Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Corwin of Amber]

An unrelated word of warning: if you are fighting in Democracy, keep an eye on war-weariness, and if you are offered a peace treaty, think hard before rejecting it--your citizens may revolt into Anarchy.

This is good advice. I first rejected the Celts offer because they wanted a tech to make peace. Like 75% of my Civ revolted. So I cheated and went back to a save. They didn't with the Ottoman's though. I can always switch to Monarchy if I have to. With my religious civ it only takes one or two turns to switch.

 

[Corwin of Amber]

In the Celt & Ottoman conflict, next time you might try being sneakier. Before the Celts attack sign an MPP with the Ottoman. Then when the Celts declare do not attack them on their soil until they've attacked first. Then the Ottoman will come to your aid against them not the other way around. At this time of the game, the Celtic UU (Gallic Swordsman) is a wimpy weapon, while the Ottoman UU (Siphai) is a dominant attacker.

Good tips, thanks. The Siphai has a weak defense, though, so hopefully I can catch them flatfooted and under-manned on that island where I'm trying to take the coal.

 

[Bartleby]

With my religious civ it only takes one or two turns to switch.

I'd forgotten that.

 

[Corwin of Amber]

I took that city and gained coal last night. It was real easy. I might warm up to this whole conquest thing. I gues now the plan is to fortify, crank out a bunch of workers and build railroads everywhere. And build a few more troops, some troopships, and sail over to the Ottoman empire and pound it into rubble. And/or just roll up on the Sumerians.

 

[fe3333au]

Build workgangs with enough workers to build a rail in one turn ... that really gets the trains running on time

 

[1ofmany]

Turner_727 says "Dont bother to read through the entire thread, just ask!".

Ok, Im on the fence with dedicating myself to Civ3. I played a couple rounds of the tutorial & was a bit put off with the first battle sequence I experienced. I dont think what I experienced is a good representation of combat in Civ3 [at least I hope not]. What happened was I sent a unit out to explorer the map & triggered a couple enemy AI units who I led back to my city for an engagement with a garrisoned archer. The event was, well, uneventful visually. I was surprised to see combat automated. I assumed Id have the chance to setup/manuver units in combat [ala AoW:SM].

QUESTIONS:
[1] Are combat scenes played out on a separate screen in Civ3?

[3] Is there a option to set up/control my units in combat, or is this automated once contact is made?

[2] Can you post some screens of combat in Civ3? [or links to combat screens].

Appreciated.
1ofmany

 

[The Omega]

What you see is what you get. Civ3 goes for the strategical elements of warfare, not the tactical ones. When you move a unit to attack another, you simply watch as they fight. Combat is completely automated. Basically, just think of yourself as the general, and you give orders to your divisions, who then fight on their own. Generals don't tell their troops everything to do, they just give them objectives, and tell them who to fight.

 

[Bluemofia]

The "commanders" or leaders of the unit is the one who makes the decisions tactically, hence the RNG rolls. Some decisions are good, some are bad. (And also depends on the enemy's skills.)

 

[Padma]

A common misconception among new players (and many long-time players, for that matter) is that Civ is a "wargame". It is not. It is a civilization-building experience, that naturally includes warfare as part of the process. Everything is handled only at the Strategic level. Diplomacy is abstracted. Trade is abstracted. Warfare is abstracted. Etc.

 

[1ofmany]

A common misconception among new players (and many long-time players, for that matter) is that Civ is a "wargame". It is not. It is a civilization-building experience, that naturally includes warfare as part of the process. Everything is handled only at the Strategic level. Diplomacy is abstracted. Trade is abstracted. Warfare is abstracted. Etc.

I was going to suggest the word abstract concerning several elements of gameplay. Thanks for that, I totally agree.

 

[The 777 Hoax]

I have a question. Rather dumb one. Who said there's no such things as stupid questions?

What does the (4.10.1) (or whatever numbers they are) mean... It says Germany - Despotism (or whatever civ/gov) and then it has those numbers. What do they mean?

 

[Mr David]

It shouldn't ever say (4.10.1)... I assume you were just giving an example.

Each number represents the fraction of your budget that goes towards Science, Luxury, and Tax. For example, if it said (4.3.3) it would mean that 40 percent of your budget is on science, 30 percent is on luxury, and 30 percent is going towards your income. You can change these numbers in the Domestic Advisor screen using the sliders.

Edit: Beat the buzzer!

 

[denyd]

The numbers add up to 10 and represent the distribution of your income between taxes, science & luxuries (I've probably got the order wrong).

The default is 5 for tax & 5 to science which says 50% of your uncorrupted income goes to your treasury and 50% to research.

Edit: Rats, second best on getting the answer posted

 

[The 777 Hoax]

oh, alright. thanks.

 

[Corwin of Amber]

How do I make an embassy?

The game turned interesting last night. I (big mistake) left a city near the border with Sumeria undefended. I was doing some settling on another continent where some space had opened up when the Celts destroyed the Germans. The Sumerians declared war and razed the city. On the bright side I destroyed them totally and ended up with an Army. Now the Army is shot up, how do I make it heal ASAP?

Now the Dutch and Arabians are fighting the Celts. I'm sort of a balance of power. If I turn and fight the Dutch and Arabians on my own Continent, they could have problems. Or, on the continent where I just settled a bit, which is actually much closer to my capital, the Celts have some cities that I think I could take with what I have over there. I'm still at war with the Ottomans. Their territory is really far away. I figure I'll see if they'll accept peace, I can always send in a credible threat to force the issue. They are also at war with everybody else including the Persians. So it is Dutch/Arabians/Persians against Ottomans/Celts basically. Except the Celts/Ottomans are not at peace either. So, WW. The Dutch are ahead of me on tech, and so are the Persians, but not by a whole lot. I've stayed in Democracy becuase it helps make building railroads a lot faster. Not so much trouble with revolts.

So I figure now is the time to start cherry picking Celtic cities, if I can take a lot of territory from them I could end up with 66% of the land, or just have such a huge empire that could out build whoever else is left standing. What a great game!

I'd appreciate any comments.

 

[thetrooper]

Embassy: after Writing, double-click the star-thing at your capital.

Heal army: fastest in a city with rax, fortify your army there.

 

[TimBentley]

Click the star at your capital, or I think Ctrl-E (or possibly a shift) works, or click the 'E' on the right.

The army should heal in one turn in a city with a barracks, although it would heal in 3ish turns just sitting there.

 

[Corwin of Amber]

The army should heal in one turn in a city with a barracks, although it would heal in 3ish turns just sitting there.

Thanks, I then I'll just put it on a galleon and head over to the nearby continient. By the time it gets there it should be ready for action.

When I first started this game I didn't think I wanted to ever fight. But I guess a) sometimes you have too. And b) it can still be fun.

On the fence about switching to Monarchy...I'm playing a religious civ so it would be quick. What are the pros/cons?

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

On the fence about switching to Monarchy...I'm playing a religious civ so it would be quick. What are the pros/cons?

If you are changing from despotism to Monarchy it is almost all pros.

 

[vmxa]

No reason to switch to Monarchy at this point. It is a war time government, so unless you intend to go to war and stay there, forget about it. It is less productive than Republic or Demo over all.

Demo is a tough government to be at war in and is an optional tech, so I never research it and of course never switch to it. It is meant for peace time players. You must get any war ended in less than 20, unless you have many lux hooked up.

The other problem with demo is it does not come early enough. I want to be out of despotism long before I could learn Demo. Since I distain any religious traits, I an loathed to make more than one switch.

It is a bit late now, but I would almost never head to another landmass if I had not already cleared the contient I am on. That way there is no issue of some border town being raze as there is no one there to raze it.

So where you are now calls for you to concentrate on clearing your contient. The switch to Republic is a possiblitiy, you need to have a understanding of how much WW you have now and how much more fighting is to be done.

You can stay at war with little issue in Rep if you have a some lux.