There are common acronyms used for almost everything in the game and some can have more than one meaning. These can usually be figured out by the context in which they are used. More often or not, they are simply the first letters of some multi-word game feature.
AI = Artificial Intelligence. Although not a true AI, the term is used to describe the computer controlled players.
C3C = Civilization III: Conquests expansion pack
Civ = A specific civilization in the game, the game in general or the original 1990 game.
Civ1 = the original
Civ2 = CivII = the second in the series.
Civ3 = CivIII = Sid Meier's Civilization III. The third incarnation of Sid's epic game of expansion and conquest first released in 1990 as Sid Meier's Civilization.
DYP = Double Your Pleasure (VC3, PTW) http://civ3.bernskov.com/
GA = Golden Age.
GL = Great Leader (of unspecified type) or Great Library
MA = Military Alliance, Military Academy, or Modern Armor
MGL = Military Great Leader
Mod = A player developed game modification that may take the form of alternative graphics, rules, civs, or any combination of these.
MP = Multi player or Military Police
MPP = Mutual Protection Pact
OCP = Optimal City Placement.
PTW = Civilization III Play the World expansion pack
REX = Rapid expansion
RAR = Rise and Rule mod (DYP for C3C) http://civ3.bernskov.com/
ROP = Right of Passage Agreement
Scenario = A mod that includes pre-placed cities, units, terrain to simulate some historical or fantasy time period or event.
SGL = Scientific Great Leader (C3C only)
TAM = The Ancient Mediterranean mod - http://www.tam.info.ms/
UU = Unique Unit
VC3 = Vanilla Civ3. A term players use to differentiate the basic game from the expansion packs.
VC3 is the basic game and is required to install a stand alone expansion pack.
PTW is the first expansion pack and adds multi player ability and 8 complete civilizations. The interface and editor are much improved. This is the first version that has many scenarios included.
C3C is the second and last expansion pack. It includes an additional 8 complete civilizations, a series of scenarios called "Conquests", and a further developed interface and editor.
No. C3C comes with everything required to play it including PTW. Each expansion pack relies on earlier components. There is additional PTW content that is not included but may be down loaded from http://www.civ3.com some of which may be required to play certain mods.
** Important ** Make sure you apply the patch designed for your language version. The patch version is displayed in the lower left corner of the startup screen.
Current patch levels are:
- VC3 = ver. 1.29f
- PTW = ver. 1.27f
- C3C = ver. 1.22
All patches are available at http://www.civ3.com and at the Atari support site. Applying the C3C patch will update both PTW and VC3. The PTW patch will update VC3 but not C3C. As of mid 2004, there may or may not be a further patch for C3C
The .ini file is automatically generated the first time you start the game. It will be placed in the folder with the executable file for the version you are playing.
When the game starts, it switches to 640 x 480 video mode to play the intro movie then switches to 1024 x 768 when the movie is finished. Your video card and monitor must be able to deal with the switching. It may default to 85 or 75 Hz refresh rate.
Some possible solutions are:
- Make sure your video and monitor drivers are up to date.
- Using the windows 'Plug & Play' generic monitor driver can cause this.
- Make sure you have the latest DirectX for your system.
- Add Refresh=60 (or some refresh rate your monitor supports) to the .ini file.
- Add KeepRes=1 to your .ini file if you use a different screen resolution than the default 1024 x 768
(details on these settings can be found in the readme.txt file)
- Ai will declare war if it bumps into an invisible unit. (C3C Only)
- AI Never Builds Armies. (C3C only)
- Adding NoAIPatrol=1 to the .ini file results in poor barbarian activity. (VC3, PTW)
- Adding NoAIPatrol=0 to the .ini file is required for proper barbarian activity. (C3C only)
The AI knows the complete map including location of all units and resources at all times. The only exception is 'invisible' units. At regent level play, the AI builds things for the same shield cost as the human. It gets production bonus' above regent and penalties below regent. The science rate is consistently regent level for the AI. The human gets the research rate bonus' below and penalties above regent level.
