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'k....Had to tear my eyes away from the screen at least long enough to do something else....anything else really....so I figured I'd write about civ, rather than play it....at least for a few minutes.
First, let me say that I'm now hopelessly addicted. Sid, Dan, Soren, and the rest of you....DAMN you!
LOL....You guys have made a terriffic game, and it's been an honor to explore the world you made!
I've noticed that a lot of folks are complaining about the AI's rate of expansion, and it is my hope that the notes below will help with this somewhat. In my games so far (normal sized maps, regent level), I have been able to keep up with or handily surpass the AI's expansion, putting me in a very strong position.
I played the game organically....trying a few centuries with all the factions to see what their differences were, and found myself naturally gravitating toward the Egyptians as best suiting my playstyle.
Not to say that these notes aren't applicable if you play someone other than the Egyptians, but it IS something to keep in mind as you read these notes.
First off, I have come to the conclusion that there is no resource shortage problem. True, you don't always get the resources you want, and sometimes (esp. as the Egyptians) the lack of a horse resources means I can't even build my special unit, but....::shrug:: If I don't have it, I can simply use what I DO have and trade it with someone...ANYONE....and snag the resource I want. I've probably played thirty games so far, starting a new one as soon as I'm out of the ancient era (which is where I wanted to focus my attention first off), and I've never been so hobbled by resources that it was an issue.
It DOES change the character of your game, however. If you find yourself lacking in iron and/or horses, it makes you tow a much tighter diplomatic line....you NEED friends in order to secure lacking resources, so it alters the flavor of your game dramatically, but I'd count that as a good thing, not a bad one.
Frequent communication with the AI is important too. ohhhh, 'bout every 32 turns or so in the very early game, and definitely every other tech advance you get (and possibly sooner than that!). Even if you miss the Great Library (which I have failed to snag in every game I've played so far), you can keep up tech wise, if you're willing to spend some coin and do some wheeling and dealing. It's an interesting, vital, and challenging part of the game. I love it!
Warfare: Should be entered into very carefully, and with only limited (probably resource or choke point driven) objectives in mind. Don't think that you'll be able to sweep in and wipe a civ out in a single war. Probably not gonna happen (unless you catch them with like two cities in the REALLY early game or something). The game mechanics will put a choker chain on you. So...pick one or two cities, blitz in and take them, and then plan on suing for peace.
Starting gambit to keep pace with the pesky AI:
Step 1) Build your first city on turn one....wherever the settler lands. If it's a less than perfect city placement you can fix that later on, when you get a feel for the terrain, but don't d*ck around looking for just the right spot, cos speed is everything. Build it, get it over with, and start on a warrior.
Step 2) Pick a direction (preferrably with flat terrain, and hopefully with wheat or game in the tile), and start road building with your worker. Your first goal is to see if there's a river reasonalby close by, so you can start irrigation. Just like in SMAC, your overriding goal is to get a good food producing tile for your city as quickly as possible....this is all the more important in CIV3, since the AI will actually HOUND you where expansion is concerned.
If you don't find any rivers close at hand, and there are no freshwater lakes, then don't worry about it. Focus on finding tiles with wheat or game in them....not as good but it'll have to do.
Once you get a Warrior cranked out, send him in some other direction from the direction you sent your worker, and start building another worker.
What? No settler?
Nope. Not yet anyways.
Under despotism, you get four freebie units, you want two settlers and two workers, and you want to start your second worker the moment your warrior is done so you complete him while your city is at size two. Reason: You'll bounce back in pop quicker from size 1--->2 than size 2 --->3. Speed.
Also, with two workers heading in opposite directions road building, you'll speed future settlers along to their final destinations.
So....warrior, worker, warrior, settler. That's how I've been running my initial city in every game played so far. Warriors out on the fringes, looking for goody huts and shroud-busting, workers toiling on roads to new city sites.
After a city cranks out a settler, it'll need some time to bounce back, pop wise (unless you just have a killer food tile, which can happen), so I'll generally build a city improvement, alternating with more settlers as in (temple, settler, walls, settler, barracks, settler). That generally gives me enough time for the pop to bounce back, and steadily improves my cities.
Barracks: I've never built more than two.
Speed building: In the expansion phase of the game, when you're trying to rush settlers, don't bother sacrificing population to build stuff quicker under despotism....unless you're suffering from too rapid growth someplace. Better to assign a couple of workers to lumberjack nearby forest tiles. Not as fast, true, and I do not yet know if it willl help speed build a wonder, but if so, that's one way to give yourself an edge. Save your forests till you start working on a wonder, and then chop everything nearby down to help with the wonder. I DO know that disbanding troops sent to a city working on a wonder doesn't do jack for it.....tried that. ::sigh::
Send warriors out with your settlers! They can't fight, and are the equivalent to two pop points! Lose one in the early game, you'll be hopelessly behind!
If you find you're not alone on the continent, aggressively expand in the direction of your rival to cut him off. You can backfill later, and if you do this, vary your build order in those border towns to:
Warrior, Temple, Worker, Walls. (and no settlers from these unless you've just got some kickin' food tiles). That way, you can protect and improve those towns, build their culture quickly to prevent them from being absorbed by your rival, and improve your chances of absorbing his towns as you backfill and consolidate your position.
Corruption: I've had as many as 19 cities on a normal map, and have been using a non-commercial civ for the majority of my games. Corruption has been an issue, but never a crippling one.
More later, I'm gonna get back to playing! In my current game, I'm on an uber continent with five other civs, and the japanese/chinese(?) are on a nearby continent together (I'm in between the Indians and the Greeks with the Romans just to the right of the greeks).
I managed to stifle the Indians, pinning them in the northern corner of the map, but the greeks have been keeping pace with me (I'm running second overall, just behind the Greeks). Looks like an awesome game so far!
