The CIV3 FAQ: COMMON QUESTIONS/COMPLAINTS/ARGUMENTS and their ANSWERS

[Ethelred]

Q: Situation: I have two adjacent cities. One of them is on tundra, and has trouble feeding the citizens. In its 20-square territory, there is only one grassland tile. Unfortunately, the neighboring city selfishly took the lone grassland tile! Is there any way that I can assign the tiles to specific cities?

A: Go into the city screen of the city you don't want working the tile. Rearange the tiles they are working and then go to the other city screen and set them to work the grassland tile.

You rearange things by clicking on the tiles.

If you have the governor running in either city you will have to change that too.

[Dr Strangelove]

I've completely eliminated the Japanese civilization in my current game. I've checked to make certain that there are no more Japanese cities or units. Japan refuses to die thaough, and is still at war with me. Eventually the war weariness will get me. I consider the game ruined and unplayable. I tried to get advice from Infogames, but you know what happened to that I'm sure.

[IGD]

Originally posted by Civ Old Timer

1) I want my foreign advisor to tell me if I'm about to break a treaty. It's too easy to loose track and as a result everyone hates you in in the end game.


3) I want a warning before a city flips to another culture. A pop up about "civil unrest" isn't too much to ask for. Losing a large army out of the blue like that sucks ass and is bad design again.

Yes and Yes. Both these are very annoying and I hope FIRAXIS will sort these out in 1.18 ????

The city flipping to another culture is the worst. In the game I am currently playing I invaded another continent and captured my first city. The CIV I was invading was strong so I built up quite a large invading force consisting of 6 armies of modern tanks, 16 marine units and several mech Inf units. On capturing the first city, I piled nearly all of these units in and then re-based 30 (yes 30) Stealth Bombers there. The city was size 26 so it took a couple of turns to quell the resistance. On the next turn however, the city "Flipped" back to it's original owner and all those units were lost.

That is just plain crazy. As old timer says, there should at least be some warning. And in any case all those units would still be loyal to me, why do they just get eliminated ?? Surely the likelihood of a city reverting should be reduced on a sliding scale depending upon how strongly it is garrisoned ?

PLEASE FIX THIS FIRAXIS (As well as the AI tech trading problem, ultra annoying but then you know all about that now!)

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by ALPHA WOLF 64
Q: I tried to make submarines 'hidden nationality'. Although I never see the enemy subs until they attack, I've seen stacks of enemy and/or friendly ships (usually frigates and ironclads) go straight after my subs. Has anyone else tried this?
A: ??

When you make them hidden nationality they become "privateers" and therefore targets for everyone. Its not clear whether the AI has a "cheat" and can see submarines or if it is a bug (of sorts) where the AI gets to accidentally detect the sub when it calculates movements paths.

[Dr Strangelove]

Is something going to be done about the "Civilizations that refused to die" bug? I eliminated the Japanese civ but it continues to register as being still around and at war with me. Yes, I checked to make sure that there weren't any remaining units or cities. Yes, I've tried going back to a point in the game before I eliminated them and tired making peace or eliminating them in a slight variation, but none of that works. Nor did putting the civ back using an editor help. Is this bug going to be corrected or should I rip Civ 3 right off my hard drive right now?

Does Infogames ever reply to e-mail requests for support?

[Ribannah]

Originally posted by Butterfly
Q: What does a "We Love the King Day" do??
A: WLTKD increases shield production

Actually, it decreases corruption/waste.

[Ribannah]

Originally posted by AustralianJeremy
Weirdness - the Zulus finished their spaceship the other day but didn't launch it; so I won the next turn when I finished mine.

Q: Why?!

They probably never learned to navigate.
For some obscure reason, Navigation is not a necessary advance.

(If you have saved the game, report this as a bug in the bugs thread.)

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by brendan.hewitt
Q. I always just get to conquer the world, or build a space ship, and then it reaches the end game year and I dont get a proper victory. Is there any way that I can edit this and make the game go for longer.


Q2. I dont have the manual, and the Civlopedia wont give me any decent info. so how do you win a diplomatic victory? something about United nations? How can this be acheived??

A>Q Can't edit the game length. 2050 is all she wrote. I assume you mean that you have almost completed the space ship and 2050 ends the game before the last piece is built.

A>Q2 Buy the game so that you have the manual. Or, build the UN. The game will ask you if you want to hold a vote. Say yes. All the civs will vote for the power they prefer to be the winner. Note, many players lose the vote. You have to pay attention to who likes you and who hates you. If everybody hates you, you will probably lose the vote.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by brendan.hewitt
Thanks for your help.
I have a couple of new questions.

Q. Is there a way to know how much expereince a unit has, and how much to the next level, and how much each kill gives?

Q2. What exactly is a "Golden Age?" and what am I supposed to do about it?

Q3. Does anyone think that bomers suck in this game??? I built one as soon as I got flight, and was severly dissappointed. And what are all those things a fighrer can do??? cant they attack???

Q4. Is there anyone out there who can give me a list of all the keyboard shortkut keys?

Thanks to all, and especially to apolyton for hosting such a cool site.

