First game played...

Akaoz · October 31, 2001, 04:04

Well, that was different...

Just finished my first game of Civ3. I played on the Regent difficulty and on a huge earth map with 8 civs.

It was easy, that’s for sure. Well, that may not be entirely accurate... The winning part was easy. Too easy. The micro-management was tedious at best (and this comment is coming from a fanatical builder). The empire management was better and the interface has some serious holes in it. I trust the interface will be fixed in a patch or two.

The game was sort of interesting, but not very entertaining. It seemed a bit ‘light’. It was almost like a watered down version of Civ2. The ‘Culture’ thing never even figured into it and as for other improvements... Well, borders are nice, but I have them in SMAC so the novelty wares of quickly.

Corruption was almost a game killer for me. My capitol was in India and my cities in Indonesia were not producing at all! And I could forget about my colonies in Australia. I had planed to build the forbidden city in Australia, but gave up after realizing that it would take about 300 turns, because the city was unable to get more that one shield. This was with courthouse. Courthouse is the only ant corruption building and it doesn’t appear to impact significantly. (Before you ask; I tried both democracy and communism to fix this, but to no avail...)

As for combat; I can’t really comment. I was never attacked. Not once. I was declared war on once, but a peace agreement was signed about 500 years later without a shot being fired. Being a builder I don’t usually attack, but I do expect to get drawn in sooner or later, but not in this game. :\

The game ended in 1930 with me building the UN and running for leader. I won. 4-2 or something.

All I can say is; after Civ1, Civ2, CtP, SMAX and CtP2 this was weird... I have no idea if I hate it or think it could be entertaining. I guess I’ll get some sleep and give it another shot in the morning...

Regards,

Alech

LaRusso · October 31, 2001, 05:18

odd. other people report that the AI is building and amassing like crazy....

Akaoz · October 31, 2001, 05:22

Well, it may have. It just never attacked me. There was a period around the Middle Ages where the AI demanded a few things. Mostly maps and some tribute, but after I gave it what it wanted it left me alone.

The English did wipe out the Germans though. And that must have been done with a large army, because it happened real fast.

-Alech

LaRusso · October 31, 2001, 05:28

whoa, i am really puzzled.
i dunno if you read other threads, but people have been reporting massed AI attacks and almost human-like tactics....

Akaoz · October 31, 2001, 05:35

Like I said, I was never really at war. (Except for a few hundred years with a civ on the other side of the planet.) I newer saw the AI in action.

All I can say is that it appears it doesn't attack for no reason. At least not if you’re not way ahead of it.

-Alech

LaRusso · October 31, 2001, 05:37

what kind of victory was it? how many cities did you have? did it expand quickly?

samsmithnz · October 31, 2001, 05:43

It's probably becasue most players tend to not give in to demands, "We will not be held ransom by terrorism!".

player1 · October 31, 2001, 05:44

What is exactly the effect of corthouse (in civ2 was -50% corruption)?

Sarxis · October 31, 2001, 06:40

Quote:

Originally posted by Akaoz
Like I said, I was never really at war. (Except for a few hundred years with a civ on the other side of the planet.) I newer saw the AI in action.

All I can say is that it appears it doesn't attack for no reason. At least not if you’re not way ahead of it.

-Alech

Yes. I noticed that the AI was leaving me alone until I started getting valuable (owning strategic resources, increased culture, etc.).

But the AI can be pretty easy to deal with, IF you give it what it demands from you.

But all the same, the AI will just turn against you really fast if it wants to, and then it WILL amass an army against you.

Heck, I have seen AI units withdraw from an area, and come back with reinforcements!

LaRusso · October 31, 2001, 06:42

Quote:

Originally posted by Anunikoba

Yes. I noticed that the AI was leaving me alone until I started getting valuable (owning strategic resources, increased culture, etc.).

But the AI can be pretty easy to deal with, IF you give it what it demands from you.

But all the same, the AI will just turn against you really fast if it wants to, and then it WILL amass an army against you.

Heck, I have seen AI units withdraw from an area, and come back with reinforcements!

plz post massive attacks

Akaoz · October 31, 2001, 13:20

Quote:

Originally posted by LaRusso
what kind of victory was it? how many cities did you have? did it expand quickly?

I won a diplomatic victory. Almost by chance. My empire was basically India and China with a few settlements in Australia. After that expanding, even under a democracy, was just too much of a pain. Corruption was killing my outlying settlements.

Also when the English (Africa and Middle East) attacked Germany (Europe and western Russia), they wiped out all the cities except the ones with wonders in them.

I considered going to war against the English for a long time, but we were technologically equal and the corruption would have made the cities useless anyway...

I think a global Empire on a huge map, will be very hard...

-Alech

Juggernaut · October 31, 2001, 13:31

Quote:

when the English (Africa and Middle East)

Hmm, reading peoples reports and the weird locations of the civs almost make me think there is no constant starting locations for the civs. Or are you guys just randomizing the starting locations?

LarryM · October 31, 2001, 13:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Akaoz
Like I said, I was never really at war. (Except for a few hundred years with a civ on the other side of the planet.) I newer saw the AI in action.

All I can say is that it appears it doesn't attack for no reason. At least not if you’re not way ahead of it.

-Alech

I'm guesing that the problem is that you had only 8 civs on a huge map. The more crowded conditions on a standard map (or - and I'm guessing here - on a huge map with 16 civs) seem to promote more agressive behavior on the part of the AI. MUCH more agressive.

Jason Beaudoin · October 31, 2001, 13:55

Ya... I'm not buying your conclusions either. I've played the game, and it is far from easy and far from boring. I'm getting my ass kicked.

I think you might want to try playing on a normal sized map with the regular 8 civilizations. Once you've done that, report back.

BTW, could it be that you have downloaded a old version of the game? I'm noticing that you're from Europe, so I imagine you have a pirated version.

hexagonian · October 31, 2001, 14:14

Questions...

When did you have contact with other civs - and how did you stack up against them in ranking during the course of the game? (were you running ahead of them early, or did it take you a long time to start running ahead?)

If you were running into them in the early game, then I would expect them to be more aggressive - and also if you were behind them in ranking at the time.

Playing with more civs will probably do the trick to get a harder game.

One other question - Are all of the civs staying competitive - or are there a few who lag behind early on?

Hey, I'm a king!!

Akaoz · November 1, 2001, 09:16

I have v. 1.07f

You tell me if I have the retail version...

I ran even with the AI the entire game. No reason to war I guess because of the corruption. Communism doesn’t seem to help either.

I have stumbled across quite few bugs, so maybe I do have an old build. Damn, I can't wait to get my hands on the real box.

-Alech