Welcome back! Last time we saw our European nations begin their expansions. Some dubious decisions, not least from Portugal who didn't even bother moving their settler(s) for quite some time. In this shot we see a more adventurous forward-settle from William (Netherlands) near IRL Hull. Each coastal civilisation was gifted a galley to persuade this kind of action but one thinks they could have found a better spot.

A zoomed-out view of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans. Basel has been settled by the Swiss aggravatingly close to Vienna, while the Ukrainians are pushing towards the Serbs with Kharkiv. Whilst there is still space on the map, AI civs will keep building settlers, even if there isn't any room near them (see Austria). This leads to useless exclaves, slower infrastructure building as production is wasted on settlers which might not get used, but it also results in more wars.

Up in Scandanavia Harald (Denmark) is using his galley to nab IRL south Norway and south Sweden (the warrior by the spices/furs/uranium is escorting a settler). Hamburg is settled to the south of Copenhagen, limiting the Danes a little.

Portugal has claimed all of IRL Portugal but progress is slow compared to the Spaniards.

Rome could have settled lands that are up for grabs by several nations but instead decided to fill out his backyard despite no other local civs having galleys that could reach Corsica any time soon. Nevertheless, Cumae is placed and shielded by an archer.

Indeed, the Danes settle Odense to put pressure on the Swedes. No exciting military units yet but this should be a flashpoint in future wars.

Utilising the second of two potential zoom levels again, we can see how large Russia could be if they got their act together. However, there's no such thing as open borders/closed borders like in Civ 5, although human players do incur the wrath if encroaching in others' lands for too long - to the point where they threaten war. The AI never do that to themselves though, treating other people's lands much like a feral wilderness. So this big space above Russia cannot be protected from foreign settlers without some careful shepherding and blocking using ground troops (which is a purely human tactic...)

The problem with Civ 3 and AI games is there are no war declarations - but here we have our first war. It's between the two rumps of the Rhine, the Netherlands and Germany. Archers are about as strong offensively as Spearmen are defensively so there is no advantage on either side. If this was an eternal war I'd put money on the Germans as they have more cities to produce more units but until one side gets a dramatic advantage, even a Sid-level civ (the level above Diety!!!) will struggle.



To spot this first war I actually activated battle animations which is why the archer is halfway between tiles. After this though I turned it off because turn times increase dramatically when you have to sit through every single blow of every single troop. It's not like Civ 5 combat at all - instead the attack strength and defence strength are compared and the higher one has a greater chance of winning. There's a luck factor and defensive factors - high ground and forests trump open grasslands, and rivers, borders, and cities all give bonuses. A human player is less lucky on higher difficulty levels so I would always lose a fair fight...

The spearman is now beating his opponent!

One hitpoint left.

And death leaves a bedraggled figure on the floor which eventually disappears.

Somehow the plucky spear guy defeats another archer...

...and levels up into a Veteran - with another hitpoint to expend and recuperate every battle. There's one more stage - Elite, at which level you can spawn great leaders (which humans use to make armies but the AI always squanders...)

We divert from the action to have a look at SWZ. The Austrians beat them to Linz just like Salzburg last part, but Bern has secured the Western Alps for them. I hope they like skiing because Chamonix is just up the road from there.

Here's some open borders in progress - the English look likely to get a city up north unless the Irish place theirs so central that no other slot remains.

Sweden uses their galley to settle Lund in one of the ex-Soviet Baltic states (can't quite work out from here). It's a novel reaction to being squeezed out of Scandinavia by the Danes.

Now we can see how well-placed my starting locations were and how dense the map is. Spain has claimed IRL Spain and Portugal similarly has claimed IRL Portugal - with a slight northern extension. France too has got most of IRL France bar the area around Lyons where Lucerne now stands.

A special glimpse into the first city to build a wonder. The Colossus grants extra gold on sea tiles and a nice chunk of culture (which expands the borders occasionally - once total culture ticks over 10, 100, 1000, 10000, etc. They've also got their defensive hoplites, otherwise looking pretty bare.

But they've used their galley to get southern Turkey with Knossos. This proves to be a very useful city in the future for more than one civ! Spoilers aside, I'm glad the Ottomans haven't been able to claim all of Asia Minor, as that'd be unfair. It's very easy to attack out of a corner in Civ, but much harder if you have more than one front in a war.

Haha, the Dutch are in on the game too! The English and Celts could both settle where they stand but if the Dutch go first then neither of the other two can.

The minimap in the bottom left shows that the Dutch do indeed steal John O'Groats. The actual maps shows disappointed Spanish, French, and Swiss settler/warrior pairs wishing for a Nice provence-ial life. Check that double pun out.

More disappointed settlers that we already knew about. Might as well mention again that Belfast will be tricky to take as it requires an amphibious troop to take it - which is limited to Danish berserkers or the ubiquitous Marine unit in the Industrial era.

The Scramble for Africa has begun, and Portugal, settled out in Iberia, have decided wisely to expand down here. They're near some spices, wines, gold, and coal. I don't see the first two luxury resources in the rest of the nation so that'll bring some happiness once they make a harbour connection across the Strait of Emerita. Coal won't be usable or provide a tile bonus until it is discovered later on in the game, but DEBUG mode shows every tile as it'll end up like.

