Introduction:

        Civilization III is the newest game in the Sid Meier's Civilization Series. Like the other ones, it is a turned based strategy game, although the PTW add on takes it to the new dimension of real time game-play (more about PTW here). The purpose of the game is to build a powerful empire that will withstand the test of time (4000 BC till 2020 AD).
        The most amazing feature of this, as well as the other civilization games is that there is no set way to accomplishing the above mentioned purpose of the game. The game player chooses his or her own favourite style of game-play. This combined with the way in which the 6 difficulty levels (more about the difficulty levels here) work makes the gamer a true addict… not that the other Civilization games were any better :)
        Of course there is a lot to say about the greateness of this game and the joy that it can bring to its numerous fans arround the world. In this page I will just make a short tour of the game going through some interesting details and features so that you can get a feel of the game.

         Civilization III has a large number of features that make it one of the most enjoyable games in the world. I will list a few of these features here again so that the reader will get an idea about what Civilization III adds to the other civilization games.

1. Completely new 3D graphics, nothing like the ones in the previous edditions of Civlization
2. The game introduces new conceps like
• Strategic resources
• Luxury Goods
• City Governours
• Great Military Leaders
• Culture
• Nationality
• War Weariness
• Division of military units into assault units and combat units
3. A more advanced diplomatic screen and with it the chance of more advanced trade between the player and the AI
4. Even more wonders of the world and the division between Small wonders and Great Wonders of the world
5. 16 civilization with leaders and unique features
6. 6 levels of difficulty
7. A brand new editor that allows the player to create new chalenges for himself and others
8. New alternatives for winning the game

System requirements

• Operating System: Windows® 95/98/Me/2000/XP
• Processor: Pentium® II 300MHz or better
• Memory: 32 MB RAM
• Hard Disk Space: 500 MB free hard drive (+50MB swapspace)
• CD-ROM Drive: 4X Speed or higher
• Video: DirectX® 8.0a-compatible video card* (must be able to display 1024x768x16 bit)
• Sound: DirectX® 8.0a-compatible sound card*
• DirectX: DirectX® version 8.0a (included) or higher

* Indicates device should be compatible with DirectX® version 8.0a or higher.

        Play the World is the expansion pack that will allways be remembered for making Civilization III playable in a turnless real time mode. Besides, the pack has more interesting features, out of which the most important are listed below:

1. 8 new civilizations with their new leaders and characteristic units
2. multyplyer capabilities (both hotseat and lan)
3. more ways of playing the game including regicide, mass regicide and others
4. New units like the medieval infantry and the guerilla unit
5. PTW comes with it´s own editor that offers the player the chance of building complex scenarious
6. New wonders and improovements

        The way in which the civilizations were designed in Civilization III is somewhat different from the way in which they were designed in the previous versions of the game. In Civilization III there are six types of civilizations: Commercial, Militaristic, Industrious, Expansionist, Scientific, Religious. Each of these six characteristics gives the civilization certain advantages. These advantages, together with the new characteristic units, bring new challanges for the Civilization player.

• Commercial civilizations get lower levels of corruption for their cities and all their metroplises (cities with a population of more than 12) produce extra commerce
• Militaristic civilizations have to pay less for military city improovements like baracs and their units get upgraded faster.
• Industrious civilizations have their workers compleeting terrain improovements faster while their cities and metropolises (cities of population higher than 6) produce extra shields
• Expansionist civilizations begin their game with an extra scout while the barbarian villages are friendlier. It is important to mention that the expansionists can build more scouts throughout the game.
• Scientific civilizations get all scientific city improovements (Libraries, universities, etc.) cheaper and at the begining of each era they get a free advance
• Religious civilizations get all religious city improovements (temple, coloseum, cathedral) cheaper and only get one turn of anarchy during revolution

        Deppending on the type of civilization one chooses to play as, one can get different civilization advances at the start of the game. With no further introduction, here come the civilizations:

Civilization III standard civilizations
Civilization name	Civilization leader	Civilization type	Free Advances	Characteristic Unit	Unit replaced
Rome	Caesar	Industrious and Militaristic	Alphabet and Warrior code	Legion	Swordsman
Grece	Alexander	Scientific and Commercial	Bronze Working and Alphabet	Hoplite	Spearman
Germany	Bismarck	Militaristic and Scientific	Warrior Code and Bronze working	Panzer	Tank
China	Mao Tse Tung	Industrious and Scientific	Masonry and Warrior Code	Rider	Knight
Japan	Tokugawa	Militaristic and Religious	The Wheel and Ceremonial Burial	Samurai	Knight
India	Ghandi	Religious and Commercial	Ceremonial Burial and Alphabet	War Elephant	Knight
Aztecs	Montezuma	Militaristic and Religious	Warrior Code and ceremonial Burial	Jaguar Warrior	Warrior
Iroquis	Hiawatha	Expansionist and Religious	Pottery and Ceremonial Burial	Mounted Warrior	Horseman
Egypt	Cleopatra	Industrious and Religious	Masonry and Ceremonial Burial	War Chariot	Chariot
Babylon	Hammurabi	Religious and Scientific	Ceremonial Burial and Bronze Working	Bowman	Archer
Russia	Catherine	Expansionist and Scientific	Pottery and Bronze Working	Cossack	Cavalry
America	Abraham Lincoln	Industrious and Expansionist	Masonry and Pttery	F-15	Jet Fighter
France	Joan D'Arc	Industrious and Commercial	Masonry and Alphabet	Musketeer	Musket Man
Persia	Xerxes	Militaristic and Commercial	Masonry and Bronze Working	Immortal	Swordsman
Zulus	Shaka	Militaristic and Expansionist	Pottery and Warrior Code	Impi	warrior
Britain	Elizabeth	Expansionist and Commercial	Pottery and Alphabet	Man-o-War	Frogate
Play the World Civilizations
Civilization name	Civilization leader	Civilization type	Free Advances	Characteristic Unit	Unit replaced
Arabs	Abu Bakr	Expansionist and Religious	Pottery and Ceremonial Burial	Ansar Warrior	Knight
Carthaginians	Hannibal	Commercial and industrious	Alphabet and Masonry	Numidian Mercenary	Spearman
Celts	Brennus	Militaristic and Religious	Warrior Code and ceremonial Burial	Gallic Swordsman	Swordsman
Koreans	Wang Kon	Commercial and Scientific	Alphabet and Broze Working	Hawach'a	Cannon
Mongols	Temujin	Expansionist and Militaristic	Warrior Code and Pottery	Keshik	Knights
Ottomans	Osman	Industrious and Scientific	Masonry and Bronze Working	Sipahi	Cavalry
Scandinavian	Ragnar Lodbrok	Militaristc and Expansionist	Pottery and warrior Code	Berserk	Longbowman
Spanish	Isabella	Commercial and Religious	Alphabt and Ceremonial Burial	Conquistador	Knight

        Civilization III units belong to either of the two unit classes: Non Combat units and Combat units, which again can be split into two cathegories: Assault units and Attack units.

1. Non Combat units are settler, worker, scout and leader units.
           Settlers can be built from cities with a population larger than 3 and after they have been produced the population drops by 2. Setlers are used to build new cities. If attaked by an enemy combat unit, it is captured and transformed into two workers. A settler can be used to add two population to a friendly city by just pressing the "b" key when it is positioned on top of the city.
           Workers are used to build terrain improvements (more on this in the terrain sections). Workers can also build collonies over resources (more on this in the resources section) and they can increase the population of a city by 1 in a similar way the settler does.
           The scout is a very useful unit, which expansionist civilizations can build. They are used to scout the terrain and since they have movement of 2 their advantage in the first period of the game is obvious. Since they too have no defense, they will be captured by enemy units in the same way the setlers and workers are.
           Although the Leader can take part in a battle, he is a non combat unit. He can create an army or hurry an improvement (even wonders) in a city. If the army that he built is defeated in battle he will be killed, not conquered like the settler, scout or worker.
2. Attack units are the units used in direct combat.
           They become available with the discovery of new advances and are described by a number of modifiers, which are very important to whether it is the winner or loser in a direct combat situation. Attack units have attack and defense and some even have a transport modifier. Different units move through different distances, hence they have a different moovement modifier. Movement is also influenced by the terrain the unit moves through (more on that in the terrain section). As well as research, one needs certain resources to build certain units.
   
