Thorvald of Lym
A Little Sketchy
Welcome to my strategies thread. If you've made the move to Civ 3, or if you've never experienced the Civ universe before, then you might want to check this out. I've posted some of my basic strategies to success in the game which might help you out, at least in the beginning. Yes, I am quite aware that Civ 4 is out, however there are some people out there either unwilling or unwealthy enough to purchase it. Is it late? Perhaps. Is it informative? That's for you to find out. Is this the first guide to Civ newcomers? I certainly doubt it. There are probably hundreds of tips and tricks which aren't covered here, but then again, there may be articles in here that people never thought to post.
In any event, enjoy your stay!
Expand!
This is one of the most crucial objectives in any Civ game. Unlike Civ 2, where you could basically drift with even four cities, you are now little more than a puddle if you do the same in Civ 3. So make sure to aggressively expand as soon as you have an established tribe.
On the same note...
You will discover that settlers' functions are now broken up. You have settlers and workers. Settlers still fulfill their function, however only workers can improve terrain. Both of these units have no defence value, and so they are now easy prey for barbarians and enemy civs. A good tactic is to send an escort along with your settler to protect him on his journey. This also defends your new community from rampaging barbarians, which are more of a concern in Civ 3.
Maximize Efficiency
Especially in science. Allocation of taxes is of major importance. Not only can you barely keep your knowledge accurate with the date, but you now have the luxury of setting taxes to ANY level in any government... don't let it go to waste! A trick of mine is to, the turn before a new discovery, drop the science rate to the lowest level while still maintaining that 1-Turn research deadline. You will often get a nice sum of money. Just remember to reset it after the breakthrough!
On the same note...
A tactic I like to use is to always maximize science. I'll push it to the 'breaking even' point if necessary. This is only truly effective in the beginning, when the costs of civilization are low. While the research time shortened may seem of little significance, it's still staying a step ahead of your opponnents.
Speaking of Barbarians...
Barbarians are a menace early in the game, but unlike Civ 1 or 2, they do not progress. Therefore, you might well have advanced tanks and stealth bombers, but still deal with stone-age clubmen. Until then, they can still be a threat. For a few reasons...
1) Barbarians come in three forms: warriors, horsemen and galleys (ships). While these units are relatively weak (never seem to gain combat experience), early in the game they are of importance. The most deadly barbarian is the horseman. Better on the attack and fast, these guys have often descended on my border towns and killed off my workers faster than I can recognize the danger. While most units can easily survive, a horde of horsemen, though sustaining severe casualties, can bring down even medieval units! Don't see them as mosquitoes. See them as giant African mosquitoes (no offence, Africans) with the potential of carrying malaria.
2) A fate worse than death? That's what you may be asking yourself when you witness barbarians attacking your cities. They will often descend on your undefended towns (sometimes the warriors fortify outside your borders), but will never raze the city. Whereas in Civ 2 the barbarian leader would demand half your trasury as a ransom, these barbarians give you no option, and will either loot your coffers, carry off your citizens, or destroy your production. As stated above, they won't raze the city, so they will keep coming back for more and more...
3) Barbarians are like weeds. They keep coming back again and again, no matter how hard you try and get rid of them. Unless the entire world is owned by somebody, barbarian camps will pop up again and again.
So what's an empire builder to do? Well for starters, protect your towns. Don't let the barbarians line their pockets with YOUR hard work! And patrol your borders. After repelling an uncivilized horde, find and eliminate their encampment. You'll get paid for your troubles...
Governments 101
Governments are mostly the same, although probably in light of recent political flash fires, there is no longer a Fundamentalist government. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted...
There are a few things to remember about Civ 3 governments. The most important tidbit, especially to them commerce-types, is that there is no longer that factor of insecurity among more liberal cities. Allow me to explain: in Civ 2, Republic and Democratic civs had to watch where their troops ended their turns. Now, that factor has been eliminated, and replaced with War Weariness. Basically, the longer you are at war, the unhappier your people grow, especially if YOU start the fight. There is no senate that will stop you from engaging, which is a plus.
