INFO: Civ3 Reference File -- with the real unit/terrain/improvement/etc data

[LoneWolf5050]

As you probably know, the civ3 manual is out of date and the stats in it for the units and other stuff is not accurate. I've made a reference file for civ3, from the real data in the civilopedia and editor. It includes:

--all unit stats, and their civilopedia graphics
--a complete tech tree, that lists all the units and wonders allowed by each advance
--all the terrain stats, with the terrain graphics
--all the resources and what they allow, with the resource graphics
--the effects of each government, and the civ specific abilities
--all the keyboard shortcuts

The file is quite big (over 1.5MB) so I haven't attached it. You can download it from this address:

http://www.magnamund.org/civ3.html

I hope you like it. : )

--LW

[bondetamp]

Awsome!

[solo]

Ditto! Quite complete and impressive! I only wish I had gotten something like this as an extra with my LE edition.

[lockstep]

A minor suggestion: On page 6, add a distinction between bonus and luxury ressources. Otherwise really great job!

[lockstep]

A second remark : On page 9, add the assimilation chances of the different governments (1% for Anarchy and Despotism, 2% for Monarchy and Republic, 4% for Communism and Democracy).

[LoneWolf5050]

Thanks!

I'm glad you all like the file. Yes, it's disappointing they didn't include more along these lines in the limited edition. I just got the standard one myself, mostly because the game has that cool interactive tech tree to begin with, so a fold out tree didn't seem like a big deal. I just added the tech tree to my file after someone else went to te trouble of transcribing all the info into one place. See the reference file thread on civfanatics for the whole story.

Resources: if you print the file in colour, you'll see that bonus, luxury and strategic resources have different background colours on the resource page. Yeah, that's not as distinct as actually labelling them, but really, do you need to know that anyway? (And they're listed on the terrain page under headings.)

Assimilation Chances: This would be a little misleading actually, because assimiliation chance is dependant on more than just governments. Also, this info is burried in the editor, it's not standard game reference info, like the upgrade paths of units. If you want it, dig. : ) Publishing it would be like publishing all the ins and outs of war weariness. That would kind of kill part of the magic of the game. Of course, if you want to include that kind of stuff, download the .xls version and away you go.

Anyway, I'll update the file whenever the patch is released (assuming it tweaks any stats) so perhaps some enhancements will find their way in then.

--LW

[LoneWolf5050]

Thanks!

I'm glad you all like the file. Yes, it's disappointing they didn't include more along these lines in the limited edition. I just got the standard one myself, mostly because the game has that cool interactive tech tree to begin with, so a fold out tree didn't seem like a big deal. I just added the tech tree to my file after someone else went to te trouble of transcribing all the info into one place. See the reference file thread on civfanatics for the whole story.

Resources: if you print the file in colour, you'll see that bonus, luxury and strategic resources have different background colours on the resource page. Yeah, that's not as distinct as actually labelling them, but really, do you need to know that anyway? (And they're listed on the terrain page under headings.)

Assimilation Chances: This would be a little misleading actually, because assimiliation chance is dependant on more than just governments. Also, this info is burried in the editor, it's not standard game reference info, like the upgrade paths of units. If you want it, dig. : ) Publishing it would be like publishing all the ins and outs of war weariness. That would kind of kill part of the magic of the game. Of course, if you want to include that kind of stuff, download the .xls version and away you go.

Anyway, I'll update the file whenever the patch is released (assuming it tweaks any stats) so perhaps some enhancements will find their way in then.

--LW

[lockstep]

Originally posted by LoneWolf5050
Resources: if you print the file in colour, you'll see that bonus, luxury and strategic resources have different background colours on the resource page.

Okay, I see it now.

Assimilation Chances: This would be a little misleading actually, because assimiliation chance is dependant on more than just governments. Also, this info is burried in the editor, it's not standard game reference info, like the upgrade paths of units. If you want it, dig. : )

Looking at the editor, assimilation chance seems to be dependent solely on governments. If you have additional info, please share it.

(Note: At the moment, several Civ3 mods add a 'Fascist' government with low or absent assimilation chance. After all, it may become standard game reference info.)

[LoneWolf5050]

Culture, distance from capitals...

I seem to remember reading something somewhere about assimilation being dependent on a whole bunch of things, such as the relative culture strengths, the proximity to capitals, stuff like that. Maybe not.

Anyway, assimilation chance is not covered anywhere in the manual, or in the civilopedia, as far as I know, so it's not standard reference data. And even if there are mods that tweak it, that doesn't make it standard data. A mod that adds a new improvement would have to classify it as growth/production/science, etc so the AI can figure out when to build it. But that doesn't make those settings part of normal data.

I take my cue from the game's creators, who revealed certain info in the manual. Yup, some of it was inaccurate info, but the overall scope revealed is important. To me, that's the limit of what the player should know in order to have a fun and challenging game experience, so that's all I care to put in my file. That's why details about war weariness, for example, wouldn't count IMHO.

But if you want to modify the .xls version for yourself, go right ahead. If anyone ever reissues the file, I just ask that proper acknowledgement is given on the shortcuts page. There's about 20-30 hours of work in this file.

(And can someone with admin privalleges remove one of my double posts up there, I tried and it won't let me.)

--LW

[lockstep]

Re: Culture, distance from capitals...

Originally posted by LoneWolf5050
I seem to remember reading something somewhere about assimilation being dependent on a whole bunch of things, such as the relative culture strengths, the proximity to capitals, stuff like that. Maybe not.

Anyway, assimilation chance is not covered anywhere in the manual, or in the civilopedia, as far as I know, so it's not standard reference data.

IIRC, proximity to capitals is rather a crucial factor for defection (the cance that a city 'switches sides' to another civilization). OTOH, assimilation is the chance that a foreign cititizen in one of your cities will change his/her nationality.

I re-checked the whole issue, and it seems that I was wrong regarding assimilation chance. The manual states on page 132 that assimilation is also dependend from relative culture strength.

Just to be clear, I really appreciate your work and won´t modify it. In fact, I intend to open your pdf-file before starting my next game of Civ3 so that I can alt-tab for quick info.

[Bill_in_PDX]

Re: Civ3 Reference File -- with the real unit/terrain/improvement/etc data

This is outstanding. Thank you!

[Jaybe]

Lonewolf,
Just to let you know that your PDF file is "almost" perfect -- I downloaded onto a Mac and the first page had errors on it. It worked fine on my Windoze (Civ3) machine.

[LoneWolf5050]

So much for universal PDFs!

And here I thought a PDF was a PDF was a PDF. I guess Adobe still has a couple kinks to work out. I created the file on a Windows machine, but that shouldn't matter. : (

I set it to be compatible with Acrobat 3, I think. Maybe that setting causes trouble on Macs. Or maybe I set it for version 4, and you don't have version 4 on your Mac?

Anyway, at least you have a windows machine for reading it on (and playing Civ3!).

Thanks for positive feedback guys. I made the file for my own use, and cause I like complete documentation. But it's great when others like one's work too! : )

--LW

[taco]

I registered just to say FANTASTIC job.

Was expecting something simple and handy, not something so proffesional. Nice job.

I tell ya, while there are a lot of raving lunatics in the civ community(see: half the people on the general boards), this game also has a large amount of high quality work from its fans.

[PrinceBimz]

Thanks LW!