The Civilization III FAQ: General
Last Updated 8/2001

General

What is the status of Civilization III?
What can we expect from Civilization III?
What is the connection between Sid Meier's Civilization III, Civilization, Alpha Centauri and Call to Power?
Who's publishing the game?
When is Civ III scheduled for release?
What is Sid Meier's role in the making of Civilization III?

What will the system requirements be for the game?
Are there any plans for Civilization III to be made for the Mac, Linux or other gaming platforms?
Will there be multiplayer support for Civ III?
Will Civ III provide Game Editors?
Will there be Wonder movies in Civ III?
How many scenarios will ship with Civ III?
What Civilizations will ship with Civ III?

What is the status of Civilization III?
Civ III is looking good! We're targeting a fall 2001 release and as we get closer to the finish line we'll announce a more specific release date. Right now we're constantly playing the game - adding, tweaking and polishing things as we go along. We'll be posting regular updates on the game's progress on this site, so stay tuned.

What can we expect from Civ III?
The short answer is simply the best strategy game experience you've ever had! We will accomplish this by keeping the components that made Civilization I and II incredibly addictive and fun games and adding new elements and features that complement and enhance the existing system. In addition, we've built a completely new graphic engine that will provide the most stunning maps, animations and graphics you've ever seen in this genre of game. Here are some of our key objectives in developing the best Civilization game you've ever played:

I'm sooo confused. What is the connection between Sid Meier's Civilization III, Civilization, Alpha Centauri and Call to Power?
The Sid Meier's Civilization series is one of the most successful and beloved game series ever created. Sid Meier and many members of the Firaxis team created Civilization I and II while working at MicroProse (now Infogrames). Many members of the Civilization II team left MicroProse to form Firaxis Games. Now, Hasbro and Firaxis have reunited to bring you the one and only Sid Meier's Civilization III.
In 1999, Firaxis Games released Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, a turn-based science fiction strategy game. Alpha Centauri was extremely successful and had many game play innovations that advanced the turn-based genre. Firaxis Games will utilize many of the cool innovations made in Alpha Centauri in CivIII. In Civilization III you'll find borders (but even more realistic than in SMAC), unique benefits depending on the Civilization you choose, enhanced and more realistic diplomacy AI, build- queues and more ways to delegate commands for those who want to minimize micromanagement at later stages in the game. These are just some of the innovations that will be found in Civilization III and that made Alpha Centauri the highest rated PC game ever!
Activision is the developer of Call to Power and Call to Power II. There is no relationship between CivIII and Call to Power other than they originally shared Civilization in their title. Due to some legal wrangling between Hasbro and Activision, Call to Power will drop Civilization from its title.

Who's publishing the game?
Infogrames Entertainment will be publishing the game.

When is Civ III scheduled for release?
We are hoping to ship the game in Fall of 2001. Our goal is to give you the highest quality game software possible; we will announce a more specific release date as we get closer to that goal.

What is Sid Meier's role in the making of Civilization III?
Sid is the Director of Creative Development at Firaxis Games. He is overseeing the project, making game play and design decisions.

What will the system requirements be for the game?
The minimum system requirements are as follows:

Are there any plans for Civilization III to be made for the Mac, Linux or other gaming platforms?
The publisher, Infogrames Entertainment, makes all decisions regarding ports to other platforms. At E3 this year, MacSoft announced that it would be porting Civilization III to the Macintosh. Please contact MacSoft directly for more information about the Mac version of Civilization III. We currently have no information about ports to any other platforms.

Will there be multiplayer support for Civ III?
We're working on some unique things with multiplayer, but we're not ready to start talking about it yet. It has always been challenging to make multiplayer really fun in turn-based games and we're looking at new ways of approaching that.

Will Civ III provide Game Editors?
Yes, Civ III will ship with a suite of very cool editing tools. We will provide more information on these tools closer to release.

Will there be Wonder movies in Civ III?
We have created a beautiful and fun world in Civ III and felt that the wonder movies of the past would take you out of that world and interrupt the gameplay experience. In Civ III, building a wonder triggers a unique reward screen that captures the flavor of the wonder movies without disrupting the flow of your game.

How many scenarios will ship with Civ III?
The game *will* ship with scenarios... we'll have more specifics closer to release.

What Civilizations will ship with Civ III?
Civ III will ship with sixteen Civilizations. they are: