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{{Short description|2001 turn-based strategy video game}}
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{{Infobox video game {{Infobox video game
|title = Sid Meier's Civilization III | title = Civilization III
|image = Civilization III Coverart.png | image = Civilization III Coverart.png
|caption = | caption =
|developer = ] | developer = ]<small> (Win)</small><br/>Westlake Interactive<small> (Mac)</small>
|publisher = ] <small>(Win)</small><br>] <small>(Mac)</small> | publisher = ] <small>(Win)</small><br />] <small>(Mac)</small>
|series = '']'' | series = '']''
|director = ] | director =
|producer = Michael Gibson <br> Jeffrey Kennedy | producer = Michael Gibson <br /> Jeffrey Kennedy
|designer = ] <br> ] | designer = ] <br /> ]
|writer = Paul Murphy | writer = Paul Murphy
| composer = ]<br />Mark Cromer
|engine = Custom
| engine =
|released={{vgrelease|NA=October 30, 2001|EU=November 1, 2001}}
| released = '''Windows'''{{vgrelease|NA|October 30, 2001|EU|March 1, 2002<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uk.infogrames.com/index.php?print=1&pg=game_detail&productID=1 |title=Infogrames UK |website=www.uk.infogrames.com |access-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030628212529/http://www.uk.infogrames.com/index.php?print=1&pg=game_detail&productID=1 |archive-date=28 June 2003 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}'''Mac OS'''{{vgrelease|NA|January 6, 2002}}
|genre = ]
|modes = ] ] | genre = ]
| modes = ], ]
|platforms = ], ] | platforms = ], ]
}} }}
'''''Sid Meier's Civilization III''''', commonly shortened to '''''Civ III''''' or '''''Civ 3''''', is the third installment of the ] ] ] series. It was preceded by '']'' and followed by '']'', and it was released in 2001. The game offers very sophisticated gameplay in terms of both mechanics and strategy. Unlike the original game, Civ III was not designed by ], but by ], a ], and ], a ]. '''''Sid Meier's Civilization III''''' is the third installment of the '']'' ] ] series. It was released in 2001, and followed by '']''. Unlike the original game, ''Civilization III'' was not designed by ], but by ], a ], and ], a ].


''Civilization III'', like the other ''Civilization'' games, is based around building an empire, from the ground up, beginning in 4,000 BC and continuing slightly beyond the modern day. The player must construct and improve cities, train military and non-military units, improve terrain, research technologies, build Wonders of the World, make war or peace with neighboring civilizations, and so on. The player must balance a good infrastructure, resources, diplomatic and trading skills, technological advancement, city and empire management, culture, and military power to succeed. ''Civilization III'', like the other ''Civilization'' games, entails building an empire, from the ground up, beginning in 4,000 BC and continuing slightly beyond the modern day. The player must construct and improve cities, train military and non-military units, improve terrain, research technologies, build Wonders of the World, make war or peace with neighboring civilizations, and so on. 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== ==Gameplay==
{{rewrite section|date=June 2012}} {{cleanup rewrite|section=yes|date=June 2012}}
] ]


The game map is made up of square tiles on a grid. Each city, terrain improvement, and unit is located in a specific tile, and each tile can host any number of units, land tiles can contain a transportation improvement (] or ]) and a land improvement (] or ]) or a city. Cities must be built a minimum of two tiles away from each other (no two cities can be touching). Each tile is made of a particular type of terrain that determines, among other things, how much food, production, and trade it produces when "worked". A tile can only be worked if it is one of the 20 tiles surrounding a city, a tile can only be worked by one city at a time, and each city can only work a number of tiles equal to or less than its population. The game map is made up of square tiles on a grid. Each city, terrain improvement, and unit is located in a specific tile, and each tile can host any number of units. Land tiles can contain a transportation improvement (] or ]) and a land improvement (] or ]) or a city. Cities must be built a minimum of one tile away from each other, i.e., no two cities may touch. Each tile is made of a particular type of terrain that determines, among other things, how much food, production, and trade it produces when "worked". A tile can only be worked if it is one of the twenty tiles surrounding a city. A tile can only be worked by one city at a time, and each city can only work a number of tiles equal to or less than its population.


Food is used to grow the player's cities. Each population unit requires two food units per turn to survive, and excess food is stored. Once the food storage fills up, it is emptied, the city gains a population unit, and the size of the food storage is increased (i.e., a larger amount of food will be required for the city to grow again). Only half of a city's food storage is depleted if the city has a ]. Food is used to grow the player's cities. Each population unit requires food to survive, and excess food is stored. Production, represented in the game as "shields", is used to build units, buildings, and wonders. Commerce powers the player's economy. This commerce is split up as the player sees fit between research, tax revenue, and luxuries, each with a different purpose.


Each city's citizens have a certain mood (happy, content, unhappy, or resisting). If most citizens are unhappy, the city falls into ] and all production ceases; if a city remains in civil disorder for too long, it can lead to rioting, which results in improvements being destroyed. If most citizens are happy, they will like their leader and increase economic benefits.
Production, represented in the game as "shields", is used to build units, buildings, and wonders.


Terrain improvements are built by Worker units. Irrigation increases food, mines increase production, and roads increase commerce and reduce movement costs for all allied land units using them. Two civilizations must have ''Right of passage'' treaty signed to benefit from each other's roads.
Commerce powers the player's economy. This commerce is split up as the player sees fit between technological research, tax revenue, and luxuries, each with a different purpose.


