Leaders

4:17 Each Civilization 3 civilization has exactly one leader, so the game has 16 leaders in the 2001 base game, 24 with Play the World and 31 with Conquests, from Abraham Lincoln of the Americans to Shaka of the Zulus. 2K's Civilization 3 page describes the game as "assuming the role of one of 16 leaders from throughout history". The leader is not a separate choice: picking a civilization picks its leader, and the civilization, not the leader, carries the two traits.

Quick facts

All 31 leaders

Sources: Play the World leaders from the Play the World manual, pp. 18-21; Conquests leaders from GameSpot's Conquests civilization showcase; base game leaders from the leader portraits on the official site's Civ of the Week pages.

Where the names come from

No manual read for this page prints a roster of the base game's 16 leaders. The names in the table come from the portrait files the official site's Civ of the Week pages used (one per civilization, named for Lincoln, Montezuma, Mao, Cleopatra, Elizabeth, Joan, Bismarck, Alexander, Gandhi, Hiawatha, Tokugawa, Xerxes, Caesar, Catherine and Shaka), and the Complete manual (p. 176) confirms one directly: "the American's king is Abraham Lincoln".

The Babylonian leader is the one gap. The official site has no Babylonian portrait file, and Hammurabi is named only in the Babylonian history text, so this page lists him as not confirmed. The Mongol leader is "Temujin" in the Play the World manual and "Genghis Khan Temujin" on the official Play the World features page.

Firaxis explained two of its Play the World picks. Its producer wrote in a 2002 developer update that Hannibal was chosen to lead Carthage and Ragnar Lodbrok the Vikings.

Animated portraits

1:53:21 Leaders appear as animated portraits that change their dress as the game moves through the eras. Firaxis's Dan Magaha wrote before release that the team "created animated leaders for each civ" to make the civilizations distinct (developer update, 2001), and GameSpot's 2001 review pictured an industrial-age Cleopatra in a prairie bonnet and "Shaka Zulu wearing a contemporary business suit".

Your own portrait is chosen with your civilization. At setup, the Complete manual (pp. 24-27) shows your Leader Portrait in the center of the screen, "a preview of how you'll appear to other civilizations", and lets you type a new name over the default leader name.

Attitudes and personalities in diplomacy

0:15 Every rival leader shows an attitude toward you, written beneath the portrait during negotiations. The Complete manual (pp. 153-155) gives five moods (furious, annoyed, cautious, polite and gracious), which depend on the leader's personality, your rank, the balance of power, gifts and "your reputation for keeping your word".

The personalities the manual names are arrogant, aggressive, reasonable, expansionist, isolationist, artistic, decadent, overconfident, perfectionist and cautious. It warns that rivals "will not always act rationally". A newly met leader usually starts with what the manual's tutorial calls "a neutral and somewhat cautious attitude" (p. 53).

The Play the World manual (pp. 18-21) is the only manual read that prints each computer leader's character, for its eight new civilizations:

Source: Play the World manual, pp. 18-21. See Governments for what each government does.

Leaders as units in Regicide

In Regicide games the leader walks the map. Play the World added Regicide and Mass Regicide (Play the World manual, pp. 26-28), and the Complete manual (p. 176) explains that every civilization starts with a "king" unit that is its great leader, which can move but has "minimal offensive and defensive strength"; when your king dies, your civilization is out, and the last one standing wins. In Mass Regicide each civilization has several kings.

Firaxis pitched the mode by its leaders: a 2002 developer update on multiplayer spoke of "hunting down Genghis Khan or Mahatma Gandhi". See Victory Conditions for every way to win.

Frequently asked questions

How many leaders are in Civ 3? Civilization 3 has 31 leaders with both expansions, one for each civilization: 16 in the base game, 8 added by Play the World and 7 by Conquests.

Does each civilization have more than one leader in Civ 3? No: every civilization in Civilization 3 has a single leader, and choosing the civilization chooses the leader. Civilization 4, by contrast, gave many civilizations two or three leaders.

Is Abraham Lincoln in Civ 3? Yes: Abraham Lincoln leads the Americans in Civilization 3, and the Complete manual names him as the American king in Regicide games.

Who leads the Mongols in Civ 3? Temujin leads the Mongols in Civilization 3, as the Play the World manual names him; the official Play the World features page calls him "Genghis Khan Temujin".

Do leaders change clothes in Civ 3? Yes: Civilization 3's animated leader portraits change dress with the era, and GameSpot's 2001 review described an industrial-age Cleopatra in a prairie bonnet and Shaka in a business suit.

Can you rename your leader in Civ 3? Yes: at setup, Civilization 3 lets you select the default leader name and type a new one, per the Complete manual (p. 27).

What personalities do Civ 3 leaders have? The Civilization 3 Complete manual lists arrogant, aggressive, reasonable, expansionist, isolationist, artistic, decadent, overconfident, perfectionist and cautious, and five moods from furious to gracious that shape every negotiation.

Sources

• Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete manual, Atari and Firaxis Games, May 27, 2005
• Civilization III: Play the World manual, Infogrames and Firaxis Games, Sep 19, 2002
• Sid Meier's Civilization III, 2K, read Oct 22, 2026
• Civilization III Review, GameSpot (Tom Chick), Oct 30, 2001
• Civilization III: Conquests Civilization Showcase, GameSpot, Nov 19, 2004
• Civ of the Week: Americans, Infogrames and Firaxis Games (civ3.com, archived), Dec 2001
• Developer Update: Civ-Specific Abilities, Firaxis Games (Dan Magaha, civ3.com, archived), 2001
• Selecting New Civs for Play the World, Firaxis Games (Jeff Morris, civ3.com, archived), 2002
• Civilization Multiplayer: A Fresh Approach, Firaxis Games (Jeff Morris, civ3.com, archived), 2002
• Civilization III: Play the World features, Infogrames (civ3.com, archived), Dec 2002
• A Civilization 3 Retrospective | Prepare For Civ 7, GamerZakh, Aug 17, 2024 (video)
• Civ 3 Diplomacy Tutorial, Suede, Jun 10, 2019 (video)