Your First Game

[cu_tiger_2004]

Id like to hear about everyones first game, how it is going or how it went. I know a few of you thought u could handle a higher level and got royally spanked


I am America, and playing at (dont laugh) chieften level.

Im in the middle ages of my first game on a large map and still havnt found anyone!!!!!!!!!!

I have plenty of resources and am growing quite nicely, I occupy 2 islands and have about a dozen cities.

As soon as i can navigate deep waters I am going to expand.

[orange]

There's a forum for this. Go check it out, a few have posted

[Dis]

I'm the aztecs playing on chieftan level . I'm #1 in most areas except happiness.

I started out in Australia (huge world map). Kind of sucks, because it is taking forever to get map making (I'm still trying to get monarchy). I only played a little less than 2 hours though. more later.

[Grandpa Troll]

Well..I am on a Huge world, 6 civs....bIggest Continent type..( Pangaea I believe)..I am The Russians..I am 2nd playing on Chieftain..have maybe 2 dozen cities..the Zulus are in the lead by 286-272..I have built several wonders...have accepted all ultimatums..not looking for war right now..I have Republic..

I have gotten two cities that revolted..from America..but they have good relations so far..I love all this game has...

I have a few Galleons..but the World is pretty much inhabitated now....

A piece of advice to all...BUILD CITIES..BUILD CITIES...BUILD CITIES..or you will find Real Estate hard to come by....



Yours in Civin

Troll

[ixnay]

I got stomped my first game (see my thread about the germans wiping the floor), but my 2nd game is going much better. Babylonians, 16 civs, huge map, warlord difficulty. The world is entirely colonized now, and I didn't grab that much land. However, I got enough to build up my culture so that 2 american and 2 roman cities have joined me. This is the most peaceful game of civ that I have ever played, as there was a grand total of 1 war before the discovery of nationalism. Yes, 1 war. I ticked off the Russians, they came down and took a city, and it promptly revolted back to me. After that, more peace. At least until mutual protection pacts and such. France has managed to drag at least 7 civs into a war against the aztecs, who have no allies. I managed to get 100 gold per turn from other civs by getting an exclusive tech and selling it to everyone else. Ha ha ha. Well, I must get back to playing.

[CygnusZ]

Joan of Arc of the French. Chieftan.

Started on a Random map with 8 other Civs. On my contient to the north the Russians and English settled. In the land grab I came out well ahead, and once all the land on the island was taken I began some builder style. My culture shot up high enough that I managed to take two of the English cities, but none of the Russian. That freaking ***** Elizabeth kept on pushing her troops through my territory over and over and over again. I kept telling her to leave and she kept on freaking going. She makes a city in the freaking arctic tundra on the south end of the island. Luckily, it converted to French, but man did it piss me off.

However, around this point I discovered Gunpowder, but I had no saltpepper. Only the Russian's to the north had a hill of it, so out came my military. After taking a couple of Russian cities, I suddenly realized that there was some saltpepper in one of my deserts . I promptly signed a peace treaty with Catherine and sent my campaign army to get rid of the Expansionist English.

Few turns later, realized I'm much more powerful than Catherine too, so I said myself, "Self, what would you do with this gigantic army?". I think the poor Russian's lasted maybe 20 more turns. Their towns were rapidly subdued by my superior forces.

And that's where I am now, in the Industrial Revolution attempting to figure out what happens next. Do I become a peaceful democracy? If I'm a Democracy I have to pay for my army, then again, the 0 curroption will make up for it. Do I attempt Domination victory by launching a campaign on foreign soil? Maybe I have enough cities that a cultural victory is possible? My first iron resource ran out, that scared me. Now there's only one left and nobody in the world is trading iron!

Anyway, I'm enjoying my experince. Very interesting how all the different political/social/economic forces come together to shape your society. The big feeling I get playing this game is that it really is the same basic game as CivII, but it's deeper.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by CygnusZ
Joan of Arc of the French. Chieftan.
...
And that's where I am now, in the Industrial Revolution attempting to figure out what happens next. Do I become a peaceful democracy? If I'm a Democracy I have to pay for my army, then again, the 0 curroption will make up for it. ...