A>Q Experience is not measured in points. A unit that wins a combat either gets the promotion or doesn't. You could conceivably have a Conscript unit become Elite in 3 combats against the weakest possible combat units. You could also conceivably have a Veteran unit remain a Vet after 100 successful combats.

A>Q2 A Golden Age occurs the first time one of your civ specific units wins a combat. It can also happen upon completion of a combination of 2 Wonders (different wonders depending on your civ). You only get 1 GA. It lasts 20 turns. All tiles worked by all of your civs get 1 extra shield and 1 extra gold. Use it to build like a banshee and prehaps grab a lead in technology.

A>Q3 Bombers and Fighters are good units in the game. Bombers can blow the goats out of anything within 6 squares of it's base. Then you finish the cripple off with a unit with little risk. Fighters are not so good at bombing. They shoot down Bombers with great effeciency with 1.17

[Ethelred]

Q. Is there a way to know how much expereince a unit has, and how much to the next level, and how much each kill gives.

A. Yes first you must get an Everquest Account though.

In civ there are no experience points.

Each kill gives a one in sixteen chance of advancing, one in twelve for militaristic civs.

Q2. What exactly is a "Golden Age?" and what am I supposed to do about it?

A. He who has the Gold makes the rules. So you RULE DOOD.

A golden age lasts 20 turns. You are supposed to use it wisely for it is the only one you will have. You recieve one extra shield on each tile allready producing at least one shield and one extra coin for each tile allready producing at least one shield.

Q3. Does anyone think that bomers suck in this game??? I built one as soon as I got flight, and was severly dissappointed. And what are all those things a fighrer can do??? cant they attack???

A. Boomers are grate n ths game. As a full fledged Baby Boomer I take umbrage at that remark. You may keep the fighter umbrella.

Bombers are long range bombarment units. Especialy good for destroying infrastructure like roads to resources.

Fighters can also bomb but they don't do well at it. The best use for them is to either make the first bomb run and maybe take out a fighter or be set to Air Superiority where they will defend the city they are in against bombers.

Q4. Is there anyone out there who can give me a list of all the keyboard shortkut keys?

QWERTYUIOP.CONTROL.SHIFT. SPACE.RETURN.

You manual has one. I highly recommend actually reading the manual. Particularly the appendix which has all the original shorcuts. The Readme files for the 1.17f patch has the newly added keys.

[V.O.C.'02]

ok, to be honest: i'm the newest kid on the block so far seen on apolyton. This is one of teh first games I played so far, and I really suck at it. (did kill that annoying german fellow, which is going to be a habit, i'm afraid) but before I take to much of your valuable Civ time answer me this please: Why does it look like every citizen in my (aztec) civ is corrupt. I got myself into playing republic, but that doesn't seem te do the trick for me, tell me how to get me myself a bit of the loot, without me having to gerase everybody.

[Ribannah]

Q>

Originally posted by V.O.C.'02
Why does it look like every citizen in my (aztec) civ is corrupt. I got myself into playing republic, but that doesn't seem te do the trick for me, tell me how to get me myself a bit of the loot, without me having to gerase everybody.

A> Republic doesn't fight corruption any better than Monarchy in Civ3. Later on, Democracy should make some difference.
To fight corruption, (1) link the cities to your empire with roads and harbors (or airports), (2) build courthouses and later police stations, (3) make you citizens happy enough to celebrate "We Love The ... Day", (4) build the Forbidden Palace.
Btw did you install the latest patch? Corruption is now a little less rampant than before.

[V.O.C.'02]

O.K. thanks.

But when I want to build a courthouse, it takes me about 80 turns every time, so I,ve got to get me some marketplaces, factories, etc, etc. And I cannot wait that long. How do I know what/ when to mine, irrigate, (plant forrest). When I buil a mine how does it effect the 80 turns I allready needed?

There are just too many questions to ask, I need a mentor, can I hire a tutor over here?

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Is something going to be done about the "Civilizations that refused to die" bug?

I had that problem once with the 1.17f. Not so with 1.21f, I ground the Zulu to dust beneath the steele-shod hooves of my babylonian horsemen. 100 years later they´re still dust. And there´s a gap in the "foreign advisor" screen where the ugly face of Shaka used to be...

[Zoid]

¤ Corruption less hampering than before

[Raion]

Civ III and others are long games. It takes awhile to learn.

You will get use to it!

Start changing your cities on the city screen, if you want production, make sure enough food is there, (stop for future growth or slower growth), make mines or irrigate where you can, it is up to you to run your Civ the way you want.

I played CivII on 2nd level which is warlord in Civ III for a long time, until one day, I guess when I had more time, I started winning. Of course in CivIII, one may be involved in more wars from the beginning, plus in Civ III looking at all the screens may be needed - especially the domestic advisor screen where on the right top you adjust the rate for science and luxuries and the rest is used for taxes. If going to Republic, then with left over money, you can buy the improvement, but you may not want to, if you need the money for something else.

It will take some time to learn Civ III, but then in-between times, it took about a year in the original game to fully get the feel for the game.

Just remember, some people have played, really played all sort of Civ, CivI, CivII, Alpha Centauri - Alien Crossfire, but mainly Civilization of some version for the past good 10 years.