Buildings enhance a city in some way and cost maintenance. Like units and Wonders, each one can only be built when the requisite technology has been acquired. Buildings require financial maintenance each turn, and can be destroyed. Only one of each type of building can be constructed in each city.
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 ] 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<ref>The actual title of the ruler may be changed according to the current government type, e.g. "King" for ] or "President" for ])</ref> Day'' and economic benefits ensue.


As in previous installments of ''Civilization'', there are unique Wonders of the World that can only be built once per game. Wonders provide a variety of major benefits to a specific city, all cities on a continent, or to an entire empire. ''Civilization III'' also added Small Wonders, which are functionally equivalent to Wonders except that each one can be constructed once per civilization, as opposed to once in every whole game. Small Wonders have, for the most part, a sociological requirement to construct them, as well as a technological requirement. When a civilization captures a city with a Small Wonder, it is automatically destroyed. Some examples of small wonders are ], the ], and ].
Terrain improvements are built by Worker units. Irrigation increases food, mines increase production, and roads increase commerce and reduce movement costs (to 1/3 of a point) for all allied land units using them. Two civilizations must have ''Right of passage'' treaty signed to benefit from each other's roads. Later in the game, the player can build railroads, which provide unlimited movement for allied units as well as increasing the yield of existing tile improvements.


One of the major features of gameplay is ]. Completing the research of a new technology will make available new units, city improvements, and wonders of the world, as well as special bonuses and abilities that are related to the technology. The ] is divided into four ages (], ], ], and ]); each age requires the research of specific technologies to advance to that age. Additionally, there are non-requisite technologies that nevertheless provide useful bonuses that are often essential for good empire management, or allow a civilization to install a new government. Technologies can also be traded to and from other civilizations in return for gold, resources, technologies, workers, and cities. 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.
Buildings enhance a city in some way and cost maintenance. Like units and Wonders, each one can only be built when the requisite technology has been acquired. Buildings require financial maintenance each turn, and can be destroyed by many means, including bombardment. Buildings types include granary, barracks, temple, harbor, university, bank, hospital, factory, recycling center, and ]. Only one of each type of building can be constructed in each city.


Citizens are the people who work in a ]. There are four kinds: Laborers, Entertainers, Tax Collectors, and Scientists. If there are more citizens in a city than available tiles to work, the extra citizens automatically become Entertainers. The second expansion, '']'', adds two new types of citizens to the game: Policemen (reduce corruption) and Civil Engineers (enhance building and wonder production).
As in previous instalments of ''Civilization'', there are unique Wonders of the World that can only be built once per game. Wonders provide a variety of major benefits to a specific city, all cities on a continent or to an entire empire.


] is a feature that was not present in previous installments of the franchise. Each city 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. As the city's culture rating increases, so does its sphere of influence, bringing more territory under the player's control. Civilizations' borders may abut, resulting in their culture ratings vying for territory. If one player's culture rating is sufficiently higher than the other's, the former's borders will encroach into territory previously owned by the latter. Given enough time and cultural pressure, the latter player's city may even elect to join, or "flip to," the former's empire. Culture can thus serve as a means of peaceful conquest.
''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 ]s before building, and ] requires 5 banks in the player's cities in order to begin building.


Every civilization starts with certain special abilities, and they have a special "unique unit" that only they can build; these units usually have a historical basis (for example: the Japanese unique unit is the ], which replaces the standard knight, whereas the British unique unit is the ], which replaces the standard frigate).
When a civilization captures a city with a Small Wonder, it is automatically destroyed; World Wonders in captured cities are only destroyed if the city is ]. If a World Wonder is destroyed, it can never be rebuilt. Some examples of wonders are the ], The ], and The ]; examples of small wonders are ], the ] and ].


] may be of different ]]]
One of the major features of gameplay is ]. Completing the research of a new technology will make available new units, city improvements and wonders of the world, as well as special bonuses and abilities that are related to the technology.


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 ] into their new civilization.
The ] is divided into four ages (], ], ], and ]); 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.


Combat is an important aspect of the game. Each combat unit begins as a "regular" unit with three hit points (although some units have additional hit points bonuses which affect their stats). If the unit loses all its hit points, it dies. Units can be promoted after successful combat missions and gain hit points. The highest rank a unit can attain is that of "elite" (which features five hit points), whereas the lowest is "conscript" (featuring two hit points; this rank is only given to newly drafted soldiers and barbarian units). Each unit has an attack and defense value to determine the winner of each battle. Additional defensive bonuses can be conferred by, e.g., certain terrain types, the unit's "Fortify" command, or defending across a river. Ultimately, a ] determines the outcome of each battle. When an elite unit wins a battle against an enemy unit, there is also a small chance that it will produce a Great Leader. A Great Leader has the ability to create an ] or instantly finish construction of a building in a city, which made them particularly useful for completing wonders.
A science ] 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).


With respect to developing the cities within an empire, bonus resources may be found on tiles within the cultural borders. Each type of resource may provide a bonus to food, production, or commerce if found within the city radius and worked by a citizen. Particular kinds of resources, such as luxury or strategic resources, provide additional benefits such as increasing citizens' happiness or providing access to resource-specific combat units.
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 civilizations may, in one turn, experience a considerable jump in their technological development, while others can be left out and disadvantaged.


