[Let's Play] Civ III Rise and Rule

[randowe]

After all the talk about Colonization and Civilization i recently decided to start a Civ III game and play some turns every now and then. Since i had discovered the Civ III Rise and Rule mod i have not played the original game anymore. Rise and Rule really lifts the game to a new level. Well, let's say, it lifts the game to a new dimension. Universe! There are many new technologies, more luxuries and resources and more units and buildings. You can also play around 400 turns more as with the original game.
The versions i use ar ancient, but the installation of a new mod can be fragile and i decided to not change a running game

For this Let's Play i choose to play a Rise and Rule Scenario on a gigantic map of Europe. I choose the Azteco-Portuguese nation or Porto-Aztecs nation. In the scenario all names are european, you will play with european nations and city names are the names of the respective natios, but in fact you play one of the traditional nations. I choose the Azteco-Portuguese because they start at the "end of the world" and that is, in fact, a very good defensive position in case the AI attacks you. Italy, Turkey and Norway/Sweden would have been also good defensive positions. But there are also some drawbacks when you start at a remote position. I will come back to this later.

So lets start and take a look at the capital of the Porto-Aztec empire. At the beginning i always build some Jaguar Warriors, the special flavour unit of the Aztecs. At the beginning of the game they are fast and strong units and i use them to scout the map and harrass my neighbours (in fact i destroy their cities to keep them small)

[Ale]

one i haven't tried, have fun no doubt it's must have, in collection at least if time forbids much use... btw, still occassionally get titles from site and try older ones didn't give up on your idea

[randowe]

After the etsablishment of my capital, Lisbon, i started to build some Jaguar Warriors and sent them out to scout the map. They will also meet a lot of small bonus villages. If you are lucky you will get a free technologie or some money, but if you are not so lucky you will meet some barbarian fighters...

After many turns i finaly made contact with my nearest neighbours, the Sioux and France. I immediately started to destroy their cities. My Jaguar Warriors enslaved some of the enemies. These slaves will play a valuable role in the development of my empire. They will build roads, mines and later railroads.

After a long period of war the enemy will always accept your terms in order to sign a peace agreement. This is a good opportunity to get your hands on new technologies.

To show you the difference between the original game and the Rise and Rule mod i will post two pictures of the tech tree of the ancient & classical era. The second picture shows the much more complex tech tree of Rise and Rule.
(The pictures are quite large in file size, so i will try to limit the overall amount of posted pictures in this tread (I don't want to lower thequality because in this case the pictures would look very ugly imo))

[mythos]

The good ol' days of Civ

[randowe]

ANNO DOMINI 190

I was already speaking about the favorable defensive position of a peninsula or any other remote location.

But there is one large drawback when you start at a remote position. You will make contact late with most other nations and that will massively hamper your trade options. Especially the trade of technologies is pretty important. The AI nations will happily trade technologies with each other and the human player will soon become technological underdeveloped.
A technologie you research first is a valuable trade good and you should not hold it back and think you keep this a secret. You never know if a AI nation will research the very same technologiy in the very next turn. So you should always trade a technology for other technologies asap.
It makes only sense to hold back technologies when you are the most advanced nation.

So looking at the screenshot below you will see (see the city graphics), that in the year of the lord 190, the Porto-Aztec empire entered the age of industrialization round about 1700 years early
That's because it is a big map were every nation will have a large empire with lots of cities which produce a lot of gold and thus fasten research. With 16 AI nations there will be also a lot of trade.

My biggest competitors at the moment are China (Greece and southern Balkans), Korea (Sweden, Norway), Ireland and England. They are all ahead of me with technologies and i don't think i can catch up soon... Ireland and England look rather small on the map and i woder how the AI manage these countries so well
One good thing with such a large map is, that the AI is unlikely to attack you when there is still unoccupied land where they can build new cities. So they send their settlers on a 40 turn journey to a free spot...

When you look at the mini-map you will see that their is a little orange country next to me - the Sioux. They will be my first objective... I mean, their people will have a better life in the great celeste-colored Porto-Aztec empire

[Bombast the Blue]

Amadora, Sintra and Cascais are neighborhoods / suburbs of Lisbon...
Come to think of it, when a fifth of the countries population is in Lisbon much of the rest are suburbs...

[randowe]

The creator(s) of the scenario must have added a lot of city names for every nation. I am already way ahead of the picture i will post now and still i get real Portuguese city names when i build a new city instead of the prefix New or a number added to the already used city name.

ANNO DOMINI 620

As you can see in the picture below, i started to build railroads, after i had researched the required technologies. Railroads are very powerful and can be a turning point in the game. First, any units using railroads will not loose any movement points. So you can transport every unit to every city in no time once all your empire's cities are connected via railroads with each other. That also makes combat easy because you can field your military units everywhere.
Second, railroads also boost the production of shields or food and money and thus railroads lift your empire's economy to a new level.

