This is an announcement of my Final Frontier Walkthrough / Guide (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/). Rather than retype everything, I'll just quote what I wrote in the other thread.


You are very welcome, Jon! You have accomplished an amazing feat with this module and I commend you. Frankly, I never thought I would ever see anything as extreme of a Civ4 make-over as what you have just shown the community and the rest of the world. Fantastic work! I have played Galactic Civilization in the past, but I was bored with the game-play after only a few days. I always knew Civilization IV was the superior product and found myself wishing that someone would make a Space Theme strategy game with as much quality and depth. Your module is the closest I have seen and I know it will only get better as time passes. Good luck with Final Frontier, we are all rooting for you and your efforts!

For everyone else, I just finished the first two sections of my Final Frontier Walkthrough (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/) and I hope someone finds it useful. I know it is not as advanced as some of you may have been expecting and for that I apologize. I never claimed to be an expert, not even with the regular civilization game, I just saw that someone was asking for help and I was compelled to do what I could to assist him. I plan to add several more sections to the guide, on which I will work daily, detailing my understanding of the game mechanics all the way to the end game. If it helps you, great. If it doesn't, please do not give me any grief about it, because I put a lot of work into it and the documentation is for free. If I made any errors or crude uneducated assumptions, I would really appreciate some constructive feedback, because it will help everyone.

On a side note, you are probably wondering why I did not post the guide on this forum, so I will try to answer that question as best I can. I spent nearly 12 hours on this project, while writing, spell checking, proof reading, taking screenshots, resizing images for thumbnails, programming XHTML, validating that XHTML to the 1.0 Transitional standard, etc., and the work is my own. I used to post game reviews on Gamespot, until one day the rhetorical question dawned on me. "Why should I be working so hard on these reviews and just giving it away to a company that does not need my help?" I answered that question by purchasing a domain and uploaded the reviews to my own website. I don't do them often, but when I do, I would rather not see them buried under a sea of other reviews.

Cheers!

Hamarabi

P.S. I am going to post this as another thread, since this is an announcement of the walkthrough and not merely my impression of the module.

If you would like to leave feedback or share some hints and advice about the module guide, you can do so in this thread. Oh and please, keep it civilized! No pun intended. :lol:

Hamarabi

Very cool Hamarabi. I'm honored you'd spend the time to make this for my mod. :)

Jon

Very cool Hamarabi. I'm honored you'd spend the time to make this for my mod. :)

Jon

That was very kind of you to say, Jon! I am actually having quite a bit of fun on this project and I have already been assured that my efforts are not going to waste, because a few people have mentioned that the guide was helpful.

Thanks for a great mod!

Hamarabi

I thought it would be a good idea to post all updates to my "Final Frontier Walkthrough" in this thread, so here's the first! I just added several entries to the end of the "First Turns" portion and entitled the page, "War is Near" (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/first_turns/war_is_near.html). I didn't get much done today, but I plan to continue working on it daily.

Cheers!

Hamarabi

Second Update -- I just added two new sections, entitled "Sun Tzu Told Me To" (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/first_turns/suntzu.html) and "Pushing Our Limits" (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/first_turns/pushing_our_limits.html) to the end of my "Final Frontier Guide".

Enjoy!

Hamarabi

Third Update -- I just added two new sub-sections, entitled "Breathing Room (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/early/breathing_room.html)" and "Building Infrastructure (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/early/building_infrastructure.html)" to the end of the "Early Game" part of my guide.

I hope someone finds it helpful.

Cheers!

Hamarabi

Fourth Update -- I just added two new sections, entitled "Unplanned Expansion (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/early/unplanned_expansion.html)" and "This Old Powerhouse (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/early/powerhouse.html)" to the end of my Final Frontier Guide for Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword.

Please, leave feedback so that I know if I should continue working on this guide or not. If there aren't enough people interested in this project, I may as well stop working on it, as the images are eating away at my bandwidth and I cannot afford a hosting upgrade. Not to mention, I have already put many hours into the web-site's construction and content, yet I have no idea if the effort is worth it or not (helping anyone).

Sincerely,

Hamarabi

***Begin Edit***
I decided to end the guide right where it is, because I have not received any sort of feedback in the last two weeks. Nonetheless, I believe the guide has reached a point where all of the basics have been covered and the player should be able to learn the more advanced features by way of self-discovery. Good luck!
***End Edit***

Nicely done. The walkthrough highlights many of the features and buildings. I've been playing FF for a few days, and even I found something useful - creating the shortcut! Thanks.

Hamarabi, your walkthrough has helped me to make sense of FF! I am not the world's best BtS player so it is just what I needed to get started.

