Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

I've been Milking Huge maps for the last few years (for HOF reasons)........And have found that a beeline for Republic government works well, with no change in government after that.

One thing I like to do on the lower levels is give the AI some tech that allows them to change governments....And, do it right before I go to war with them. You can see from the Military Adviser (F3) that the AI is in Anarchy, which is probably not a good place to be if that AI's at war with you!! ;)
 
How underhanded of you. I shall attempt to imitate such a ruse at the earliest opportunity.
 
I've been Milking Huge maps for the last few years (for HOF reasons)........And have found that a beeline for Republic government works well, with no change in government after that.

One thing I like to do on the lower levels is give the AI some tech that allows them to change governments....And, do it right before I go to war with them. You can see from the Military Adviser (F3) that the AI is in Anarchy, which is probably not a good place to be if that AI's at war with you!! ;)

I first learned of this from reading an early succession game. it is :D helpful :D
 
Constructing a theoretical case where democracy or fascism pays of is hard enough, such a case to actually occur is something that did not occur to me, at least not while not being religious. Those 2 governments have their merits, thus AI with low anarchy cost uses them often. Also starting in one of those 2 governmnts would be a great boost at the start due to increased worker efficiency. But in the regular gameplay that evolves from despostism to usually republic they are clearly not worth the anarchy period.

Communism is different matter. It can be worth it it, especially in terms of shields. But it takes a commercial civs(+3 base commerce in metropolises) to gain a meaningful advantage in research compared to republic and even then chances are that you cannot properly utilize it due to the 4 turns per tech minimum research time.

Contrary to what Lanzelot wrote that does not greatly depend on map size, at least not in the sense sense that it makes more sense on huge maps. Costfactor divided through OCN gives the following values:

tiny: 160/14=11.43
small: 200/17=11.76
standard: 240/20=12
large: 320/28 = 11.43
huge: 400/36= 11.11

On huge maps research costs relative to long term ability are the lowest. On large the ratio is the same as on tiny. Not considered in the ratio is that the capital is free, so for rank corruption smaller maps are slightly favoured relative to the ratio. But distance corruption is much lower on larger maps, chances are that this will outweight it. It better should, on larger maps early research takes quite a while.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29485
 
@ justanick: I took a look at the Civ 3 link at the end of your thread and wanted to mention that another useful program is CivAssist II. I always have this program running in the background and it can be popped up while playing Civ 3 by pressing the "`" key. (The key below the "Esc" key). Then press Esc to revert back to the game.

Being a lazy, err I mean efficient, person, I want to be able to look up how many beakers are required to discover a technology in my game........This program shows that and a whole lot more.

The 2 areas I use this program for are primarily:
1. To see which cities have increased in size each turn. (For optimal city laborer placement).
2. To see which tiles in a city's radius are available for the one-time, 10-shield "deforestation bonus".

When I say this great utility program provides a lot more information, some people might say to me: "You English are the Masters Of Understatement!" :lol:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=118540
 
REF: LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF UNITS FOR A SPECIFIC UNIT TYPE QUESTION

Hi,
Working on a mod/scenario for C3C

Is there any way I can limit the amount of one specific unit that can be built ? For example, if I have a unit called the 34th Scots Regiment, can I set the scenario so that this unit can only be built once in the whole game?
I was also going to ask how to disable advance into the modern era, but I guess that's something I can do in the Edit Rules section of the Editor.

Thanks
 
No. I am fairly sure you CANNOT limit it to being built only once.

You can add one in at the beginning of the game, if you want, of course.

Something I have seen done to limit construction of units: Make an improvement that builds the unit every 90 turns or so, then make the improvement obsolete upon discovering a certain tech.

It won't be perfect, but it will be passable I think.

If you only want the player to be able to build it, you can even stack the limits by having the improvement that builds the unit require ANOTHER improvement to be in the city to build it, and have THAT improvement (the first one) become obsolete too, thereby making it even more unlikely that the AI will build the unit.

But if you are considering have a multitude of unique units, you are creating quite a headache for yourself.
 
See the EFZI scenarios for unique units and upgrades. :)
 
Thanks for the replies. Already had searched the creation and customization forum.

Perhaps my only easy solution will be to have those units already placed in the map at the beginning, and disabling that any player can build any more. I would place these units on a small one square island without transport and without a city, and it would take a few turns for the player to build a transport on his city on the mainland to go and fetch said units. That way they would appear on the main campaign part of the map delayed. These units would be the only ones of that type that can be in the game, they will not be replaceable.