3.         Assault units on the other hand have usually a low if not 0 attack or defense, but have other modifiers, which make them powerful and very useful weapons. This modifiers are Bombard, Range of fire and Rate of Fire. All these units have the bombarding order. A bombardment cannon cannot destroy a unit or a city. However, it can take hitpoints off units or cause internal damages to the city, and therefore it makes it easy to conquer by means of other troops. Since most assault units have a defense value of 0 they can be captured by an enemy unit in the same way in which settlers or workers can, so usually there should be some deffensive unit or units protecting a stack of assault units.
   

            And now without further introduction, here are the units in alphabetical order:

Civilization III and PTW attack and assault units
Unit Name	Resources needed	Production cost (shields)	Attack	Defense	Transport	Moovement	Bombard	Range	Rate of Fire
Aegis Cruiser	Aluminium,Uranium	120	12	12	0	5	4	2	4
Archer	none	20	2	1	0	1	0	0	0
Army	Leader/Military Academy	200	0	0	3	1	0	0	0
Artillery	none	60	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Ansar Warrior	Horses, Iron	60	4	4	0	3	0	0	0
Battleship	Oil	200	24	20	0	4	8	2	4
Berserk	none	60	6	2	0	1	0	0	0
Bomber	none	100	0	2	0	0	8	6	3
Bowman	none	20	2	1	0	2	0	0	0
Caravel	none	40	1	2	4	3	0	0	0
Carrier	Oil	160	2	8	4	5	0	0	0
Cannon	Iron and Salpeter	40	0	0	0	1	8	1	2
Catapult	none	20	0	0	0	1	4	1	1
Cavalry	Horses,Salpeter	60	6	2	0	3	0	0	0
Chariot	Horses	20	1	1	0	2	0	0	0
Conquistador	Horses	70	3	2	0	2	0	0	0
Cossak	Horses,Salpeter	60	6	3	0	3	0	0	0
Cruise Missile	Aluminium	50	0	0	0	1	20	3	5
Destroyer	Oil	120	16	12	0	6	6	1	3
Explorer	none	20	1	1	0	2	0	0	0
F-15	Oil,Aluminium	100	10	8	0	0	2	6	1
Fighter	Oil	80	4	4	0	0	2	4	2
Frigate	Iron, Salpeter	60	2	2	0	4	2	1	2
Galleon	none	60	1	2	6	4	0	0	0
Galley	none	30	1	1	2	3	0	0	0
Gallic Swordsman	Iron	50	3	2	0	2	0	0	0
Guerilla	none	90	6	6	0	1	0	0	0
Helicopter	Oil, Rubber	80	0	4	2	0	0	4	0
Hoplite	none	20	1	3	0	1	0	0	0
Horseman	Horses	30	2	1	0	2	0	0	0
Hwach'a	Salpeter	40	0	0	0	1	12	1	1
ICBM	Aluminium,Uranium	300	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Immortal	Iron	30	4	2	0	1	0	0	0
Impi	none	20	1	2	0	2	0	0	0
Infantry	none	90	8	12	0	2	0	0	0
Iron Clad	Coal	80	4	4	0	3	4	1	2
Jaguar Warrior	none	10	1	1	0	2	0	0	0
Jet Fighter	Oil, Aluminium	100	8	8	0	0	2	6	1
Keshik	horses	60	4	2	0	2	0	0	0
Knight	Iron, horses	70	4	3	0	2	0	0	0
Legionary	Iron	30	3	3	0	1	0	0	0
Longbowman	none	40	4	1	0	1	0	0	0
Man-O-War	Iron, salpeter	60	3	2	0	4	2	1	2
Marine	Oil, Rubber	100	10	8	0	1	0	0	0
Mech Infantry	Oil, Rubber	110	12	20	0	3	0	0	0
Medieval Infantry	Iron	40	4	2	0	1	0	0	0
Modern Armor	Oil, Aluminium, Rubber	120	24	16	0	3	0	0	0
Mounted Warrior	Horses	30	3	1	0	2	0	0	0
Musketeer	Salpeter	60	3	4	0	1	0	0	0
Musket Man	Salpeter	60	2	4	0	1	0	0	0
Nuclear Submarine	Uranium	160	8	6	1	4	0	0	0
Numidian Mercenary	none	30	2	3	0	1	0	0	0
Panzer	Oil, Rubber	100	16	10	0	3	0	0	0
Paratrooper	Oil, Rubber	100	8	10	0	1	0	0	0
Pikeman	Iron	30	1	3	0	1	0	0	0
Privateer	Iron, salpeter	60	2	1	0	4	0	0	0
Radar Artillery	Aluminium	80	0	0	0	1	16	2	4
Rider	Horses	30	2	2	0	2	0	0	0
Rifleman	none	80	3	6	0	1	0	0	0
Samurai	Iron	80	5	3	0	2	0	0	0
Sipahi	Horses, Salpeter	80	7	3	0	3	0	0	0
Spearman	none	20	1	2	0	1	0	0	0
Stealth bomber	Oil, Aluminium	140	2	1	0	0	8	8	4
Stealth Fighter	Oil, Aluminium	120	4	4	0	0	2	8	2
Submarine	Oil	100	8	6	0	3	0	0	0
Swordsman	Iron	30	3	2	0	1	0	0	0
Tactical Nuke	Aluminium, Uranium	200	0	0	0	1	0	6	0
Tank	Oil, Rubber	100	16	10	0	2	0	0	0
Transport	Oil	100	1	4	8	5	0	0	0
War Chariot	Horses	20	2	1	0	2	0	0	0
War Elephant	none	80	4	4	0	2	0	0	0
Warrior	none	10	1	1	0	1	0	0	0

