Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Luthor_Saxburg]

Quicky: is there a way to find cities in Civ IV? If there is a city in the map (mine or from another civ) and I know the name but not the location how can I do to find it?

In CivIII there was CTRL+F which was great.

 

[Ghpstage]

Quicky: is there a way to find cities in Civ IV? If there is a city in the map (mine or from another civ) and I know the name but not the location how can I do to find it?

In CivIII there was CTRL+F which was great.

Press F1 to bring up the list of cities and then double click on the name of the city you want to find, when you close the menu you should be above the city.

 

[nfw]

No . You can only count with your own war success for that. In fact, if you get (un)lucky and your AI vassal makes a better work than you in getting war success , you might even be unable to vassal the target ( or have more dificulties than usual ).

Well I guess it's a good thing then that my vassals are all useless at war (probably because I had beaten them to pulp earlier).

So in my current game I made sure all three of vassals could build cavs and rifles, and I just declared war on FDR, who only had maces. Yet it took something like 200 years for them to wipe him out

 

[MrKlew]

Is there a good explanation of airship missions somewhere. I think I've figured out most of it by trial and error but I'm still missing some of the intricacies. I've figured out you can't target a unit that has more than 20% damage, but there are still some units I can't target that are full health. Is this because they are behind the front line and therefore in the fog of war? I noticed if I do a recon with the first airship, then sometimes the 2nd can attack. If this is the case how long do the results of the recon last?

 

[r_rolo1]

Exactly. You can only attack targets that aren't in the fog of war with air units

 

[s.bernbaum]

The results of the recon last for one full turn, that is for the rest of your turn and for the AIs' turns. The fog returns on the start of your next turn. Think of it this way: you know what was there when you last looked but once the AIs have had their turns, everything may have changed and you won't know unless you look again. Following the same reasoning, you can't attack a unit or improvement if it is in the fog because that is where you last saw it, which does not mean that it is still there.

 

[MrKlew]

Can you start building a project in one city and switch to another? If so do you lose the hammers invested in the 1st city when you switch?

Also are there any guides on the space race? I haven't found any real guides. Like for example the civilopedia says you can build 1-5 boosters, so I assume each one increases the likelihood of success, but by how much?

 

[Sisiutil]

Can you start building a project in one city and switch to another? If so do you lose the hammers invested in the 1st city when you switch?

If you switch to another city, the 2nd city starts building the project or wonder from scratch. When completed, the hammers you directed to the build in the city where you didn't finish the project/wonder gets partially converted to gold (I think it's a 50% exchange rate or thereabouts).

 

[huh?]

If you switch to another city, the 2nd city starts building the project or wonder from scratch. When completed, the hammers you directed to the build in the city where you didn't finish the project/wonder gets partially converted to gold (I think it's a 50% exchange rate or thereabouts).

I thought that a wonder/project can only exist in one queue within your civ.

 

[r_rolo1]

Yup, but that does not invalidate what Sisiutil said. You just need to really take the item from the queue ( instead of simply insert something before it in queue )

 

[MrKlew]

If you switch to another city, the 2nd city starts building the project or wonder from scratch. When completed, the hammers you directed to the build in the city where you didn't finish the project/wonder gets partially converted to gold (I think it's a 50% exchange rate or thereabouts).

Well that's a bummer, although I suppose the gold wouldn't be bad.

So are there any decent guides on the space race out there? How many of each part do I need to build to make sure my ship gets there?

 

[Marcvs Avrelivs]

I've read that settling on resources immediately gives you access. Is it true or do I need the tech required to get it? Like, say, I settle on stone but don't have masonry; do I get access to the stone for the wonder multiplier or do I still have to get masonry?

 

[Sisiutil]

I've read that settling on resources immediately gives you access. Is it true or do I need the tech required to get it? Like, say, I settle on stone but don't have masonry; do I get access to the stone for the wonder multiplier or do I still have to get masonry?

No. When you read that settling on a resource "immediately gives you access" it means if or when you acquire the required technology. So if you found a city on top of stone, it means that as soon as you acquire Masonry, you will have stone available--it will not be necessary to have workers build a quarry.

 

[Opies]

Just getting into this game after having it sit on my steam shelf for over a year. I bought it after playing civ 3 extensively 1.5 - 2 years ago and getting to emperor level. I tried getting into it when I bought it but moved on after only a few games. I'm getting back into it now, and boy is it a very different game. I find myself coming into A LOT of situations where in civ 3, I would know the definitive answer, but in this game, I'm not sure what the right move is. So I'm just looking for a quick tip on what is the best thing to do in this situation.

Warlord, standard, continents, Capital at 3 pop, 1 settler already on the map.

I opened worker > warrior -> warrior -> settler w/ double chop, but now that my settler popped, i'm not sure what to do.

Here is the current situation:

Spoiler :

Now should I do this:

Spoiler :

Or this:

Spoiler :

Or as a third alternative should I work the forest tile over the mine for the 4 turn growth while putting hammers into the granary?

I know its a REALLY simple question, but I run into situations like this all the time, and this is a situation that occurs nearly every game in the early game. So is there a best move here? or does the overall strategy change what decision should be made?

