Should it be like this?

[Randybvain]

Hello! I play Civ 3 1.22 and some things do not seem to be OK.

Firstly, on the Warrior level and above, the capital tends to have only one or two shield production. It is not because of the corruption but because the program chooses only tiles with food. Focusing on Production on the Governor screen does not make increase it. If I turn the Governor off and click on the tiles that would produce the shields, there is not enough food and the population decrease, or there is the disorder. So the capital covers two tills at most and does not grow any further.

With such a low production, when I finally manage to built my first Settler, it is already 20 turns in game, AIs have already four or five cities each and attack me, and having only one Warrior means that I am soon defeated I can survive a bit longer on big maps, when I can build more cities before they find me.

Is there something that I could do to win at the Warrior level?

 

[vorlon_mi]

Hello, and welcome to CFC!

Yes, even at Warlord level, the game of Civ 3 starts slowly. Your capital will produce a few shields per turn, so most players begin by building a warrior or two first. You must let the city grow to size 3 before it can produce a settler. When a settler is produced, the population of the city is reduced by 2, from 3 down to 1. It can happen that you have produced enough shields to build the settler, but have not grown enough so that the production stalls.
Yes, it may feel slow, but it will take 10s of turns to build things (granaries, barracks, swordsmen) in the early game.
As you're learning, use a standard size map and standard game speed.

One of the key skills you will want to develop is managing your worker during those first turns. Your city can grow, and produce more commerce and shields, as your worker improves the tiles around your capital. Irrigated tiles produce more food, meaning that your city grows to size 3 or 4 more quickly. Putting a mine on a grassland, especially a bonus grassland, will give you more shields per turn.

My first set of tips are these:
* improve the tiles around your capital. Build roads on all the tiles
* build a couple warriors first, and send them out to explore the territory around you
* read some of the "beginners guides" over in the Strategy and Tips forums to learn about growing your cities and which buildings you really need (and which ones you don't)

 

[tjs282]

It is not because of the corruption but because the program chooses only tiles with food. Focusing on Production on the Governor screen does not make increase it.

The governor will only assign a newborn citizen to a shield-rich tile, if the town is making at least 3-4 food net before growth, and will still net at least +2 food even when the shield-rich tile is being worked after growth (or when the town reaches a population-growth cap, e.g. is not next to freshwater, so cannot grow beyond 6 citizens until an Aqueduct has been built).

To a great extent, the terrain around your town/ capital will dictate what improvements you will need to add to it. Since each citizen needs 2 food per turn (or they starve), as a general rule, you should aim to get at least 2 food from each worked tile on average (e.g. if you have 4 citizens in total, working 4 tiles, you should be getting 8 food from those tiles in total), so that each town is producing at least 2 extra food (from the town-tile itself) beyond what your citizens are currently eating, in order to continue growing (as large as possible!).

So e.g. when your capital is surrounded by mostly-Grassland, each of which already gives at least the net 2 food needed, in the early game, you should usually mine (almost*) every Grassland tile.

(*Tiles with Cows or Wheat might be better irrigated -- if possible -- since that will give you some extra food, i.e. faster growth, even under the "Despotism penalty")

For a Plains start, you really want a freshwater source (a river or a "lake" = any enclosed body of water less than 21 tiles in area) to use for irrigation (bringing the tile from 1 food to 2 food), or, yes, your town-growth will stall/starve at 3 citizens (but you should also be getting at least 2-3 shields per turn at that point: enough to build a Settler in 10-15 turns). If there is no freshwater nearby, consider simply building lots of small towns, packed closely together ("infinite city sprawl", City-tile-City-tile-City). Later on, if you find freshwater further away, you can 'chain-irrigate' from there back to your capital, and then start removing every second town (e.g. turning those citizens into Workers or Settlers), so you have "City-tile-tile-tile-City".

Floodplain-starts tend to be very food-rich and shield-poor, so you need to irrigate the Floodplains to produce lots of excess food, and then use that excess food to make up the food-deficit for the citizens working on nearby food-poor Deserts/Plains/Hills -- which should all be mined for extra shields.

when I finally manage to built my first Settler, it is already 20 turns in game, AIs have already four or five cities each

At Demigod level and beyond, where all AI-Civs get 2 Settlers to start with, and a (>)30% discount on growth and builds, this might well be true. But at Warlord level? I find that very hard to believe.

A Warlord-level AI doesn't get any extra units to send out exploring at the start, and requires twice as many shields to build (a new unit), and twice as much food to grow (a new citizen), as the human player does. So either "20 turns" is a massive underestimation of the point in your game when the AI-Civs have 4-5 towns on the map (200 turns might be more like it!), or you are leaving too many "goody-huts" (which look different from the Barbarian camps) for the AI-Civs to find*, or you are not playing at Warlord level (or I have misunderstood what you meant!).

