The CIV3 FAQ: COMMON QUESTIONS/COMPLAINTS/ARGUMENTS and their ANSWERS

MarkG · November 16, 2001, 12:43

Now, let's see if we can behave like logical people in this forum

The Apolyton Estalbishment

would like to propose to everyone to take a step back and this about what he has been posting the last two weeks and try to see the other side

Rules of posting on this thread:
- You must post a common complaint/question/argument
- The subject could vary from if one can make scenarios with the editor(in which case the answer should be a simple "no" and not a whole analysis on firaxis' development plan) to the argument that democracy should have less corruption
- You must also post the answer/counter argument to it
- If you post about something not covered, you must a put a new number for it(if the last was #25, you should use #26)
- Corrections on the answers should not be made, only additions(e.g. dont try to correct other people, just add your perspective)

Lets see how civilized we are....

The FAQ is now indexed and properly diplayed
- Gameplay, features, rules, tips
- Interface
- Customization
- Bugs, technical questions

Kriton · November 16, 2001, 18:23

Q. What are the benefits of a expansionist civ?
A. They get lots of advances early on in goodie huts. They also have a great chance of making contact with others very early, which means they can trade, etc.
CA. If you are isolated, the scout is essentially useless. If there are many civs, they you may not get many goodie huts.

MarkG · November 17, 2001, 07:02

Thank you once more for your feedback GP

Q: Does Civ3 have multiplayer function?
A: No
Q: Why?
A: Probably cause the delay would be too big if they choose to finish both SP and MP
Q: So no MP at all?
A: Firaxis is "working on some cool multiplayer concepts that will take a fresh approach to the challenge of making multiplayer for a turn-based game fun"
Q: Will i have to pay for an MP expasion?
A: No official answer. Then again, we're living in a capitalistic society.....

Yoleus · November 17, 2001, 07:33

[irony]
Spontaneous, successful.
[/irony]

Would not be a "real" FAQ a better solution?

[joke]
Q: is this a FAQ?
A: not exactly.
Q: is this a thread?
A: not exactly.
Q: only CivIII owners can post here?
A: I do not know.
Q: numbers for uncovered topics. Uncovered in this thread or in the site?
A: I do not know.
[/joke]

Anyway, my contribution:

Q: are there nukes in CivIII?
A: yes, two kind of them: tactical (6 squares radius, cost less) and ICBM (hit everywhere, cost more)

Q: what are the effects of a nuclear hit?
A: ONE unit is surely destroyed, other units can be destroyed or damaged at random. If you attack a city, half the population and a small random number of buildings disappear (you can't completely wipe out a city with nukes, but you can RAZE -wipe out- it with groung units). Other civs can decide you are a worse guy that they thought before, sometimes declaring war on you if they did not have a good opinion on you. You produce pollution, which may trigger a global warming.

Q: I know I need a wonder before making nukes, the Manhattan Project. Is it a major or minor wonder?
A: Major, so one build it for all, even if a minor wonder could have been a better idea IMHO.

Q: can I load nukes into subs?
A: you need only to load tactical nukes, because ICBM can hit everywhere from any of your cities. And yes, you can load ONE nuke on a sub (not 8 as in CivII)

Q: do I need special resources for building nukes?
A: Oil and uranium. And because uranium has a quite higher chance of depleting than other resources, if you happen to have it in your territory use it quickly.

Q: is there any way to prevent a nuclear attack on my cities?
A: either you control all the uranium on the map

(but resources can pop up sometimes, so you are never sure) or you build the SDI defence, a MINOR wonder, which gives the foreign nukes a 25% chance to hit your cities.

Q: is MAD (cold war Mutual Assured Destruction) implemented?
A: sadly, no. But people are complaining, so maybe a patch, an expansion or a mod can do the trick.

Q: are nukes underpowered or just right?
A: this is being debated in some threads. No clear (= Apolyton collective) answer so far.

MarkG · November 17, 2001, 12:57

Q: Does civ3 have any scenarios?
A: No
Q: Does civ3 have any maps?
A: Yes, two versions(standard, huge sizes) of the world map
Q: Where can i find more maps and other files
A: here

Q: Will this will be turned into a decent looking faq at some time?
A: If lots of nice people contribute to it, Markos will act accordingly

adaMada · November 17, 2001, 13:11

Markos: You mentoined giving numbers somewhere above, but I don't understand what you want, and no one else seemed to -- so if I'm doing this wrong, please either edit this post or post and let me know so I can fix it...

Patch Questions -- All of these are to the best of my understanding, so if anyone knows otherwise PLEASE correct me. All of these are posted as of Nov. 17, 2001, so this information may not be accurate for long.
Q: Has a patch date been set?
A: As of 11/17 no, but there are some hints that it'll be sometime around the end of the month.

Q: Will curruption be fixed in the patch?
A: According to Soren Johnson, they're looking into it, but no definate answers as far as this.

Q: Will they add stacked movement or something like it in a patch?
A: No one knows...

Q: Will they remake Civilization 3, rename it "Voodoo Battle Ground", repackage it, make it a first person shooter up, and give it to everyone for free as a 700 MB patch file?

A: I hope not

.

Q: Do we know ANYTHING definate about the patch as of yet?
A: Not really, except that there'll be one

.

I'll try to add some other stuff when I think of it, but I noticed that patch questions-answers were absent, so I thought I'd fill them in. If I'm wrong in any way above, please correct me -- or when this information changes, as it's very dated)...

-- adaMada

adaMada · November 17, 2001, 17:01

Q: How the heck does one upgrade a unit?
A: Select the unit. Put it in a city with barracks. Hit the "U" key. If it can be upgraded, a box will pop up asking you if you want to spend x gold to upgrade.

Q: How the heck does one upgrade all the units of one type?
A: Select one of the units in a city with barracks. Hit "Shift-U". If you select to spend the gold, whatever units can be upgraded will be upgraded.

Q: How the heck do you know all this stuff?
A: There's a big list of all the keyboard commands in the manual. To find out where all this is... keep reading

. Also, check the readme that came with the game for last minute changes, several of which are some of the more useful key commands.

Q: GRRRR! I'm sick of going into the city screen to change a city's production! GRRRR!
A: That's not a question, but there's an answer anyway

. Shift-Right Click on a city, and you'll get a drop-down box that can change the city's production. Another gym covered in the readme file that came with the game

.

-- adaMada

adaMada · November 17, 2001, 17:20

Q: I'm playing a game with sixteen civs. I can't see all the civs faces in the Foreign Advisor. Oh, the horror! What to do?
A: Shift-Right Click on a space in the foreign advisor to 'assign' a civ to that space. If you need to, you can change what each space means from civ to civ to civ, or you can just set it once with the eight faces you use the most, and leave it that way. Again, another gym from the readme that came with the game...

Skanky Burns · November 18, 2001, 01:39

Q: If I have a Civ manual, but can only look at 5 pages of it, what pages would it be??
A: Pages 196 - 200

Q: Whats on pages 196 - 200??
A: All the shortcut keys for the game

adaMada · November 18, 2001, 01:56

Q: Is there an easy way to make your workers automatically expand your road network?
A: Ctrl-N will set a worker to automatically network cities, which pretty much is making sure all the cities are connected to your trade network (by building roads). I don't know if this applies to railroads -- haven't gotten that far yet.

adaMada · November 18, 2001, 15:52

Q: Did they take the goto city command out of Civ 3?
A: No, the command is "ctrl-shift-G".

Grunthex · November 18, 2001, 20:23

Q: Why can't I disband cities with settlers like Civ 2?
A: You can. To disband (remove) a city, simply produce a settler while the city is size 2 or less, or a worker while the city is size 1. The key is you MUST have 0 food growth in the city. If the city has any surplus food, the settler/worker will be delayed without saying anything to you until the city grows, then the unit produced.

Q: I didn't change governments when I was offered the chance after researching it, now I can't. Why?
A: You can! Either go to the Domestic Advisor (F1) and click the little green tab that lists your current government type. Your advisor will ask if you wish to start a revolution. In several turns, you will be asked what form of government you wish to enter. You can also use the Shift-G hotkey from the map.

Pyrodrew · November 19, 2001, 02:33

Q:I cannot wait! Is there a quicker way to disband a city than the one mentioned earlier?
A:No. However, if you want a city gone as soon as possible have 1 military unit standing outside the city you want gone. Sell all improvements & remove all units from that city. Give that city to your worst enemy. Now re-conquer the city & instead of installing a new governor - raze the city. The disadvantages to this are those associated with razing & the fact that if you didn't have an enemy before you definitely do now.

Deathwalker · November 19, 2001, 04:10

Q: Is there anyway to save a game as a scenario, or have we lost that gem forever

Also why is the load scenario option only good for loading maps

A: Maps, scenarios and mods are now in one file format: .bic files
The editor can not create scenarios right now, that's why we dont have any scenarios to load from the "load scenarios" option

OneFootInTheGrave · November 19, 2001, 12:06

Q: Why doesn't a World Wonder in conquered city produce any culture for my civ after I conquered it even though in the manual it say's that I should get the benefits now?

