Zone of Control and No-Growth

[Bill Ramey]

I need some clarification on one point and advice on another:

1. I've been interpreting zone of control in Civ3 to mean what it did in Civ2 and AC, i.e., that no units can enter the squares controlled by a unit. But this does not seem to be the case--units are able to bypass my fortresses with impunity. Upon re-reading what the manual and Civilopedia say about ZOC, am I right in now thinking that ZOC means that a unit with ZOC power can take a free swipe at enemies? If so, is that the extent of ZOC in Civ3?

2. How do you deal with no-growth situations? For example, in my current game I have a city in a small valley surrounded by mountains. I built it there in order to capture two key resources, and in fact the city has turned out to be an important strategic outpost; but it cannot grow beyond a population of two--there's just not enough food and the terrain will not support any more food. Is it just the case that some cities are going to serve that function and never grow? Is there a way to "bus" in food from other cities? Thanks for any advice.

[Willem]

Re: Zone of Control and No-Growth

Originally posted by Bill Ramey

1. I've been interpreting zone of control in Civ3 to mean what it did in Civ2 and AC, i.e., that no units can enter the squares controlled by a unit. But this does not seem to be the case--units are able to bypass my fortresses with impunity. Upon re-reading what the manual and Civilopedia say about ZOC, am I right in now thinking that ZOC means that a unit with ZOC power can take a free swipe at enemies? If so, is that the extent of ZOC in Civ3?

Yes they have changed the ZoC in Civ III, and it works just as you mentioned. Though not very well IMO. The area is all the squares immediately around the unit. I really think this ability needs to be beefed up myself. It seems to be a rather hit and miss thing, sometimes they get in a free shot, sometimes they don't. At least as far as I can see. And when they do get one, the damage is very minimal. I would like to see the old rules reapplied in certain situations. Like fortresses for example should work as ZoC used to. Hopefully they'll make some changes in the next patch. As it stands now, it's almost impossible to establish a defensive front. The only options now are to stack a lot of units into your cities, or place a unit on every single square on your border.

Originally posted by Bill Ramey

2. How do you deal with no-growth situations? For example, in my current game I have a city in a small valley surrounded by mountains. I built it there in order to capture two key resources, and in fact the city has turned out to be an important strategic outpost; but it cannot grow beyond a population of two--there's just not enough food and the terrain will not support any more food. Is it just the case that some cities are going to serve that function and never grow? Is there a way to "bus" in food from other cities?

There's not to many options for that city I'm afraid, you'll just have to accept that it's not going to grow much. Frankly I think that's one of the good things about the game, not every city is going to turn into a super city. You have to have the odd runt now and then simply for strategic reasons, like a good position or a resource.

As for options, all you can do to get more food is irrigate after you get out of Despotism, and build a Railroad later on. There's no longer any food caravans etc. for ferrying food from one city to another, nor is there any improvement to increase food production. The only exception is the Harbour, which raises food only in Coastal/Sea squares.

I hope that helps.

[Bill Ramey]

Thanks for the clarification. I agree that fortresses ought to exert a ZOC in the traditional Civ way. I recently had to shunt the bulk of my army to guard one border from the French, with whom I had been at war, only to have the Babylonians sneak attack me from the other side. Traditional ZOC would make such invasions less likely or at least allow for early warning.