Set up a game (Provided you actually have a copy of the game), preferably on Chieftain (the easiest level) if you are a beginner. This way you can work up to the harder levels as you progress over time. Set up the game with around 4-6 other nations to compete against; this way it is easier to have diplomatic victories, alliances and trading. In addition to this, the only other setting which you should be aware of is the set up of the world (Either Gondwanaland, Continents or Islands). Choosing Gondwanaland or Continents is preferable, because with the Islands you will have to master seafaring and ocean voyages, which is a lot harder than simple land movement. You will also have to choose which nation you want to play. Although all races can be played and should be able to win with this strategy, the Americans are the best. They have both the Industrious rule (Their workers work at double speed for half the game) and the Expansionist rule (A free scout at the beginning of the game). Other good nations are the English, Iroquois, Russians and Zulus, who all have similar features. The Germans are also good because they are scientific, so technology can be learned better. They are also industrious, and they have a good special unit to replace the tank.
Begin your game. Your first task will be to set up your capital. Usually this will be in a perfect spot, but occasionally moving a few squares over is better. Never use your settler to explore any tribal encampments, as they may contain barbarians and the settler will have no defence.
Become familiar with your civilization's advisers. They can be accessed in the top left corner of the screen and will give you information on your trade, military, diplomatic, scientific and cultural achievements and statistics. The game is turn based, so don't worry about spending lots of time looking through this feature (And possibly the Civilopedia, which gives help about all the game's terms, improvements and units). You should have around 50-60% of your income going towards science (You can boost this to 70% when you want to get a new technology quickly) and always have 0% luxury as city improvements coupled with Wonders take care of your people's happiness. At the moment, your government will be a Despotic state, but you'll change that shortly.
Explore with your scout (Presuming you have picked one of the above civilizations who have this feature). He can be used to explore future territories, contact rivals and most importantly, explore encampments. This is very important - villages give you wealth, technology, warriors and maps. To win, you must have explored quite a few encampments. By the end of the opening stages of the game, you should have at least found a few extra warriors, some technology, maps and a bit of gold.
Focus on your capital. The first thing you should do is focus on troops to defend your capital. After you've done this, you need to build a settler, as you'll have some major projects up ahead which you'll need your capital for. Once you've built your settler, get it to build a city nearby (You should have explored a bit already and know the good places to settle) and your capital is now free to build Wonders. This second city will in effect be a sister city and should build a couple of workers, maybe a couple of warriors and finally, another settler to send off and repeat the cycle so that it too will be able to focus on Wonders and building improvements.
Discover new technologies by consulting your scientific adviser. Make a bee-line for writing and literature; this gives you access to the Great Library which is great for further technology advances (See later). If you don't already have it, get Bronze Working. This gives you access to Spearmen, which are the best defenders in this early stage of the game; you only really need one per city unlike warriors who are better on the attack. Although not necessarily the most needed technologies, Iron Working and The Wheel make iron ore and horses appear on the map respectively, and this might be helpful when deciding where to build future cities (Iron is a major resource and should be acquired at whatever the cost). This is the start of a solid beginning; these technologies are key, although you can go for others if you like.
Build Wonders. By now, you should have the technology that allows you to build the Pyramids and possibly the Colossus. Don't worry about the Colossus just yet, as rivals don't build it until much later and you probably won't have a sea-side city yet. However, start building the Pyramids straight away! As soon as your capital has built its settler mentioned earlier, begin building the Pyramids. This Wonder is key because it gives you a granary in every city on the continent, saving you the time building one. In addition to this, the Pyramids are never made obsolete by any technology, so this feature will run through the whole game. If you build it, you may never even know that you could build granaries as they will be automatically built for you. After this Wonder, your capital should possibly build a city improvement and possibly another settler before undertaking another Wonder task. If you've played your cards right, you should have the technology to build the Great Library. This Wonder gives you a technology every time two other civilizations have discovered it. This means you'll always be technologically advanced and will keep up with your rivals (Although really you should be the one setting the pace). There's also the Oracle, which is great and the the Colossus. Usually, the Colussus will trigger off a Golden Age for your civilization because it has that effect on the nations listed above. After you've completed these opening Wonders, you can relax for a while and simply build one whenever it pops up.
Keep the settler chain going. This means that every time you build a city, after you've built some troops to occupy it you should then build another settler. Then repeat the process. Build cities where ever there's a good resource or a key feature. Don't build a city too far away from the rest and never build close to your opponents unless you want to stop their cities advancing onto your territory. The ideal city should have access to irrigation, lots of open plains or grassland, possibly some source of shields (Either forests or hills), some resources such as wheat or cattle and have no flood plains or jungle, as this will spread disease throughout your city. Remember, number of cities really does affect your rating and how successful you are - if you have a chance to build a settler, do it.
