Sid Meier's Civilization 3 is the third installment of the world-famous Civilization series from the equally famous developer Sid Meier. As with any genius game, Sid Meier's Civilization 3 was released quietly and without much fuss in 2001, but it won the hearts of many fans worldwide for a short time. We will tell you more about what this game is and what features and advantages it has.

Basic rules

The game begins the same way as in all the other installments: in ancient times. You can play as the following nations: Rome, Greece, Germany, China, Japan, India, Aztecs, Iroquois, Egypt, Babylon, Russia, America, France, Persia, Zulu, and England. The game has 6 levels of difficulty (although not everyone can resist Artificial Intelligence even on the easiest difficulty), 3 climates (dry, temperate, humid), 3 temperatures (cold, warm, hot), and the longitude of the Earth (affects the number of resources). When creating a map, you can choose the size (from small to huge) and the terrain (from small islands to one large continent).

Like previous versions of the game, Civilization III simulates the entire history of humankind, from the birth of civilization to modern times and the future. Players must build their empires, competing with other computer-controlled civilizations from prehistoric times.

The power of civilization is based on the development of towns, producing military units, urban improvements, and wonders of the world. To fully develop the civilization, the player must balance scientific progress, military buildup, treasury replenishment, infrastructure and cultural development, diplomatic contacts, and trade with other societies.

Territory exploration

At the beginning of the game, a tiny part of the world map opens up, just a few squares of terrain. Squads gradually move into uncharted territory and discover new lands, such as plains, forests, rivers, grasslands, mountains, deserts, etc. On their way, they may encounter militant units or barbarian villages, towns, and units of other civilizations.

If other civilizations have not developed the territory, you can send settlers there and establish cities. Naval units allow you to sail, discover, and populate islands and continents.

All types of terrains can be improved by special units called workers (or enslaved people, captive workers of other civilizations, working twice as hard). Irrigation and building roads and mines are used most often to increase the productivity of the terrain.

There are about a dozen other less common working actions, such as building a colony (when a resource in the area needs to be developed, and it is inefficient to build a city), creating a fortress (to increase the defenses of a military unit), building a guard post (to fix enemy movements in the area), an airfield (to land ownership and allied aircraft), a radar tower (a modern equivalent of a guard post), etc.

Culture and the Wonders of the World

The developers have done serious work on designing the culture in the game. You get "culture points" for building "wonders of the world," temples, and libraries. As the number of these points increases, the boundaries of cities expand, and the fog of war dissipates. At the same time, the "wonders" can be divided into great wonders and minor wonders. Every nation can build little wonders, while great wonders are available just for one of them. This fact is not related to the historical affiliation of the construction but to the time factor. You're lost if you don't have enough time to build a great wonder.

Culture also affects the mood of urban residents. Suppose there is a backwood settlement next to the possessions of the culturally and economically advanced player. In that case, a successful leader can easily take a settlement from a competitor without starting any fighting. As before, expansion is significant. It is pretty reasonable to seize even seemingly worthless territories. Scientists may discover iron, aluminum, oil, or uranium deposits in a few centuries. These resources are needed to build units: you cannot build fighter planes without aluminum, and you can't even think about nuclear-powered submarines without uranium. If you can't wait for your town to reach the nearby deposits, don't worry because workers are always ready to build a colony.

Economy

A certain number of inhabitants inhabits each town of the civilization. They work in the area around the city, each one in a specific square, and produce three types of "products": food, shields (a measure of production), and gold (from engaging in commerce). Units of food are consumed to feed the inhabitants and for the growth of this town. Shields are used only by a given town to build necessary town buildings and Wonders, produce units, or convert shields to gold.

Units of gold are the most important to count. The gold income from all citizens of all towns is added up and measured in the total treasury of the state. With each turn, marked amounts are allocated from the treasury for expenses common to the entire civilizations, such as scientific research (and subsequent discoveries), entertainment (increasing the number of happy or satisfied citizens), the maintenance of town buildings, units, and losses due to corruption within the civilization. Gold is widely used in trade and diplomatic deals with other civilizations. You can also make one-time expenditures to open an embassy, spy, and speed the production (it is not available for all forms of government).

The amount of treasury income and expenditure is significantly affected by the chosen form of government. Towns can maintain a certain number of units for free in most forms of government. Maintaining captured workers (enslaved people) and captured artillery of other civilizations is always free.

The mood of the inhabitants

The population must be well-fed and pleasant with life. It is excellent if there are "bonuses," such as silk, furs, wine, or gems, in the vicinity of a settlement. Once you create your way to them, you will note that the level of happy citizens has increased. Such things appeared earlier as terrain bonuses, but their assortment was not so diverse, and they turned out to be useless.

Characteristics of nations and military affairs

Nations are increasingly distancing themselves from others due to individual traits. In addition to a particular set of technologies, they have inclinations that give certain advantages (for example, nations tending to expand and get a scout at the beginning of the game) and special units. Such a unit is designed to be a calling card for each race, so there are some cliches: Samurai packs send the enemy infantrymen to their deaths, and the Cossacks cut the heads of the enemies.

This feature has nothing supernatural because the special units are seriously upgraded versions of conventional units. For example, the exclusive American F-15 has the features of the standard Jet Fighter, and the Cossacks are just a more potent analog of the cavalry.

The most significant change is the military component. In CIV 3, troops are not tied to individual towns and do not require food and production shields to maintain vitality. It is a valuable solution that makes life much easier for belligerent players. Gold is all an army needs.

The barbarians who played the role of such infernal fiends appearing out of nowhere in the original "Civilization" have changed their function. Now they have acquired camps where they store the stolen wealth.

An entirely new category of warriors has appeared. They are leaders who cannot be "commissioned" in barracks or obtained through the retraining of villagers engaged in agricultural work. Their formation takes place exclusively in battle. It is recommended to capture charismatic warriors immediately and force them to go into the town walls with sticks. The leader can form an "army" consisting of three units. Their hit points add up (so that the unit can only be entirely destroyed), but each unit retains its abilities.