Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[jadebullet]

Thank you very much. The reason that he is annoyed with me is kinda funny though. I have the Ethiopians above me, and the Zulu below me. The declared war on each other and asked me to cut relations. I refused but still kept up my open borders until I got annoyed at them for always fighting in my territory, so I closed my borders to the Zulu due to a disagreement that I had with them in Civ 3.


Thanks again for the help.

[Roland Johansen]

Originally Posted by KinesongPayaso

Is there any way to find all the workers that I have "automated" because of "Build trade network"? (shortcut, of course ... not just manually checking each worker )

The backspace key allows you to stop a unit with the action it is performing. The Alt key allows you to give an order to all items of the same type (all cities or all archers or all workers etc.). So if you combine both keys, all your workers should stop their work.

Note that partially finished work can be continued without loss, so you won't lose any worker turns using this method. It does mean that you will have to give new orders to all your workers.

[Gwynnja]

There's a box you can check in order to prevent your workers from changing your improvements in the options screen. I don't know how to check to see which ones are on auto

[jadebullet]

I have two more questions. First, how do I get rid of the time limit victory? And second, how do I see how many turns I have left before this annoying(in my opinion) victory is met?

Thanks.

[KinesongPayaso]

Originally Posted by Roland Johansen

The backspace key allows you to stop a unit with the action it is performing. The Alt key allows you to give an order to all items of the same type (all cities or all archers or all workers etc.). So if you combine both keys, all your workers should stop their work.

Note that partially finished work can be continued without loss, so you won't lose any worker turns using this method. It does mean that you will have to give new orders to all your workers.

Originally Posted by Gwynnja

There's a box you can check in order to prevent your workers from changing your improvements in the options screen. I don't know how to check to see which ones are on auto

Thanks guys, both are very helpful

Originally Posted by jadebullet

I have two more questions. First, how do I get rid of the time limit victory? And second, how do I see how many turns I have left before this annoying(in my opinion) victory is met?

Thanks.

Im not sure about getting rid or changing it to something else
But I think it's possible, with how some people here are changing some game values with some xml files

To see how many turns are left, you can see it from the victory screen, F8

[Roland Johansen]

Originally Posted by jadebullet

I have two more questions. First, how do I get rid of the time limit victory? And second, how do I see how many turns I have left before this annoying(in my opinion) victory is met?

Thanks.

Just simply uncheck the option of a time victory. It's one of the options before you start the game.

[KinesongPayaso]

I didnt know such a feature existed


Why does the Cathedral's number of temple requirements(2 Temples) change from 2 to 4?
I have already built 1 Cathedral (when it only required 2 temples), and when I highlight it from the city view(F10) it shows Requires X Temple (2/4 Total)


What does Vassalage [Civic]'s +X Free Units do? How do I get them?

[GooglyBoogly]

Originally Posted by KinesongPayaso

...
Why does the Cathedral's number of temple requirements(2 Temples) change from 2 to 4?

This one confused me too when I was starting out. The 2/4 is to signify that EACH cathedral requires two temples of their respective religion, and since you already have one cathedral- a second will require that you have 4 temples, thus 2/4. If you were to build a 2nd cathedral the requirement would show ?/6 where ? = the number of respective temples you already have

Originally Posted by KinesongPayaso

...
What does Vassalage [Civic]'s +X Free Units do? How do I get them?

+X free units is a bit misleading. Vassalage does not give any free units per se, instead it allows your empire to maintain +X additional units without a maintainence penalty (the +X will change depending upon the size of your empire)

[Fraxander]

Oh yeah, Fraxander, don't worry too much if the AI seems to have way more units than you, or already have 2-3 cities compared to your 1

i encountered once when i was only building my second or third city,roman empire immediately declare WAR on me....(i was using mongolian empire)i was shocked and his empire had more than 3 cities and his army was way too i must say to me at the start is quite a lot...and their tech was fast...i was playing chieftain level....

another question,if at the start of the game, i always straight away make my settler build the city on the spot,but the surroundings is not very good,only have pig and trees...i was thinking at the start,should i find a better area to build my 1st city?

