Conquests

11:10 Conquests is Civilization 3's second expansion, shipped in North America on Nov 4, 2003 by Atari at $29.99 and made by Firaxis Games with Breakaway Games, and it added nine historical scenarios (the "Conquests" of its name), seven civilizations, the Agricultural and Seafaring traits, new governments, five wonders, new units such as the Trebuchet and the Sumerian Enkidu Warriors, new resources, volcanoes, the Civil Engineer and Police specialists, and two harder difficulty levels, Demigod and Sid. It includes everything Play the World added. Critics liked it far better than Play the World (a Metascore of 86 against 61), and it is the version of the game that Civilization 3 Complete runs and that mods are made for.

Quick facts

Who made it

Conquests was made by Firaxis together with Breakaway Games. Breakaway's own case study says it was "designed, developed, and published in 2003 in partnership with Firaxis", and the credits in the Complete manual list a Breakaway team under producer Ed Beach, with designers including Beach, Charlie Kibler and Ananda Gupta, beside Firaxis's Jeff Briggs ("Lead Designer for Civilization III series") and producer Jesse Smith. See Development History.

The nine Conquests

0:00 The expansion is named for its nine historical scenarios, called Conquests, each with its own map, rules, units and goals. The Complete manual lists them after three "Introductory Conquests", and winning all nine unlocks a victory video. Most were designed by Breakaway (Kibler, Beach and Robert Waters); Sengoku is by Firaxis's Mike Fetterman. Full guides are on Conquests Scenarios.

Source: Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 15-21, and the designers' notes on the official site, such as Mesopotamia and Napoleonic Europe.

1:59 The count is nine in the manual and GameSpot's review, though the official site's 2003 feature list promised "eight professionally designed conquests". GameSpot noted that the scenarios carry their own tech trees, units and resources.

New civilizations

Conquests adds seven civilizations, for 31 in all in the Complete manual's chart; GameSpot's shipping story also said "seven new civilizations". 2K's official page and some 2003 announcements say eight. See Civilizations.

Source: GameSpot: Civilization III: Conquests Civilization Showcase; Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 28-29.

New traits

0:28 Conquests adds two traits, bringing the total to eight. Per the Complete manual, Agricultural civilizations get an extra food in their city squares, more food from irrigated desert, and cheaper Aqueducts, Recycling Plants and Solar Plants; Seafaring civilizations tend to start by the ocean, get extra commerce in coastal city squares, build cheaper harbors and other water improvements, and have faster ships that are less likely to sink. Conquests also changed some older civilizations' traits: the English became Seafaring and Commercial, and the Aztecs Militaristic and Agricultural. See Civilization Traits.

New governments

Conquests added governments, but no official source prints the final list with its rules. The official site's feature list names "Fascism, Feudalism, Tribal Council, and Imperialism" as "just a few" of them (civ3.com), GameSpot's gold story named "fascism, feudalism, and imperialism" (GameSpot), and the Complete manual lists Fascism as an optional advance without a chapter on governments. See Governments.

New wonders and units

Conquests adds five wonders: four Great Wonders and one Small Wonder, per Firaxis's developer update. The Temple of Artemis (500 shields) puts a Temple in every city on its continent; the Statue of Zeus (200, needs Ivory) makes an Ancient Cavalry every five turns; the Mausoleum of Mausollos (200) makes three citizens happy in its city; the Knights Templar (300) makes a Crusader every five turns; and the Secret Police Headquarters gives a Communist civilization the equivalent of a second Forbidden Palace. See Wonders.

Older wonders were made stronger. The same update says the Great Wall now adds Walls to every city on its continent, Shakespeare's Theater lets its city grow past size 12, the Military Academy gives Armies a bonus of one-sixth of their combined strength, and many Great Wonders earn tourism commerce once they are old; the Complete manual sets that age at 1,000 years.

New units include the Trebuchet "to batter down the enemy's walls" and the Sumerian Enkidu Warriors, per the official feature list. The Complete manual adds new abilities: Stealth Attack (choosing a target in a stack), Enslavement (the Mayan Javelin Thrower, English Man-o-War and Privateer can capture beaten units) and the capture of artillery. See Units.

Other additions

The world got new features. The official feature list names volcanoes ("Beware the volcanoes, or Pompeii could become your reality"), craters left by bombardment, locked alliances, and the resources Tobacco, Bananas, Oasis, Salt, Sugar, Jade and Exotic Birds. Cities gained two specialists, the Civil Engineer and the Police. See Resources and Trade.

9:55 Demigod and Sid sit above Deity. The Complete manual calls Sid "the most punishing AI difficulty level ever seen in Civilization", and GameSpot found the AI "seems to play a bit smarter" even on lower levels (review). See Difficulty Levels.

11:05 Scientific Great Leaders came with Conquests. A civilization first to discover an advance has a better chance of one, and it can boost a city's research for 20 turns or hurry production, per the Complete manual. New setup rules allow game limits (a set number of turns or other end conditions) and adjustable AI aggressiveness, and the new Reverse Capture the Flag game type made its debut in an introductory Conquest. See Victory Conditions.