I'd say there are three milestones in the game and railroads are one. The other two are mines and irrigation. Mines boost your shield (industrial) production and can be researched in the Ancient/Classical era. Irrigation can be researched in the Middle Ages and will boost your food production and town growth.
Railroads can be researched in the Industrial era and have the aforementioned benefits.
Maybe we can add a 4th milestone, which i'd say is a player's prefered government. I always choose Rebuplic in the Ancient/Classical era and stick to it until i have researched my prefered government, Social Democracy in the Modern era.

(Of course i talk about the Rise and Rule mod. I did not play the original game for ages and have forgotten anything about it )

You can see that there is a Korean city right in the middle of my territory (left edge of the screenshot). I was to lazy or peaceful? to attack it yet, but soon it will be mine.... I also will attack the Sioux and plan to enlarge my empire till the Pyrenees (Mountains).

[Bombast the Blue]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KP1WgwnYJ5nGS2WN9

CCM mod's Ancient techtree...
Its looks somewhere between the original and R&R's in terms of quantity / complexity.

One thing you rarely see in CCM is pollution, with perhaps the main source being volcanic eruptions.
But maybe the most distinctive feature is the frequent use of unit generating buildings.
Some units you may only get if you build certain buildings or wonders.
Starting with settlers, generated since capital foundation (linked to the palace I think) every X (don't remember how many) turns.
So, re doubled caution with settlers is a good idea relative to R&R and other mods in which you can produce them in any city with enough population to spare.
Some wonders also generate settlers periodically and so can provide a boost to expansion speed.

[randowe]

The RAR tech trees look kind of "wild" compared to CCM Some wonders in RAR produce military units every 10 - 20 turns (depends on the wonder/unit), but no settlers.

New Idea: I also could imagine a 5th age in the game, the Space Age of Discovery, which starts when the player wo his game with the "Space Race" victory condition. Or that even marks the start of a new game

ANNO DOMINI 920

I recently attacked the Sioux and conquered most of their territory. I also attacked the Koreans (funnily there are two Korean nations in the game) and captured their town, which was in the middle of my territory and one more town at my northeastern border, next to the Sioux.

The (South) Koreans now only have 4 cities left at a small tip of Northern Africa south of "Gibraltar". The Sioux have 3 cities left on the Balearic Islands.

My next objective is France, but i have also an eye on the territory Ireland and England have on the cotinent. But Ireland and England are ahead of me with technologies, so i will attack France first, which is way behind.
There is also a large war going on with many AI nations involved. China, once the most powerful nation in the game is declining and last already most of its territory. You can compare the mini map of my recent post, China was is the light blue nation in Greece and Southern Balkans.

Generally speaking, i feel that the every game of Civ III is unpredictable and you never know which nation(s) will be attacked by the other AI nations. At least, i never figured out any reasons for the AI activities.

You can see that i have already connected my frontline cities to the railroad network. The city of Aljezur will be connected soon, the workers are already working on it.

[Bombast the Blue]

New Idea: I also could imagine a 5th age in the game, the Space Age of Discovery, which starts when the player wo his game with the "Space Race" victory condition. Or that even marks the start of a new game

Aye!
Something like the arrival of the Space Ship porting the match from Civ to Alpha Centauri.
Although to me maybe it would be even more interesting extending Civ onto solar system scope, at least before hyper jumping to Alpha C.
Moonbasing, Mars terraforming, general mining around in various planets, satellites, asteroids, comets...
Guess it would involve playing in various maps from a certain point of the game onward...

[randowe]

Yes, an other map would be required for the Space Age. Some kind of Archipelago with planets of different sizes. An then you have to do some island hopping...

ANNO DOMINI 1130 & 1190

The first screenshot from the year 1130 shows my capital Lisbon and the surrounding area in the Modern Age. All tiles have a mine or are irrigated and railroads are everywhere. My city pattern has some gaps that are out of reach. I know some Civ players use other patterns to maximize the use of the land but i always use the 4x4 pattern. That's how i call it when there are 4 tiles betwen the cities, so every city can make use of 20 tiles + city center.
Later in the game i always start to plant forrests in the gaps, just for the looks
I already changed my government to Social Democracy.

The second picture shows my frontline cities in (modern-day) southwest France. I was preparing for an attack on the Englisch. You can se that New Nottingham fits into my 4x4 pattern All other cities i capture are burned down to the ground.
But while i was preparing for an attack the Koreans sent some of their troops into my land. Every Civ player knows that moment when a enemy force shows up at the border and moves into your territory. I gathered my tank armies at Aljezur. An army is a permanent stack of 2 or 3 units. Armies are very poweful and once i can build armies i do not use single units in combat anymore. The AI can make use of armies two, but seldom does so.
At the moment i have around 25 armies. Most of them still consist of 3 cavalry units.