] exists in ''Civilization III'' alongside waste, which decreases a city's productivity; together, corruption and waste represent the mismanagement of resources, the malfeasance of city-level bureaucrats, and the limits of a central authority's ability to manage an empire. Corruption and waste is often lowest in the capital city and highest on the outskirts of an empire. Furthermore, the levels of corruption and waste are dependent on the ] of a civilization. There are a number of ways to combat corruption which include building city improvements, such as the ] and the ]. Small wonders like the Forbidden Palace and the Secret Police HQ also drastically reduce corruption and waste by acting, in effect, as supplementary capitals.
Citizens are the people who work in a ]. There are four kinds in ''Civ III'': Laborers, Entertainers, Tax Collectors and Scientists. All citizens are created as Laborers. Laborers work the land tiles within the city radius to yield food, production, and commerce. A Laborer changed into a specialist reduces yield by removing a Laborer from working a city tile, but increases luxuries, science output, or tax revenue. If there are more citizens in a city than available tiles to work, the extra citizens automatically become Entertainers.


There are several ways to win the game. A player needs to meet only one of the victory conditions in order to win. These include Conquest victory, achieved when no civilizations besides the player's exist; Domination victory, achieved when two thirds of the world's land and population are controlled by the player; Cultural victory, achieved when the player successfully assimilates other civilizations; Diplomatic victory, achieved when the player is elected leader of the United Nations; and a science-based victory, achieved when the player researches a sufficient number of technologies and builds a spaceship to reach ]. If no civilization has met any of the other victory conditions by the year 2050, the civilization with the highest score wins the game.
The second expansion, '']'', adds two new types of citizens to the game: Policemen (reduce corruption) and Civil Engineers (enhance building and wonder production).


==Development==
Civil disorder is caused when more citizens are unhappy than are happy. During Civil Disorder, the city does not create any commerce or production, but food-harvesting continues. Civil Disorder continues until additional sources of happiness are added to the city, or the riots are subdued by reinforcing the military garrison in the cities.
{{expand section|date=January 2019}}
Civilization III was released after about two years of development on October 30, 2001.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civilization III limited edition available for preorder |url=https://www.gamespot.com/app.php/articles/civilization-iii-limited-edition-available-for-preorder/1100-2815445/ |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=GameSpot |language=en-US}}</ref> Developed by Westlake Interactive and published by ], a version for ] was released on January 6, 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MacSoft ships Civilization III |url=https://www.macworld.com/article/152117/civ3.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=Macworld |language=en}}</ref>


==Reception==
One of the primary distinctions between the difficulty levels is the ease with which cities fall into civil disorder. On a given difficulty level, a certain number of citizens are content by default, and all others produced in excess of that number become unhappy. As the difficulty level increases, the number of content citizens decreases from 6 to 1, making city management more difficult and forcing one to sacrifice resources to entertainment, either by having citizens specialize as entertainers (and thus producing no resources) or by redirecting much-needed funding from scientific research.
===Sales===
In the United States, ''Civilization III'' entered ]'s weekly computer game sales rankings at #1 for October 28–November 3, 2001. Its ''Collectors Edition'' ] claimed second during the period.<ref name=week1>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011213221904/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2824649,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2824649,00.html | title=''Civilization III'' takes first and second place | author=Walker, Trey | date=November 14, 2001 | work=] | archive-date=December 13, 2001 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> Thanks to this debut, ''Civilization III'' became the country's fourth-best-selling computer title of October as a whole, with an average retail price of $49.<ref name=oct2001>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011202103635/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2828791,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2828791,00.html | title=''Hot Date'' holds off ''Harry Potter'' | author=Walker, Trey | date=November 29, 2001 | archive-date=December 2, 2001 | work=] | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> In its second week of availability, the game was pushed to #2 by '']'', and the ''Collectors Edition'' was absent from the top 10.<ref name=week2>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011123115511/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2826679,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2826679,00.html | title=Humongous takes the lead | author=Walker, Trey | date=November 21, 2001 | work=] | archive-date=November 23, 2001 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> Firaxis's title remained in NPD's weekly top 10 from November 11–December 1,<ref name=oct2001 /><ref name=week4>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011207105347/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2830271,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2830271,00.html | title=''Hot Date'' still hot | author=Walker, Trey | date=December 5, 2001 | work=] | archive-date=December 7, 2001 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=week5>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011214151701/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2832176,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2832176,00.html | title=''Harry Potter'' beats ''Hot Date'' | author=Walker, Trey | date=December 12, 2001 | work=] | archive-date=December 14, 2001 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> and took sixth place for November as a whole.<ref name=nov2001>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020213013550/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2833845,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2833845,00.html | title=''Hot Date'' rules November | author=Walker, Trey | date=December 19, 2001 | work=] | archive-date=February 13, 2002 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> After an absence,<ref name=nov2001 /><ref name=gone>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020105131539/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2835972,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2835972,00.html | title=''Harry Potter'' on top again | author=Walker, Trey | work=] | archive-date=January 5, 2002 | date=January 3, 2002 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> it reappeared in the weekly top 10 twice during December and secured 11th for the month.<ref name=dec1>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020202043938/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2836292,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2836292,00.html | title=EA takes three | author=Walker, Trey | work=] | date=January 4, 2002 | archive-date=February 2, 2002 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=dec2>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020111194504/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2837643,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2837643,00.html | title=''Sims'' games dominate year-end PC game sales | author=Walker, Trey | date=January 9, 2002 | work=] | archive-date=January 11, 2002 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=dec2001>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020127002855/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2841779,00.html | url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2841779,00.html | title=''Harry Potter'' takes December | author=Walker, Trey | date=January 23, 2002 | work=] | archive-date=January 27, 2002 | url-status=dead | access-date=July 4, 2019 }}</ref> ''Civilization III'' finished 2001 with domestic sales of 294,789 units, for revenues of $13.5 million.<ref name=2001nyu>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040619191112/https://cat.nyu.edu/current/news/media/marklesimcity.pdf | url=https://cat.nyu.edu/current/news/media/marklesimcity.pdf | title=Markle Forum on Children and Media | author=Bradshaw, Lucy | author-link=Lucy Bradshaw (game developer) | date=January 31, 2002 | publisher=] | archive-date=June 19, 2004 | url-status=live }}</ref>


