__________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Civilization III FAQ/Walkthrough "How to win friends and Conquer people..." __________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ January 2, 2002 Version 0.4 Written by: Dan Simpson Email: manymoose@hotmail.com Email Policy: (read before emailing me!) ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ If you are going to email me about this game, please put Civilization III as your email subject as well as the version number of the FAQ that you are looking at. So your subject line should read "Civ III, 0.4" Also please realize that I am not hiding cheats or any other information, i.e. everything I know about Civ III is in this guide. If you see any mistakes, or have anything that you want to add please email me! I will, of course, give you full credit for your addition, and be eternally grateful to you. Email addresses are not posted in the FAQ, unless you specifically state that you want it to be. Also, if you have a BUG of some sort, try downloading and installing the Patch first. Sure, it's a large download, but it fixes a large variety of problems. Finally if you are on AOL and want a response from me, make sure that your email is accepting from Hotmail (webmail). I have received way too many emails returned from AOL with a message that the person wasn't accepting from Hotmail. ______________________________________Notes____________________________________ You will find the most up to date version of this FAQ at: http://www.cheatcc.com/ http://www.gamefaqs.com/ Be sure to pick up the 1.16f patch for Civ III: (see the Patch Info section below for more details) http://www.civ3.com/patches.cfm This FAQ looks best in a fixed-width font, such as Courier New. This Document is Copyright 2002 by Dan Simpson Civilization III is Copyright 2001 by Infogrames/Firaxis I am not affiliated with Sid Meier, Firaxis, Infogrames or anyone who had anything to do with the creation of this game. This FAQ may be posted on any site so long as NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling me that you are posting it. You may not charge for, or in any way profit from this FAQ. _______________________________________________________________________________ __________________ What's New in 0.4: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Everything is new. Many sections are still incomplete at this stage. For a complete Version History, check out the Final Words Section at the end of the FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i. Civilization III, What's Different? ii. Patch Info (v1.16f) iii. Using the Map Editor 1. Game Basics (or, So You've Never Played a Civ Before?) 2. The Civs 3. Building an Empire 4. Culture 5. Diplomacy 6. Dealing With Corruption 7. Science 8. Wonders of the World 9. War, What is it Good For? 9.1 The Combat Engine Demystified! 10. Winning the Game 11. Extra City Names 12. A Brief History of Each Civ (Or, Why This Civ Is In The Game) Final Words... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i. Civilization III, What's Different? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick Definitions: Civ - Civilization, usually a stand-in for one of the players (CPU or Human). An example Civ would be the French. Civ also is the standard abbreviation for the game, Civilization. Thus, Civ III is short for Civilization III. Tech - Technology, one of the researchable techs in the game SMAC - Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Major Changes: * The Addition of Culture. Now each city you construct has a "Culture Modifier" that will increase its boundaries, and later increase the borders of your empire. Culture has other effects as well, such as impressing other Civs, and even as a tool for stealing their cities. Culture is acquired by building certain buildings, temples, colosseums, wonders, etc. * Civilization-specific advantages. These advantages are listed in the section below called "The Civs." What these amount to is different bonuses when playing a different Civ. One Civ might receive an extra Scout unit at the beginning, while another has faster workers. Each Civ also has a Civ-specific unit, such as the Roman Legionnary, which replaces a standard unit (in this case the Swordsman). * Barbarians are completely different. Before, Barbarians simply appeared on the map and attacked, now they have little villages where they are based out of. The village will generate units that are used to attack your country. This can be fixed by sacking the village, either with military force, or simply having the culture level expand out to include the village (which automatically disperses it). Taking a barbarian village nets you some money as well. Such villages are always rebuilt just outside your culture somewhere, so you must be vigilant. Also, Barbarians can no longer capture your cities. They can, however, kill your settlers and workers. This leads to one strategy, if you have a settler about to be killed by a barbarian, have him build his city quickly. Instead of dying, your city gets attacked, but with no defense the barbarians just take some money and leave. (Barbarians can also kill population and destroy buildings, but with a size 1 city that you just built, this isn't a problem.) * Diplomacy is completly revamped. You can trade for more things, and just generally get more out of the diplomacy screen. For example, instead of just being able to trade maps, you can trade your Territory Map (the land within your culture) or your whole World Map (all that you have explored). * Golden Ages. Gone are the generic "golden ages" (when you researched Philosophy in Civ II you got a free tech, not so in Civ III), replaced by a more useful golden age. When you meet a condition of your Civ (it could be building a wonder, or winning a battle, it all depends on the type of Civ you are playing), you enter a Golden Age, where food and production is greatly increased. Tip: DO NOT change governments while in a Golden Age, or you'll lose all the benefits while your Civ is in Anarchy. Unit Changes: * Units no longer have home cities, they are supported by the Empire as a whole. The early governments can simply support a number of units per city for free, after which you start paying 1 gold per unit. (Republic and Democracy ALWAYS pay for units) That's right, units no longer require resource SHIELDS to support. Also, settlers no longer require FOOD to support. * Speaking of settlers, they now cost TWO population to build, and no longer build improvements (irrigation, mining, roads), that job has fallen to the new WORKER unit. Workers cost ONE population point to build. Both are considered NON-COMBAT units and cannot defend cities. In fact, if attacked by an enemy Civ, they get captured and will now work for the enemy. (Settlers are converted into 2 workers... no one will build cities entirely with foreigners) * Old units can be upgraded in any city that contains a barracks. This involves a small fee for the upgrade (the fee gets larger the more "steps" that must be upgraded. For instance, upgrading a Rifleman to Infantry is cheap, but upgrading a Spearman to Infantry would be a lot more money). Leonardo's Workshop no longer automatically upgrades units, it merely makes it more cost effective. * No more diplomats, spies, or caravans (as units). The functions of these units has been rolled into the Diplomacy screen (SHIFT-D, or press the on-screen button). As soon as you contact a Civ (by which I mean that you see one of their units/cities), you can talk to them, trade for resources and so forth. Spying is split between your Embassy and the later Intelligence Building (which you can build after you get the Espionage tech). Note: To build an embassy in a Civ, double-click the STAR icon that is attached to your capitol city. To set up an Espionage mission, double-click the pentagon icon that is attached to the city that built the Intelligence Building. Note: Since there are no Caravans, there is no FOOD caravan. The only food your city gets, it must produce itself. * Unit "firepower" was removed. See the "Combat Engine Demystified" section below to see how combat is figured out now. * Artillery-type units now Bombard rather than attack. This is a special attack that will damage (but not destroy) enemy units. If attacking a city there is also a chance to kill civilians, or destroy buildings. Naval units and Air units can also bombard the landscape. * Units have more levels than just "Veteran." They start as "Regulars" advance through battle (or barracks) to Veteran then from there become Elite. This isn't new if you played SMAC, but is if your last game was Civ II. Also, there is no longer an offensive bonus associated with being Veteran/Elite, it simply gives you more Hit Points. See the "Combat Engine Demystified" section below for more details. * Privateers are back! (OK, so they were only in Colonization, but still) These wonderful units allow you to attack other naval vessels freely, because no one knows that it is your Privateer! Of course, in order for these to be effective, you'll want the Patch (v1.16f) which upgrades their attack strength to 2 (from 1). * Elite units, when victorious in battle, have a chance to produce a GREAT LEADER. Leaders are awesome and have 2 great powers, as we'll see below. They are considered NON-COMBAT units, and must be protected until they can get back to your cities and do one of the following: - Hurry Production. The leader is the only force on earth that can hurry-up a wonder, but their Hurry ability works on any city improvement. Send the leader to a city, then hurry, no matter how much production is left, that improvement is now complete. I usually used this AFTER building at least one army, as several WONDERS require that you have a VICTORIOUS ARMY (the Pentagon requires that you simply POSSESS 3 armies at the time). Often I'd send him to one of my FRONTIER cities (where they are built next to the enemy, or near a large empty area), and switch that city to build the most production-intense WONDER. Back to leader, who HURRIES the production and finishes the wonder in ONE TURN. - Build an Army. You need armies to win tough military campaigns, but they have other nice effects as well. For starters, you NEED an army to win a battle before you can build the Heroic Epic "small" Wonder (which increases the odds that Elite units produce Leaders) or the Military Academy which can produce Armies itself. Armies work by grouping numerous units together (3 originally, but you can get 4 once you build the Pentagon). When you attack with an army, the best offensive unit in the army attacks, but Hit Point losses are spread amongst all the units, so the army doesn't die until all the combined Hit Points have been lost. So, say you combine 3 Elite Knights together; your army now has 15 Hit points. Now you can safely attack nearly anything and know that even if you lose 10 or more rounds of combat, you'll still win in the end. Note: Once you add a unit to an army, there is NO WAY to get it out of the army. There is also no way to UPGRADE an armies units. (they also can't Pillage, for some reason) So, once you have all the Army related "small" Wonders (Heroic Epic, Military Academy and the Pentagon), consider disbanding your old armies and producing new ones to replace them. Armies cost 400 shields to build, and can only be build in cities with the Military Academy. Disbanding an old army nets your city 100 shields, which can be a great way to get some improvements built. Terrain and Resource Changes: * There are now Strategic Resources and Luxury Resources. Strategic Resources (Iron, Horses, etc.) are what allow you to build the better units in the game. You can't build Swordsmen without Iron any more than you can build Horsemen without Horses. Each Civ starts out by at least SOME sort of strategic resource. If you don't get one, you may have to trade with other Civs to get it. Luxury Resources (Wine, Spices, Silks, etc.) make your citizens happy. Simply have a road on the resource (within your culture) and have that road lead to your capitol is enough. If the resource is OUTSIDE of your culture, I'd send a settler to fix that, but you could also send a worker to build a road to it, then the Worker can found a COLONY. Colonies ONLY bring in resources (also Strategic resources), and need to be defended lest they be destroyed by hostile barbarians. Note: If your culture expands to the area where the colony is placed, the colony vanishes... as it is no longer needed. Each Luxury makes one person in each city (that is connected to the road) happy. There are 8 luxury resources, so if you have them all then 8 people are now happy (less if there is significant War Weariness). If you build a Marketplace this effect is increased by a lot. Now the first 2 luxuries make one person happy each, but the next 2 luxuries each make 2 more people happy. The next 2 luxuries after that make 3 people happy, and the last 2 luxuries each make 4 people happy. Thus, if you have access to all the luxuries (either by getting them yourself or trading for them), one of the first buildings you'll want in each city is a Marketplace. * Irrigation now requires access to Fresh Water. This is usually a river, but inland lakes work just as well. And of course, you can irrigate from your previous irrigations. This makes for