why is this game so complicated!

[janus]

hey im new to this forum, and actually the hole civ seen. as ive never played any of the civ games i tried the tutorials. after i found no help or teaching there i came here. i can make cities and build stuff and manage them but i dont know much more, also could someone give me some begginer stratedgies?

by the way great forum

[The Andy-Man]

build cities, make stuff and managethem? that about it isnt it......

[janus]

thats alot of help, thanks.

[The Andy-Man]

sorry. basicaly, that is about it. anything else is indepth and is really something you pickup.

maybe the stragtegy forum will help you out.

[Ming]

For a more "complete" answer, you can check out the Civ III Strategy forum...

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=136&daysprune=

Check the older threads there too... The default is set for only viewing threads from the last 10 days... so you will have to change that to see many of the better strategy threads.

Good luck...
And keep on civin'

[janus]

thanks, could you answer me two questions, can you start at the middle/industrial/middle ages and how exactly do you win by the space race option?

[Ironikinit]

Don't be afraid to trade with the AI civs, even if it seems like a rip-off. Eventually the tables will turn.

Pick a civ that has good abilities, like the Babylonians. Scientific and religious are pretty good. Or, you can go for one that has a good unique unit, such as the Aztecs or Japanese.

Don't irrigate grassland unless you're looking down the road. Under your starting despotic government you won't get anything for irrigating grassland.

It's cheating to some, but I'll restart the game until I get a city site I like. I look for hills, grassland, maybe a bonus or two, and a river. It shouldn't take many restarts to get a good one. You want to settle immediately.

Expand as fast as you can. A strong core of cities is your main strength. However, you should expand beyond your core to get the resources you have found in your exploration.

Experiment with different size maps with varied options. Personally, I like playing on continents on standard size maps.

Good luck.

Edit: No, you can only start at 4000 BC that I know of. You win the space race by building the ten components of the space ship and launching it before a rival launches theirs. Each component requires a technology and has resource requirements, too.

[janus]

whats the deal with sheilds and food and all that? and what are the resorces you can trade? what are they and how do i trade them?

one last thing how do i stop crowding?

[DrFell]

Originally posted by janus
whats the deal with sheilds and food and all that? and what are the resorces you can trade? what are they and how do i trade them?

one last thing how do i stop crowding?

Shields are a measure of how fast you can build things. If you look in the civilopaedia, you will see that every item you build has a 'shields cost'. Now if you look at terrain, you will see certain types produce different amounts of shields for example, forest produces 2 shields per turn if you work it. Food is what makes your population increase. If you go onto the city screen you will see a food box, when that fills up your population increases by 1.

To stop crowding you need to build temples/colloseums/cathedrals, turn workers into entertainers, if under despotism/monarchy/communism you can keep military units in the city. And under republic/democracy you can use the luxuries slider bar to set luxuries (you can do it under other governments but it's not worth it), or use luxury resources (always worth it). Luxury and Strategic resources can be found in the civilopaedia, along with a description of each one. To trade them you need a road from your capital to your opponents. Go to diplomacy screen and there should be an option to trade them.

[MonsterMan]

Not that I want to offend anyone, but Civ is the thinking man's game, and as such it is certainly not too complicated. Rather the other way around, I miss some of the depth of Civ II.

[DrFell]

Originally posted by MonsterMan
Not that I want to offend anyone, but Civ is the thinking man's game, and as such it is certainly not too complicated. Rather the other way around, I miss some of the depth of Civ II.

I agree completely, a lot of the things in civ3 just reduce the amount of thought required - the ages system for one.

[Antonin]

Early on, any beginner is going to have a hard time making progress. You can do so many things, it is often hard to decide (or understand) what to do next.

I think the Civilopoedia (sp?) is a good source of basic information for the beginner. Since it's a turn-based game, you can spend a lot of time just reviewing things that way.

The manual is pretty good, but many gamers (myself included) don't use it very much because it's more fun to get in there and play than read about playing.

[Worthingtons]

All the Answers are here my Friend

apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=651781#post651781

[janus]

does it make any difference on what temperature and stuff you pick?

[Encomium]

So be sure you are aware that in Civ III the AI CHEATS SHAMELESSLY all the time.