*As @vorlon_mi points out, you should try to send out 2-3 Warriors as early as possible, to explore the map in all directions. That will also mean that you will be able to find many of these goody-huts before the AI-Civs do, depriving them of the chance to 'win' extra Settlers or towns.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

If there is no freshwater nearby, consider simply building lots of small towns, packed closely together ("infinite city sprawl", City-tile-City-tile-City). Later on, if you find freshwater further away, you can 'chain-irrigate' from there back to your capital, and then start removing every second town (e.g. turning those citizens into Workers or Settlers), so you have "City-tile-tile-tile-City".

How does not "remove" a town? Is that the "abandon X" function? How does this work as a practical matter (I've never used it).

 

[Buttercup]

How does not "remove" a town? Is that the "abandon X" function? How does this work as a practical matter (I've never used it).

There are two options to destroy your own city:

1. Just right click on the settlement and click the Abandon City option. Potentially a bit wasteful, but can be useful in specific situations (such as clicking the wrong option after conquering a settlement during a Conquest rather than a Domination run).

2. If the settlement is size 1 and you complete production of a Worker, you should get a pop-up asking you if you want to abandon the city to enable the Worker to be produced. Likewise, the same pop-up should appear if you complete production of a Settler at size 2.

 

[tjs282]

2. If the settlement is size 1 and you complete production of a Worker, you should get a pop-up asking you if you want to abandon the city to enable the Worker to be produced. Likewise, the same pop-up should appear if you complete production of a Settler at size 2.

@WeirdoJoker:

Two details to add there:

(1) If the town is producing even 1 food excess on the interturn when the Worker/Settler shield-box is filled, you will not be given the option to Worker-/Settler-abandon it. To get the pop-up, the town must be producing zero (or less) net food — e.g. by setting the last citizen(s) to work on a zero-food tile(s), and/or converting him/her/them to a Specialist(s).

(2) When playing as a non-Agricultural civ, Settlers can also be completed at Pop1. So if it's an AI-town you want to abandon, you can squeeze out one additional (maintenance-free) Worker(Foreign) at Pop2, before Settler-abandoning at Pop1.

NB Since Agricultural Civs' town-tiles give 3 food if adjacent to freshwater, or under a non-despotic gov, it's impossible to reduce such a town to zero net food at Pop1. So to get rid of an unwanted/misplaced (AI) town when playing as an Agricultural Civ, you can only Settler-abandon at Pop2 (or right-click-abandon it, or raze it on capture!). But this is not necessarily a problem: Settlers(Foreign) are also maintenance-free — so even if you haven't got any immediate use for them, you can stockpile them without damaging your economy.

 

[justanick]

A Warlord-level AI doesn't get any extra units to send out exploring at the start, and requires twice as many shields to build (a new unit), and twice as much food to grow (a new citizen), as the human player does.

You describe the chieftain level. At chieftain AI gets a malus of 100%, at warlord of 20%.

Regent is the default difficulty level. No malus or bonus there.

At king AI gets a 10% discount, at emperor of 20% and at demigod auf 30%. Also starting at king AI has additional starting units, starting at emperor additional workers and starting at Demigod additional settlers.

With such a low production, when I finally manage to built my first Settler, it is already 20 turns in game, AIs have already four or five cities each and attack me, and having only one Warrior means that I am soon defeated I can survive a bit longer on big maps, when I can build more cities before they find me.

Is there something that I could do to win at the Warrior level?

What you describe does not add up. There is no difficulty setting "Warrior".

Since you seem fresh to the game you need to learn the basics first. I suggest you start a game at "Regent" difficulty setting on a tiny map with only one opponent. Try to do better than this one opponent. Given how flawed AI is, this should not be hard. But as you need to learn the basics first, it may not work on the first attempt.

Now you might be tempted to decrease difficulty below Regent. I advise against that as that way you might get away with mistakes that you will not get away with on Regent or higher. Too low a diffulty setting will give a wrong impression.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

2. If the settlement is size 1 and you complete production of a Worker, you should get a pop-up asking you if you want to abandon the city to enable the Worker to be produced. Likewise, the same pop-up should appear if you complete production of a Settler at size 2.

Huh ... I don't recall having seen that. Then again, it's been so long since I've done either of those I may have forgotten.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

(2) When playing as a non-Agricultural civ, Settlers can also be completed at Pop1. So if it's an AI-town you want to abandon, you can squeeze out one additional (maintenance-free) Worker(Foreign) at Pop2, before Settler-abandoning at Pop1.

Interesting option ... I might try this just to see if it works.

 

[tjs282]

You describe the chieftain level. At chieftain AI gets a malus of 100%, at warlord of 20%.

Oops, yes, you're right.

But even if the OP did mean "Warlord", it should still be easy to out-expand the AI, rather than getting massively out-expanded oneself as described, with each AI having 4-5 towns after 20 turns! Just... no.

 

[Theov]

I rarely ever abandon towns, too.

Sometimes really badly placed AI cities.