Some Questions

[dbconfessional]

1. In civ II, units cost either food or shields to maintain. In Civ III, I can't find the suppport section.

2. If I build a unit in Rome, and then send him, and others, out to combat, how do I identify which city he orignally came from. The city screen doesn't show which units it has produced, and I don't think the units say where they are from. This is important when I use a city to create musketmen, for example, to send out to other cities as defense. In Civ II, once these units reached the new cities, I would hit 'h' to make this their new home city. Does the civ as a whole support all the units in Civ III, or does each city support their own units, like in Civ II?

3. I'm not clear on what bombardment weapons do. I had a catapult, and i rolled it to a city that was being defended, but when I attacked, it said "only military units may occupy a city." Like I said, it was defended so I don't understand. The only time I saw the catapult in action was when one of my cities was attacked; the catapult attacked once, then the pikeman continued. Are bombard weapons strictly defensive? thats silly if its true.

4. What exaclty does culture do? I know that it expands your borders, but that doesn't do anything for city territory as far as I can see.

5. Do pikemen offer special defense against mounted units? The civilopedia doesn't say so. Because if they don't then is it safe to say that they are the same as Legionaries or knights when it comes to defense?

6. I notice that the AI builds mines on grasslands. Why? Isn't the whole point to grow quickly? grasslands should be irrigated for best results.

That's it for now. I'll add more when I come accross them.

[zulu9812]

ok - here goes:

1. Military units cost a number of gold per turn to support. Some governments offer a number of 'free' units (i.e. no support cost) per city. It's all detailed in CivEdit under Rules > Governments

2. Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about.

3. Bombard weapons (catapults, cannon, artillery and radar artillery) use a special attack in place of attacking normally. Pressing 'B' brings up a red grid which shows you the range of your bombard. Artillery units cannot directly attack units in the normal fashion but they can occupy undefended cities.

4. Culture is very important in civ3! First of all, if you acrue enough culture points bu building temples, cathedrals, etc. you win a Cultural Victory. Secondly, if your culture is high enough, you can absorb foreign cities into your empire - they overthrow their ruler and join you! You also need to be wary of your own cities switching sides if your culture isn't high enough.

5. No special defense vs. cavalry.

6. Depends on what is needed. If the AI hasn't discovered Sanitation (and thus can't buld hospitals) then their cities can't grow past size 12 so irrigation at this stage is useless.

[caliskier]

I can answer question #2

In Civ 2 you wanted to push "h" to avoid makeing you civs angry when you moved units around, I remember that pretty well. In 3 we don't have to do that anymore because all units cost gold per turn and it doesn't matter what city they are in. I does, however, make your civs mad if you stay at war for too long, or if another civ has troops on your land for too long which I think sucks. Your civs should get patriotic and not fall into anarchy if another civ is invading.

[dbconfessional]

Well, really I pressed 'h' so that the city he was defending was supporting him and paying the shield as opposed to the city that created him. During times of war I would have one city crank out defending units such as mechanized infantry.

Ok so back to the original responder:

1. Ok so in Civ III your paying gold to support most units. Where does it say how much a unit costs, and how much you are paying total to support units? Do settlers and workers also cost gold, or do they cost food like in Civ II?

5. "No special defense vs. cavalry. " - What does this mean? I asked if Pikemen offer special defense against mounted units, because the civlopedia says they but isn't specific with stats.

6. Is that a legitamate strategy for us as well? Once our cities hit 12, should we convert a portion of irrigation to mines?

[zulu9812]

Right, I strongly suggest that you get familiar with CivEdit and the Civlopedia - the questions you're asking are answered there.

1. Anyway, to see how much gold each unit costs in terms of military suppor: go into CivEdit > Edit > Edit Rules. Then click on the governments tab, on the bottom left hand corner is a scetion marked "Unit Suppoert Costs". Cost/unit is how much gold each unit costs every turn to support. If you disband the unit you stop paying support costs for it. You also get a number of 'free' units dependent on how many towns, cities and metroploii you have. Taking Communism as an example, the get two 'free' units per town (size<6), 4 per city (size 6-12) and 8 per metropolis(size 13+). Thus, if that communist empire had 2 towns, 3 cities and 4 metropolii - that means that they wouldn't have to pay support costs for 48 units. If they had 60 units, they only have to pay support costs for 12. I imagine that the civlopedia will also have a section on unit support costs.

