Screenshot of the Day #35: Ancient Railroads

Thunderfall

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Theoretically, it's possible to build a railroad network in the ancient era, without the Steam Engine tech and coal. You just need to raze lots of enemy cities and those cities need to be close to each other. :D

I recently started a game where I am the Greeks, and I am up against the Egyptians, Germans, and Romans. The map size was set to Tiny since I have yet to play a map this small. Anyway, it is still the "Ancient Era" and, as you can see from the screenshot, I am researching Monarchy. I can assure you that no one else has Monarchy and everyone else is still in the Ancient Era. The Romans and the Egyptians are at war, and the Egyptians just razed a Roman city. The funny thing is that the city left a spot of railroads behind! This is very odd as railroads are two eras away, and although I've seen funnier SOTD, this one was quite surprising.

http://www.civfanatics.com/sotd/sotd35.jpg

Thanks to Blesser for the screenshot.
 
It would be interesting to know whether this is a graphics glitch or if the square actually behaves as a railroad.
 
I saw something similar in a game yesterday; the Persian Knights had just devasted the core of the Roman Empire, and when I took a look at the devastation via my just acquired World Map, I notice a few bits of railroad.

One weird point is that just a few of the dozen-odd leveled Roman cities left this mysterious RR behind.
 
Wasn't this fixed with 1.29f? What version is Blesser using?
 
Conformist: 299 Posts? Congratulations in advanced on 300.
 
I've had this happen in one of my games, but when I sent a unit by it, it turned into a road.
 
Damn, I was going to get SOTD with the same thing.

Unfortunately screen capture doesn't work well/at all on my machine so I didn't get it all the way processed.

It only shows up in fog though, once you go by it'll revert (in my case the civ built a new city on top).
 
Originally posted by Thunderfall
Theoretically, it's possible to build a railroad network in the ancient era, without the Steam Engine tech and coal. You just need to raze lots of enemy cities and those cities need to be close to each other. :D
Too bad there always has to be at least one square between each city. :( ;)

So it is just a bug, right?
 
This is not a glitch. There is a very simple explanation.

When you build a city, that map square is automatically given every possible terrain improvement that is available to that terrain type, including railroads. This is done to give you the maximum bonus for that map square.

When you destroy or burn the town, or abandon it, the improvements stay behind.
 
Also, in having a city square automatically having railroads, it makes it possible for railroads to connect to it. If it did not have railroads in its square, the railroads would go around the city instead of into it.
 
Yes but not all razed cities have railroads. I abandoned a city last week and it left behind a railroad. It struck me as odd, but I didn't really give it too much thought for some reason. I abandoned it with a settler, so there were units in view. The version was definitely 1.29f, too. Go figure...
 
It may be expensive, but if you want the movement bonus of railroads while still in ancient times, just get a bunch of settlers together, build and abandon cities in sequence in the direction of the next AI you want to attack...
 
I feel kinda famous knowing that I got a SOTD, even though my name was spelled wrong...one 's', not two. :D

I'm not sure if it matters, but I am using version 1.29f and the latest version of Snoopy's Terrain Graphic Modpack.

Anyway, the Egyptians ended up destroying the Romans, and there were two or three more tiles with railroads on them, but the majority did not leave railroads behind. Like others said, as soon as you got an updated world map or put a unit near it, it disappeard.

If anyone cares, I am now pounding the hell out of the Egyptians for beating up on the Romans so badly. :cool:
 
Sounds better than it is. In my experience you can't connect your cities to rr if you can't build rr yourself. They will mysteriously go around your city instead of connecting. So your city squares only get the improvements in their city square for which you posses the techs and resources.
 
I thought that razed or abandoned cities left behind a road, and a railroad ONLY if you can build railroads. I know for a fact that I have seen razed cities leave only roads before. And Bleser, when you say that the railroad dissapeared, did it leave a road?
Originally posted by pesoloco
This is not a glitch. There is a very simple explanation.

When you build a city, that map square is automatically given every possible terrain improvement that is available to that terrain type, including railroads. This is done to give you the maximum bonus for that map square.

When you destroy or burn the town, or abandon it, the improvements stay behind.
That's not true. It does not leave irrigation, a mine, or a fortress, or anything at all besides a road or railroad. (However when you build a city it can act as an "irrigation transporter," meaning that it is irrigated for purposes of letting adjacent squares be irrigated if the city is next to an irrigated square, but it is not really irrigated, and doesn't get a food bonus.)
 
Well another explanation might be this---

You see, when you have a railroad and a unit pillages the improvement, it becomes a road.

If this were true, then

ROAD+ROAD=RAILROAD.

Then this rule in the game could have caused a glitch were the two roads became a railroad.

Kinda hard to explain, but this could be a logical answer.
 
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