''Civilization III'' sold 550,000 copies and earned $21.7 million in the United States by August 2006. At the time, this led '']'' to declare it the country's 21st-best-selling computer game released since January 2000. Combined sales of all ''Civilization'' titles released during the 2000s totaled 2.5 million units by 2006.<ref name=edgesales>{{cite magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017165955/http://www.edge-online.com/features/top-100-pc-games-21st-century/ |url=http://www.edge-online.com/features/top-100-pc-games-21st-century/ |title=The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century| author=''Edge'' Staff | date=August 25, 2006 |magazine=] |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Internationally, ''Civilization III'' received a "Silver" sales award from the ] (ELSPA),<ref name=silverelspa>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221154943/http://www.elspa.com/?i=3942 |url=http://www.elspa.com:80/?i=3942 |title=ELSPA Sales Awards: Silver |work=] |archive-date=February 21, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.<ref name=gamasutrasales>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918063107/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/112220/ELSPA_Wii_Fit_Mario_Kart_Reach_Diamond_Status_In_UK.php |url=https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/112220/ELSPA_Wii_Fit_Mario_Kart_Reach_Diamond_Status_In_UK.php |title=ELSPA: ''Wii Fit'', ''Mario Kart'' Reach Diamond Status In UK | author=Caoili, Eric | date=November 26, 2008 |work=] |archive-date=September 18, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
] is a feature of ''Civ III'' that was not present in previous installments of the franchise. 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.


===Reviews and awards===
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. This 'flipping' could happen in ''Civilization'', but the process is clearer and easier to influence in ''Civ III''. Conquest through culture is arguably preferable to military conquest as it does not affect a civilization's reputation in the global community, and also leaves all of the buildings in the city intact. In addition, a civilization can win the game by having a very strong culture total.

Culture score increases each turn, and is based on what city improvements and wonders, such as a temple or the Hanging Gardens, have been built in that city.

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 knight, is the ]).

] may be of different ]]]

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 ] 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 ] captures a ] 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. Workers are less efficient than 'native' units; they have no upkeep cost, however.

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<ref name="bydefault">This is a default setting and can be altered with scenario editor.</ref> ]s) and can gain experience and be promoted through battles. Below regular is "conscript" (with 2 hit points); barbarian tribes will occasionally generate conscript<ref>This is affected by ''Combat bonus vs. barbarians'' game setting.</ref> units, and a city may also institute a ] 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 ] (RNG) determines the outcome of each battle, so it is therefore possible (although very rare) for a Bronze Age ] to defeat a Modern Age Modern Armor tank. This issue was supposedly dealt with in '']'' with the addition of firepower and hit points.

Another important aspect of combat is bombardment, which can be done by ] units (catapult, trebuchet, cannon, artillery and radar artillery), air units, and more advanced naval units (such as destroyers and battleships). 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").
There are also expendable missiles that can only hit a target once but deal greater damage than bombardment:
* Cruise Missiles fire over a short range from land but can be invaluable tools to prevent enemy civilizations from docking or reinforcing. They can be moved across land or by transport ship.
* Tactical Nukes launch over a large range to obliterate the target, severely reducing population of target cities and also create pollution, as well as destroying roads and land improvements in the 8 surrounding squares and often turning some tiles into wasteland tiles, with significantly reduced shield, gold and food production. Tactical Nukes can only be moved by land and Nuclear Submarines. They are viewed negatively and their use can cause other civilizations to declare war against the user.
* Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) are identical to Tactical Nukes but have unlimited range to hit any target on the globe. They cannot be moved from the city they are built in unlike Tactical Nukes and Cruise Missiles.

When an elite unit wins a battle against an enemy unit, there is a small chance that it will produce a Great Leader. A Great Leader has the ability to create an ], which has the ability to "load" up to three<ref name="bydefault" /> units (four if the player has built ]). 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.

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 food, production, 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 a colony (colonies are easily destroyed and are targeted by barbarians, so they must be defended).

Luxury resources contribute to a civilization's overall happiness; each luxury makes at least one content citizen happy per city. The effects of multiple luxuries of one type 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 ].

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.

Though ] 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. Despite this, corruption will never reduce the shield production to zero. The levels of corruption and waste are dependent on the ] of a civilization and the distance the city is away from the civilization's capital city. 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.

There are a number of ways to combat corruption which include building city improvements, such as the ] and the ], connecting each city to the civilization's trade network (e.g. roads, a harbor or an airport) and by building two Small Wonders, the ] and the ] 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.

Units can be soldiers or civilian units. Civilian units include workers, heroes, and settlers. All units (except for ]s and some civilian units) have technology requirements that need to be met before they can be built. Spearmen, for example, need Bronze Working technology.

All units have attack and defense ratings. The spearman, for example, has an attack rating of 1 and a defense rating of 2. This means that the spearman is better at defending than attacking.