Looking at the map, you will see that Korea is far away (Scandinavia). What i do next is: Ask Korea to remove their troops from my territory or declare war. Of course, they will declare war. Then i will destroy all their units with my armies AND drag many of the other nations into war Sometimes the other nations need a little present like a technology or ressource to make them willing to join the fight.
When you drag other AI nations into the war it will be much easier for you. Often the enemy won't reach your territory anymore and the AI nations will battle it out somewhere. The human player just has to wait...

For example, there might be Korean Units in English territory, which the Koreans need to cross to get to my border. Now, if England declares war on Korea...

[randowe]

ANNO DOMINI 1335

Just a quick update: After 245 years (but not so many turns) of war my armies have conquered most of western europe. All AI natios were at war with each other and with me and there were changeing alliances. Ireland and England lost most of their continental cities. My eastern border now runs from Belgium to northern Italy. My next goal will be the "liberation" of southern Italy. I also started building ICBMs, but i never use them. They are just for defensive purposes
I am also catching up with technologies. The war effort seems to hamper the AI nations.

On the picture you can see some of my tank armies approaching a roman city (defended by a halberdiers) and my newest city "New Lisbon". That means that i finaly came to the end of the list for Portuguese city names.

[Ale]

ah, 1335. Those were the days my friend, i thought they'd never end...... but overruning Romans with tanks and Porto-Aztec social-democrat is not how I remember them

have fun until the end and do more reports on other games

[randowe]

Man, i wish i could rule the world like i play civ All cities would be governed perfectly, pollution is negligible and many forrests would be planted, health care and public transportation are free, fast and effective. We are technological advanced and explore the space.
No wars anymore because the whole world = Porto-Aztec Empire
EDIT: The society would be Star-Trek-like, peaceful and progressive. Money and riches would be useless.

Other games? Recently i found the Marco Polo game i played as a child. You travel the world from Arabia to China and manage your caravan. You also have to manage delicate situations with local culture and things like that. You'll meet Kublai Khan as well. Or was it an Chinese emperor? Or both?

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/marco-polo-49z

Maybe i'll try that out (Forgot how to play it )

[Ale]

All cities would be governed perfectly, pollution is negligible and many forrests would be planted, health care and public transportation are free, fast and effective. We are technological advanced and explore the space.
No wars anymore because the whole world = Porto-Aztec Empire

now you sound too idealistic and maybe unrealistic. I remember one like you, Servius Tullius. He had similar ideas when reforming old kingdom.... but look how it all ended forget it and just crush them all

however when it comes to Marco Polo - i must download it fast as i've seen comment that it might not be available anymore for free - didn't try that one. But anything Venetian (our mama as you know) related is alright by me, i also recently downloaded Merchant prince from there (and MP 2 which i did not play before). Planned to post few screens but don't know anymore... you nailed it with point about "must learn to play again" or read manuals extensively which i try not to... have fun.

[randowe]

ANNO DOMINI 1407

The game is pretty much won and close to the end. Or not. Depends on the victory condition i choose. I have already conquered most of western Europe. Germany, Italy, Mallorca, Sardinia and Corsica are my newest acquisitions. Overall i guess i have around 150 cities now. Still Korea (Scandinavia) is a little bit more powerful due to their large army. At least that is what the game says
Anyway, i could go for the Space Race victory or conquer the whole map. I think i will choose the Space Race victory because the turns became very loooong when you have to manage a truckload of cities and many many workers and military units.

For the Space Race victory you have to build 10 sections of your spaceship such as a life chamber, thrusters or a party module
The 10 space ship sections need more or less as many shields as wonders and are produced like any other building or unit in your cities.

The first picture shows my capital, Lisbon and the second picture shows my new Attack Chopper Army. Attack Chopper Armies are so cool They are very powerful and can travel deep into enemy territory.

[Bombast the Blue]

Yesterday thought came to mind on how much dephased I could be with Civ and I decided to check on Civ Fanatics for how many Civ numbers I was already missing knowledge of existence...
Turned out I came to think it was just one, Civ 7 already has a block on Civ Fanatics.
But on searching for the game page it says pre order now so I managed to catch the news just in time...
https://civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/

Push comes to shove and I checked for new Civ III modpacks just to be sure.
Turns out CCM3 is about since around early summer of 24.
Been playing the thing throughout the day.
It is anchored on a thing called Flintlock Mod.
Lots of unit producing buildings and wonders.
Settlers are produced by the capital palace that comes with first city founding and various wonders also produce them.
Not the cities, at least as far out in the game as I went.
There are buildings / wonders to produce siege units and various types of enslaving units; so far I have seen enslavers, druids and missionaries.
Includes a giant map option to play all the 31 possible nations. There is some kind of technical limitation that caps it at 31.
There are religions, and the usual various elements I did not see before; some techs, buildings / wonders, units
The Civ roster is not exactly the same as in CCM2.5.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/ ... t-16624625

[randowe]

Long time i have not touched Civ III. Maybe i should give it a try or just check some random maps out with the speedy Aztecs.

And I must admit, I have never played any other game from the series. I'd like to play one of the newer games from the Civ series (or Anno series), but i guess they would not run on my old PC anyway