Civ II came out in 1995, then expansion pack, updates, then scenarios made by players that were sold, and some of them were good, also by Sid and team at Firaxis, and well, three years later, some people were still playing the game. Of course, probably some played it up to Civ III, but then, once and awhile, another game will come along to play.

This one is longer and harder because of the history of the game, and still some will find it easy, some find it hard.

This will be a test -- Civilization III.

[Raion]

Updates at home site of Sid and crew:

http://www.civ3.com/

for updates and some player maps.

Then some people mod the civ3mod.bic file for the game, and an expansion pack has already been announced for other things + multiplayer - later this month.

That can be found at gamespot and other threads on this forum.

[Panag]

Q: AI civs DO NOT BUILD FACTORIES. I and others have checked and rechecked large cities from the mid-Twentieth Century, and the AI cities have no factories. I spotted one building the Apollo Program without a factory!

A: the AI builds factories , but , sometimes it will not do it if it has not ecology and recycling , i tried it with giving them the technology , and behold , a couple turns later in half the cases they where building factory's , ....

[Coracle]

Most attempts to "expose enemy spy" fail with a notice that "the sting operation has failed" and their leader is threatening retaliation. Or he declares war.

Once in awhile the mole is "neutralized".

NEVER do I get any other result. That tells me that when the is NO enemy spy in MY capital if I try to expose him I will get a notice that it failed - which is nonsense. How can it fail when there was no spy there in the first place? Stupid.

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by Coracle
...That tells me that when the is NO enemy spy in MY capital if I try to expose him I will get a notice that it failed - which is nonsense. How can it fail when there was no spy there in the first place? Stupid.

Because you spent alot of effort and expense to find something that you THOUGHT was there!!

[V.O.C.'02]

Q: I wonder what's the use of "people admire you so much the offer to expand the palace" When does this happen and what are teh consequenses of it, does it give you more culture or something. It makes a nice picture and all, but whats the use of it?

A: (by dengidavai) It's just like the "view" option on the city screen, where you can actually see all the improvements you've built in the city.

It's designed to give you a sense of POWER and ACCOMPLISHMENT!!! I just love seeing my palace grow. Actually, I don't know if I've ever gotten to see the finished palace. Does anybody know at what point the construction process stops?

Not everything has to be utilitarian -- particularly in a fantasy game!

[Ethelred]

Does anybody know at what point the construction process stops?

Sure. When you top everything out, put in the new front, the columns, two stages of crosspieces and the trees. Then its all done.

If you look in

C:\Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III\Art\PalaceView

and the subfolders you will see all the parts for each palace and palace type. There are 17 different parts plus the starting point. So when you make all 17 additions you are done.

[V.O.C.'02]

Ok, sorry, but it was just a question, The first time they offered i really thought: yeah, now i'm in business: luxery slider to 0%, science 100% and WLTKD all the time. Got a bit dissapointed there though.

I did feel the accomplishment thing, with my european- asian- art deco-aztec-african-architected palace. ( my iroquis empire was pretty multicultural at the time, because of the loads of aztec, english, russian, french and american workers who were mowing my lawn

[Coracle]

It appears certain now that if you attempt to expose an enemy spy, AND THERE IS NONE THERE IN YOUR CAPITAL, that the mission wil always fail AND cause an international incident and often a war.

This is stupid.

If there is no spy in your capital there is no one to attempt the sting operation on. And therefore, why should the other civ get so angry it goes to the drastic step of declaring war??

Like much of Civ 3, it makes no sense, AND NEEDS TO BE FIXED.

BTW, I have never gotten any result from attempting to expose a spy that would tell me there was no spy there in the first place!

[Denday]

Q what do you do when you can only build units or wealth due to not having the tech to build futre buildings

[MarkG]

thread cleared up with many posts removed or edited.

the faq has now been organized in the following

Gameplay, features, rules, tips

Interface

Customization

Bugs, technical questions


many many thanks to all the people who contributed

[Nostromo]

Q. Where is a list of all keyboard shortcuts?

R. An incomplete list can be found in the manual (pages 196-200). A complete list of keyboard shortcuts can be found in the Civ III Reference file on the official CiV III site.

http://www.civ3.com/tutorialsandhelp.cfm

[Ethelred]

Originally posted by Phil_de_geezer
Q) Do excess research points carry over to the next tech or are they wasted?

A. They are lost.

Should I slide the research down so that i get the maximum amount of cash for the same number of turns required for a breakthrough?

A. Yes you should.

You should also keep a watch on how many turns it will take as it will change if another civ discovers it. When it gets down to one turn lower the slider again to decrease the waste.

You can save a LOT of money this way over the game.

[Jawn Henry]

Have they fixed this yet? As far as i know, you can't upgrade units in an army, so that if you build one with knights and musketeers, you'll be stuck with them alongside your latest tanks (did these knight find the Holy Grail to live this long...)

Is it fixed yet? I got the 1.21 patch, and have yet to get a leader...

JH

[Lucilla]

Originally posted by Jawn Henry
Q: How many Golden Ages can a civ get?

A: One