Space elevator is confusing.

The space elevator says "it can only be built at maximum latitude of 30 degrees"
What the hell does that mean?

It means that the city that you build it in has to be between 30 degrees N and 30 degrees S. Those are a third of the distances from the equator to one of the poles.

Which would be wonderful if the dang map actually showed that magical line but whatever thats just my thoughts

ok thanks. I was just curious cuz I had no idea what it meant.

The closest thing you get to help in this regard is if you've got a city, if it can build the SpElev, it's possible to build it there, and if not, it's not. Doesn't help a whole lot when you have NO cities in position, and are trying to positon a new one that won't generate insane amounts of distance-based Maint. Also isn't useful before you get the tech for it. So you just have to eyeball it and hope for the best (and err on the side of caution).

You could always just count the tiles, if you wanted..

Am I the only one who doesn't really use the space elevator much at all? When trying to space race as fast as I can, it finds itself on robotics, which is off the spaceship path. Much more worthwhile as far as I can tell is an early beeline (before rocketry) to electricity --> refridgeration --> superconductors. Building labratories everywhere gets the job done just fine, and of course the added research is a huge plus.

You're basically right - in most space races a detour to get the elevator will actually result in a later launch, as research is the limiting factor until you get to the very last component. There's no way the elevator can save enough time on that to make up for researching Robotics.

The Elevator is only even worth considering if you can steal Robotics from an AI, or are on an OCC or similar.

It confuses me why you can't build it close to the North pole of the planet.

In reality a space elevator would have to be on the planet's equator, as the centre of mass has to be in geosynchronous orbit. You couldn't for instance build it anywhere near 30 degrees north or south, as it would be in nothing like geosynchronous orbit, and so would just collapse or break apart.

Genv [FP];7246704 said:

It confuses me why you can't build it close to the North pole of the planet.

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Well the north pole is locked away by ice and the geometry of a flat map, so you can't get a city there...

Slightly off topic, but what's the general consensus of the fastest space launch possible in beyond the sword? Bit curious as I've tried to get it done as fast as possible... I think I got a good system but anyway.

Typically as I already said my space race starts at Electricity (Biology) --> Refridgeration --> Superconductors. Then I take either Flight or Artillery leading to Rocketry, the choice depending on whether I'll want airports and planes for my civilization or not... depends on how big the military threat is really. Then while Apollo Program is going up I take Industrialism for alumninum, and once the program is complete five of my cities start working on thrusters.

Then it's Plastics for 3GD and hydro plants, Satellites for the docking bay, and then they both lead to Composites for the last multiple city push for casings. Then I beeline the engine (picking up the cockpit on the way) with Computers --> Fiber Optics --> Fission --> Fusion, and get my two best cities working on engines. Then I just pick up Genetics and Ecology and two lesser cities tend to finish those parts up just as the engines finish, sometimes completing the final four parts on the same turn. Then I enjoy filling out the rest of the tech tree while the ship reaches its destination.

So yeah, is that the optimal path or am I missing something?

The optimal path to a SS win involves the internet and/or tech teft and it is basically a fusion beeline

Besides that, your path is pretty good. I would go first to plastics before superconductors and I would not mind doing the casings that fast, because it can cost you the space race ( they slow the ships down and you may need to launch a hasty and fast ships to try to get earlier than the AI ship ). And I would give more priority to genetics....

About the space elevator:
-the maps in civ IV end in 60º N and S, so if you divide the map in 4 parts in the latitude and discard the outer 2, you have the area where you can build the thing ( I normally use the desert belt as a indicator, but that obviously doesn't work if you mess with the humiditidy and the temperature of the planet )
-To the space elevator being useful, it has to save more hammers than the ones you spend building it ( unless you spend GEs on it , and there maybe you could use them better in a GA or two ). That normally makes it only worthwhile if you have it done before you start doing SS parts....

r_rolo1 said:

The optimal path to a SS win involves the internet and/or tech teft and it is basically a fusion beeline

Besides that, your path is pretty good. I would go first to plastics before superconductors and I would not mind doing the casings that fast, because it can cost you the space race ( they slow the ships down and you may need to launch a hasty and fast ships to try to get earlier than the AI ship ). And I would give more priority to genetics....

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Casings slow the ship down, what literally? I know multiple thrusters and engines speed it up, but if you launch with all those and only one casing does the ship arrive faster? (albeit with a high chance of failure) I had no idea if this is the case. Typically a full ship takes 10 turns to arrive on normal speed.

Also why wouldn't you want superconductors asap? I'd think the massive research boost alone would merit getting it earlier than usually as it'll speed everything else up.

And yes I'm ignoring the internet in this route, though I have beelined to it before and it's extremely powerful. But assume the AI is signifigantly behind me in this scenario.

MrCynical said:

In reality a space elevator would have to be on the planet's equator, as the centre of mass has to be in geosynchronous orbit. You couldn't for instance build it anywhere near 30 degrees north or south, as it would be in nothing like geosynchronous orbit, and so would just collapse or break apart.

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How could I forget that?

wait, question:

If the maps only have 60 of latitude why in the buildinfos.xml files does it say graneries etc. can be built at max latitude of 90?

Because granaries are ******ed and never become obsolete. My dad who fought in WW2 has a city, and it has it's own granary!

Granaries are called Silos now, there are massive grain silos in the American Midwest where they store the grain before transport

My point is that they never become obsolete in Civ

Crighton said:

wait, question:

If the maps only have 60 of latitude why in the buildinfos.xml files does it say graneries etc. can be built at max latitude of 90?

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That's just an easy way of making sure you can always build granaries. I think everything except the space elevator has the same max latitude. I don't know why it's 90 specifically, but they've got to pick something.

There's an option to flip the map so it scrolls north south, and the ice is at the sides. It might have something to do with that.

But yeah...... the space elevator is pretty much useless for the reasons already stated.