I have printed out the first part of your walkthrough (I like to have it in front of me when I play) and will print out the rest of it.

Thank you so much. I am sure I am not the only one here for whom your walkthrough has enhanced the enjoyment and the understanding of FF.

stwils :banana:

Hamarabi -

Your "walk-through" guide is/was probably the easiest to follow and understand that I've ever seen.

You covered "all" the basics of the game in a clear and understandable method supported by screen shots and "best thoughts" for each phase of your guide.

As a former "trainer" who's had to suffer through someone else's BAD "training" programs and walk-throughs, as well as being forced to write my own (NOT easy, lol) so that it's easier to teach methodologies I'd like to assure you that your guide/walk-through is FAR above the norm from what you usually see!

Kudos!

MMV

Very nice guide. I pretty much figured out on my own most of what you covered, but it was nice to see how someone else approaches empire-building in FF. Not to mention, if I had read it *before* I played FF, it would have saved a lot of pain. :D

Awesome scenario, nice walkthrough. Can't wait for the first patch to FF.

Hopefully you will update the guide when the patch will come out.
Don't worry about the no feedback. You have more then 1600 views.

Hamarabi

I only discovered your walkthrough a few days ago after finishing my first FF game.
You (and I) have Jon Shafer to thank for this, because he put a link in his signature.

You wrote a nice beginners walkthrough especially detailing your choices in technologies.
I really wish you would have continued and elaborated on some points I missed and which were not really obvious for me in my game.
I'm mainly referring to star bases (of which I only discovered its use when the AI put one down right outside my borders on my resources) and building on multiple planets (you could have build a second 'Survival dome' in your major star systems instead of 'Recycling centers', which would have helped your influence and health). I discovered this only after I had build all there was to build in my home star system and decided to try building on another planet. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I could build a second factory (and all the other buildings) and a third although I soon noticed that they got progressively more expansive.

Besides those 2 things I would have liked to see, I just like stories to have endings. ;)

Again, nicely written walkthrough and consider this my word of thanks.

HI Hamaradi.

Cool walkthrough, I must echo Eugenestyles in that I already had the basic training by jumping into the deep void on my own. However I really enjoyed the way it was written and illustrated.

Personally I like to impose 'roleplaying' rules on myself, like "I will immediately declare war on every Avower I encounter", such things are good for a lot of tension and excitement as war is inevitably announced way before any type of millitary taskforce has been formed.

Just finished reading your walkthrough, after 700 some turns of my first game and installing 3.13.

Please continue!!!

You have an engaging style...

~ Alex :scan:

Thank you all, for the feedback! I had shelved this project back in August because it did not appear that anyone was interested (two weeks went by with no feedback), so I felt that I was wasting my efforts. Recently, however, I received a donation through my web-site's Paypal button and decided to check this forum thread. Needless to say, I was surprised to see so many thoughtful comments and I want everyone to know that I greatly appreciate the compliments and constructive criticisms.

Since some kind soul was so enthusiastic to see this guide completed that they made a donation to the cause, I feel compelled to start working on this project again. With that in mind, please know that I will be updating the walkthrough this week and I might even be able to complete the project by this weekend (If the war goes as quickly as I anticipate).

Sincerely,

Hamarabi

P.S. I am a disabled person (fractured vertebrae, Spondylolysis, Spondylolisthesis, and herniated discs), so please be patient while waiting for the updates.

Hamarabi

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I could build a second factory (and all the other buildings) and a third although I soon noticed that they got progressively more expansive.


I was worried about collapsing our economy in it's expansion phase, which is why I did not purchase the more expensive duplicate buildings. Also, I hope to be able to build our first starbase and extraction facility in the next update, if we can afford it.

Building multiple buildings on different planets is essential, in order to compete with the AI. They of course know how to do it.

Stuff I've learned:

You can't queue buildings across multiple planets. Because of that, fill up your queues with only what you need immediately, because you effectively "lose your place" if you switch planets.

So if you get a new building and want to place it on every planet, you can't queue them up. You must build them one at a time, change planets, build the next.

There are three types of buildings: Single Planet, System Boosters, and One Per System Facilities. Most buildings are system boosters, which offer a benefit to the entire system. Because they are cumulative, a system with many planets is more valuable than one with just a few, once you build key buildings on EVERY planet.

The last is a key word: Every Planet. If you can afford it, you should try to maximize production on a few systems with many planets. The multipliers are especially valuable in the capital, which can get another boost from Monarchy.

