Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[The Communard]

Thanks for the invite Sticky. I went to the FAQ, which as an English type, I found well-written. The only problem was the link(s) to download RAR ended up with "page not found." I repeat, I am experiencing no other computer problems. I would love to dive into RAR this weekend, but I obviously need help, to say the least.

The Communard

 

[Simpson17866]

Thanks everyone!

That said, if I'm planning to invade with Horses/Knights, and I get an MGL early enough, I quite like to build an 8-10HP defensive Army to cover my stack(s) in transit.

Intriguing: high defense, crazy health, able to keep up with a massive stack of speed/offense units.

I'm actually starting to wonder if the copies of C3 and C3Complete* that I used to use were glitched editions: I don't remember ever once getting a military leader in all the years that I used to play, so I never bothered thinking about armies as something to specifically plan for like this.

Was that just the stupidest accident of probability that anybody here has ever seen, or was it an actual thing that's also happened to other people?

*second question: are there different acronyms on this site for C3 Complete and C3 Conquests?

 

[justanick]

Armies are a very common thing once you have enough enemies to generate some MGL. In fact at higher settings chances are that you get much more MGL than you can use for armies. You need a full 4 cities for each army. Some armies consist of outdated units, those may be disbanded, but in the end the limit is just around the corner.

*second question: are there different acronyms on this site for C3 Complete and C3 Conquests?

C3C refers to Conquests. It is the most modern version, Civ3 Complete contains "lesser" versions aswell.

 

[tjs282]

Intriguing: high defense, crazy health, able to keep up with a massive stack of speed/offense units.

I'm actually starting to wonder if the copies of C3 and C3Complete* that I used to use were glitched editions: I don't remember ever once getting a military leader in all the years that I used to play, so I never bothered thinking about armies as something to specifically plan for like this.

Was that just the stupidest accident of probability that anybody here has ever seen, or was it an actual thing that's also happened to other people?

MGLs aren't common.

According to the FAQ, the probability of spawning an MGL is around 1/16, i.e. after 100 elite-victories against AI-troops (Barb-kills don't spawn MGLs), you could expect to have gained ~6 MGLs. (Spawn-probability goes up to 1/12 if you've built the Heroic Epic -- but for that you need to have won a battle using an Army, i.e. you already got your first MGL). But like much else in Civ, MGL-spawns are based on a (pseudo)random-number draw, meaning that you could also end up with (many) more or (far) fewer than that. So while it's unlikely, it is still possible that you never got any MGLs at all, even over the course of multiple games -- but especially if you always tended to play low-level and/or peaceful games.

If you want to improve your chances of getting MGLs, you basically have to aim to get as many units as possible up to elite status. Getting elites happens sooner if you build vet-units out of Barracks-towns, and/or engage in 'Barb-farming', where you leave a corner of land fogged over in order to spawn barb-huts to give your reg- and vet-units more combat-experience. Once you've got your elites, they should if possible only be used for 'easy' fights vs AICiv-units (e.g. A=3 vs D=1). Fast-units are also preferable for this purpose (e.g. eKnights vs. rLBMs), since they can run away if they get redlined before their victim does, so you can heal them and send them back into battle later.

And then you just have to get lucky...

 

[Simpson17866]

but especially if you always tended to play low-level and/or peaceful games.

Point taken

 

[EMan]

With regard to defensive games, which you probably will have no choice but to endure at Sid level, I recall that a defending Elite unit that survived 2 battles in the same turn had a high frequency of producing a Military Great Leader!?.........Did I just dream that or have other players had the same experience?

 

[darski]

With regard to defensive games, which you probably will have no choice but to endure at Sid level, I recall that a defending Elite unit that survived 2 battles in the same turn had a high frequency of producing a Military Great Leader!?.........Did I just dream that or have other players had the same experience?

The RNG gods hate me so my elite units are more likely to die (more so than non-elites) than to spawn leaders. I find elites to be complete sissies.

I have on occasion gotten leaders from elites but rarely.

I do realize that this is entirely my games and not general to Civ.

 

[justanick]

With regard to defensive games, which you probably will have no choice but to endure at Sid level, I recall that a defending Elite unit that survived 2 battles in the same turn had a high frequency of producing a Military Great Leader!?.........Did I just dream that or have other players had the same experience?

