The Path the Victory

[The Creator]

"Happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving on all occasions their effectual support." - George Washington

I am a first time poster. First of the bat I’d like to say that I have been playing Civilization III since the day it came out but only recently discovered the forums when I went looking for a cheap place to buy the Conquest Expansion Pack. I only play with the Americans not because they are necessarily the easiest cultivation to play with, but hey it’s America. I have tried all the other Civs and can easily see the great advantages to having a militaristic, religious or scientific race, but I do not think I could ever give up the industrious nature of the Americans, and being an expansionist player to begin with I really think they fit my game to a tee.

I have already read every post and article in the war academy and it’s easy to see that there are a lot of very savvy civilization players around here, so I am posting what I have found successful here to see what everyone thinks, and hopefully to have some of my misconceptions about civilization straightened out. I welcome all comments and opinions.

 

[The Creator]

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace." – George Washington

Ok I played Civilization II as well, but this game is defiantly a whole new monster. Oh, yeah and I love history, especially American history and have a ton of quotes that I’ll continue to throw around here and there (sorry if it’s annoying, but I like it)

Everyone always seems to want to look for the perfect starting point, but It’s seems to me that simply delays your cultural and scientific development, so I start a new game and press “Enter” then “B”. I really do not care where it is I want to start developing a nation and that starts with a capitol city. Here is how I fill the Query Box… Warrior… Warrior… Settler… Warrior… Warrior… Settler… Pyramids… The reason is quite simple the first Warrior is for defense and the second is going to fortify the place I will send my first settler to build city two. Being America I already have a scout exploring the world around me and a worker improving the area around the capitol. The next two warriors are going to follow the Scout to the nearest civilization and hopefully take it out before it starts really going, but more on the later. After the final settler from this city the pyramids, and the free granaries are my first must have wonder so I start it early.

City 2 founded and Query box filled like this… Warrior… Warrior… Warrior… Settler… Barracks… Settler… Spearman… Spearman… Spearman… Settler… Spearman… Obviously still following a defined pattern and for very specific reasons. Warrior one will go fortify the place for the next settlement (hopefully on the coast) and warriors 2 and 3 will go support the original fighting party. Then I go to getting veteran and better units for defense of my territory and I should have already discovered Bronze working at this stage of the game and this city will continue to produce as many spearmen a needed, for a long time When Every city gets 2 spear man I will start to create Medieval Infantry one per city as city attack unit.

City 3 gets a different reason to operate and I always want this one on the coast. It’ build query will be… Warrior… Warrior… Settler… Colossus… Settler… Light House… Galley. Warrior help support the effort abroad, and it needs to be on a coast for a reason, it will be my naval epicenter for the entire game.

City 4 depending on the land and how lucky I got with city 3, city four will work back to become my offensive unit production house. Query is Warrior… Warrior… Settler… Barracks… Settler… Archer… Archer… catapult… Archer… Archer… then catapult… archer… archer and this becomes my first offensive military center. Hopefully I am surrounding the capitol with these cities but these units will become the offensive force for war two.

City 5 needs to be put on a growth square because it will become the worker factory. Query is just worker… worker… worker until I get to 50 workers I will hopefully already have the pyramids built but If not a Granary first. They are needed to build my infrastructure and I will need them forever.

City 6 Query will look like this… Barracks… settler… Horseman… Horseman… and they will stay there until I can upgrade the to Knights and the will be the basis for my third war of knights.

The rest of the cities will have more freedom to build other things to round out my Civilization and I will continue to build to optimal size for whatever map I am playing. But by the time I get to city seven I should have already destroyed one civilization, be battering another, and preparing for my third as well as having a thriving inner circle to help expand my empire.

 

[The Creator]

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed." –Theodore Roosevelt

I find many technologies very important, but the ones that give you the resources are tops on my list followed by the ones that help me through the ages and/or improve my armies. You can often pick up the rest of the optional techs through trade negations, but resources are a must and the sooner you see them the better chance you have to secure them. This is why the worker is one of the most important and often overlooked units in the game.

Workers can do a myriad of things but most importantly the connect cities and resources and improve production in those cities. The more production in a city the more use you can get out of it. That is why my 5th city becomes a worker generator, because I will use them forever and need to have everything improved to get the maximum production from each city as well as the maximum food and money culmination. Then I can set my science a little higher and chip in some money for the people’s luxuries to make them happier and trigger an even greater jump in city production.