Also, Despotism is even MORE unpleasant. In Civ 2 (seems a popular flashback model), more warfaring leaders might decide to keep Despotism for its military benefit, as there was little difference in corruption when converted to Monarchy. Now, the cruel irony plays itself out. Despots cannot support as large an army as Monarchs (when at max. support rate). I'm not going to go into details, this thread's getting long enough already! Also, you will discover that you will want to abandon the corruption-laden government A.S.A.P. (more on that later).
For Conquests players, some more government stuff. It would appear that Fundamentalism has been replaced with two other Fs, Feudalism and Fascism. Feudalism is slightly more efficient than Monarchy. It seems specifically designed for those who build and tend to population-challenged empires. Essentially, the larger the city, the less troops you can support. Also, we are brought Fascism. It's kind of the militaristic republic (wasn't that it's political substructure?), and so can support a lot of units. The biggest bust comes when you change to the goverment: varying numbers of citizens are 'relocated' according to city size. As can be assumed, larger cities lose more, but no settlement loses enough to kill itself off. When engaging with Fascism, try to make your strikes fast, hard, and brief. If you want to start getting culture from your prizes, you'll need to grow your own citizens. Fascists gain no culture when over half (I think it's half) of a city's population is foreign.
The Spy Network
Diplomacy works differently in Civ 3. While previous versions had you worrying about the safety of the agent getting there, now all you need to worry about is the cost. Diplomatic missions are launched from a separate menu, and actions are carried out at the lip of a changepurse. While this means actions can be performed instantly and repetitively, it makes for some interesting expenses. At least now you have some say in how cautiously the action is carried out...
Corruption and Waste
What would a world sim be without bandits, embezzlers, gangsters, etc. etc.? Corruption and waste will always plague the Civilization series. However, you will find that this is yet another amplified issue in Civ 3. Corruption will run rampant at the beginning, and the game's design doesn't help. Serious retro Civ-ers will find corruption is even more of a problem and that building a courthouse barely alleviates the situation. Waste is now MUCH more prominent when running your empire, I believe at some periods even surpassing the corruption level. So with so much at stake, what can you do? There are really only three options. Build a Courthouse (the sooner the better), modernize your government, or take a peek at Armor's Anti-Corruption mod by clicking here.
Not the same units...
Units have changed around considerably, others are as we remember them. In any event, there is now a much wider range of unit attack/defence stats, and thus the gap between the weak and the strong widens. But belive it or not, the combat rules have changed as well. Units can now be conscript, regular, veteran or elite, each adding a point to the health bar (hit points). Artillery now bombard, rather than attack outright (same with ships), making for some new tactical manoevers. However, my experience also tells me that the randonimity of battles is much higher. Whereas in Civ 2, playing at chieftain level, you could be assured that your unit would always survive against weaker attackers, it seems as though Civ 3 combat has, in a sense, slipped back to Civ 1. No, we aren't going to see battleships losing to pha- er, spearmen (in fact that kind of attack is no longer feasible), however I have had instances where TOW infantry lost to a Swiss Mercenary at a ratio of about 4:1 (it WAS a scenario I was dealing with). But for the most part the game is still enjoyable.
...Not the same landscape...
Terrain and improvements have altered. At least one form of terrain has been completely removed from play, and now mountains will not house your settlements. Upgrading irrigated areas to farms is now eliminated. However, there is a slightly more ecologically correct feel to the terrain, for example...
Forests can now be planted on any flat land ('cept for deserts), and cutting them down gives a nearby city a production boost. A major improvement is that tiles can now be irrigated diagonally and through the city square, so terraforming is less of a concern now. Speaking of fresh water, unfortunately, being next to the ocean doesn't guarantee a booming agriculture. NOW it's SALT water, useless here and in the real world to nourish crops. You have to look for rivers and inland lakes. And on another note to water, rivers have changed. Now they run along the BORDERS of squares, so you can't use them like roads but they still obstruct real roads 'til Engineering. And on a similar note to THAT, there are now three basic varieties of navigatable water terrain.
...Certainly not the same buildings!
And we finally reach the city improvements. This is probably the only time that the Civilization series has ever revisited its structures. Walls remain, as blockading as ever, but now cost no gold to maintain. Unfortunately, they don' t grow with the city. After a community grows out of stage 1, the walls crumble. Airports will now immediately airlift most units, no matter how much of their turn is used up, or so I think.
