Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[daz34]

ok i accidentally put a post in twice and I am trying to get rid of this one because i messed up the quoting on the previous one.

how do i just get rid of this message once it has been sent?
i have tried edit and that lets me change the message but it is still here. Cancel just cancels the editing. looking for the delete message option and dont see it.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Hey, I'm completely new to the whole Civ world and subsequently editing the game.

I downloaded the Canada Mod from these boards and the only thing I'm trying to do is include Canada as one of the Civs on the Earth-18 Civs map that comes with the game.

Is there anyway I can use world builder to include Canada as a selectable civ when I pick the Scenario?

I did search for a while for my answer, but this thread is pretty intimidating to wade through 7,000 replies to see if my answer is in one of them so I apologize for my silly question.

You won't find a lot of information about modding in this thread. It's mostly about answering simple question for beginning players. You can get answers about modding in the Creation and Customization subforum, but I see that you've already found your way there. There are some tutorials about modding in that forum too.

I don't know exactly how to do the modding that you want.
If you want to play with more than 18 civilizations on a map, then you need a special mod that allows that. I know that some mods have been created that allow that. It's not that easy to do yourself as it requires using the SDK (Software Developers Kit) and skills in C++ programming.

For the rest, you need to create a directory called something like Canadamod inside the Mods folder of the game (vanilla civ4, warlords or BTS). This folder contains some modded files of the game. The structure of the files and folders inside this Mods folder is the same as the structure in the main game directory. Take a look at other mods to see how that works. One or more of the files in the Canadamod directory should contain the information about the new Canada civilization. Things like unique units, leaders, traits, etc.
Then you want to add a custom map inside this folder or otherwise you'll play on a random map.

That's about as much as I can help you with this.

Welcome to civfanatics, by the way.

Are the barbarians programmed to come after me more than they do to the AI? I could be imagining this but I seem to see a lot of barbarians skipping right through an AI territory and marching into mine.

I don't believe so. But the AI does get a colossal bonus against barbarians on all difficulty levels, which effectively means that they can defeat advanced barbarian units with relative ease.

And the barbarians like to attack the weaker units which are yours. So if you are near, then they will prefer to attack your units.

Note that the AI advantages against barbarians have been reduced in BTS, so this effect should be lessened in this expansion pack.

I have been looking for an easy way to spot airports in my own cities so i can send troops to be airlifted. In civ3 it was easy to see the airport. In civ4 lighthouses seem to be the only easy thing to see. I have zoomed in and still cant tell where the airport is. is there something i can look for?

There is no special symbol for the airport in civ4, but maybe the BUG-mod added one, I'm not sure. I believe, there were plans to do that.

There should be a graphic of an airport on the main map when a city has an airport, but that might be difficult to spot because of all of the other buildings.

You could place a sign on the map to signify the airports in your own cities. Maybe a capital A would suffice?

ok i accidentally put a post in twice and I am trying to get rid of this one because i messed up the quoting on the previous one.

how do i just get rid of this message once it has been sent?
i have tried edit and that lets me change the message but it is still here. Cancel just cancels the editing. looking for the delete message option and dont see it.

You can't delete your own posts. You can remove the original text and replace it with something like 'double post, please ignore'. You could report your own post to the moderators and ask them to remove it, but I don't think it's really worth the effort of a moderator to remove a double post. It happens fairly often.

 

[ori]

ok i accidentally put a post in twice and I am trying to get rid of this one because i messed up the quoting on the previous one.

how do i just get rid of this message once it has been sent?
i have tried edit and that lets me change the message but it is still here. Cancel just cancels the editing. looking for the delete message option and dont see it.

only moderators and the almighty Thunderfall can delete posts

 

[BrantleyL1]

"Normally" do you cycle through a lot of workers etc. every turn? My "newb" method is to automate workers because I don't trust myself to work on everything I should work on yet until I have more knowledge about what to do.

I cycle through everything else each turn except my workers. Just want to here some thoughts on this approach.

I agree with Lord Parkin on this. Learn a couple of basics & then do it yourself. "Every turn" is slighly misleading. If they are building something, let them finish and when done, you have the opportunity to move them and have them do something else.

