Civilization III
FAQ Information
Version History
Introduction
Gameface
Civilization for Beginners
What's New in Civ3?
Starting Off
Managing Your Nation
Managing Surrounding Terrain
Communicating With Civs
Culture
Waging War & Battle
Routes To Victory
Frequently Asked Questions
Strategies
Civilizations
Units
City Improvements
Technological Advances
Wonders of the World
Governments
Credits
Copyright Information
More War & Battle Tips
  
  
Civilization is a strategy series, based on the Earth's history, with its characters being the various tribes and civilizations that made a notable difference to life, as we know it. Extremely in-depth, you will either flourish or fall. You will need to explore the planet, manage your nations internal issues, research new technologies, and interact with your surrounding players. Winning, a difficult feat is complete strategy. In the next few sections of this document, I will guide you through the basics of playing this game.

Firstly, you will begin the game as a civilization. You can build cities and colonies, which, in turn, can build city improvements, Wonders of the World and units. Units are there to let you explore the world you are in. You can use units just for exploration, or perhaps to fight wars with another civilization you have already come in contact. Wars aside, there are other ways to interact with other nations. Trade is a large aspect of Civ3, as you can gain wealth, resources (use to build certain units/improvements), luxuries (make your citizens happy), maps (the easiest form of exploration), cities, technology and agreements such as Mutual Protection Pacts, Trade Embargos and Military alliances.

As you play the game, you will find some nations nearby see you in a different aspect. Some might dislike you, perhaps you could have attacked them in the past, while others may adore you, perhaps because you are kind when you trade with them. The simplest way to improve their thoughts of you is to give them gold for nothing. How your peers see you often plays a part in what your final score is.

Units

There are four types of units to build: Ground, naval, aerial and defenceless. Ground units are usually melee units such as Horsemen, Swordsmen, Riflemen, etc. Naval units are ships or boats. Sometimes they are used to transport units to other land masses, but usually they are used to battle other naval units. Aerial units, thirdly, are used to attack other aerial units, but are mainly used to bombard squares. Defenceless units have the lowest amount. They consist of Settlers, scouts, leaders, workers, etc. Every unit will have a health bar next to them. The amount of bars can be between two and five.

Two health points - Conscript unit
Three health points - Regular unit
Four health points - Veteran unit
Five health points - Elite unit

Units which are on the Elite status have the opportunity to upgrade to become a Leader. Leaders can load units into one movement to form an army. Armies combine the total health of the varying units and attack together. There is a maximum of three units to one army (four if the Small Wonder, Military Academy, has been build). Also, leaders can be used to hurry production in cities. Once either of these things have happened, however, the Leader cannot be used again. The controls for units are as follows:

7 - North West
8 - North
9 - North East
4 - West
6 - East
1 - South West
2 - South
3 - South East
Up arrow - North
Down arrow - South
Left arrow - West
Right arrow - East
Space - Stay
F - fortify
R - Build a road (workers)
M - Build a mine (workers)
I - Irrigate a tile (workers)

Use the buttons onscreen for other movements.

Science

To stay in the game, you will have to research technology and science. Without it, your civilization would rot and eventually soon behind. My advice is to put as much into science as possible, without loosing more than 2 gold per turn. Alternatively, the other strategy of not putting any money into science can be used - instead, just buy it from the other civilizations for whatever money - you can afford it. Science is a huge part of Civilization III. Be sure to stay in the race.

Production

If you look at your cities, you will find they generate three things: money, shields and food. Food is used to increase your population. When you get enough extra food to fill your growth box, population increases by one. Let me remind you, of course, that having your city size one does not mean there is only one person in it. Sometimes, the surrounding terrain of your city does not generate enough food to allow any growth. Solutions include to irrigate the surrounding terrain where possible. Cutting down and jungles or forests allow more space for food to be grown. The best place to produce money for your city is to build roads on the surrounding terrain.

Increasing the amount of shields your city generates will allow you to build improvements and wonders faster. Shields are found in such places as forests, mines, etc. Building mines on terrain will increase the amount of shields that tile produces. Keep in mind, however, that only one improvement (mines, fortresses, irrigation, etc) can be built per square. Roads and railroads can be build on any land square, regardless. Also, until Replaceable Parts is discovered, there must be a resource of fresh water nearby in order to build irrigation until Electricity is discovered.

Resources and Luxuries

Resources and luxuries are important part in the internal affairs of your nation. Resources are used to build, while luxuries are purely to make your citizens happy. Resources include coal, iron and aluminium, while luxuries would include silks, gold, gems and dyes. Resources, such as coal, are needed to build certain units or improvements. For example, iron is needed to build Pikemen, and horses are needed to build knights. Once you find a resource or luxury, you must, however, build a road to it, mine it or build a colony on it (only if it is outside your nation's boundaries. Use workers to build colonies.

Resources and luxuries can be traded with other civilizations. They are expensive, though, so you must be willing to trade much gold for them. Likewise, you will receive a lot of gold/random other stuff in turn for your luxuries and resources. Also keep in mind that it takes only one source of a particular item to feed your entire nation, so you are losing money, should you choose not to trade.
    
Last Update: March 24, 2008 Contributors: TimmyTheRabidTurtle