some interesting Worker projects when you have to get water out to the drier areas of your empire. Once your city has access to water, it counts as a source of fresh water, and you can irrigate from it. Also note that your irrigations can be run diagonally and still have fresh water. Electricity eliminates the need for this, allowing you to irrigate anywhere. Note: You can no longer irrigate Hills in Civ III. Also, there are no more Engineers, so you cannot transform the terrain either. When you build a city on a desert, it will stay a desert. * No more Farmland improvement. Railroads will now increase the effects of mines or irrigated land by 50%. Notice that it improves only what you have built, it doesn't just provide a bonus to what is there. For example, a railroad on a square that produces 2 food and 2 shields (which would be a mined grassland) would improve ONLY the "mine" giving you an extra Shield. * Forests, when cut down by your workers, will give a shield bonus (10) to the closest city. This does not affect Wonders, which don't take the bonus. * Rivers run between land squares now, and provide no movement bonus. Land near a river gets one extra Commerce. There is a defensive bonus when a unit attacks another across a river. Also, until the Engineering tech is discovered, rivers are considered to be "un-bridged," so even when you build a road across a river, it won't help. * Altitude and visibility. Normally units can see 1 square in all directions. However, when they get close to a mountain or a hill, they can see it from 2 squares away. When they get to the top of a mountain or a hill, they can see in all directions for 2 squares. Hills cannot see over Jungles, Hills and Mountains, while Mountains can't see over other Mountains. Usually if I want to place a unit near an enemy Civ, I look for the nearest Mountain and fortify there... it also has a great Defensive Modifier! (see the "Combat Engine Demystified" section) * Jungles and Floodplains come with a chance for Disease. Disease, though not terribly common, affects you in 2 ways: One, cities built near these terrains can have citizens die from disease; Two, units on these terrains can themselves just die from disease. Not sure if the Hospital reduces these effects. Note: Your city doesn't have to be RIGHT NEXT TO one of the terrains, if it has Jungle or Floodplains ANYWHERE in its "city radius" it has a chance for disease. * Impassable Terrains. Catapults and Cannons can't enter Jungles or Mountains. Changes to Cities: * Production Queue. You can now instruct cities to build one thing after another. You add items to the queue by holding SHIFT while you click what you want to add. Replacing an item already on the queue requires that you click that item, then SHIFT-click the new item to replace it. Note: Greyed-out improvements are ones that you cannot build at the moment. This usually means that you are building that improvement (almost always a Wonder) in another city. Wonders can also be greyed out if you try to switch production from one thing to the Wonder (it won't let you). Which means that you can't Hurry the production of a Temple and try to switch it to an Oracle (to build it faster). If you have a queue that you want to SAVE for future cities, press SHIFT-Q to save it, then later just Q to load it. * War Weariness. Republics and Democracies don't like to be at war, and will tend to become unhappy while at war. The longer a war goes on, the worse the effect will be. This can be somewhat countered with Temples, Cathedrals, Luxuries and so on (things that NORMALLY reduce unhappiness work just fine), as well as Police Stations and the Universal Suffrage Wonder (things that reduce War Weariness itself). Nothing will ever eliminate the effects of war weariness. In fact, in a Democracy, War Weariness has such an effect that you won't want to declare war on anyone, and even when you do, you'll want peace as FAST as possible. Look on the bright side, at least units outside of the city don't cause unhappiness as they did in Civ II. * Small Wonders. These bad boys can be built by ALL civilizations, not just the first to get them. Their effects are in many ways, better than those of the Great Wonders. These are listed in the "Wonders of the World" section below. * Conquering Cities. You get an option to "raze" the city, which is terribly useful. Cities that ARE captured will have "resistors", elements of the population that are against your rule. Captured cities also lose all their improvements, meaning that even when the resistance is quelled, the populace is very unhappy (especially if you're still at war with their homeland). And at least until the patch, cities of 1 population aren't automatically razed. (With the Patch, they are) Science: * You can now use the Tech Tree directly to set tech goals. Want Monarchy, but can't research it yet? Set it as your Goal. On the Science Adviser screen there is the tech tree, click on Monarchy and he'll get all the advances needed to get to Monarchy. This screen also comes up when you get a new tech (under "What's the Big Picture?"). * Ages. There are now 4 ages to the game, from ancient to modern. While in one age, you can't get techs from the next age. In fact, the beginning techs of an age have no prerequisite other than that you be in that age. You advance in Age when you have MOST (not all) of the techs in your current age. Researching techs from previous ages is then easier to do, and comes at a reduced cost. What's Gone: * Bribery. No spies equals no unit bribery. Your armies will remain your own. * Engineers. Your workers are upgraded automatically with new skills when you gain the right tech. I do miss the 2 movement of engineers, though. You also can't Alter the terrain (that is, turn Plains to Grassland). * Fundamentalism. * The Senate. Now you can declare war on whomever you please as a Republic or a Democracy. The only thing stopping you is the War Weariness once you're at war. * Tax/Science/Luxury caps. Now you can set these rates to whatever you want. * Zones of Control. Your armies used to (in Civ II) have an area around them where enemy armies could not tread. This is gone. So, no more setting just a FEW units to guard your border; if you want to keep the enemy out, you must fortify the ENTIRE border. Some units (and units that are fortified in a Fortress) get a Free Attack on units that cross their sights. Note: Saved Games are very large. If you find yourself saving often (and why wouldn't you?) your hard drive will get filled up rapidly. Be sure to every once in a while go through and delete your old and useless saved games. Alternatively, you could just have ONE save per civilization session. Consider: You play as the French, so your saved game is always called "French1". Every time you save, you save over this game. If you ever need to go back to an OLDER save, there are still the auto-saves available. This way you don't create a large archive of old games. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii. Patch Info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patch Info page: http://www.civ3.com/patches.cfm Direct Download Link: http://www.civ3.com/patch/Civ3v116f.exe Important! If you are running Windows XP, the patch does work, but to get the game to run with it, you may need to make one small alteration to a game file. Here is what to do: 1. Open up the Civilization3.ini file. Don't know how? Go to Start > Run > then type Notepad.exe. From here go to File > Open > C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III\Civilization3.ini 2. This is a list of game options. At the bottom of this list add this line exactly as it appears: Refresh=60 3. If you had any Compatibility Modes set up to play the game before the patch, turn these OFF. You will no longer need them. 4. Play and enjoy! Additions v1.16f: (from the readme.txt, with some of my notes) * We've added an ini file setting, Refresh. To use, open the civilization3.ini and add 'Refresh=60'. You can try higher frequencies, but 60 is good starting location. If it can't set the frequency, it will default to what Windows believes it should be. If you are not having monitor or frequency problems, do not use this ini setting. * Players now receive a message when a wonder is made obsolete. * There is now a text prompt on using the production queue in the City Display screen. * Editor: Added Barbarian Combat Bonus to difficulty level tab. * Editor: Added Cost Factor to difficulty level tab. * Editor: Added AI unit support bonus to difficulty level tab. * Editor: Added AI bonus starting units to difficulty level tab. * Editor: Added AI max. govt. transition time to difficulty level tab. * Editor: Added corruption modifier to difficulty level tab. Note: This is called Optimum City Level %. Another way to change corruption levels, also in the Editor, is to edit the World Sizes setting called Optimum Number of Cities, the higher the better... however, this also increases the number of cities you need before you can get the Forbidden Palace). * Editor: Added a number of armies requirement for Improvements and Wonders. * Editor: Added a small wonder ability checkbox for "Requires a Victorious Army" for Improvements and Wonders. * Editor: On General Settings, added Border Factor which controls border expansion. * Editor: On General Settings, added Future Tech Cost. * Editor: On General Settings, added Min. Tech Turns. * Editor: On General Settings, added Max. Tech Turns. * Editor: On General Settings, added Golden Age Duration. * Editor: Added mission cost to Diplomats and Spies page. * Added "Color Blind Help" pref (gives the name of the civ in the city title box). * Added "Ask for Build Orders after Unit Construction" pref * Added "Always Start Building Previously Built Unit" pref * Added "Show Civil Disorder Pop-Up" pref (useful if you don't want to hunt around the map looking for burning cities, can also change the entertainment levels directly) * Added "Culturally Linked Starting Locations" (civs are placed on maps in close proximity to other civs of the same culture; please note that not using this pref can lead to sub-optimal arrangements of civ colors). * Added "Show Our Manual/Our Automatic/Enemy/Friend Moves" preferences. Changes v1.16f: * The cost of building a Palace is now based on the number of cities in your civilization. * The Sun Icon on the Info Box represents the amount of global warming affecting the game. If the sun does not display, there is insufficient global warming to affect the terrain. Once the sun displays, the brighter it is, the greater the impact of global warming. * It's slightly easier to culturally acquire cities. * Forests planted on tundra always display as pine. * Irrigation sorts slightly differently. * Goody hut console popup display times increased. * Relationship lines are no longer displayed on the Foreign Advisor unless the player has contact with both civilizations. * Corruption effects have been reduced. * Cultural priority of AI has been reduced. * Submarine and Nuclear Submarine now have an offense value of 8. * Paratroops now have a range of 6. * Privateer now has an offense value of 2. * Corruption calculations for Communism are now flat for the number-of-cities factor. * Borders now draw over forest and jungle. * Shield bonus from clearing forest can only be received once per game. * Palaces and spaceship parts can only be built in one city at a time. * Improved City Governor Performance. * The maximum number of cities permitted in a game is 512, increased from 256 * Added information about healing units to Barracks civilopedia entry. * Clarified that railroads increase output of mines and irrigation in civilopedia entry. * Added hyperlink to Ocean in Caravel civilopedia entry. * The maximum number of turns it can take to research an advance has been increased from 32 to 40. * Editor: Removed unused Description field from Improvements and Wonders. * Police Stations now reduce corruption in the city they are built in. * Editor: On General Settings, renamed Border Expansion Multiplier to Lvl. Multiplier. Fixes v1.16f: * Fixed scroll problem on some Nvidia graphics cards. * The correct city now highlights on the Domestic and Cultural advisor screens when scroll bar displays. * Precision Bombing now works as intended. * Sorting columns on the Domestic advisor screen now stay sorted. * Traded advances that cause an era transition, now allows the player to select the advance to research in the new era. * The five states an AI can be in on the Diplomacy screen, can now be seen on the mouse over advisor messages on the Foreign advisor. * The problem of not being able to build 'Wealth' in some cities has been fixed. * Messages about resources discovered that the player doesn't have the advance to use no longer display. * Incorrect popup concerning placing new embassies with civilizations you're at war with no longer displays. * Occasional instances of selected units not stay centered fixed. * Synthetic Fibers now has the correct prerequisite advance, Ecology. * The Great Lighthouse no longer permits Galleys to travel on Ocean tiles. * The AI no longer reacts to submarines that it cannot see. * Multi-cultural cities no longer occasionally produce barbarian settlers or workers. * Minimap now updates when interface is hidden. * Units no longer occasionally disappear at the poles. * 'Combo' boxes now are set to the maximum size needed. * Long advance names no longer overrun the Info Box when in Golden Age. * Bubble-text on the replay screen now correctly clears itself. * The last line in the Event View of the replay screen is now fully visible. * You can now see a cities population on the City Title bar regardless of team color or state. * Selecting a 'grayed out' option in the Diplomacy screen no longer clears the Foreign Advisor's advice. * Correctly small graphic corruption on Domestic Advisor popups. * Right-Click flyout menus no longer display if you use a function key to open an advisor screen. * You can no longer unload air units from a carrier. You need to execute a rebase mission. * You can no longer demand very large amounts of gold in diplomacy. * Modified advance trees now load correctly. * Fixed AI exploit with regards to giving cities away in diplomacy. * Air superiority missions work as intended. * Quick Start will now use the number of civs selected in the previously generated game. * Retiring from a Conquest-only game no longer is recorded as a victory. * Fixed AI problem with resources on custom maps. * Team color on horseman unit correctly displays. * French Musketeer fortify animation now plays. * Governors no longer build privateers when set to build no units. * Fixed AI bug allowing the user to infinitely postpone invasions by shuffling units around. * Hall of Fame screen now correctly lists the difficulty levels. * Games that don't save due to low hard drive space now displays an error message. * A save corruption problem was fixed. * Fixed fatal related to tiles on the edge of the map. * Once the UN is completed, you are no longer prompted to vote every turn. * You no longer declare war by accidentally passing over a hidden submarine. * Fixed infinite loop with automation. * Other typos and civilopedia mistakes were also corrected... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii. Using the Map Editor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Civilization III ships with a somewhat functional Map Editor (found in the same Start Menu group as the game). First off, you can't actually create scenarios with the map editor. Yes, I know there is a Scenario menu, but no, you can't make one. Yet. There is also no way to ZOOM OUT on your map to get the big picture. Annoying since there isn't a mini-map either. What does this mean? That you will probably want to just randomly generate a map (Map > Generate Map), and then start editing. The Map Generation options are the same here as when you start a new game, map size, land type, and so on. World Seed affects the position of special resources (and other things) on the map. There's no particular reason to use it. Note: To edit the Rules for the map, you need to click on the Tools menu, then UNSELECT the "Use Default Rules" option. This unlocks the Rules menu. Also note, the edited rules only count for your created map. If you go to a normal game, the rules will be the default rules. Note: To change the map size (by which I mean to make a larger map than "Huge" or a smaller map than "Tiny"), you need to edit the Rules BEFORE generating your map. Go to the World Sizes Rule, and change the dimensions of the map. Remember that really large maps will drag down game performance. Next thing to know, once you have a map, is that you can't set where YOU will start a game. All you can set is a generic "Set Player Starting Location", which you may or may not use (it could go to the CPU). If you do want to "cheat" your game, what you can do is improve one of the Starting Locations. Then when you load up the map in the game, if you don't start at the right place, restart (CTRL-SHIFT-Q) and try it again. There are 3 main items in editing a map: the Terrain itself, the Resources (both strategic and luxurious) and the "Overlays" (such as "Goodie" huts and Rivers). These 3 buttons are on the toolbar (they're the green ones, with the "wheat" in the middle). To the right of those buttons are the Terrain Brush sizes, from small to large, followed by the Generate Random Map button. By default the editor uses Desert tiles 1x1 in size. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Game Basics (or, So You've Never Played a Civ Before?) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section is intended for people who have never played any of the Civ games before, and those who don't even have Civ III and are curious about it. Anyone else, feel free to skip to the next section, "The Civs." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. The Civs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Commerical Civs experience less corruption, and produce more Commerce in large cities. This bonus works the best during the middle ages when your cities are large enough to produce the bonus commerce. Not sure how much corruption is reduced, but it isn't by that much. Expansionist Civs start with an extra unit, the Scout, which has 2 movement points. Early in the game this is a good advantage to exploration. Barbarian villages produce more money when captured. Goodie Huts are more profitable and never produce Barbarians. Scouts are the real treat here since you can avoid building Warriors for exploration purposes, your scout works just fine. Both of their bonuses are for the beginning of the game ONLY. Scouts are decent, but only until you get Horsemen. And getting bonuses from Goodie Huts is nice, but only if there are Goodie Huts to find. Industrious Civs have faster workers (2x, this bonus stacks with Replaceable Parts for a 4x bonus) and the "city" squares produce extra shields when the population goes over 6. My personal favorite as the super-fast workers are nice, you'll be able to expand your empire at a faster rate with fast workers building roads everywhere. Why not just take a non-industrious civ and simply build MORE workers? Well, instead of having to spend shields and population building extra workers, you could use those same shields and pop to build SETTLERS. Note: Industrial Workers seem to work slower while in Anarchy. Captured Workers do not get the Industrial Bonus. This holds true if you aren't Industrial yourself and capture Workers from an Industrial Civ. Militaristic Civ's units advance in rank faster (from veteran to elite) and produce more Leaders. Barracks and Coastal Fortresses are cheaper to produce by 50%. My second favorite on the list for the simple reason that you get more leaders, which allows you to build armies quicker, more often and to better effect. Also with a lot of leaders so you can VERY QUICKLY build any wonder you like. Tip: The first leader you get should ALWAYS create an Army. This army then needs to immediately attack an enemy Civ's unit. Why? There are two Small Wonders that require having a Victorious Army, while one requires that you have three armies. Heroic Epic - Have a victorious army Military Academy - Have a victorious army Pentagon - Have three armies at one time Religious Civs get Temples and Cathedrals at half cost. That is it takes half the Production Shields to build them. They also change governments quicker having only 1 turn at Anarchy. Scientific Civs get a similar bonus for Research Buildings: Libraries, Universities and Research Labs. At the start of each Age, scientific Civs get an extra Tech for free. A Quick Reference Table: ------------------------ Civ Traits Free Techs Special Unit (Replace) ------- -------- --------------------------------- ---------------------- America Ind, Exp Masonry, Pottery F-15 (Jet Fighter) Aztec Mil, Rel Warrior Code, Ceremonial Burial Jaguar Warrior (War.) Babylon Rel, Sci Ceremonial Burial, Bronze Working Bowman (Archer) Britain Exp, Com Pottery, Alphabet Man-o-War (Frigate) China Ind, Sci Masonry, Bronze Working Rider (Knight) Egypt Ind, Rel Masonry, Ceremonial Burial War Chariots (Chariot) France Ind, Com Masonry, Alphabet Musketeer (Musketman) Germany Mil, Sci Warrior Code, Bronze Working Panzer (Tank) Greece Sci, Com Bronze Working, Alphabet Hoplite (Spearmen) India Rel, Com Ceremonial Burial, Alphabet War Elephants (Knight) Iroquois Exp, Rel Pottery, Ceremonial Burial M. Warrior (Horseman) Japan Mil, Rel Warrior Code, Ceremonial Burial Samurai (Knight) Persia Mil, Com Warrior Code, Alphabet Immortals (Swordsmen) Rome Ind, Mil Masonry, Warrior Code Legionnary (Swordsmen) Russia Exp, Sci Pottery, Bronze Working Cossack (Cavalry) Zulus Mil, Exp Pottery, Warrior Code Impi (Spearman) The Special Units: ------------------ These are roughly sorted by date, or when the Civ would have access to the special unit. I figure the best special units are the ones you get early in the game to give you an advantage over your enemies. Gaining a special unit late in the game is almost useless. Ancient: Jaguar Warrior - Aztec - One of only 2 special units that can be built (1-1-2) immediately, and this one is a doozy. Consider this, there are 2 units at the beginning of the game with 2 movement points, the other being the scout, and the Jaguar Warrior is the only one of those that can attack. Use mostly for exploration purposes. The Jaguar has the same stats as the Chariot, but costs half as much to build. Use the Jaguar to map out the world quickly, then have settlers fill it in with cities. Because of this unit, the Aztecs (a Religious, Militaristic Civ) can also be seen as a half- Expansionist. They get a unit comparable to the scout (and can defend itself, unlike the scout). The Aztecs can thus probably explore the map quicker than anyone else. Hoplite - Greek - The only other unit that can be immediately built, (1-3-1) even though it requires Bronze Working (one of the techs the Greeks start with, conveniently enough). The Hoplite is a Spearman with +1 to Defense, giving him the same stats as the medieval Pikeman. This gives the Greeks the first Age and the first half of the second age to have the BEST DEFENSIVE UNIT in the game. Plus, Hoplites are cheaper to produce than Pikemen, so even when you get Feudalism, you will still want Hoplites. Oh, and Hoplites don't require Iron either (Pikemen do). Impi - Zulu - The Impi is a Spearman with +1 to movement. This (1-2-2) gives you a Fast unit without having to find horses (nice). However, Zulus don't start with Bronze Working, so they would need to get that first to get their special unit, which could take 40 turns. If possible, trade to get Bronze Working. Impi are the only units with 2 movement that can DEFEND until Knights, so use them accordingly. Send in armies of Horsemen, guarded by your Impis. They'll move in SWIFLY, but SECURELY with the same defensive rating of Spearmen. With Impis and Horsemen together, you can actually Blitz in the ancient era! Plus, just like all multi-movement units, the Impi will retreat if they are losing a battle, a nice bonus for a spearman to have. War Chariots - Egypt - The War Chariot is a chariot with +1 attack, (2-1-2) giving them the same ratings as a Horseman. They also don't start with the Wheel and would need to research it. Also, unlike the Impi, chariots require Horses. The advantage? Horsemen cost twice as many shield to build as War Chariots, making them cheap and fast attack units. Difficult to mount a successful invasion with due to the time to research the Wheel; most enemies will have spearmen by that point. Bowman - Babylonian - An archer with +1 to their defense. Requires one (2-2-1) level of tech to get (Warrior Code), which could take up to 40 turns to get (or you could trade for it, or find it in a Goodie Hut). If, and only if, you get the Bowmen early enough, you can use them to good effect, they're the best early unit in the game. However, they become ineffective after Iron Working. Mounted Warrior - Iroquois - A Horseman with +1 to attack strength. This (3-1-2) Makes them the most deadly fast attack unit until the Knight, but still a difficult unit to use without infantry support (Spearmen, for example). Same attack as the Swordsmen, but with the benefit of being a fast unit. Requires horses to build. Legionnary - Romans - My personal favorite special unit, the Legionnary (3-3-1) is a Swordsman with +1 defense. With 3 attack power and 3 defensive power, the Legionnary is a good, all-around fighting force. They can be used by themselves to attack other nations, without the benefit of a special "defensive" unit to protect them. Outclassed only when the Knight appears, the Legionnary will terrorize the ancient world. The only limit on legionnaries is that it requires Iron Working to build, and Iron in your resource box. Immortals - Perians - The Immortals are also Swordsmen, but they get +1 (4-2-1) to attack power rather than defense. This makes them just as strong on offense as a Knight (although without the defense or the movement). Since you get Immortals an entire AGE before Knights appear, there is plenty of time to smite your foes with them... So long as you get Iron Working early enough, and have a source of Iron, that is. Medieval: War Elephant - Indians - Essentially War Elephants are knights that require (4-3-2) NO resources to build (normally you need Iron AND Horses). Great advantage if you don't HAVE Iron or Horses, not so good if you DO. They have no other bonuses, their attack and defense are identical to the Knight. Samurai - Japanese - Another Knight replacement, this one doesn't (4-4-2) require horses (but still needs