Normally, I manage my workers until there is nothing more to improve in my territory. Then I set them to "build trade network". They'll build lots of roads, or railroads - when that comes in. When I go to war, I move them to a safe city, far from the battle front. When the war is over, I'll move them all to the newly captured cities and build what *I* want - rather than what the AI has built. With a bunch of workers, you can really improve things quick in your new territory.

Besides, cutting it down first lets you move a second worker onto the tile to help without spending an extra movement point.

Does having two workers on a tile shorten the build time??

For example, if building x took 10 turns and I assign TWO workers to the same square - both building X, will it take 5 turns??

Possibly technologies to get from goody huts:

Don't forget hostile barbarians... One time, I had a warrior out looking for stuff. He ran across a goody hut and out popped 3 axemen, who proceded to KILL him.

only moderators and the almighty Thunderfall can delete posts

But you can edit it down to "sorry dup post"....

 

[Roland Johansen]

Does having two workers on a tile shorten the build time??

For example, if building x took 10 turns and I assign TWO workers to the same square - both building X, will it take 5 turns??

Yes, it does.

If 3 workers are working on an improvement that takes 5 turns, then 2 will be busy for 2 turns and 1 will be busy for 1 turn.

Note that it is often inefficient to move multiple workers on a non-roaded forested or hill tile to create an improvement there. You will use a worker turn for each worker moving towards that tile.

By the way, it's seen as bad form to post multiple short posts in rapid succession. Usually forum goers prefer a poster to post everything he/she wants to say in one post.

 

[Sim_One]

Lord Parkin and Roland - Thanks for the help. That explains the barbarian behavior.

Speaking of BTS, is it true if I buy BTS I basically wasted my money on Warlords? I understand BTS has all the features in Warlords except for the scenarios, which have not really impressed me (the Alexander and George Washington scenarios both have a very cheap production feel to them, not what I expected from professionals).

 

[Roland Johansen]

Lord Parkin and Roland - Thanks for the help. That explains the barbarian behavior.

Speaking of BTS, is it true if I buy BTS I basically wasted my money on Warlords? I understand BTS has all the features in Warlords except for the scenarios, which have not really impressed me (the Alexander and George Washington scenarios both have a very cheap production feel to them, not what I expected from professionals).

It is true that the expansion pack BTS contains everything that is in Warlords except for the scenarios. But it is debatable if you wasted your money. Warlords was available a lot earlier and thus you did have (or could have had) a year of enjoyment for your money.

Within 3 years, you can probably get civ4 + all of the expansion packs for 10 euro's. But I still don't think I've wasted my money by buying them directly when they arrived on the market.

 

[ecd1973]

Thanks for everyone's help so far! Another question which probably has a simple answer...

When I get negative relationship points because I "helped our worst enemy!" is there an easy way to see who is angry at whom? I know there is a screen where I can see all the civs that I have had contact with, and their attitudes towards me, but how do I know that CivB hates CivC for example? Thanks in advance.

ECD

 

[Mknn]

How do I know that CivB hates CivC

On the F4/Foreign Relations screen, click on any leader. You will see what everyone else thinks of them. You can access this screen when you are asked to make a trade, btw--that took me a while to figure out, that A could ask me for a trade, I could hit F4, see that my stratigic ally hated A, hit Exit, then refuse the trade.

 

[Mknn]

Is there any way to control the default geographic focus and zoom level when it becomes your turn?

 

[Lord Parkin]

Is there any way to control the default geographic focus and zoom level when it becomes your turn?

Not as far as I know, sorry.

 

[merceg100]

I'm new on the forum and I was just wondering how pathetic is my level of experience on CIV 4 Beyond the Sword? I was playing on Noble level and won for the first time space race victory on that level. I won it far more easily on CIV 4 and a bit harder on CIV4 Warlords, but Beyond the Sword reaalllyyy kept me going all until yesterday, I tried hundreds of times... So just wondering on what level do you play and what kind of victory you try to achieve?

 

[Sisiutil]

I'm new on the forum and I was just wondering how pathetic is my level of experience on CIV 4 Beyond the Sword? I was playing on Noble level and won for the first time space race victory on that level. I won it far more easily on CIV 4 and a bit harder on CIV4 Warlords, but Beyond the Sword reaalllyyy kept me going all until yesterday, I tried hundreds of times... So just wondering on what level do you play and what kind of victory you try to achieve?

