Alright I completed my first big game where I played the Americans on a huge, normal, warm, 4 billion y/o continent with 70% water and 8 civs total (England, Germany, Aztecs, Iroquois, France, Russia, and Rome) at Warlord lvl. I won by Space Race in AD 1966. I lead a peaceful (save for the conquering of the Germans in the early industrial age with the help of the English and Aztecs) and cultural society. My first govt was monarchy then quickly switched to republic then democracy.
I consider myself an avid and adept civ player playing ever since Civ I came out. I love strategy games. I've played civ I and II and test of time and fantasy worlds as well as Alpha Centauri I and II. I've also played Call To Power I and II. Civ I and II I've mastered up through Prince level and won occasionally at king and deity. with CTPII I mastered deity with the million gold and PW which is sorely needed at that level LOL.
Anyway, I approached Civ3 with this experience. My actual first game (Warlord, 8 civs, normal, warm, island, 70% water) was a disaster. I was stuck on a relatively small Island with CTPII strategy in mind. I was left in the dust scientifically and size wise. I couldn't expand beyond my island and water squares aren't lucrative like in CTPII (cant you guys implement some sort of terrain imp for water squares like fishing nets or offshore drilling, and not the city improvement?) I relearned my civ strategy in this game and started another one.
My second game (stats above) went SOOOO much better. Although everyone else expanded with multiple cities I focused on culture and building wonders until my cities maxed at 12 long before I could research sanitation then my city boom began. I only warred with my closest neighbor, Germany and defeated him with the help of the Aztecs and English mid way through the Industrial Age. afterwards I focused on culture and defense (for an attack that never came). the hardest part was trying to get fair exchanges for luxuries. French Ivory cost me an arm and a leg every 20 turns but had 3 happy faces in each city (with marketplace). the French and Russians were my biggest rivals, thankfully on another continent. we'd trade advances and resources routinely, however I gained the upper hand during the modern times and completed my spaceship first with France right behind who after it was complete promptly declared war on me, thank God she didn't unleash her 8 ICBMs on Raleigh (where my ship was being built). Actually she couldn't mount much of an offense on her turn cause as soon as she declared war, Russia and the Iroquois (whom I had mutual protection pacts with) declared war on France followed by England and the Aztecs. Despite that my ship launched on my next turn and I won.
Now for my analysis of Civ 3.
First of all this is a wonderful strategy game. the AI is superb, if not a little harsh in reminding you of your mistakes and in driving a hard bargain during negotiations! The landscape is exquisite and gameplay and longevity are great. however, the manual and strategy guide are at best incomplete and flaky. There is so much discrepancy and missing information I don't know where to begin.
Have any of you played CTP I and II? there are a few things in there that I would love to see implemented in Civilization. Probably most importantly the ability to improve water terrain. It would certainly make island maps more playable. Also why not put strategic and luxury resources on coastal terrain like perhaps oil, caviar, sushi and pearls. Also why not go beyond the modern era and have futuristic units and city imp to create more expansive gameplay. Also why not add more depth to the game by having more govt choices as well as more civ specific units and abilities. That's up in the air and vague so I guess Ill get to some specific problems I encountered.
First I'll mention the transport units. caravels carry 3 not 4, galleons carry 4 not 6 and transports carry 6 not 8.
To plant a spy you must double click on the pentagon shaped icon of the city that built the Intel agency, not through diplomacy
screen, spy actions can be accessed through dip screen.
Whatever happened to the Sentry/Board ship command?
Why no ability to disband a city without having to build settlers.
Need a group movement command. It is very tiresome to move many troops one at a time to the same place.
How about a patrol and an Escort command, especially for ships.
BIG one: land/sea bridges; two land tiles are diag from each other and two water tiles are diag from each other, land unit can cross but a water unit cannot but used to be able to in Civ2, what happened there?
I noticed sight range is extended for sea units that don't move, that was not mentioned in manual, also why not extend sight range for larger ships and land scout units.
I also noticed that voting for UN leader occurs at start of each turn, if you build it. not mentioned in manual.
Need more wonders (Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty) to maybe eliminate period of anarchy between govt's; to increase culture of all cities at once like Hollywood or Fashion Capitol.
More diversity in units maybe to fill special roles (spy plane/satellite, hovertank, a cultural icon unit that could convert cities like a movie star
)
City improvements; movie theatre, art gallery, museum for culture; prison to combat corruption
Advances like fusion to diminish pollution and eliminate risk of meltdown from nuclear plants.
I think that's all for now I have many ideas for tweaking Civ3 but it may require a new game altogether (CIV4?) Any way I hope this was helpful and I wasn't just babbling. If I encounter anymore problems or bug I'll be sure to report them. Oh and by the way this game is extremely stable! I kept it running for a whole day while I surfed the net, emailed ant did other stuff around the house and it dint crash, I was so impressed! Well I'm going to start another game with a different civ. later.
