Civilization III
| Civilization III | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Firaxis Games, Westlake Interactive (Mac OS, original), and Aspyr (Mac OS, Complete) |
| Publisher(s) | Infogrames (now Atari), MacSoft (Mac OS), and Aspyr (Mac OS, Complete) |
| Designer(s) | Jeff Briggs and Soren Johnson |
| Engine | Custom |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS |
| Release |  October 30 2001  November 1 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player multiplayer (with expansions) |
Sid Meier's Civilization III is a turn-based strategy computer game by Firaxis Games, the sequel to Sid Meier's Civilization II. It was followed by Civilization IV. Also called Civ 3 or Civ III for short, the game is the third generation of the original Civilization. The game offers highly evolved gameplay in terms of both mechanics and strategy. Unlike the original game, Civ III was not designed by Sid Meier, but by Jeff Briggs, a game designer, and Soren Johnson, a game programmer.
Civilization III, like the other Civilization games, is based around building an empire, from the ground up, beginning at start of recorded history and continuing beyond the current modern day. The player's civilization is centered around a core of cities that provide the resources necessary to grow the player's cities, construct city improvements, wonders, and units, and advance the player's technological development. The player must balance a good infrastructure, resources, diplomatic and trading skills, technological advancement, city and empire management, culture, and military power to succeed.
Gameplay
Empire management
The game focuses around a core of cities that provide the necessary production to advance the player's empire. The cities contain a certain number of citizens that draw production from the surrounding land.
Shields (units of production) are used to build improvements, units, and wonders.
Food is used to grow the player's cities. Each citizen requires two food units per turn to survive, and excess food is stored. Once the food storage fills up, it is emptied and the city gains a citizen. Some food may be stored in the optional granary city improvement, which does not deplete when the city grows.
Commerce is used to generate money for the player's economy. The player can take a certain percentage of his or her economy each turn and allocate it to scientific research or to the happiness of his or her citizens.
Each city's citizens have a certain mood (happy, content, unhappy, or resisting). If there are more unhappy than happy citizens in a city, the city falls into civil disorder and all production ceases and no food is stored; if a city remains in civil disorder for too long, improvements may be destroyed by the unruly mob. On the other hand, if a city has more happy citizens than content ones, and no unhappy ones, the city will throw a celebration for the ruler called We Love the "King" Day (The Title King is able to be changed when you first choose your empire) and economic benefits ensue. Any commerce that is not allocated to scientific research or to happiness is placed in the treasury as gold coin.
The worker unit is used to improve the land by building various improvements on terrain squares. Mines increase shield production, irrigation increases food, and roads increase commerce and reduce movement costs (to 1/3 of a point) for all allied land units using them. Later in the game the player can build railroads, which provide almost unlimited movement for all allied land units, as well as increasing the output of mines and irrigation on the same tile.
Scientific research
One of the major features of gameplay is scientific research. The technology tree is divided into four ages (Ancient Age, Middle Ages, Industrial Age, and Modern Age); each age requires the research of specific technologies to advance to that age. Additionally, there are technologies that are not required to advance to the next age, but which provide useful bonuses that are often essential for good empire management, or may provide different alternatives to it. A science 'slider' is used to allocate money from the economy to scientific research, and can be set at 10% increments. City improvements such as libraries, universities, and research labs also increase scientific research, as do some wonders (such as Newton's University).
Technologies can also be traded to and from other civilizations in return for money, resources, luxury goods or other technologies. Technologies acquired in this way can in turn be exchanged (also called 'technology brokering') for other new technologies by contacting one or more other civilizations. In this way a civilization may, in one turn, experience a considerable jump in its technological development.
Culture
Culture is a new feature in Civ III; it did not exist in previous versions of Civilization. Each city in Civilization III has a cultural rating, which is the city's influence over local terrain. Essentially, the culture's outer edge, or "border", acts as the boundary of each civilization's empire. When a city is created it has a culture rating of 1, which allows influence over the closest 8 squares only (a sphere of influence 1 square in radius). As the city's culture rating increases, so does its sphere of influence, bringing more territory under the player's control.
