Civilization III

[fable]

No, it's you.

Actually, Civ 3 is pretty tough. The AI is much better at building and battling, and Meier has closed several loopholes that let human players cheese AIs over.

[HighLordDave]

I picked up Civ3 and Stronghold last week, although I have yet to play either. My wife and I like to play strategy/city-building games together (Alpha Centauri, Pharoah and Rollercoaster Tycoon for example), but we just haven't had time this year around the holidays to begin either game.

Some of my roommates used to play Civilization in college (when it first came out and 60 MHz Pentium chips were all the rage). At least one of them disappeared for an entire month; when he emerged from his room his hair was down to his shoulders, his skin had turned pasty-white, the muscles in his legs had atrophied so bad he couldn't even run to the window to watch the girl from B216 jogging in the rain, and he'd lost 20 pounds because a diet of Fritos, penicillin-laden pizza and Jolt simply doesn't have any nutritional value. We tried to smoke him out by playing a bootleg recording of William Shatner's The Transformed Man over and over, but it didn't work. I'm hoping that Civ3 is just as good, but full of reminders to do things like eat and go to work.

[Xandax]

Originally posted by McBane:
<STRONG>Is it just me, or is this game tough? I never played Civ 1 or 2 , so maybe it is just me.

I finally lowered the number of opponents to 5, and have at least started down the path to respectability. I am playing on the easiest level also. </STRONG>

This game is actually very difficult IMO.
I've gotten it some 10 days ago, and beeing very good at Civ2 I thought this would just pose more of the same gameplay...... boy was I wrong.
I have difficulty in beating the computer at "regent" level (IIRC prince/king in Civ2).

But this game is great.

Although I think I've found a bug.
It seems I can't make "precision(sp?) bombing" - I only seem to be able to select my own cities/units for this.
Normal bombing works great - but I'd like to target what I bomb.
Has anybode else found this?

[Aegnor]

Haven't got the game yet but when I do i will be trying out this fan-supported "game of the month thing", where you can download a saved game and do your best with it. Provides a level playing field for people who want to measure their CIVIII skills against other fans:
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3gotm/

[Delacroix]

I think the game is fine, if a few personal restrictions:

1) IMO The game could step a little bit more to the future, the last combat units are the stealths planes, a little more to the future should be interesting, Genome project...
2)The AI is not that inteligent. Sometimes you have to repeat 1000 times to some unit leave your territory.
3)The map edditor don't have a miniature map to visualization.
4)IMO there is few governments and their are not in equality. Meaning that in the final of the game almost every civ is in the same way of government.
5)Steal a technology is much more expensive than buy it. So there is no purpose for stealing and the risk about stealing.
6)Deity mode is too much dificult, you can only win with diplomatic strats and if don't have arrogance at all!(not my case in civ)
7)Tax-men and Cientist should give a better bonus.
8)For balance purpose, maybe, they commit lots of historical-power mistakes. An bowman can beat a mariner. One ancient boat can beat a submarine. A modern unit caled Radar Artilhery walk the same squares of the ancient catapult.
9)Democracy is too much strong and is imune to propaganda. Why?
10)I'm missing the spy-dilomat-lawyer unit.
11) They put Aztecs, Uroquois, and Zulus ; but Spain and Italy are out. Why?
------------------------

Extrmely good points:

1) The CPU can fool you. I was playing, the Chinese enter in my territory. I say they must get out. They say the troops were only training. We agree in a free passing pact. Two turn after that they attack me and cacth one of my cities.
2) You can get some oponents cities by your culture. And this is not considered a declaration of war. If the oponent get one of your cities and you have a better culture ratting, the population throw them away and join you.
3) The AI have good memory. If you broke one pact cowardly, other civilization don't make that pact if you since you can betray them.


Hint:
If you are playing against lots of other civilizations(10-16), Wait someone get a new technology. Them buy it from him, and sell it for all others civilizations(for gold-per-turn price). You will make rivers of money. Last game I play, I was if 30000 gold in cash, and receiving 1700 per turn.

[McBane]

Originally posted by Fable:

No, it's you.

Ouch

I got in a few more hours last night, and am finally starting to get the hang of this game. It probably would have helped to read the manual.

Is there any general tips anyone has on the diplomacy end. It seems that I constantly get at least 2 countries allied against me. (I guess I have an abrasive personality )

[Delacroix]

Things interesting and important to know.
In a combat Moutain, hills, forest give defensive bonus for the units inside.
Good strat: Go if some defensive units(mosketeer, rifleman...), one cannon, one worker for an enemy territory. Find a isolated mountain(if plains or grasslands or desert in the surrounds), Stay if this units in the mountain. Tell to the worker build a fortress and road in the mountain. Declare war against this enemy. Carnage.
The privateer, if IIRC, is supra-nacional(don't know if the "supra-" term is correct).
The number of citzens in your city also affect the defensive bonus.
To make someone attack you, for the mutual protection pact become active in your advantage, just ask repeatly to your oponent to give you a city(for example) as a gift. Them try to plant a spy. If the spy is caught he will declare war, after his first attack the mutual protection pact will trigger.
IIRC, is possible to make a continental block with sea units.
I always keep high attention to mariners and paratroops surprise attack.


ps:
Do you see any utility in the helicopter or the stealth fighter? I found both unitile.