But rather than go on listing all of the features, I'll get straight to the highlights. Hurrying city production works in much the same way, and yet it doesn't. Totalarian systems of government, such as Despotism and Communism, do not pay their citizens to work faster, they make them, even if it means killing them... which is usually what happens. Wonders are more of a risk, and a challenge, to build. They cannot be hurried, and only one city may build one wonder at a time (no quequeing up on the Pyramids amongst multiple cities and seeing who gets there first). So what's my trick? Get a city with a large production to work on the larger wonders, in order of how much they're in demand amongst other civs, and work down from there.
Everyone's favourite symbol...
Nuclear missiles, the geek's ultimate display of strength. They come in multiple varieties now, and rather than just make people scared, the more you use them, the more people dislike you (are we starting to see remnances of Alpha Centauri yet?), so be careful where and when you use them; it could be the last thing you do. SDI Defenses are also no longer a sure-fire way to stop a nuke. They only have a 75% success rate. So don't go nukin' all your neighbours, thinking they're going to catch the paint back in the can; use them even MORE sparingly. Personally, I don't use them at all.
Strategic Resources
A new feature that has probably thrown many a hardened Civ 2er overboard is the implementation of strategic resources. Now, tanks can't be built just anywhere, they can only be built in cities with access to oil and wot. The trick, of course, is gaining a monopoly. While this will probably be difficult, especially on large maps (Do you know how long a Monopoly game takes with just 2 people?!), don't give up. Starve your soon-to-be victims out of their supplies to prevent them overpowering you. Establish and defend colonies on discovered resources before they do. I always try to secure any iron deposits in the beginning age, as this forms the cornerstone of the effective war machine until the Industrial Age. If you don't have iron, and your neighbour does, either work a trade so you can build up your army, or if you are technologically superior to him (or her), requisition the resource before they can.
They say that there is no substitute for experience, but that doesn't mean you can't give it a kick start. I hope that my list of strategies (OK, so there's 6 and a half
) helps you when you're setting out fo the first time. Remember, these tips might not be for everyone, especially if you're playing around with certain victory conditions. And don't feel that you must heed to each and every little tidbit of advice. I came up with these on my own. You might find your own way to tackle the game. After all...
"Imagination is more important than knowlege."
In any event, enjoy your stay! Expand!
This is one of the most crucial objectives in any Civ game. Unlike Civ 2, where you could basically drift with even four cities, you are now little more than a puddle if you do the same in Civ 3. So make sure to aggressively expand as soon as you have an established tribe.
On the same note...
You will discover that settlers' functions are now broken up. You have settlers and workers. Settlers still fulfill their function, however only workers can improve terrain. Both of these units have no defence value, and so they are now easy prey for barbarians and enemy civs. A good tactic is to send an escort along with your settler to protect him on his journey. This also defends your new community from rampaging barbarians, which are more of a concern in Civ 3.
Maximize Efficiency
Especially in science. Allocation of taxes is of major importance. Not only can you barely keep your knowledge accurate with the date, but you now have the luxury of setting taxes to ANY level in any government... don't let it go to waste! A trick of mine is to, the turn before a new discovery, drop the science rate to the lowest level while still maintaining that 1-Turn research deadline. You will often get a nice sum of money. Just remember to reset it after the breakthrough!
On the same note...
A tactic I like to use is to always maximize science. I'll push it to the 'breaking even' point if necessary. This is only truly effective in the beginning, when the costs of civilization are low. While the research time shortened may seem of little significance, it's still staying a step ahead of your opponnents.
Speaking of Barbarians...
Barbarians are a menace early in the game, but unlike Civ 1 or 2, they do not progress. Therefore, you might well have advanced tanks and stealth bombers, but still deal with stone-age clubmen. Until then, they can still be a threat. For a few reasons...
1) Barbarians come in three forms: warriors, horsemen and galleys (ships). While these units are relatively weak (never seem to gain combat experience), early in the game they are of importance. The most deadly barbarian is the horseman. Better on the attack and fast, these guys have often descended on my border towns and killed off my workers faster than I can recognize the danger. While most units can easily survive, a horde of horsemen, though sustaining severe casualties, can bring down even medieval units! Don't see them as mosquitoes. See them as giant African mosquitoes (no offence, Africans) with the potential of carrying malaria.
