Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Seraiel]

How do I expand my Empire quickly without going into debt?. I want to grab more land, but each new city that I build causes me to lose money faster than I can make it, then I don't have money to research technologies.

I just answered that question yesterday, see here and also the guide about economics in my signature. It's very comprehensive.

 

[Illuminous]

Thank you Seraiel!.

 

[Seraiel]

Thank you Seraiel!.

You're welcome .

 

[Illuminous]

In the tech race, how do you stay ahead or at least even or near with the A.I.?. You trade your high beaker techs for several of theirs or of equal worth, then you go to trade with them again, and they have 5 more to trade off to you. Yet they have no money and enormous amounts of units.
You trade with other civilizations one after another to see if you have a chance to gain more techs and finally come out on top, but they always have 5 or 6 more than you regardless of what you do, it's frustrating to say the least.

I'm only playing on Noble difficultly and am amazed at people who can play on anything higher than that.

 

[Deckhand]

In the tech race, how do you stay ahead or at least even or near with the A.I.?. You trade your high beaker techs for several of theirs or of equal worth, then you go to trade with them again, and they have 5 more to trade off to you. Yet they have no money and enormous amounts of units.
You trade with other civilizations one after another to see if you have a chance to gain more techs and finally come out on top, but they always have 5 or 6 more than you regardless of what you do, it's frustrating to say the least.

I'm only playing on Noble difficultly and am amazed at people who can play on anything higher than that.

Research something no other Civ has and then trade it to several of them.

Tech trading is an area the human does better than the AI.
Or maybe your civilization isn't producing enough beakers and spending too much commerce elsewhere. Build cottages (for example) to improve your commerce output.

 

[Illuminous]

Here's the full Settings I use...

Game: Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords
Difficulty: Noble
Civilization: English Empire
Leader: Queen Victoria
Leader Traits: Financial and Imperialistic
Leaders Favorite Civic: Representation
World Settings: Continents, Standard World Size, Temperate Climate, Medium Sea Level, Ancient Starting Era and Normal Game Speed.

I tend to research Compass, Optics, Divine Right and Astronomy which to trade with the A.I. I get some good techs from them, the A.I. tends to not have these, so I can trade with multiple Civs for the techs I'm missing.

 

[Seraiel]

We cannot tell you where your main errors lie from those settings Illuminous. It could i. e. be that you simply have too few cities too late because you don't whip enough, it could be that you don't build Cottages because you use automized Workers or build Farms or Workshops, it could be something else. The best way to learn the game is to post a game in the S&T subforum, post screenshots with the game (turn on resource bubbles!!! ) and wait for advice, then play 10-20T, then wait for advice again and so on. If that is too slow for you, play a 2nd game in paralell

You should get yourself BtS btw. and the BUG + BULL or (alternatively) the BUFFY mod. BtS is just a lot better than its predecessors and playing well without BUG and BULL (or BUFFY) is even more difficult, because very much important informations aren't presented towards you in an appealing way, so i. e. directly on the main screen, in the city-screen or when visiting the advisors.

 

[Rodney Nelson]

I've installed Civ IV Complete. I'm trying to install a mod (Realism Invictus) but it won't install because it says I need to patch Civ IV BTS to 3.19. I've downloaded 3.19 and, after some difficulty, extracted the patch in the BTS patch file. The mod still says I haven't patched BTS. What exactly (please, I'm a noob so when I say exactly I mean EXACTLY) do I need to do to patch BTS?

Thank you.

 

[Lexicus]

Rodney Nelson - I'm not sure what your specific problem is, but you can see which version you have by going to Options from the Main menu and selecting About This Build. This will show you the patch you're running and you can confirm whether you installed 3.19 or not.

 

[Imperator Knoedel]

Are you using the Steam version?

 

[Rodney Nelson]

I'm using the disk version, Final Release from 2008. About This Build says I've got 3.17.

My problem is that I've downloaded 3.19 as a ZIP file and extracted it into the BTS PATCH folder. Either that's not the right place or else I need to do something more to install the patch.

