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jobuck
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Hi,
I'm a new player of civ3, but I already spend hours with this game.
By the way, I'm not sure if my first conclusion below about this game is well founded or not.
First conclusion:
This game can go straight to the trash.
I have the strong feeling that as soon as I get some power such as a land superficy, or strong invention such as "Great Library" or strong army, I quickly loose my advantage either because I'm always attacked by the others nation, or they get more powerfull invention, and so.
So it's seems to me that the IA can be summarized by:
If player invention=high, then set nationXinvention = high+1
If player army=high, then set nationXarmy = high+1
or
If player army=poor, then attack
and so.
I hops I'm wrong because I like this game and I hops I'm loosing because I haven't well understand how to play to it.
But tell me:
Why if I discover the "Great Library", I still found others nation with more inventions ?
Why when after a couple of round only after the game begin, if I attack a nation, my army count let say 10 warrior while my ennemy get 20 ??
How do you do to build so quickly an army and at the same time maintain a high number of inventions and cultural influence ?
Why if I start the game with the Alphabet, put 100% of investment on research, searching the the "writting" and the "littarcy" and then build the Great Library do I have others nations building this library before me, knowing that those nation start without knowing the Alphabet ???
Why each time I send a warrior far away from my base, it always loose against the barbare ?
Why if I put a lot of effort to build asap colons one after the other, I found other nation with a bigger country, or a colon from another nation taking the place I want 1 turn before me ?
Why when I am isoleted in a island, after few turns only (just the time to create a colon), do I get already a colon from another nation building his city on my island ??
Until I can understand the reason of such point, this game is a big sh*t and I will not recommend it.
The IA is tooooooo much poooooor.
Note: I'm always playing at the monarque level.
I reach the year 2045 building the spaceship but *by hasard isn't it* I lost because some others nation build up it before me, even if we have spend money doing war. Of course, my competitor, who was loosing, build up the spaceship before me. pfffffffffff
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Spiffor
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CPA - Evil Clone brigade
Nov 2001
time: 06:28
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quote:
Originally posted by jobuck
First conclusion:
This game can go straight to the trash. |
This is not my opinion, and this is not an opinion you'll find very often on this very forum  However, it is true many veteran Civ players have been disappointed by Civ3.
quote:
I have the strong feeling that as soon as I get some power such as a land superficy, or strong invention such as "Great Library" or strong army, I quickly loose my advantage either because I'm always attacked by the others nation, or they get more powerfull invention, and so. |
There are many factors which influence it :
- difficulty level : the AI gets bonuses at higher difficulty levels which means it discovers techs faster, builds faster, etc. These cheats are necessary for experienced players, since the AI cannot hope to match a trained human intelligence.
- reputation : if you expanded your territory by betraying your neighbours (like attacking them while there was a deal running, i.e while you had engagements towards them), your reputation tanks quickly. If you ever attacked someone with whom you have a Right of Passage, your reputation is horrible for the millenia to come... If you have a bad reputation, other nations don't hesitate to attack you.
- undefended cities. If you have undefended cities, the AI knows about it, and is much more willing to declare war to you.
- refusal to give in to demands. When the other Civs demand a tribute from you, know that there is a significant risk they'll declare war if you refuse. Foreign civs will always demand tribute if your military misht is too low.
quote:
So it's seems to me that the IA can be summarized by:
If player invention=high, then set nationXinvention = high+1 |
Wrong. Any experienced player ends up with having a much faster research than an AI-controlled one. However, at Monarch+ difficulty level, it is very difficult/impossible to match the AI research-wise in the ancient era, and maybe in the medieval era.
quote:
If player army=high, then set nationXarmy = high+1 |
Wrong. The AI gets bonuses in production speed, but there are no troops that come out of nowhere. Play a game for a longer time, and you'll notice the AI produces units exactly the same way as you do. You can outproduce them, and you will.
quote:
If player army=poor, then attack |
True. The AI has a nasty habit to gang up on a weakened Civ, but doesn't discriminate on whether this Civ is human or AI-controlled. To avoid being such a target, make sure you trade with foreign Civs on a regular basis. The AI is much less prone to attack you (even when you're weakened) if it has a trade to lose.
quote:
Why if I discover the "Great Library", I still found others nation with more inventions ? |
The Great Library gives you the techs that are already mastered by 2 known Civs until you discover education. So, there are 3 possible reasons why you discover more advanced Civs :
- You discover the advanced Civ after having built the Great Library. Since you didn't know it before, you couldn't hope to get its techs automatically. If it shares some techs with another known civ, the Great Library will give them to you next turn.
