I think I'm getting the hang of it...

[FNBrown]

It's been a few years since I played CivII, and I decided to pick up a copy of CivIII when it came out. I don't usually do computer games these days, but all the reviews I'd read raved about it, and I figured it'd be good for a few moments amusement.

My first game was a disaster. Playing as the Americans, I was constantly harassed by the Aztecs and Iroquois. It seemed they took whatever they wished from me, and declared war when I refused.

I found the online forums here invaluable, and used the rest of my first game to practice what I'd learned. Of course, I was about 5000 years late, so the effects were minimal, but I was encouraged by the possibilities of a fresh start.

So I began anew, as the Americans again. This time, the random geography was a little more generous, too (and this, I've discovered, can make a great difference). I was situated near the exact middle of what turned out to be a large continent. Directly to the South were the Romans, and I made fast friends with them, as I expected them to serve as a buffer for the ever ornery Germans to their South. The entire remainder of the continent to the North was mine to explore and colonize, and with that came ample resources and luxuries for ages.

I did manage to establish a colony at the very Southeastern tip of my continent later on, which proved to be a tactical stroke of genius later on. I had also contacted the Russians, who owned the continent to the East (connected by narrow land bridge to mine), the French (dominating a small continent East of Russia), and the English, who dominated the South of a large continent East of France.

[FNBrown]

I had been getting along peacefully for a while, with the exception of a small skirmish with the Germans early on. Rome was allied with me, and helped end the conflict. Germany captured Houston, and Rome took it from them before I could recover it. This turned out to be an unfortunate loss, as Houston was connecting my main Northern states to the colonies in the South. I wasn't about to provoke the Romans to recover the city, so the Southern colonies had to be self-sufficient for a while.

England had left the vast Northern expanse of their continent unsettled, and I decided to take advantage. I knew that covering as much land mass as possible was necessary for emerging resources as the game goes on. At this point, American society was very prosperous, through careful management of cultural and technological development, as well as diplomatic exploitation of our resources and research. Peace had been kept worldwide for centuries.

It was not to last. My second city on the English continent was ambushed by a party of French warriors. They quickly overtook my single swordsman garrisoned there, and I was enraged at the attack. French and American relations had always been polite, and now I had been betrayed.

At this point, I knew the French had won their last battle. I was well aware of their technological status, and put my numerous cities to work on a war machine that they could not possibly withstand. They didn't have gunpowder, and I had infantry. My Galleons were built and loaded, but it would take 20 turns to reach France over the oceans.

In the meantime, I entered a military alliance with the English against France, figuring they'd keep the French busy for a while as I made my way to Paris. My first city in Northern England produced enough cavalry to re-capture the one lost to the French, and then it was just a matter of time.

[FNBrown]

While my ships made their way towards the invasion, my scientific development still cruised along at 4 turns per tech. By the time I began landing at Marsailles, I had discovered the secrets of air travel. This proved to be the most significant scientific advantage I'd ever held.

Air power didn't play much of a part in the war against France. Artillery pounded their cities, and my infantry marched over everything they had. Casualties were light, and the French were soon speaking English throughout the countryside.

For a while, it was quiet again. I had lots of new territory and cities feeding the empire, and began to play around with the Intelligence Agency I'd finished in New York (I never got to do this with my first game). My first trick was to spy on Germany. I didn't wish to offend the Russians, Romans, and English, as my trade with them was very profitable, but I was still angry at the earlier German aggression, and they'd been polite, but extremely miserly in any trade discussions since.

Espionage had given me invaluable knowledge of the German empire, but one of my spies was eventually caught. This upset the Chancellor. When I tried to replace my lost agent in Berlin, he, too, was caught and killed, and Germany declared war. While they proved a more sturdy foe than France, there were a few advantages America held that ensured their demise.

[FNBrown]

American bombers saw limited action in the war against France. By the time I'd upset the Germans, I had squadrons of them in every city near my border with them (of course, I also keep them in my cities that border Rome, England, and Russia, but they've not been necessary... yet).

German troops (which included riflemen, but still no match for the Infantry, or the Marines I'd begun to train) couldn't get near an American city without first suffering brutal bombings, just as any of their cities in range did. With the B-52's pounding every offensive and defensive unit in sight, they were no match for the American advance when I unleashed the tanks.

They were faster than infantry, harder to kill, and more lethal. I've read several threads bemoaning the spearmen who kill tanks, but I've not seen too much of this, especially when I've been clever enough to attack from a hill with a fully rested unit. Overall, American tanks made short work of any German unit in their path. The advance continued towards Berlin, and the heart of Germany, with minimal losses. German envoys along the way were summarily ignored.