Civ 3, v1.16f patch.. (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

Have you guys noticed with the Civ 3 patch v1.16f, that when you Pillage with your unit, that you get an "attack" sound, i.e. like with a mech. infantry, it'll fire off a round. I don't remember the game doing that before the patch.

I also noticed that armies can't pillage but then I had only like one army before the patch so this might of been the same before as well as after.

I just finished my first real game, on Warlord with 8 civs on a normal sized pangaea as the mightly Romans. Although I got a measely points victory, I was well on my way to destroying the only remain civ (the Egyptians) left at 2050.

I tried, as a lark, to build the spaceship then but apparently it wont let you launch it after you've won already so I guess I might have to start a new game and go for the spaceship, I'd like to see the animations for that. For fun, I was nuking my own cities, that ICBM graphic is neet-o-keen.

Jay

 

[Kenneth]

I am still playing my game. I am on a Huge map with 5 civs (Greece, India, Egypt, Babylonia, and China) at Monarch level. It is in the early 1830's and I am just beginning the Modern Age (I just completed researching "Computers" and am working on "Ecology"). I am playing France. I am way ahead of the computer in points (I have about 5200 pts right now). I suspect I will be able to win with the spaceship launch before time expires.
Unfortunately I keep splitting my time with "Return to Castle Wolfenstein", since I just got a GeForce3 Ti200 card and I needed something to give it more of a workout than Civ
Kenneth

 

[Bergan Peters]

What am I doing WRONG here?? I cant even make it to 1300 before the computer starts a war with me, and inevitably that will kill me :frowning:

 

[Kenneth]

Bergan,

What settings are you using (map size, continent type, # of civs, difficulty level)? I can't speak to the Emperor or Diety level since I haven't played them yet but you could try reducing the difficulty level or increasing the map size. Those should both you somewhat.

Kenneth

 

[Bergan Peters]

I usually play on the 2nd easiest level, huge map, with 2 other civs.

 

[Jay H]

Bergen, try setting up a mutual protection pact or military alliance before the AI does, I notice that if you're in the lead, the AI tends a bit to gang up on you, but if you setup the mutual protection pact enough, that will help you distract the AI enough. I had that in my game, I was expanding very rapidly but in hindsight too fast because I was beating up on the Iroquis, those pesky Americans, Aztecs, and Egyptians all declared war on me and I felt it. But I hung on and only wound up losing like 2 cities on the front line. Immediately after all of them gave up and peace broke out, I started to haggle my way to a mutual protection pact with the 2nd strongest civ, (The Egyptians). Then when war broke out again, we both wreaked havoc on the Americans and the Aztecs.

I think the AI is constantly trying to negotiate pacts with the other AI so you just have to beat them to it...

Jay

 

[Kenneth]

Bergan,

At that difficulty level and with that few opponents I would concentrate on research. Even with the corruption factor you should try for an empire of between 20 and 50 cities (depends how big your area is and your tolerance for managing a big empire). If you optimize your research, you be able to stay ahead of the computers. You could also play one of the expansionist civs (Americans and English are both good) since they will give you lots of techs and free cities from the goodie huts. As Jay said you should try for mutual protection pacts as soon as you encounter the other civs. They are less likely to go to war with someone they are trading with or that they have a treaty with. If you are ahead of the computer in techs, then those make excellent trade bait to secure luxuries and pacts. With that large a map you could try adding a few civs. Generally they will fight with each other more than they fight with you. You could also manually select non-military civs as your opponents (although that is not a guarantee of safety, especially if you are weaker than the computer). Hope that helps.

Kenneth

 

[Jay H]

Speaking of the Americans and the English, what do you think of their special units? The Americans have the F-15 but you get them so late, it's practically at a point where the outcome is already obvious, you're either way ahead or way behind. I haven't had any case where by the time I got into the Modern Age, where it was tank on tank battles, it's usually tank on Cavalry and Modern Armor is just being developed. The English have the Man-o-War but since I tend to play pangaeas (I like instant war and the constant politics of meeting all your neighbors early and often) the navy isn't as important, mostly just for coastal defense.

What Civ forums do you guys hang out in or check, I'll check Civfanatics and Apoylton for any kind of updates, check out the strategy forums and stuff. But honestly, I'm really getting turned off from them, seems like a bunch of complainers!! People complaining about realism and stuff, if they want realism, tell them to join the army, it's a game and nothing more.

Jay

 

[Kenneth]

The civfanatics and Apolyton forums are the two I check out but I agree it has become a battle between two diametrically opposing views (the players who wanted Civ III to be Alpha Centauri II and the players who are actually content with Civ III). Personally I have found Civ III to have the same addictive "one more turn" quality that Civs I and II both had. The end game is still incredibly slow but the "one more tech" carrot is just effective for me now as it was in the first two incarnations of Civ.