 

[isenchine]

It's not the right place.

If you have just a zip with the files (not the exe), you have to extract it at the base of the first folder in the file.

If your zip starts with the folder 'Sid Meier's Civilization 4', extract it in the 'Firaxis Games4' folder.

If your zip starts with the folder 'Beyond the Sword', extract it in the 'Sid Meier's Civilization 4' folder.

Say Yes to all when asked to overwrite.

Good luck

 

[Lexicus]

I'm pretty sure you can actually patch the game from within it, go into multiplayer lobby and hit "check for updates"and the game will patch itself, if you're having trouble installing it into the directory.

 

[Imperator Knoedel]

I'm pretty sure the ingame patching system is broken.

 

[Illuminous]

We cannot tell you where your main errors lie from those settings Illuminous. It could i. e. be that you simply have too few cities too late because you don't whip enough, it could be that you don't build Cottages because you use automized Workers or build Farms or Workshops, it could be something else. The best way to learn the game is to post a game in the S&T subforum, post screenshots with the game (turn on resource bubbles!!! ) and wait for advice, then play 10-20T, then wait for advice again and so on. If that is too slow for you, play a 2nd game in paralell

You should get yourself BtS btw. and the BUG + BULL or (alternatively) the BUFFY mod. BtS is just a lot better than its predecessors and playing well without BUG and BULL (or BUFFY) is even more difficult, because very much important informations aren't presented towards you in an appealing way, so i. e. directly on the main screen, in the city-screen or when visiting the advisors.

I appreciate the information from you Seraiel, and you Deckhand.

How long should I keep using slavery before switching?.

I had bought Civilization IV when it went on sale recently via Steam, I bought Civilization IV first and played it for a good 40 hours, I really liked the game so I snatched up the Warlords Expansion as well, (while it was going for dirt cheap). I should have grabbed myself Beyond the Sword to boot, but I didn't so now I'll wait until it goes on sale again before purchasing it. I'll stick with Warlords Expansion for the time being, its not that I can't afford it, I'm just going to wait.

 

[Rodney Nelson]

Thank you Lexicus, Imp. Knoedel and especially isenchine for your help. I was able to install the patch and the mod.

 

[Lexicus]

Rodney Nelson - no problem, glad to help.

I'm pretty sure the ingame patching system is broken.

*shrug* you might be right. I seem to remember using it to patch the game when I first installed Civ IV on my current computer, this would have been about two and a half years ago now and I don't have the game through Steam, but I don't know if that has any bearing on the issue.

How long should I keep using slavery before switching?.

This depends on your strategy. If going for Conquest typically you will not be switching at all. For some victories (space and perhaps culture?) you will want to switch to Caste when you have needed infrastructure in your cities, and Caste/Pacifism abuse during GAs is standard even when otherwise running slavery.

If your game lasts long enough, you may build up enough Emancipation unhappiness that switching to Emancipation is necessary, though in my experience this usually isn't a problem as I typically go for the late-game wonders that provide happiness resources and I usually acquire even more luxuries through conquest throughout the game.

 

[elmurcis]

Question about Strike... Also settlers/workers can be disbanded because of strike or just regular military units?

 

[Illuminous]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Illuminous
How long should I keep using slavery before switching?.

This depends on your strategy. If going for Conquest typically you will not be switching at all. For some victories (space and perhaps culture?) you will want to switch to Caste when you have needed infrastructure in your cities, and Caste/Pacifism abuse during GAs is standard even when otherwise running slavery.

If your game lasts long enough, you may build up enough Emancipation unhappiness that switching to Emancipation is necessary, though in my experience this usually isn't a problem as I typically go for the late-game wonders that provide happiness resources and I usually acquire even more luxuries through conquest throughout the game.

Thanks for this Lexicus.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Just confirming something I read in one of the strategy forums:
If my civ is experiencing a golden age (GA), is it true I can change civics with no anarchy?