The nutrition center, mining center, maglev and commercial satellites, and habitation all are single planet buildings. The benefit they give is worth more on larger planets than small, so build them first on bigger population worlds.

The squadron and capital ship factories and defense buildings are one per system, and thus the only consideration is if you think the system needs them.

As for the economy, multiple buildings are essential for it. You need to boost production on all key planets -- maglev every one for the extra money. The commerce and science booster buildings help out. Should you have either Knowledge or Wealth, their buildings give you a powerful extra boost when built on EVERY planet.

It does pay better to build higher tech versions of the same type of building before a high multiple of a lower tech type, as the cost for the benefit is lower. But eventually, if you can afford it you want all of them.

While building up the economic buildings, you also must build production buildings (factories). If you don't, you won't be able to build the higher cost things fast enough later in the game.


Espionage requires spending on it, and pays best once you can build the espionage buildings. You can spend nothing on it until you can build them, then build several in high output systems -- every planet in the capital. Then, for a few turns run high espionage, even 100% if you can afford it, to catch up. Soon you'll have good intel on the competition.


One more thing: Jon has made a post-3.13 update which fixes a lot of stuff, including the "new starbase steals old resources" issue. While not everyone will check this board for info and updates like that, the next official patch should include these fixes and more.

It's probably me, but I have a problem. I tried to set create a shortcut to FF. I followed:
In WinXP just right click on the desktop and select "New" then click on "shortcut" then type "C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod="Final Frontier" in the edit field to create the shortcut.
and got "cannot find 'C:\Program'"

What am I doing wrong?

It's probably me, but I have a problem. I tried to set create a shortcut to FF. I followed:

and got "cannot find 'C:\Program'"

What am I doing wrong?

Where did you install Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword? If you installed it anywhere but the default folder, you will have to edit the path to reflect your particular installation. In other words, if you installed the game in "F:\civ4\" or whatever, you will have to change the path to suit your needs. Also, the shortcut that I gave you must be exact. Again, if you installed the game on another drive letter or directory, you must change the path in the shortcut. All quotes must be in place!

Default Installation: "C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod="Final Frontier"

Example Alternate Installation: "F:\civ4\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe" mod="Final Frontier"

Hope that helps.

Hamarabi

For those of you that have been waiting for my update, I just finished a trial run to see how long it was going to take me to complete and it only took about 25 minutes to win a conquest victory.

I simply directed two small colonies to build wealth, directed the larger colonies to crank out battleships (I built 6, which took 16 turns), chose economic builds for the other colonies that could not build ships very fast, and the research path didnt matter because victory was right around the corner. I built a starbase and gold extraction facility, as well. At the state we left the game in, it would be nearly impossible to lose. In fact, the goal of losing would have to be our focus, otherwise it is an effortless win.

I'll run through it again and take screenshots and do a write-up later tonight. I'll then post it on my website by tomorrow (Sunday, November 25 2007).

Hamarabi

P.S. During my playthrough, neither competitor brought a single battleship to bear on our empire, so not only were we massively superior in power and production, but also technologically.

I just stopped in to let everyone know that I played through to the end again and this time took screenshots and wrote descriptions and a bit of discussion for each image. I couldn't believe it took 6 hours this time when it only took 25 minutes to "just play" it the first time! Wow! I never realized how much longer it takes when you have to think of something to say. LOL!

Nonetheless, I have completed the write-up, but I still need to create the thumbnail images, and proof-read, spell-check, and format the text. It shouldn't take too much longer, since I already got a good start on it. However, I am exhausted now and I can't keep my eyes open any longer. I'll have the pages up in approximately 10 hours (give or take).

Cheers!

Hamarabi

I just finished the last two chapters of my Final Frontier walkthrough, entitled "Gears of War (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/early/gears_war.html)" and "End Game (http://gaming.download-warehouse.org/civ/early/end_game.html)" and uploaded them to my web-site.

I apologize for being so late in submitting the completed guide. The project took far longer than I thought it would and because of my miscalculation, I did not give myself enough time to meet the announced schedule.

I would like to thank the person responsible for the kind donation! It was a pleasant surprise! Also, I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful compliments and constructive criticisms! I hope to improve my process as a result!

Cheers!

Hamarabi

Mr. Shafer-

Kudos to you; I played the Final Frontier demo and didn't realize "Beyond the Sword" contained anything else; like the Civ4 demo I was hooked and had to buy it. Unlike the original Civ4...I am still playing this. Will you be updating Final Frontier any further? And does the regular BtS 3.17 patch take care of patching the FF mod as well?

Hamarabi-

Your guide is a fun read and I learned a thing or two! It helped me to realize that this mod does contain quite a bit of battling against bankruptcy and that I wasn't just playing it wrong!