WARNING!
Are you SURE that Democracy has 0 corruption??
Don't try playing Civ3 with Civ2 concepts

[CygnusZ]

D'oh, Civ2 habit I meant to say greatly reduced. Old habits die hard.


Which BTW, I'm going to get that cultural victory. I've got 50,000 total culture points.

[treedom]

I just played my first game as Caesar, all world settings average, at Chieftain level. So far, I've played until 1060. Here's some random stuff I can remember (it's late, and my mind's all over the place...sorry).

I started off on my own continent, big enough for about 5 cities. The English, French and Germans share a continent right near me (to the east), which I started to colonize early. I haven't had any contact with the others (I think there's three or four more...can't remember what I picked...it was the default, though).

I think I've gotten the hang of this culture thing, because I have the highest rating in it (at Chieftain level though ). Anyway, all three of the civs I know are pretty impressed, or so my advisors keep saying . Especially the Maid of Orleans; she's got a thing for me, I think . Me and the French are close though.

As for the strategic resources (horses, iron etc), I was worried at first, cause I saw none at all. But, they appeared when I gained the tech levels neccesary to exploit them. My tech is going well...I've *just* reached gunpowder. You can't go wrong with Sid as your Science Advisor though .

I've built a few wonders, and set off my golden age somehow (not sure how, because it didn't happen right after building a wonder). The city governors sure love building the wonders though. Every time something's done, they want to start on the Pyramids or War Academy or something (we're in a war, damnit!! Let's build some troops!! )

My advisors keep telling me that the people want me to build a forbidden castle, which is a small wonder and acts as a second castle (for corruption purposes, I think). I'm putting it off, because I want to build it at a strategic point in the middle of the large continent, and the city I have near there is still too small. I am pumping it with workers though (they can join the city and add 1 to the pop), and it's growing nicely. I wonder what will happen if the people don't get their forbidden castle soon??

The AI is amazing, even at this level Bismark declared war on me, and I took a level one city of his (Frankfurt), but my legions were crushed at Berlin's gates. I asked for peace (there's two ways you can do this, in a submissive tone, after which the AI gives you their demands, or an agressive tone, to which the AI agrees only if they're in a bad possition). I was still threatening Berlin with a couple units, so I went for the latter. "Yeah, let's end it. It was all a big misunderstanding anyway," is what the Iron Chancellor said, and he gave me some gold and a tech

A while later, Elizabeth declared war. It was quiet at first, because the French and Germans sepparate us on her continent (and the sea from mine). After getting crushed at sea, the sneaky witch snagged a Right of Passage through German territory and got me by surprise while I was busy putting gtogether an expeditionary force. I managed to beat her back. But, she kept coming, each time in a different spot (where my troops weren't) and with at least three units!

I landed on her shore, and took one of her cities (Hastings), thanks to my new Longbow units (4/1/1). But there was much blood shed. Then, she convinced Germany to declare war too!! They formed a Millitary Alliance against me. I quickly took out another of her cities (York) and she still only agreed to a straight peace, giving me nothing. Bismark won't even talk to me...I guess he wants Frankfurt back. He's already thrown a huge wave of about 4 cavalry and a bunch of warriors at me. That's where I quit for the night.

From what I've seen so far, I'd say that Civ3 won't flop. I barely dragged myself away from it...no way CTP was this good, either incarnation. It was very stable too, btw...nary a glitch for about 6 continuous hours (and my CPU is a tad below the 'recomended' speed).

Well, that's all for now...sorry if this was longish, but, hey, you didn't *have* to read it

[rflagg]

My word, what a great game. Side Meier and Jeff Briggs are beautiful. A few complaints, but not even worth mentioning compaired to the good. If you don't have it yet, trust me, you'll love it.

Ok, my first game went pretty quick. I'm a civver from the beginning, played the game for many sleepless nights. I played CivII fasion when first starting, so I started as Americans on Huge Earth with 16 civs. I started by Seattle, and I was with the Zulus, Iroquios, French, Indians, Germans, and one other in North and South America. So, I expand, and meet the zulus near DC, and the Iroquis in Southern US. So, I expand as much as possible, and the zulus begin to piss me off by entering my boundaries. I say to them nicely, I say "remove your troops or face the consequences". They face the consequences, and declare war on me. We're pretty equal, but, unfortunately, they contact every other civ on the continent, and by the end of the turn, everyone I know is at war with me. Wow. How quickly I was destroyed. So, I learned.