Workers and Settlers don't have any support costs; however they cost 1 and 2 population point respectively to build (in addition to initial unit cost). Thus, you cannot build a settler in a size 2 city, you have to wait until it reaches size 3.

5. You asked if pikeman offered special defense against mounted units. I said pikeman offered no special defense vs. cavalry. Mounted units are cavalry. 'Nuff said.

6. There's nothing stopping you from mining or irrigating (assuming you have appropriate advances). I'm not quite sure what you mean by "legitimate strategy".

[dbconfessional]

OK.. I think i figured it out myself. Most units wont cost anything because each town gets 2 free units per town correct? And the improvements that do cost maintenance will show a red coinstack next to them in the city disoplay screen, correct? Which means that city walls don't cost anything to maintain because they don't have anything next to them. Fill me in on anything I'm missing.

[Primus40]

dbconfessional -
6. I notice that the AI builds mines on grasslands. Why? Isn't the whole point to grow quickly? grasslands should be irrigated for best results.

zulu9812 -
6. Depends on what is needed. If the AI hasn't discovered Sanitation (and thus can't buld hospitals) then their cities can't grow past size 12 so irrigation at this stage is useless.

dbconfessional -
6. Is that a legitamate strategy for us as well? Once our cities hit 12, should we convert a portion of irrigation to mines?

zulu9812 -
6. There's nothing stopping you from mining or irrigating (assuming you have appropriate advances). I'm not quite sure what you mean by "legitimate strategy".

zulu9812 makes a good point - everyone has a different perspective on strategy. However, let me provide an example of some of the things I look for when deciding how to improve land. Suppose that your city is founded near fresh water and that a large number of squares on this side are Flood Plains and much of the other terrain is Grassland... since ALL you can get from Flood Plains is food you might consider mining the Grassland squares to "up" the production for that city. As with all strategies... it all depends on the variables and the individual. Good luck with your quests... play smart, play tough, have FUN!

[lockstep]

Originally posted by zulu9812
Workers and Settlers don't have any support costs

I re-checked a saved game. Workers of your own nationality definitely HAVE support costs, and I guess it's the same with settlers.

Note: Captured workers don't have support costs.

[zulu9812]

Originally posted by lockstep


I re-checked a saved game. Workers of your own nationality definitely HAVE support costs, and I guess it's the same with settlers.

Note: Captured workers don't have support costs.

Really? I never knew that. Interesting. I suppose it doesn't really matter with settlers since they're never around for very long. But if you have a whole load of workers, that and the cost of your military is just crippling. That is one bad idea, IMO.

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Primus40

zulu9812 makes a good point - everyone has a different perspective on strategy. However, let me provide an example of some of the things I look for when deciding how to improve land. Suppose that your city is founded near fresh water and that a large number of squares on this side are Flood Plains and much of the other terrain is Grassland... since ALL you can get from Flood Plains is food you might consider mining the Grassland squares to "up" the production for that city. As with all strategies... it all depends on the variables and the individual. Good luck with your quests... play smart, play tough, have FUN!

That is the way I play it. I try to get my cities up to around size 23. You only use 21 squares in the city radius so the rest become entertainers, tax collectors, and scientists. Who only produce 1 of each. So I try not to have any of them as they are a waste.

[MrFun]

I am not a newbie to Civilization III. I have played it for quite some time now.

However, tonight was the first time that I tried the Mobilization feature that is available through my Domestic Advisor.

Now, after having met my goals under Mobilization, I cannot find a way to DEmobilize my economy.

How the hell do you DEmobilize?? I tried clicking on the Mobilization button, thinking that it would switch back to peace-time, but that does not seem to work.

Does anyone know?? Thanks.

[Tuberski]

Are you at war with anyone?

You can't be at war and de-mobilize....I believe.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Tuberski
Are you at war with anyone?

You can't be at war and de-mobilize....I believe.

F**k.

I am the French, and I am at war with India in order to establish a colonial empire of mine.

So, I can mobilize in peace OR war, but I can only DEmobilize during peace-time??

Great -- now I gotta go negotiate with the damn Indians.

[ixnay]

Yeah, I think a peace treaty is the only way to demobilize. I've never actually used that before...maybe I should try on my current game...

[MrFun]

Mobilization is useful in boosting your military production, only if you plan to use for many turns.

I managed to get a peace treaty settled with India and then I immediately DEmobilized, so I can further develop my cities.

I found that even when you're mobilized, you can still build even Great Wonders that are militarily related, such as the Woman's Suffrage.