two very basic questions

[rv_russo]

I am very new to computer gaming - the only 2 that I have played so far are Combat Flight Simulator and Medal of Honor. I would like to try a strategy game, so am thinking of buying civ iii. My questions are these:

1. can I play the game solo (i.e. play against the computer rather than another person)

2. Just how complex is civ iii (will I have to wade through a complicated instruction manual before I can play a basic game - or is it fairly intuitive).

I realize these are probably "dumb" questions, but I really don't want a game so complicated that I have to memorize a large size book in order to play it, or that requires me to find some person to play against. On the other hand I really love history and the game sounds very interesting. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Regards, RV Russo
rv_russo@yahoo.com

 

[sabo]

unfortunately playing solo is your ONLY choice right now, at least until the expansion pack comes out then you will be able to play other people.

If your new to computer games you'll find that civ III can be somewhat confusing and hard to learn, I played civ II for years and it STILL took me a coulple of months to get the hang of CIV III,
BUT you will find that civ III is probably one of the best PC games strategy-wise that you could buy so if you have patience and take your time to learn the game and use this board alot for questions you will no doubt learn to love the game like the rest of us have (well most of us anyway)

 

[Furry Spatula]

Welcome to the world of Civ 3

So your first step is to download the new patch before you play your first game, avalliable at civ3.com or the main page on this site. Now for your first Query. Yes it is solo, when the expansion pack comes out you can play multiplayer. As it stands now there is no multiplayer mode.

Now to question 2. Civ 3 is complex. You may have a bit of trouble getting started. But try the tutorial and you should get a hang of things pretty quick. Make sure you play chieften first. Its pretty hard to loose that way.

The game isn't that historical, in terms of historical events, but it is still fun. You wont need to memorize the instructions to play, it'll come to you after a while. You may want some quick access to this site, read some of strategy guides or faq's. Not to sound like a broken record though, but you will pick it up pretty fast i think.

Ok let me clarify. You will learn how to play rather quickly. But it will take a while to get good strategies, However you can only realy do that by playing. Reading the instructions won't give you the lowdown on all the strategies avaliable.

 

[robehans]

I think you questions are not "dumb", your just a bit
"un-civilized"
ok... ok... after that "terrific" joke ill get back to the point.

1. The basic game is only for solo play, you can play succession games here at civfanatics in the succession games forum, and the actual multiplayer is released in the Play The World expansion pack.

2. I recommend reading the 200 page manual, or you can also start a tutorial game and then check in the manual if you stumble upon trouble.
To return to the manual : Its not too complicated, i think it was a light-read book, kind of an entertaining novel
(Call me sick or whatever)
In my opinion you should atleast read the chapters 4, 6, 7, 8 and you should be pretty well on track, you can always read it later to become better.

 

[sabo]

You better tell him to read the part about Culture Flipping so it won't be such a shock too him

 

[Furry Spatula]

I dont feel like handling the CF. I think Zouave may get upset if i say it isn't that bad. But rv_russo, be careful about culture. Make sure you get some of it. You'll read about it in the manual and you'll see Culture flips on this forum a lot, along with Zouave complaining about it.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Questions like these should go here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28388

Also, the FAQ will help you along:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23341

Happy Civing! And Welcome to the forum!

 

[ssmith619]

I found Civilization III quite easy to pick up, but that was because I played Civilization II like crazy, and they are quite similar. I want to tell you to play Civilization II first, but that would suck because Civilization III is so much better. Argh, I don't know. I'm confusing myself. What are everybody else's thoughts about playing Civ2 before Civ3 even though III's already out?

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

ssmith619: different game... I still play II a lot... so why not? It is easier to get into CivII, but actually the difference is too great IMO to make it a 'tutorial' - only experienced players can easily change over...

 

[Ripley]

Culture flipping isn't really a big deal for a Civ3 newbie.

In my first Civ3 game (first Civ game for that matter), I was happily building my small but budding empire, when a message comes from one of my advisors.

"Sire, the good people of <cityName> have overthrown their oppressors ..."

I'm like, "Wow, culture flippings cool".

Seriously, I think you've got a better chance of disliking culture flips if your a Civ veteran, than if your a Civ3 newbie, since it was a distinct change from what you knew.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Ripley: the problem is not the flip in itself that i think causes the problem, but the disappearing army, and there you are probably right - newbies don't throw their troops into a city and loose them all in a blink like we do

 

[Ripley]

Yes, stangely enough, less units in a conqured city does appear to reduce the likelyhood of culture flips. Many experiments with reloading games has proven this.

Also, the new player is ...

Less likely to tackle the biggest kid on the block, who's cities are more likely to flip back.

More likely to tackle the smaller Civs, who's cities are less likely to flip back.

Less likely to take 10+ cities in two or three turns, thereby taking more time to build some culture in the new cities (buying temples for example) and bring in reinforcements.

Less likely to build cities far away from their own capital (crowded in by the settler rush) which are more likely to flip during peace.

Of course, the all-out warmongerer who builds no culture may find things a little different.

My point is, and this is really an extension of what you have said, the playing style of many new Civ players (because they are new Civ players) is likely to shield them from culture flippings downside. It has certainly been the case for me.

