Question: What was your 1st CIII game like?

[Aramis]

With the impending release of C3C, and my ardent anticipation, I've been thinking about the wonder and fascination of my 1st game, and hoping I'll get that same feeling back. Since we have a few weeks let's talk about that first experience. I'd really like to know what the game was like for you.

For myself, I had never played earlier versions and was somewhat daunted by the manual. I tried to read it, but I wanted hands-on experience ('impatience" I belive that's called), so I jumped right in, on Monarch level, having no idea what to expect. I played as the Aztecs, for no reason beyond they seemed somewhat cool, and promptly treated the game like the board game 'Risk.' I had zero idea what to do with the workers beyond building roads, had no idea how to manage the economy, and attacked everyone I met. Diplomacy (novice that I was) was not an issue. I was trounced very fast, but had a blast the whole time. I remember thinking that I'd never get the hang of the game, but I kept at it and I'm glad I did.

The game fascinates me. Tell something about your first experiences w/CivIII. What did you expect? What went right or wrong? Why did you stick with it?

We've got some time to kill before C3C.

--Rob

[peterfharris]

I first tried Civ3 in the game store and thought it was loathsome and promptly decided it would be a complete waste of money. I remember nothing about that partial game. (I had played plenty of Civ1 and Civ2).

Some months later I trotted off to the games store to buy some other game (Anno 1503?) but it turned out that was still a long way off from release. I noticed a half price Civ3 and for some reason bought it, I have no idea why. Anyway, I have been happily playing for over a year now, and shelled more money for PTW.

[Aramis]

[PrinceBimz]

Originally posted by Rob_S
With the impending release of C3C, and my ardent anticipation, I've been thinking about the wonder and fascination of my 1st game, and hoping I'll get that same feeling back. Since we have a few weeks let's talk about that first experience. I'd really like to know what the game was like for you.

For myself, I had never played earlier versions and was somewhat daunted by the manual. I tried to read it, but I wanted hands-on experience ('impatience" I belive that's called), so I jumped right in, on Monarch level, having no idea what to expect. I played as the Aztecs, for no reason beyond they seemed somewhat cool, and promptly treated the game like the board game 'Risk.' I had zero idea what to do with the workers beyond building roads, had no idea how to manage the economy, and attacked everyone I met. Diplomacy (novice that I was) was not an issue. I was trounced very fast, but had a blast the whole time. I remember thinking that I'd never get the hang of the game, but I kept at it and I'm glad I did.

The game fascinates me. Tell something about your first experiences w/CivIII. What did you expect? What went right or wrong? Why did you stick with it?

We've got some time to kill before C3C.

--Rob

Well I first discovered civilization on the SNES. This was before I even had a computer. When I played it, that was my favorite game, me and a friend of mind were seriously hooked! It was downright addicting! Not long after I noticed Civ2 for the PC. As you guess, not long after I got a PC. Civ2 was the first game I purchased for my new PC, the very first game out of nearly 100 that would come afterwards. I had so much fun with it. Several years later, when SMAC and the CtP series came around, I had even more fun with those. Now when Civ3 was released in the last quarter of 2001 and I got that one, WOW, this was the best. Let me tell you my favorite hands down.

So my first game of Civ3, don't remember all of the details but man was it fun. I was loving (and still do) the graphics and all of the awesome animations. The resources and luxuries, trading, diplomacy, nearly all of it was improved. Now this was a sequel! Look here it is almost exactly 2 years later and to no surprise it is still as fun or even more fun as it was when I first played it. Probably more fun now that I know how to play better.

[Harovan]

My first game was a standard/continents/all-average map game as Germany on Regent, just to get a feel what it's about. I never finished that game, I abandoned it in the industrial age in the mid of a gigantic war which I was winning, because I had seen enough. My second game, at Monarch under otherwise same condition, I won by space race.

[Dominae]

In my first game I was stuck on a large peninsula with nothing but Plains and Forests (with Plains underneath, of course!), but no access to fresh water. It's a good thing I was awestruck by the game, because that's the kind of starting location that would make most players quit in disgust.

After flipping through the Civilopedia for about half and hour, I figured out I would have to wait until Electricity to make my cities productive. Yeah right! Quit, restart.

I played the Persians, mainly because 'Immortal' sounded cool (and still does, although somewhat misleading).


