The CIV3 FAQ

[Spam Shark]

Q:Currently the settings for Settler make it a unit that cannot be airlifted. Is there a way to make the default for it to have the capabliity to be transported through cities with airports?
A: You can do this through the editor

[AHO]

Q: Why are there only two sources of coal on the entire "huge world" map I'm currently playing?

A: Because that's what it's like in the "real world".

C.A.: Hmmmmm.

Observation: I live in West Virginia. I can find spilled coal near the off-ramp to the mall,
but there isn't any on the entire continant in my game! Name me a continant that doesn't have coal. Antarctica doesn't count. Though there's still probably coal there.

[AustralianJeremy]

Q: Are there only two zoom levels (hitting the z key)?
A: Yes, there are only two zoom levels. (Pg. 164; Civ 3 Manual)
-- adaMada
Q: WHY are there only two zoom levels? Civ2 had heaps!

[adaMada]

General
Q: Has firepower really been taken out of Civ3?
A: Yes


Bugs NOTE: All of these bugs are current to the best of my knowledge as of today (Nov. 19) before the first patch. Hopefully, the first patch will fix these.

Q: My airplanes set on won't intercept anything! Is this a bug, or am I doing something wrong?
A: It's a bug . We will hopefully see a fix by the next patch.

Q: I demanded 9999999 gold from the AI per turn, and they're giving it to me. Bug?
A: Yes. Again, hopefully will be fixed by the first patch.

Q: Curruption is really high. Bug?
A: No (infamous 'design decision' ), but it will probably be fixed in the next patch anyway.

[Grunthex]

Partly in answer to Spam Shark

Q: Why do the changes I make in the editor not work when I start a new game?

A: You either need to start a scenario, with the file you created, or edit the civ3mod.bic file when you do your editing which will affect all standard games, including games already in progress.

Q: So what if I edit the world sizes in that file and continue an old game?

A: Not sure, but as people have had problems with custom size maps (especially 256x256), the magic 8-ball advises you don't do it.

[MarkG]

fyi, i will be editing/deleting posts so that questions and answers are always together and irrelevant posts or useless questions/answers(like manami's post above) are not included

the intention of this thread is to help people. please remember that. thank you

[Skanky Burns]

Anyways, getting back on topic...

Q: Ive got blue sparks and explosions above some of my cities. What the hell is going on??
A: Your city is celebrating a "We Love the King Day". Its a good thing

Q: What does a "We Love the King Day" do??
A: It is currently thought that WLTKDs reduce corruption levels in the celebrating city.

Q: Ive got orange stuff on the ground near my city. What the hell is it??
A: That is pollution. It prevents you from harvesting that square, and can increase the chance of global warming.

[Skanky Burns]

Q: How do i speed up my allies movements between turns??
A: Hold down shift while they are moving. Alternatively, uncheck the box next to "Animate Friendly Moves" in the Preferences menu.

Q: How do I get to the Preferences menu??
A: Press Ctrl-P. Alternatively, click on the triangle shaped menu button in the top left corner of the screen, and then selece the Preferences menu option. You can also access the Preferences menu just after loading Civ 3.

[Skanky Burns]

Q: I just got a Great Leader. Now what the hell am I supposed to do with him/her??
A: You can use a GL to rush the production of any building, or to produce an army. Just move your leader into any city you control, and buttons will appear, allowing you to rush a building or build an army.

Q: I have an army, but no ones in it?? What do I do??
A: Put the units you want in the army in the same square. Select a unit, and then (L)oad it into the army. Repeat for the other units.

Q: I have 3 units in my army, but I have seen the enemy with a 4 unit army. How do I get that many in my army??
A: You need to have created at least 3 armies, which will allow you to build the Penatgon small wonder. After that is built, just load the extra unit into each army.

[Jaybe]

Mutual Protection Pact

Q. Civ-A has a Mutual Protection Pact with Civ-B, and Civ-A attacks you. Is Civ-B going to automatically going to go to war with you?

A. No. As long as you do not attack (or even bombard) Civ-A units in his country you are in the clear.

Specific Example: Persia has an MPP with the Egyptians (who are my only source of Rubber). I bombarded a Persian unit within their borders and Egypt immediately declares war on me and I lose my Rubber. I reloaded the Autosave, and very carefully do not attack Persian within their borders, attacking other Persians at will. It keeps the peace with the Egyptians.