2) A fate worse than death? That's what you may be asking yourself when you witness barbarians attacking your cities. They will often descend on your undefended towns (sometimes the warriors fortify outside your borders), but will never raze the city. Whereas in Civ 2 the barbarian leader would demand half your trasury as a ransom, these barbarians give you no option, and will either loot your coffers, carry off your citizens, or destroy your production. As stated above, they won't raze the city, so they will keep coming back for more and more...
3) Barbarians are like weeds. They keep coming back again and again, no matter how hard you try and get rid of them. Unless the entire world is owned by somebody, barbarian camps will pop up again and again.
So what's an empire builder to do? Well for starters, protect your towns. Don't let the barbarians line their pockets with YOUR hard work! And patrol your borders. After repelling an uncivilized horde, find and eliminate their encampment. You'll get paid for your troubles...
Governments 101
Governments are mostly the same, although probably in light of recent political flash fires, there is no longer a Fundamentalist government. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted...
There are a few things to remember about Civ 3 governments. The most important tidbit, especially to them commerce-types, is that there is no longer that factor of insecurity among more liberal cities. Allow me to explain: in Civ 2, Republic and Democratic civs had to watch where their troops ended their turns. Now, that factor has been eliminated, and replaced with War Weariness. Basically, the longer you are at war, the unhappier your people grow, especially if YOU start the fight. There is no senate that will stop you from engaging, which is a plus.
Also, Despotism is even MORE unpleasant. In Civ 2 (seems a popular flashback model), more warfaring leaders might decide to keep Despotism for its military benefit, as there was little difference in corruption when converted to Monarchy. Now, the cruel irony plays itself out. Despots cannot support as large an army as Monarchs (when at max. support rate). I'm not going to go into details, this thread's getting long enough already! Also, you will discover that you will want to abandon the corruption-laden government A.S.A.P. (more on that later).
For Conquests players, some more government stuff. It would appear that Fundamentalism has been replaced with two other Fs, Feudalism and Fascism. Feudalism is slightly more efficient than Monarchy. It seems specifically designed for those who build and tend to population-challenged empires. Essentially, the larger the city, the less troops you can support. Also, we are brought Fascism. It's kind of the militaristic republic (wasn't that it's political substructure?), and so can support a lot of units. The biggest bust comes when you change to the goverment: varying numbers of citizens are 'relocated' according to city size. As can be assumed, larger cities lose more, but no settlement loses enough to kill itself off. When engaging with Fascism, try to make your strikes fast, hard, and brief. If you want to start getting culture from your prizes, you'll need to grow your own citizens. Fascists gain no culture when over half (I think it's half) of a city's population is foreign.
The Spy Network
Diplomacy works differently in Civ 3. While previous versions had you worrying about the safety of the agent getting there, now all you need to worry about is the cost. Diplomatic missions are launched from a separate menu, and actions are carried out at the lip of a changepurse. While this means actions can be performed instantly and repetitively, it makes for some interesting expenses. At least now you have some say in how cautiously the action is carried out...
Corruption and Waste
What would a world sim be without bandits, embezzlers, gangsters, etc. etc.? Corruption and waste will always plague the Civilization series. However, you will find that this is yet another amplified issue in Civ 3. Corruption will run rampant at the beginning, and the game's design doesn't help. Serious retro Civ-ers will find corruption is even more of a problem and that building a courthouse barely alleviates the situation. Waste is now MUCH more prominent when running your empire, I believe at some periods even surpassing the corruption level. So with so much at stake, what can you do? There are really only three options. Build a Courthouse (the sooner the better), modernize your government, or take a peek at Armor's Anti-Corruption mod by clicking here.
Not the same units...