I have downloaded the EFZI scenario and it's update which I will study closely, although I think it has features that are beyond my limited expertise.

By the way I am asking all this because I am working on an scenario, dealing with a 19th century war....no more spoilers for now ;-)
 
Thrust123... You can pre-place the 34th Scots Regiment in a City for a particular CIV. Flag the Unit as available to all Civs with 0 Attack and 0 Defense so any Civ can capture it if the City is captured. Also set Cannot be disbanded. You then set the 34th Scots Regiment to Upgrade, only for the CIV you intend it for, with the settings you want it to have when that CIV Gains a required Resource. The Upgrade would be a King Unit unless you look into the King Unit "work around" as Civinator has posted about. The Reason to flag the Unit available to all CIVs is to prevent it from being Killed if the City is captured. Then the Civ You intended it for can Recapture the City with the Unit and continue to Upgrade it.

Another way would be to Pre-place a Wonder that will Auto-produce the 34th Scots Regiment. The Pre-placed Wonder is set to Require a Luxury or Strategic Resource that will be gained later. If you set up the timing for the Resource appearance and the number of turns required to Auto-produce the 34th Scots Regiment correctly, you may be able to have Only one produced in the game. The number of turns required to Auto-produce the 34th Scots Regiment starts from the 1st game turn because the Wonder that Auto-produces it has been Pre-placed. The Wonder would otherwise require the Resource to be able to directly Build it. The Wonder exists and all setting for it will be in effect other than the ability to Auto-produce the Unit until the required resource is gained. Example: Let say your game has a total of 200 Turns. You could set the number of turns required to Auto-produce the 34th Scots Regiment to 101. You then set the required Resource to appear on Turn 101 by using a Tech that will be discovered then. The 34th Scots Regiment would be "Built" on turn 101 when the Required resource is gained because at least 101 turns will have taken place from the start of the game and the Resource that is required has been gained... another 101 turns will be required to Auto-produce again... this would be on turn 202, 2 turns after the game ends so you could only have one in the game.

Naturally, You need control of when Techs are gained and Resources appear to control the timing of when you want the 34th Scots Regiment to be "Built" =Auto-produced.
note: When a Wonder is Pre-placed, the Advisor will state that the Wonder is being Built at the start of the Game. This is because Wonders are Built, Not Pre-placed and the Programing does not understand. I set the Pre-placed Wonder to also require 10 Armies to be built to prevent the Advisor statement. There are No Armies in EFZI2 Complete.

When you Pre-place the 34th Scots Regiment in a Town or City for the CIV you want to have it, Name it 34th Scots Regiment. In the Editor, you can name it by a different name such as Scots Regiment and the Upgraded Unit to 34th Scots Regiment. The point being that when you name the Unit on the Map, the Upgraded Unit will keep that same Name. Now when you Upgrade the Unit, the Advisor will ask if you want to Upgrade the Scots Regiment to the 34th Scots Regiment but the Unit on the map will be named 34th Scots Regiment. Use your imagination and judgement for the Name of the Pre-placed Unit that will upgrade. Players will only see what you named the Units in the editor when the Avisor asks if you want to Upgrade it.
...An example of this is Jake Stranded and Jake Recovered in EFZI2 Complete. Those are the Names for the Unit and Upgrade Unit in the editor. On the Map when I pre-placed Jake Stranded, I renamed him Jake. Then when he is Upgraded the advisor will ask if I want to Upgrade Jake Stranded to Jake Recovered... and the Name of the Unit on the map will be just Jake. I explain how Jake is Stranded an wants to be rescued.

...sometimes it is not easy or fast but give it all some thought and I am sure you will find a good solution for your Game.
 
Thanks for all the good ideas.
Regarding the Wonder pre-placing idea, if I make it require a SR that will be gained later, once that SR resource appears it coould appear anywhere on the map though, making it random if I can have that resource available for the interested civilization, as it can be far away from any of the cities of that civilization. Couldn't I just pre-place a wonder making it auto-produce the unit at a given time (say on turn 50) without needing any resource to do that?
 
Thrust123... To answer your question, YES. Because you are making a Scenario, you can place the Resources where you want them on the map.
You can set the Wonder where it has No Required Resource and it will Auto-produce the Unit according to the number of turns you set in the editor.
I mentioned the Resource because it adds another aspect for more control IF needed.