Dominae

[spy14]

I cant believe how much people can remember about their first games! I played (probably) as the English on (probably) Warlord. I do remember though that it was fun and set me up to play countless others games of Civ, and I had a fair grasp of what I was doing as I played Civ2 Gold and CTP II before it.

[PeaSoup]

heh, I remember keeping a copy of the PDF manual on my computer so I can read it at school..

ya, my first game was India, monarch, standard map.. I think I won via a diplomatic victory.

[eris]

I had played CTP for a while, as a somewhat mild addiction. I tried Civ2, but it seemed like a step backward, primarily because of the lack of stack moves. I moved on to other thngs for a while. The loved ones bought me a copy of PTW for Winter Solstice. I had to avoid explaining that it wasn't a whole package and tactfully went to the store to buy Civ3 so I could use the PTW gift.

I read the manual. I often read manuals, and it often helps, too. I browsed the Civilopedia while trying a couple of practice runs. I decided I was ready for a game. I played Cleopatra on Chieftan. Knowing what I know now, I made terrible mistakes. I let the workers automate, etc. However, I had a good starting position and a bit of stubborness and had picked a huge map so I had room to work in. I found out I was a builder. Every city had everything in it I could build. Every city had troops in it. Diplomacy and Trade seemed like a great game concept, but all the deals offered seemed like highway robbery, and nobody liked me. (That hurt! I had been playing nice!) Then someone got uppity and declared war. I had a good time using my over-developed military to trounce them. I found out that taking over cities made for a bigger empire. This was fun! Let's go take out some other little Civ! I stumbled through the tech tree, having some idea of what it was all about and what I would want. I did find the science slider and kept it pushed up, so I did keep a big tech lead. Then, when I was busily crushing some poor helpless Civ who had mistakenly declared war, I suddenly got a culture win. (I had been building every possible thing in my cities, remember?) I was kinda disappointed at first. Then I liked that I had done a "peaceful" win (not counting the three Civs I had eliminated).

I liked the graphics, and the epic story feel. I missed Wonder movies as eye candy because I had enjoyed them in CTP. I was glad I started at the easiest level, but I knew those Civs were smarter than the ones I was used to. I knew that I would have fun working with them as things got up in levels. The complexities looked easy enough to work with (I had just won!) and complex enough to offer a variety of opportunites.

I was hooked.

I'm glad I jumped in at PTW. I have played a bit with vanilla Civ3, and much prefer PTW, especially because of the stacked unit movements. Also, I think the earlier versions were buggy enough to affect gameplaying enjoyment. I'm glad I missed that.

I became a builder, going for Spaace and Diplo and Cilture winds in different ways. Then I found these forums. Then I became a more aggresive builder. Sometimes, much more aggresive.

[vmxa1]

First game, I am lucky if I can remember my current game.

[David Murray]

Sorry but you won't get the same sense of euphoria as you did with your first game.

It's like me with GTA3 and Vice City. Vice City is the better game but the feeling I had when I first played GTA3 was earth shattering.

Oh yeah, and my first few games of Civ2 and Civ3 were quite good too

[gunkulator]

First game was Caesar on Regent level. Legions just sounded so cool so I had to try them. I've played CivII enough to beat diety easily and I have to say, it handicapped my playing. I tried the typical CivII strategy of booting everyone off my continent early although I waited until I got Legions. "Golden Age"? What's that? I'll just ignore it...

Boy was I surprised to see my Legions lose against Spearmen, not just in a rare event but pretty regularily. Also shocked at that first stack of 4 AI Swordsman taking my Spearman guarded city. Hey, wait! I had city walls! What's that? Only a 50% bonus now? Oh.

Built the FP in a city right next to the capital (dumb dumb dumb!). Tried sending Settlers in Triremes over the ocean. Lost 'em all.

Ordered my very strong neighbor out of my territory instead of meekly allowing the intrusion. War declared. My empire wiped out. Game over.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by vmxa1
First game, I am lucky if I can remember my current game.

I know I played the Romans, and I know I got totally run over by the AI. That was two years ago and I don't remember anything else.

[self biased]

heh. it was christmas day, and this was my ex's flagship gift. i finished my game that day. in a moment of weakness, i went through the tutorial, and ruled the world. later Civ became my refuge... but ming prowls these forums, and i'm forbidden to talk about those days.

