My Quick Start Guide for Growing a Civilization

[Delbert]

Hello,

I've been playing the Civ Games since the first one and now I've started on Civ III and here are my first notes on Starting Strategy.

First off let me say that everyone has their own idea and these are mine.

1. Advances. start with Alphabet, then writing, code of laws, philosphy and most important in my eyes " The Republic " this gives you extra commerce (+1 per square already producing commerce) for taxes and research and change corruption to a lower level. This gives your science a boost.

2. after The republic you might consider literature so you can build the Great libary first. This is one of what i'd consider the best of the wonders.

3. The pymirds are a must wonder in that they save you a ton on buying and maintaining grainerys.

4. set scouts to explore everywhere. Get to the goodie huts to try to get advances that are not so critical. while your researching the one's above.

5. Build your citys so that their city squares don't overlap, because later in the game the cities you start first will be the oldest and largest and need all the land within their area.

6. Try to build roads early on to connect the cities as this will help push settlers further out faster.

7. Never. Ever. leave your workers on automatic because you can do a better job deciding what's needed for the city to grow in the direction you want.

9. Try to find luxeray and resourse squares and get them within your empire. you will need them. This is another example where having your cities connected by roads will come in handy. as all connected cities share luxerys and resourses.

10. Maintain as strong a military as you can afford and always upgrade units as you can. I have 1 barracks centerly located for several cities and I rotate my units through it for upgrades.

11. other must have worders are J.S. Bach catheral for happieness.

Sistine Chapel.. Doubles all Cathedrales. really can boost the happieness

Cure for Cancer for Happieness again

Smiths trading company. for elimating maintenance fees for commerce wonders. you can save a ton of money with this one.

Universal Suffrage. decreases unhappieness during war

12. Wonder's I can pass up.

The Great wall. only good if your in a war early in the game

Shakespeares theater. very limited advantage in one city only.


13. In the early game, I almost never attack only defend therefore i only build defencive units that can be upgraded. such as spearmen.. to Pikemen to musketmen to rifleman to infantry to mech infantry. in this way I almost always have good defenders in my cities.

14. If planning a war, set your offensive units in cities that border your opponent , but make sure you have some defence in case they retaliate. Roads and esp Railroads to opponents are very important if your attacking.

15. To find out what is going on on another civ's landmass. Park a aircraft carrier outside their territoral waters that is loaded with planes that can perform the recon mission and recon over their land. while moveing up and down their coast.

16. If you have Saltpepper and another civ wants to trade for it, Say NO! because if they want it they don't have it. and if they get it, they can make Musketmen, ect..

The same with coal. its use if for building Railroads and coal plants (infastructure)

Rubber and oil for mech infantry and tanks

17. trading luxury's is bad to as it helps their city growth, but if you can get a much needed resoure such as coal or oil, then the trade is worth it.

18. In the later stages make lots of extra workers to combat pollution it does help keep your cities productive.

19. Use the negoation's screen to see what tech's other civ's have made. if one civ is going in one direction, take your reseach into another area and trade them for theirs or better yet, steal it. this gives you their research and keeps you from wasting your research in those that someone else will do for you.

20. Tweak your research/tax bar at the start of every advance, to get maximum taxes while maintaining your research.

21. when there is only 1 turn left to complete an advance go to the domestic screen and tweak your research bar, you can offen lower your research quite a bit to earn some extra cash for one turn while still completeing the advance the next turn.

These are my idea's from my first completed game. hope they help some of ya.

Delbert

[Grunthex]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by Delbert
Hello,

I've been playing the Civ Games since the first one and now I've started on Civ III and here are my first notes on Starting Strategy.

3. The pymirds are a must wonder in that they save you a ton on buying and maintaining grainerys.{/QUOTE]

I often find myself forced to choose between the Pyramids and the Great Library, the AI races with me for Pyramids, and whoever doesn't get it usually switches to GL immediately. Given the choice, I'd rather the Library.

4. set scouts to explore everywhere. Get to the goodie huts to try to get advances that are not so critical. while your researching the one's above.

Absolutely. To the extent I'm having trouble for now with non-Expansionistic civs, even though I know in the long run they aren't that handy. I NEED my scouts, the 2 movement is one thing, but because they're 0/0, they can move nearly freely through enemy territory.

10. Maintain as strong a military as you can afford and always upgrade units as you can. I have 1 barracks centerly located for several cities and I rotate my units through it for upgrades.

Am I the only one who doesn't do this? The loss of experience when you upgrade kills it for me. Why would I want a Conscript level Pikeman? He'll die too easy!

13. In the early game, I almost never attack only defend therefore i only build defencive units that can be upgraded. such as spearmen.. to Pikemen to musketmen to rifleman to infantry to mech infantry. in this way I almost always have good defenders in my cities.

While this is my GOAL, it doesn't always work. On the other hand, the decreased productivity of a war is usually offset by the territorial gains you get, so a bit of early crunching isn't bad.

16. If you have Saltpepper and another civ wants to trade for it, Say NO! because if they want it they don't have it. and if they get it, they can make Musketmen, ect..

On the other hand, if you have good relations with them, go for it! They'll usually pay extremely well for strategic resources they need. If they can defend themselves better against their enemies, that's fine with me.

The same with coal. its use if for building Railroads and coal plants (infastructure)

Ok, agree on this one only. Railroads are such an advantage that I don't like to help anyone get it.

17. trading luxury's is bad to as it helps their city growth, but if you can get a much needed resoure such as coal or oil, then the trade is worth it.

We seem to follow different strategies. I don't mind helping an ally/friend develop, and again, luxuries can get you quite a bit in return. A straight across luxury trade is awfully handy for both of you. Sure it helps him, but it puts BOTH of you that much ahead of other civs.

[Yossarian]

Saltpepper, that's too funny!!

[Delbert]

Peter ... Pepper .... as long as you get the drift of the conversation...



I'm 33 and been a terrible speller all my life.. why change now.. LOL

[IBNobody]

Upgrading units maintains experience levels.

- Nobody

[Diety]

Very nice points... I see you're a micro-manager too

Some remarks :

- renegotiate your trades every once in a while

- when trading techs, resources or luxuries, trade them to every civilisation that wants them. Why ? Well they will trade them amongst each-other so why not get the benefits from that yourself ?

- I also upgrade my units. Not veteran, you say ? True but they'll do just fine as basic defenders nonetheless.

- I build fewer cities then in CIV2, especially on tiny or small maps.

- I'm not sure about the use of pyramids, expecially on higher difficulty levels. I can't keep up when my cities grow too fast, so better use that production to build other stuff. you can always build some granaries in key cities.

- I consider Bach, Sistine and Cure as the three must have wonders, all the others are bonusses.