In addition to influencing territorial borders, culture serves two other purposes. One is allowing the peaceful takeover, better known as 'culture flipping', of nearby foreign cities by influencing its citizens with another civilization's culture. Conquest through culture is preferable to military conquest as it does not affect a civilization's reputation in the global community. In addition, a civilization can win the game by having a very strong culture total.
Culture is increased each turn based on what city improvements and wonders, such as a Temple or the Hanging Gardens, have been built in that city. Cultural buildings are important as they can also prevent unhappy citizens and thus prevent civil disorder.
Civilizations
Every civilization starts with certain special abilities, specifically two traits that give them bonuses that help in corresponding areas of gameplay; they also determine what two technologies the civilization begins the game with. Each civilization has a special unit that is unique to their civilization and is typically a slightly improved replacement of a standard unit; these units usually have a historical basis (for example: the Japanese unique unit, which replaces the standard swordsman, is the samurai).
| Color | Civilization | Qualities | Starting Advances | Special Unit | Leader | Capital |
| Arabia | Religious, Expansionist | Pottery, Ceremonial burial | Ansar Warrior (replaces Knight) | Abu Bakr | Mecca | |
| Carthage | Industrious, Commercial (in Conquests, Seafaring) | Alphabet, Masonry | Numidian Mercenary (replaces Spearman) | Hannibal Barca | Carthage | |
| Celts | Religious, Militaristic (in Conquests, Agricultural) | Warrior code, Ceremonial burial | Gallic Swordsman (replaces Swordsman) | Brennus | Entremont | |
| Korea | Scientific, Commercial | Alphabet, Bronze Working | Hwacha (replaces Cannon) | Wang Kon | Seoul | |
| Mongols | Militaristic, Expansionist | Warrior code, Pottery | Keshik (replaces Knight) | Temujin | Karakorum | |
| Ottomans | Scientific, Industrious | Bronze working, Masonry | Sipahi (replaces Cavalry) | Osman I | Istanbul | |
| Scandinavia | Militaristic, Expansionist (in Conquests, Seafaring) | Pottery, Warrior code | Berserker (replaces Longbowman) | Ragnar Lodbrok | Trondheim | |
| Spain | Religious, Commercial (in Conquests, Seafaring) | Alphabet, Ceremonial burial | Conquistador (replaces Explorer) | Isabella I | Madrid |
| Color | Civilization | Qualities | Starting Advances | Special Unit | Leader | Capital |
| Byzantines | Scientific, Seafaring | Bronze working, Alphabet | Dromon (replaces Galley) | Theodora | Constantinople | |
| Hittites | Expansionist, Commercial | Pottery, Alphabet | Three-man Chariot (replaces Chariot) | Mursilis I | Hattusas | |
| Inca | Expansionist, Agricultural | Pottery, Masonry | Chasqui Scout (replaces Scout) | Pachacuti | Cuzco | |
| Maya | Agricultural, Industrious | Masonry, Pottery | Javelin Thrower (replaces Archer) | Smoke-Jaguar | Chichén Itza | |
| Netherlands | Agricultural, Seafaring | Pottery, Alphabet | Swiss mercenary (replaces Pikeman) | William of Orange | Amsterdam | |
| Portugal | Seafaring, Expansionist | Pottery, Alphabet | Carrack (replaces Caravel) | Henry the Navigator | Lisbon | |
| Sumeria | Scientific, Agricultural | Bronze working, Pottery | Enkidu Warrior (replaces Warrior) | Gilgamesh | Ur | |
| Austria ("Bonus" civ: not included in the standard game) | Militaristic, Commercial | Masonry, Warrior Code | Hussar (replaces Cavalry) | Charles V | Vienna |
It is worth noting that, like the Arabs and Incans in Civilization II, Austria is hidden in the programming but can be enabled by removing one of the default civilizations.
Wonders of the world
As in previous editions of Civilization, there are Great Wonders that are unique throughout the world and can only be built after the prerequisite technologies have been researched. Wonders provide a variety of major benefits to a specific city, all cities on a continent or to an entire empire. In each different age there are different wonders available. Below is a list of those wonders sorted by age (Ancient, Middle Ages, Industrial, and Modern).
