Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[r16]

ı tend to get barbarians (reload) , map (reload) , some amount of gold (reload) , tech (reload if it hurts my small wonders or if ı can get a better) , settler (can be really useful if your settlers are autoproduced) and maybe once in 3 or 6 months , a town . Which will not be optimally placed but anyhow . ı think expansionist civs can have barbarians .

 

[justanick]

Playing Russia at Monarch, Standard/Continents/70%, going for the Spaceship. Was progressing nicely, researching Code of Laws on my way to the Republic slingshot. Popping a goody hut gave me Philosophy early, which resulted in getting Code of Laws "free," forcing me to research Republic, which resulted in losing the tech lead a couple of techs later (though I think I'll regain it shortly).

In future research Philo yourself, that way you can exclude the possibility of getting it via huts, at least unless Philo is the only tech remaining that can be researched at all. Until all huts are popped, it is best to research the cheapest techs first in order to get more expensive techs from huts. Also trade for any tech you can in order to not get them from huts and get more expensive ones instead.

But AFAIK, if you pop a free tech from a hut, it will be the cheapest unresearched tech for which you have the prereqs, and Philo is pretty cheap (about a third of CoL?)

It is 10 vs 6 base points.

Tech exact tech is determined by the RNG, but cheaper techs have an increased likelyhood.

https://wiki.civforum.de/wiki/Bonushütte_(Civ3)

Or maybe it's simply because they don't pop barbs, so all those 'barb-pop slots' are filled with the other possibilities according to their basic probability-spread (which is probably on a similar scale to the above, e.g. 5%: Tech, 10%: Town, 15%: Tech, 20%: Maps, 50%: Gold)?)

Not quite. If an outcome is invalid then the RNG needs to reroll till a valid outcome occurs. This matters for nonexpansionist tribes.

Expansionist tribes however have their own table. So that is a different story.

ı think expansionist civs can have barbarians .

No.

 

[r16]

ı stick to one , militarist , scientific , commercial ... Never had a city with it . Random game with an expansionist civ a month ago , starting with a scout , to have a city , just imagine there might have been barbarians though can not swear on it ; with a provision that ı have experienced "strange" things over the years .

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Ouch! Popping Philo from a hut while you're going for the sling is the kind of 'good luck' that really isn't!

Yeah, another few turns and it would have been fine. But I had to do CoL first in order for Philosophy to give me Republic for free, so I didn't really have a chance unless I anticipated I would get a free tech - which never occurred to me. I'll have to play more Expansionist civs just for the practice, though.

I think it's more likely that having had the slingshot messed up through no fault of his own (apart from continuing to pop huts, anyway!), he had to 50-turn Republic (or close to it), during which time the AI-Civs all went for the cheaper Ancient techs, so ended up with more techs than him — possibly with some of them also just into the Medieval (which is how I read his 'losing the tech-lead').

That's basically what happened. With Marketplaces and a couple Luxes, though, I've picked up the research pace so hopefully will regain the lead. Should soon have Astronomy (IIRC from last time I played yesterday) & Copernicus'.

I don't think WJ was suggesting that he would switch to Monarchy, rather that he would research it — instead of Republic — to use as trade-bait.

Yes, that's what I meant.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

In future research Philo yourself, that way you can exclude the possibility of getting it via huts, at least unless Philo is the only tech remaining that can be researched at all. Until all huts are popped, it is best to research the cheapest techs first in order to get more expensive techs from huts. Also trade for any tech you can in order to not get them from huts and get more expensive ones instead.

I intended to research Philo myself - after CoL so I could get the rather expensive Republic for free. I was shocked at how it happened - it'd never happened to me before, getting a tech from a hut. I'll have to keep this experience in mind for future games.

 

[justanick]

I intended to research Philo myself - after CoL so I could get the rather expensive Republic for free.

I get that. But if you do that, then you need to make sure to not get Philo from a hut or research Philo first in the hope of getting CoL from a hut. The strategy needs to be consistent and playing an expansionistic tribe means that huts are your primary tool of advancing early on.

At less than Deity the probability to get a tech as an expansionistic tribe is at least 25%. Say you play at only Regent. Then the chance is 10/(4+4+4+4+10+4)=33.33% for a tech. If you cannot get a settler, then the chance for a tech increases to 10/(30-4)=38.46%. If you also cannot get a town, then the chance increases to 10/(30-4-4)=45.45%. If you also cannot get gold, then the chance increases to 10/(30-4-4-4)=55.56%.

https://wiki.civforum.de/wiki/Bonushütte_(Civ3)

 

[Samson]

If you also cannot get gold

Why would you be unable to get gold?

 

[justanick]

Why would you be unable to get gold?

You can only get gold if there is no resource on the tile of the hut:

Gold:
--The tile must not have any type of resource or luxury on it.

 

[jarred!]

That didn't translate to English well from the German wiki, since Google used 'field' instead of tile.

You won't receive the tech you're researching from a hut unless there aren't other techs you could receive. You could start research on philo after writing in hopes of getting CoL from a hut instead.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

I get that. But if you do that, then you need to make sure to not get Philo from a hut or research Philo first in the hope of getting CoL from a hut. The strategy needs to be consistent and playing an expansionistic tribe means that huts are your primary tool of advancing early on.