It may seem like science is not that important to me, but I believe developing cities make science almost an afterthought. I always catch up because I take out two or three rival civilizations before the Middle Ages, accumulating wealth technology and a powerful army thanks to those unsung heroes… the workers.

 

[Darkness]

You're wasting your expansionist trait! Why not build 3 or 4 extra scouts and pop all GH's you find. You can get yourself into the MA in 2000 BC on emperor level just doing this...

 

[The Creator]

Originally posted by Darkness
You're wasting your expansionist trait! Why not build 3 or 4 extra scouts and pop all GH's you find. You can get yourself into the MA in 2000 BC on emperor level just doing this...

That's a pretty good point, I may have to encorporate that into the plans.

 

[Zoke0]

You mention that some people spend to mcuh time worry about a starting position. Well I beg to differ, but I only have one point to make. If you start near a river, then you can boost your technology a whole 10 turns in the beginning (on a huge map). In my opinion this boost early in the game helps to keep your civ close in the early tech race.

Of course to reep the benifeits of this you must you the domestic advisor to turn up the science funding to 90% so that for example Bronze Working takes 30 turns, not 40 and you are gaining zero gold. Don't worry about the cash though, because "time is money."

 

[The Creator]

Originally posted by Zoke0
You mention that some people spend to mcuh time worry about a starting position. Well I beg to differ, but I only have one point to make. If you start near a river, then you can boost your technology a whole 10 turns in the beginning (on a huge map). In my opinion this boost early in the game helps to keep your civ close in the early tech race.

Of course to reep the benifeits of this you must you the domestic advisor to turn up the science funding to 90% so that for example Bronze Working takes 30 turns, not 40 and you are gaining zero gold. Don't worry about the cash though, because "time is money."

True... and if I start by a river it's a bonus, but if my cities are developing before yours are even on the map then I already have an advantage in the Tech Race, and you need that boost just to catch up. Plus catch up to my armies and whatever else I create while you are looking for a river.

Now it may be true that one or two turns may not mean much... but I think if that is the case then it probably does not mean much either way as far as techs are concerned.

Additionally I think that Money is more important then people give it credit for. You can end wars with money, build city improvments, get needed techs, rush more soilders, upgrade antiquated units, forge diplomatic relationships, make more of you people happy and that's only the start of the list. I love making money from the start.

"Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality." -John Tyler

 

[tjhooker]

Everything sounds great, when it all matches.
The most important lesson /strategy is to adapt to your surrondings. One city might have several extra foods, whick makes a settler factory, and the other might have extra shields making it a unit-factory. These two combined makes a better start than having each city suplpy itself.

On higher difficulties getting early wonders is almost impossible. It sacrifies early expansion. Having free granaries in every city means nothing if Xerxes have tvice as many cities, therefore pumping out Immortals... And we all know what happens next.

I dont beleive a certain build order is the key to winning, adapting to the circumstances given is much more important.

 

[The Creator]

Originally posted by tjhooker
Everything sounds great, when it all matches.
The most important lesson /strategy is to adapt to your surrondings. One city might have several extra foods, whick makes a settler factory, and the other might have extra shields making it a unit-factory. These two combined makes a better start than having each city suplpy itself.

On higher difficulties getting early wonders is almost impossible. It sacrifies early expansion. Having free granaries in every city means nothing if Xerxes have tvice as many cities, therefore pumping out Immortals... And we all know what happens next.

I dont beleive a certain build order is the key to winning, adapting to the circumstances given is much more important.

You are right my friend, but I do not play on the lower levels and these are my initial goals that may be adjusted to fit different situations. I guess I should have stated this was for optimal conditions, but it is essentially not a blue print but an outline. I build for the future so the core of my empire is a stepping-stone for greatness. It’s not set in stone, but I will always follow a similar path.

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." -Harry S. Truman

The Pyramids are the plan, (I think this is a goal-orientated game and having a plan really is better than figuring it out as you go along) but if I do not get them it’s not that big of a deal… as is the Colossus or the Lighthouse (though I love the Lighthouse) I will settle for another wonder but I always end the Ancient Era with three wonders even on deity. I mean I am fighting at least 2 sometimes 3 wars at this time so sometimes I can capture a wonder or two and it helps a lot. Those wonders help your nation’s culture and cash flow when thy become tourist attractions, and that is never a bad thing.

Likewise I can also adjust city planning as well. If city 2 cannot do what I need it to do I can switch it with city 3 build plan but having each city build towards certain thing and specializing in certain areas round out my empire making it better over the course of a epic game.