Brand New Grandma to this type of game. Help, Please?

If you have the boat right next to land you can jst move the units onto the boat. Right click on the boat to see the units on it.
 
It seems as if when I put them to sleep they no longer get a turn. Do I put them to sleep before after boarding?
 
First you move the ship inside the city (which will automatically activate every sleeping unit), then you will have to order the units you want to embark the ship to sleep, and then move the ship out of the city. Now the units you set to sleep should be on the boat, and the ones who weren't sleeping should still be in the city.

There's one catch though. The ships can only take a limited amount of units. E.g. the trireme can take two land units. The better the transport ships get though, the more units they can take.

If you want to know how many units a certain type of ship can take, press F2 and to the right on the line of that type of unit it should say 'Carry #', where # is the number of units the ship can take.
 
I kept stopping the ships before they got to the city and was I guess trying to get my units to walk on water. I was thinking that if I can put a unit of settlers and a defensive unit on a ship that would be my best bet or is that a bad idea?
 
Originally posted by scloopy
My boat is a caravel (sp) what I was figuring was putting some settlers on the boat and seeing about other land. I put the settlers to "Sleep/board next ship" and the ship is in the same city as they are, but they just keep on standing there. Also can (when I figure out how) put multiple units on a ship?

Hmmm, curious. I just checked the Manual to make sure, and caravels should be able to carry passengers. On a guess, are you setting the settler for sleep/board before or after you get the ship into the port town? If before, then the carevel docking in town will wake up the settler, and you have to put it back to sleep.

A roundabout solution is to pull up 1 square before town, and move the settler onto the boat. That should get the desired result. Also, by doing that, you can have the boat pull up to any shore square instead of town; as long as the settler unit is beside the boat, it can move right on.

If I recall correctly (IIRC), you can put 2 units max on a caravel. Better ships allow you to carry more, until transports can hold 8-10.

=====

(2 minutes after posting)

I now see that all the questions have already been answered. Excuse me while I go find a nice, solid brick wall. :crazyeye:
 
Originally posted by harperbruce


Hmmm, curious. I just checked the Manual to make sure, and caravels should be able to carry passengers. On a guess, are you setting the settler for sleep/board before or after you get the ship into the port town? If before, then the carevel docking in town will wake up the settler, and you have to put it back to sleep.

A roundabout solution is to pull up 1 square before town, and move the settler onto the boat. That should get the desired result. Also, by doing that, you can have the boat pull up to any shore square instead of town; as long as the settler unit is beside the boat, it can move right on.

I have finally been sucessful at getting settlers on a ship. :goodjob: but the only person I have been able to get to walk on a ship was a diplomat and for the life of me I can figure out what good that did. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I am wondering about two (probably dozens) of things concerning my approach to the game.

1- I have just about covered all the available land mass available at the beginning with cities. Would I have not been wiser to build just several cities in the interior and several on the shore. I seem to have wasted and spread resources to thin. Of course I doubt I can do anything about it at this date, but I am wondering which plan is better - more or less cities?

2- I keep reading about downloading senarios. Is this games other people have played or what? This sounds like a really dumb question.
 
1) You should settle as many cities as you can, but only as long as you have space for them. A good idea is to turn on the grid (Ctrl+G) to see where each of the cities' radii are and find a spot that doesn't overlap too much with other cities. Finding an empty island and start colonizing it is also a good idea. I think this is what you asked for?

2) I seldom play scenarios, but a scenario is a game where you (usually) have cities and units ready and you have a goal to reach. Someone else probably could explain it better.
 
I have on the grid and I have cities every where except on the squares owned by another country. The problem is I have things happening all over the place out of my controll. I have people from other countries wandering around and two of them have had several battles (not with me). Oh well, I suppose I shall figure this out soon, maybe in the next year or so.
 
Originally posted by scloopy
I have on the grid and I have cities every where except on the squares owned by another country. The problem is I have things happening all over the place out of my controll. I have people from other countries wandering around and two of them have had several battles (not with me). Oh well, I suppose I shall figure this out soon, maybe in the next year or so.

Don't sweat any foreign units moving around in "undeveloped" areas, unless you have tons there from one or another country. There's no way you can control anything that happens outside the radius of one of your cities. (And precious little within, actually, except by military means or garrisoning (grin).) Your "boundaries" in peace treaties are more on the lines of the boundaries of city-states, so another country is free to move around there, even if you have a peace treaty with them. They can even sometimes build right next door to you, and mess up your resource harvesting by border intersection. (The reason why we warn you not to build your cities too tightly together. Someone will get short shrift on resource allocation.)

