 turn away on another hill and when I moved veteran swordsman to cover my archer they attacked with regular swordsman against veteran with hill defense and easily destroyed him.

This is one of the reasons why I tend not to make war unless I feel at least moderately certain of victory. If evenly matched, I don't seem able to win many battles.

 

[Aabraxan]

Thank you all! I definitely did not know about colonies. That helps getting luxuries faster especially when they are so far away.

It seems AI cheats a lot too. Please correct me if I am wrong. Ex. I had veteran swordsman (and Elite horseman) next to a Portugal city on a hill and yet it did not attack. When my elite Archer came closer to that city on a hill 1 turn away on another hill and when I moved veteran swordsman to cover my archer they attacked with regular swordsman against veteran with hill defense and easily destroyed him.

Lots of people have thought that the AI cheats in battle, so much so that there's a "spear vs. tank" smiley.



I'm not convinced that it cheats. It just calculates the odds well. Fight enough battles and you'll have a spear beat a tank, too. In your case, it was your elite archer (5/5, 1 defense (with a defensive shot?)) being attacked by a sword (3/3, attack 3). In spite of the 5 HP, it's not a huge surprise that he was destroyed.

 

[ArenE]

I'm not convinced that it cheats. It just calculates the odds well. Fight enough battles and you'll have a spear beat a tank, too. In your case, it was your elite archer (5/5, 1 defense (with a defensive shot?)) being attacked by a sword (3/3, attack 3). In spite of the 5 HP, it's not a huge surprise that he was destroyed.

Archer was on a hill with veteran swordsman on that hill. The swordsman 4 HP was destroyed. They did not attack the hill elite horseman + veteran swordsman but attacked when I moved veteran swordsman to cover the archer. I had moved Elite spearman to cover the elite horseman. Oh well. You might be very well right - it calculates the odds well. Makes sense about spear and tank. Use to happen in Civ 1 a lot (long time being played) warrior destroying battleship (if my memory has not completely failed me.)

 

[ArenE]

Is it possible to unload units in armies after units have been added? It does not seem to give me the option. I tried it in the field and city but no unload option or changing units option.

 

[Aabraxan]

No. Loading a unit into an army is permanent.

 

[ArenE]

No. Loading a unit into an army is permanent.

The is it worth it do disband an army for shields?

 

[Aabraxan]

That would depend on the army. A sword army, maybe. A modern armor army, no. With that said, and to the best of my recollection, the AI doesn't cope with armies very well, at least up until bombers. It won't generally attack them, so even a very old army can be awfully useful as either a pillager or as cover for your cannons and artillery.

 

[ArenE]

Thank you. I had created army from Medical infantry while I was waiting for Riders thinking I could later switch.
Might as well keep going with it.

 

[vmxa]

The AI will not attack an army with def 3 units, IOW knights or better as long as they are not redlined. Bombers lets them redline armies. Early armies with say AC or swords will be attacked, once the have attackers like cavs. Try not to stop on coastal tiles as they will bombard or next to towns, unless you know they do not have bombardment units, in position (can reach the army).

 

[md4]

I'm not convinced that it cheats.

I'm fairly convinced that, at the very least, it trolls. A pattern that I have noticed since playing again is that I always lose at least 1 HP in naval battles, no matter what. Cruiser attacking a Frigate? Cruiser takes damage. Every time. Submarine picking off a transport ship? Submarine limps away, victorious, but in need of a dry dock.

 

[ArenE]

I have noticed that clearing the jungle takes 16 turns with my industrious worker or captured enemy worker. But captured workers take "forever" to build improvements (road, irrigation etc) but with my workers roads (2T) irrigation (3T). So I have started using captured workers tc clear jungle and my workers to build improvements. Is there more to this that I am missing?

Also what determines when a captured city will flip back to original. I had a medieval army (low health), 1 elite spearman 5HP, 2 riders 2 & 3HP and 1 resister. It flipped next turn after capture and I lost all my units.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

I'm curious about this as well. A couple times I've had a captured city flip back even after the war is over and everyone is happy. Or even a culture counter-flip (i.e., back & forth).

 

[ArenE]

I built military academy in Beijing and now have 3 calvary in Beijing but I cannot build an army. I thought you can build army without leader with military academy. No load buttons visible! Am I wrong? or Missing something?