Iii Style

Best Game strategies for Civilization III ?

I keep restarting my Civ III games, as I can't decide which Civilization is best for my game play style. (I must have wasted over 100 hours doing this, maybe over 200).

What game strategies can you recommend? My game preferences are as follows:
Map: Huge, (or maybe Large) Archipelago with 60% land
Normal, Regicide or Mass Regicide
Monarch level, Raging Barbarians
Goals:
1) To get as many points as possible
2) To advance in techs as quick as possible
3) To have as much of my army as advanced/upgraded as possible

I want to concentrate on Culture for points, unless there's a better method. Having a seafaring civ seems to get me the lighthouse and colossus, which is a great bonus if I want a city with over 20,000 culture points. This would be for points only.

Two main things I'd like to know is what route of techs I should take in the middle-ages, and what to do about getting Monarchy and Republic (I need Monarchy for Hanging Gardens, but Republic for +gold)

Well, in Archipelago games Culture is not necessary, but Happiness helps a LOT. I reccomend that yu get a civ with Bronze Working, or with that level of Barbarian activity get an Explorer race, because some of those hostile cities are now friendly and you can get resources and even SETTLERS! Also, as you expand build a small navy to explore. When you find another Civ, build your best unit and bring some spearman/pikeman too. Quickly invade and capture their largest city and reinforce it with spearman/pikeman.

They will throw their forces against it, and as they do that you take the outside cities in a second attack wave. This has nearly killed the other civ by now, and you mop it up.

By now, you should be middle ages if all went right. Get all the military upgrades in that first row, and then rush to Monarchy, as it is a FAR better government for War time. In a Monarchy, you will haveless corruption than in a Despotism, so you should have mroe money coming in. Once you have conquered the other civ, swap to a republic to avoid war weariness. Reinforce all your cities, new and old, and upgrade your units. Then focus on expansion for a while.

I guess that is just what I do, but it might workfor you as well.

Another option is just rush through the tech tree and get far more advanced than anyone else.

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