[Brundlefly]

Well, you know, I had waited so long to play Civ3, had heard so much about it. Then , one day , I got the feeling it was "time". I placed the CD in the drive and began playing. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I got so excited that the game ended after only 30 seconds. I was left feeling like "Is that all there was to it"? I lit up a cigarette, turned off the computer, and left the room. But I'll have a memory that will last forever....

[Jaybe]

My first game of Civ3 wasn't a game -- it was the tutorial! (You know, the Chieftan game as Rome). Not really a game, learning the mechanics of the game. I think I won, but a really low score.

[bruno321]

I did something pretty similar to what you did. I was used to the typical B&B AoE type. I HAD to read the manual, because I felt attracted to the game. Normally, I'd dump it... After reading the game I started playing. Then, of course, I started attacking everybody I was seeing and in no time I was attacked by a zillion units I didn't understand ANYTHING, anything... With time and a lot of practice, I got along with the game. Now I love it

[Rhothaerill]

Hmm, well my first game was played about two years ago, but I do remember a bit about it. I played as the Americans on a huge map at regent level and didn't understand anything of how to play a good game yet. I built cities like crazy (this was unpatched vanilla civ so corruption was horrendous); I irrigated every tile I could to grow my cities as much as possible; I thought sanitation was the most important industrial age tech; I never bothered to trade techs or much of anything with the other civs thinking I should research everything myself; and when I finished researching steam power and discovered I had no coal I quit the game because I figured I wouldn't be able to wage effective war without railroads.

I've improved a bit since then.

[G'Kar]

It was chieftain and I got crushed; the AIs are much more aggressive (and better programmed) than in other 4X games.

[Swissy]

I playeda chieftain game as America with default rules. Had to fight my way out of a peninsula thruogh the Iroquois and found myself basically leading thru the whole game. Became so engrossed with checking out all the stuff you could do and the changes from Civ2 that I lost track of time. Suddenly a pop-up came up saying I won the game as the 540 turns had run out.

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

Hi, All I can remember about MY first game was that I tried to play using my old Civ2 tactics-and got soundly THRASHED !!! It wasn't that I lost, more that I was sooo far behind everyone else, and stuck in a horrible losing war!!! I slowly started to adapt my play style, and was doing much better when CRASH-one day my computer died, and I haven't been able to play Civ3 since ! I have an older computer, though, and I was playing Civ2 ToT a lot, but it just wasn't the same !!! In particular, I keep expecting to see my borders and get strategic resources ! I will have a new computer in the new year, however, and plan to get C3:C as soon as that happens!!!

Yours,
The_Aussie_Lurker.

p.s.: Even in it's earliest stages, I was VERY impressed with the new AI, as compared to that of civ2 (another disappointing step backwards for me, as I keep overvaluing the AI's 'intelligence in ToT!!) If what I've heard about the AI improvements is anything to go by, I think I'll be even more amazed when I start the game anew!!!

[notyoueither]

The game fascinates me. Tell something about your first experiences w/CivIII. What did you expect? What went right or wrong? Why did you stick with it?

I was cocky and tried Deity. I can still see the civ replay with the AI cities popping up like weeds compared to my puny 1 or 2.

Nothing went right, but at least I was consistent.

I turned it down to Regent until I learned how to spank the system. Never have liked Deity since, though.

[Solomwi]

I'm pretty sure this was my first game, but I played Russia on Warlord, choosing them based on traits alone after skimming through what was new in the manual.

"Expansionists get a unit NOBODY else gets?!? COOL!"

"Scientifics get FREE TECH?!? Somebody pinch me! No way there's a better civ combination than these!"

The rest of the game went as could be expected. I kept using my Civ 2 tactics, and getting frustrated when they wouldn't work, but still in awe of the improvements over Civ 2. I remember just south of Moscow was a large desert, and on the southern end of that attached the bulk of my continent, with a large jungle separating me from Lizzy. I put my FP just two cities south of Moscow, with no intention of ever moving the palace, and sent a lone settler deep into the jungle to claim a patch of Dyes. Not long after that, I saw an orange SOD (swords and longbows, mainly), and no matter how many Riflemen I rushed, couldn't seem to find the end of her forces that were hell-bent on taking that city. I had a worker already building a road to it and tried to rush Cossack reinforcements. IIRC, though, I was rushing one at a time out there, so that was a LOT of help. I don't think I played much past that point, as I just HAD to keep that Dye city. I wish I had kept a save of that game.

