Civ IV Reference Charts

Hi everyone.

Since I started playing Civ IV, I don't know how many times I've had to stop what I'm doing and hunt for what I'm looking for.

"What's that unit best for? How do I best counter that Horse Archer coming at my city? What do I need to research to get this building/unit? etc, etc, etc."

I'm sure many of you have been doing the same thing. Sure, there's the Civilopedia, but frankly I'm finding it more and more un-helpful. Why can't they make it searchable? It's all based on icons, most of which I still don't immediately recognize!

So, I put together a bunch of charts that I've found useful. I originally posted these charts in a thread in the main Strategy & Tips section, but someone suggested I post it here, so here I am.

I've spent countless hours poring over the XML files and online information and have found quite a bit of information to fix or add.

I created the charts in Excel. They don't look pretty on screen, but they're set up to print out. It prints out to 21 pages. I also included a set of the charts in Word format for easier transfer to other formats (pdf, open office, etc. - I don't have the ability to do that, but I know there are those that do here.). The tech tree flow chart is what I use the most, but unfortunately, it won't transfer over to Word easily - sorry.

I hope you find it useful - I know I do. And if anyone finds any errors, please let me know!

kroYM

EDIT: Future versions will replace the older file.

Latest version: v2.08 (Includes Warlords v2.08 patch changes):

Download here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=2499

I completely agree that Civ4's Civilopedia is terrible. That said, upon first glance, I think these charts will come in handy. Thanks for all that effort!

Hey man.. You are a god send

Thanks alot, these will come in useful

Hexed

Thanks man, this looks very helpful...for Civ at least.

You've probably just wasted the first hour or so of my workday, though.

Mon Mauler said:

Thanks man, this looks very helpful...for Civ at least.

You've probably just wasted the first hour or so of my workday, though.

Click to expand...

Where do you think I put all of this together - at home, when I could be playing?!!

Great reference, thanks!

Chart of techs is more confusing, than in-game. Some of descriptions in civics are just your opinion, units should have more categories, otherwise it is OK.

Thanks Kroym, great charts. I will find them very useful. I was thinking I need to do something like this myself, but now I have no need

@KROYM

Thanks dude, good effort !!

Thanks. Really usefull

Superb reference tool! Thanks - it must have taken a lot of work! It's not as pretty as the Civ III pdf set but I'll do the job better for being more compact.

Oh and I agree about the Civilopedia. The icons aren't helpful, there's less cross linking and whilst mouse-over is a superb system, it's difficult when you're forced to choose a free/traded tech and can't see the tree.

edit: Those interested in this will probably also want a list of the keyboard shortcuts, to be found here.

josephstalin said:

Chart of techs is more confusing, than in-game. Some of descriptions in civics are just your opinion, units should have more categories, otherwise it is OK.

Click to expand...

It was never my intention to incorporate opinion - I want only the facts and figures of the units, buildings, civics, etc. in the game (that's what a reference document is (or should be!)).

I would very much appreciate any input as to any inaccuracies and how to make it more readable & accessible ("chart of techs is more confusing, than in-game") - I'd like to fix that! How is it confusing and do you have any suggestions as to how to fix it?

"units should have more categories" - what exactly do you mean by that? How can I make it better?

Bouchehog,

Glad you like it - it was a good bit of work, but very worth it for me, especially when I'm helping fellow civvers like you!

Your edit about the keyboard shortcuts made me ask why I didn't include that in my docs - I think I'll do that.

kroYM

What we need is a good mod of the 'pedia. Unfortunatly I don't have the know how. Anybody? We need to make it easier to use and include more information such a referecne charts or strategies honed from the forums

loveandpolitics:

Great idea! I'm not too up on the modding side of things, but I've got a great start on collecting necessary data...

Anyone want to tackle this?

kroYM

Hi KroYM,

First I want to thank you for your work in putting all this info together. I looked at it for a while, and found I was missing some info in the technology flowchart.

I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty to edit this sheet and putting in color lines for the required techs as I find them very hard to find sometimes. I just started putting in the lines, and it clearly shows why this is difficult to spot somethimes

I'll post it here and it's up to you to decide if you want to use it in your reference docs.

EDIT: Removed intermediate version. Recent version will be maintained in first post!

Michelangelo said:

I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty to edit this sheet and putting in color lines for the required techs as I find them very hard to find sometimes. I just started putting in the lines, and it clearly shows why this is difficult to spot somethimes

I'll post it here and it's up to you to decide if you want to use it in your reference docs.

Click to expand...

I don't mind your tweaks/changes/suggestions/additions/subtractions at all! Frankly I've been short on time lately.

I had one heck of a time working on the tech flow chart. That's not an easy setup to work with, but I don't think there's much that can be done about it save for eliminating some of the techs all together just to make the chart easier to read!

I'll be looking forward to your post.

Thanks,

kroYM

kroym said:

I'll be looking forward to your post.

Click to expand...

It's allready there (see attachment previous post)

I had one heck of a time working on the tech flow chart. That's not an easy setup to work with, but I don't think there's much that can be done about it save for eliminating some of the techs all together just to make the chart easier to read!

Click to expand...

I didn't think it would be that much work, so I started one tech at a time. Before I knew several hours had passed, adjusting stuff to just fit everything together and try not to get it too cluttered.

I'll see if I can make some more improvements on the chart.

Now you have some idea what I went through putting it together...

It's a lot of work, obviously. Originally each tech box just had the tech name and I attempted connecting all techs and their requirements that way, but it just got to be too cluttered. That's when I went with including the tech's requirements and benefits in each box. Less cluttered and it goes well with black & white printing.

Your use of dotted colored lines helps make it more readable than my initial tries.

I've got a sheet to add (keyboard shortcuts) and some minor changes to data that I've been putting off adding to the zip file. I'll wait until you think you're finished until I replace the original with this version in my original post.

Thanks for the help, Michelangelo!

kroYM

kroym this tool is very useful and I literally use it all the time (the excel version)... its usually open when I play civ. One small modification I've made to it is in the wonders tab, to split out the bonus production resources (marble, stone, copper etc.) and the type of great person produced, so I can set up an excel autofilter on these columns. Thus I can quickly filter the wonder list by say, which ones I can build more quickly with stone, or which ones generate great engineers, etc.

The only other place I think this type of filtering would be useful would be the civilisation characteristics, it would be nice to be able to autofilter say all the aggresive or all the expansive or whatever leaders. Would require a bit of reorganising of the format of the sheet though, if I get round to doing it I'll post it up.

Great, great tool.

Thanks for the complements, friskymike.

Any changes, additions you make, please feel free to post and I'll integrate into the original post's file. As you can see, Michalangelo is working on some changes as well, so it looks like there'll be a major revision coming up...

Thanks for you help and input!

kroYM