Civilization III also added Small Wonders, which can be built once by each civilization. Small Wonders have, for the most part, a sociological requirement to construct them, as well as a technological requirement. Battlefield Medicine, for example, requires that five of the player's cities have hospitals before building.
When a civilization captures a city with a Wonder, it is automatically destroyed if it is a Small Wonder; Great Wonders in captured cities are only destroyed if the city is razed. If a Great Wonder is destroyed, it can never be rebuilt.
Ancient Age
- Great Wonders
- The Colossus, The Great Library, The Great Lighthouse, The Pyramids, The Oracle, The Great Wall, The Hanging Gardens
- Conquests:
- Mausoleum of Maussollos, The Statue of Zeus, The Temple of Artemis
Small Wonders
Middle Ages
- Great Wonders
- Sistine Chapel, Smith's Trading Company, Copernicus' Observatory, J.S. Bach's Cathedral, Leonardo's Workshop, Magellan's Voyage, Newton's University, Sun Tzu's Art of War, Shakespeare's Theater
- Conquests:
- Knights Templar
- Small Wonders
- Military Academy
Industrial Age
- Great Wonders
- Theory of Evolution, Universal Suffrage, Hoover Dam
- Small Wonders
- Iron Works, Intelligence Agency, Battlefield medicine, Wall Street
- Conquests:
- Secret Police Headquarters
Modern Age
- Great Wonders
- SETI Program, United Nations, Cure for Cancer, Longevity, Manhattan Project
- Play The World:
- The Internet
- Small Wonders
- Apollo Program, Strategic Missile Defense, The Pentagon
Nationality
Citizens have a nationality based upon the civilization under which they were 'born.' Citizens have a 'memory' of their nationality and will consider themselves members of their previous civilization until they are assimilated into their new civilization. The time it takes for this change to occur is based upon the relative cultures of both civilizations, taking less time the more the culture of the new civilization is stronger than the previous civilization's. For example, if Persia captures a French city, its citizens will retain their French nationality until they are assimilated into the Persian culture, although they will live and work under Persian control. Foreign citizens become unhappy if their ruling country is at war with their country of birth and may remain so for some time afterward. This gives recently-captured cities a high potential for rebellion. Otherwise, they are equally productive. Units that are captured, such as workers and artillery, also retain their nationality and are less efficient than 'native' units and unable to be upgraded; they have no upkeep cost, however.
Combat
Combat is an important aspect of the game, and, although not required to win, it is nearly impossible to go through a full game without experiencing warfare at least once. Each unit begins as a "regular" (with 3 hit points) and can gain experience and be promoted through battles. Below regular is "conscript" (with 2 hit points); barbarian tribes will occasionally generate conscript units, and a city may also institute a draft to produce conscript units at the cost of some of the city population. Above regular is "veteran" (with 4 hit points) and finally "elite" (with 5 hit points). If a city has a barracks (or harbor for naval units, or airport for air units), it will produce veteran units instead of regulars.
Each unit has an attack and defense value that is compared against another unit's appropriate value (attack vs defense) to determine the winner of each battle. Certain terrain types, as well as large cities, defending across a river, and fortifying a unit provide additional defensive bonuses (e.g. a mountain has a 100% defensive bonus, so a unit with 3 defense will be considered to have 6 defense when defending on a mountain). Ultimately, a random number generator (RNG) determines the outcome of each battle, so it is therefore possible (although rare) for a Bronze Age spearman to defeat a modern tank, a fact that was highly criticized by fans and was partially the reason that led to a total redesign of the combat system for Civilization IV[citation needed]. This issue was supposedly dealt with in Civilization II with the addition of firepower and hit points.
Another important aspect of combat is bombardment, which can be done by artillery units (catapult, cannon, artillery and radar artillery), air units, and more advanced naval units (destroyer, battleship, etc). Bombardment can soften a target before it is attacked, and, if attacking a city, may kill some of the population or destroy certain city improvements. Certain units have the ability to kill other units through bombardment (known as "lethal bombardment").
