Game Setup and Maps

0:11 A Civilization 3 game is set up on two screens: Choose Your World sets the map's size (Tiny to Huge), land mass and water coverage, climate, temperature, age and barbarian activity, and Player Setup sets your civilization, your rivals, the difficulty and the game rules, per the Complete manual (pp. 20-33). Every world setting except size can be left Random. A game then starts in 4000 BC with a Settler and a Worker, plus a Scout for Expansionist civilizations (p. 35).

Quick facts

Source: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, pp. 8-16; Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 22-35; civ3.com FAQ: General.

Map sizes

1:00 World size sets how much land there is and "to a large degree, how long the game takes to play", per the Complete manual (p. 22). The square counts are from Prima's guide (p. 8).

Source: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, p. 8; Civilization III Complete manual, p. 22.

Map size decides how many rivals you can have. "The larger the world, the more opponents you can choose," says Prima's guide (p. 14). Each size's default number of civilizations, its width and height (from 16 to 256 squares) and the minimum distance between starting positions are set in the editor's World Sizes section, and the number can be changed at setup (Prima, p. 199). No source read for this page lists the default number for each size. A multiplayer game holds up to eight players, human and AI (Play the World manual, p. 32).

Small worlds bring war, large ones science. Prima says small worlds "tend to be shorter" and that conquest victories are the most common way to win there, while larger worlds suit "prolonged exploration, peaceful expansion, and science-based victory" (p. 8). The base game also ships two maps of Earth, at Standard (100 x 100) and Huge (180 x 180) size, per the official site's General FAQ.

World settings

Five more settings shape the map. Each can be set to Random, and so can the barbarians; only world size cannot (Prima, p. 11).

Source: Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 22-23.

0:57 Land mass changes the kind of game. On an Archipelago you "must take to the sea early" to grow, Pangaea "greatly reduce[s] the need for naval units", and Continents "offer the most balanced game", per Prima's guide (pp. 8-9). For an Earth-like world, Prima says to keep the defaults: 70 percent water with Continents.

1:41 Age changes the terrain's layout. A 3-billion-year world has more Mountains than Hills and large tracts of one terrain, and a 5-billion-year world has more Hills and terrain that "tends to vary widely over short distances", per Prima (pp. 10-11). Prima advises the defaults (Normal, Temperate, 4 billion) unless you want a challenge. What each terrain yields is on Terrain and Workers.

Barbarians

8:28 Barbarian activity is the last world setting, and Play the World added a way to turn it off. The 2001 game offered Villages (confined to their encampments), Roaming, Restless, Raging and Random, per the 2001 manual (p. 160). From Play the World on, the list is:

Source: Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 24-25; Play the World manual, p. 8.

22:15 Barbarians can also pay. Prima's guide (pp. 11-12) says that below Raging they "aren't that difficult to deal with", and that destroying their villages fattens your treasury. Your units also get a combat bonus against them that shrinks as difficulty rises, from +400% on Chieftain to none on Deity (Prima, p. 15); see Difficulty Levels.

Player setup

1:30 The second screen sets who you are and who you face. You pick your civilization (31 with both expansions, each with two traits and a special unit, by the manual's chart on pp. 28-29; see Civilizations), your leader's name, the difficulty and the rules, per the Complete manual (pp. 25-33). Each rival slot can be None (closed), Filled with a civilization you choose, or Random. Prima notes that if you pick no rivals, the computer chooses their number and identity at random (p. 14).

Rules options

2:06 The Game Rules decide how the game can be won and how it plays. "Standard Rules" resets them, per the Complete manual (p. 30).

Source: Civilization III Complete manual, pp. 30-33; Play the World manual, pp. 8-9.

Preserve Random Seed came from a complaint. Soren Johnson wrote that Civilization 3 first saved the random seed in every save so reloading could not change a battle, that some fans "felt that the game was cheating", and that it became a setup option, off by default (Game Developer column, 2011). The victory types are explained on Victory Conditions, and cultural defection on Culture Flipping.

Prima's suggested setups

Prima's guide (p. 16) suggests four setups for different games:

Source: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, p. 16.

Maps can also be made by hand. The editor that comes with the game (Civ3ConquestsEdit in the Conquests folder of Complete) builds maps and scenarios and changes the rules, per the Complete manual (p. 34); see Editor and Modding.

Frequently asked questions

What are the map sizes in Civ 3? Civilization 3 has five map sizes: Tiny (60x60 squares), Small (80x80), Standard (100x100), Large (140x140) and Huge (180x180), per Prima's Official Strategy Guide (p. 8).

How many opponents can you have in Civ 3? In Civilization 3 the number of rivals depends on the map size, larger worlds allowing more, and each size's default is set in the editor, per Prima's guide (pp. 14, 199). A multiplayer game holds up to eight players, per the Play the World manual (p. 32).

How do you turn off barbarians in Civ 3? Choose No Barbarians on the world setup screen, an option Civilization 3 gained with Play the World; it also removes goody huts, while Sedentary keeps the huts and confines barbarians to their camps, per the Play the World manual (p. 8).

What are the best map settings in Civ 3? Civilization 3's guide suggests the defaults (70% water, Continents, Normal, Temperate, 4 billion years) for an Earth-like, balanced game, a Tiny Pangaea for fast war and a Huge Continents world for a space race, per Prima's guide (pp. 9, 16).

What does Accelerated Production do in Civ 3? In Civilization 3 the Accelerated Production rule doubles the food, shields and commerce every city makes each turn, speeding growth, research and building, per the Complete manual (p. 33). It was added by Play the World.

What does Respawn AI Players mean in Civ 3? In Civilization 3, with Respawn AI Players checked, AI civilizations eliminated early in the game are "reborn" as new civilizations, per the Complete manual (p. 33). Uncheck it to keep defeated rivals gone.

Is there an Earth map in Civ 3? Yes: the base Civilization 3 ships an Earth map in Standard (100 x 100) and Huge (180 x 180) sizes, per the official site's General FAQ.

Sources

• Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete manual (Steam-hosted PDF), Atari and Firaxis Games, 2005
• Civilization III manual, First Edition (archive.org copy), Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Sep 2001
• Civilization III: Play the World manual (archive.org copy), Infogrames and Firaxis Games, 2002
• Sid Meier's Civilization III: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (David Ellis) (archive.org copy), Prima Games, 2001
• Civilization III FAQ: General (archived), Infogrames and Firaxis Games (civ3.com), Mar 2002
• GD Column 17: Water Finds a Crack (Soren Johnson), Designer Notes, Jun 12, 2011
• How To Play Your First Game Of Civ 3, Suede, Feb 12, 2020 (video)
• A Civilization 3 Retrospective | Prepare For Civ 7, GamerZakh, Aug 17, 2024 (video)