I'm sufficiently inexperienced playing Expansionist Civs that this whole scenario just hadn't occurred to me before. Obviously, I'll take it into account in the future. As it is, two Civs are slightly ahead of me in tech, while the others are behind, and they keep researching the dead-end techs, so there's still hope I catch up.

 

[Takhisis]

translate (…) Google

Don't. Just don't.

Why would you be unable to get gold?

Gold counts as a resource, and each tile can hold only one resource at any one time, be it classified as strategic, luxury or bonus.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Playing Babylon/Monarch/Large-80%. I still have not had contact with half the civs yet (my suicide galleys keep sinking too soon), though I know who all but one are. Is there any way to tell how I'm doing tech-wise with respect to those? I'm even or ahead of the ones I know, but two of the ones I've not yet met are Scientific (Germany and Greece), so I'm concerned about those two. I've been unsuccessful in getting CA2 to work. (I also missed the Republic slingshot, so researching that slowed me down a bit.)

 

[Takhisis]

Well, having the Great Library would help (insert evil smiley here).

The AIs tend to just give each other techs behind your back, so whenever you hear of the construction of a wonder (check the Great Wonder screen!) or spot a unit that requires a certain tech you can be sure that all the AIs in contact with the one building that wonder or unit will very likely have the required tech as well.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Well, having the Great Library would help (insert evil smiley here).

Yep, working on that one.

[W]henever you hear of the construction of a wonder (check the Great Wonder screen!)....

That was what I was looking for. I knew there was some way to figure it out a bit.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Playing Babylon/Monarch/Large-80%. I still have not had contact with half the civs yet (my suicide galleys keep sinking too soon), though I know who all but one are. Is there any way to tell how I'm doing tech-wise with respect to those? I'm even or ahead of the ones I know, but two of the ones I've not yet met are Scientific (Germany and Greece), so I'm concerned about those two. I've been unsuccessful in getting CA2 to work. (I also missed the Republic slingshot, so researching that slowed me down a bit.)

Another sneaky way to find out who the other civ's are -- but not how you're doing relative to them -- is the spaceship status screen. IIRC, there was a bug/exploit when you go to view your spaceship status (F10) and then check your competition. It will bring up a dialog box that says "we need a spy with X", "we need a spy with Y", "we need a spy with Z", but it will list the names of all the Civs, even ones you haven't met yet.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Another sneaky way to find out who the other civ's are -- but not how you're doing relative to them -- is the spaceship status screen. IIRC, there was a bug/exploit when you go to view your spaceship status (F10) and then check your competition. It will bring up a dialog box that says "we need a spy with X", "we need a spy with Y", "we need a spy with Z", but it will list the names of all the Civs, even ones you haven't met yet.

Yep, that did the trick. Thanks!

 

[iceage_va]

Hi, have been reading this and other threads since I started playing Civ3 through Steam for the first time in 15+ years. I have a couple of questions I haven’t been able to figure out.

Current game is Regent level, playing as the French. I share a continent with the Incans and Iroquois (and until this turn the Mayans but just took their last city.) I should have my choice of paths to victory at this point - I’m ahead in tech, population, land area, etc and am on good terms with almost all of the other civilizations. I’m still at war with the Iroquois and have a question about how to minimize culture flips in the newly conquered cities. I know I take a big reputation hit if I raze or starve out cities. Is there a big hit if I were to instead park a big stack of artillery outside of a city and bombard them to population 5 or 6 before taking them? That seems to be the sweet spot for minimizing culture flips but it could take a turn or two longer with a big city and if it would be faster to take the city quickly and starve them down that’s fine too. I’d like to at least keep the option for a diplomatic victory open if possible though.

To that end - I have to either go through the Incans or use a sea invasion to get to the last Iroquois cities. I don’t think a right of passage is an option - in fact they’ve given ROP to the Iroquois so I’ve dealt with a stream of attacks through their territory. Am I better off sucking it up and taking out the Incans too? I’m stronger than they are by far. Question is how much of a diplo hit do I take by starting another war because with my relative strength it will be hard to get them to start it? Other civs are all polite or better except for the Aztecs at annoyed.

Sorry, long question for a new guy.

 

[Samson]

Hi, have been reading this and other threads since I started playing Civ3 through Steam for the first time in 15+ years. I have a couple of questions I haven’t been able to figure out.

Current game is Regent level, playing as the French. I share a continent with the Incans and Iroquois (and until this turn the Mayans but just took their last city.) I should have my choice of paths to victory at this point - I’m ahead in tech, population, land area, etc and am on good terms with almost all of the other civilizations. I’m still at war with the Iroquois and have a question about how to minimize culture flips in the newly conquered cities. I know I take a big reputation hit if I raze or starve out cities. Is there a big hit if I were to instead park a big stack of artillery outside of a city and bombard them to population 5 or 6 before taking them? That seems to be the sweet spot for minimizing culture flips but it could take a turn or two longer with a big city and if it would be faster to take the city quickly and starve them down that’s fine too. I’d like to at least keep the option for a diplomatic victory open if possible though.