When an elite unit wins a battle against an enemy unit, there is a chance that it will produce a Great Leader. (The chance is 1/16. The Heroic Epic small wonder increases this chance to 1/12). A Great Leader has the ability to create an Army, which has the ability to "load" up to three units (four if the player has built The Pentagon). An Army fights as one unit and combines the hit points of all the individual units loaded into it. Once units have been loaded into the Army, however, they cannot be removed or upgraded, but they do gain additional battle experience - however, an elite unit in an army cannot generate leaders. A Great Leader can also be used to hurry the building of a project; this is the only way to hurry production of a Great Wonder.
Units
There are a variety of military units in Civilization III which are not specific to certain nations. These include the:
- Warrior (Requires nothing)
- Spearman (Requires Bronze Working)
- Archer (Requires Warrior Code, Bushido and Chivalry are real-world examples of this.)
- Scout (Requires nothing, but can only be made by expansionist civilizations)
- Chariot (Requires The Wheel and Horses)
- Horseman (Requires Horseback riding and Horses)
- Swordsman (Requires Iron Working and Iron)
- Pikeman (Requires Iron and Feudalism)
- Longbowman (Requires Invention)
- Knight (Requires Chivalry, Horses, and Iron)
- Musketman (Requires Gunpowder [advance] and Saltpeter [resource])
- Explorer (Requires Astronomy)
- Cavalry (Requires Military Tradition, Horses, and Saltpeter)
- Rifleman (Requires Nationalism)
- Infantry (Requires Replaceable Parts and Rubber)
- Tank (Requires Motorized Transportation, Oil, and Rubber)
- Marine (Requires Amphibious Warfare and Rubber)
- Paratrooper (Requires Advanced Flight, Oil, and Rubber)
- Modern Armor (Requires Synthetic Fibers, Oil, Rubber, and aluminium)
- Mech Infantry (Requires Computers, Oil, and Rubber)
- Radar Artillery (Requires Robotics, The Laser and Miniaturization)
Resources
In Civilization III, there are three types of resources. Each type of resource can be found only on certain types of terrain and can provide a bonus to shields, food, or commerce if found within the city radius and worked by a citizen. Bonus resources exist specifically for this purpose, while luxury and strategic resources provide other benefits as well; luxury and strategic resources may be traded, while bonus resources may not. Resources must be 'connected' to a civilization's infrastructure (via a road or railroad) and must be within that civilization's cultural border to be utilized; a resource outside of the cultural border can still be utilized by connecting a road to it and building an outpost (outposts are easily destroyed and are targeted by barbarians, so they must be defended).
| Resource | Terrain | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Cattle | grasslands, plains | 2 food, 1 shield |
| Fish | coast | 2 food, 1 commerce |
| Game | forests, tundra | 2 food |
| Gold | hills, mountains | 4 commerce |
| Whales | sea | 1 food, 1 shield, 2 commerce |
| Wheat | flood plains, grasslands, plains | 2 food |
Luxury resources contribute to a civilization's overall happiness; each luxury makes at least one content citizen happy per city. The effects of luxuries do not stack, for example, if a civilization has two wines connected, only one will provide a bonus; the other is available for trading. Building a marketplace greatly increases the effect of luxuries on that city beyond the second luxury. Keeping citizens happy is important and prevents the city from falling into civil disorder.
| Resource | Terrain | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Dyes | forests, jungles | 1 commerce |
| Ivory | forests, plains | 2 commerce |
| Gems | jungles, mountains | 4 commerce |
| Incense | deserts, hills | 1 commerce |
| Furs | forests, tundra | 1 shield, 1 commerce |
| Silk | forests, jungles | 3 commerce |
| Spice | forests, jungles | 2 commerce |
| Wine | hills, grasslands, plains | 1 food, 1 commerce |
Strategic resources are resources required to train certain units or construct certain city improvements or wonders. A certain technology is required to unlock these resources, and they are often necessary for good empire management. Perhaps the most important resource is iron, which is useful from the moment it first appears on the map until the end, as it is a prerequisite for constructing railroads along with coal. Like luxuries, strategic resources do not stack and can be traded.