I cannot know when you want the Unit to be produced or the number of turns you have in your game.
IF you do not require a Resource to help set up when you want the unit to be "Built" for timing... then simply place the Wonder and set the number of turns it will Auto-produce the unit you want.
I am certain you understand the timing factor so if you only want one Unit in your game just do the math and have it Auto-produced when you want and without enough time in the game to produce another one. A resource can allow you to be more specific IF needed because the number of turns and when the Resource becomes available dictate exactly when the Unit will be "Built". You could set a unit to be produced every turn but the unit will not be produced until you gain the Resource.

It can be confusing... Units can require a Resource to be Directly Built but IF a Unit is Auto-produced by a Wonder or Improvement, it is the Wonder or Improvement that requires the Resource to be Functional or able to Produce the Unit.

That said, you could have the same Unit in a Game where it is Both Auto-produced by an Improvement or Wonder as well as able to be directly Built. I have this in EFZI2 Complete. The difference is if the Unit requires a Resource to be directly Built, you must have the Resource flagged as a Requirement for the Unit. IF an Improvement or Wonder is set up to produce a Unit they can with No Resources but IF the Pre-placed Improvement or Wonder are set up to Require a Resource to be able to Build them Directly and you Pre-place them... You have the Improvement or Wonder Before the Required Resource is available. This is what prevents the Improvement or Wonder from being able to Produce the Unit because the Improvement or Wonder could Not have been built without the Required Resource to Built it. This, by the way, is also the reason why the Advisor will state that the Pre-placed Wonder is being Built when you start the game... it is programed to Build Only... Not understand Pre-placed Wonders.

It is the Resource that is set as a Requirement for the Improvement or Wonder that will dictate when the Pre-placed Improvement or Wonder actually exists and can produce Units. But remember all flagged settings will be in affect other than producing Units... This is all simply taking advantage of the programming. It exists yet cannot :lol:
It is as if the Improvement or Wonder is there, yet cannot be there because it required a Resource to be Built in the first place. The programming allow us to take advantage of the Flags that will work from the start for Pre-placed Improvements or Wonders but the the same programming does not allow the production of Units from an Improvement or Wonder that could not be Built because the Required Resource had Not been gained.

Hope I am explaining this where it makes any sense.
 
Hi, I was trying to provide in-game suggestions for battle tactics without clogging-up the “Game Concepts” section thither than it already is. The best thought I had was to use the #DESC_GCON_ feature in Civilopedia.txt to hide the reference from the main game concepts page. I don’t know why but I can’t hyperlink anything that comes under DESC_GCON_. I think it will be useful to show an example.

#GCON_Tactics
Tactics & Helpful Hints
^
^$LINK<Land=DESC_GCON_Land>
^$LINK<Naval=DESC_GCON_Naval>
^$LINK<Air=DESC_GCON_Air>

#DESC_GCON_Land
Land Tactics
^
^$LINK<Using Special Forces=DESC_GCON_SF_Prep>

#DESC_GCON_SF_Prep
Using Special Forces
^
^Special Forces can be used to prepare a city for an invasion by entering a city or an airfield and $LINK<select attacking=GCON_Select_Attack> ground based anti-air weapons. Special Forces are subject to the defensive bombardments of garrisoned units so it’s recommended that you use one Special Forces unit to ascertain how many standard infantry units should be used as cannon fodder (one per defending unit with bombard capability). When the garrison has exhausted its defensive bombardment potential use however many Special Forces units required to remove the anti-air weapons systems.
^
^Refer to $LINK<Fighter Escort=DESC_GCON_Fighter_Escort>

#DESC_GCON_Air
Air Tactics
^
^$LINK<Fighter Escort=DESC_GCON_Fighter_Escort>

#DESC_GCON_Fighter_Escort
Fighter Escort
^
^Fighter aircraft can be used to remove fighters defending an enemy city or airfield. Fighters often have a much lower operational range than bombers and so may require an aircraft carrier to complete this mission. Simply bomb the site with fighters (especially obsolete ones) and for every dogfight you remove one fighter from action in that turn (regardless of the outcome) paving the way for otherwise defenceless bombers to level the site.

If anyone knows how to solve my problem or has an alternative suggestion I’d really appreciate it.
 
The Game doesn't use #DESC_GCON links.

You can use another Link on the Page to go to another Page in Game Concepts. This would work the same as a #DESC_ Link without using that actual link. In other words, make another GCON entry for the Link to another page.

