Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Lennier]

I thought it was possible to chain-whip a city down from, say, size 8 to size 1 within a single turn, but any individual whip cannot whip away more than half the population (I.E. you can whip 8->4->2->1 in one turn, but not 8->2->1 since size 8 is limited to a 4-pop whip at most). Of course you are still limited to finishing one production per turn, and you can't invest hammers into a production to avoid the hard/cold whip penalty without passing a turn, but it can be useful for large newly captured cities that would otherwise just starve down anyhow.

Your clarification is correct. I should have said no more than half pop in one whip. But since only one thing will produce, why whip all on one turn?

 

[AcaMetis]

Either the "capture a large enemy city that would otherwise starve down anyway" scenario I mentioned, or I guess to have things whipped before dipping out of Slavery. Certainly not a common occurrence, but it can come up here or there.

 

[sampsa]

It happens when you capture a big city, but the city is swarmed by enemy culture. Very common on deity. And yes, it's often then best to cold-whip it down on the first turn out of revolt, if there is no way to kill enemy culture (peace deal?).

 

[TruePurple]

It happens when you capture a big city, but the city is swarmed by enemy culture. Very common on deity. And yes, it's often then best to cold-whip it down on the first turn out of revolt, if there is no way to kill enemy culture (peace deal?).

What does "cold whip" mean? Don't wait a turn for production first?

 

[TruePurple]

What is the difference between whipping or buying first turn of production verses after a turn? Double cost first turn for both?

 

[NickGabben]

Depends for which calculation. For your war success (which is important for capitulation) only the ship will count: you'll gain 4 points for the galley, 0 for the axemen. Other calculations that look at the overall army strength will of course also take into account the lost axemen.

I had some general "how is the war going" calculation in mind, but I understand there is a couple involved - good to know! Anyway, Montezuma sent galleys one by one into my one waiting trireme. I think it made it to combat 4

 

[civac]

What is the difference between whipping or buying first turn of production verses after a turn? Double cost first turn for both?

Whips are 20 hammers per pop with no hammers invested and 30 hammers per pop otherwise. No idea about rushbuying.

 

[Lennier]

What does "cold whip" mean? Don't wait a turn for production first?

Yes, that’s what it means.

 

[pokeii]

I don't see how I can calculate the power ratio shown in BUG mod in the unmodded BtS game. Am I missing something?

 

[civac]

It's from the power graph, F9 -> Power. Unfortunately, the visual presentation of the graph is terrible (no axis ticks or chartlines ) and it would be nearly impossible to get the precise values BUG gives you. However, theoretically you could measure the lines on the power graph using a sufficiently big monitor and calculate that ratio.

 

[ToastedHCL]

Can my trade routes move over an AI's roads? I know that they can move over rivers in AI controlled territory. That means, afaik, that as long as I have sailing and a coastal city, I can connect to all of an AI competitor's cities that connect via river to his coastal cities. Is the same true of his roads?

Also, I'm assuming that people rarely, if ever, build roads to a competitor's roads/cities for the sole purpose of trade routes, right?

 

[lymond]

Can my trade routes move over an AI's roads? I know that they can move over rivers in AI controlled territory. That means, afaik, that as long as I have sailing and a coastal city, I can connect to all of an AI competitor's cities that connect via river to his coastal cities. Is the same true of his roads?

Yes with OB

Also, I'm assuming that people rarely, if ever, build roads to a competitor's roads/cities for the sole purpose of trade routes, right?

More like the opposite of rarely. I look to get foreign trade routes the fastest way possible.

 

[ToastedHCL]

Yes with OB

More like the opposite of rarely. I look to get foreign trade routes the fastest way possible.

Ahh that makes sense now that I think about it, thanks big dawg.

 

[pokeii]

Sometimes the AI proposes a tech deal seemingly horrible for me. Is it always because they've actually spent a lot of effort into the tech?

 

[AcaMetis]

AIs value techs based on how many, or few, beakers they have left to complete it. So if they'll only give you Archery and 10 gold for Civil Service, while they have more things they could offer, chances are they've nearly completed the tech and don't value it very much.

No screen directly tells you how close an AI is to completing a tech, so if you're proposing trades to try and figure out if a given AI is close to a tech make sure you take into account how much they've got to offer. Any AI will offer only 10 gold for Civil Service is that's all they've got regardless of their progress towards completing it, so unless they have more gold/tech they're not offering don't take it as an indication of their progress towards completing it.

 

[6K Man]

The other thing to remember is that the AI gets a huge beaker discount at higher levels. A tech that cost you 2000 beakers to research might only cost the AI 1500 beakers, for example. Consequently, they'll offer you (approximately) a 1500 beaker tech for a 2000 beaker tech in exchange.

The valuation gets further muddled if, as @AcaMetis says, the AI is almost finished the tech you are offering (or if you have partially finished the tech the AI is offering).

 

[pokeii]

I don't think I will do it but it seems I can then probe AI research by offering tech X for their tech Y, and ask how much extra gold I have to offer and watch for possible decline for a few turns?

 

[AcaMetis]

You absolutely can do that, yes.

 

[R82]

Completely trivial question: does anybody know what the symbol for the Construction tech is supposed to show?

 

[Lennier]

It looks to me like a very close in image of part of a catapult.