I think i suck. Help please.

[nocomply]

Hi.

Im fairly new to civ3, ive been playing it quite a lot recently but i still suck. I remember i played the original civ waaayyyy back when i was knee high to a duck. It never involved much strategy when i played them, i just sort of attacked everything. I guess it works on cheftain level, as i won my first game of civ3 on cheftain level using China. I simply conquered and kept every city on the map building temples and libraryes eventually resulting in the cultural victory and not the domination victory as i was expecting.

Either way, my problem here is, after reading through the forums a lot, reading vel's strats amongst many others, i still cant seem to get a decent game going in regent level. I can usually start okay, but about the middle ages the AI starts to zoom past me in tech and since they all trade tech with each other, i have nobody to trade with for anything as all the AI have the same techs, while i have nothing.

Im really not sure what im doing wrong, ive tried to use the strats and tactics but none of them seem to work. Could somebody give me a brief walkthrough of what to do to keep up? Im using Egyptians by the way.

Thanks.

[Jethro83]

You shouldn't really bother with research in the earlier parts of the game, and maybe even the middle ages. What you should do is build about four to five cities, with a barracks in each of the higher production ones. Find yourself some horses or iron, and pump out hordes of swordsmen or horsemen (BTW, don't bother using the Egyptian UU. Egypt is my favourite civ, even if I don't use their UU at all. You'll want to avoid an early golden age). If you can't find horses or iron, just use archers. Use your army to crush the nearest neighbour. Before wiping them out though, sue for peace, demanding all of their technology (or at least as many techs as you can). You should pretty much be keeping up if you can wipe out other civs, and demand their techs as tribute in exchange for peace. Once you've got a large empire, with decent infrastructure, and your opposition just can't compare (about the start of the industrial era is usually when this occurs), then you can switch to democracy, and start researching for yourself.

I use that strategy and it works well for me. I nearly even beat Deity with it. It did however, take practice to get this to work.

[King of Rasslin]

You don't deserve a win from starting on a river next to 2 cattle tiles. You need real strats if you are going to win starting in a desert, or worse, a jungle. Here are some tips:

#1- Make plenty of warriors. It's worth it. Do not let the barbarians kill your workers/settlers.

#2- Regular units are not that much weaker than veterans, don't be a perfectionist early in the game. Train by fighting barbs.

#3- Choose a religious civ. Fast revolutions between republic and monarchy between wars make this a flexible trait.

#4- Early temples are a great long term investment. You need a culture head start to stay ahead of the game. This helps satisfy the people too.

#5- Resources go obsolete. Luxuries do not. Relax if you don't have saltpeter. You can still win with weaker units, that is a major part of this game.

#6- Don't make too many improvements. Make soldiers while the enemies make improvements. See who lasts longer.

#7- Make fortresses at key checkpoints. They give a 25% defence bonus on top of the terrain.

#8- If a city is bigger than size 6, bombard it to reduce its population. It reduces the defence bonus.

#9- Don't rush to a golden age. A middle game golden age is best.

#10- Get an ally! If you aren't the top civ in the world, you need someone to help you out. A mutual protection pact can save you if the game has a powerful Persian or Zulu empire. Militaristic civs are very aggressive.

#11- Make 3-4 workers per city initially. Make more when pollution sets in. You want to make a ton of railroads when they are first available to get a production advantage.

#12- Mine grassland, irrigate plains, cut down forests and jungles, plant forests in tundra, and build cities on rivers.

#13- Make defensive units, but always have offensive units on hand. Even non-upgradable units like swordsmen or cavalry are needed.

#14- If you wait until tanks are available to attack, the game is usually over. Make war early before cities hit size 13+ and get a huge defence advantage.

#15- Don't make wonders unless they will really aid you. Unless you play on island maps, don't aim for the lighthouse. Don't make Newton's University if you play on huge maps; it won't make a difference. Check out the wonder thread if you need advice.

#16- Choose a civ with good traits. I don't like expansionist. I like religious the most. Industrious is also a good choice. A lot of the trait's usefulness depends on the map.

#17- Don't forget to upgrade your units. Make warriors swordsmen when possible. Make knights cavalry and riflemen infantry.

#18- Don't hoard gold. You are better off making something earlier when it will be more useful. I rush build temples a lot. Barracks are also useful.

#19- Use combined arms. Send pikemen with your swordsmen to protect your investment.

#20- Trade a new tech whenever it is available. Many people don't realize the value of the Theory of Evolution because they don't take advantage of it.

#21- Outnumber the enemy 3 to 1 in open terrain, 5 to 1 against a city, and 10 to 1 against a metropolis. You have to because this game tends to spit out some bogus combat results.

