Please give strategies to someone who is really BAD at this game

[Hooray]

Yeah, I suck at Civ3 so very much. I can do somewhat well on Chieftain level, but anything higher I get owned by the AI.

I'm just looking for some general tips to at least stay even with the AI on any level. I'm tired of them always building cities faster than I do, and gaining technologies faster than I do.

 

[betazed]

Hooray, I think first thing you should do is go through the war academy articles on the civ fanatics site. At least in the beginning it will do you more good than any tips & strategies that you will find here.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Yes, I agree with betazed.

You could read Tutorial: Babylon's Deity Settlers and Cracker's Civ3 Opening Plays Site for instance.
I think they're great articles. They tell you very well how to expand quickly. And the initial expansion is very important, the most important part of the game.
Most people who have difficulties playing at the higher levels also build too few workers. After the initial expansion you should build enough workers to improve your land quickly. Ideally you should never use an unimproved landsquare with one of your cities.
If the workers really have nothing to do anymore, then you can still add them to the cities again.

Good luck with your next game

 

[Hooray]

All right, thanks a lot. I read a few of the articles in the War Academy section, but had yet to find anything too helpful. I'll be sure to read more of them.

 

[ivory]

This is an interesting post elsewhere on this forum by MadScot about a settler factory: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?postid=1003192#post1003192. It explains in a few, clear words how a city can build a settler every four turns. Then all other cities can build up your military, and perhaps a Wonder on the side, so the AI won't get the impression that you are weak or culturally impaired. Hope that heps.

 

[Inter4]

practice, practice and a lot more practice....that's how I learned to play this game

 

[amirsan]

Same here. Its been one whole year sinse I got the game and one year later Im beating Emperor (as you know; not Diety (yet) )

 

[amirsan]

BTW, for like the half of the time I was playing civ I was not looking in the Strats in this website, so it may be a little faster for you to learn the game around all these skilled players .

 

[Kaiser_Berger]

My adivice is:

1. Keep playing. If you can beat Chieftain, move up. You should be playing on a level that is challenging if you truly want to improve.

2. Hang out around here, listen to veteran players, pick up on their strategies, and it will all come in time. You may also want to consider trying the Game of the Month or the Tournament when it starts again.

 

[gladius]

Read Succession Games in this site to see how veteran players play.

It really helped me a lot; within a month I moved from Chieftain to Emperor (now playing, no probs with Monarch).

 

[conehead234]

i used to get owned. Then I tried warlord again and again and I finally won. Now i am working on regent

 

[theGhost]

how do you get owned?:
do they run you over with troops?
do they expand into your territory?
do they culture flip you?
do they leave you behind in the tech dust?
it generally depends on what the problem is. if youre stuck with all of the above, then you should start low, and be agressive (expanding, troops, etc.)

 

[Pal {UI}]

I actually find chieftan quite hard to play in some ways because I get bored! The tech pace is sooo slow and trading takes ages because the AI never builds its infrastructure fast enough.

I suggest bumping up the difficulty a bit and just playing to 0bc for a few quick games. You will know by then whether you are going to get anywhere in the game.

Finally, as Roland says, build workers. At least one per city, and then link up every city and then improve every tile that is being worked.

 

[Hooray]

After studying a few War Academy articles, reading a few threads here, and playing several more games (mostly incomplete, though) on Chieftain and Warlord I feel confident to move up to higher levels.
In my latest game as the Indians, I managed to destroy about half of the other civs before I got a cultural victory. No one even stood a chance against me, so I decided I shouldn't be playing Chieftain anymore.

I'm now on Regent playing as the Aztecs (I needed a Religious civ, and I wanted their Jaguar Warriors for early exploration). I've been doing pretty well so far, but I'm starting to fall behind in technology. I think I need to learn to trade better.

 

[Gainy]

When i was learning the game, i didnt know about Civfanatics. I "Think", you would do better if you just went and played the game in loads of different ways. Thus you could develop your own strategies. Then once you have beaten... lets say regent(a few times) you should start reading the articles here on Civfanatics. This way you would understand them better.
I've found this to be pretty good/useful - (learning wise).

But by all means, you should ask questions on the newbie thread if you are unsure about anyhting. I learned alot this way

Good luck

 

[Alki]

I think that a good start is imperative. I'm playing Monarch now and know that if I get a bad start I might as well start again. Get contact, trading techs, exploring etc. as early as possible.

I usually have dedicated cities, one or two to produce settlers, one or two with a barracks producing my military(not growing or growing very slowly) and I usually have two producing wonders.

Oh, and did I mention exploration?