Be diplomatic to your rivals, as it would be disaster to set off a war so early in the game. If you have enough cities, you should be able to get out of paying tribute to others as they will be too scared to declare war on you. Become firm friends with one rival leader; you will need them in the future during wars and to trade with. However, don't pick the largest nation to be your ally and definitely don't pick the weakest nation - pick a race in between the two and if you can't decide, pick the one closest to your own nation as it will act as a buffer zone when you both declare war on someone due to some alliance.
Build workers, as they will really win you the game. American workers work at double speed for the earlier half of the game, so you'll be able to get your civilization set up quickly if you choose them. You will need at least one or two per city and a few roving around to connect roads. Make sure all cities are connected for trade purposes and sometimes automate them (Keep in mind that automated workers DO save you some time and will mostly do good things but don't trust them to make railroads for you) . When developing city areas with your workers, keep in mind that their improvements really do help the city's production. Every city terrain square should have a road for commerce, all plains or grassland squares should have irrigation if it can be accessed there and all hills or mountains should have a mine on it for shield production. If there is a lot of forest in the area, cut some of it down; around two or three forest squares is great if the majority is grassland.
Be careful about civil disorder! This can stump a cities growth, usually by overpopulation. If you can try to make settlers and workers to keep the anger low.
Progress forward. Yes, you should be doing great by now and should have made it a bit further both technologically and culturally. Make a bee-line for Monarchy so that you can change your government from Despotism, as Monarchy is one of the best forms of government and provides a wide range of features and less hindrances. For city improvements, you should avoid building coliseums until much later, instead focusing on courthouses, temples, market places and libraries. It really helps to expand your territory by advancing your culture levels, so keep building those Wonders!
Enter into the Medieval Age. Now here's where the fun begins. Immediately get your scientists to begin researching technologies such as Invention (Leonardo's Workshop really helps get your military up to scratch) and especially the technology of Chivalry. Chivalry is key to winning the game; it gives you access to knights which are hands down, the best unit for a while. As soon as you have access to knights, build as many of them as you can and feel free to declare war on a rival. Try not to pick one close to you if it has cities on numerous sides of your borders.
Begin waging war on your rivals. Sometimes this can escalate into world wars with several alliances and treaties coming into play - this is good, and alliances like the one you have begun from earlier on should help. To begin a campaign with your troops into enemy territory, first you need to plan out an attack. You can choose from a number of options, but having a two or three-pronged attack works best, attacking from different places simultaneously with your knights. For a standard, two-prong attack, split your knights into three groups: The first group should comprise of at least 3 or more - these will be placed at various points around your vulnerable border areas to intercept a counter strike and will save your troops having to march back to save your cities. The second group should, say, go to the north and comprise of at least 10 or more knights while the second should go as far away as possible, to say, the south. Although around three knights can overcome a small city, having larger groups means some can stay behind and quell resistors and the rest can march on. All this while, back up knights should be coming from your cities. As soon as you capture a city, place a couple of knights in it and wait for the resistance to end. Then buy a spearman and move your knights along. Repeat this process until the enemy is gone and repeat again on another enemy. This tactic diminishes somewhat when your enemy discovers gunpowder, so although you can't control that, capture their supplies of saltpeter if they have any so that they cannot build musketmen.
Continue to research and control your civilization. Learn technologies such as Economics, as it gives you access to the Smith's Trading Company Wonder which pays for all income related improvement upkeep, which is very handy. Smaller wonders such as Wall Street are good too as that gives you up to 50 gold in interest from your treasury. If you build these, you should have lots of money left over and can begin to build improvements such as Cathedrals and Colosseums which require a bit of upkeep costs. Lay off discovering Education, as this makes the Great Library obsolete, but by now you should be pretty advanced. Sanitation and Steam Power are great technologies; railroads are great for quickly deploying troops, but you'll need iron and coal. You must also make sure that you reach the future tech as this will give you a great advantage over your rivals.
Gain stability with rivals. By now you should have eliminated a few rivals and the rest should be in awe of you. If you've built as many improvements and Wonders as explained, your cultural levels should make some enemy cities defect to your nation. You can now trade strategic resources with them, such as coal or iron and really ask for a high price. This will give you even more money and with this excess money, you can buy city improvements and advance your cities quite quickly. You don't even need to master building ships or flight, as by now you should be at the top of the leader's board. It is very difficult to reach the later technologies before the game makes you retire automatically, but you can continue playing afterward. This does not add to your final score however. Now you can do whatever you want. Congratulations, you've just won Civilization 3!
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