How do I locate my units? (New player!)

[OldFartAtPlay]

Hello there...

I've searched the forum, FAQs etc, but I can't find answers to 2 very basic questions that I have. I am completely new to Civ of any kind (But I've played and love GalCivII).

1) How do I locate my units (warriors, settlers, workers) other than just scrolling around the map looking for them? I have discovered the \ key, but that just cycles through units that are awaiting commands, not those already busy (eg going somewhere). And it seems to be a little inconsistent.
2) How do I get a group of units that are on a tile to attack another tile at the same time? I have tried grouping them but I still only seem to get 1 unit attacking.

It would be great if there was some screen (advisor?) which showed me a list of all my units, and I could click on one in the list, and it would then centre the map on the unit I just clicked with the unit highlighted. Is this possible? Maybe through a Mod?

I am playing vanilla CivIV although I do have the BtS expansion.

Any help would be greatly appreciated - this looks like a brilliant game but I'm spending all my time scrolling round the map looking for units!!

 

[dennisg]

1) Go to your military advisor and select the unit type your interested in. There should be flashing lights on the map to the left showing where they all are.

2) I think there's an option you can set for "Stack combat" or something that lets all selected units attack at once to save time.

Good luck

 

[OldFartAtPlay]

Brilliant, thanks very much, I don't know how I missed that.

Much appreciated!

Cheers

 

[Matthew5117]

2) You can't have simultaneous combat battles with more than 1 unit against an enemy unit.

 

[wioneo]

Stack attack is usually a bad idea, because you don't actually get to see who is attacking, and it will always use whoever has the best odds of winning from the stack(even if those odds are 3%).

For example, it would be rare for your kamikaze catapults to be selected first, and I personally like to use green units first and save the vets for battles in the 80 and 90 percentiles.

 

[Willem]

Stack attack is usually a bad idea, because you don't actually get to see who is attacking, and it will always use whoever has the best odds of winning from the stack(even if those odds are 3%).

It has it's uses. I usually use it when I'm attacking something that is by far inferior to what I have.

 

[Kenjister]

Stack Attack does have it's uses, but since you're a beginner, I'd stay away from it. Even with stack attack on, only one unit attacks at a time, and things can get very, very bad if an attack goes wrong.

If you want to locate specific units, the Military Advisor gives you a breakdown of each unit and their location. Clicking on the display will also zoom you into the location.

 

[wioneo]

Stack Attack does have it's uses, but since you're a beginner, I'd stay away from it. Even with stack attack on, only one unit attacks at a time, and things can get very, very bad if an attack goes wrong.

No they go all it once, and it lists the results at the top just as if you had actually manually attacked with each. You just don't get to choose when you attack with each unit...which is extremely important. Even if you have a stack of infantry and tanks facing down archers, why not attack with the artillery first to farm some general points?

 

[OldFartAtPlay]

Hello there...

Thanks v much for these helpful replies. Attack is clearly one area that is VERY different from GalCivII. In that game it is suicidal to attack using single ships - it is the combined make-up of a fleet that is important.

So basically, any attack is resolved as a series of 1 unit v 1 unit rolls? This sounds a bit like Risk, where the number of units you have on a tile doesn't really affect the outcome of each attack (roll), but rather it affects how many attacks are necessary to wipe out the forces on that tile.

Thanks again, I think I'm going to enjoy this!

Cheers

 

[fantsu]

Yep, this game is 1 vs 1 only.
(But it is great, when you have hi-exp-character-warlord, and he kills whole armies)

 

[OldFartAtPlay]

yes, already I really like the RPG-style the way that warrior units gain experience points which you can send on upgrades - great!
Thanks all

 

[smackthewise]

If you want faster combat, under the options screen you can add quick-attack or quick-defense (can't remember exactly what it calls it) options. I usually enable the attack option so attacking with my stack is much faster, and leave defense enabled so I don't rush through war and then not realise i'm getting chopped up.

Welcome to CFC

 

[LegionSteve]

Stack attack doesn't mean you have to attack with every unit on the tile, just every unit currently selected. So if you select one of your cannons, use the 'select all units of the same type' button to select them all, you can order all your cannons to attack, then your CR macemen, then your knights, etc. That's how I use it anyway. Sometimes I don't use it because I want to choose exactly which order units attack in, but sometimes I don't care.