To that end - I have to either go through the Incans or use a sea invasion to get to the last Iroquois cities. I don’t think a right of passage is an option - in fact they’ve given ROP to the Iroquois so I’ve dealt with a stream of attacks through their territory. Am I better off sucking it up and taking out the Incans too? I’m stronger than they are by far. Question is how much of a diplo hit do I take by starting another war because with my relative strength it will be hard to get them to start it? Other civs are all polite or better except for the Aztecs at annoyed.

Sorry, long question for a new guy.

First, welcome to CFC

My strategy is almost always to starve the city down to size 1, perhaps while building a worker or 2. I did not think this caused a diplo hit, but ICBW. I do not think bombarding them would cause a hit, but I am not willing to take the extra turns and so extend the war. The other main strategies is to put lots of units in the city, but this is dangerous as you lose them if it does flip, or keep a few units around to recapture it if if flips.

If you want a detailed answer about attitude there is an article in the war academy. My opinion is that military strength if far more important than attitude (unless you are going for a diplo win) so I do not worry about making war when it is in my interest. The options I would be looking at would be wiping out the Incan's and anyone else I can, or looking at the stream of Iroquois units not as something to be sucked up but as a opportunity for leader farming. If you arrange your units right, they will keep coming in the same spot (perhaps near that city that you have left intentionally empty, to attract them) and you can use your arty to bombard, then your elite units to pick off the redlined units.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Hi, have been reading this and other threads since I started playing Civ3 through Steam for the first time in 15+ years. I have a couple of questions I haven’t been able to figure out.

Current game is Regent level, playing as the French. I share a continent with the Incans and Iroquois (and until this turn the Mayans but just took their last city.) I should have my choice of paths to victory at this point - I’m ahead in tech, population, land area, etc and am on good terms with almost all of the other civilizations. I’m still at war with the Iroquois and have a question about how to minimize culture flips in the newly conquered cities. I know I take a big reputation hit if I raze or starve out cities. Is there a big hit if I were to instead park a big stack of artillery outside of a city and bombard them to population 5 or 6 before taking them? That seems to be the sweet spot for minimizing culture flips but it could take a turn or two longer with a big city and if it would be faster to take the city quickly and starve them down that’s fine too. I’d like to at least keep the option for a diplomatic victory open if possible though.

To that end - I have to either go through the Incans or use a sea invasion to get to the last Iroquois cities. I don’t think a right of passage is an option - in fact they’ve given ROP to the Iroquois so I’ve dealt with a stream of attacks through their territory. Am I better off sucking it up and taking out the Incans too? I’m stronger than they are by far. Question is how much of a diplo hit do I take by starting another war because with my relative strength it will be hard to get them to start it? Other civs are all polite or better except for the Aztecs at annoyed.

Sorry, long question for a new guy.

1. Minimizing flips: The math for predicting cultural flips is complex. I also play at Regent level, so I usually follow @Samson 's advice and starve the city down to population 1, set that to a specialist (who are always content). Then I read this post by @Puppeteer last year, about setting the city governor in the new city to "Manage Moods." https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...disorder-automation-fix.658077/#post-15766100 I set the building or unit I want the city to produce, let them manage moods, and leave one unit in it to prevent a stray enemy unit from just walking in. I have not had any flips since trying it.
2. Diplomatic hit: Having an AI "Annoyed" or "Furious" with you after the Middle Ages is only relevant if you're hoping for a UN victory, or need to trade with them for a particular resource. I usually don't worry too much about their attitudes, since I rarely go for UN victory. If you're stronger / more advanced than they are, consider why you want to wipe out the Iroquois. If you're going for domination, you will want to crush the Incans anyway. The other AIs will still trade with you at "Cautious", though they may charge more for their luxury item. I have found that they will usually trade a luxury for a tech (that I have and they don't), which buys you 20 turns. If you're staying well ahead of them in tech, you can sell them another tech 20 turns later for the same luxury.

What you will want to watch is your trade *reputation*, whether you've broken your word on a treaty. It's easy to break and very hard / impossible to repair.

Start the second war, or don't, based on your current economy, your army size and position, and whether you have any current trades with Inca that you want to preserve.

 

[tjs282]

I know I take a big reputation hit if I raze or starve out cities.

Razing, or abandoning foreign cities within 20 turns after capture (thus spake @justanick), causes an attitude hit, yes (AI-attitude to you moves closer to Furious). However, imposing starvation, even down to Pop1, does not (AFAIK, YMMV, etc.).

The other AIs will still trade with you at "Cautious", though they may charge more for their luxury item.

They'll still trade with you at Furious, if you have a Tech or Resource they want badly enough!

Trade reputation is separate from AI-attitude, though.

It's true that Luxes do tend to get (much) more expensive as the game progresses, but that is usually because your Civ (specifically, your population) is getting bigger and Marketplaces are being built, rather than due to any drop in AI-attitude (although the latter does also tend to go hand-in-hand with you making your Civ bigger!).

But by the time you own half the world, even a Gracious AI will still charge you a couple of limbs for your 6th, 7th or 8th Luxes.