Ps2: For two times I see Gandhi, the blood-seeker , the tyrant, the reaging violent, give me lots of fears. Gandhi is too violent. I'm afraid of his violence.
Bad Gandhi!

[Xandax]

The helicopter can be great - but IIRC according to the description is should be able to carry 2 infantry units, but I can just seem to carry one.
I load it up and this way can bring infantry to small islands or into enermy territory in one turn.

The stealth fighter I didn't use much, just used the ordinary jet-fighter.
I used/use the stealth bomber often, except I can't get it to precision bomb - just ordinary bombing.

Advice: bomb or pillage roads into a sieged city so they can't get resouces and/or luxeries into this city.
I did this in one campaign, bombed their infrastructure, so they couldn't get rubber and thus could not produce tanks or mech.inf for many turns

[Quark]

Civ3 is great ... but I refuse to play it more until the patch comes out. There's too many issues that I just don't want to deal with (and don't want to remember such a good game by).

How about the fact that in every game I have not been able to contact one civilization from the diplomacy screen?

Actually, what bugs me most is the balance between difficulty levels. It doesn't exist.
My first game was on Cheiftan simply to learn the game - never again. My cities grew too fast, meaning they produced too fast, meaning they had nothing to produce (yay fun! doing wealth for half the game!). Another byproduct of this was pollution - horrible, horrible pollution. My average turn halfway through the industrial era left me with 4 squares of pollution to clean up (I had over 25 workers just for pollution!). That was just sickening, considering I had the problem throughout the entire Industrial Age, and much of the Modern Age (even with all the pollution reductions every one of my cities still had chances to produce pollution).

It's horrible how broken the difference b/w tech advance and city growth is at Chieftan level. If I ever play on that level again I've decided not to build any granaries or the Pyramids.

[Xandax]

Originally posted by Quark:
<STRONG>&lt;snip&gt;
How about the fact that in every game I have not been able to contact one civilization from the diplomacy screen?
&lt;snip&gt;</STRONG>

I haven't experience this problem, only problem I've got is no presicion bombing

Originally posted by Quark:
<STRONG>&lt;snip&gt;
Another byproduct of this was pollution - horrible, horrible pollution. My average turn halfway through the industrial era left me with 4 squares of pollution to clean up (I had over 25 workers just for pollution!). That was just sickening, considering I had the problem throughout the entire Industrial Age, and much of the Modern Age (even with all the pollution reductions every one of my cities still had chances to produce pollution).
</STRONG>

And this is to unrealistic?
Actually I'm annoyed at pollution to, but a big city creates a lot pollution.

And BTW the workers seem to work faster under democracy - has anybody else noticed this?

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: Xandax ]

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: Xandax ]

[Quark]

My complaint is not the amount of pollution a city of a certain size produced - that's realistic.

My complaint is the fact that I had 10 cities maxed in population before I got Aquaducts; I had over 20 maxed before I got Sewer System. Half of my production in the game was wealth, simply because my technology was far outpaced by my city growth.

Besides the fact that when all the opposing civs had 7 cities of about pop. 3-5, I had 15 cities of pop +10.

Firaxis' attempts to make Chieftan an 'easy' level just ended up creating a horribly unbalanced level. City growth is just too fast.

[ThorinOakensfield]

Okay i have Civ 2 and beaten it several times and i love it.
Just wondering how is "test of time" any different?
I'm thinking of getting Civ 3, but then I want to get NWN too. Can't decide.
I'll get Civ 3, my parents are more likely to agree.

[ThorinOakensfield]

Wow there so many games i want.
Dark Age of Camelot, NWN, Civ 3, new star wars game, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Grand Auto Theft 3!!

Damit i can only get one of those games and definently not gamecube or playstation 2(too expenisve).
Than NWN and Dark Age have monthly cost for online gaming. Civ 3 looks like it.

[CM]

I can't find a list of all the civ's in Civ 3.
Can anyone post a link or the list?

[fable]

Originally posted by ThorinOakensfield:
<STRONG>Okay i have Civ 2 and beaten it several times and i love it.
Just wondering how is "test of time" any different?
I'm thinking of getting Civ 3, but then I want to get NWN too. Can't decide.
I'll get Civ 3, my parents are more likely to agree.</STRONG>

Test of Time was an unbalanced bore. It had some interesting concepts, but the working out was poor.

If you like turn-based strategy games, do consider Europa Universalis II and Patrician II. Both are great games. (Patrician II is actually realtime, but the game can be set to go so slowly that it doesn't matter.)