iron). Apparently Samurai can run quite well. The Samurai gets +1 to his Defense. A good mix of offense and defense, in fact he'll be the best defender of the age, just as good as Musketmen even. Although Gunpowder is close to being researched at this time, Samurai still don't need Saltpeter, and unlike Musketmen, can also attack. (The Samurai is SLIGHTLY more expensive to build than a Musketman) Rider - Chinese - The final Knight replacement, this one gets +1 to (4-3-3) its movement, giving it the range of the Cavalry. Also, because of its 3 movement points, the Rider exerts a "zone of control" and gains an attack of opportunity automatically whenever an enemy unit moves by. The Rider still requires both Iron and Horses, but until Military Tradition and the Cavalary come around, there isn't anything faster or stronger. Man-O-War - English - A replacement for the Frigate, the Man-O-War gets (3-2-4) +1 to its attack power. I don't see the point here, for two reasons. One, naval units aren't all that useful in the game. (Although there are a great many things you can do IN SUPPORT of land units with naval units) Two, frigates give way to Ironclads within only a few advances, thus the Man-O-War won't be the king of the seas for long. Industrial: Cossack - Russian - A Cavalry with +1 to its defensive power. The (6-4-3) extra point of defense is nice, but not too terribly useful. It amounts to the same difference between Pikemen and Musketmen. Cossacks will still lose to Cavalry most the time, and even Knights half the time (assuming no defensive bonuses, such as fortifications and hills). Still, were your Cossack to get in trouble in enemy territory, he could FIND a mountain to fortify on, he'd be that much safer than a similar Cavalry. Musketeer - French - A musketman with +1 to attack power. Probably the (3-4-1) second most useless unit in the game (I don't much care for the Man-O-War either). Despite having +1 attack power, the musketeer is STILL a defensive unit, and attacking with a defensive unit is fairly silly. The only real positive here is that if your cities are attacked, you could counter-attack with better power than if you had just a musketman. (Although I would still just wait until a Knight or Cavalry came by to clear the enemy out) Modern: Panzer - Germans - The Panzer is a Tank with a +1 movement rate. (16-8-3) The great drawback of normal tanks (as compared with cavalry) is the lessened movement. The Panzer fixes this (at least for the Germans). This unit is ideally suited for the same purpose as its historical equivalent, go in there and Blitz the enemy. Slip AROUND the enemy strongholds at the border to the soft interior. Pick off the weaker cities, workers; then destroy their road network. F-15 - American - Like a Jet Fighter, but with +2 to bombard, and (8-4-1/6) the "precision" bombing feature (doesn't work (4b 2r) unless you have the patch). Also, building an F-15 may trigger a Golden Age for the Americans. As for its bombard ability, it also gets a +1 to its rate of fire, giving it essentially an extra bombard attack. Civ-Specific Strategies: ------------------------ Babylon, the Cultural Warriors Babylon is the only Civ that gets both Religious and Scientific. Why is this significant? Because those 2 bonuses each make buildings cheaper to build. Religious and Scientific buildings all create culture... in other words, Babylon will be the center of the world's culture! So, instead of going to war with someone, go build a city by their empire, and quickly build in a Temple, Library, University, Cathedral. With a high culture rating empire-wide, you should quite easily start to siphon off their cities. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Building an Empire ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ancient Era: Decision 1: Where to build your capitol? Answer 1: Where you start. No matter what resources are just a few too many squares away, it isn't worth the time to move out and build your capitol late. Even moving out just ONE square puts your empire behind everyone else, and with a smart enemy AI against you, you'll need every turn to your advantage. Of course, if you're started in a COMPLETELY terrible area (such as a Tundra), you may just want to quit and start over. (CTRL-SHIFT-Q) Decision 1B: Should I set my Worker to Automatic? Answer 1B: No, unless you really don't like doing it yourself. Automation is all well and good, but doesn't offer the control of doing it yourself. There are some very useful Automation commands you can give: A - Automate Worker, he'll work on what the CPU wants SHIFT+A - Automate Worker; Worker won't alter pre-existing improvements (so he won't irrigate your mined grasslands). SHIFT+I - Automate Worker at THIS city, only. The Worker will stay with the nearby city and improve it. SHIFT+P - Automate Worker; Worker will automatically clean up POLLUTION. This is the single most useful automation in the game. Once you start getting pollution, set at least SIX (more if you have a larger empire) workers to pollution control. I doubt that you'll get 6 pollutions appearing in a turn, however, the workers can gang up on a single pollution and get rid of it much quicker. Note: If there is no pollution around, this command won't work. If an already automated settler's turn comes up and there is no more pollution, the automation ends. SHIFT+F - Automate Worker; Worker will ONLY clear forests. Not sure about the value of this one. SHIFT+J - Automate Worker; Worker will ONLY clear jungles. Better than forests, as jungles take more time and more workers. Once you have your capitol built, you must decide what to do next. This depends on who you are playing: Expansionist - Send out your Scout to explore the area. Build one warrior to defend your empire (Spearmen if you have them), then next build a Settler to found new cities. Scientific - Build 2 warriors for exploration, then one Spearman for defense. Everyone Else - Build several Warriors, 2 to explore and one to defend your city. (Or a Spearman if you can) Note: I only recommend ONE warrior for city defense at the beginning for several reasons. First, your only enemy at the moment is the Barbarian tribes. Barbarians are weak, and probably will lose to your warrior. Even then I've never had Barbarians attack my capitol. Second, you don't want warriors for defense, you want them only to explore (and if you have Scouts, you don't want them at all). Essentially the defending Warrior is a placeholder unit, staying home until a Spearman is ready, that is, until Bronze Working is researched. Tip: Make sure that your cities are defended by your 2 best defensive units at ALL times. So, my capitol build queue will often look like this: Warrior Warrior Warrior Settler Spearman Temple Settler Basically you want to be building a Settler WHENEVER you have 3 or more population points. If you have good FOOD (Grain or Cows) in your city, then you might want to build more settlers. Decision 2: What should your Worker be doing? Irrigation, Roads or Mines? Answer 2: Mines and Roads, don't irrigate. This is a general rule, here are some specifics (and some reasoning). Grassland (minerals, or without) - Mine with Road Plains - Irrigate with Road Desert - Irrigate with Road Hills, Mountains - Mine with Road Tundra - Plant Forest (not available until Engineering) Why? While under a despotism, no piece of land can produce more than 2 food. Grassland start with 2 food, so irrigation has no benefit. However, if you add a MINE to the land, then it produces +1 production. Also, due to population limits (your city won't grow past 6 until Aqueducts, or a River; nor past 12 without a Hospital) your cities don't need the extra food at ALL. So, mine those grasses! There is, of course, an exception. Cities that don't have much food (either because they're in a desert, tundra, or too close to the mountains) need irrigations to keep them going. Tip: Mine all grasslands while despotism. Mine all grasslands with Minerals until that city gets a Factory, then reduce production/pollution by irrigating those mined areas. ALTERNATIVELY, production produces pollution, but then so does population. You could keep the extra production, thus limiting the size of the city. Then wait until you can build Mass Transits to irrigate the land to grow the city. Remember that population increases your Civ Score. As soon as you get any cities built, have your Worker run a road out to that city to keep a network of cities going. If possible, have the Worker build the road out BEFORE you build the city. This isn't so important right now at the beginning of the game, but becomes more so when you need access to resources (such as Iron) to build specific units (such as Pikemen) in that new city. Your new city's Queue should be a little different: Warrior (Spearman, if possible) Settler Worker Warrior (Spearman) Settler Thus your second city is geared to Expand the Empire. Decision 3: What should you be researching? Answer 3: Tough call, especially since all the Civs start with different initial techs. Consider this: You need to get the Special Resources (iron, horses, etc.), so you may want to research with that in mind. For example, take the Wheel first to find horses, then get Iron Working to find iron. Once you spot the resource, immediately send out a settler to claim that land for your empire. Tip: Someone else get to the resource first? Well, if they didn't build on TOP of the resource, there is a way to get it back non-violently. Send a settler to build a city RIGHT NEXT TO the resource. Then engage in some cultural warfare. Build the temple, library and any other cultural building you can get. When your city's Total Culture is greater than the other Civ's city, your city gets the terrain square and the special resource as well. Remember, that this works in reverse as well, and that the enemy Civ's could do the exact same thing to you. Also, if the enemy city's culture ever exceeds yours (say, they caught up by building a wonder), then they take the resource back. If you are a Scientific Civ, you need to get Literature so you can start building your Cheap Libraries. (Check the Big Picture, or the Science Adviser to plot a path to the appropriate tech that you want. If you want to research Literature, but can't get it right now, on the science adviser screen, click Literature, and your Adviser will get all the techs needed to get it) Good Early Techs: The Wheel/Horseback Riding (to find horses) Iron Working (to find Iron, and build armies) Code of Laws (courthouse) Literature (library, Great Library) Monarchy (so much better than Despotism) Remember that you CAN trade for techs that you don't have, as well as gaining them through the Great Library (if you get it). The Empire should now be set up mostly to manufacture Settlers to expand its borders. Typically only the first few cities I build are required to continually build settlers (and even then, they might only build 2 settlers before switching to Cultural improvements). This is because once you get enough cities, the empire can expand much more easily. Here is a VERY basic run-through of what I'm talking about (assume that I also build in military units): City 1 -- > Settler City 1 -- > Settler City 1 -- > Temple City 2 -- > Settler City 2 -- > Settler City 3 -- > Settler City 4 -- > Settler City 1 -- > Settler City 1 -- > Wonder City 2 -- > Temple City 2 -- > Settler City 3 -- > Settler City 3 -- > Temple City 4 -- > Settler City 4 -- > Temple City 5 -- > Settler City 5 -- > Settler City 6 -- > Settler etc... City 7 -- > Settler Follow this for a while and you'll expand VERY quickly. I generally stop doing this once I get Literture, then I build libraries in my Core Cities (the oldest ones). All frontier cities continue to build settlers to expand the empire, of course. Decision 4: When should I go to war with my annoying neighbors? Answer 4: Rarely, and only when you can win. In general, the best time to attack your enemies is when you have a superiority in some way. What you need is one of the following: Better Units - either through superior Tech, or Special Units (such as the Persian Immortals, or the Roman Legionnary) More Units - Try to build a horde of horsemen. Not too advanced, and will lose more often than not, but, hey, you have enough forces to win in the end. A Clear Tactical Advantage - Such as a Civ from another continent that built a few cities on your continent. This way you can attack their cities and they can't get reinforcements in to attack you before their cities are taken. This brings up another point, researching specific techs with war in mind. For example, while playing as the Persians, the first tech I got was Iron Working so that I could build Immortals. In the Ancient Era, there is NO better unit than the Immortals, in fact, they don't become obsolete until the Knight! If you can get Iron Working by 3000 BC, that should give you 3000 years of military superiority. The same applies to all Civs that have early Special Units, such as the Romans. (For more information, check out the previous section, "The Civs," or the later section, "War, What Is It Good For?") Decision 5: When should I switch governments? (from Despotism to Monarchy, or even straight to Republic) Answer 5: The Middle Ages: The Industrial Age: The Modern Era: Convert all captured workers into population, then if you are a Despotism, turn those workers into improvements by Force Labor. Special Resources CAN be depleted, but this is a random effect, not caused by overuse. Example, I had 2 sources of Iron, one I had had for many years, one just added to the road network. Well, the one I just barely got disappeared within a few turns, while the other Iron stayed with me until the end. Captured Cities can REVERT back to their original owner, based on the rules of Cultural Conquest. Thus if you capture a city under Despotism, you may want to Force Labor the citizens to death. If you do this to clean out the population (down to 1), then let it grow again (such that the new citizen is from YOUR nation's culture), Force Labor one last time to get rid of the foreigner. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Culture ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Diplomacy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can trade for pretty much anything in Civ III, trouble is, is the trade worth it to you? Remember these few concepts: 1. Nothing is free, everything has a cost. 2. Every diplomatic move should be based on something more, don't trade on a whim. (the CPU doesn't) 3. Consider the value of what you have, don't sell it for less than it is worth. Let's start at the beginning. NOTHING IS FREE AND EVERYTHING HAS A COST. This just means that there is no free ride here, you won't get everything you want. Consider this, you want Rome's World Map, but don't want them to have yours (a sensible precaution, see the section on "War, What is it Good For?"). You might think it worthwhile to give them a mere 50 gold, while they want 3 of your better techs. Note: You can't trade techs that they can't currently research. In other words, if you are in the Modern Era, and they're still mired in the middle ages, you can't give them Fission. Also, even if you do get a great deal, there may be political costs involved. Suppose you blackmail England into giving you one of their cities. ("Give me 'New London' or else!") They may give in to your demand and hand over the city, but their attitude towards you will shift. They'll be more likely to attack you in the future, and less likely to help you. Only engage in diplomacy when you need to; EVERY DIPLOMATIC MOVE SHOULD BE BASED ON SOMETHING MORE, DON'T TRADE ON A WHIM. (THE CPU DOESN'T). This just means that you should avoid "trolling" for a deal. Only trade away your extra spice, for example, when you need to get something, say, their newly updated World Map. Also consider the consequences of what you are trading. If the CPU feels that you are getting a way too good deal (even if they accept it) there are negative political consequences, namely that they don't like you as much. Note: Unconfirmed, but when I create a large number of deals, I seem to get a negative reputation as a "crafty" ruler. As near as I can tell this makes other Civs start their trading sessions by offering me worse deals than usual. Tech Trading: The Value of tech, if you choose to buy or sell it, depends upon how many other Civs have that tech. For example, if you are selling Music Theory to the ONLY Civ that doesn't have it, they won't pay much for it. However, if you are the FIRST Civ to get Music Theory, and decide to sell it, you'll get much more for it. So, if you are going to sell your techs, try to sell first to the richest Civ out there. If you need an idea of what the tech is worth, ask them what they are willing to deal for it (by first placing the tech in your side of the deal, then asking what they're willing to pay for it). Once that is done, then try increasing the deal. So long as they're willing to buy it, the deal is good. Tip: Selling your excess techs is a neat alternative to having a tax rate. Consider, if you set your Science to 100%, you make no money, right? However, you should be creating new techs faster than the other Civs. So, sell out your excess techs for cash. Then use that cash to create new techs. Repeat. Remember that you can't research tech faster than 4 turns per tech. Try lowering the science rate, if you want. You may find that your science researches no faster at 100% than 40%. (see the "Science" section below for more details) Also, try to sell your techs to ALL the Civs out there (unless you plan to go to war with them, or think they might attack you), starting with the richest and going to the poorest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Dealing with Corruption ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Science ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Early in the game you want as much science as possible. In fact, the first thing you do when you play the game is set the science rate as high as possible. I usually set it as high as I can while still making some money. Later when I have money I set it higher to get tech faster. The fastest you'll ever gain a tech is in 4 turns. The slowest is 40 turns (pre-patch is 32). Therefore if you learn nothing else from this guide, learn this: Don't always assume that a high Science Rate will get you the best results. Sometimes as low as 20% science will still get you the tech you want just as fast as 100%. Tip: Whenever your next advance gets to 1 or 2 turns left, go to the Domestic Adviser and play with the tax/science rate. Try to raise taxes and see if the advance goes further out. If it is still 1 or 2 turns away (i.e. it hasn't changed), then keep the new tax rate. This way you'll get more money and won't lose any science. Note: I believe the exception to the "4 turn" cap is when researching techs from a previous era than the one you are in. For example picking up Free Artistry while in the Industrial Era took only 2 turns, while all Industrial Techs could go no lower than 4. Bear in mind that you don't have to research for tech yourself, you could just buy it from other Civs. Once you have the new tech, you could then turn around and sell it to all the other Civs in the world. You may not be able to make a profit on this, however, as the price people are willing to pay is reduced when more people know the tech. I suppose everyone likes "exclusive rights." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Wonders of the World ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have attempted to rate (and explain) the wonders, and then sorted them according to when they should appear in your game (i.e. ancient wonders are listed first, modern ones last). The rating of wonders goes from A (the best) to F (the worst). It is pointless to rate Small Wonders in this manner since there is no competition to build them. Once you are able, you can build them whenever and wherever you want. Rating takes into account several things: Usefulness of Wonder, Length of Usefulness, Cost to Build and Culture Rating. Wonders are destroyed only if their city is RAZED to the ground. Beneath the wonder I list a few quick stats, the cost to build, the base culture score (remember that culture increases over time), the requirement(s) needed to build and the tech that makes the wonder obsolete. Note: There is no way to increase the speed of construction on a wonder, besides increasing the production rate of the city. You don't get the shields back when you disband a unit, and cutting down a forest won't get you the 10 extra shields either. Leaders can instantly finish wonders for you. Tip: Keep in mind that you cannot switch production from a City Improvement to a Wonder, but you CAN switch from one wonder to another. Also, you can switch production from the Palace to a Wonder. So, if you have no wonders to build, currently, but know that a good wonder is just around the bend, have one of your cities (not your capitol, for obvious reasons) start on the Palace. When you get the new Tech and can build the new Wonder, switch production. Tip: In addition to the above strategy, I'd also do this: When you are building a less-than-stellar wonder, and a better one comes along, switch production to the better wonder. Why build a Lighthouse, when you can build Copernicus? Here are the ratings: A - Don't miss this wonder! B - Try not to miss this, but don't worry if you do. C - Get it if you have nothing better to do. D - Get ONLY if you're bored. F - Probably should skip this one. Large Wonders: -------------- ANCIENT The Colossus - B - Produces one extra COMMERCE in all squares that produce COMMERCE. Thus, a size 6 city with a Colossus would Cost: 200 theoretically produce 7 more commerce than before. A Culture: 3 size 12 would produce 13 more, etc. This effect is nice Req: Bronze Wrk by itself, especially at the beginning of the game when Obs: Flight you need bonuses to research. Combine it with Libraries, Marketplaces and so forth and the bonuses start to add up. To really get the effects from it, you need to wait and build Copernicus and Newton in the same city. With a library and a University the bonus becomes incredible. By my inexpert calculations you can get over 100 extra science points by having the Colossus in this situation. Colossus is rated a B because its effects span the better portion of 3 ages. Downsides are that it effects one city, and it's difficult to build wonders at the start of the game. Usefulness: C Length: A Cost: B Culture: C Great Library - A - Do NOT pass this one up, whatever you do. If you never even use it, simply keeping it out of the hands of Cost: 400 your rivals is reason enough. Any tech that is known to Culture: 6 any 2 other Civs is automatically given to the owner Req: Lit. of the Great Library. Obs: Education This also brings up the Lazy Library strategy to getting new Tech. Once you have the Library, it works for a good long time, getting you all the techs in the world. So, just sit back, relax and wait for Techs to come to you. This is where the Lazy Library part comes in... drop your research rate to nothing and let the other Civs do your research for you. You won't get the latest and greatest techs, but you will eventually get them. The Great Library's Usefulness makes up for its other deficiencies, such as its high cost and fairly short duration. Usefulness: A Length: C Cost: C Culture: A Pyramids - B - The Pyramids are a decent wonder, made better by the fact that they never go obsolete. For every city on the Cost: 400 same continent as the Pyramids, it gives them a free Culture: 4 Granary. Granaries work to double the population growth Req: Masonry by halving the food requirements for the city to grow. Obs: Never Getting free Granaries in every city is quite the bonus as Granaries have a cost of 60 shields and a maintenance of 1. So, with a one time cost of 400 shields, you save every future city 60 shields and your empire 1 gold. The Pyramids "pay for themselves" after only 7 cities. That said, if you miss building the Pyramids, it's a bummer, but isn't the end of the world. Usefulness: B Length: A Cost: C Culture: B Great Lighthouse - D - The Great Lighthouse is not terribly useful, especially on Pangaea and Continent maps. However, on Cost: 400 Archipeligo and other island intensive maps, up its Culture: 2 grade to a C. The Lighthouse allows your ships to Req: Map Making leave the coast and enter the "sea" squares. You still Obs: Magnet. can't safely travel on the "ocean" squares, however. Also has the bonus effect of +1 movement for your ships. Why do I think the Lighthouse is an F? First there is the high cost to build. Instead of wasting time building the lighthouse, you could be building more settlings, armies, workers, etc. Its two main powers go from useless to next to useless (unless you are on an island intensive map); gaining access to sea squares essentially only lets your ships go out one extra square from land. The extra naval movement is nice, but hardly necessary. Usefulness: D Length: C Cost: C Culture: D Great Wall - C - The Great Wall has 2 major effects, it doubles your combat strength versus barbarians (it doesn't specify Cost: 200 whether you gain this bonus to offense, defense or Culture: 2 both) and also doubles the effect of city walls. Since Req: Constr. city walls vanish when your cities grow above 6 Obs: Metallurgy population points, that isn't as useful as it appears. As for its primary power, that against barbarians, that too isn't too useful since barbarians die pretty easily as it is. Usefulness: C Length: C Cost: B Culture: D Hanging Gardens - B - The Hanging Gardens is a neat wonder, and are even better the harder your difficulty level is. The Gardens Cost: 300 make 3 unhappy people content in the city that built it, Culture: 4 as well as 1 unhappy person per city in the rest of your Req: Pottery empire. Obs: Steam P. Consider the alternative to making unhappy people into contented people, raising the "luxury" rate to 10-20%, and you can easily see why this Wonder is useful. Usefulness: B Length: B Cost: B Culture: B Oracle - C - The Oracle doubles the effect of your temples, allowing them to make 2 citizens content, rather than the usual Cost: 300 one. Culture: 4 Req: Mysticism The trouble with the Oracle is that it works just like Obs: Theology the Hanging Gardens, but just a little worse. For starters, it only works if your cities already have a temple, the Gardens work on any city. Although the cost and culture are about the same, the Oracle has a shorter length of time as it is tied to Theology, which you get an