Hello!

I've a question concerning tile improvments;
Will you have a PW system (like the one found in CTP), are you going with settlers like in the earlier Civ-games or perhaps you're coming up with something brand new?

So in short, how will the building of tile improvements work?

Regards,
Sudden

Civilization III will utilize the same kind of system for terrain improvements that its predecessors did. That said, a new worker unit has been added to the game and the settler unit is now solely responsible for founding new cities. The worker will now handle all terrain improvements such as irrigation, mining, and building roads.

Settlers and workers are also able to merge with a city, thus increasing its population. Conversely, to produce a new settler or worker, a city gives up not only the requisite number of shields, but also population points (2 population points to create a settler, 1 to create a worker). This added requirement makes settlers and workers very precious resources that you'll want to protect. Making the settler cost 2 population points was also a conscious design consideration aimed at preventing players from winning by utilizing the ICS ("Infinite City Sprawl") strategy.

One gripe I always had with the previous Civs were when a rival civilization would place a city right between two of my own especially when it happened on continents that were fully under my control! Now I haven't played Alpha Centauri but I think I remember something like this in there. What will the CivIII stance on borders be?

Thanks for your time,

John S

John,

Borders will indeed be a major part of Civilization III. The Civ III border system will be similar to what you saw in Alpha Centauri, but much more integrated with the diplomacy and culture systems. You shouldn't have to worry about other civs trying to create a new city within your borders; that's now automatically considered an act of war.

Other interesting features of borders:

• The culture value of your civilization directly affects your borders (among other things). This encourages even the most war-prone players to invest in the culture of their civilization.
  
  
• Free-passage agreements can be negotiated by any civilizations as long as they are not at war. These agreements are not tied to other diplomatic agreements, so you need not enter into a mutual protection pact if all you want is safe passage through another civ's territory.
  
  
• If a non-allied civ enters your territory, you can tell them to get out (and they may choose to obey or ignore you). However, once they get close to any of your cities, you may give them an ultimatum: either withdraw their troops or war will be declared. If the opposing civ agrees, any of their troops that are within your borders will be automatically withdrawn. If they decline, war is declared.

I'm actually playing Civ2 right now multiplayer and theres one thing I'd like to ask that is disturbing me and the guy I'm playing with: The "Go" command. It was horribly changed in civ2 and I'd like to see the return of the "Go to tile" command rather than a "Go to city" command which is horribly inferior. :) Why was this changed? what was wrong with the go to tile? Could you bring back the old "go" command?

Thanks

The "Go To" command is back! Not only can you select which square you'd like a unit to go to, but as you drag the cursor, the game will also show you the path it plans to take to get there, and how many turns it will take that unit to arrive, calculating movement rate, plus road bonuses, and so on. I am also told by Chris Pine that our new pathfinding system will always find the shortest path, so you won't have warriors running back and forth all over the map.

Gooday!

Will the advisors (military, tech, economic, cultural, etc…) return in Civ III?

Even though I’ve played Civ for quite some time, I still rely on the advisors (and council) to give me advice on what to build next and on what direction my civ should take.

...Troy

The advisors are alive and well. In fact, here's a sneak peek at the science advisor. Something about him is really familiar...