#22- You don't need more than 1 luxury, but connect roads to resources even if you already have them. Chances are, an AI needs them and is willing to pay for them.

#23- Do not forget to check your diplomat screen before going to war. I have forgotten far too often about a mutual protection pact the AI has.

#24- Use efficient units. You don't need bombers if you can use artillery. In rare circumstances (mountains with all of the roads pillaged) you cannot use artillery and other units. Be sure to have a backup plan if you are caught like this.

#25- Don't try to win the game by attacking a civ 3x your size. Know your limits first, then improve gradually. Learn the relative power of a unit before you overestimate/underestimate what it is capable of doing.

So, I could be playing now instead of giving tips. But I still can't swallow that spearman killing 2 of my immortals

Oh well, thats why you bring 3 instead...

[nocomply]

Well, recnetly ive been rushing for the great library. After that in the early stages, im pretty far up in tech, getting tech from other civs while reseraching it myself. But once i hit the middle ages, i fall way behind again. Help!

[nocomply]

Do you guys build all the improvements in new cities? Like Unis, libraries, cathedral, etc etc?

[Harovan]

Depends. If the city is more than 2/3 corrupt, don't build anything far from a temple, maybe a harbor. If it's a core city (close to palace or forbidden palace), build all. The build order matters, and depends on your civ traits. Religious civs build cheap temples and cathedrals, scientific civs cheap libraries and universities. Build first, what is quicker done.

[star mouse]

With tech, something I've noticed:

The AI's tend to research the techs in the top half of the tech tree first. For example, most of them will have Monotheism in the middle ages, or nationalism in the Industrial Age first. This is probably because the Scientific civs always get the tech at the top as a free tech at the start of the age.

If you research a tech on the bottom first, you'll likely be the only civ with this tech if you're not too far behind. AI civs will pay through the nose for a tech if you're the only one with it, and you can often get lots of gold per turn, or one or two techs in exchange for your unique tech. This will help you catch up if you're behind, and will also stop you falling too far behind.

[Solver]

Nocomply,

First, follow what King of Rasselin said. His points seem to be pretty good as far as Regent goes.

You may want to go straight for Literature, get the Great Library with all possible speed (reserve yourself building), and have your own science on 0 or 10 %. Early on it's important to defeat your closest neighbour, demanding all the tech you can. Generally, depending on how big your early army gets, you can demand more and more.... and even more.

Building all the improvements? Uh... see, I'm a builder. As such, I want to have many improvements in most cities, but don't think that all of your cities wil be fully developed, they will not.

However, you got to use money the right way, use it for buying improvements in your cities often, for having 10k gold in your stockpile does nothing good at all by itself.

[Hurrying Heinz]

On the map you should REX. Check out the threads in the archive. The short version is that you pump out settlers as fast as you can and settle everywhere like some sort of locust wave.
Then beeline for Literacy first, then republic. Build temples and libraries in all of your cities, and maybe a great library
And dont forget to REX.

[Theseus]

LofA,

You and Aeson notwithstanding, I think the REX strategy might be flawed, at least later when it comes to MP.

"Oh look, here comes a Settler with (at most) a 2 defender escort. WHOP on the head."

Obviously, this depends on a LOT of factors... I look forward to it in MP.

Nocomply: Ignore what I just wrote. REXing works great against the AI civs, and is an excellent way to develop familiarity with what works and what doesn't. I agree with Solver too, follow King of R's tips. My biggest tip: turn on as many of the game-speeding options as you can... the more turns you play the more quickly, the more proficient you will become.

[Nakar Gabab]

There is one time where stockpiling gold is a good idea. Well, two.

The first is when you plan to do an upgrade gambit, such as building TONS of warriors before Iron Working or TONS of chariots/horsemen before Riding/Chivalry. The result is a bunch of units which will come out MUCH faster, MUCH earlier (and thus have utility all on their own as defense, police, and AI leverage), and which will be more cheaply and quickly upgraded for a sudden strike. The AI usually can't recover from this.

The second is when you're just about to blitz a lot of cities at one time (this usually won't happen until at least knights, and really isn't viable on an incredible scale until cavalry) and need the gold to rush temples ASAP. That, or you plan to raze/resettle, in which case you'll still want the gold to pump out settlers/defenders to fill in the gaps as quickly as possible... and THEN rush temples.

[Theseus]

Reference to another thread: similar to mobilization.

There ae crux points where dramatic and sudden game-changes have great effect.

Nocomply: The discussion here is about relative strength. When you have it, use it. Meaning, if you get a strong attacker before the AI civs get a relative defender (e.g., you have Knights when the AI civs are still on Pikemen), GO FOR IT.