A: (if i remember correctly) the wonder starts producing culture from zero, adding up for as many years you hold it, not for how many long it exists

Spam Shark · November 19, 2001, 17:29

Q:Currently the settings for Settler make it a unit that cannot be airlifted. Is there a way to make the default for it to have the capabliity to be transported through cities with airports?
A: You can do this through the editor

AHO · November 19, 2001, 17:51

Q: Why are there only two sources of coal on the entire "huge world" map I'm currently playing?

A: Because that's what it's like in the "real world".

C.A.: Hmmmmm.

Observation: I live in West Virginia. I can find spilled coal near the off-ramp to the mall,
but there isn't any on the entire continant in my game! Name me a continant that doesn't have coal. Antarctica doesn't count. Though there's still probably coal there.

AustralianJeremy · November 19, 2001, 20:39

Q: Are there only two zoom levels (hitting the z key)?
A: Yes, there are only two zoom levels. (Pg. 164; Civ 3 Manual)
-- adaMada
Q: WHY are there only two zoom levels? Civ2 had heaps!

adaMada · November 19, 2001, 21:11

General
Q: Has firepower really been taken out of Civ3?
A: Yes

Bugs NOTE: All of these bugs are current to the best of my knowledge as of today (Nov. 19) before the first patch. Hopefully, the first patch will fix these.

Q: My airplanes set on won't intercept anything! Is this a bug, or am I doing something wrong?
A: It's a bug

. We will hopefully see a fix by the next patch.

Q: I demanded 9999999 gold from the AI per turn, and they're giving it to me. Bug?
A: Yes. Again, hopefully will be fixed by the first patch.

Q: Curruption is really high. Bug?
A: No (infamous 'design decision'

), but it will probably be fixed in the next patch anyway.

Grunthex · November 20, 2001, 18:06

Partly in answer to Spam Shark

Q: Why do the changes I make in the editor not work when I start a new game?

A: You either need to start a scenario, with the file you created, or edit the civ3mod.bic file when you do your editing which will affect all standard games, including games already in progress.

Q: So what if I edit the world sizes in that file and continue an old game?

A: Not sure, but as people have had problems with custom size maps (especially 256x256), the magic 8-ball advises you don't do it.

MarkG · November 20, 2001, 20:10

fyi, i will be editing/deleting posts so that questions and answers are always together and irrelevant posts or useless questions/answers(like manami's post above) are not included

the intention of this thread is to help people. please remember that. thank you

Skanky Burns · November 20, 2001, 23:05

Anyways, getting back on topic...

Q: Ive got blue sparks and explosions above some of my cities. What the hell is going on??
A: Your city is celebrating a "We Love the King Day". Its a good thing

Q: What does a "We Love the King Day" do??
A: It is currently thought that WLTKDs reduce corruption levels in the celebrating city.

Q: Ive got orange stuff on the ground near my city. What the hell is it??
A: That is pollution. It prevents you from harvesting that square, and can increase the chance of global warming.

Skanky Burns · November 20, 2001, 23:26

Q: How do i speed up my allies movements between turns??
A: Hold down shift while they are moving. Alternatively, uncheck the box next to "Animate Friendly Moves" in the Preferences menu.

Q: How do I get to the Preferences menu??
A: Press Ctrl-P. Alternatively, click on the triangle shaped menu button in the top left corner of the screen, and then selece the Preferences menu option. You can also access the Preferences menu just after loading Civ 3.

Skanky Burns · November 20, 2001, 23:33

Q: I just got a Great Leader. Now what the hell am I supposed to do with him/her??
A: You can use a GL to rush the production of any building, or to produce an army. Just move your leader into any city you control, and buttons will appear, allowing you to rush a building or build an army.

Q: I have an army, but no ones in it?? What do I do??
A: Put the units you want in the army in the same square. Select a unit, and then (L)oad it into the army. Repeat for the other units.

Q: I have 3 units in my army, but I have seen the enemy with a 4 unit army. How do I get that many in my army??
A: You need to have created at least 3 armies, which will allow you to build the Penatgon small wonder. After that is built, just load the extra unit into each army.

Jaybe · November 21, 2001, 02:38

Q. Civ-A has a Mutual Protection Pact with Civ-B, and Civ-A attacks you. Is Civ-B going to automatically going to go to war with you?

