why am i such a turkey?

[midwood57]

my playing style

Truth be known, I would LOVE to be peaceful but my experience has been that nice guys finish last. You are implying that one can get techs,etc with a modicum of warmongering.

My general style has not been all war; rather, it has been something like attack,develop,attack, develop, wait to be attacked and counter-attack. I strive to get 100% of my continent and then attack only if i think the AI is going to let another civ win via space race or UN.

Thanks all. I think I will place less emphasis on war with the French and/or maybe be the Persians and kill everything that moves.

By the way, I think there is SO much variety in the game that I found 1 civ to play to be fine (I chose the French primarily on the recommendation of the "French Zulu".)

[Cookie Monster]

Re: why am i such a turkey?

Originally posted by midwood57

1. Build barracks and produce a few spearmen but concentrate on warriors (for later conversion to swordsmen)

This might not be a viable strat in C3C because of the higher costs of upgrading.

[jkelly]

Re: why am i such a turkey?

Mw57,

You know, there's really no perfect algorithim for Civ3.

Originally posted by midwood57
1. Build barracks and produce a few spearmen but concentrate on warriors (for later conversion to swordsmen)

This will backfire if you don't have iron. In the very early game, I tend to build a mix of things, including granaries and temples. You might want to consider devoting some cities to producing troops, which get barracks, some cities to producing workers and settlers, which get granaries, some cities to pushing out your borders, others to trade... diversify a little until your exploration dictates where you need to focus.

2. Build 4 cities (including capital) and then go to war and capture the rest

This will backfire if your competitors only provide you with poorly-placed cities. If you really want a magic number, I'd up it to at least six, if you're playing on a normal sized map.

3. When unrest becomes a hassle, build temples (generally one city at a time)

This one I just don't think much of at all. The luxury slider is for unrest (along with garrisons), temples are for pushing out borders (which may get you luxuries). The slider is one of the most important tools for managing the game. It's one of the "check every turn" items.

4. Can't get those wonders unless I get lucky and get a leader so I don't even try.

This depends... I typically take wonders in the early game from my neighbours, but sometimes it makes sense to have a productive city on permanent pre-build status in order to grab a particularly necessary one, like the GLight on some maps, GLib on higher difficulty levels, etc.

5. Use first leader to build Forbidden Palace at strategic location -- generally 2 or more cities removed from capital -- surrounded by other cities. If no leader available, build in a city with decent production.

This sounds like such a serious miscalculation I wonder if you've presented it wrong. "2 or more"? Under PTW corruption conditions, the FP gives the greatest benefit when it's placed far, far away from your capital, giving you two productive cores. I usually build it a third of the continent away, if I can. There are lots of Strategy forum threads on FP placement; check them out. NB: FP is broken in C3C, as I understand.

[SIZE=1]6.I got more to say but no room...u get the idea)

The idea I get is that you might be applying what are typically reasonable strategies a bit too broadly. Let your environment impact your overall strategy. More micromanagement may well be necessary; don't waste trade, shields, or food by letting your cities just do their own thing. Invest a lot of time on the different advisor screens, esp. City Management and Diplomacy.

Oh yeah, do try to calculate on your own what the effect will be of switching gov'ts is before you go ahead and do it. Going to Republic before having marketplaces maximizing your trade and luxury effects can be a lot worse than staying in Despotism.