My second game, I started on a huge map (how could a true civver turn down the biggest map possible?) random world, and now I'm on a very large island with the germans south of me, english to the east, Aztecs to the north, and the Iroquois north of them. My culture is grand, because I found that when you first build a city, you should immediately build a temple - within about 5 turns of that, your culture expands. (so, after temple I usually build barracks, then city walls, then on from there).

The Germans start pissing me off early by pushing my borders and adding new cities near me. I'm >< this close to warring with them, even though I only have about 5 cities and they have about 15, I'm tempted. I get the Great Library (a must for anyone I think), and start getting ahead in the technology race. Fortunately for me, a few German cities defect to me, so I'm no longer worried about warring with them, especially after I find out I can sell them (and the other civs) early technologies like gunpowder (after making sure I own all the saltpeter) to them for almost all their gold, plus 50 gold a turn for 20 turns. Whee, making money! (check what they want for some technologies by asking what they offer, then ask for a bit more - it almost always works) So, now the Aztecs go to war with the Germans, and my civ is in between. So, I sell goods and techs to both of them, and give them right of passages. America is so great.

So, the English piss me off by doing what the Germans did earlier, so I tell them to leave or declare war. They declare war. I talk to everyone on the continent and give them all metallurgy for lots of gold, plus military action against the English. I take a few of their cities (the Germans LOVE war!) with help of the others, and I call a truce with the English. The great thing? The other civs don't - especially Germany, but that's because if they capture the English east coast, they'll have me trapped between. So, it's an interesting world. And, I don't even know about the other 3 civs in the world! I'm tempted to war with the English again just to make sure that I'll take their cities, not someone else who will later attack me.

Needless to say though, the other civs look up to me because of my high culture and my agreements with them and constantly trading them technologies. I still hold all of the English and German controlled saltpeter, and I sold some to Germany for 20 turns for 50 gold/turn. I'm coming up on the Industrial age, and I just can't wait. Work and the rest of my life drags now, but Civ 3 keeps calling and saying "one more turn, one more turn" until my life force is drained into the computer completely. It reminds me of Civ I days when I would talk with my friends for hours and hours about what we were doing to the horrible zulus or whoever we were at war with - and trading games with each other. I feel at home again, thank you, Sid. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

There should be a saved game/story section here, I'd love to trade saved games and play other peoples' games. Otherwise, I come to this site everyday to read the newest about civIII. Great job everyone, and I'll post more later! Only 7 more hours until I can play again, yay!

-Matthew O'Leary.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

My third game was on the biggest map, 16 civs , and I was the Americans (regent)

I settled in a river valley with about equal forest/grassland, and 2 mountains and a hill. I sent my scout out to explore and found the French to my south. I made peace with them, and then an Alliance. I expanded my borders, and founded a second city on the coast and a third inland. All had good culture, and a good road connection. Then the Germans came from the North and they took all of my cities.

[brianh128]

I'm a brand new player of the Civilization series. Thought about getting Civ2 last year but heard that civ3 would be out this year so I thought I would wait until it came out to join the series. Let me tell you I'm not getting any sleep anymore.

I started off as the Persians because I thought, "Hey! I want to build up science quickly and I will need to make cities quicker." I decided to play chieftain with archipelago and 70% water on a large map to spread us out and I decided to only have 6 opponents so I wouldn't get smoked right off the bat. Started off pretty cool. Interface was nice and I was learning slowly how it all worked. The next thing I knew it 200 AD and I still only had 3 cities. Apparently what I though of as quick expansion was very pathetic. I hadn't really gotten anywhere in the scientific discovery either. So I restarted, new map, but similar everything else. This time the English found me relatively quickly and decided to make cities in the holes i had left on my island. I found no iron on my island (for the second straight game) but the appearence of the English allowed me to trade maps and meet everyone else. I then realized just how far behind I really was. In the 1800s with no hope of any victory I gave up.

I have chalked these games up to learning. I'm getting better, but I do not believe I can bump it up to warlord until after Christmas. Getting my butt handed to me has never been so much fun.

[Faboba]

Originally posted by rflagg
There should be a saved game/story section here,
-Matthew O'Leary.