A. No. As long as you do not attack (or even bombard) Civ-A units in his country you are in the clear.

Specific Example: Persia has an MPP with the Egyptians (who are my only source of Rubber). I bombarded a Persian unit within their borders and Egypt immediately declares war on me and I lose my Rubber. I reloaded the Autosave, and very carefully do not attack Persian within their borders, attacking other Persians at will. It keeps the peace with the Egyptians.

Grumbold · November 21, 2001, 08:19

Q: When I'm talking to some countries I get more options on the diplomacy screen, like signing mutual defence policies, than with other countries. Why?

A: You need to establish embassies to be able to discuss these sort of things. Some options only appear when you have discovered the right techs, eg you need writing to be able to exchange maps.

Q: Wonders like Bach's Cathedral are supposed to cover the entire continent but it doesn't. Why?

A: In the same way as the Eurasian and African continents or North and South America are joined at the tip, a small land corridor can be deemed by Civ 3 to split a large landmass into two separate 'continents'.

Q: Why aren't the people building my palace for me? I am doing great in this game.

A: If you started a new game after resigning or losing a previous one the Palace triggers may not work. If you go into the palace using F9 you can see if they are ready to build a new piece. Everything should get back to normal once you quit and reload.

Q: How can I build up a new town infrastructure really fast without spending lots of money?

A: You can currently "lumberjack" a single square as many times as you have workers available. Once you have the tech to plant trees, just set some to harvesting (shift-C), then as soon as it clears set more to planting(n) until the trees reappear. Rinse, repeat.

Q: Settlers from powers I do not want to go to war with keep invading "my" territory to plant new settlements. How do I stop them?

A: the only answer is to fill the potential city sites with cheap units so that there are no suitable tiles available for them to settle. Excess captured workers do the job nicely. Building a 'wall' of units across a bottleneck also works, but the AI will send ships round the barrier if it can.

Q: Help, half my Civ 2 terraforming options have disappeared! Where are they?

A: You can no longer effect large scale transformations of the landscape except to add or remove trees. This makes global warming nasty and permanent damage.

Q: Will resources change or disappear if I cut down these trees or jungle?

A: No, they are not affected.

Q: Does it matter what sort of tile I found my city on?

A: You will always get 2 food, 1 shield and 2 gold from your city tile no matter what you founded it on. You will not eliminate any terrain special resource but its normal production bonus will be lost. The defensive bonus of building on a hill remains.

zapperio · November 21, 2001, 11:20

Q: What can I do when a belligerent civ demands ridiculous things from me like all my gold or my territory map. If I refuse they'll declare war on me and I can't afford to go to war right now.

A: offer a counter-proposal. offer to give the civ 5 gold tribute. they'll be happy and go away. conflict avoided at the cost of 5 gold.

Grumbold · November 21, 2001, 12:54

Another on the diplomacy

Q: The computer always makes unreasonable demands for its tech or luxuries. How can I get my own back without exploiting the gold bug?

A: Don't be shy with your tech. Learn something that no-one else has and market it aggressively to everyone you have met, all in the same turn before they can spread the knowledge around. Your one tech could be traded for 4 new techs and some gold every turn if you shop around and do deals with everybody, even if you come off worse in each individual trade.

Dominous · November 21, 2001, 19:51

Q: Why does the game scroll slowly with my kick butt 1.3 ghz, sweet mobo, ddr ram, and my globally excepted geforce 3 or nvidia video computer?
A: Because you have to find an earlier inadequate version of the drivers (12.41) and reinstall it every single time you want to play the game.

Q: Is firaxis going to fix the slow scroll with nvidia problem?
A: Probably not. They seem to think it’s a problem with drivers even though the new drivers increases performance up to 50% on every other single game on this planet.

Q: How do I change my resolution to remain constantly parallel to my desktop resolution?
A: Add “KeepRes=1” to the “Civilzation3.ini” in your civ3 directory.

Q: Why do I see these strange lines flicking on my monitor when I play civ 3 or “out of scan frequency monitor error”? This doesn’t happen with any other game?
A: Get a program called powerstrip from downloads.com. Install it and make sure it’s on before you play the game. This should solve the problem without editing any inf files.

Q: Dominous, why do you not run for President in the states.
A: Because I am too busy trying to patch civ3 to work with my performance machine.

PS: I think this was acceptable mark considering the title of the thread:
The CIV3-GENERAL FAQ: COMMON QUESTIONS/COMPLAINTS/ARGUMENTS and their ANSWERS

Lord Cannager · November 22, 2001, 09:29

to upgrade a unit u should move him to a city with the resource that the upgrade needs (like a knight to a cavalry u need saltpeter)then right clik on the unit in the city screen and it will say fortify,etc then at the bottom it will say upgrade to cavalry or whatever.