entire Age earlier. Usefulness: B Length: D Cost: B Culture: B MEDIEVAL Adam Smith's Trade Co. - C - Not nearly as useful as its Civ II version, this Adam Smith's only pays for city improvements that Cost: 600 deal with trade: Marketplace, Bank and Harbor. In a Culture: 3 city that has all three that is a bonus of 3 gold, Req: Economics otherwise it is just a bonus of 2 gold per city per Obs: Never turn. The economics of this unit are OK, but they do add up rapidly. Even in a modest empire of 10 cities, that is 20 gold saved per turn. This wonder never expires either, which is nice. If it didn't come late in the middle ages, it would be a really useful wonder. Usefulness: B Length: B Cost: D Culture: C Copernicus Observatory - A - Research is king in Civ III, and wonders that increase research are wonderful. Copernicus has the same Cost: 400 effect as another later wonder, Newton's University, but Culture: 4 since it comes sooner it is rated higher. Copernicus Req: Astronomy doubles the science rate in one city, preferably the Obs: Never city that has the Colossus for a double bonus. Then later add the Newton's University to this city for a very good bonus, indeed. Also, don't skimp out on Libraries and Universities just to build Wonders, or you're science rate won't be what it could be. Usefulness: A Length: B Cost: B Culture: B JS Bach's Cathedral - B - JS Bach makes war within a Democracy possible. JS Bach makes 2 unhappy citizens in every one of your Cost: 600 cities on the continent content. In other words, it Culture: 6 works like the Hanging Gardens x2. As mentioned above Req: Music Th. its effect is most appreciated during War Weariness Obs: Never when your normally happy people are upset with your prolonged military campaigns. Bach has 2 main drawbacks: 1, it only works on one continent, so if you are on islands it won't work so well; and 2, it only makes unhappy people content. If you don't have any unhappy people, it won't do anything. (Think Regent difficulty and lower, their happiness is greater than in the more difficult levels) Bach is much more useful in Monarch or higher, but it is still useful in all levels. Usefulness: B Length: B Cost: C Culture: A Leonardo's Workshop - F - Don't get this one, unless you have a city with high production and nothing else to build. Or you just Cost: 600 NEED to have all the wonders. In Civ II Leonardo was a Culture: 2 must-have, in Civ III, avoid it. What it does now is Req: Invention to reduce the cost to Upgrade units in barracks. Obs: Never However, it is usually better to disband old units and build new units elsewhere. Add to that a high cost, low culture and a middling length and you get one crappy wonder. Usefulness: F Length: C Cost: C Culture: D Magellan's Great Voyage - C - Magellan is certainly better than the lighthouse, if only because it will last until the end Cost: 400 of the game, however, only build it if you have no Culture: 3 better wonders to build. Req: Magnetism Obs: Never Usefulness: C Length: C Cost: B Culture: C Newton's University - B - The same arguments apply here as they did to Copernicus: Science is King! The Newton's University Cost: 400 gets some demerits for coming later than Copernicus, Culture: 6 even though they are essentially the same wonder. Req: Gravity Obs: Never That said, if you can only build ONE of the 2, build Newton. Why? Better Culture. Usefulness: A Length: C Cost: B Culture: A Shakespeare's Theater - D - Shakespeare's primary effect, making 8 unhappy people into content people is next to useless. No one Cost: 400 city needs that type of contentment, and if one does, Culture: 8 then the rest of your empire is likely falling apart! Req: F Artistry That said, it does produce the BEST culture bonus in Obs: Never the game, and if culture is your strategy to victory, you may want this one anyway. One interesting sidenote, I usually get the tech Free Artistry AFTER going to the Industrial Age, which means that I have much higher production than normal and can produce Shakespeare at a record pace. Usefulness: F Length: C Cost: B Culture: A Sun Tzu's Art of War - B - Or as it is more popularly known, "A Barracks in Every City." And unlike in Civ II, this Sun Tzu never Cost: 600 goes out of style. This is a Must Have for any Culture: 2 militaristic Civ, or anyone who wants to save ONE gold Req: Feudalism for every city with a barracks. And hey, having one less Obs: Never thing to build means that you can build more things quicker! That's 40 production shields that can go to building that temple. The major downside is that it only gives free barracks to cities on the same continent. If you are on a world with many islands, this wonder isn't so useful. Usefulness: A (C if you're on Islands) Length: C Cost: C Culture: C INDUSTRIAL Hoover Dam - B - The Hoover Dam gives every one of your cities on the continent a FREE Hydro Plant (240 production shields, 3 Cost: 800 gold maintenance). As you can see by the stats of the Culture: 2 Hydro Plant, this is quite the good wonder. Consider Req: Electronic this, Hydro Plants produce NO pollution, but can only Obs: Never be built in cities with access to a river. But with the Hoover Dam, ALL your cities on the continent get a Hydro Plant, not just ones with rivers. It takes only THREE cities getting this effect to make it cost-effective. Usefulness: A Length: C Cost: A (steep cost to build, but actually saves production and money) Culture: C United Nations - C - Without the United Nations in hand, the Diplomatic Victory condition will never be reached. Get it if you Cost: 1000 want to win that way (or just to prevent the CPU from Culture: 2 doing the same). Req: Fission Obs: Never Usefulness: B Length: C Cost: D Culture: C Theory of Evolution - B - This was an "A" wonder back in Civ II but saw its effects diminished in Civ III. It still gives out 2 Cost: 600 free techs, but this time these are "Optional" techs. Culture: 3 By optional I mean the techs that are not required to Req: Scientific advance from one age to the next. These are: Theory Obs: n/a Ancient: Horesback Riding Literature Monarchy Republic Medieval: Chivalry Democracy Economics Free Artistry Military Tradition Music Theory Navigation Printing Press Industrial: Advanced Flight Amphibious Warfare Communism Espionage Nationalism Sanitation Still, free tech is free tech... two less things you have to research yourself. Usefulness: B Length: n/a (it's an instant effect) Cost: B Culture: C Universal Suffrage - B - The only Wonder that deals with War Weariness head-on. Combine this with Police Stations in every Cost: 800 city and you get some nice reductions on War Weariness. Culture: 4 This wonder is what makes war BEARABLE in Democracy. Req: Industr. Without it, I wouldn't even attack anyone. (Although Obs: Never you COULD just manipulate events until the enemy Civ declared war on YOU... that doesn't create War Weariness) That said, if you aren't a democracy this isn't as critical... Even a Republic could go without it. It has War Weariness but nowhere near as much as a Democracy. And the other three governments don't even HAVE War Weariness. Usefulness: A Length: C Cost: C Culture: B MODERN Cure for Cancer - C - Makes one unhappy citizen in each city content. Similar effect to JS Bach, but counts for EVERY city, Cost: 1000 not just the ones on the same continent. The 2 wonders Culture: 3 do stack (3 total unhappy to content), so if you already Req: Genetics have JS Bach, then rate this a "B". Also, if you have Obs: Never cities on many islands rate this a "B". However, at the time you get this, your cities should be fairly stable making this wonder a nice addition, but hardly necessary. Usefulness: C Length: D Cost: D Culture: C Longevity - F - Another that falls under the too-late category. If you could do this back in the middle ages, or even the Cost: 1000 industrial ages this would work. However, getting it in Culture: 3 the MODERN era makes it useless. Why? By that point the Req: Genetics entire world should be populated, even on a Huge map. Obs: Never If the world is populated completely, the last thing you need is doubled population growth. Get this one only if you want the +3 culture. Usefulness: F Length: D Cost: D Culture: C SETI Program - D - Back in Civ II this was another "A" wonder, now it's just a "D". SETI now just doubles scientific research Cost: 1000 in a city. This is all well and good, but it comes so Culture: 3 late in the game that most of the research is already Req: Computers DONE. What's even left? Besides, by this point in the Obs: Never game your research rate might be maxing out at 50% (or even 40-30 or 20%), that is, having research set at 50% produces tech at the same rate as 100%. At best SETI will allow you to raise the tax rate. For best effect, put SETI in the same city as Copernicus and Newton. Usefulness: C Length: F Cost: D Culture: C Manhattan Project - F - Avoid nuclear missiles, they're nothing but trouble. Any nuclear strike will probably mess up the Cost: 800 planet forever (global warming) and certainly won't Culture: 2 win you any friends. Also, when this wonder is built, Req: Fission EVERYONE gets access to nuclear weapons... if they have Obs: Never the tech for it. So, try to let this one go... the CPU may build it later, but you'll get access to its effects too, no reason to build this one. Usefulness: F Length: F Cost: C Culture: D Small Wonders: -------------- ANCIENT Forbidden Palace - A - The most major force in corruption-reduction is your Palace, and the Forbidden Palace mirrors that nicely. Cost: 300 The idea is to divide your empire in 2 halves. In the Culture: 2 center of one half, place the Palace, in the center of Req: Special the other place the Forbidden Palace. Thus, corruption Obs: Never is kept as low as possible. You get the option to build the Forbidden Palace based on the number of cities you have, and the type of map you are on. The larger the map, the more cities it takes before you can build it. Placing the Forbidden Palace for BEST effect is a bit of a trick. You may want to wait until your empire is finished expanding. Or at least until you know where your expansion will finish. Tip: Still expanding the empire and want to wait until you KNOW where to place the Forbidden Palace? Try this: Near where your Palace is, in the middle of the most cities, build the Forbidden Palace. Then later in the game when you want, build the Palace out in another place in the empire. If you need to, you can always move the Palace later, but you can't move the Forbidden Palace once placed. Usefulness: A Length: A Cost: B Culture: D Heroic Epic - B - The Heroic Epic can be built only AFTER you have had a Victorious Army in the field. Remember that an army is Cost: 200 built after you get a Great Leader, send it to a city, Culture: 4 and then add units to it. Req: Special Obs: Never The Heroic Epic's primary purpose, increasing the odds of Great Leaders appearing is good (better if you are already a Militaristic Civ), but its best benefit is the culture benefit. It starts out as a modest 4 culture, but since you build it so early its culture will double out to 8, the same culture as the Shakespeare's Theater. (which likely won't double in ITS culture rating) Getting more Leaders is wonderful (heh) as it allows you to instantly build any Wonder you want. In fact, after you use your first Leader to build an army to build the Heroic Epic, all future Leaders should Hurry Wonders. (You can produce more armies later when you get the Military Academy) Usefulness: C (B if you are militaristic) Length: A Cost: A Culture: A MEDIEVAL Military Academy - B - Allows the construction of armies (which cost 400 shields to produce). Armies, while not invinceable, are Cost: 400 still incredibly useful. You won't win every battle with Culture: 1 an army (although I've never lost one), but they are Req: Mil. Trad. still very strong. In fact, the CPU AI doesn't like to Special attack a full-strength (or even half-strength) armies, Obs: Never even if they could win. This allows you to move in all sorts of other units with your Armies, and they'll all be perfectly safe. Like the Heroic Epic, the Military Academy requires that you have had a Victorious Army (and the Military Tradition tech). Usefulness: B Length: B Cost: B Culture: F Wall Street - A - Gives a 5% interest return on your treasury. This interest caps out at a max return of 50 gold per turn, Cost: 400 which you would get with an treasury of 1000 gold. Culture: 2 Essentially for every 20 gold you have in your inventory Req: 5 Banks you make another 1 gold in interest. Obs: Never The requirement here is that you must have 5 banks built in your empire. Usefulness: A Length: B Cost: B Culture: D INDUSTRIAL Battlefield Medicine - C - A nice little wonder (hence it being a Small Wonder) that allows your units to Heal while still in Cost: 500 a foreign culture area. Useful, but not necessary. Culture: 1 Req: 5 Hosp. Usefulness: C Obs: Never Length: C Cost: C Culture: F Intelligence Agency - B - The Intelligence Agency allows you to open up some Espionage on your enemies (and your friends). Cost: 400 Once built, you need to plant a spy in the enemy Culture: 1 capitol, which you do by double-clicking the Agency Req: Espionage icon attached to the city that built it. (Much the same Obs: Never way your Embassy Icon is attached to your Capitol) Not