What's your Civ3 eccentricity?

[Silmaril Dragon]

I haven't played Civ III in quite awhile, so my memory of how I played is less than fresh, so here goes:

1. No nukes
2. No backstabs
3. Nearly 100% worker automation
4. Every building must be built in every city
5. Two defenders per city, regardless of location, unless city is a staging ground
6. Shameless help-the-innocent play (DOW on hostile enemies about to kill a weak civ, lots of gpt, free techs, etc.)
7. Remorseless destroy-the-aggressor play (especially bullies, or people who dared attack ME, especially if it's a backstab)
8. No razing of cities (unless a backstabbing enemies cities, then it's scorched earth)
9. Quit when it's looking like a sure win, keep playing when it's looking like a sure lose

I remember beating demigod regularly even with these ridiculous "rules" I had, so I must have had good strategic sense in other areas. Now that I think of it, most of the list seems indicative of OCD.

As an aside, importing these "rules" to Civ IV has resulted in myself going no further than Monarch or so.

 

[Theov]

-I always go for the capital. Short war, take 1 or 2 of the biggest cities and then sit back. Bomb the other cities but keep the troops in the middle. Then ruin them from the inside by cutting roads etc.
- When I feel it's time for war, I go for the biggest rival first even if they're on the other side of the world.
- I do not share a continent.

 

[gozpel]

After playing 700hrs + on Civ5.... I miss Civ3.

 

[darski]

- I do not share a continent.

I wonder how many of us work to this rule?

 

[Theov]

I wonder how many of us work to this rule?

You'd better wonder how many don't, takes a lot less time.
Come to think of it, what, really, are allies worth other than a buffer or a brother in arms.

 

[timerover51]

You'd better wonder how many don't, takes a lot less time.
Come to think of it, what, really, are allies worth other than a buffer or a brother in arms.

Allies, what are those? The AI is the enemy, never an ally.

 

[Theov]

Allies, what are those? The AI is the enemy, never an ally.

Like I said, it's a buffer mostly, or a brother in arms.
Metallica covered the .. out of that one.

 

[gozpel]

I had to think for a bit, but it dawned on me. I usually played SG's back then and couldn't stop myself from looking what the player did before me.

Haha, I found the coin he missed and just to make sure I checked again, I'd find another coin. 18gpt is better than 16, right! So I let them know how sloppy they were. A few players caught what I was doing and sorted out the cities much better, but ever so often I still found that one coin.

Another thing I somehow did more than a few times, was setting up a Beachhead (renamed as this) on another continent with our whole army in it, and I could almost smell the fear and desperation from the next player. Loved that so much and 9 times out of 10 it worked fine.

 

[CommandoBob]

My current solo game is CCM as Rome. I have tons of slaves. Austria-Hungary recently declared war on me and as a result I have lot of Austria-Hungary slaves, enough for 2 stacks that can rail in one turn, plus a few left over.

Well, I've started to organize my slaves by nationality, when I can.

There is something fleetingly powerful in moving a stack of 24 slaves from a dead or near dead AI into their former territory to build railroads for me.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Let's see..
I hold down the 'shift' key when my units engage in battle, as though this helps them win. If they start losing, I begin tapping it repeatedly. I've been trying to train myself off of this little superstition, but I tend to do it unconsiously!

I name most units (1st Militia, 2nd Spears, 3rd Bowmen, 4th Pikes, 5th Cataphracts, 6th Knights, etc). Ships are different: they start out with names like Discovery and Voyager, when I'm mapping. If I get in a war, they bear names like "Merciless", "Vengeance", and "Bloodlust". Later on they take more stately names (Invictus, Resolute, Sovereign), or are named after cities and leaders depending on type.

I try to have my naming scheme reflect that civ -- America gets ships like Liberty and Republic, England gets Indefagtible and Victory -- and this extends to other units. German warriors are renamed "Jaeger".

I like to have an Honor Guard in the capital which consist of one of any special unit I have (Crusader, Ancient Cavalry, unique unit), elite units who have spawned a military leader, and other units I am fond of.

Elite units who have won a lot of victories, and those which have spawned a great leader, are named something special -- The Unvanquished, The Berlin Wolves, whatever. I like to be creative.

I always name my Armies...."Army of the Republic", "Army of the Proletariat", "Army of the Danube"...it depends on the game I'm playing and the story which lays in my head.

Sometimes I rename captured cities out of spite -- "Port Victory", "Mayan Glory", "Vae Victus", "New Maachu Pichu", that sort of thing.

I try to influence the global balance of power -- if one AI starts beating another in a war, I will give them resources and tech as needed, free of charge . I often invade someone just to pillage their resources so I can sell them my surplus.

When playing Germany or Austria, I change their city names to reflect their native-language equivalents (München instead of Munich, Köln instead of Cologne, Wien instead of Vienna).

 

[Theov]

Let's see..
I hold down the 'shift' key when my units engage in battle, as though this helps them win. If they start losing, I begin tapping it repeatedly. I've been trying to train myself off of this little superstition, but I tend to do it unconsiously!

