One small step...

kcbob · April 11, 2002, 09:00

Well, I finally beat Civ III on Monarch level last night.

It took about 100 tries but the Persians on a small world achieved a domination victory. As I did in Civ II, I immediately stepped up to the next level, Emperor. And I immediately got smoked!

I guess some day I'll make it to Deity level and win there but anybody who says they beat it on a regular basis is either on drugs or playing on a large world with one opponent. And if you truly are beating it at that level, you're a better man than I. For now.

Wittlich · April 11, 2002, 09:03

Truer words have never been spoken before! I totally concur kcbob!

Spec · April 11, 2002, 09:11

Well, maybe it's because I overplayed Civ2 but I beat Civ3 on deity 5 times out of 9. And I'm always in the first 3 Civs. Oh, and I'm not on drugs.........well, more often not than yes.

Spec.

kcbob · April 11, 2002, 09:12

Thank you, Wittlich. I was afraid maybe I was the one in need of drugs.

kcbob · April 11, 2002, 09:15

LOL, Spectator. I'm glad you didn't take it too personally. But I really am amazed at how you manage it. I know in Civ II, the MGE version (the one I had) was tougher and I'm wondering if there is any variation between CDs in Civ III. I'm telling you, I got the crap beat out of me in no time at all last night at Emperor level. Deity level? Maybe next millenium.

Spec · April 11, 2002, 09:30

My strategy is to go at war as soon as I can. I Make archers and many warriors and kill of 1 or 2 civs as fast as I can. I also always play with 16 civs no matter what map size I'm on so even if I'm at war I can always buy or trade techs with another civ.
Also the difference is how you start. All you have to do is to compare the number of turns before city growth and thenumber of turns before you make a settler.
Let's say you just build your city, you look at it and you see "growth in 7 turns". Then you know you'll hit pop 2 in 7 turns. Most likely you'll hit pop 3 in 8 turns after pop 2 and when you're in pop 1 it'll take you 20 turns to make a settler. So what I mean is to start making a settler when you're in pop 1 if the turn count is good or in pop 2 if you have to wait. The faster you make cities, the faster you nmake settlers and the easier it is to win. Clear as mud?

Spec.

SpencerH · April 11, 2002, 09:32

IMO I think the key to winning with CIV3 at the higher levels is that you must nullify the early AI expansion. Either block AI growth with your own cities or immediatly attack and take the AI cities (I've tried but I just dont like doing that). Expansion was important in CIV2 as well, but in CIV3 you can use it as a weapon, and for my style of play I have to do so. I got my a$$ kicked in my first game (at monarch) but since then I have won most if not all of them (I've quit games early where the start position was impossible). From what I've read this style of play is called REX. I never played it with civ, civ2, CTP2, or SMAC/SMACX, but with CIV3 is seems to be necessary for me. Once I get the AI "tamed" I play a normal builder game (with lots of trading). I guess I'll have to work on my warmongering for multiplayer.

kcbob · April 11, 2002, 09:48

I do watch the growth/build ratio and pop out settlers ASAP. And I have taken to a militaristic approach early on. I don't know. Maybe my starting positions just sucked last night. But we do know one thing. As soon as I get home tonight, I'll be back at it. (Anybody got any drugs for Civ addiction?)

Nym · April 11, 2002, 09:59

Quote:

Originally posted by kcbob
(Anybody got any drugs for Civ addiction?)

Not yet; I've just started my first monarch game. But may be later... with higher levels...

Cookie Monster · April 11, 2002, 11:35

Quote:

Originally posted by kcbob
(Anybody got any drugs for Civ addiction?)

Yeah, it's called "wife who's ticked off because her husband spends more time with Babylonians, French, Chinese, etc. than he does with her"!

kcbob · April 11, 2002, 11:52

Quote:

Originally posted by Haupt. Dietrich

Yeah, it's called "wife who's ticked off because her husband spends more time with Babylonians, French, Chinese, etc. than he does with her"!

My bust! I do use that drug!

Egyptian · April 11, 2002, 12:00

Hey guys - The wife thing is remedied by getting her an evening job. I get home from work at 3:30, and my wife leaves for work at 3:40 five nights a week. Works great for Civ playing!

kcbob · April 11, 2002, 12:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Egyptian
Hey guys - The wife thing is remedied by getting her an evening job. I get home from work at 3:30, and my wife leaves for work at 3:40 five nights a week. Works great for Civ playing!

LOL!!! I guess my situation is close. I get home at 4:00, zip through any "honey do" list I have waiting for me, and then jump on Civ while she teaches piano from 3:00 to 10:00 four nights a week.

Deornwulf · April 11, 2002, 12:46

Sending the wife off to visit her Father/Family while I stay home to "take care of the pets" works well for a week or two of uninterrupted Civ Time.

Spec · April 11, 2002, 12:52

Quote:

Originally posted by Deornwulf
Sending the wife off to visit her Father/Family while I stay home to "take care of the pets" works well for a week or two of uninterrupted Civ Time.

Damn right! And we shouldn't have to do that!! Do we argue when they clean, cook and go shopping for hours?!??! NO WE DONT!!! WE WANT QUALITY TIME TO!!!!

Spec.

Cookie Monster · April 11, 2002, 13:15

You guys are all lucky!

AJ Corp. The FAIR · April 11, 2002, 13:22

I guess i've played around 40/50 games (only finished two of them, get usually too bored to continue a game that's decided already on emperor, standard maps, large continents, 8civs).

By now I defeat emperor fairly easy with any religious civ (if starting location is good enough! this is a too important parameter IMO --> not fair in MP), but deity remains a problem.

However, I'm pretty confident that if I'd play on large maps deity is much easier: you'll have more time to build up a decent army. As humans wage war much better than AI's, deity can be overcome.
On a standard map you're usually in a losing posiiton rather fast (in terms of science and more modern/large military).

I'm confident in my words, so I need to prove myself.
I'll start one this evening on large map, continents. I'll get back once I've succeeded ... could take longer ... but I hope I'll get it right the first time. First time large map as well.

AJ

kcbob · April 11, 2002, 14:08

Hey, AJ, thanks for the encouragement. I kind of gravitate to the extremes in map size, tiny or huge. Maybe I should try standard more often. As for a religious civ, I like them, too. I usually take a random civ for myself and if it's expansionist, I restart. Anything else I give it a go. I may try the Persians again tonight and see what happens. It's my gut feel that the Immortals are the special unit to have for this. We'll see.

BTW, speaking of starting position... is food/population growth harder to come by in the more difficult levels? That appeared to be the case last night. Either that or as I said earlier, my starting positions just sucked.

SpencerH · April 11, 2002, 15:01

It certainly doesnt hurt to have a good early uu (Romans, Persians) rather than a later one (Germans, Americans). I dont play aztecs or zulus much, they were considered to be pretty effective, but I'm noty sure after the 1.17 patch.

kcbob · April 11, 2002, 15:09

Is that what I'm missing here? I haven't loaded any patches. Do I need them? How many are there and what do they accomplish? And Roman Legions are good, too.