Most keyboard shortcuts are documented in the civilopedia as 'Hotkeys'
Shift-U = upgrade all upgradeable units of currently active type
Shift-A = automate worker for virgin terrain only
Ctrl-Shift-I = Improve virgin terrain this city only
Ctrl-N = Workers to develop trade network (connect cities)
Ctrl-I = Irrigate to nearest city from current location
H = Center map on city with palace
Delete = Toggle interface on and off
Build more culture and garrison more troops in the border cities most likely to flip.
Cruise missiles can be loaded onto transports by moving them onto a transport waiting offshore.
Cities next to fresh water do not require an aqueduct. A fresh water lake will have 2 food (right click the water). The tiles next to rivers generate +1 gold with no road.
Only C3C scenarios and a couple of the conquests have the plague feature. It's more of an irritation than a problem and the AI suffers it at the same time you do. Move the units out of the cities that have the plague if they aren't needed for defensive purposes and wait it out.
If an elite unit wins a battle (but not against a barbarian), there's a chance you will get a leader. This leader can be used to create an army.
If you have an army that wins a battle, you can build the Military Academy. The city that builds that can then build armies just like anything else. Note that units have to be added to the army (tell unit to Load as if the army was a naval transport) for it to be any use.
You can't, without exploiting a known bug.
The army itself counts as 1 unit. Therefore if you have a 3 unit army, it counts as 4 units for transport purposes. If all you have are galleys, you must load no more than 1 unit into the army prior to transport. You may then add units to it when it has arrived at its' destination.
You can only ever see yourself and 7 rivals on the Foreign Advisor screen (F4). [Shift-right click] on one of the rival civs will bring up a menu of available civs to replace the one you clicked on. This is only necessary in VC3 since there is a menu button in PTW and C3C.
Different resources are valued differently depending on several factors.
1) How many do you already have? The 7th and 8th luxuries are worth a lot more than the first 2 due to the happiness multiplier of marketplaces.
2) The AI knows if you *need* a strategic resource and will value it accordingly.
In VC3, the easiest way is to double click the star icon next to the name of your own capital. A common mistake is to try clicking the icon of the rival capital. PTW and C3C have an enhanced diplomatic/espionage interface, accessible by clicking the little "D" next to the information display.
One or more of the following should solve the problem:
1) Change desktop settings to a larger size if possible. [Tzar Sasha]
2) Hide task bar if 1024 x 768 is your screen's max. allowable size. [Tzar Sasha]
3) Use windows small fonts
4) Grab the very bottom of the 'edit rules' title bar and drag it up off the top of the screen.
Some possible options are:
1) Post it to news:alt.binaries.civ2 if your news server carries it. [P12]
2) Upload it to your web site and post a link to it.
3) Upload it to a fan site that accepts files and post a link to it.
Do not post attachments to this newsgroup. Posting binary files to non-binary newsgroups (such as AGC3) is considered to be net-abuse and most ISPs strip them so nobody will see it anyway.
These are only a few of the more popular web sites listed alphabetically by URL:
http://www.apolyton.net/ This site has proven itself as a leading epicenter of activity in the community as a one stop resource for all things "Civ".
http://www.cdgroup.org/ Creative Design Group - Home to several mod development teams.
http://civ3.bernskov.com/ Home to DYP and RAR
http://civ3.watorrey.net/ Shameless self plug
http://www.civfanatics.com/ A major fan site for the entire Civilization series. Contains complete Civ news coverage, war academy, downloads, multiplayer list, timelines, forums, and galleries.
http://www.tam.info.ms/ Home to TAM
An html version is at http://civ3.watorrey.net/pages/agcfaq.html
An text only version is at http://civ3.watorrey.net/pages/agcfaq.txt
The online versions may be more up to date than the posted version.
This FAQ is a collaborative effort by the many contributors to alt.games.civ3 and is currently maintained by William Torrey (aka The Stare). Some information
was borrowed from the alt.games.civ2 FAQ.
Individual credits appear in brackets [] at the end of the contribution.
If I forget to credit someone with something I should have, please let me know.
Like wise, if it looks like I am forgetting to include something, please remind me... I'm getting old ;)
This FAQ was last updated Dec 2004