I wanted to offer a couple of suggestions:

I agree with other posters that your writing style IS very engaging and I enjoy the guide. However, your exclusive use of "it is" instead of the word "its" grates on my eyes. It really, really makes it noticeably less readable for me. "It's" (the word you use) is a contraction of "it is", sort of like can't or don't. It is weird, but "its" (without the apostrophe) really is the "possessive" form of the word.

Everything else about your writing is very professional! It's very refreshing for me after reading guides for other games on other sites over the years.

As far as Health of cities: I have a different approach. In FF I've noticed no negative effects of allowing pollution other than a reduced food yield. I've personally not seen it affect happiness or have any lasting effects.

Instead, I look at how many food units are produced by a planet. If I want to see faster growth, my math says that building Nutrition buildings on populated planets should be more effective than building recycling centers.

My reasoning is that +1 food * population on the planet >= the +1 food liberated from waste by building a recycling plant. For your time and hammers, Nutrition buildings appear to me to be a better choice until you run out of populated planets.

Now if one has the survival "value" seeded in their empire, I could definitely see building survival domes on 1-population-max planets because of the culture growth it adds on top. I also tend to pounce on Health buffing resources.

Hold the phone: I see posters saying the subsequent factories and other buildings that you can build on multiple planets are more "expensive" as you build more. Is that in hammers or upkeep?

I must admit that I haven't looked closely at what individual buildings cost in upkeep. I've assumed they're all 1 gold like in Civ2 back in the day (I think) and that wealth-creating buildings were maintenance free.

How do I get multiple trade routes? Many times my star systems trade with only my capital and nobody else, even when they're linked by lanes to other empires. I've never seen the point of trade centers when trade incomes tend to be 1 or 2 gold.

Also, is there an easy way to "double-track" your warp lanes without micromanaging your Construction ships?

In civ 4, buildings don't have any upkeep cost at all. So it's cost in hammers.

Check tech/buildings to see what gives more trade routes. A city will automatically trade with the city that offers the most commerce.

What do you mean by double-tracking warp lanes? A tile either has a warp lane or it does not. Routes in civ 4 don't care about capacity.

deanej,

I was borrowing a phrase from SM's "Railroads!" when perhaps I should have explained it instead.

To makes it harder for enemies to easily snip your routes between planets, one strategy is to build parallel routes. If they demolish the warp lane in one tile before they're caught, you can usually respond in force before they snip the parallel track.

Right now, I know of no easy way to automatically build parallel tracks, as the "route to" feature (whatever it's called) tends to employ the already created tracks to get to the point you designate.

I assume that the only way to "double-track" the warp lanes is to do it manually, for now.

Hold the phone: I see posters saying the subsequent factories and other buildings that you can build on multiple planets are more "expensive" as you build more. Is that in hammers or upkeep?

I must admit that I haven't looked closely at what individual buildings cost in upkeep. I've assumed they're all 1 gold like in Civ2 back in the day (I think) and that wealth-creating buildings were maintenance free.

if you are interested, I looked at it once and it seemes to behave like this.

1st edition of building in star system normal cost, i.e. 100%
2nd edition double the normal cost, so 200%
3rd edition tripple the normal cost, thus 300%
... and so forth.

so, it may be useful to build multiple editions of planets in a single star system, but the cost/ benefit ration is diminishing, so it may be that at some point for the same cost you can have greater benefit.

also, an item which may interest you, and I hope I am indeed right on this one: + xx% buildings (like banks for example that give +25% wealth) are built on planets, but their effects are system wide. so if you have a 3 pop planet that offers you 6 gold, it doesnt matter where you build the bank, you will get the benefit on those 6 gold per colonist anyway. I mention it, because from the description I didnt think it worked like this.

deanej,

I was borrowing a phrase from SM's "Railroads!" when perhaps I should have explained it instead.

To makes it harder for enemies to easily snip your routes between planets, one strategy is to build parallel routes. If they demolish the warp lane in one tile before they're caught, you can usually respond in force before they snip the parallel track.

Right now, I know of no easy way to automatically build parallel tracks, as the "route to" feature (whatever it's called) tends to employ the already created tracks to get to the point you designate.

I assume that the only way to "double-track" the warp lanes is to do it manually, for now.

Same as in the normal game. You can use the route-to feature, but you must watch the path and set it not to your actual target endpoint, but to some point where it won't use existing roads.

Warp/Jump lanes are more important for trade in FF than the normal game, because there are no river/sea routes. You can't get trade routes without building and keeping lanes.