What did you assume it was when you went to the 'Civ3 - Stories' section of the forums

[mmtt]

I think its quite easy to expand like the IA...
Just warrior, settler, till you have like 8 cities... Then you can start really improving...

[Faboba]

Is it just me or does that idea sound a tad familiar

Civ3 is designed to prevent that kind of expansion - Thats just an attempt at ICS.

[mmtt]

Well I only play on warlord but for now I'm the first follow by the Persian(second biggest empire).
This strategy allowed me to build a strong territory in the western USA and to build enough units to push back English in Quebec.


I now have like 32 cities. I can build improvements and wonders at the same time of doing a great war effort.
Two wars vs the Russian gave me a great cavalry ready for action everywhere in my territory.

I have now enough territory but the IA(all civs) stupidly always build new town in the northern Canada(I control the south)....
Sometimes I have war with them and my cavalry just raze any city....Quite boring.


Just for my strategy, I only do that to build like 8 cities and in my capital I build the Pyramids, Sun Tzu etc(improvements granary and barracks are very useful). After I build improvements and take as many resources as possible....



I have a World War:
Japanese attacked by Persia. I did a military alliance with the Japanese. Persia did military alliance with a lot of civilizations in Asia and Africa. I did in America.

Now I'm building a great fleet to conquer the seven seas....

[MrRogers]

man reading this thread gets me off.
I CANT WAIT
........bugger, exam tomoro but then civ3 in a week!

[Thoth]

Bought the darn thing yesterday afternoon (allong with some nice, cheap RAM so it would run on my system). Got to bed about 6:30 this morning. My first game was without reading the manual, got to about 1 ad and the game crashed.

2nd game is still going on. Huge earth map, 16 civs playing the Persians. Started in southern Brazil. The Germans are to my north, the French were to my west, and the Russians were down in southern Argentina. I found myself rapidly hemmed in with only 2 cities, and the decent expansion routes blocked.

I made culture, iron working (for Immortals) and barracks a priority. Traded tech and cash with my immediate neighbors, and sent a warrior north who eventually made contact with the English, Japanese and Zulus. Peace was relatively easy to come by, and a few small tech payments kept me at peace with most of the world while I picked a fight with the Germans. Three conquests later, they beg for peace. I accept, as the Russians have gotten uppity, and the French are encroaching to the west.

A long distance war ensues with the Russians. They sue for peace after I destroy many of their warriors, raze a new city and capture 2 of their workers. The workers and the 2 Immortals of my expeditionary force begin the long task of road linking their way to the rest of my (now growing) empire.

A demand to the French that they hand over three of their border cities is refused, so I declare war (seriously blackening my reputation, we had a right of passage agreement). The border cities fall quickly (watch out for those Immortals!!), and by 1 ad the French are reduced to a couple of small cities on the Chilean coast.

If I can recall the blur from 6:00 this morning correctly, it's now about 700 AD, I'm a Republic, the Russians have been beaten down to a colony or two somewhere off South America, the French have been destroyed and the Germans are filling up the marginal city sites around my boarders. This has resulted in two defections so far, and I expect more. Culture, culture, culture seems to be the key.

I've now got something on the order of 15-20 cities, tech every 4-5 turns, lots of captured workers (who just aren't as good as our home grown Persian workers), a couple of wonders on the way, and a great feeling about the game.

PS: I only built 1 settler!!

[Pisthetaerus]

Okay, first game which is still going . . . Huge map, Warlord, I'm the Greeks.

I start out on what would be the southern part of a continent, in a decent area surrounded by mountains. I expand normally until meeting the Romans and Egyptians. I'm pretty much going culture as I get into ad without a war. I soon learn that the one of the AI's strategy is to build cities wherever there is empty space. Thus I made the mistake of trading maps to them when I had discovered a new island for myself and they all rushed for it. The Egyptians were there first; I wasn't going to have any of it so I attacked to the city and started my first war.

First War: In a sense, it was an utter disaster. My old civ 2 thinking was that a couple of musketmen could hold against his inumberable number of ancient troops. I've got cavalry too, but not alot at start. I quickly take one small city. Then, the Egyptian onslaught begins--about 30+ units begin swarming into my territory taking out musketmen and capturing Halicarnassus (size 6). He then starts shifting his troops around so I can't figure out the next target, argh! I manage to take Halicarnassus back and sue for peace. In the end I gained one size three city, swaped size ones, and had a size six city reduced to size one.