The Romans pick the right island this time, but Pompeii should really be somewhere else. There's a spot at the bottom of the island for someone to take, though...

Crete is settled by Greece (phew). The bottom of the map gets very glitchy when you don't have an icy south pole-esque tiling. There aren't any Polish borders here. The names are also wiped off... The minimap and turn counter can be removed by pressing Delete and I'll do that from time to time to spot the cities settled on the very edges of the map. But I like the minimap and find it useful for spotting city flips so it'll stay cluttered for the mostpart.

England sneaks in, a la Battle Royale style. Will it be their final showdown?

Sweden expands again and Russia has done a good job of preventing people heading northwards.

Some stats! Spain is in front because it settled a lot early on. Or they're very happy.

Portugal is behind, for the same reason - Spain settled a lot early on. Germany is disappointingly small to be behind the Netherlands and Denmark.

No clear leaders in Power though Sweden and Poland look strong.

Spain likes its culture.

I was going to have lots of short parts but I decided to have fewer longer instead. Hope you don't mind. So here's part 2.5, and Serbia and Ukraine are tussling for Crimea. Lets hope it doesn't get accidentally annexed by people who are definitely not Russian.

Sweden has locked down Sweden. Good stuff. Still building settlers though.

Mycenae is born somewhere near Santorini, ingame an incense island with only one other landtile in reach (the plains to the west of Knossos). Production will be heavily stunted until offshore platforms are invented in the Modern Era.

Poland and Russia square off. A few settlers are braving the Siberian edges and Orebro, everyone's favourite coffee- and cream-flavoured gym buddy has annoyingly missed the canal spot at IRL St Petersburg.

Sicily is settled and immediately four different families vie over wine, horses, rubber, and saltpetre.

But lo, the Greeks spawn. This is actually historically accurate, there's some great Greek ruins in the south of the island near Agrigento - I believe they're a UNESCO site too.

Portugal is leading the African settling, but the seafaring Dutch have turned up to party too. Spain is building troops now though, so Portugal need to watch out!

Belgrade (Serbia) builds the Oracle. It increases happiness from temples. All happiness is per city. If you spot the lady wearing a blue niqab-kinda thing, that's an entertainer who cannot work a tile (reducing production, food, gold) but which stops the city from becoming disordered and the people rioting (stopping production altogether and potentially culture-flipping to a nearby civ - although that doesn't happen to capital cities...). The yellow-coloured seven in the population box shows that growth is stagnated and the granary backs up that with stats - 14 food grown, 14 food eaten. If the entertainer could return to the fields the city can grow more, so the Oracle and temple combo is a good one.

The sneaky Austrians sneak Klagenfurt furtively into a Klearing between two Swedish cities.

Hurrnihuhh (accurate Dutch pronunciation) becomes the first Dutch colony, promising incense and aluminium in the future.

For some light relief, the Scottish and Faroese cities have both expanded borders. The Irish city of Waterford has stronger culture so claims the plains tile from Utrecht.

The Romans dump their stuff in the south of Sardinia.

Hispalis settled, and his pompy pal is just up the road in Pompeii.

Vienna builds a pyramid which also adds a granary to every Austrian city whether they like it or not. A fairly useless wonder compared to Civ 5, nevertheless Austrian cities should grow quicker now.

Looks like war is brewing between Germany and Poland. The Winged Hussar Poland is constructing is slightly too powerful and will definitely be nerfed next game, being 2.5 strong than the horseman to the west of Katowice.

The Hussar can't hustle if the Germans get there first though, and the swordsman dips into the Polish spear defence.

Rebuilding Coventry becomes bestseller of Ancient Era has Coventry is rebuilt in Northern Africa. Danish and Irish boats brimming with intrepid settlers look on.

An overview - Poland is larger and has better troops being built. Germany had better hope for someone else to join in, as a two-front war is the only way to win in Civ 3.

There's a good number of troops outside Katowice though.

...but those Winged Hussars (that look like Babylonian bowmen, so pretend they're riding horsies please) beat the Germans back to Berlin.

The Serbs and Ottomans are warring too. Edrine and Istanbul are perfectly-placed to fall should the Serbs not mess up the defense of their eastern city, Se-----.

The Balearics are nice this time of year, say the snowed-in Brits.

Oops, the Germans lose Leipzig to the Hussars, and Berlin is in trouble.

I didn't even spot the Dutch sneaking up but they've taken Hamburg, making Bismarck's dream of uniting German states look like it needs redesigning.

London constructs a Mausoleum to the wife of a Turkish guy. I can't remember the benefit of this wonder as it's only 10 years old at this point compared to the base game. I never shoot for it because all I can remember is how useless it is. But it gives me a reason to let you look at London. It's building a harbour, to better connect up with the colonies.

Berlin falls. A nice time to end a large part I think! Germany didn't expand enough and simply was not good enough to defeat Poland. Well done Poland. 18/18

Russia and Poland lead in land area judging from their score. Serbia look solid.

Germany leads the bottom. They'll stay there now, their score decreasing through time.

Poland and Greece are powerful - watch Greece in particular.

And culturally, Greece is doing well. Thanks for watching, and see you in a couple of days!