Emperor and it depends.

BtS is supposed to be more challenging--if you're finding that's true, then good. If you're looking to improve, check the strategy forum and the war academy for tips.

 

[Mknn]

How can I tell if a city is being blockaded?

 

[Roland Johansen]

I'm new on the forum and I was just wondering how pathetic is my level of experience on CIV 4 Beyond the Sword? I was playing on Noble level and won for the first time space race victory on that level. I won it far more easily on CIV 4 and a bit harder on CIV4 Warlords, but Beyond the Sword reaalllyyy kept me going all until yesterday, I tried hundreds of times... So just wondering on what level do you play and what kind of victory you try to achieve?

Check out this thread: Difficulty level -what's respectable.

My answer from that thread:

It's a game which you are most likely playing in single player mode, so the first thing to do is make sure you're having fun.

If you like to compare your results with others to see how you're doing, then remember that there are lots of settings that can change the difficulty of a game other than the difficulty setting. Quality of starting position, game speed, map size, civilization, map type, whether player reloads or not, etc. So don't be discouraged when you see someone writing that say monarch level is easy. It has to do with lots of other settings.

Also note that the average experience level of the players on civfanatics centre is probably (way) above average. All the sharing of strategies and the sharing of insight in game mechanics will improve the gameplay of everyone reading some threads here. You're also less likely to find occasional players here. Most people who are a member will play this game a lot. So when you compare your level with the average player here, you're not comparing your level with the average player.

Have fun with the game.

Oh, and welcome to civfanatics!

 

[ggganz]

If it's yours you can open the city and see if there are any trade routes in the list. If not, it's probably blockaded, or you've researched and improved poorly. If so, it CAN'T be blockaded.

 

[6K Man]

Does having two workers on a tile shorten the build time??

For example, if building x took 10 turns and I assign TWO workers to the same square - both building X, will it take 5 turns??

Yes. Divide the build time for one worker by the number of workers on the tile. If it doesn't divide evenly, one or more of the workers will be "finished" a turn before the other or others. In the later game, to reduce micromanaging, it can make a lot of sense to group workers in pairs or threes to finish improvements faster.

 

[merceg100]

txanx @Roland Johansen & @Sisiutil
I allways play normal speed, continents, medium size (all game default), Dutch Civ - now Croat since downloaded it from forum, and I reload only when I'm military below certain point of units and onother AI Civ declares war on me!

 

[JTMacc99]

Okay, a little background first: I played at least 200 or 300 games of Civ II. Probably a lot more, but let's just say it's around that number for now. Then, I played Civ III a little, but ended up not playing it much at all after a while.

Now I've got Civ IV cranked up and have probably played about a dozen game so far. I'm slowly moving up the difficulty level and am at Prince right now. I'm also messing with the map choices a little, and have found that I prefer continents or even the islands much more than the pangea.

Here's the deal. Given my roots with Civ II, I'm having a hard time breaking my desire to have every city build every improvement. I've got my arms around the fact that I don't need to build a few things until the population is either ticked-off or living in filth, but other than that, I find myself building all of the science buildings, all of the commerce buildings and a lot of the others in ever city.

The net result seems to be that I'm always running the game right to the very end of time, where I'm either trying to eek out a diplomatic or space race victory. (Always normal speed on a standard map for me.) The other result seems to be that I have very rarely been able to put together a quality stack of doom for conquest any time after riflemen show up.

So, can anyone point me to some of the discussions here that will explain to me how I can set up my cities where every city doesn't need every improvement in order for me to be successful in vanilla Civ IV?

Thanks!

 

[BrantleyL1]

By the way, it's seen as bad form to post multiple short posts in rapid succession. Usually forum goers prefer a poster to post everything he/she wants to say in one post.

Thanks for the info & thought... I was playing catchup yesterday and replied to about 4 DIFFERENT posts posted over several days.

Personally, I don't like the posts where someone replies in one long post to several others - especially on different topics.

I'll try to avoid doing that in the future.