I just fired up old school Civ 3 and loaded one of the few saves I have left, one of the first games I won (I think), on Warlord, with Babylon. I own over half the world on a huge map and have eliminated the Iroquois, Americans and Zulu. I also obviously had no cxlue what I was doing. Though I own all of my home landmass, I've still got considerable garrisons in most of the cities there. I've built no marines, one paratrooper, two helicopters, 18 artillery units and nearly 200 each of MI and MA. I scanned the map, and was aghast at my neophyte brute force tactics and abysmal force concentration, no style whatsoever. Also, it's 1964 and I only have 6 luxuries (with a 7th just one battle away)! Probably the most jaw-dropping aspect to me was having only three cities producing over 100 shields, even with manufacturing plants, and only one of those producing over 105 (Persepolis at 141). Then I looked at my core and saw why. Babylon is size 41 and growing. Ugh.

Actually, checking the HoF, I think my first win was with America on Chieftain, and it was Diplomatic with a whopping score of 936. I don't remember anything about the game, though.

Lord, this is like looking back at all my goofy middle school yearbook pictures. Thankfully, I've shed the Civ 2 mindset, learned many finer points of the game, and developed a sense of style to my empires and war plans. Probably 90% of the credit for that goes to 'Poly.

[Aramis]

Originally posted by Solomwi

Lord, this is like looking back at all my goofy middle school yearbook pictures. Thankfully, I've shed the Civ 2 mindset, learned many finer points of the game, and developed a sense of style to my empires and war plans. Probably 90% of the credit for that goes to 'Poly.

I give 'Poly a lot of the credit, too. Early games were mostly disasters (tho' fun) even AFTER I read the manual. Winning strategies developed soon after and were fine-tuned by what I read in different threads.

[Jethro83]

It was a lowly Chieftain game, playing as America on a huge Pangaea map. I was completely hemmed in by both the Aztecs and Iroquois (attributed to building up improvements and wonders at the expense of settlers, and my being located on a peninsula in the south-west corner of the map).

I might have continued, and gladly made a stab at wiping the Aztecs out had my computer back then not been a lowly PII 350mHz PC with 64MB RAM and unable to manage huge maps.

Most games after that, I kept winning Cultural victories playing as all the Industrious civs (since back then I was addicted to the Industrious trait and had difficulty managing without it).

Upon moving up to Regent, the real fun of this game began.

[asleepathewheel]

ugly


very ugly

My egyptians got roasted on monarch.

[nuther]

The first game I can remember was a standard continent monarch game, I was france. I had spain and scandinavia on my continent. I took half of spain and stopped. Then culture flipping took away some of their cities. Scandinavia was number one so I built cavalry, muskets and cannon and invaded before they got way too big. But, I didnt know how to fight and I lost the war becuase they had riflemen. Then I gave up.

[dojoboy]

Being a Civ2 veteran, I started on Chieftain!

So, I was a coward.

Played as the Iroquois, remember my first war was against the English. When an English horseman came out after me, I was stunned, thinking, "Wow!" I ended up winning a histograph victory.

[peterfharris]

The first try of a new game can be the most fun (although certainly not the most successful). One does whatever "seems like a good idea at the time" and so much is new. Later, one learns strategy and feels obliged to do the sensible things which is more satisfying but less fun in another way.

I vaguely remember my first Civ1 game! Played as the English at lowest difficulty level and IIRC lost. It was my first computer game ever. I had no idea what I was doing. That was one hell of a fun game, got me hooked and here I am after all these years still playing Civ.

[Panzer]

I remember my first game of Civ2. It was me (Romans) versus the Greeks and the Mongols on Chieftain and I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing! My city spacing was....errr.....interesting to say the least. I did not build roads.....nor irrigation.....nor mines (okay, I actually did build a mine....about 10 tiles from the nearest city radius). I remember being puzzled about how to explore (I started building city improvements first), so it took me the larger part of the BC years before I finally built my first unit. I attacked the Mongols with knights but the offensive bogged down after I took one city. I discovered Gunpowder, so I immediately built some Musketeers and used them to assault Mongol cities (Well, they've got guns, don't they?!). After that offensive failed (gosh, I wonder why? ) I played for a few mote turns, then started a new game, in which I fared a lot better......though my city spacing remained atrocious for a lot of games .