Strategy Gurus -- Help me please

[Hakeem928]

Ok, I haven't played any Civ2 for years and I just got my copy of Civ3. A lot is familiar but it seems a lot has changed as well. So as a result, I have some questions to ask.

My playing style tends toward building up a small empire and focusing on defence and research (primarily). It used to be quite viable in Civ2, as I remember.

I was wondering what Civ would be the best choice for someone who plays this way? What techs and wonders do you consider "must-haves" early in the game?

I also have a problem getting started out. I'm sure you'd agree that the first 50 - 100 turns are probably the most important ones in the game. What is the best way to start? Should I build any improvements in my cities, or focus mainly on units? What units and improvements, in your experience, are the most effective in the early game?

Any other advice you could offer me is also welcome. I look forward to reading any and all replies!

[Cookie Monster]

Hi there,


The first piece of advice that I can share with you is this......

Break all of your Civ2 habits right now. Any strategies that used to work for you in that game will not work in Civ3. Trust me I've been burnt so many times by this game using old Civ2 style tactics. Civ3 is a totally different game yet it still seems familiar to all who have played the previous versions.

Anyway continuing. Check out Velociryx's thread in the Strategy section. It contains a lot of useful insights to this game.

The next thing I recommend is to focus only on expansion in the early game. Never mind about improvements, get as many settlers and workers out there as you can while building up a strong military. You've got to build new cities fast or the AI will outgrow you in science and strength fast. You've got to get a lot of workers out there improving the lands and building roads to all your cities and any luxury items within your borders. Once you have the ability to build temples do so in city's that aren't growing or have nothing else to build.

As far as the old strategy of beelining to monarchy ASAP to get our of despotism, don't do it. If you switch to monarchy or republic before your empire has had a chance to grow in population and generate decent revenue you're just wasting time. Moving onto a more advanced form of govt. before you're ready for it may actually hinder money profits and/or research strength. I usually wait until I have at least 5-6 cities near my capital that are at size 6 and have libraries, markets, and temples in them before switching out of despotism.

Finally I mentioned earlier to build up your military. You don't have to be a war monger but if you don't have a strong army the AI will view you as weak and attack you. He'll keep on attacking you until nothing is left. The AI can definately smell it when someone is weak.

Well that's all I can think of now. Good luck to you and enjoy. Civ3 is very fun but the learning curve is steep.