Unit Hit Points
        Units can have either 2, 3, 4 or 5 hit points. Units with 2 hit points are conscripts. They can be built once Nationalism is discovered. 3 hit point units are called regular units. They are units built in cities without barracks. 4 hit point units are veteran units and they are built in cities, which have barracks. 5 hit point units are called elite and they cannot be built in cities. They can be obtained after the promotion of a veteran unit. Promotions can occur only on the battle field after a victory against a rival unit. Promoted units gain one hit point. Thus conscripts can be upgraded to regulars, regulars to veterans, veterans to elites. Units belonging to a militaristic civilizations get promoted easier than the ones belonging to non-militaristic civilization. When an elite unit is promoted, a leader appears.

Zone of Control
        Some units have a so called zone of control that is as large as the eight squares around the certain unit. If a rival unit stays or moves inside the zone of control of a certain unit, they get attacked without being ingaged into normal combat. That means that after the rival unit has moved and got attacked, the unit with the zone of control may attack the rival unit when its turn comes. The following units have zone of control: Aegis Cruiser, Armies, Cavalry, Conquistador, Cossack, Keshik, Marines, Mechanized Infantry, Modern Armor, Panzer, Paratroops, Radar Artillery, Sipahi, Tank.

Food, Shields and Commerce
          Terrain management was a key feature of all the Civilization games. Basically, terrain provides your empire with three of the most important resources: food, shields and commerce. Each terrain tile produces them in different amounts. In order for your civilization to benefit from the resources that one map tile offers, it must obbey two simple rules. First of all, the tiles should be inside the borders of the civilization. The second condition is that one of the citizens of a certain city is working that tile. (More on this later in the topic). But what exacly do food, shields and commerce mean? Here is the detailed answer:

• Food: Food is basically what the land produces in term of eatable products. Cities use food for two purposes: Feeding the population and contributing to the growth of the city. Each citizen takes up two food units per turn to stay alive so at the end of each turn all the food units required to support the cities population are taken out of the total number of food units the city produces per turn. This is the total surplus. If the figure is pozitive than it is added to the cities storage at the end of the turn. When the storrage is full than the city gains one new citizen who takes 2 food units to maintain, etc. If however the surplus is a negative figure than the amount is taken out of the city's storrage at the end of each turn. When the storage is empty the city looses one of it's citizens.
• Shields: Shields are the game's production units. Just as food units they are produced by the terrain squares in different amont. In order for them to be colected, the square where they are has to be worked on by one of the city's workers. Shields are used by the cities to build units, improovements or wonders. Some shields are lost to waste and therefor one should consider these lost shields in his calculations. By taking this wasted shields out of the total number of shields produced by all the city squares per turn you can get a total surplus of shields per turn. This total number of shiels is added to the production of a certain item. When the required number of shields has been collected the unit, improovement or wander will be finished.
• Commerce: Commerce practically measures the amount of cash flowing into the empire. Some governments such as republic or democracy use cash to hurry production. Tiles produce commerce as well as shields and food and just like the previous two you can obtain the cash by working the tile withone citizen. The amount of cash gotten from the cities depends also on the tax level. The higher the tax level the lower the science rate so a good balance between those should be one premiere objective of a wise ruller.

Terrain tiles
         Well, now that you all know what you are looking for (Food, Shields and Commerce) let's see where you can find them? The civilization map is made out of terrain tiles of different types. Each of these different types of terrains contain food, shields and commerce in different amounts. In order to aquire these bonuses the tile must be in one of the cities' radius and it also has to be worked by one of the city's workers. Without any more introductions, here are the civilization III terrain types:

Civilization III terrain types
Terrain Name	Picture	Food	Shields	Commerce
Coast		1	0	2
Desert		0	1	0
Flood Plain		3	0	0
Forest		1	2	2
Fresh Water Lake		2	0	2
Grassland		2	0	0
Bonus Grassland		2	1	0
Hills		1	1	0
Jungle		1	0	0
Mountain		0	1	0
Ocean		0	0	0
Plains		1	1	0
River		0	0	1
Sea		1	0	1
Tundra		1	0	0

Terrain Improvements
        The units specialized in building terrain improovements are workers. But what are the terrain improovements? Well, here they are, right in the open:

• Irrigate Irrigating a square makes it yield 1 more food unit. Not all terrains can be irrigated. Irrigations can be built on grassland, bonus grassland, flood plains, plains and desert.
• Build Road Building a road on a square makes it yield 1 more commerce unit. Roads may be build on any sort of land besides coast, sea and ocean tiles.
• Build Mine Building a mine on a square makes it yield 1 more shield. The mine can make mountains and plains yeld 2 more shields. Forests, jungles, coast, sea and ocean tiles.
• Build Railroad Railroads reduce the moovement cost of units to zero for that tile. A railrad will also increase the output of mines or irrigations. Railroads may not be built on coast, sea or ocean tiles.
• Build Colony A worker can build colonies on resources that are out of the covilization's borders. If the colony is linked to a city by the means of a road or rail road the city will be able to use that speciffic resource. If at some point the colony falls inside the civilization's borders it will dissapear (the civilization can benefit from the resource if the resource is linked by road to one of the cities). The worker is consumed in the process of building the colony.
• Build Fortress A worker can build fortresses. A fortress gives a 50% deffense bonus to the square and also gives it a zone of control. A fortress can be built in a square that allready has an irrigation or a mine and a road or a rail road.
• Build Outpost A worker can build outposts as well. An outpost will eliminate the fog of war. The number of tiles you will be able to see depends on the terrain you build the oupost on. If the outpost is build on flat terrain it will eliminate the fog of war for a 2 square radius. If it is built on a hill it will eliminate for a 3 square radius and if it's built on a mountain it will remove the fog of war for a 4 square radius. An outpost can be built on a square that allready has other terrain improvements like a mine or irrigation and a road or rail road. Building an outpost will terminate the worker.
• Build Radar Tower A radar tower gives a +25% attack and deffense bonus to any unit in two square radius from it. A radar tower can be built on a tile that allready has an irrigation or a mine and a road or rail road. Afetr building a radar tower the worker disappears. Once the Radar tower falls into enemy teritory it is destroyed.
• Build Airfield An airfield can be used by a player for any kind of air opperation, just like a city with an airport in it. It can be built in a square that is empty or has a road or rail road allrady there. After building an airfield the worker dyes. If an airfield falls into enemy territory it can be used by that civilzation provided it has descovered the secret of flight. If it hasn't the airfield will be destroyed.
• Plant Forest Forests can be planted in squares that have no forest.
• Clear Forest A worker can clean a forest tile. This will result in the gain of ten shields by the city that is closest to that tile. Forests that have been planted do not give the 10 shield bonus. Clearing a forest that has been planted recently will not give you the production bonus so even though it sounds good, planting and clearing forests is not the best idea.
• Clear Jungle A worker can clean a jungle tile in the same way that it can clear a forest tile.
• Clear Polution Industrial age brings in a new problem with it: pollution. Polluted squares can no longer offer any benefits for the civ that holds it withing its borders. Workers can however clean polluted tyles and then the tile will offer the same bonuses as before.