[Grumbold]

Q: When I'm talking to some countries I get more options on the diplomacy screen, like signing mutual defence policies, than with other countries. Why?

A: You need to establish embassies to be able to discuss these sort of things. Some options only appear when you have discovered the right techs, eg you need writing to be able to exchange maps.


Q: Wonders like Bach's Cathedral are supposed to cover the entire continent but it doesn't. Why?

A: In the same way as the Eurasian and African continents or North and South America are joined at the tip, a small land corridor can be deemed by Civ 3 to split a large landmass into two separate 'continents'.


Q: Why aren't the people building my palace for me? I am doing great in this game.

A: If you started a new game after resigning or losing a previous one the Palace triggers may not work. If you go into the palace using F9 you can see if they are ready to build a new piece. Everything should get back to normal once you quit and reload.


Q: How can I build up a new town infrastructure really fast without spending lots of money?

A: You can currently "lumberjack" a single square as many times as you have workers available. Once you have the tech to plant trees, just set some to harvesting (shift-C), then as soon as it clears set more to planting(n) until the trees reappear. Rinse, repeat.


Q: Settlers from powers I do not want to go to war with keep invading "my" territory to plant new settlements. How do I stop them?

A: the only answer is to fill the potential city sites with cheap units so that there are no suitable tiles available for them to settle. Excess captured workers do the job nicely. Building a 'wall' of units across a bottleneck also works, but the AI will send ships round the barrier if it can.


Q: Help, half my Civ 2 terraforming options have disappeared! Where are they?

A: You can no longer effect large scale transformations of the landscape except to add or remove trees. This makes global warming nasty and permanent damage.


Q: Will resources change or disappear if I cut down these trees or jungle?

A: No, they are not affected.


Q: Does it matter what sort of tile I found my city on?

A: You will always get 2 food, 1 shield and 2 gold from your city tile no matter what you founded it on. You will not eliminate any terrain special resource but its normal production bonus will be lost. The defensive bonus of building on a hill remains.

[zapperio]

Q: What can I do when a belligerent civ demands ridiculous things from me like all my gold or my territory map. If I refuse they'll declare war on me and I can't afford to go to war right now.

A: offer a counter-proposal. offer to give the civ 5 gold tribute. they'll be happy and go away. conflict avoided at the cost of 5 gold.

[Grumbold]

Another on the diplomacy

Q: The computer always makes unreasonable demands for its tech or luxuries. How can I get my own back without exploiting the gold bug?

A: Don't be shy with your tech. Learn something that no-one else has and market it aggressively to everyone you have met, all in the same turn before they can spread the knowledge around. Your one tech could be traded for 4 new techs and some gold every turn if you shop around and do deals with everybody, even if you come off worse in each individual trade.

[Dominous]

Q: Why does the game scroll slowly with my kick butt 1.3 ghz, sweet mobo, ddr ram, and my globally excepted geforce 3 or nvidia video computer?
A: Because you have to find an earlier inadequate version of the drivers (12.41) and reinstall it every single time you want to play the game.

Q: Is firaxis going to fix the slow scroll with nvidia problem?
A: Probably not. They seem to think it’s a problem with drivers even though the new drivers increases performance up to 50% on every other single game on this planet.

Q: How do I change my resolution to remain constantly parallel to my desktop resolution?
A: Add “KeepRes=1” to the “Civilzation3.ini” in your civ3 directory.

Q: Why do I see these strange lines flicking on my monitor when I play civ 3 or “out of scan frequency monitor error”? This doesn’t happen with any other game?
A: Get a program called powerstrip from downloads.com. Install it and make sure it’s on before you play the game. This should solve the problem without editing any inf files.

Q: Dominous, why do you not run for President in the states.
A: Because I am too busy trying to patch civ3 to work with my performance machine.

PS: I think this was acceptable mark considering the title of the thread:
The CIV3-GENERAL FAQ: COMMON QUESTIONS/COMPLAINTS/ARGUMENTS and their ANSWERS

[Lord Cannager]

to upgrade a unit u should move him to a city with the resource that the upgrade needs (like a knight to a cavalry u need saltpeter)then right clik on the unit in the city screen and it will say fortify,etc then at the bottom it will say upgrade to cavalry or whatever.