As to the specialty units, I have only messed around with the Americans (who I abandoned in the Industrial Age) and the French (who I am currently playing). I would suspect that any of the civs who don't give you the specialty unit at the start (or near the start) have limited effectiveness from their specialty units. As the French I had barely built Musketeers before I was upgrading them to Rifleman. However, prior to that I had kept Swordsman for a long time. Having an early unit that is more effective than Swordsman or Warriors would have benefited me. Hopefully over Christmas I can play around with some of the other Civs and get a feel for their specialty units. Right now I still prefer the French, since they match up nicely with my playing style.

I would expect that Civ III will absorb most of my free time until Master of Orion III releases in Q1. That is another of the old school turn based strategy games I am really chomping at the bit for.

Kenneth

 

[Kenneth]

Here are some of the stats from my current Civ game on Monarch, Huge Map, Archipeligo, Roaming Barbs, all other setting normal. My computer opponents are China, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and India.

Workers33

Cavalry5 (but I am getting ready to disband them in a few turns)

Tank28

Mech Infantry62 (just finished upgrading my last unit, finally)

Artillery2

Transport2

Carrier3

Submarines6

Destroyers7

Battleship6

Fighters12 (but I just rebased most of them from my carriers to Airport cities so I can upgrade them)

Year1876

Score5790 points, currently

Income4238/turn

Expenses4068/turn

Treasury7837

Science Rate70%

Luxury Rate10%

Largest Cities26, 23, 23, 22, 22, 22 (the rest are 21 and below)

I just picked up Aluminum in trade from the Egyptians (I traded Recycling and got Aluminum and 70 gold). I am currently researching Fission so I can build United Nations and Manhatten Project. My next catagory will probably be miniturization. I also picked up my 8th Luxury in trade so I now have all 8 luxuries coming in. I have recycling centers and mass transit completed in most of my biggest producing cities and am getting ready to work on SAM missle defenses next.

Once I finish this game I will jump up to the next level (one below Diety) and probably add 2 more computer opponents. My highest culture city is above 14,000 points so I might get a culture victory, depending on how long it takes to build my spaceship (for the science victory). I might try for the diplomatic victory, we'll see.

Cheers,

Kenneth

 

[Dave Smith]

That is damn impressive Kenneth, you're a better player than I am, and I've been playing Civ since 1992
I never play on Monarch or above. At that level the computer opponents get bonuses (free unit whenever they build a city, and more), and I prefer a straight fight.
I'm having a problem in Civ3 that I never had in previous incarnations - tech is coming in too slow. I've played two games through to completion, and never managed to research the spaceship techs in time to win. On starting a game I usually have two tech objectives - literacy and monarchy, I tend to rush to those first for libraries and the food/production bonuses.
Any tech tips?

 

[Kenneth]

At the lower difficulty levels the tech strategy is a little different than on the higher levels (where unhappiness is chronic). Here are a few strategies that keep me ahead of the game:

Goodie Huts are good for a few ancient era techs usually (especially if you play as an Expansionist civ, since they get more goodies from the goodie huts).

Specialize cities for resource and commerce. Make sure you build Newton's Observatory and SETI in the same city (use one with hills and gold since that gives you the resources to beat the computer and the commerce to reap maximum benifits). Beginning cities should build a temple on high levels or a library on lower levels if you want a quick burst. Your second unit is usually a settler or worker (or a library/temple, depending on what you built first). Never build troups in new cities, use a resource city farther back and send them to the new city sites with the settler.

Build most of your cities on rivers so you get the commerce bonus (70% of my cities are on rivers).

Build roads shortly after starting the city to increase your commerce.

Switch to Republic as soon as it is available, unless you are close to completing a wonder.

Switch to Democracy as soon as it is available, unless you are close to completing a wonder, or in a golden age.

Build cities next to gold and gems, even if they are not optimal for big cities to reap the extra commerce.

Trade with the computers. They are actually quite willing to give up techs. Use luxuries or strategic resources to get them. Broker techs, if you can (buy from one civ and sell to another).

Use luxuries items (furs, spice, etc) for happiness rather than adjusting your luxury rate. With a marketplace I could set my luxury rate to 0% for a big stretch after converting to democracy. This really helps you pump up your science rate to 50-70%.

Dynamically allocate your science. If a 10% change in science only costs you 1 turn of science but gives 100's of more gold, make the change. This way you can build more libraries/universities by rush buying them (if you are behind in science).

That's all I can think of for now. Hope that helps.

Kenneth

 

[Jay H]

To add to Kenneth's tips, Rivers (fresh water) also allows cities to grow without an aquaduct.

I don't think I would switch governments anytime during a Golden Age cause you'll waste the added shield production, UNLESS you're a religious civ where you only need 1 turn of anarchy before switching. If you are a religious civ, switch alot, Democracity for peacetime and perhaps Communism for war. It'll actually tell you how many turns in anarchy in the Domestic Advisor (F1).

Don't forget to lower your science output as you get closer to completion... i.e. if you have only 1 turn to develop "Synthetic Fibers" you should remember to go into your domestic advisor and lower your science spending as low as you can go and still develop it at 1 turn. During the later parts of the game, this is an easy way to replenish your bank about 3 to 4 hundred dollars in one or two turns...

Jay