Units have changed around considerably, others are as we remember them. In any event, there is now a much wider range of unit attack/defence stats, and thus the gap between the weak and the strong widens. But belive it or not, the combat rules have changed as well. Units can now be conscript, regular, veteran or elite, each adding a point to the health bar (hit points). Artillery now bombard, rather than attack outright (same with ships), making for some new tactical manoevers. However, my experience also tells me that the randonimity of battles is much higher. Whereas in Civ 2, playing at chieftain level, you could be assured that your unit would always survive against weaker attackers, it seems as though Civ 3 combat has, in a sense, slipped back to Civ 1. No, we aren't going to see battleships losing to pha- er, spearmen (in fact that kind of attack is no longer feasible), however I have had instances where TOW infantry lost to a Swiss Mercenary at a ratio of about 4:1 (it WAS a scenario I was dealing with). But for the most part the game is still enjoyable.
...Not the same landscape...
Terrain and improvements have altered. At least one form of terrain has been completely removed from play, and now mountains will not house your settlements. Upgrading irrigated areas to farms is now eliminated. However, there is a slightly more ecologically correct feel to the terrain, for example...
Forests can now be planted on any flat land ('cept for deserts), and cutting them down gives a nearby city a production boost. A major improvement is that tiles can now be irrigated diagonally and through the city square, so terraforming is less of a concern now. Speaking of fresh water, unfortunately, being next to the ocean doesn't guarantee a booming agriculture. NOW it's SALT water, useless here and in the real world to nourish crops. You have to look for rivers and inland lakes. And on another note to water, rivers have changed. Now they run along the BORDERS of squares, so you can't use them like roads but they still obstruct real roads 'til Engineering. And on a similar note to THAT, there are now three basic varieties of navigatable water terrain.
...Certainly not the same buildings!
And we finally reach the city improvements. This is probably the only time that the Civilization series has ever revisited its structures. Walls remain, as blockading as ever, but now cost no gold to maintain. Unfortunately, they don' t grow with the city. After a community grows out of stage 1, the walls crumble. Airports will now immediately airlift most units, no matter how much of their turn is used up, or so I think.
But rather than go on listing all of the features, I'll get straight to the highlights. Hurrying city production works in much the same way, and yet it doesn't. Totalarian systems of government, such as Despotism and Communism, do not pay their citizens to work faster, they make them, even if it means killing them... which is usually what happens. Wonders are more of a risk, and a challenge, to build. They cannot be hurried, and only one city may build one wonder at a time (no quequeing up on the Pyramids amongst multiple cities and seeing who gets there first). So what's my trick? Get a city with a large production to work on the larger wonders, in order of how much they're in demand amongst other civs, and work down from there.
Everyone's favourite symbol... Nuclear missiles, the geek's ultimate display of strength. They come in multiple varieties now, and rather than just make people scared, the more you use them, the more people dislike you (are we starting to see remnances of Alpha Centauri yet?), so be careful where and when you use them; it could be the last thing you do. SDI Defenses are also no longer a sure-fire way to stop a nuke. They only have a 75% success rate. So don't go nukin' all your neighbours, thinking they're going to catch the paint back in the can; use them even MORE sparingly. Personally, I don't use them at all.
Strategic Resources
A new feature that has probably thrown many a hardened Civ 2er overboard is the implementation of strategic resources. Now, tanks can't be built just anywhere, they can only be built in cities with access to oil and wot. The trick, of course, is gaining a monopoly. While this will probably be difficult, especially on large maps (Do you know how long a Monopoly game takes with just 2 people?!), don't give up. Starve your soon-to-be victims out of their supplies to prevent them overpowering you. Establish and defend colonies on discovered resources before they do. I always try to secure any iron deposits in the beginning age, as this forms the cornerstone of the effective war machine until the Industrial Age. If you don't have iron, and your neighbour does, either work a trade so you can build up your army, or if you are technologically superior to him (or her), requisition the resource before they can.
They say that there is no substitute for experience, but that doesn't mean you can't give it a kick start. I hope that my list of strategies (OK, so there's 6 and a half
) helps you when you're setting out fo the first time. Remember, these tips might not be for everyone, especially if you're playing around with certain victory conditions. And don't feel that you must heed to each and every little tidbit of advice. I came up with these on my own. You might find your own way to tackle the game. After all..."Imagination is more important than knowlege."
- Albert Einstein
). I found that CivIII demands more from the players because on the higher levels, if you don't expand quickly, you'll be swamped 