I bet it works sometimes.
Singing your national anthem works sometimes too. Really.
Please upload a video of that.
That is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've read in... in a long while.

 

[Bowsling]

What Civ did you replace with Austria?

 

[Sinterklaas]

Weird stuff I do in Civ 3:

- I never completely wipe out the English or the Japanese because I think they're cool, even when they behave terribly towards me.
- I sometimes start my own colony on the other side of the map by conquering one or two cities from a civ that lives in an exotic land with deserts or jungles. Because of their distance these colonies have to sustain themselves and build their own colonial army. No matter how much they are threatened, I will never send reinforcements from the motherland; the colony must fend for itself or be destroyed. It's like ruling two different countries.
- In the modern age I love having a bunch of nucleair subs loaded with nukes and then hiding them near strategic locations on the map so that I can perform sneak attacks anywhere I want. The weird thing is that I always build these nukes but I never use them because it undermines my diplomatic position. I just like having them around just in case.
- I have a "little island fetish"; whenever I see a tiny island I want to have it. Sometimes I even build a city on a far away island close to the coast of some major power and then develop it for a 1000 years just so that I can station bombers there as soon as the modern age dawns, giving me an opportunity to launch air strikes against that country.
- My early army and navy only consist of spearmen, catapults and galleys because these can be upgraded. During the later stages of the game I only build their newer counterparts (musketmen, cannons and caravels) which can also be upgraded until I finally reach the modern age and have mechanized infantry, radar artillery and transports. I only build units that will become obsolete when I'm in a war situation in which the upgradable units do not suffice.
- I try to prevent wars during the entire game, focusing on building city improvements, terrain improvements and a solid economy. When I finally have all the modern units I start building huge fleets and armies and only then will I initiate war.
- I never nuke New York and prefer not to attack it either because I find it such a nice city. Same goes for London.
- I usually destroy the Iroquois because I have no clue how their name should be prononounced and that pisses me off. (Irokwa? Irokwo-ie?)
- America and Russia should be big and powerful. And when they aren't, I will give them free money, cities and technologies until they are. It looks stupid when Uncle Sam loses from Zululand or when mother Russia get her butt kicked by Greece. They should both be a challenge for me when I start taking over the world.
- Rome needs to be thorougly wiped out before the modern age starts. A modern Rome with jet fighters looks silly.
- I always build one ironclad. They become obsolete way too fast for me to equip my navy with large numbers of them but I find these things so cool that I still want to build one.
- I want to fight at least one war in a desert, with tanks. I don't care whether the civilization living in that desert has offended me or not, but they are going to get it just because they happen to be in a desert. Don't ask me why, but commanding tank columns in a desert is always one of the things on my wish list when I play Civ.

 

[Theov]

Weird stuff I do in Civ 3:
- I usually destroy the Iroquois because I have no clue how their name should be prononounced and that pisses me off. (Irokwa? Irokwo-ie?)

.

desert wars...
I do a lot the same too. I always want some nukes around, just in case. I love to have some far away colony. I have the same 'tiny island fetish'.
The Iroquois annoy the hell out me too. I-ra-kie? I-ro-kwai? And some civs, I have no idea where the cities are because the city names are unpronounceable.
I don't care too much about the AIs though. If the Romans wants to have railways, sure why not. I'm not giving them stuff just to let them grow, who do you think I am? Santa Claus?

 

[gmaharriet]

- I usually destroy the Iroquois because I have no clue how their name should be prononounced and that pisses me off. (Irokwa? Irokwo-ie?)

Ear-oh-coy

 

[Smellincoffee]

What Civ did you replace with Austria?

Austria (complete with C3C leaderhead, city list, and unique unit) appears on one of my Europe maps. I think it is Marla Singer's version, with the edited civ rules, but I made my own rules changes and so have forgotten which came with the map and which were my own.

I bet it works sometimes.
Singing your national anthem works sometimes too. Really.
Please upload a video of that.
That is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've read in... in a long while.

I have no idea how it began. I think I am starting to break the habit ,though...last night I sent a stack of Numidian Mercs and veteran archers to take out a Dutch town infringing on my borders (and containing iron!), and I never went after the shift keys.

 

[Bowsling]

Ear-oh-coy

Ear-oh-kwah

 

[ChaosArbiter]

......

The Iroquois (pronounced /ˈɪrəkwɔɪ/),

Edit: Near as I can tell, that's:
"Ir" as in "mirror" or "Sirius"
"e" as in "Rosa's" or "comma"
"k" as in "k"
"w" as in "why" or "swine"
"oi" as in "choice" or "foil"

Iroquois = ear-uh-kwoy

 

[darski]

Ear-oh-kwah

That's the one. The Iroquois in this region use that pronunciation.

 

[Bowsling]

Indeed, "Iroquois" is derived from the Algonquin "Iroq" meaning snake and French "ois" which as an individual word, means goose, and is a suffix similar to "ese" in English (hence you have words like "Québécois". And "ois" is pronounced something like "wah". Iroquois is on a similar level as the word "Indian", dating back to the times of New France, and "Haudenosaunee" should be used instead, but I doubt Firaxis will ever do that.