[C3C] Impossible to order worker to Clear Damage, unless automated

[phasen0ise]

Disclaimer: I bought this game from GOG, in case that affects anything.
I'm playing the Mesopotamia scenario in C3C. To be precise, I went into the "Civ-Content" category from the home screen--whatever that means--and picked the "MP Mesopotamia" scenario from there.

I also tried downloading the 1.29f patch from Firaxis but that doesn't seem to change anything. On the home screen when the game loads, it says 1.22 in small font in the bottom-left corner.

Aaanyway, one of my cities got pollution from Worker Housing. I put a worker over the polluted tile, and there's no button to clear pollution! And shift + C also does nothing. But if I automate the worker, then he starts cleaning it up. So, there's some round-about way to get him to do what I want, but this is downright stupid.

Screenshot and saved game attached.

***

BTW, does anyone actually care about these bugs anymore? I'm guessing Firaxis has 0 plans to patch anything else at this point, right?

 

[justanick]

Do you have the tech required for clearing damage? The bug may actually be that you can clear damage by automation.

 

[phasen0ise]

The manual states that clearing damage does not require any advance. Could it be different in this special scenario?? It seems illogical to me that one would be able to achieve an advance necessary to create pollution, but not yet have the advance to clean it up.

 

[justanick]

The manual states that clearing damage does not require any advance. Could it be different in this special scenario??

It is different. Have a closer look at the tech tree. It obviously is different from the base game.

 

[phasen0ise]

It is different. Have a closer look at the tech tree. It obviously is different from the base game.

Right. And I see entries in the Civilopedia that are specific to this scenario. For instance, the Civilopedia entry for pollution states: "There are no buildings you can build to lessen pollution in this scenario." But it doesn't mention anywhere, as far as I can see, a required advance that you need to achieve before it can be cleaned up. It simply says, "Pollution can be cleared by workers."

 

[phasen0ise]

Omg, I just found it! Ok you were right--I have to get the Sanitation advance.

So then the bug is 1. that I can clean it by automation, and 2. that the Civilopedia doesn't explain the required advance.

 

[justanick]

The second is maybe not quite a bug. This entry is probably the general one, thus no mention of tech is strictly required. The relevant tech however does mention it. Still it is a tad confusing.

 

[tjs282]

To be precise, I went into the "Civ-Content" category from the home screen--whatever that means--and picked the "MP Mesopotamia" scenario from there.

Possibly related: this is the MultiPlayer version of this scenario. IIRC, Workers do things differently in MP than in solo-games.

I also tried downloading the 1.29f patch from Firaxis but that doesn't seem to change anything.

This version-number is the final patch for the original 'Vanilla' version of the Civ3 executable, not for the Conquests/Complete executable (for which the final patch was/is v.1.22, which you already have).

Also, if you got this patch from the 2K support-page(?), it may be a disc-based patch: if so, it will not work with a downloaded version of Civ3Complete. (If you really wanted) to play Vanilla-Civ3, you would need a "NoCD" version of the executable: there is a legitimate (i.e. Firaxis-issued) NoCD version included in the 'Patchpaket' at the German PCGames magazine website:

http://www.pcgames.de/Civilization-...-Civ-3-Vollversion-Hier-gibts-Abhilfe-401682/

So then the bug is 1. that I can clean it by automation, and 2. that the Civilopedia doesn't explain the required advance.

That an automated Worker can clear pollution before having the required tech to do so is definitely a bug. I would guess that this is similar to the bugs that allow the AI (but not the human) to use a Military Great Leader to rush-build a Great Wonder, or to upgrade a unit that has an upgrade-path set in the ruleset (.biq file), but does not have the unit-ability 'Upgrade' set: both these things can happen because the AI doesn't use the GUI (i.e. the buttons on the map-screen).

That the Civilopedia is unhelpful/wrong is not a bug, but unfortunately pretty much par for the course for big game-studios. Helpfiles tend to get roughed-out early, before the game-design is finalised, but are sometimes/often not updated before release-day, because no-one found the time to do that.

The Mesopotamia scenario differs from the epic-game in that it requires a tech for almost all of the 'basic' Worker-functions, apart from Roadbuilding. IIRC though, if you look at the tech-tree screens, the Worker-action icons do show up there?

 

[phasen0ise]

Sorry about my super late reply, but thanks for all the useful info in that post!