BMK BMK The Bitmap Kid Presents... ----------------------------- An Ultimate Guide to CIVILISATION ------------------------------------- Chapter Three - Treaties, Diplomats, Money and Trade 1 - Treaties. Okay, I admit it. I'm a dirty rotten scoundrel. Plain and simple. If I feel like breaking a treaty, then I go ahead and do it. Not very honest I know, but in the world of Civilisation it all comes down to one thing: winning (which is probably quite true of our world, but let's hope we can keep our leaders under more control than I am in the game!). In one game, I used the cover of a treaty to get my troops around every city of a MASSIVE superpower, and then attacked and in a few moves I had gained tens of cities and brought a massive Civilisation to its knees. And did I feel a bit of guilt? NO! Well... In Civilisation you'll find that, on the whole, most of the other governments are quite honest, however the computer wants to get rid of you just as much as you want to get rid of the Mongols (or whoever), so just bear that in mind. Even if you don't plan to betray your so called 'friends' (for quite a while) and they don't betray you, just remember - if they trade with you they trade with you for their own gain ONLY - as you do. Near the end of the game they'll have no problems in kicking your ass when they are done with you - after all your computer doesn't have a real conscience...! 2 - Diplomats. I've found that diplomats are a lot more handy than you may first think, even if you don't have another Civilisation for hundreds of miles away. Why? Because they're great for exploring, they're fast, handy and can get past all but the very tightest of enemy lines (they don't have the same movement restrictions around rival units as other units at your disposal). Normally I would use settlers to explore around new cities, mainly because you use them to build and irrigate as you go and also link up cities and build easy trade routes. But Diplomats move faster and can easily pass rival units, allowing a swifter and easier passage to snoop around enemy lands. On the whole it's not normally a good idea to get Diplomats to make rival units desert and join you, mainly because it's so expensive, but it can be handy to get a persistent annoying unit off your back. Investigating cities is also not on the top of your lists to 'must try', however again now and then it can be handy, especially when you want to see what you might get if you take over a city. Industrial sabotage is rarely of much use, but yet again now and then.... Establishing an embassy, however, is a different story. If used in conjunction with the Great Library Wonder it can be very useful. Not only that, it is also a good idea to establish an embassy simply to learn more about your rivals. Establish embassies with all of the enemies you come in contact with, at least, and with all of them ideally. 3 - Negotiations. One important Wonder to build is the Great Wall. With this, all of the rival civilisations you go into negotiation with will offer you a peace treaty at some point in the negotiations before the development of Gunpowder. This can allow you to make piece with some of the biggest civilisation-concerning rotters of the Civilisation world, giving you time to build up your defences against the critters. Also, making peace with these people can also protect you against the other civilisations, mainly because the more aggressive ones will wipe them out. BUT REMEMBER, when they decide to attack you, no mere treaty will stop them.... 4 - Trade. Trade is important to any civilisation, you need to bring in some cash? Then trade, after all, it costs you nothing (apart from the setup of a trade unit) and you always gain from it. Trade here, there, and everywhere - when your civilisation becomes more stable, too much trading before this will only bung up your production, and you don't want that. 3 - Money. As I said before, under a democracy your bank balance soars and you become as happy as Larry. Money is, of course, very important, and so at all times (when you're not too happy about your $$$) you should try to make sure you can 'home' all of your offensive units quickly so you can change to a democracy to bump up your finances. When you're happy with your funds again, you can reset your government and move out your units again. One way to quickly get some cash together is to ransom a barbarian leader or two. Barbarian leaders appear on the map like diplomats, and are always showing up with barbarian raids. Bumping off the military units is normally quite easy, catching the leader is more hard because they move more quickly, but it is possible. Once you get it you should find your bank account is looking more healthy in no time at all. 4 - Further city improvements. The best thing to do here is flick through this part of the book (starting on page 78). Bear in mind, however, that just because an option has appeared on your list, doesn't mean you have to build it. In fact, only build something when you need to (or you really have nothing else to do and it won't cost you!). When choosing an improvement, work out what you need, what benefits and disadvantages it will have and whether you can afford it. That's all for yet another issue, (cor, doesn't time fly?!) - look out for the next edition of this great Civilisation guide, I'll see 'ya then. BMK BMK - o -