I feel very frustrated sometimes with this game because I feel like I should know what to do after playing civ 3 so much. While the basic premise is the same, everything else is so different and I'm never sure of my actions. I do have to give it credit though for being a much better game. The experience is better when you can't just grassland cow settler pump to victory every game -_-

 

[Lord Parkin]

Resource tiles are much, much better in Civ4 than they were in Civ3 (or than they are in Civ5).

Wow, that's an awesome start... though you could definitely utilize it better. First of all, you should have improved the Gems by now - in fact I would have improved them before the Gold, and certainly before the flood plain. Secondly, you should be farming that flood plain rather than cottaging it, because of the lack of food around. Third, especially with this awesome a start you should really be building a second Worker before a Settler.

If it were me, I would play a start like this as follows:

* Build first Worker to start with
* Pasture Cows, work (citizen 1)
* Mine Gems, work (citizen 2)
* Mine Gold, work (citizen 3)
* Build second Worker at some point around here
* Maybe Farm Flood Plain, work (citizen 4)
* Or just jump straight to chopping forests (with 2 Workers) while building Settlers and more Workers (all at size 3-4)

Anyway, in terms of what you have right now, you're better off with the second option (Cow/Gold/Flood Plain). But you should really get that Gems improved ASAP and work that too. Also get yourself a second (and probably third) Worker pronto.

Hope that helps.

 

[Opies]

Resource tiles are much, much better in Civ4 than they were in Civ3 (or than they are in Civ5).

Wow, that's an awesome start... though you could definitely utilize it better. First of all, you should have improved the Gems by now - in fact I would have improved them before the Gold, and certainly before the flood plain. Secondly, you should be farming that flood plain rather than cottaging it, because of the lack of food around. Third, especially with this awesome a start you should really be building a second Worker before a Settler.

If it were me, I would play a start like this as follows:

* Build first Worker to start with
* Pasture Cows, work (citizen 1)
* Mine Gems, work (citizen 2)
* Mine Gold, work (citizen 3)
* Build second Worker at some point around here
* Maybe Farm Flood Plain, work (citizen 4)
* Or just jump straight to chopping forests (with 2 Workers) while building Settlers and more Workers (all at size 3-4)

Anyway, in terms of what you have right now, you're better off with the second option (Cow/Gold/Flood Plain). But you should really get that Gems improved ASAP and work that too. Also get yourself a second (and probably third) Worker pronto.

Hope that helps.

It does, very much, thank you.

Are the gems really better than the gold? even with the additional hammers/commerce and river connection?

Based on your recommendations I have a feeling I'm expanding too quickly and not getting enough workers in any of my games and thus having more expenses from cities with less production =|

 

[MrKlew]

Okay so I've captured a city near my opponent's capital even after dropping a culture bomb my culture is still less than 20%. How many troops do I need to keep stationed there to keep it from revolting back? If it does revolt will I lose my troops too? I know in vanilla the troops flip with the city, but I think in BTS that no longer happens, correct?

 

[Vaidd]

Okay so I've captured a city near my opponent's capital even after dropping a culture bomb my culture is still less than 20%. How many troops do I need to keep stationed there to keep it from revolting back? If it does revolt will I lose my troops too? I know in vanilla the troops flip with the city, but I think in BTS that no longer happens, correct?

The exact number varies, based on the ratio of culture and the power of the units in the garrison. For an old city with lots of "enemy" culture, you might need 15-20 units. Here's how to tell:

Double-click the city and look in the lower left corner. There's a bar showing the relative culture in that city. Hover your mouse over that bar, and it will tell you what the odds of a revolt are*. If it doesn't mention revolt odds, then the chance is zero. Keep in mind, that's a percent chance per turn, so even a 5% chance pretty much guarantees multiple revolts in annoyingly quick succession. Move troops in and out of the city and check what it does to the odds. I usually bring out my older, weaker units (warriors, archers, etc.) to help with this, even though they don't do quite as much good for suppressing revolts as stronger units.

However, there's good news for you. Unless you checked the "city flipping after conquest" option, which is unchecked by default, the city will never flip back to its previous owner. It can revolt numerous times, producing nothing during the revolt, but it will always be yours.

Finally, a city will only revolt if it's within an "enemy" city's cultural radius. If you capture that capital, and any other cities close enough to push culture out to your newly-captured city, the revolt chance will drop to 0, freeing your garrison for other duties.

Spoiler Footnote :

* I use BUG, but I believe this is part of the default interface. Someone set me straight if I'm wrong.

 

[Sisiutil]

If the city will remain under foreign cultural pressure for some time, you also need to build up your own culture in that city with buildings, like libraries and theatres, etc. Settling that Great Artist rather than culture-bombing him would have done you more good in the long run.

 

[MrKlew]

If the city will remain under foreign cultural pressure for some time, you also need to build up your own culture in that city with buildings, like libraries and theatres, etc. Settling that Great Artist rather than culture-bombing him would have done you more good in the long run.

Good point I do usually build a theater as my first build in captured cities. In this case I also needed to push the cultural borders out a bit to minimize on the starvation.