[Fraxander]

Originally Posted by Roland Johansen

How many resources? I don't know, it varies. Sometimes I build the worker while researching bronze working and use the worker for chopping, sometimes I build the worker while researching farming, hunting or animal husbandry to improve related food resources, sometimes I build a workboat to improve sea based food resources. After improving these resources, the worker will typically build farms, mines, cottages (when available), roads and other improvements when they become available.

Example effect of building a pasture on a grassland cow resource for your starting production: Your size 1 city is typically using a 2 food 1 hammer tile as centre tile and another 2 food 1 hammer tile as first tile (sometimes a 3 food tile). This gives you 4 (hammers + food) to invest in workers or settlers. When you improve the cow with a pasture, you'll get a 4 food, 2 hammers tile which improves your growth rate to 4 food per turn or allows you to invest 7 (hammers + food) into workers or settlers. The increased growth can allow you to grow quickly into a bigger more productive city and these other tiles can also be improved. The increased output is phenomenal 4->7 by just one tile improvement.
The effect of growing a size without the availability of a worker to improve these tiles is negligible. It usually means +1 hammer or +1 food, so a growth of 4->5.
Using unimproved tiles is very inefficient, improved tiles are usually easily 2 times as effective. Improved food resources are often 3-4 times as effective. (These values are based on the net-output of a tile: the output minus the 2 food needed to sustain the citizen working the tile.)




I agree with the value of bronze working, but (since I often go worker first) I also value the technologies that help improve the land around the city highly. These include farming, animal husbandry and hunting. Usually I will invent pottery so that I can build cottages which will help me get enough commerce to sustain my expansion. But the granary is of course very useful too.

Many thanks....it was super useful...thanks Roland

[Fraxander]

Originally Posted by KinesongPayaso

At immortal, how many resources do you usually see in your first 8 inner tiles? outer 12 tiles?

I thought that "worker first" was only viable from settler to prince or monarch, since there are plenty of resources in your BFC and there will be a higher chance that your 2 initial technologies can be used to work tiles already

I play prince/monarch



Oh yeah, Fraxander, don't worry too much if the AI seems to have way more units than you, or already have 2-3 cities compared to your 1

Bronze Working
With Bronze Working, you enable the slavery civic, and forest chopping
Both of which contribute to "build fast"

Then Pottery, which would enable the construction of Granaries, which are helpful in using slavery

Then wheel, and other technologies that will let you build improvements on resources in your BFC

Again, this is just a common path that most people take
There will be circumstances that would cause you to deviate from this path

Also many thanks to KinesongPayaso for his super useful help....

[KinesongPayaso]

Originally Posted by Fraxander

i encountered once when i was only building my second or third city,roman empire immediately declare WAR on me....(i was using mongolian empire)i was shocked and his empire had more than 3 cities and his army was way too i must say to me at the start is quite a lot...and their tech was fast...i was playing chieftain level....

You mentioned that you like to improve your economy and focus on growth first

Maybe you made plenty of workers?
Maybe you built unnecessary wonders?
Maybe you built buildings that arent needed. Like Barracks in a city that doesnt produce much
Library and Monasteries in a city that isnt good for research
Built a stables even though you wont train mounted units



In this game, you really need to specialize
Look in the strategy articles section for "City specialize" or something like that

Here's a thread of mine about the same problem
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=188932
Read those Analysis of traits threads too

another question,if at the start of the game, i always straight away make my settler build the city on the spot,but the surroundings is not very good,only have pig and trees...i was thinking at the start,should i find a better area to build my 1st city?

A pig and a few trees is decent, as long as there isnt too much desert, tundra, mountain tops, etc

If you're not satisfied with that, build a warrior or a scout and explore, the more you explore the better you can see your surroundings, and plan an expansion better

For me, I settle new cities in places with:
Rivers, a few floodplains, a few hills, grasslands, with a few forests

I try to stay away from places with:
Mountain tops, deserts, tundras, ice
spots surrounded by jungles <-- this is a bad spot at the start, because your city will have difficulty growing (because of lack of food, which can only be gotten if you have iron working, and chop the jungles, which use up too many workers/actions)

[Roland Johansen]

Originally Posted by Fraxander

another question,if at the start of the game, i always straight away make my settler build the city on the spot,but the surroundings is not very good,only have pig and trees...i was thinking at the start,should i find a better area to build my 1st city?