- The advanced Civ is the only one possessing a tech. As long as nobody else has this tech, the Great Library won't give it to you.
- You have discovered education or got it through the Great Library. The Great Library's effects are now null and void.
quote:
Why when after a couple of round only after the game begin, if I attack a nation, my army count let say 10 warrior while my ennemy get 20 ?? |
If you are playing at higher difficulty level (Monarch or higher), the AI has some military units from the beginning of the game and has bonuses which make it produce units faster. The solution is to play at lower difficulty level in order to figure out how the game works. It is not humilating, even if you are an experienced player in other similar games : I personally always won at Civ2, and I had a good spanking at my first game of Civ3, at a mere warlord level 
quote:
How do you do to build so quickly an army and at the same time maintain a high number of inventions and cultural influence ? |
Experience, micromanagement, cunning diplomacy. Tech trading is a very efficient way to acquire techs. If you don't do tech-trading, you are absolutely doomed of being backwards. The AI loves to trade techs.
quote:
Why if I start the game with the Alphabet, put 100% of investment on research, searching the the "writting" and the "littarcy" and then build the Great Library do I have others nations building this library before me, knowing that those nation start without knowing the Alphabet ??? |
They have built more roads, have traded more techs, have profited from their bonuses. Once again, you should try to play at a lower difficulty level.
quote:
Why each time I send a warrior far away from my base, it always loose against the barbare ? |
You have really really bad luck, or you are never letting your warriors heal after a fight. If a warrior wins a fight against a Barbarian, but has lost 1-2 health points in the process, let him heal until he's full again. I almost never lose my warriors to barbarians despite playing at monarch/emperor levels. Distance has nothing to do with your units' prowess.
quote:
Why if I put a lot of effort to build asap colons one after the other, I found other nation with a bigger country, or a colon from another nation taking the place I want 1 turn before me ? |
Once again, AI bonuses. You don't have the same problem at chieftain/warlord difficulties, since you are the one advantaged. Otherwise, they just have a better starting position which produces more food and more shields.
quote:
Why when I am isoleted in a island, after few turns only (just the time to create a colon), do I get already a colon from another nation building his city on my island ?? |
I can't help you, I have never seen that. Also, please notice that "colon" is "settler" in English (I am French, but I don't know if non-French speakers would have understood the question).
quote:
Until I can understand the reason of such point, this game is a big sh*t and I will not recommend it.
The IA is tooooooo much poooooor.
Note: I'm always playing at the monarque level.
I reach the year 2045 building the spaceship but *by hasard isn't it* I lost because some others nation build up it before me, even if we have spend money doing war. Of course, my competitor, who was loosing, build up the spaceship before me. pfffffffffff |
Well, to begin with, if you have so much trouble with monarch level, there are some things you must have missed. You should start a game at warlord or regent difficulty. This way, the AI won't have any production advantage, and it will only be a battle of wits between you and the AI.
I don't know if you are an experienced player in other Civ games. If you are, there are many things that you must continue to do (build roads / mines / irrigation everywhere, have a strong defensive and counteroffensive army in times of peace, etc.)
But there are some things very new to Civ3 that have to be done :
- you cannot hope to win without using the foreign countries. Trade and diplomacy is now a vital part of your development. Trade as much as possible with as many foreign countries you want to be at peace with.
- the AI is much more adept as before in expanding rapidly, build infrastructure, and attacking with massed armies. Know to expand quickly at the beginning and build plenty of settlers.
- An efficient early attack must be carefully planned. A usual technique is the "Archer Rush" which consists of attacking enemy cities with a bunch of veteran archers defended by some spearmen. I personally need 5-6 archers per enemy city, even when I attack very early.
Hope it helps !
If you have any other trouble, you can contact me (in French if you want to) at this adress : spiffor@caramail.com
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jobuck
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Hi Gents,
I found some very interesting reply here and very cool peoples.
I will follow your advises, in particular, take a look on the strategy forum.
Note: Thank's spiffor for your valuable comments !!
My initial post correspond to my first visit, but I will probably stay a bit around here now. As a civ 3 settler..
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14-05-2003 08:25
I concur with Gutz and Nym - Playing on the Chieftain level at first familiarizes yourself with the game and even on this low level, you can still gain a "feel" for how the AI reacts to certain situations. 
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