-=Vel=-
First, let me say that I'm now hopelessly addicted. Sid, Dan, Soren, and the rest of you....DAMN you!
LOL....You guys have made a terriffic game, and it's been an honor to explore the world you made!I've noticed that a lot of folks are complaining about the AI's rate of expansion, and it is my hope that the notes below will help with this somewhat. In my games so far (normal sized maps, regent level), I have been able to keep up with or handily surpass the AI's expansion, putting me in a very strong position.
I played the game organically....trying a few centuries with all the factions to see what their differences were, and found myself naturally gravitating toward the Egyptians as best suiting my playstyle.
Not to say that these notes aren't applicable if you play someone other than the Egyptians, but it IS something to keep in mind as you read these notes.
First off, I have come to the conclusion that there is no resource shortage problem. True, you don't always get the resources you want, and sometimes (esp. as the Egyptians) the lack of a horse resources means I can't even build my special unit, but....::shrug:: If I don't have it, I can simply use what I DO have and trade it with someone...ANYONE....and snag the resource I want. I've probably played thirty games so far, starting a new one as soon as I'm out of the ancient era (which is where I wanted to focus my attention first off), and I've never been so hobbled by resources that it was an issue.
It DOES change the character of your game, however. If you find yourself lacking in iron and/or horses, it makes you tow a much tighter diplomatic line....you NEED friends in order to secure lacking resources, so it alters the flavor of your game dramatically, but I'd count that as a good thing, not a bad one.
Frequent communication with the AI is important too. ohhhh, 'bout every 32 turns or so in the very early game, and definitely every other tech advance you get (and possibly sooner than that!). Even if you miss the Great Library (which I have failed to snag in every game I've played so far), you can keep up tech wise, if you're willing to spend some coin and do some wheeling and dealing. It's an interesting, vital, and challenging part of the game. I love it!
Warfare: Should be entered into very carefully, and with only limited (probably resource or choke point driven) objectives in mind. Don't think that you'll be able to sweep in and wipe a civ out in a single war. Probably not gonna happen (unless you catch them with like two cities in the REALLY early game or something). The game mechanics will put a choker chain on you. So...pick one or two cities, blitz in and take them, and then plan on suing for peace.
Starting gambit to keep pace with the pesky AI:
Step 1) Build your first city on turn one....wherever the settler lands. If it's a less than perfect city placement you can fix that later on, when you get a feel for the terrain, but don't d*ck around looking for just the right spot, cos speed is everything. Build it, get it over with, and start on a warrior.
Step 2) Pick a direction (preferrably with flat terrain, and hopefully with wheat or game in the tile), and start road building with your worker. Your first goal is to see if there's a river reasonalby close by, so you can start irrigation. Just like in SMAC, your overriding goal is to get a good food producing tile for your city as quickly as possible....this is all the more important in CIV3, since the AI will actually HOUND you where expansion is concerned.
If you don't find any rivers close at hand, and there are no freshwater lakes, then don't worry about it. Focus on finding tiles with wheat or game in them....not as good but it'll have to do.
Once you get a Warrior cranked out, send him in some other direction from the direction you sent your worker, and start building another worker.
What? No settler?
Nope. Not yet anyways.
Under despotism, you get four freebie units, you want two settlers and two workers, and you want to start your second worker the moment your warrior is done so you complete him while your city is at size two. Reason: You'll bounce back in pop quicker from size 1--->2 than size 2 --->3. Speed.
Also, with two workers heading in opposite directions road building, you'll speed future settlers along to their final destinations.
So....warrior, worker, warrior, settler. That's how I've been running my initial city in every game played so far. Warriors out on the fringes, looking for goody huts and shroud-busting, workers toiling on roads to new city sites.
After a city cranks out a settler, it'll need some time to bounce back, pop wise (unless you just have a killer food tile, which can happen), so I'll generally build a city improvement, alternating with more settlers as in (temple, settler, walls, settler, barracks, settler). That generally gives me enough time for the pop to bounce back, and steadily improves my cities.
Barracks: I've never built more than two.
Speed building: In the expansion phase of the game, when you're trying to rush settlers, don't bother sacrificing population to build stuff quicker under despotism....unless you're suffering from too rapid growth someplace. Better to assign a couple of workers to lumberjack nearby forest tiles. Not as fast, true, and I do not yet know if it willl help speed build a wonder, but if so, that's one way to give yourself an edge. Save your forests till you start working on a wonder, and then chop everything nearby down to help with the wonder. I DO know that disbanding troops sent to a city working on a wonder doesn't do jack for it.....tried that. ::sigh::
Send warriors out with your settlers! They can't fight, and are the equivalent to two pop points! Lose one in the early game, you'll be hopelessly behind!
If you find you're not alone on the continent, aggressively expand in the direction of your rival to cut him off. You can backfill later, and if you do this, vary your build order in those border towns to:
Warrior, Temple, Worker, Walls. (and no settlers from these unless you've just got some kickin' food tiles). That way, you can protect and improve those towns, build their culture quickly to prevent them from being absorbed by your rival, and improve your chances of absorbing his towns as you backfill and consolidate your position.
Corruption: I've had as many as 19 cities on a normal map, and have been using a non-commercial civ for the majority of my games. Corruption has been an issue, but never a crippling one.
More later, I'm gonna get back to playing! In my current game, I'm on an uber continent with five other civs, and the japanese/chinese(?) are on a nearby continent together (I'm in between the Indians and the Greeks with the Romans just to the right of the greeks).
I managed to stifle the Indians, pinning them in the northern corner of the map, but the greeks have been keeping pace with me (I'm running second overall, just behind the Greeks). Looks like an awesome game so far!
-=Vel=-
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