Reply #4: At first I wasn't too sure about Civ3, but...

[Terran]

I've long since become a convert. To address your particular concerns:

1. Corruption: okay, so you can never become corruption free, but as you point out, the model in Civ2 (and Civ1) of democracy wiping out all corruption is pretty silly. I see now that dealing with corruption is a challenge in its own right within the game.

You do know that, with the addition of Civ Conquests, the final expansion, there are new ways to deal with corruption, right? You have the challenge of placing your Forbidden Palace in such a way to as reduce corruption, which it does massively if built in the right place. You also now have specialized city inhabitants who are police, they reduce corruption; in a really big city with lots of surplus people, several police will significantly affect the problem.

You also have the Courthouse and Police Station to reduce corruption. And finally, I've found that if you have a big empire to run, Communism is superior to Democracy. You still have corruption, but it's spread around. Even cities on your far borders will still be highly productive. And under Communism only, you can build the Secret Police HQ to function as a third Forbidden Palace.

Playing France: "forced" to play France? Why, because of less corruption? Pshaw. You can do just fine with any civ.

Irrigation: um, I don't think this is any different in Civ3 than Civ2; If you don't have access to fresh water, you have to wait until electricity is invented. Seems reasonable to me. It's another game challenge, sometimes, finding a land route to bring fresh water into your civilization.

Generally, I think Civ3 is superior to Civ2 in most ways: graphics, sound, maps (they actually look like real planets, not random agglomerations of tiles), customization, and yes, playability. I actually like the fact that war is difficult to wage in the game because of several factors. In Civ2 you can stomp on who you like, sometimes with absurd ease, and never pay a price for it. The only thing I *really* really miss is the Wonder Movies, which I thought were great.