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The Civ 3 Tips & Tricks Thread

Not only do I want to share some of the tips and tricks I've acquired over the years, but I'm hoping some of the vet Realms Beyond players will reply and add their own tips. I'm not only looking for in-game tricks, but also anything to do with interface, .INI settings, etc. Most of my tips are mainly curios, but I hope somebody finds a useful nugget of info below.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not claiming that I am the 'creator' of any of these tips. After years of reading SGs, game reports, and strategy threads, it's impossible for me to give credit where it's due.

DISCLAIMER #2: Some of the below might seem basic and obvious - but it's all subjective, so no need to comment on that in a negative way. There's a chance that a vet player may be unaware of a trick that others have been using since the start.
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  • 99999 Gold Trick: Allows you to view the Total Income of any computer opponent whom you have contact with. Total income means the gold per turn earned from all cities, taxmen, interest, and other civs BEFORE deductions like science, corruption, etc. To view it, enter the Diplomacy screen with your opponent of choice, click on their 'Gold Per Turn' and enter 99999. Hit 'Enter', and it will display their Total Income in the negotiation window. You can also view your own Total Income by doing this on your side of the Diplomacy window, but of course a much easier way is to just look in the F1 screen. Can be a nice tool at times.
  • Tech-Steal Window: When you are in the F6 screen after successfully stealing a tech tongueh34r:, you may note that one of the tech names is in bold facetype. That tech is the one that the AI is currently researching.
  • 'ESCape from Diplomacy, now!: You can press ESC to instantaneously exit a diplomacy negotiation with another civ, saving yourself from annoying mouse clicks. Best feature of this interface trick is that anything that is currently 'on the table' is preserved if you resume diplomacy later on. This really helps during massive trade sessions - for example, you can find out the max GPT offer, hit escape, compare with other civs, and then come back later and still have the GPT offer and the tech on the table. Also useful for those annoying map trade offers that pop up all the time - I don't want your *&$%( Territory map! :axe:
  • City-View Scrolling: When micromanaging, a convenient way to rapidly move through the main city-view screens is by clicking the right and left arrows next to the city name at the top of the screen. However, the fastest way to do this is to use the 'Right' and 'Left' arrows on your keyboard to rapidly move through the screens while your mouse makes all of the necessary adjustments.
  • Upgrading without losing Movement Points: Let's say you have just researched Military Tradition, and have tons of knights ready to upgrade. Too bad you have to upgrade the knights, waste their movement points, and wait until the next turn to use your Cav, right? Wrong. When you see the 'We have researched Military Tradition' popup at the beginning of your turn, click on 'What's the Big Picture?', then access the F1 Domestic advisor, and double click on a city with knights. Once in the main city view screen, right click and upgrade as many Knights as you want. Then, scroll through the cities by clicking on the arrows (or pressing the arrow keys on your keyboard) and upgrade to your heart's content. These freshly upgraded Cav will have all of their movement points and can then be used on that turn. NOTE: I'm pretty sure this is illegal for Epic games - there is a section in the exploit lists banning 'scroll ahead' moves like this one.
  • Re-Negotiate Peace Trick: SG vets will know this one well. Have lots of military but are behind in tech? Don't want to risk a prolonged war with 'traditional' ( :war: ) pointy-stick research? Re-negotiate peace and include the tech/resources/luxury that you want from your opponent. If you're strong enough you can usually get a pretty nice discount. Of course, if you're weak you'll have to pay even more <_<
  • Click and Drag Windows: You can click and drag any game pop up window (Advisor windows, etc . . ) just like you can click and drag Windows windows. Handy for taking nice screenshots of freshly popped Scientifc Great Leaders, since that damn Science Advisor window always obscures your capital!
  • Transport Unload Trick: Another common one, but a fave of mine. If you move a transport into a city controlled by you and awake the transported units (either by clicking 'Unload All,' 'Wake All', or manually right clicking each one), those units will have all of their movement points. Very handy during amphibious assaults - take an enemy city with a marine, unload armor transports and blitz inland cities with your tanks on the same turn. hammer
Who's gonna post the next trick(s)?
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