Things go back to normal for awhile, until the Germans come into the picture. They are half-way around the world. They started on a large continent with the Russians, which they have obliterated. In the obliteration of the Russians they razed alot of cities. And since the AI will put cities in any empty spaces, all the other civs kept trying to build new cities in the Russian territory. Needless to say, the Germans razed them too! (This I gleaned from the retire replay history) Germans ask for democracy, I go to war.

Second War: My plan was to take a small secondary island of the Germans. The problem was that it would take about 12 turns for my transport to get there, when it was built. So when I got there and just start getting rolling, war weariness. I manage to stave it off for a couple more turns and get the island. Peace made, end of second War.

Its now getting near 1800, and something odd happens, the Egyptians, who are furious with me (been that way for along time), ask for a mutual defense pack. I accept, and plan building a new army in advance, bombers mostly. I declare war on the Germans, the Egyptians follow, then the Romans, then the French, then the English. Let the fun begin . . .

Third War: Bombers are fun. I get about 20 of them and just reduce whatever city I'm targetting to rubble. I have to wait for troops to arrive but once done so I manage to take seven cities, including his capital. Unfortunatly, during the war I learned the importance of garrisoning troops as your newly conquered cities could defect right back. I also found out that airlifting works a little different--you can only airlift once from a city, but infinite number of times into a city. The entire time the other civs built on the order of 30+ naval units and proceded to bombard any and every coastal terrain improvent the Germans had. They never actually invaded, but still, it was a neat tactic to see the AI employing. War weariness sets in again, just when Im moving in tanks to the front line. Sue for peace.

That's where I'm at now. I gave the russians military tradition so they can build cossacks and hopefully stand up against the Germans. I still havn't gotten a leader, which is annoying, but its a blast seeing everyone gang up on the leader (even if they arn't doing anything substantial).

[Keyser Soze 0]

Small Map, 6 Civs, played as the Greeks.
(Well, actually, this wasn't my first game, but playing the tutorial and losing doesn't really count as a first game, does it? Well, actually, I guess it does... ) (The names and dates might be a little off - I have to watch the replay when I'm done.)

This was an extremely uneventful game for the most part (not boring though). I learned my lesson from the previous game - crank out settlers! Starting near the ocean, surrounded by mountains, I exanded quickly, getting out 8 cities over a large section of the continent by the first 75 turns. I started in the western center of the largest continent, England to my North, Russia to the east. Southeast, beyond a twenty-tile thicket of jungle was Germany, and directly south across the ocean was France. India had a smaller continent all to themselves to the far east, and there was an archipelago full of small three-tile islands that all the other civs scrambled for. I didn't even bother - they were horrible places to found cities.

After making contacts with other civs, things were quiet. And I mean QUIET. I don't know why, but there wasn't a single war between anyone until 1960, which is quite a long period of time. I reaped the benefits of having almost all the major resources within my huge borders, with the exception of saltpeter - I had to set up a colony which was right outside the Russian capital. It got absorbed after 20 or so turned, but by then I had built up my army of musketmen. Suffering through intermittent periods of civil disorder in the beginning, soon I didn't have an unhappy citizen in any of my cities by 1 AD - I had 8 luxuries supplying all my cities with happy-face goodness. I managed to be able to build all the early wonders except for the Lighthouse and the Great Wall.

Meanwhile, all the other civs were slowly plodding along. I developed a gracious relationship with France, the second-largest civ in territory but desperately behind in tech. Throwing Joan a tech every five turns or so, she supplied me with even more luxuries. Win-win situation for me.