Multiplayer in Conquests

0:00 Conquests made online play usable at last, if only just. GameSpot's Jason Ocampo wrote that "multiplayer is now playable in a reliable manner...sort of" (review). Its lobby, per the Complete manual, offers Tournament, Simultaneous Moves and Turn-Based games through GameSpy, with LAN, Hot Seat and Play by Email beside them; Play the World's Turnless mode is not in the list. Online games have run through Steam since Mar 16, 2015. See Multiplayer.

Reception

Critics welcomed Conquests. GameSpot scored it 8.5 and called it "the expansion pack that Play the World should have been", though it wished the game ran "in resolutions other than 1024x768". IGN's Steve Butts also gave it 8.5 and an Editor's Choice, and its Metascore is 86. The official news page listed GameStar's 91% and GameSpy's four stars among other scores (civ3.com). See Reception and Awards.

Patch v1.22

Version 1.22, dated Apr 5, 2004, is the last Conquests patch: 20.6 MB, for US versions only, and saves made with it cannot be loaded in earlier versions. See Patches and Updates.

Conquests today

10:34 Conquests is the game most Civ 3 players run today. Civilization 3 Complete on Steam and GOG includes it, and its name is often shortened to C3C, for Civilization 3: Conquests. Mods target its executable: C3X is "a mod that makes many improvements to the Civ 3 Conquests EXE", per its README, and OpenCiv3 can use the graphics of an installed Conquests or Complete (OpenCiv3). See Complete Edition and Where to Buy.

Frequently asked questions

What does Conquests add to Civ 3? Civilization 3's Conquests adds nine historical scenarios, seven civilizations, the Agricultural and Seafaring traits, new governments, five wonders, new units, resources and volcanoes, the Civil Engineer and Police specialists, and the Demigod and Sid difficulty levels, per the official feature list.

What civilizations does Conquests add? Civilization 3's Conquests adds seven: the Byzantines, Dutch, Hittites, Incans, Mayans, Portuguese and Sumerians, for 31 in all. 2K's page says eight, but the manual's chart has seven.

Does Conquests include Play the World? Yes: Civilization 3's Conquests includes "all the features and content" of Play the World, per GameSpot, but it needs the original game installed.

When did Conquests come out? Civilization 3: Conquests shipped in North America on Nov 4, 2003 at $29.99, after going gold on Oct 24.

What is C3C in Civ 3? C3C is the common short name for Civilization 3: Conquests, the second expansion and the version Civilization 3 Complete runs on Steam and GOG.

What is the hardest difficulty in Civ 3 Conquests? Sid is the hardest of Civilization 3's eight levels; the Complete manual calls it "the most punishing AI difficulty level ever seen in Civilization". Conquests added it with Demigod.

Sources

• Civilization III: Conquests Ships, IGN (David Adams), Nov 4, 2003
• Civilization: Conquests enters golden age, GameSpot (Tor Thorsen), Oct 24, 2003
• Civilization III: Conquests marches to stores, GameSpot (Tor Thorsen), Nov 5, 2003
• Civilization III: Conquests Civilization Showcase, GameSpot, Nov 19, 2004
• Civilization III: Conquests Review, GameSpot (Jason Ocampo), Nov 18, 2003
• Civilization III: Conquests review, IGN (Steve Butts), Oct 31, 2003
• Civilization III: Conquests, Metacritic, read Oct 22, 2026
• Sid Meier's Civilization III: Conquests, BreakAway Games, read Oct 22, 2026
• Civilization III Complete manual, Atari and Firaxis Games, 2005 (on Steam)
• Civilization III: Conquests features, Atari (civ3.com, archived), read Oct 22, 2026
• The Wonders of Civ-Conquests, Firaxis Games (Ed Piper, civ3.com, archived), 2003
• Mesopotamia designer notes, Breakaway Games and Firaxis Games (Charlie Kibler, civ3.com, archived), 2003
• Napoleonic Europe designer notes, Breakaway Games and Firaxis Games (civ3.com, archived), 2003
• News, civ3.com (archived), read Oct 22, 2026
• Support, civ3.com (archived), read Oct 22, 2026
• Sid Meier's Civilization III, 2K, read Oct 22, 2026
• Civilization III Multiplayer Update Now Available, 2K on Steam, Mar 16, 2015
• Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete, Steam, read Oct 22, 2026
• Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete, GOG, read Oct 22, 2026
• C3X, GitHub (maxpetul), read Oct 22, 2026
• OpenCiv3, OpenCiv3, read Oct 22, 2026
• Civ 3's "Conquest" scenarios ranked completely (un)objectively, Suede, Nov 30, 2021 (video)
• Civilization 3: Everything you need to know, Suede, Nov 12, 2025 (video)
• Explaining The Difficulty Levels Of Civ 3, Suede, Jul 27, 2019 (video)
• The 4 Worst Game Features in Civ 3 (And How They Could Have Been Fixed), Suede, Jun 22, 2019 (video)
• How To Start Playing Civ 3 Online Multiplayer With The Civplayers Civ3 League, Suede, Nov 30, 2018 (video)
• The overlooked genius of Civilization 3, Suede, Oct 30, 2024 (video)