All units have levels of experience, which affect the game in terms of their durability in combat. Each unit has a certain number of hit points appearing in its vertical health bar. When all of its points are lost, the unit dies; thus a unit with more hit points has a better chance of surviving any given battle. The different experience levels are listed below:

* A conscript unit has the least experience. Only barbarians, either hostile ones or those that have joined a nation's army, and units drafted from cities are conscripts. Conscript units have two hit points.
* A regular unit is also not very experienced, but they are much better than conscripts. Regular is the default level of experience for all units produced by a civilization in the normal fashion. Regular units have three hit points.
* A veteran unit is moderately experienced. Veterans can be produced by either building the unit in a city that has built the Barracks improvement, or from regular units that are victorious in battle. Veteran units have four hit points.
* An elite unit is extremely experienced. Elite units are only formed from veteran units that are victorious in battle. An elite unit that produces a Leader (see Combat) may be renamed by the player and is thereafter designated as an "Elite*" unit (rather than merely "Elite"); however, this has no effect on the unit's competency in battle. Elite units have five hit points.

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).

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 rather than capturing them.

] of ] from Play the World.]]

A player wins a Domination victory by controlling two thirds of the world's land and population. 66% of the world's land area must be within the civilization's cultural borders, and 66% of the world's population must reside within the civilization's cities.<ref name="bydefault" /> Exactly how the player achieves these two conditions is irrelevant and largely open-ended; any method of achieving the two conditions triggers the victory.

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<ref name="bydefault" /> 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 is unlikely that any of the other nations will have less than half of the player's total rating unless they have been weakened by war.

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 25%<ref name="bydefault" /> of either the world's population or its 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.

Just as in the previous two games, a civilization not seeking domination through world conquest can build and send a colony ] to ] 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.

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, the civilization with the highest score wins the game. (The player may continue the game beyond this point, but no additional score is counted.) A civilization's score is calculated based on its number of happy citizens, its number of content and specialist citizens, its territory, and any future technology researched beyond the normal technology tree. Each of these factors is weighted, and the score is the sum of weighted numbers. A civilization's overall score (which is the one that matters for histographic victory) is the average of its scores for all the turns.

==Civilizations==
{{see also|Civilization_(series)#Civilizations_and_leaders_represented}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; width: 95%;"
|'''Color'''
|'''Civilization'''
|'''Qualities'''
|'''Starting advances'''
|'''Special unit'''
|'''Leader'''
|'''Capital'''
|-
|bgcolor = "#008020"|
|]
|Militaristic,<br>Religious (in ''Conquests'', Agricultural)
|],<br>]
|] (replaces Warrior)
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "#000060"|
|]
|Religious,<br>Scientific
|],<br>]
|] (replaces Archer)
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "#ffc0ff"|
|]
|Militaristic,<br>Industrious
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|] (in the Chinese version of the game- ])
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "yellow"|
|]
|Industrious,<br>Religious
|],<br>]
|] (replaces Chariot)
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "orange"|
|]
|Expansionist (in ''Conquests'', Seafaring),<br>Commercial
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "#ff20c0"|
|]
|Industrious,<br>Commercial
|],<br>]
|] (replaces Musketman)
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "blue"|
|]
|Militaristic,<br>Scientific
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "lime"|
|]
|Scientific,<br>Commercial
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "gray"|
|]
|Religious,<br>Commercial
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "purple"|
|]
|Expansionist (in ''Conquests'', Agricultural)<br>Religious (in ''Conquests'', Commercial)
|], ]
|] (replaces Horseman)
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "#800517"|
|]
|Militaristic,<br>Religious
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "#0080a0"|
|]
|Scientific,<br>Industrious
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "red"|
|]
|Commercial,<br>Militaristic
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "#804000"|
|]
|Expansionist,<br>Scientific
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "cyan"|
|]
|Industrious,<br>Expansionist
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|-
|bgcolor = "#000000"|
|]
|Militaristic,<br>Expansionist
|],<br>]
|] (replaces ])
|]
|]
|}

==Reception==
{{Video game reviews {{Video game reviews
| GI = 8.5/10<ref></ref> | GI = 8.5/10<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040924073039/http://www.gameinformer.com/Games/Review/200112/R03.0804.1616.14747.htm|url=http://www.gameinformer.com/Games/Review/200112/R03.0804.1616.14747.htm|archive-date=September 24, 2004|work=]|title=Civilization Giveth}}</ref>
| GameRev = A-<ref></ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA516033.html| title = Meet the Gamers| accessdate = 2007-01-28| last = Squire| first = Kurt|author2=Constance Steinkuehler| date = 2005-04-15| work = | publisher = LibraryJournal.com}}</ref> | GameRev = A−<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305202400/http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/pc/civilization_iii |date=2007-03-05 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA516033.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050822170903/http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA516033.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2005-08-22| title = Meet the Gamers| access-date = 2007-01-28| last = Squire| first = Kurt| author2 = Constance Steinkuehler| date = 2005-04-15| publisher = LibraryJournal.com}}</ref>
| GSpot = 9.2/10<ref></ref> | GSpot = 9.2/10<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/civilization3/review.html|title=Civilization III for PC Review {{en dash}} PC Civilization III Review|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221091221/http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/civilization3/review.html|archive-date=February 21, 2006|work=]}}</ref>
| IGN = 9.3/10<ref></ref> | IGN = 9.3/10<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pc.ign.com/articles/162/162062p1.html|title=Civilization III Review|work=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021140929/http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/10/30/civilization-iii-3|archive-date=October 21, 2017|url-status=dead|date=October 29, 2001}}</ref>
| NGen = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="NG"/>
| PCGUS = 92%<ref></ref>
| PCGUS = 92%<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061018003238/http://www.pcgamer.com/archives/2005/06/sid_meiers_civi.html|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/archives/2005/06/sid_meiers_civi.html|archive-date=October 18, 2006|work=]|title=Sid Meier's Civilization III|author=Harms, William}}</ref>
}}{{expand section|date=June 2012}}
|MC=90/100<ref name="MC">{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/sid-meiers-civilization-iii/critic-reviews/?platform=pc |title=Sid Meier's Civilization III for PC Reviews |publisher=]|access-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref>
}}


Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PC version of the game for '']'', rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "Given that ''Civ II'' was as close to perfect as any game has ever been, it's arguable that it wasn't possible to change it so much as add to it."<ref name="NG">{{cite magazine|last=Lundrigan|first=Jeff|title=Finals|magazine=]|volume=5|issue=1|publisher=]|date=January 2002|page=90}}</ref>
The initial release of the game had some ]s and glitches. Some of the features that '']'' had but were not included in ''Civilization III'' (at least initially) included elevation, a working UN system, a ] system and a 'group movement' command to simplify managing units on the map.


The first ] came very soon after the game's initial release and other patches were released subsequently, improving gameplay significantly. The patches also added certain features, such as the group movement command noted above. There were complaints about the addition of features and bug fixes after initial release. Upon release, the reaction to ''Civilization III'' was very positive.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} It won several "Game of the Year" awards, such as the "]" award from the ]' ] (along with nominations for "Computer Game of the Year" and "]").<ref>{{cite web |title=2002 PC Strategy Game of the year |url=https://www.interactive.org/awards/award_category_details.asp?idAward=2002&idGameAwardType=118 |website=Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences}}</ref> The editors of '']'' named ''Civilization III'' the best strategy title and best overall computer game of 2001. They commented, "It's the best ''Civilization'' yet, and that's saying something."<ref name="cgm11th">{{cite journal | author=Staff | journal=] | title=11th Annual ''Computer Games'' Awards |date=March 2002 | issue=136 | pages=50–56 }}</ref> Nonetheless, the initial release of the game was slightly marred by ]s and glitches. The first ] came very soon after the game's initial release and other patches were released subsequently, improving gameplay significantly.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} The patches also added certain features, such as the group movement command. There were complaints about the addition of features and bug fixes after initial release.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}


The editors of '']'' awarded ''Civilization III'' their 2001 "Best Turn-Based Strategy Game" prize, and wrote that it "manages to recapture all that was great about its predecessors and color them with a few great new strokes—''without'' pantsing up what was so great about them in the first place."<ref name=pcgamerusawards2002>{{cite journal |date=March 2002 | title=The Eighth Annual ''PC Gamer'' Awards | volume=9 | number=3 | pages=32, 33, 36, 36, 37, 40, 42 | journal=] | author=Staff }}</ref> ''Civilization III'' was a nominee for '']''{{'}}s 2001 "Best Strategy Game" award, which ultimately went to '']''. The editors wrote, "''Civilization III'' was another fantastic candidate. Many feel it's the best game so far in the series and is the new benchmark for turn-based strategy games."<ref name=cgwpremier2001>{{cite magazine | author=((Editors of ''Computer Gaming World'')) | magazine=] | title=Games of the Year; The Very Best of a (Sometimes) Great Year in Gaming |date=April 2002 | issue=213 | pages=69–73, 76–84 }}</ref>
Upon release, the reaction to ''Civilization III'' was very positive. It won several "Game of the Year" awards such as the ] 2002 ''Computer Strategy Game of the Year''.


==Expansions== ==Expansions==
Two expansion sets have been published for ''Sid Meier's Civilization III'': '']'', and '']''.<ref name="Civ 3 Official - Features page">{{cite web|title=Civilization III Official Website Features Page|url=http://www.civ3.com/features.cfm|website=Civilization III Official Website|accessdate=5 December 2014}}</ref> Two expansion sets have been published for ''Sid Meier's Civilization III'': '']'' in October 2002, and '']'' in November 2003.<ref name="Civ 3 Official - Features page">{{cite web|title=Civilization III Official Website Features Page|url=http://www.civ3.com/features.cfm|website=Civilization III Official Website|access-date=5 December 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207044812/http://www.civ3.com/features.cfm|archive-date=7 December 2014}}</ref> ''Play the World'' added ] capabilities, eight new civilizations and some new units to the original release.<ref name="Civ 3 Official - Features page"/> {{clarify |date=February 2019 |reason= Because why? |text= The roll-out of the multiplayer functionalities with this expansion was highly criticized. }}<ref>{{cite magazine|author=((Editors of ''CGW''))|magazine=]|title=Sim Games that Suck|date=July 2004|issue=240|page=108}}</ref> ''Play the World'' was followed-up by ''Conquests'', which offers nine more historical scenarios, ranging from ] to ]. Many of these scenarios have resources, improvements, wonders, music, and even government types that are specific to the scenario, especially the ]n and ] ] campaigns.<ref name="Civ 3 Official - Features page"/>


The stand-alone version is ''Civilization III: Complete Edition'', which includes the two expansions and several patches. (This version came after ''Civilization III: Gold Edition'' and ''Civilization III: Game of the Year Edition''.)
''Play the World'' added ] capabilities, eight new civilizations and some new units to the original release.<ref name="Civ 3 Official - Features page"/>


==Board game==
''Conquests'' offers nine more historical scenarios, ranging from ] to ]. Many of these scenarios have resources, improvements, wonders, music, and even government types that are specific to the scenario, especially the ]n and ] ] campaigns.<ref name="Civ 3 Official - Features page"/>
In 2002, ] published the ], created by Glenn Dover. The game was based on ''Civilization III'' and mirrored many of the video game's concepts and gameplay components.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3633/sid-meiers-civilization-boardgame|work=]|title=Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame (2002)|access-date=January 24, 2018}}</ref>

The stand-alone version is ''Civilization III: Complete Edition'', which includes the two expansions and several patches. (This version came after ''Civilization III: Gold Edition'' and ''Civilization III: Game of the Year Edition''.)