The better I get, the more I have to deal with it (the downside that is), due to the way my playing style has slowly changed. But I still think it's cool.

 

[MSGT John Drew]

rv_russo,

With the amount of gaming experience you have, I'd recommend you not play Civ3 just yet. Please save yourself from the constant frustrations you'll get from playing Civ3. Only play Civ3 when you finally have the patience and want to play strategy games for the strategy.

The hardest part to take about Civ3 is its lack of 'goodies'. And by goodies I mean 'end-campaign videos/images' or 'start-campaign videos/images' or even a storyline to enjoy. First play those games that give you that sense of accomplishment with those eye-candies and amazing storylines. Once you've experienced the delight of these 'goodies' from other games (Starcraft particularly) and feel that you don't need movieclips or good storylines to enjoy a game that is the only time I recommend you play Civ3. By that time you will extremely enjoy the insane difficulty of Civ3 and will (maybe) enjoy the strategy more than eye-candy.

I always find that being an all-around gamer is the better way than sticking to one game and calling it game of the year quite one-sidedly.

EDIT:
And about the manual: There is no manual. The manual that comes with the game gives you very little in how to play the game. If you do play Civ3 look up at the forums and try to make it so that you learn more from the forums than from actually playing the game. Once you start reading stuff you might even forget about playing the game extensively just yet since you'd feel you'll be missing a LOT of things. A lot of CIV3 is unexplained you know.



Good Luck.

 

[algonacy]

I never read the manual until after I played 3 full games. And it is very uninteresting and pretty uninformative. The help files in the game have more info than the manual. I played the first game tutorial style and lost. The second game I played (Chieftain) I won and have only lost 1 game since then, but originally I cheated a lot. I hated losing. I believe the only way to cheat in the current game is to reload the game a few turns back that you saved previously whenever something bad happens to you and then do it differently. Like most people (I believe) I learned to do that playing DOOM years ago. Most of us here are pretty die hard gamers and have experienced multiple game types and styles. For the past six months I've been into strategy games. I expect in six more months I'll be into something different. Nothing in this game is that complex that just playing it will intimidate you. Give it a try and don't bother with the Gloom and Doom people on the board who think one feature or another is ruining the game. They are helping the game move forward and improve, but their complaints generally don't affect my game at all. 1,000's of us love it just the way it is and think it just keeps getting better with each patch (thanks in large part to the complainers). Enjoy and welcome!

 

[Chieftess]

Personally, I *don't* recommend reading the manual. (Unless the games are already patched with 1.29)... If it's 1.07, about 80% of the manual has changed. There's still basic gameplay features, but I recommend looking at the Civ3 section on the main forum. 1.29 has LOTS of changes since 1.07.

Anyway:

1. Civ 3 is solo for now, but, you can join in succession games (play a round-robin style game with a team of people). There's also the demogame (which is about to end - we're planning another right now. ), in which you can see how everyone planned city sites, tatics, etc. There's a lot to read in the Civ3 Demogame forum (it was a bit chaotic a few months ago). Also, the succession games are in a "Training Day" trend right now. You could ask for a chieftain game.

2. It can be complex, but you can start the game with no civs (turning all civs in the civ selection to 'none') just to learn the ropes. That's what I did. Here's some of the basics:

Worker instructions: 'M' - build mines, 'R' build roads, 'I' - build irragation. You can build settlers to build another city. (You city must be at size 3 before it can produce a settler).

Spearman can be built for defense. Warriors/scouts for explore.

"And those are just the ground rules!".

 

[Daaraa]

I would say go for it and buy it.

Question 1 has been answered.

Question 2 - I would add to spend a LOT of time asking questions here and looking into the FAQ will help a lot. Also, don't shy away from asking questions. People like Lt. Killer M are helpful.
Chieftess' suggestion to not read the manual would be a good idea too. Just skim it but that is about it and keep in mind that a lot has changed with the patches. (And just buy the regular edition not the collectors tin-box one. )

 

[cracker]

I would recommend you do a little self inspection before deciding if CivIII is for you.

I personally never played CivI or II, but had played many of the hexagonal square paper simulation games when I was in college (am I putting to much of a date here). I found the CivIII game easy to pick up but logically a bit frustrating in many areas.

CivIII is not an instinctive of reaction type game. Success is crafted for the most part by understanding probability and statistics and being able to think ahead by at least 20 or 30 turns to develop strategic positions and resources. It's amazing how many of your first reactions that you will find to be actually the wrong things to do in the game.

As a side note, I find that the graphics pretty much keep any newbie happy untill you get to your first 20 or 30 times that "Artillery bombardement has failed". For people that understand, Differential Equations then the game can really be a fascinating visual representation of these factors.

I would brows some of the succession games threads and read some of the spoiler threads for past GOTMs to get a better feel for the game. A typical game event wille require many days or even weeks to complete. I find that 50 to 60 hours of play time for a complete game may not be unrealistic. (I have a verrrrrry high end machine).

I would probably buy the game today and patch it to V1.29, but if I had known what I know today back in January I would not have purchased that game as it came out of the box.