Civilization III: Complete – How Scoring Works

Quick tips on how to maximize your score in a standard 90 turn multiplayer game.

Context

Note: Credit goes to Rodrigo

Scoring formula is (Territory + HappyCitizens*2 + ContentCitizens + Specialists) * Difficulty.

The total of all your per-turn scores is divided by the number of turns played so far to get your actual game score. I.e. your actual score is the average of your per-turn scores.

There are 3 kinds of water tiles: coastal, sea, and ocean. Coastal and sea do count twd territory.

Examples

Example (1):

You have a size 4 city without temple and granary, sitting in grassland. It will grow every 5 turns. Assuming you have two units policing the city and 0 lux, you will have 4 content citzens.

Your score first five turns are (9 territory tiles + 4 content citzens ) * 3 (regent difficulty) = 39 points. Once your city grows one pop., scoring will go to 42 points per turn.

Total average points in 10 turns: 40.5 points.

If two citzens were kept happy, average score would be 46.5.

If instead a temple is pop-rushed “eating” two citzens, the score would be as follows:

• First five turns are (9 territory tiles + 2 content citzens) * 3 = 33 points.
• After five turns, the population will grow and the border will expand on another 12 tiles. The score then will be (21 territory tiles + 3 content citzens) * 3 = 72.

Total average points in 10 turns: 55.5 points.

Pop-rushing temple for 2 citzens will payback after 6 turns (soon after the city border expands).

Example (2):

A size 6 city and no expanded borders with two happy citzens and two unhappy will generate (9 for territory, 4 for two happy citzens + 2 content + 0 happy)*3 = 45 points per turn.

If two citzens are turned into entertainer – assuming the city can still will keep its population – will generate (9 for territory, 8 for four happy citzens + 2 specialists)*3 = 57 points per turn.

Key Takeaways

In order to maximize your score – you should follow the following order:

• A. Maximize territory.
• B. Maximize the number of happy citzens, either by lux or by specialists (entertainers).

In practical terms:

• A. Build new cities, as further apart from possible as it can be. Keeping your capital locked at size 8 with zero grow may be great for production, but your score will be better if you get some more cities out of it. Also, planting cities very close will not maximize your score.
• B. Pop-rush temples – even if they cost more population.
• C. Read the game – if it seems like you additional scoring will be needed, start expanding ASAP. Planting a city (even if it stays size 1) on turn 60 will equal to 10 points at the end of the game. A city planted 15 turns after will be worth 5 only points at the end.
• D. Before lose all your gold by turning lux slider up, consider turn citzens into entertainers. This may add a couple of points at the end.