War is a matter of vital importance to the state; a matter of life or death, the road either to survival or to ruin. Hence, it is imperative that it be studied thoroughly. — Sun Tzu
Welcome to the War Academy, generals! This Academy is dedicated to strategy and tactics for Civilization III. You will find strategies that can help you wage a successful military campaign, assimilate your enemies more effectively, win the space race, or build the most prosperous civilization! We don’t just cover military strategies.
Currently there are 121 lessons in the Academy. The articles have been organized into several broad categories to make the academy easier to use.
Note: You should take a quick look at this list of commonly used acronyms in the Civ community and the internet in general if you don’t know what words like “ROP”, “GL”, and “whipping” stand for. It should help you understand the articles better.
Like all other pages on the main site, the strategy articles can also be printed out nicely for offline viewing, without the logo, ads, and side bars. Just use “Print Preview” on your browser to see how it will turn out.
Table of Content
- Civilization III: Introductory Courses
- Civilization III: Empire Management
- 20k Culture Win Strategy on Regent
- A Guide to Great Wonders and How to Use Them
- A Small Trick to Keep AI Happy
- Ailing Civilization Strategy
- Builder’s Dream: Building an Empire of Metropolises
- City Placement
- Crippling the AI’s Research Capability
- Culture Rush Strategy
- Diplomatic Victory – Deity Level
- Effective Commercial Management
- Expansion Tip: Outside In
- Fascism vs. Communism
- Faster Expansion: A Key Element of the Early Game
- Free Tech Tricks
- Guide to Five City Challenge (5CC)
- Guide to Single-City 20k Cultural Victory
- How to “Pop Rush” in Republic/Democracy
- How to Win on Deity Builder-Style, step-by-step.
- Massive Despot Rush Strategy
- Multiplier Buildings: A Practical Primer
- Other Uses for Workers
- Peaceful War
- Ring City Placement
- Spotting Settler Factories
- Struggling Research Tactics
- The Case For Food – Or, How to Become Economically Dominant
- The Road to Diplomatic Victory
- The Role of the Specialist Citizen
- We love the King Day Defeats Corruption
- Zero Percent Science
- Civilization III: Game Mechanics
- A Study of Espionage Missions
- AI Attitude Study
- Cost of the Palace for C3C
- Everything About Corruption: C3C Edition
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Power Plants
- Free Palace Jump
- Fundamentals of Mobilization Revealed
- How Does War Weariness Work?
- How the Demographics Works
- Maximizing Your Score
- Probabilities of Goody Huts (C3C)
- Sinking Chances of Seafaring and Non-Seafaring Civilizations
- Study of Inner Workings of Military Advisor
- The Inner Workings of Resistance Revealed
- Trading Reputation
- What Will the AI Research Next?
- Worker Moves
- Civilization III: Civilization Specific Articles
- The Americans
- The Aztecs
- The Babylonians
- The Byzantines
- The Celts
- The Chinese
- The Dutch
- The Egyptians
- The English
- The French
- The Germans
- The Greeks
- The Hittites
- The Incans
- The Indians
- The Japanese
- The Koreans
- The Mongols
- The Ottomans
- The Persians
- The Portuguese
- The Romans
- The Sumerians
- Rule Britannia – England Strategy Guide (C3C)
- Rating the Unique Units
- Civilization III: Military Strategy & Tactics
- Capital Isolating War-Strategy
- Cracker’s GOTM9 Japan Campaign Site
- Creating and Using Leaders
- Death from Above: C3C Airborne Operations
- Early Industrial Railroad Intrusion
- Everybody’s Unique Unit: The Marine
- Expansionist Chariot Gambit with ICS Topping
- Fort Cities
- General Points on Modern Warfare
- Holy Jihad! The Great Power Of the Religious-Militaristic Civs
- How To Use Artillery Defensively
- How to Use Artillery Effectively
- How to Wage an Effective War with a Democratic Government
- Invading AI Continent in Modern Age
- Punishment Strategy
- Rogue State Strategy
- The Lazy Man’s War – “Let’s You And Him Fight”
- The Pillaging Offensive Strategy
- Tips on Managing Choke Points
- Using Explorers Revealed
- Warfare: Attacking & Defeating Enemy on Another Continent
- Warmongering 101 – A Tactical Primer
- WW1 Style Artillery Rush
- Civilization III: Multiplayer
- Civilization III: Miscellaneous
- A Rank Corruption Discovery & Exploit to Negate Rank Corruption
- C3C Bonus Disk Strategy Guides
- Catch the Runaway AI
- Civilization III FAQ/Strategy Guide v3.0
- Comprehensive Guide to Variants
- DID: The Perfect Plan to Master Civilization
- Finally Winning on Deity
- Five Pillars for Success
- How to Win: A Short Guide
- Managing the World: The Machiavellian Doctrine
- Recovering from Last Place
- Strategy Compilation
- Strategy for Emperor and Deity Levels
- The Island Start: Fortress or Prison?
- Top Three Suitable Victory Conditions for Each Tribe
- Your AI Opponent
- Zachriel’s Strategy Guide
Here are some other things you can do to become a better Civ3 player:
- Visit the Civ3 Strategy & Tips forum & the Civ3 Strategy Articles forum for more great strategies and discussions. Nearly all the articles in the Academy were posted to the Strategy Articles forums first. In this forum, you can also find the Official Short Single Player Tips Thread and Official Short Multiplayer Tips Thread.
- Participate in the monthly Civ3 Game of the Month competitions, playing and learning alongside fellow opponents.
- Check out the games in the Civ3 Hall of Fame and perhaps submit your own to the rankings.
- The Succession Game forum is also a great resource for learning the game. Teams of a few people play out the game in a rotation with each person taking a few turns. After lurking for a while, you may want to join a SG or start your own.