Help a newbie out

[Kabong]

I've been playing civ3 since it came out..never played 1 or 2 though, which might be why I seem to be having trouble.

I spent most of yesterday reading these forums trying to pick up on stuff that I was doing incorrectly (not trading/selling luxuries/techs) and I thought that I understood most of it, but apparently I was wrong...could you guys look at my most recent game and tell me what thing I'm doing bad/poorly?

Thanks

Edit: Hmm..didn't attach the file.. you can download it from here

[Todd Hawks]

Well.... let's see:

You are in 1670, you are soon to enter the Industrial Age, you own a big part of the map.

I'd say you are doing a good job at ruling your empire.


My apologies if I missed something obvious, but perhaps you could specify your problems (if there are any).

[Kabong]

Originally posted by Todd Hawks

My apologies if I missed something obvious, but perhaps you could specify your problems (if there are any).

Thanks for looking at it, my main question is how do I win some way other than by retirement.. I've played like 6 or 7 games so far, usually end up with a score of 300-600 but I always win by most points..not by space race, un meeting, etc.. is there some special way to play to win one of these ways?

Also do you guys use the automate button for your workers? Once I get my railroads done, I usually just automate them and forget about em for the rest of the game.

[wunder]

Doing well but...

I think you are doing very well in tech's and culture. This is good

Your biggest problem right now is your military . Kind of scary actualy. I know your hopolites are a defense value of 3, so with 2 of them fortified in your cities you are well protected. I would suggest to upgrade all your hopolites to musketmans in cities that have barracks though. You can shuffle your units arround a bit to acheive this.

Why is Ephesus and Herakleia fortified with a warrior!?

-First off all, since you have iron, these should of been upgraded to swordsman a long time ago.

-Second, Have you seen the Egyptian knight ? I don't know what level you are playing but I'm assuming it to be the first one. So I guess the knight shouldn't be a problem for Argos.

What I would do;

-protection: Making sure all of my cities have the strongest defender possible.

-attack units: building up some long bowman and mobilizing them in Stuttggart with a few workers. I think a couple musketman and 6 longbowman should do the trick
note; make sure to not bring your units within one square radius of Niagara Falls. This will keep them surprised when you move in with your stack

-It's up to you if you want to wait until all of your deals are expired with the Irroquois. I would negotiate peace as soon as all of the above have been accomplished. This is accomplished through the active tab under diplomacy with the Irroquois. Make some crazy demands and when they are not met tell them to never mind. This will declare war against them. Caution! By now they should have a good Mounted Warrior/Knight force. It's imperative to take Niagara Falls not more than a few turns. If not taken, retreat but after destroying their road on the square that has the horse. This also means that all of your border towns with the Irroquois are subject to attacks by 2 movement attackers. Be prepared for this

-Move your troops in towards Niagara Falls. Let them attack first (this will help when negotiating alliances with other civs). Attack Niagara and take it . Start building a road conecting it to your capital. Fortify at least one Musketman.

-Build some knights

-Your next objective is Grand River. Take it and the Irroquois are yours

This is what I think is your only strategy at this point. Your only other option is to trade for horses. They are a must. Without them your civ can't realy do annything military until you discover Motorized Transportation and you are lucky to have oil and rubber witin your borders. If not your are definetely SOL You already have saltpeter but who is to stay it wont be used up in a couple of turns? With some horses you will be able to build not only knights but cavalries as well. Very important if you go to war with any one. The Irroquois have a source of horse that is close to your borders and with little effort, it can be yours
The strongest defender they have now is probably a pikeman. Wait a few turns and they'll be musketman or even worst...rifflemans. Stricking now is a must if you want to survive

Good luck

[wunder]

Originally posted by Kabong


Thanks for looking at it, my main question is how do I win some way other than by retirement.. I've played like 6 or 7 games so far, usually end up with a score of 300-600 but I always win by most points..not by space race, un meeting, etc.. is there some special way to play to win one of these ways?

Also do you guys use the automate button for your workers? Once I get my railroads done, I usually just automate them and forget about em for the rest of the game.

UN: Give a little and watch your neighbours starting to be gracious towards you. Ounce they all seem to like you, vote for the secretary general. This is easy garanteed win. Granted you have the UN. If not, better be nice to everyone before they vote.

Space Race: Build all the space ship parts! This may require some research and some time. Gives a good score though.

Another scoring factor is how many content, happy and specialist citizens you have... the more the better and happy people are worth more.

I always seem to have something to do for my workers. I always build railroads everywhere within the city radius. This gives an extra shiled or food bonus. Ounce the new patch is out, I think the automate function will be a little better.

I don't think you are such a newbie as previously posted. I think you are dooing realy well... I might have given you a little too much details in previous post.

If you are able to finish any games you have started, you should be able to at least hit the 1000 points if not the 2000 points mark.
Easily attained if you employ more of domination type of style like I do. (land, techs, money, cities, resources....)

[Kabong]

Thanks for all the advice.. have been playing for the last few hours and I had actually done most of what you said by the time I got back to read the thread

I traded for some horses, built about 20 cavalry, flattened most of the Iroquois who had a military alliance with the Americans by the time I got to them, so I had to turn around and go give Lincoln a healthy beating. I'm in 1914 now working on the space ship, hopefull I'll be able to get it finished before 2050

I'll zip up the save game when I finish and put it up if anyone cares to look at it.

Another question I forgot to post earlier.. how come you can trade some resources/luxuries with only certain cultures but not others?

Also what do the different colored numbers to the left of a city mean? I know the actual number is the population, but what does the color indicate? I see red, yellow and white..

[rugbyprop3]

In order to trade strategic resources and or luxeries you need to be connected to the rivial civ's trade network. The two ways that you can do this is by either building a road network that connects with their capitol or build a harbor in a city that connects to your empire and hope your rival has a harbor as well.

[Padmewan]

Another reason why you can't trade is that sometimes the civ you're dealing with already has the luxuries you have in excess, or you already have their excess stuff.

[eMarkM]

how come you can trade some resources/luxuries with only certain cultures but not others?

Yeah, you have to be connected to them, by road or by harbor to their capital. Also, if you're pushing ivory on them, but they already have a source, it won't even show up on the diplo screen because they don't need it. Also, consider trade embargos. In that case, the options of what you can trade will appear, but they'll be grayed out.

Go to trade advisor (F2) and in the right hand column it shows who you can trade with or not. Move your mouse over the civ name and it will tell you why you can't trade w/ them.

e

[henry296]

You can only trand luxuries and resources to civs that don't have any. You can't trade for a second source of dyes for example. Thus if America has dyes and you have 2, you can't trade with him.

Todd

[Alex 14]

Originally posted by Kabong
Also what do the different colored numbers to the left of a city mean? I know the actual number is the population, but what does the color indicate? I see red, yellow and white..

Yellow: The city is not growing
Red: The city is shrinking
White: The city is growing