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Arrian
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Kneel before Grog!
Jul 2001
time: 00:20
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Sloww,
Start with warlord and work your way up. I started out on chieftain even though I regularly thrashed CivII on Diety. My first couple of games at Regent didn't go well, and my first few games on Monarch kicked my ass. I'm still playing Monarch, but no longer consider it difficult to win. I still play it, though, because I've come up with a different definition of what I consider to be "winning." I'm kinda experimenting now.
Go on over to the strategy forum, and check out some of the ideas there.
A couple of quick pointers:
Civ choice is key. Match up a civ with your preferred playstyle. If you are a "peaceful builder" type, play Egypt or Babylon. If you are a raging warmonger, play Japan (personal favorite), the Aztecs, Persia, the Iroquois or China (it all depends on what you prefer in terms of UU, golden age timing, etc.).
Understand the power of resources, both strategic and luxury. The best way to defeat an opponent without overwhelming force is to deny him resources.
Unit upgrade paths are important to consider when chosing what units to build (I prefer horsemen to swordsmen for several reasons, but this is a huge part).
Mobility is power in war - CivIII's mobile ground units are much more powerful than their a/d stats may indicate.
Even if you wish to avoid war, remember that the AI will attack you if it perceives weakness.
Starting location is hugely important. Unless you are a "ironman" type who cannot stomach it, don't be afraid to utilize "ctrl+shift+q" if you find yourself in the tundra.
-Arrian
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mwaf
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Helsinki, Finland
Jan 1970
time: 07:20
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Civ I - I considered myself a guru. No Internet for me back then, so I really don't know good I actually was(/is).
Civ II - I usally played on prince or king (IIRC), although, I did beat the game at Deity once (Spacerace, with a perfect grassland continent to start off with (the world was generated as: warm, wet and young)) and that was enough of Deity for me.
Civ III - Bought the game last week. I won my first game on Cheiftain by score at 2050AD. I'm currently playing my second game, on Warlord, and I'm getting my ass kicked (one city left), gotta rethink my old tactics (which probably go back all the way to Civ I).
I'm probably going back to Cheiftain after the current game to improve my skills (fortunately, there's still time to imporve before anyone gets their hands on PtW).
BTW, I'm playing on a huge map with 15 civs+/me, is that considered difficult compared to, say, a standard size map with 7 civs+/me?
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Nakar Gabab
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of Pedantic Nitpicking
May 2001
time: 00:20
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*The* #1 thing that improved my play was unit production. I made WAY too many early improvements when I really should have been making units. Sure, having culture is great, but if you just rush a temple early, you'll get plenty of culture over time, and you don't NEED to rush to those libraries/colosseums right off.
I found that the more units I made early on, and the more... aggressive I was with them, the better and better I did at the game. It's not so much the leaders (I rarely get many of them) as it is the ability NOT to take the AI's guff. And if you're "too nice," you get that in spades.
Buck up, batten down the hatches, reach out, and crush somebody. You'll do 100% better at Civ3 if you start out strong and project your power.
Note that it's fine to be nice, just make sure you're nice with a better army.
Speak softly and carry a big stick. Or just speak loudly and hit people with the stick until they beg. 
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Jethro83
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Newcastle, Australia
Mar 2002
time: 15:20
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quote:
Originally posted by Nakar Gabab
*The* #1 thing that improved my play was unit production. I made WAY too many early improvements when I really should have been making units. Sure, having culture is great, but if you just rush a temple early, you'll get plenty of culture over time, and you don't NEED to rush to those libraries/colosseums right off.
I found that the more units I made early on, and the more... aggressive I was with them, the better and better I did at the game. It's not so much the leaders (I rarely get many of them) as it is the ability NOT to take the AI's guff. And if you're "too nice," you get that in spades.
Buck up, batten down the hatches, reach out, and crush somebody. You'll do 100% better at Civ3 if you start out strong and project your power.
Note that it's fine to be nice, just make sure you're nice with a better army.
Speak softly and carry a big stick. Or just speak loudly and hit people with the stick until they beg. |
Exactly the problem I had in the early days of buying the game. And because of it, I couldn't even make it past Warlord. Now that I am producing numerous units, and showing that I have the stones to send them out after anyone in my way, I am rapidly establishing my place as a superpower and maintaining it through the ages.
Furthermore, it seems to be more effective to be beating techs out of the enemy than to be researching them yourself in the early stages of the game. Despite being called Civilization, being civilized hardly gets you ahead until you are already powerful.
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delsolsi
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Washington
May 2002
time: 05:20
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I've been playing this game about 3 weeks now and at first I sucked real bad too. I started on chiefton I won my first three games so I decided to go up to warlord and got my a$$ absolutly kicked. I went back down to chiefton again but it was so easy it wasn't fun, so I tried warlord again but with a new play style. I consider myself to be a peaceful player, I only go to war when I get attacked. On chiefton I never got attacked so I didn't build up my military very much. When I went up to warlord I tried playing the same way but the other civs would always gang up on me and kick my a$$ because I could not fend them off because my military was so weak.
On my last game on warlord I started building my military up from the start. I tried to stay atleast at average military compared to the other civs and strong against most. I didn't have any problems with the other civs attacking me but I fell way behind in tech. After noticing this I went straight for Literature so I could get the Great Library. I got six or seven techs from the Great Library, this caught me back up the rest of the civs. From this point I was able to gain a lead in tech and then sell the techs to the other civs for gold per turn. I used this to pay for my military and make it even stronger.
Russia decided to declare war on me after a while. My military was way stronger and much more advanced than theirs so I wasn't worried about them but from my other experiences on warlord I was worried about all the other civs sideing with them and declaring war on me so I signed mutual protection pacts with all the civs neiboring Russia. After takeing a bunch of Russian cities I signed a peace treaty with them and never had any problems the rest of the game with other civs.
I eventually ended up winning that game by space race in the 1930's. Last night I started my first game on regent. I'm playing Marla Singer's world map. So far so good. I kept restarting untill I got a starting position on North America. I think this may have given me an unfair advantage. There is only one other civ on the continent and they got stuck with a bad starting position while I got a good one so I'm kicking their a$$ in every aspect. I haven't found the other civs yet so I don't know if I really doing good or if the other civ on my continent just sucks worse than I do.
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Theseus
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The warmonger formerly known as rpodos. Gathering Storm! Apolyton Spirit!!
Apr 2002
time: 00:20
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SH:
Lots of good tips above. here's my two cents, at a very broad level:
* I saw you're focused on Militaristic. I assume that's for GLs... don;t go there quite yet. I would recommend Religious and Industrious until you get comfortable.
* Understand that proactive early war helps quite a lot... don;t focus on GLs yet, just damage neighboring civs, and maybe (again, maybe) take a city or two.
* EXPLORE!! I don't care how, even Warriors are OK. Take down goody huts, and meet as many civs as you can. Know the terrain, and focus on the best sites.
* Despotism needs a new thread... it is the bulk of the game, and most importantly the determining period. Actually, I'll stop here... everybody, chime in.
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11-06-2002 20:07
) and got about 2200 points.
. And I used to play (and still do) those games 'by the book'. So I don't use massive amounts of crawlers, ICS or something like that.
I don't see you around these parts too often Sloww. I suggest you start off at cheiftain or warlord at very least. I hope you get into it, you may prove to be a worthy adversary when PTW comes around. 
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