| Resource | Tech | Terrain | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aluminum | Rocketry | hills, tundra | 2 shields |
| Coal | Steam Power | jungles, hills, mountains | 2 shields, 1 commerce |
| Horses | The Wheel | grasslands, hills, plains | 1 commerce |
| Iron | Iron Working | hills, mountains | 1 shield |
| Oil | Refining | deserts, tundra | 1 shield, 2 commerce |
| Rubber | Replaceable Parts | forests, jungles | 2 commerce |
| Saltpeter | Gunpowder | deserts, hills | 1 commerce |
| Uranium | Fission | forests, mountains | 2 shields, 3 commerce |
Corruption
Though corruption existed in Civilization I and II, it has been made much more severe in Civilization III. In addition to the commerce-decreasing corruption, Civilization III includes waste (Note: Civ II includes waste as well, but it is considerably less severe), which decreases a city's productivity. The productivity of a city, measured in 'shields', is used to build units, city improvements and wonders, with each unit or structure costing a certain number of shields. Shields can have two colors: blue or red. The blue shields represent actual production, while red ones represent production lost to waste. In general, the farther a city is from the capital, the greater the waste will be. It is not uncommon for far-flung cities to have red shields that far outnumber the blue ones. The levels of corruption and waste are dependent on the system of government of a civilization and the distance from each city is from the capital city of the civilization. Uniquely, in the communist system, corruption and waste are essentially spread equally amongst all cities. Also, depending on the map size and difficulty level, each civilization has an "optimal city limit." Once a civilization exceeds this limit, it will also gain corruption and waste overall for every new city it possesses. This feature was added to prevent total global domination (a typical result in the previous editions) by making it impossible for a global civilization to function.[citation needed]
There are a number of ways to combat corruption which include building city improvements, such as the courthouse and the police station, connecting each city to the civilization's trade network (e.g. roads, a harbor or an airport) and by building two Small Wonders, the Forbidden Palace and the Secret Police Headquarters (Communist governments only). Originally these wonders functioned as second palaces in the cities in which they were built, but subsequent patches removed that function for corruption and merely made them reduce overall corruption in every city. Corruption will never reduce shield production to zero, but one shield per turn is virtually useless.
Victory conditions
There are several ways to win the game, some of which recur from the previous Civilization games. A player needs to meet only one of the victory conditions to win a game. They can each be enabled or disabled when setting the game rules at the beginning of a new game (except for the histograph victory).
Conquest
One of the most straightforward of the victory conditions, a Conquest victory is achieved when no civilizations besides the player's exist, a civilization being eliminated when its last city is captured or destroyed. Despite the simplicity of concept, Conquest can be difficult to achieve as other civilizations will, naturally, resist. Along these lines, there is the "settler on a boat" problem, in which the final conquered civilization places a settler unit on a boat and takes to the high seas. The player then spends centuries tracking this boat down. Another difficulty is that Domination (below) is almost always achieved long before Conquest could be achieved, unless the Domination option has been disabled, or if the player razes most of the opponent's cities.
Domination
A player wins a Domination victory by controlling two thirds of the world's land and population. 66% of the world must be within the civilization's cultural borders, and 66% of the world's people must be within the civilization's cities. Exactly how the player achieves these two conditions is irrelevant and largely open-ended; any method of achieving the two conditions triggers the victory.
Cultural
By having a culture so powerful that its civilization controls the world through others' longing to be a part of it, a player can win a Cultural victory. The Cultural victory is achieved when either one city the player controls has 20,000 or more culture points, or if the entire civilization meets a certain threshold (100,000 on a Standard map) and has at least double that of any other culture. The latter is more difficult as it's unlikely that none of the other nations will have at least half of the player's total rating unless they have been weakened by war.
Diplomatic
By building the United Nations wonder, a civilization opens the possibility of a Diplomatic victory. The civilization that built it will be periodically offered the opportunity to hold elections for U.N. Secretary General. To be eligible for election, a civilization must control either 25% of the world's population or territory, although the civilization that actually built the UN is always automatically a candidate. If there are no qualified candidates other than the one who built the UN, the civilization with the next highest population is put on the ballot. The civilization with a majority of the possible votes wins the election, and therefore the game. Because the player's reputation matters a great deal to the voting AI civilizations, it is of paramount importance to a player seeking a Diplomatic victory to maintain a trustworthy status throughout the game.