==References== ==References==
{{reflist|30em}} {{Reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
* *
* (archived)
* '''' on ] * '''' on ]
* *

{{Civilization}} {{Civilization}}
{{Firaxis}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Civilization 03}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Civilization 03}}
] ]
]
] ]
]
] ]
]
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Latest revision as of 09:13, 1 August 2024

2001 turn-based strategy video game 2001 video game
Civilization III
Developer(s)Firaxis Games (Win)
Westlake Interactive (Mac)
Publisher(s)Infogrames Interactive (Win)
MacSoft (Mac)
Producer(s)Michael Gibson
Jeffrey Kennedy
Designer(s)Jeff Briggs
Soren Johnson
Writer(s)Paul Murphy
Composer(s)Roger Briggs
Mark Cromer
SeriesCivilization
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
ReleaseWindows
  • NA: October 30, 2001
  • EU: March 1, 2002
Mac OS
  • NA: January 6, 2002
Genre(s)Turn-based strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Sid Meier's Civilization III is the third installment of the Sid Meier's Civilization turn-based strategy video game series. It was released in 2001, and followed by Civilization IV. Unlike the original game, Civilization 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, entails building an empire, from the ground up, beginning in 4,000 BC and continuing slightly beyond the modern day. The player must construct and improve cities, train military and non-military units, improve terrain, research technologies, build Wonders of the World, make war or peace with neighboring civilizations, and so on. 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

This section may need to be rewritten to comply with Misplaced Pages's quality standards. You can help. The talk page may contain suggestions. (June 2012)
Configuring city resources in the game

The game map is made up of square tiles on a grid. Each city, terrain improvement, and unit is located in a specific tile, and each tile can host any number of units. Land tiles can contain a transportation improvement (road or railroad) and a land improvement (farm or mine) or a city. Cities must be built a minimum of one tile away from each other, i.e., no two cities may touch. Each tile is made of a particular type of terrain that determines, among other things, how much food, production, and trade it produces when "worked". A tile can only be worked if it is one of the twenty tiles surrounding a city. A tile can only be worked by one city at a time, and each city can only work a number of tiles equal to or less than its population.

Food is used to grow the player's cities. Each population unit requires food to survive, and excess food is stored. Production, represented in the game as "shields", is used to build units, buildings, and wonders. Commerce powers the player's economy. This commerce is split up as the player sees fit between research, tax revenue, and luxuries, each with a different purpose.

Each city's citizens have a certain mood (happy, content, unhappy, or resisting). If most citizens are unhappy, the city falls into civil disorder and all production ceases; if a city remains in civil disorder for too long, it can lead to rioting, which results in improvements being destroyed. If most citizens are happy, they will like their leader and increase economic benefits.

Terrain improvements are built by Worker units. Irrigation increases food, mines increase production, and roads increase commerce and reduce movement costs for all allied land units using them. Two civilizations must have Right of passage treaty signed to benefit from each other's roads.

Buildings enhance a city in some way and cost maintenance. Like units and Wonders, each one can only be built when the requisite technology has been acquired. Buildings require financial maintenance each turn, and can be destroyed. Only one of each type of building can be constructed in each city.

As in previous installments of Civilization, there are unique Wonders of the World that can only be built once per game. Wonders provide a variety of major benefits to a specific city, all cities on a continent, or to an entire empire. Civilization III also added Small Wonders, which are functionally equivalent to Wonders except that each one can be constructed once per civilization, as opposed to once in every whole game. Small Wonders have, for the most part, a sociological requirement to construct them, as well as a technological requirement. When a civilization captures a city with a Small Wonder, it is automatically destroyed. Some examples of small wonders are Wall Street, the Forbidden Palace, and The Pentagon.

One of the major features of gameplay is scientific research. Completing the research of a new technology will make available new units, city improvements, and wonders of the world, as well as special bonuses and abilities that are related to the technology. 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 non-requisite technologies that nevertheless provide useful bonuses that are often essential for good empire management, or allow a civilization to install a new government. Technologies can also be traded to and from other civilizations in return for gold, resources, technologies, workers, and cities. 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.

Citizens are the people who work in a city. There are four kinds: Laborers, Entertainers, Tax Collectors, and Scientists. If there are more citizens in a city than available tiles to work, the extra citizens automatically become Entertainers. The second expansion, Conquests, adds two new types of citizens to the game: Policemen (reduce corruption) and Civil Engineers (enhance building and wonder production).

Culture is a feature that was not present in previous installments of the franchise. Each city 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. As the city's culture rating increases, so does its sphere of influence, bringing more territory under the player's control. Civilizations' borders may abut, resulting in their culture ratings vying for territory. If one player's culture rating is sufficiently higher than the other's, the former's borders will encroach into territory previously owned by the latter. Given enough time and cultural pressure, the latter player's city may even elect to join, or "flip to," the former's empire. Culture can thus serve as a means of peaceful conquest.

Every civilization starts with certain special abilities, and they have a special "unique unit" that only they can build; these units usually have a historical basis (for example: the Japanese unique unit is the samurai, which replaces the standard knight, whereas the British unique unit is the Man-O-War, which replaces the standard frigate).

Citizens may be of different nationalities

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.

