Beginner Help?

Beginner_Help · February 26, 2002, 18:37

Im new to this place and pretty new to Civ3 as well, so can anyone help me with some general beginner tips?? Please

Free_Mumia · February 26, 2002, 21:23

Hmm,
I'm a little new myself but I can beat it on regent most of the time so i might be able to help.

1. When expanding watch for luxuries and strategic resources as you need those to keep people happy and to build units, also you can trade them for gold/turn.

2. Make sure all your cities are connected via road/railroad or harbor/airport so that you can build the latest units and also so your luxuries keep people happy even in distant cities.

3. To make money you can sell luxuries and strategic resources, then set science to 100% then if you get in front of the other civs you can sell them the next tech for more gold/turn to fund your science so it stays at 100%

4. When killing a civ leave them a few cities then occasionally demand techs and/or gold.

5. Use the terrain to your advantage i.e. don't attack a barb warrior on a mountain with your warrior, wait till he moves or wait till he attacks you.

That's all I can think of now, but if you look around on these forums you should be able to find more/better tips, as I have.

Alex · February 27, 2002, 11:27

BH, take a look around this forum (Civ3-Strategy) and find a thread called "Vel's Strategy Thread". You'll find a lot of valuable tips and interesting information.

Arrian · February 27, 2002, 13:19

There are three "Vel's Strategy Threads." The first one got big, so Vel made a part II, which got big, so there was also a part III. Some of the stuff in there no longer applies, due to changes in the 1.17 patch (specifically w/regard to poprushing - forced labor). There is a lot of really good stuff in there, though, so if you have the patience, take the time to read through it. Vel did summaries of what he thought was best to start both II and III, but there was no way he could capture every good post. Plus, reading it in full gives you an idea of the flow - we were all still learning the game (I still am learning - and doing quite a bit of relearning since I've patched up to 1.17f).

There is a fair amount of jargon on those threads, but I think there is a thread in the general forum about abbreviations that will help translate (things like ICS = infinite city sprawl, REX - Rapid Early Expansion, etc.).

Good luck!

-Arrian

Sinapus · February 28, 2002, 13:26

"Go that way, very, very fast. If you see a tree... turn."

(Actually, expanding as fast as possible and going where the AI isn't going can be helpful so long as the land you're headed towards is pretty good.)

Beginner_Help · February 28, 2002, 17:02

Thnx alot ppl. Any specific way to go in technology advancing? or do i just advance everything possible and try and get all the optional techs for trading? I take it it's not only best to choose the techs that have least turns to get.

Arrian · February 28, 2002, 17:40

Well, different people take different approaches to the tech tree. Here is what I do (I play on Monarch, so take that into account - the AI has production and science advantages over me):

The first thing I do is hit f6 and click on literature. Two reasons: 1) I want the Great Library. 2) Libraries are important.

After I have Lit, I go back to f6 and click on currency (marketplaces).

The GL will get me the other ancient techs. I switch to republic and go for feudalism, monotheism & theology, in that order (unless I'm a scientific civ, because a scientific civ gets monotheism for free). Then I make a decision, based upon how far ahead I am, whether to research up the engineering -> invention line (if the AI's are right with me, I will often get one or both of those from the GL... same with education) or discover education myself in order to get those universities in place and be the first to Astronomy so I can nab Copernicus. It all depends. With the 1.17 Patch, I have been totally ignoring music theory (whereas I always used to research it) so as to get to theory of gravity quicker. I have even taken to buying democracy instead of researching it.

There is a thread on industrial age "beelining"... I forget the exact title, but different people (myself included) listed the order in which they researched industrial age techs. You may want to search for that.

-Arrian

LoverOfCiv · February 28, 2002, 19:52

Hey,
One way I've kept ahead of other CIVs science is by Maximizing my science, and trading ALL THE TIME! Sometimes I give them a free territory map, even free money making techs to keep them happy. I stay just ahead of them and then trade my science for gold per turn, if there are several CIVs you can keep your science at 100% and never bother with money, except every turn, check to see if you go to 90% or 80% if it will keep your advance in x turns the same.
Even if your money is negative at the beginning, it you check this every turn (sometimes it stays the same at 50%) you can store up cash and then deplete it when you start a new advance. Hope this helps.