By 1800 AD I'd reached the industrial age. Gaining steam power definitely added more to the game - My press gang of 20 workers slowly but surely railroaded every tile of my empire. It's kind of a great sight to see the steady march of progress, and at the end be able to teleport a unit fifty tiles across with no movement penalities

The next challenge, of course, was the jungle. This dense thicket seemed impenetrable in ancient times, but now with industrial power I started to cut a swath through it. Coincidentally, Germany's two cities in the jungle converted to my empire at the same time. Though miserable at first (jungles don't exactly provide great resources), those two would become some of my strongest cities. It took about 50 turns, but by the end not one jungle tile remained - irrigated railroad was king

Even though it was peacetime, I did not forget about my army was well. Each city supported three riflemen, soon to be replaced by infantry, while the two aged cavalry per city would soon be replaced by tanks. I had neglected bombard units in the past, so I sought to make up for lost time with some artillery pieces. Under a democracy, the cost was pretty hefty, but I could support it - I was making 200 gold a turn.

By 1900 I was firmly into the modern age. My ally France had just eked her way to second in the science race thanks to a liberal infusion of my advances - It was a bit strange to see my skyscrapers and her smokestacks amid a sea of castles (yes, everyone else was still in the middle ages.) My perfectionist infrastructure did not cease.

Then the interesting part happened.

1939 - Still working on railroad, when suddenly my coal resource ran out. This was not good, of course. Thankfully, Russia had three coal tiles to spare. So I entered into a trade agreement with her. 20 gold per turn for the coal - I could easily afford it. I had been polite and peacable to her in the past. I went on my merry way railroading until 1959. The deal expired, but I had finished a long time ago, so I thought nothing of it.

Then she attacked.

It was blind, it was stupid, and it was pointless. I still don't know why she did it. It was quite funny, though, to see a Russian Knight run up against Corinth's Mechanized infantry and get slaughtered. By the next turn I had 15 Modern Armor pieces heading toward her capital. Of course, I hadn't been paying attention to diplomacy, and didn't realize that she was allied to Germany and England.

When I declared war on Russia, Germany and England declared war on me. France, my ally, joined me against them. Isolationist India soon entered into a military alliance with France, which spread to war with the others. So after 4959 years without a single war, suddenly everyone was at war with each other. Hilarious.

1960 - Armor takes brings Moscow to its knees. I raze the city, giddy in triumph. A Russian musketman captures my stack of 10 workers - stupid mistake. Germany and France enter into border skirmishes, but nothing serious at the moment.

1961 - I win my workers back. After 10 bombing runs and 12 artillery barrages, my armored divisions enter the ruined rubble of Kiev, which also gets razed to the ground. St. Peterburg also gets razed, removing almost all of Russian influence to my immediate east. Thinking that it's basically over, I broker a peace with Russia in exchange for a few gold per turn. I then turned my attention south to Germany. I thought I would help soften up the German defenses for France's attack, then drop from the rear - we would close in with a pincer maneuver. I of course forgot about the alliances. I ended back in war with Russia the next turn.

1962 - Meanwhile, England went insane. Attacking both me and Russia at the same time, it found itself being at war with everyone at the same time. Raiding parties destroyed a fre of my tile improvements, pissing me off to no end. Armor slaughtered their cavalry. I just decided to get it over with. Took out Hamburg quickly and efficiently with only 6 armor pieces. Gave the city to the French, who were no slouches either - they had taken three southwestern coastal cities in the meantime. I moved my armor north, planning to crush England next turn.

1963 - France had managed to remove 1/3 of Germany's cities. Russia's last city lay there on the other side of Germany - I would have taken it out if I had bothered to get a navy. Hastings fell this turn. I decided to keep this city, and sent it my press gang (Now 40 workers - thanks, Russia) to railroad and irrigate the city radius. I almost finished the job in two turns

1964 (current turn) - London falls to the Greeks. I brokered peace with everyone, just to be on the safe side. I think I could have moved a little faster, but I made it through the whole war with no losses. And I managed this all under a democracy. Of course, it was a four-year war Alliance with France expired at this time, too. Well, I don't really think Joan needs my help - war's not my forte anyway... (This is the part where I wished that that there was a certain diplomatic function from SMAC - the request to end vendettas. I always liked being able to create world peace, if only for a while. Guess my favorite faction )

Just learned space flight at this time. I'm trying to decide whether I should try and build the SS or try for another victory. I won't have enough culture for a long time, so that's out. Even though I have 100 military units lying around, conquest has never appealed to me that much, so I'm thinking I'll take the SS route.

And that's pretty much it. Effortlessly dominated at Chieftain level. Maybe I'll try Warlord next