You can also place Links from Game Concepts to the Civilopedia and vise versa.
I do this in EZFI2 Complete in Game Concepts under "Game Tips from Vuldacon" because there are more pages of Tips.
 
Thanks for responding.

So there’s no way to link to something that is only accessible through that one specific path. It has to be accessible as a separate file in the Game Concepts menu?

Just to be clear, I don’t want (in-game) to go into Civilopedia, Game Concepts and find “Fighter Escort” or “Find and Fix” as independent concepts from “Tactics & Helpful Hints”. I want to be able to link to that text only. That’s why I tried to use #DESC_GCON_ instead of # GCON_.

I'm not 100% sure what you meant when you said
You can also place Links from Game Concepts to the Civilopedia and vise versa.
I’m assuming you’re referring to the Units Index $LINK<UNIT=PRTO_UNIT>

My latest awful ideas were $LINK<Land= TUT_Land> and $LINK<Land=Text\Tutorial\TUT_Land> to link it to the Tutorial.txt.

I’ve hacked the original Civ3 Conquests to pieces so the new Game Concepts list looks a bit too much to bother reading. It would probably be better that I don’t add any tactical advice than to increase the list further. That’s why I’m looking for any reasonable work-around.
 
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Thrust123... To answer your question, YES. Because you are making a Scenario, you can place the Resources where you want them on the map.
You can set the Wonder where it has No Required Resource and it will Auto-produce the Unit according to the number of turns you set in the editor.
I mentioned the Resource because it adds another aspect for more control IF needed.

I cannot know when you want the Unit to be produced or the number of turns you have in your game.
IF you do not require a Resource to help set up when you want the unit to be "Built" for timing... then simply place the Wonder and set the number of turns it will Auto-produce the unit you want.
I am certain you understand the timing factor so if you only want one Unit in your game just do the math and have it Auto-produced when you want and without enough time in the game to produce another one. A resource can allow you to be more specific IF needed because the number of turns and when the Resource becomes available dictate exactly when the Unit will be "Built". You could set a unit to be produced every turn but the unit will not be produced until you gain the Resource.

It can be confusing... Units can require a Resource to be Directly Built but IF a Unit is Auto-produced by a Wonder or Improvement, it is the Wonder or Improvement that requires the Resource to be Functional or able to Produce the Unit.

That said, you could have the same Unit in a Game where it is Both Auto-produced by an Improvement or Wonder as well as able to be directly Built. I have this in EFZI2 Complete. The difference is if the Unit requires a Resource to be directly Built, you must have the Resource flagged as a Requirement for the Unit. IF an Improvement or Wonder is set up to produce a Unit they can with No Resources but IF the Pre-placed Improvement or Wonder are set up to Require a Resource to be able to Build them Directly and you Pre-place them... You have the Improvement or Wonder Before the Required Resource is available. This is what prevents the Improvement or Wonder from being able to Produce the Unit because the Improvement or Wonder could Not have been built without the Required Resource to Built it. This, by the way, is also the reason why the Advisor will state that the Pre-placed Wonder is being Built when you start the game... it is programed to Build Only... Not understand Pre-placed Wonders.

It is the Resource that is set as a Requirement for the Improvement or Wonder that will dictate when the Pre-placed Improvement or Wonder actually exists and can produce Units. But remember all flagged settings will be in affect other than producing Units... This is all simply taking advantage of the programming. It exists yet cannot :lol:
It is as if the Improvement or Wonder is there, yet cannot be there because it required a Resource to be Built in the first place. The programming allow us to take advantage of the Flags that will work from the start for Pre-placed Improvements or Wonders but the the same programming does not allow the production of Units from an Improvement or Wonder that could not be Built because the Required Resource had Not been gained.

Hope I am explaining this where it makes any sense.


Thanks Vudacon, I think I understand what you mean. The game will have roughly 120 turns so I would probably use the resource idea with the auto-produce.
I hope you and others that replied don't mind but I am copying all this conversation to the Creation and Customization forum because I think it can benefit others looking specifically for this subject.

CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION IN THE CREATION AND CUSTOMIZATION FORUM PLS:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/limit-the-amount-of-units-for-a-specific-unit-type-how.599573/
 
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No way to directly add images to Game Concepts where they show on each Entry Page other than the Main Game Concept Image but you can add a Link to other entries that have images such as Resources, Units, Buildings, Terrains, etc...
 
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