          Resources can be separated into three cathegories: Bonus Resources, Luxury Resources and Strategic Resources:

• Bonus Resources like wheat give bonuses to the tiles they ocupy to increase the number of food, shield or commerce units they would normally produce. Here is a full list of the civiloization III bonus resources:
  

  
  

  Bonus Resources
  Resource Name	Picture	Bonus to Food	Bonus to Shields	Bonus to Commerce
  Cattle		2	1	0
  Fish		2	0	1
  Game		2	0	0
  Gold		0	0	4
  Whales		1	1	2
  Wheat		2	0	0

• Luxury Resources Just like the bonus resources, luxury resources provide bonuses to the number of food, shield and commerce units produced by the rile they are on. If they are connected through road or railroad to friendly cities they can increase the happiness of that city. They can also be traded with other civilizations provided that there is a road connecting the capitals of the two cities and the resources are connected to the capital. ithout further introductions here are the luxury resources:
  

  
  

  Luxury Resources
  Resource Name	Picture	Bonus to Food	Bonus to Shields	Bonus to Commerce
  Dyes		0	0	1
  Furs		0	1	1
  Gems		0	0	4
  Incense		0	0	1
  Ivory		0	0	2
  Silks		0	0	3
  Spices		0	0	2
  Wines		1	0	1

• Strategic Resources are required for building most of the units in Civilization III (for exact details view the unit section above). In order to use a strategic resource it has to be inside the bordes of the civilization and it also has to be connected by road. If the resource is outside the civilization's borders and in the same time not inside any other civilization's border then a worker can build a colony on the resource. If the colony is linked to other cites by a road these cities will be able to use the resources. Just like luxury resources, strategic resources can be traded and also increase the number of shields, food and commerce units produced by the tile theyt are situated in. Without further introductions, here are the strategic resources:
  

  
  

  Strategic Resources
  Resource Name	Picture	Bonus to Food	Bonus to Shields	Bonus to Commerce
  Aluminium		0	2	0
  coal		0	2	1
  Horses		0	0	1
  Iron		0	1	0
  Rubber		0	0	2
  Saltpeter		0	0	1
  Uranium		0	2	3

           City Improovements become available with the research of new technology. City improovements give certain advantages to the city they are built in. For example the Aqueduct gives a city that is not built on a river tile the possibility of expanding over size 6. (becomming a city). You have to pay maintenance cost (a certain cost per turn) for each city improovement you build.
           Here is a complete list of city improovements together with their prices (in shields), maintenance costs, their technological requirements and their uses.

Standard Civilization III city Improovements
Name	Cost (Shields)	Maintenance	Technologicall Requirements	Uses
Airport	160	2	Flight	city builds veteran units instead of regular ones the city becomes a trade node (resources that are connected to this city can be traded with friendly cities that have an airport) Ground units can be airlifted from this city to another city or to an airfield air units can be upgraded
Play The World city Improovements
Name	Cost (Shields)	Mentenance	Technologicall Requirements	Uses