The situations which call for a movement of the settler are rare. You will have to see a clearly superior settling position with your settler and starting unit and since these two units cannot see a lot, this is a rare occasion. There are a few exceptions like a starting position one tile from the coast or just next to a plains hill. Note that a starting location often also holds hidden resources that aren't visible because you don't yet have the required technology.

Don't underestimate the strength of many forests for your capital. When you research bronze working, your workers can seriously enhance the production of your capital with some chopped forests which will greatly help you at the start of the game.

[dalamb]

Re turning off time victory:

Originally Posted by Roland Johansen

Just simply uncheck the option of a time victory. It's one of the options before you start the game.

Specifically: you have to click on the "Custom Game" menu item instead of starting a game normally.

[Roland Johansen]

Originally Posted by dalamb

Re turning off time victory:Specifically: you have to click on the "Custom Game" menu item instead of starting a game normally.

That depends on your definition of normal.

With your definition of normal, I've never started a game normally. Why would one ever start a game with less selectable options? But I know that some players just select 'Play Now' and never look further for some reason. That's probably the case here too.

[dalamb]

I see "custom game" as kind of an intermediate or advanced player sort of thing: not the sort of thing a "newbie" wold automatically think of.

[jadebullet]

Yup, I'm guilty of hitting play now. I fixed it though. Now i am having fun... oh nevermind, every country just declared war on my and steamrolled me after 6 hours of fighting lol. That was fun defending. I blame Rome, they started it and everyone followed.

[TheRealBitter]

I keep trying to start a new civ game on settler difficulty, and no matter what, other civs all declare war on me at least a few hundred turns into the game (epic length) and I barely have 4 cities established and 4-6 civs declare war on me at the same time. I would like to last a bit longer before I get destroyed and ambushed. I don't decline all trades, I accept the decent ones, and only decline the ridiculous ones and all these civs who were either pleased or cautious just declare war as if it is the cool thing to do. What can I do to keep other civs peaceful? I don't want to turn war off, because I don't mind it, but it gets rather annoying when all the civs attack you at once, especially when things are just developing.


Help!



Bitter.

[Roland Johansen]

Originally Posted by TheRealBitter

I keep trying to start a new civ game on settler difficulty, and no matter what, other civs all declare war on me at least a few hundred turns into the game (epic length) and I barely have 4 cities established and 4-6 civs declare war on me at the same time. I would like to last a bit longer before I get destroyed and ambushed. I don't decline all trades, I accept the decent ones, and only decline the ridiculous ones and all these civs who were either pleased or cautious just declare war as if it is the cool thing to do. What can I do to keep other civs peaceful? I don't want to turn war off, because I don't mind it, but it gets rather annoying when all the civs attack you at once, especially when things are just developing.


Help!



Bitter.

My guess is that you have a very underdeveloped military. Check the power graph. Are you at the bottom of this graph? If you have rich cities protected by warriors while the enemy has tanks, then they will take them from you.

The other option is that you somehow irritate your opponents (by for instance using a different religion) or in the expansion pack BTS that you were attacked by an Apostolic Palace coalition.

If you were declared war upon normally (not as the result of an Apostolic Palace resolution), then typically only a single civilisation will at first declare war upon you. Then this civilisation will bribe others to declare war upon you in the following turns. You can do this too. You can bribe others to declare war upon your enemies.

One of the better ways to get specific advice is to upload a savegame of your game in the strategy and tactics forum and ask for advice. Now, it's hard to analyse what is going wrong.

[Fraxander]

Many thanks to roland and king....

surrounded by jungles <-- this is a bad spot at the start, because your city will have difficulty growing (because of lack of food, which can only be gotten if you have iron working, and chop the jungles, which use up too many workers/actions)

i was using french empire and due to wanna faster a build a new city,i accidently build the city surrounded by jungles and i examine the city and it is not growing,i haven research iron working yet....
thanks for the advice on these....
oh yeah if one of my french city is in the middle of russia and chinese cities like on the left and right,i found out that the piece of french soil,mines,windmill and the city nationality decreases quite gradually,any way of maintaining it?
i try building courthouse and those that improve ....
thanks