Strategy Guide Wiki - Civilization III

War is, in my opinion, the most exciting aspect of civilization. It will require a lot of units, however, so you will have to gather a lot of troops (and ships, if you are attacking another continent) for many turns beforehand. Of course, it will depend on the size of the opposing cities and the size of the nation on how much you will need. A general rule of thumb is to have more units than the other civilizations in the game. Army units are your salvation in war, so keep many of them if you can.

Be careful when waging war. A mistake many players make is to empty their cities of all but the mandatory fortified units when invading another nation. Have a good balance between defensive units and attacking units. Never, repeat: NEVER COMPROMISE YOUR DEFENCE FOR ATTACK. If you happen to fuck up and lose a lot of your forces, your border cities will be prey to attack and possible takeover and your entire empire could be under threat. Basically, you're risking a lot. When forming your forces, make sure to have them accompanied by defensive units which you can fortify in captured cities as you battle. It is hell trying to defend a nation of cities when they have one horseman or knight in each one. Be logical. Also, do your best to have all your units in position at the same time. Bombarding is useful, but it does destroy some mines/roads/irrigation that you could use yourself once the war is over. Should you, at any point, begin to loose, return to your fortified cities and await reinforcements. You don't want your army defeated thoroughly and the war turned against you, though it is very tempting to continue.

Be wary of wars across continents. These are very hard to maintain as an aggressor. Having your own nation get invaded, however, should generally be easy to mop up. Be sure to keep units spread out over all the terrain in your nation to prevent sneak attacks.

-- In the early empire building phase, attack and overwhelm cities of weaker civilizations. It is easier to do this before the civilization matures and they add stronger units. It is much easier to take out a city when you are battling warriors and bowmen than pikemen and medieval infantry.

-- Do not allow another civilization to establish cities in your home continent. Although this will trigger a war, this is much more desireable than trying to cut out a growing cancer later on. It also gives you a position of strength when dealing with that civilization in the future.

-- Check your foreign and military advisors to learn to relative strength of your opponents. If you have planted a spy, you can see the troop strength of the enemy. The advisors will tell you what the most advanced unit is for the other army.

More About Combat

Battles are... random, to say the least. You may wonder why sometimes puny warriors defeat your cavalries. In Civ3, every unit has a chance of defeating its opposition. The odds of your unit winning depends on this formula:

Offensive Unit's Attack Strength
----------------------------------------------------------------
(Offensive Unit's Attack Strength + Defender's Defence Strength)

Thus, in a battle involving a Swordsman attacking a warrior, the swordsman has a 75% chance of defeating the warrior. This is seen in here: 3/3+1

BTW, thanks to Dan Simpson's FAQ for that information.

You may notice as you play that some units have more health points than others. This is because there are varying ranks for each unit.

Conscription - 2 health points (Only Barbarians and drafted units can be this rank)
Regular - 3 health points (a city without a barracks builds this type)
Veteran - 4 health points (cities with barracks build these)
Elite - 5 health points

Units which are on the Elite status have a 1/12 opportunity to upgrade to become a Leader. Leaders can load units into one unit to form an army. Armies combine the total health of the varying units and attack together, thus being great units. There is a maximum of three units to one army (four if the Small Wonder, the Pentagon, 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 and will disappear.


Last Update: December 24, 2008	Contributors: TimmyTheRabidTurtle