Spaceship
Just as in the previous two games, a civilization not seeking domination through world conquest can build and send a colony spaceship to Alpha Centauri to win the game. Unlike the previous two games, however, the player does not decide how many of several different types of components to build, but rather, builds ten specific spaceship parts ranging from Thrusters to the Stasis Chamber to the Interplanetary Party Lounge. The parts may be built in any order the player desires, but the player must first research the required technologies associated with each part. This method of victory favors a player with several powerful cities as the parts cost many shields to produce, and each city can only produce one at a time.
While the previous games had incorporated elements of speed and survival chance (a player could build fewer parts and thus launch sooner, although at increased risk of it not making it to Alpha Centauri), the game is won immediately once the colony ship is launched, the ultimate success of the colony either being assumed or irrelevant.
Histograph
The histograph provides a relative indicator of each civilization's score, power, and culture at any given time. When the game timer runs out (at the year 2050 AD by default) if no civilization has met any of the other victory conditions, each civilization's score at the end of each of the time periods (Ancient, Middle, Industrial, and Modern) is summed and then averaged. The highest final score wins the game. The player may continue the game beyond this point, but no additional score is counted.
Difference from Civilization II
Most game rules remain the same from Civilization II. Here are some major changes:
- Resources: The resources of Civ II only increased local production, and did not affect happiness or production options.
- Ages: The tech tree of Civ III was divided into ages, while the one in Civ II was continuous, although in Civ II the city images on the map changed according to what could be equated to ages.
- Civilizations: Unique units and civilization traits. The civilizations of Civ II were not unique except AI and artwork.
- Workers: Terrain improvement was done by Settlers in Civ II. Civ III introduced Workers for this purpose.
- Diplomatic agreements: Civ III has a bargaining table where leaders can work out diplomatic agreements.
- Forced labor: Under despotism and communism, the player can used forced labor - sacrificing citizens for production.
- Culture: The concept of Culture is new for the series.
- Caravans: The Caravan unit has been removed in Civ III.
- Diplomats and spies: Diplomat and Spy units are replaced by a menu system.
- National Wonders: One National Wonder can be built per civilization.
- War weariness: In Civ II, a leader trying to start war under Republic or Democracy could be overruled by the Senate. Civ III has no Senate - instead war under these governments cause unhappiness the longer it lasts.
- Visibility range: Units on high terrain can see further across low terrain.
- Combat:
- Armies: Units can be grouped into armies.
- Unit support: Units no longer have a home city. Instead they are supported by the national treasury.
- Bombardment: Siege units no longer engage directly in combat, instead they bombard their targets. Ships can bombard coastal tiles.
- Air missions: Aircraft perform one mission each turn (within their range), instead of moving step by step across the map.
- Experience: Units winning a combat have a chance to increase their maximum hit points by one. The concept of "firepower" is removed.
- Upgrades: Units can be upgraded with money and proper resources. Upgrading units in Civ II did not require resources.
- Barbarians: In previous games, barbarian gangs contained a leader, who could be defeated for ransom. These are gone and instead barbarians are spawned at camps, which can be raided. Barbarians never capture cities.
Reception
The initial release of the game had some bugs and glitches. Some players complained that gameplay was poor for various reasons. Some criticized Civilization III for its lack of features which were found in other Civilization-like games, most notably Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (SMAC). Some of the features that SMAC had but were not carried forward included elevation, a working UN system, a social engineering system and a 'group movement' command to simplify managing units on the map.
The first patch came very soon after the game's initial release and other patches were released subsequently, improving gameplay significantly. The patches also managed to add in certain features, such as the aforementioned group movement command. Most complaints about features that were added later, however, are countered by the fact that including all the bug fixes and features that were included later would mean the game's release would be delayed by months, if not years. Civ III, like many games, exemplifies the dilemma of game developers who must balance a timely release of the game against a more polished product.