You just dreamed that.

If a unit has won a fight(=enemy destroyed) without being promoted, than any further win in the same turn will promote the unit. So if a drafted MechInf is being attacked 4 times in the interturn and destroys all attackers it is guaranteed to promote 3 times and ends up being elite.

The promotion from Elite to Elite* works different. It only works for land units, only vs. regular civs and only while not having any leader and it works twice as good at attack than at defence. Chances are 1/16 or 1/12 at attack and 1/32 or 1/24 at defence.

http://wiki.civforum.de/wiki/Erfahrungsstufen_(Civ3)

 

[Buttercup]

The most frustrating part of trying to get Military leaders out of defensive units is that if the AI calculates that a defence is too hard, ie: a defence that would be good enough to generate a leader, then it simply wont attack, it'll just march around in circles or fortify in the locale. This is the main reason why getting an MGL from defensive units on the lower to mid levels is such a wild goose chase.

 

[rah]

Hey, I found the disk cleaning up and thought I'd give it another try with all the fixes since many said it fixed the game. What's the secret to get it to run under win7. I installed but get a quick spin when launching but nothing. I tried xp sp3 compatibility like for IV but nothing.

 

[Takhisis]

Except in those cases in which you use your Spearmen to pick off wounded Horsemen/Archers/Warriors.

OR, of course, when you have Carthage's giant death mercenaries.

 

[Simpson17866]

OR, of course, when you have Carthage's giant death mercenaries.

Those were always fun Maybe not as cheap as a Hoplite, but a lot cheaper than a Hoplite + Archer.

Plus there was always something that felt so ridiculously powerful about the syllables "Numidian Mercenary" rolling off the tongue.

Come to think of it: would it be worth it from a tactical perspective to keep a massive number of weak units in a city so that it takes a smaller number of strong enemy units a longer time to kill them all, giving you more turns to build stronger units to fight off the invaders, or is it always better to just start with a comparable number of stronger units? NVM, can't think of a situation where you wouldn't want strong defense units to protect the strong offense units.

 

[Takhisis]

If you have improductive terrain, holding off Iron can be effective. You can get Spearmen to defend your Longbowmen in the early Middle Ages, and if you're playing the Mongols, Indians or Iroquois your cavalry can be devastating as well.

 

[tjs282]

Hey, I found the disk cleaning up and thought I'd give it another try with all the fixes since many said it fixed the game. What's the secret to get it to run under win7. I installed but get a quick spin when launching but nothing. I tried xp sp3 compatibility like for IV but nothing.

This is likely to have something to do with a security update to Windows (Vista to 10) that rolled out late last year. With any luck, something in the linked thread will help you to sort out whatever specific problem you're having with getting Civ3 to run.

 

[Buttercup]

Except in those cases in which you use your Spearmen to pick off wounded Horsemen/Archers/Warriors.

OR, of course, when you have Carthage's giant death mercenaries.

OR, of course, when you have the Gallic giant death Swordsmen:

 

[Simpson17866]

OR, of course, when you have the Gallic giant death Swordsmen

I personally always raced for the Statue of Zeus, but yes, 3/2/2 in the Ancient Age would always be terrifying with or without the bonus hit point.

Oh, one more thing I don't remember: can catapults... bombard from aboard a ship?

 

[Takhisis]

No, catapults cannot bombard and they wouldn't be able to even if they were marked as amphibious.

As for your Gallic Swordsmen, they can be slaughtered by a few Horsemen, which are cheaper, and they require Iron and cost more than the regular Swordsman. They've been really nerfed.

 

[Simpson17866]

Got it, thanks again

 

[justanick]

As for your Gallic Swordsmen, they can be slaughtered by a few Horsemen, which are cheaper, and they require Iron and cost more than the regular Swordsman. They've been really nerfed.

Still they are more efficient than Knights. Imo the Gallic Swordsmen should not be in the upgrade path towards MedInf, but towards Knights. It should be Horsemen -> Gallics -> Knights -> Cavalry.

 

[Takhisis]

Oh, definitely. A 3-2-2 for 40 shields should upgrade to a 4-3-2 for 70 shields. Otherwise you lose the mobility bonus and have a 0-shield upgrade… and also, since the Swordsmen are the élite, obviously they should be upgraded into the élite of the period, so it would be in character.