sure what affects the success of whether your spy gets planted, but it might deal with how suspicious the other Civ is of you. The better their mood is towards you, the better success you should have. Once inside, your Spy can pull off some missions: Propaganda - same effect as an enemy city joining out of awe for your culture, you get a free enemy city. Steal Plans - Shows you all the troops your enemy has, check your Military Adviser Sabotage - Have your spy go destroy an improvement Disease - Have your spy disease the population of a city, killing its people Steal World Map Expose Spy - Your spy goes on Counterintelligence and searches your capitol for an enemy spy. Negatives? Other Civs really hate it when you spy on them and could declare war on you, or just plain hate you forever. Usefulness: B Length: C Cost: B Culture: F Iron Works - A - One of the best wonders, period. Better than most of the "Great" wonders, in fact. The Iron Works DOUBLES the Cost: 300 production in a city. Since any city that CAN build it Culture: 2 (one with both Coal and Iron) would have high production Req: Iron&Coal anyway, their production AFTERWORDS will be phenomenal. Obs: Never And if built before Industrialization is discovered, the pollution effects are far less. The trick is, IF you can even build this one. Getting Coal and Iron in the same city is tricky... because you won't see Coal at ALL until you get Steam Power. So, chances are, even if it is POSSIBLE to get a city with both, you might end out splitting the resources between 2 nearby cities without realizing it. But if you do get it... wow! Usefulness: A Length: C Cost: A Culture: D The Pentagon - C - Nice to have, but not necessary. The Pentagon allows your armies to add an extra unit, bringing them up to Cost: 400 4 units total. This gives your armies a maximum Hit Culture: 1 Point of 20. Not many units out there could survive 20 Req: Special hit points of army attacking them. Give this one a "B" Obs: Never if you're a militaristic Civ. Similar to the other "army" wonders, the Pentagon requires that you have 3 armies in the field. I would recommend building the armies with the Military Academy and NOT with Leaders. Only one leader should build an army, the rest are for Wonders. Usefulness: B Length: C Cost: B Culture: F MODERN Apollo Program - C - Allows the Space Race victory condition. You can't build spaceship parts without it. If that's your goal, Cost: 400 then this gets an "A", otherwise it's a "C". Culture: 2 Req: Space Fl. Usefulness: C Obs: Never Length: D Cost: A Culture: D Strategic Missile Defense - C - Only necessary if someone built the Manhattan Project, but if it's necessary, then by all Cost: 500 means build it before someone Nukes you. A 75% chance Culture: 1 to survive a nuclear attack is better than your current Req: Int. Def. 0% chance! Special Obs: Never In addition to the tech, Integrated Defense, you must also have built 5 SAM batteries. Usefulness: B Length: D Cost: B Culture: F ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. War, What is it Good For? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prelude to war: If at all possible, try to get your enemy's map before you declare war on them. Why? So you can seek and destroy their cities. The trick is to get their map without giving them anything of value. You don't want to give them YOUR map, for example, or they might flank your entire empire and sack your weakest cities (which is what you want to be doing, by the way). Usually the best thing to trade out is GOLD to get their TERRITORY MAP (world map is nicer, but is usually more than twice as difficult to get). If you're attacking soon, trade on a PER TURN basis... if you declare war, the payments stop! Tip: Can't get their map? Try finding another Civ that is willing to give you their WORLD MAP. Very often you will get your enemy's map with it. I can't state this enough... DON'T TRADE OUT YOUR OWN MAP! Ever! It's bad tactically in the beginning of the game as it reveals your weaknesses, and it's bad late in the game as it shows other Civs where they can build cities (usually in the small "culture holes" between YOUR cities). War amounts to finding an advantage, exploiting it, then forcing a settlement in your favor. Well, that's the basic idea, anyway, pulling it off is a trifle more difficult than that. First you find an advantage. This is the trickiest part. What I mean by an advantage is any possible way for you to defeat your enemy. This could be superior units, good positions, or just good tactics. For example, while playing the Romans, I used their special unit, the Legionnary, to great effect in my war on the English. I started that war when I realized that I had a far superior unit to anything that they could throw at me. Using nothing but Legions I devastated the English to the point that the CPU had to restart them elsewhere on the map. Another way to get the advantage on the enemy is to get into a good position, then attack. A quick example would be to find a large enemy city, fortify a defensive unit up on a nearby mountain (for defense) and with offensive units attack. If you can take (or destroy) a large city, you have damaged them far more than if you pick off a few of their outlaying cities. Finally there is good tactics. For one thing, the frontline of the war should ALWAYS be near their cities, not yours. If the fighting is close to your empire you will start to lose cities. You can't always help this, especially if you didn't start the war. Once you've found your advantage, time to exploit it. If you have a superior unit and can crush their cities easily, don't stop. Keep going until your advantage disappears, or your enemy does. Tip: Can't defeat any enemy units? Try pillaging their landscape. It's quick, easy and effective. I always aim at their roadways first. Why? You can't use enemy roads (those within the culture area of an enemy Civ), and they can, which allows them to move forces at yours quicker. Of course, destroying their mines and farmlands also weakens their cities. Horsemen (and by extension, Knights and Cavalry) are great at this as their extra movement allows them to move to a square then pillage. Keep throwing units at the enemy until they are defeated. Note: So, what are you going to do with all the workers you've been capturing? Keep them? Disband them? (The CPU does this one, possibly to prevent you from recapturing them, they'll even disband their own workers that they recaptured back from you.) If you are an industrious Civ, and the captured workers are NOT industrious, I'd just disband them where they are. Industrious workers work twice as hard, and this bonus does not extend to captured workers. Also, if you send them to Join your cities, they'll be much more upset if you are at War with the Civ they came from. For example, capture a Zulu worker, put him in your city, and continue to attack, and he'll be Unhappy. Note: So, do you Raze cities when you capture them, or do you keep them? Couple of things to keep in mind. First, all the improvements are destroyed when you take the city. For large cities (6 population or more) this can be a real problem as there is no temple/colloseum to placate them. Second, there is a resistance to put down, and until it is, you can't Hurry production to build anything. So, say you capture a size 9 city, it gets 4 resistors. Therefore if you put in enough troops to quell the rebellion, the resistance might end in 4 turns. Then you have a VERY unhappy city (especially if you are still at war with their country) and will probably need to stop them from working the field, causing starvation. Another disadvantage of taking cities versus razing them is that the city is placed where the other Civ wanted it, not where you wanted it. So, it may be too close to your other cities, or built just one square away from a Cow resource (+4 food and +1 shield). Finally captured cities lose their acquired Culture, so a city that had 100 culture, resets back to zero. Usually I just raze the city. Feel bad about it? Don't! You aren't actually slaughtering the city, just burning it to the ground. Its population is converted to workers (not on a one-to-one ratio, a city of 9 might give you 3 workers) and the city is gone. Once that is taken care of, send in your own Settler (with strong military defense, of course) and build your own city where you want it. Diplomatic consequences to this are minimal. The only Civ that REALLY cared about the city is probably already as mad at you as they're gonna get. Of course, one can't always attack until their nation is destroyed, there are other factors at play. First, if you are a Republic/Democracy, there is War Weariness to contend with. Second, they might have cities you don't know about (and therefore can't find). This brings us to my final point, which is to know when to sign a Peace Treaty and end the war. For starters, you need the enemy Civ to talk to you, which they might not even do for the first few turns of the war. As long as they ignore your Diplomacy Requests, the war must go on. Tip: Never attack a superior opponent. Sounds obvious, but you might be tempted to try it if you got enough units by one of their cities. Your idea might be to take the city, then sue for peace, however, your enemy will probably just ignore you and sack your cities. The exception to this rule is if the enemy Civ is far away from your empire. That way you can attack them, and they won't be able to get to your empire for quite a few turns. Tip: Don't want to attack a superior opponent, but how about annoying them? After they build a new city, but before the culture expands, consider pillaging any roads leading from this new city back to their empire. They can't get mad at you because the roads are outside of their culture. Makes for a lot of fun if you can find mines and irrigations out where you can freely pillage. (This happens more often when cities have been destroyed, then later rebuilt) OK, this is all well and good, you say, but what do you do if you are attacked? Well let's go back a ways, to War Prevention. Civs don't generally attack other Civs with superior militaries. Don't want to get attacked? Then build units. Another way to avoid conflict is to Trade with other Civs. If you provide them with Incense and Spice, then when they attack you, each of their cities would lose 2 happy people, possibly throwing those cities into disorder. Do they want that? Probably not. Then again, maybe they're sick of trading for the resource and want to simply take it from you. Tip: Don't trade out military resources to possible enemy Civs. (Iron, Horses, Saltpeter, etc.) Feel free to trade to Civs that aren't close enough to attack you, however. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.1 The Combat Engine Demystified! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever wonder why your Tank just lost to a Swordsman? Ever feel blue that your Infantry just got wiped off his mountain fortress by a Musketman? Well, I can't help that, what I can do is explain how it happened. In past Civ games, veteran status affected their abilities. This is no more, now Veteran/Elite status only changes the number of "hit points" that unit has. Hit Points: Conscript 2 (found only when "goodie" huts give you a unit) Regular 3 (the default level) Veteran 4 (with barracks) Elite 5 Units advance in "level" by winning battles, either by attacking or getting attacked. So long as they win, they have a chance of gaining a level. Elite units are ONLY possible when a Veteran unit wins a battle, you cannot build Elite units. When Elite units win a battle, there is a chance that a Great Leader will appear. Note: Militaristic Civ's units gain levels more often and have more Great Leaders appear. In a battle, the two fighting units will attack each other until one is dead. These battles take place in rounds, where each round one of the combatants will lose a HP. Who loses the HP depends on the attack strength of the offensive unit and the defense strength of the defender. Add these numbers together, then divide your attacker's strength by the new number to find out how likely he is to win a round. Offensive Unit's Attack Strength Round % = ---------------------------------------------------------------- (Offensive Unit's Attack Strength + Defender's Defense Strength) Thus, a Swordsman attacking a Warrior has a 75% chance to win each round. (75% = 3 (Swordsman) / (3 + 1 (Warrior))) In such a way, every unit has a chance to win a round. And although unlikely, even the worst unit could win EVERY round. From our previous situation, the Warrior had a 25% to win each round. Not too bad for a unit with 1 defense. Note: Want to save before battle, then reload if it goes poorly for you? Won't work (at least, not that easily) as all the "random" battle results are predetermined. (I believe that this is called "seeding") So, if your Swordsman dies at the hands of the Warrior, reloading and attacking again won't change a thing, he'll die in exactly the same way. In fact, if you attack with a similar unit (say, another Veteran Swordsman) to another similar unit (another Warrior) you'll also lose. To get out of the Seeded results, you need to find a different battle (say, an Elite Horseman attacking a Warrior somewhere else) or to save, quite and restart the game entirely. Note: Difficulty Level does NOT affect the probability of winning in battle. Note: Non-combat units cannot defend themselves, they simply get captured or destroyed. Naval units caught in port count as non-combat units and are immediately sunk. Note: There does not APPEAR to be a "Hasty" attack penalty. This penalty was applied in previous games when a unit attacked with less than one full movement point left. (Such as a Musketman walking down a road 2 squares then attacking) This resulted in an attack penalty. However, this doesn't seem to be the case in Civ III. Defensive Bonuses: ------------------ Most Terrain -- 10% defense bonus Attacking Across a River -- 25% Forest/Jungle -- 25% Unit is Fortified -- 25% Hills -- 50% Unit in Fortress -- 50% Unit in Walled Town -- 50% Unit in City (7-12 pop) -- 50% Unit in Metropolis (12+) -- 100% Mountains -- 100% Defensive bonuses are added together before being applied. A unit fortified on a fortressed mountain would get 175% bonus (25% + 50% + 100%), nearly tripling their defense. So, a Musketman on a hill would have a base Defense of 4, but with the defensive Hill bonus, would have a defense of 6. Were he fortified his defense would be 7. Add in a fortress and that leaps up to 9. Attacks of Opportunity: ----------------------- Using a D&D term here, but it fits. In Civ III there exists the concept of a "free shot" that a unit can take on another unit when it moves away. Units within a fortress automatically get this, as do most Ranged attack units (by which I mean Archers, Musketmen, Riflemen, etc.) and Fast attack units (Horsemen, Knights, Cavalry). A free shot gives the unit a chance (based on their normal battle roll) to do 1 HP of damage to the fleeing unit. Your unit gets ONE free shot per turn no matter how many units move by. So, if 8 musketmen walk by your Cavalry, he'll get a shot at the first one, but none at the remaining 7. Retreating: ----------- Available only to "fast" units (movement of 2 or more). If a fast unit is losing a battle to a non-fast unit, (i.e. he is reduced to 1 HP), he will withdraw to a nearby square. Fast units will retreat from ANY battle, either on attack or defense. Remember you cannot withdraw from another fast unit (they are fast enough to pursue). Also, your unit will NOT withdraw at 1 HP IF his opponent is also down to 1 HP. Why? I guess that it becomes do-or-die time. Bombardment: ------------ Many units have a bombardment rating (catapults, artillery, naval vessels, bombers, etc.). Bombardment does not work like a normal attack in that a combat is not initiated. What it does is attempt to destroy the other unit. All the stats for hitting appear to be the same, so an artillery with its 12 bombard value would have a 75% to hit a musketman. If the bombardment succeeds, the attacked unit loses HP. Bombardment units have a Rate of Fire involved as well. Thus, the artillery gets 2 attacks per shot, if both hit, the target loses 2 HP. Note: Artillery, Catapults and other land bombard units can be captured, but only if the capturing Civ has the tech sufficient to build the unit on their own. You can also bombard cities (either to damage their defending units, or to destroy its population/improvements) and terrain tiles (which acts like the PILLAGE function). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Winning the Game ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conquest Victory There are 540 turns in the game, 126 occuring in the BC era. 4000 BC to 2750 BC - 25 turns, 50 years per turn 2710 BC to 1750 BC - 25 turns, 40 years 1725 BC to 750 BC - 40 turns, 25 years 730 BC to 250 BC - 50 turns, 20 years 260 BC to 1250 AD - 100 turns, 10 years 1255 AD to 1750 AD - 100 turns, 5 years 1752 AD to 1950 AD - 100 turns, 2 years 1951 AD to 2050 AD - 100 turns, 1 year per turn Your final score of a Conquest game (that is, you killed all your opponents) is your normal score, plus a special Conquest bonus. (Consider all BC dates to be negative) Conquest bonus = (2050 - Date) * Difficulty Modifier Difficulty: Cheiftain - 1 Warlord - 2 Regent - 3 Monarch - 4 Emporer - 5 Deity - 6 Cultural Victory Diplomatic Victory Out-Of-Time Victory (Generic Score Victory) Space-Race Victory ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. Extra City Names ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. A Brief History of Each Civ (Or, Why This Civ Is In The Game) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is always some controversy as to why this or that Civ was or was not included in the game. Most people wonder why the Americans are included, when they have so little history. After all, the game starts in 4000 BC, while there were no Americans around. And where are the Mongolians? The Hittites? Sumerians? Spanish? Dutch? Portuguese? Many of these had claims to world power at one point or another. Well, I can't explain why some cultures didn't make the cut, but I can try to explain why those that are in the game did. This is tricky for a few reasons: One, the land was always there, and Two, it was always occupied by someone. Britain was lived on by Celts for years before the Romans arrived, while America was filled with native peoples spanning back millennia. What I look at is when the land becomes occupied by the "right" culture. For example, when does Britain become full of British? Then I look at the peak of each Civ's power. How long were they a world power? America Colonies - Virginia Founded 1607 - First time I consider an "American" to begin to exist, i.e. an Englishman living in America. Stamp Act 1765 - First time the colonies really worked as a cohesive unit, working together. Before this, one was a "Virginian" or a "New Yorker" before an American. Independence Declared 1776 (achieved 1783, Treaty of Paris) - America managed to win the war while winning only a small number of the battles (and Saratoga was won mostly due to British fatigue). - Also, French involvment in the revolution influenced their own French revolution just a few years later. USA - Constitution 1789-90 - United States of America officially created. Wars - Britain 1812 - USA wins this war mostly by not losing. Andrew Jackson wins a battle at New Orleans... weeks after the war ended. - Mexico 1846 - In order to gain California and Texas, a little war was created. Although technically started by a Mexican attack, the US was mostly responsible for starting the war. - Civil War 1861 - Lincoln's Presidency meant war as the southern states seceded. At points the war was desperate enough that the western states threatened to secede as well. - Spanish War 1898 - The US takes on its first European power and wins in spades. Sure, Spain was on the decline, but a win is a win. With the victory, the US takes Cuba, Guam, Hawaii, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. As per an agreement made before the war, Cuba is let go. The US fought a bitter guerilla war in the Philippines for years before finally letting it go. - World War I - The US enters the war in the final years and effectively ends the war. Not by fighting, but by simply adding more troops such that the Central Powers felt outnumbered and surrendured. - World War II - Late again to the war, the US fought Japan almost entirely on its own. The addition of US troops in Europe was useful, but more useful were the supplies it sent to Britain before entering the war directly. Present - US is the lone super-power, which seems to bring more negatives than positives. The US military can strike at any point in the world within hours, has nuclear capabilities that are unsurpassed, and diplomatic connections with most every nation on earth. The US has enough world clout that the United Nations is based in New York City. Total Existence: 394 years (colonies to 2001) National Existence: 212 years (constitution to 2001) World Power Status: 103 years (Spanish War to 2001) Superpower Status: 46 years (World War II to 2001) Aztecs Empire - Rebellion from Tepanecs 1431 - The "Aztec Empire" was an alliance of 3 cities that threw off the rule of the Tepanecs who had held power in the area since the fall of the Mayans many centuries before. - Montezuma I 1440 - Responsible for most of the early expansion of the empire. - Further Expansion 1502 - The empire spread in all directions, conquering directly (or indirectly blackmailing) the surrounding peoples. Since the Aztec Empire was surrounded on all sides by enemies, it was in a state of constant warfare. Much of the area was already developed, and the Aztecs attempted to control the trade networks already in existence with some success. After a successful battle, the enemy warriors were then sacrificed. To keep newly conquered areas loyal, citizens from existing cities were sent out to populate the new colonies. - Tenochtitlan - At its height, the capitol city held 200,000 citizens, which may have been as high as 4x that of its nearest rival. - The Spanish 1519 - When the Spanish arrived, they found many allies around the capitol city who wanted to overthrow the aztecs. - The End 1521 - Tenochtitlan fell in 1521, effectively ending the Aztec domination of the region, placing all the Mexican peoples in the control of the spanish. Present - Mexico - One could argue that Mexico is descended from the Aztecs (the word Mexico itself is derived from "Mexica" the Aztec word for their own nation). However, since it was controlled by the spanish for so long, Mexico as it exists today has little in common with the Aztecs. Total Existence: Unknown (don't know when Tenochtitlan was founded) National Existence: 90 years (formation of the empire until conquered by the Spanish) World Power Status: Never (didn't leave Central America) Superpower Status: Never Babylon Mesopotamia - 4000 BC - The Babylonia region (another name for Mesopotamia) has been occupied for a long time. We'll simplify by saying that the Sumerians came first. - Hammurabi 1792 BC - Babylon becomes a major player in the region under Hammurabi. His empire didn't really survive his death, but his Code of Laws and the idea of central authority lived on. - Assyrians - After the collapse of Babylon, various other factions assumed power, eventually it slid to the Assyrians. The Assyrians held power from 911 BC until 626 BC. - Neo-Babylonia 626 BC - A Chaldean took power from Assyria and founded his own dynasty, called the Chaldean or Neo-Babylonian. After a civil war with the Assyrians, Babylon was on top. - Persian Empire 539 BC - Babylon was annexed into the Persian Empire, which eventually became the Macedonian Empire (Alexander the Great) in 323 BC. Total Existence: 3461 years (from 4000 BC to the Persian Empire) National Existence: 2337 years (not counting the Assyrian regime) World Power Status: Never (part of world powers when conquered, never one itself) Superpower Status: Never Britain Prehistory - =============================================================================== < < < < < Final Words.... > > > > > =============================================================================== This FAQ was written entirely using the GWD Text Editor: (shareware) http://www.gwdsoft.com/ Spiffy Links: GameFAQs -- http://www.gamefaqs.com/ Official Civ III site -- http://www.civ3.com/ Apolyton's Civ Page -- http://apolyton.net/ _________________________ Shameless Self Promotion: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ I have also written FAQs for: NES: Disney Adventures in the Magic Kingdom Final Fantasy -- Magic FAQ The Legend of Zelda SNES: Aerobiz Aerobiz Supersonic Utopia: Creation of a Nation Genesis: StarFlight PSX: Thousand Arms -- Walkthrough -- Forging/Dating FAQ PS2: Madden NFL 2001 PC: AD&D Rules FAQ Baldur's Gate & Tales of the Sword Coast -- FAQ/Walkthrough NPC List Creature List Baldur's Gate II & Throne of Bhaal -- FAQ/Walkthrough -- Items List -- Class FAQ -- Creature List Colonization -- the Single Colony Strategy Guide -- the Cheat Guide Drakan: Order of the Flame Dungeon Hack Icewind Dale & Heart of Winter -- FAQ/Walkthrough Items List Kresselack's Tomb Map (JPG) Burial Isle Map (JPG) Shattered Hand Map (JPG) Master of Magic (revision) Messiah Pharaoh (currently being edited by Red Phoenix) Planescape: Torment -- FAQ/Walkthrough Items Listing Rollercoaster Tycoon Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri The Sims Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar Ultima 7: The Black Gate Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle Ultima Underworld -- Keyboard Commands Ultima Underworld II -- Keyboard Commands -- Spell List All of my FAQs can be found at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/2203.html ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ ________________ Version History: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Version 0.4 January 2, 2002 137k Everything is new. Many sections are still incomplete at this stage. _______________________________________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ This Document is Copyright 2002 by Dan Simpson Civilization III is Copyright 2001 by Firaxis/Infogrames I am not affiliated with Sid Meier, Firaxis, Infogrames or anyone who had anything to do with the creation of this game. This FAQ may be posted on any site so long as NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling me that you are posting it. You may not charge for, or in any way profit from this FAQ.