Overall, the reaction to Civilization III has been very positive. It has won many "Game of the Year" and "Strategy Game of the Year" awards and continues to win new fans, even after Civilization IV was released.[citation needed]
Expansions
Two expansion sets have been published for Civilization III: Play the World, and Conquests.
Play the World added multiplayer capabilities, eight new civilizations and some new units to the original release.
Conquests offers nine more historical scenarios, ranging from Mesopotamia to WWII in the Pacific. Many of these scenarios have resources, improvements, wonders, music, and even government types that are specific to the scenario, especially the Mesoamerican and Sengoku Japan campaigns.
The latest stand-alone version is Civilization III: Complete, which includes the two expansions and several patches. (This version came after Civilization III: Gold Edition and Civilization III: Game of the Year Edition.)
Mods
Some fans turned to "mods" ("modifications" of the original game), to add features they would have liked to see in the original release. Five popular ones are the Double Your Pleasure mod (DYP), Rise and Rule mod (RaR), Rhye's of Civilization (ROC), Age of Imperialism (AoI), and The Cold War (TCW) which double nearly all elements of the original game in quantity: technologies, civilizations, units. Although the first mods were created for "Vanilla" Civilization III (that is, the unexpanded original), the best mods have been made for Conquests. This is because the Editor that came with Conquests was a considerable improvement over the earlier ones, with many more functions that allowed more imaginative mods and scenarios to be created.
Several themed mods have also sprung up, focusing on one period of time or fiction, such as The Cold War, which focuses on The Cold War between 1950-1991. Other examples include The Ancient Mediterranean mod (TAM) and, more recently, Anno Domini, (AD) which offers a four-era random-map game similar to the standard but covers only antiquity and the Middle Ages. The newest of these mods appear to be the Medieval European Mod II (MEMII), which is actually a remake of an old mod for Play the World. In addition to these mods, there are fan-made scenarios, which are similar to the conquest games that come with Conquests: they are played on relatively small maps, focusing on relatively short periods of time, and often offer a far more detailed dramatization of history. Popular examples include the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (RFRE), the Rood and the Dragon (set in Anglo-Saxon Britain), and the Rise and Fall of the Mughals (set in early modern India).
Since the Play the World expansion, mods can be installed without actually modifying the original game. Fan websites such as Civfanatics, Apolyton, Civ3 Maps and Mods, or Evolution Games offer the platform for developing and distributing mods in a way that few games have seen to date. In addition to the mods themselves, these sites also make available hundreds of fan-made military units, building graphics, terrain, and other artwork intended to be incorporated into mods. As a result, some mods can offer an immersive experience in a particular period of history by using far more specialized art than that provided with the game itself.
Critics' scores
Cultural references
Civilization III carries on the Civilization series' tradition of making numerous references to popular culture in the game. Many of these references are to the singer Elvis Presley, who has had some form of appearance in every Civilization title, and makes at least two appearances in this game. In the original version of the game, the closing credits display a picture of an Elvis lookalike. Playing the expansions on Elvis's birthday (January 8) will turn the ruler unit in regicide games into a representation of him.[2]
The default names of certain cities in the game are also subtle nods to cultural phenomena. The Ottoman city "Not Constantinople", and the Byzantine city "Not Istanbul" are references to the song Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by the band The Four Lads. The Japanese city "Neo-Tokyo" is a reference to the anime film Akira. Other city names pay tribute to websites dedicated to the Civilizations series including the Civilization Fanatics Center and the Apolyton Civilization Site.[2] Allusions to popular culture are not limited to city names; references to musicians, movies, and people are made throughout the game.
See also
External links
- Official Civilization III website
- CivFanatics Civilization Forums
- A list of fansites hosted on the official site
- A large Civilization website for and by fans
- Apolyton Civilization Site
- Civilized Online Gaming Community
- Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame
- Sid Meier's CHR Civilization (complete rewrite of the rules of the said boardgame to make it more similar to the PC game)
- CivUnited fansite
References
- ^ Squire, Kurt (2005-04-15). "Meet the Gamers". LibraryJournal.com. Retrieved 2007-01-28.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Civilization III: Easter Eggs". 2005-08-13. Retrieved 2006-09-07.
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