Combat is an important aspect of the game. Each combat unit begins as a "regular" unit with three hit points (although some units have additional hit points bonuses which affect their stats). If the unit loses all its hit points, it dies. Units can be promoted after successful combat missions and gain hit points. The highest rank a unit can attain is that of "elite" (which features five hit points), whereas the lowest is "conscript" (featuring two hit points; this rank is only given to newly drafted soldiers and barbarian units). Each unit has an attack and defense value to determine the winner of each battle. Additional defensive bonuses can be conferred by, e.g., certain terrain types, the unit's "Fortify" command, or defending across a river. Ultimately, a random number generator determines the outcome of each battle. When an elite unit wins a battle against an enemy unit, there is also a small chance that it will produce a Great Leader. A Great Leader has the ability to create an Army or instantly finish construction of a building in a city, which made them particularly useful for completing wonders.

With respect to developing the cities within an empire, bonus resources may be found on tiles within the cultural borders. Each type of resource may provide a bonus to food, production, or commerce if found within the city radius and worked by a citizen. Particular kinds of resources, such as luxury or strategic resources, provide additional benefits such as increasing citizens' happiness or providing access to resource-specific combat units.

Corruption exists in Civilization III alongside waste, which decreases a city's productivity; together, corruption and waste represent the mismanagement of resources, the malfeasance of city-level bureaucrats, and the limits of a central authority's ability to manage an empire. Corruption and waste is often lowest in the capital city and highest on the outskirts of an empire. Furthermore, the levels of corruption and waste are dependent on the system of government of a civilization. There are a number of ways to combat corruption which include building city improvements, such as the courthouse and the police station. Small wonders like the Forbidden Palace and the Secret Police HQ also drastically reduce corruption and waste by acting, in effect, as supplementary capitals.

There are several ways to win the game. A player needs to meet only one of the victory conditions in order to win. These include Conquest victory, achieved when no civilizations besides the player's exist; Domination victory, achieved when two thirds of the world's land and population are controlled by the player; Cultural victory, achieved when the player successfully assimilates other civilizations; Diplomatic victory, achieved when the player is elected leader of the United Nations; and a science-based victory, achieved when the player researches a sufficient number of technologies and builds a spaceship to reach Alpha Centauri. If no civilization has met any of the other victory conditions by the year 2050, the civilization with the highest score wins the game.

Development

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2019)

Civilization III was released after about two years of development on October 30, 2001. Developed by Westlake Interactive and published by MacSoft, a version for Mac OS was released on January 6, 2002.

Reception

Sales

In the United States, Civilization III entered NPD Intelect's weekly computer game sales rankings at #1 for October 28–November 3, 2001. Its Collectors Edition SKU claimed second during the period. Thanks to this debut, Civilization III became the country's fourth-best-selling computer title of October as a whole, with an average retail price of $49. In its second week of availability, the game was pushed to #2 by Backyard Basketball, and the Collectors Edition was absent from the top 10. Firaxis's title remained in NPD's weekly top 10 from November 11–December 1, and took sixth place for November as a whole. After an absence, it reappeared in the weekly top 10 twice during December and secured 11th for the month. Civilization III finished 2001 with domestic sales of 294,789 units, for revenues of $13.5 million.

Civilization III sold 550,000 copies and earned $21.7 million in the United States by August 2006. At the time, this led Edge to declare it the country's 21st-best-selling computer game released since January 2000. Combined sales of all Civilization titles released during the 2000s totaled 2.5 million units by 2006. Internationally, Civilization III received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Reviews and awards

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic90/100
Review scores
PublicationScore
Game Informer8.5/10
GameRevolutionA−
GameSpot9.2/10
IGN9.3/10
Next Generation
PC Gamer (US)92%

Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "Given that Civ II was as close to perfect as any game has ever been, it's arguable that it wasn't possible to change it so much as add to it."

Upon release, the reaction to Civilization III was very positive. It won several "Game of the Year" awards, such as the "PC Strategy" award from the AIAS' 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (along with nominations for "Computer Game of the Year" and "Game of the Year"). The editors of Computer Games Magazine named Civilization III the best strategy title and best overall computer game of 2001. They commented, "It's the best Civilization yet, and that's saying something." Nonetheless, the initial release of the game was slightly marred by bugs and glitches. The first patch came very soon after the game's initial release and other patches were released subsequently, improving gameplay significantly. The patches also added certain features, such as the group movement command. There were complaints about the addition of features and bug fixes after initial release.

The editors of PC Gamer US awarded Civilization III their 2001 "Best Turn-Based Strategy Game" prize, and wrote that it "manages to recapture all that was great about its predecessors and color them with a few great new strokes—without pantsing up what was so great about them in the first place." Civilization III was a nominee for Computer Gaming World's 2001 "Best Strategy Game" award, which ultimately went to Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns. The editors wrote, "Civilization III was another fantastic candidate. Many feel it's the best game so far in the series and is the new benchmark for turn-based strategy games."

Expansions

Two expansion sets have been published for Sid Meier's Civilization III: Play the World in October 2002, and Conquests in November 2003. Play the World added multiplayer capabilities, eight new civilizations and some new units to the original release. The roll-out of the multiplayer functionalities with this expansion was highly criticized. Play the World was followed-up by Conquests, which 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 stand-alone version is Civilization III: Complete Edition, which includes the two expansions and several patches. (This version came after Civilization III: Gold Edition and Civilization III: Game of the Year Edition.)

Board game

In 2002, Eagle Games published the Sid Meier's Civilization board game, created by Glenn Dover. The game was based on Civilization III and mirrored many of the video game's concepts and gameplay components.

References

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  24. Harms, William. "Sid Meier's Civilization III". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on October 18, 2006.
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  32. "Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame (2002)". Boardgame Geek. Retrieved January 24, 2018.

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