So, even if there are battles going on between two computer empires, don't worry as long as they're not attacking you, or looking like they're massing for an attack. The AI rarely masses for an attack, anyway; it tends to go piecemeal, wherever it is next to one of your units and whenever it gets ticked off at you.
 
Are the governments for each of my cities independent? The reason I ask is that I have changed to democracy but I seem to be going through it more than once, being asked if I wish to change my government type and then, of course, I am busy puting out problems all over the place with unhappy citizens. Am I doing something wrong. I can not seem to find an answer to this in the book?
 
Democracy is quite hard to manage at first, because it doesn't allow a city to be in disorder more than 1 turn, so if you don't fix it until next turn when you get a note about disorder, your government will fall. Make sure that you have a fair amount of luxuries(Shift+T) for your cities, roughly the extra trade in democracy and republic should be put into this. Before you finish a turn (in the Game Options dialog make sure Always Wait at End of Turn is ticked) check with the domestic advisor (F4) that no cities are red and or are close to having more unhappies than happies. If you find one, click on the city and rush by a temple or hire an elvis to fix the problem temporarily.

Before switching to another government, check the war academy for Oedo years if you like.:)
 
Sounds like your government is falling into Anarchy due to city disorder. In Democracy if you do not get any one city back into order in one turn after revolt your government falls. You may have some of the notification options turned off, so it is not telling you what is happening. At the beginning of each turn check to see which cities are in disorder. Focus on them, changing Luxury rates, buying Temples, Colosseums, Cathedrals (if you do not have Mikes or JSB), also consider Marketplaces and Banks (multiply Luxuries settings). Last resort, change workers to Elvis.

Democracy is difficult, and takes some experience with the game to know what to build ahead of time before the switch. If you find a lot of trouble, drop back to Republic while you work on infrastructure. Note also that in Democracy military units away from cities or close-in forts create double unhappiness in their home cities. Look on the left side of the city screen above the list of improvements and wonders for your list of homed units, and beware those that have double shields next to them.

Have you learned how to use the "Happy" button to examine what is making citizens unhappy yet? Each row shows the cumulative effect of Luxuries, improvements, and wonders. The last row shows what has not been taken care of.
 
Have you learned how to use the "Happy" button to examine what is making citizens unhappy yet? Each row shows the cumulative effect of Luxuries, improvements, and wonders. The last row shows what has not been taken care of.

I guess I am not checking often enough. I love this game, but I may be in a loony bin before I even figure half of it out.:eek:
 
Originally posted by funxus
Democracy is quite hard to manage at first, because it doesn't allow a city to be in disorder more than 1 turn, so if you don't fix it until next turn when you get a note about disorder, your government will fall. Make sure that you have a fair amount of luxuries(Shift+T) for your cities, roughly the extra trade in democracy and republic should be put into this. Before you finish a turn (in the Game Options dialog make sure Always Wait at End of Turn is ticked) check with the domestic advisor (F4) that no cities are red and or are close to having more unhappies than happies. If you find one, click on the city and rush by a temple or hire an elvis to fix the problem temporarily.

Before switching to another government, check the war academy for Oedo years if you like.:)

What does Oedo stand for?

Wait at end of turn was not ticked and things seemed to be happening before I even knew what was going on.

I have been trying to get temples built in each city but last night I was about ready to turn everyone into Elvis. :lol:
 
Sorry: Oedo was an early player who discovered that a government change only becomes effective every four turns from the beginning of the game, so if you changed in 3950BC it would not take effect until 3850BC (the 4th turn after 4000BC), but if you changed in 3850BC it would not take effect until 3650BC. You actually "order" the revolt at the END of the turn BEFORE the Oedo year, then it take effect at the beginning of your next turn. During the interim you are in Anarchy, where no gold or beakers are produced. The pattern is XXXO, which changes as the number of years between turns changes. Each difficulty level has different year spans; check the War Academy (on the CFC Main Menu, under Civ2) for a list for the Difficulty Level you are playing. And definitely check that setting for "wait at end of turn": you need to look at your city happiness and production screens before moving on.

The basic tech path to Monarchy is Ceremonial Burial, Alphabet, Code of Laws, Monarchy, but there is one turn in there where you must research something off-path; many people choose Bronze, some Writing or Horse or WarCode. Once you have CerBur you can build Temples, which "pacifies" one citizen per city; when you discover Mysticism they each pacify two. There are several threads here that talk about tech path strategies based on what your early goals are: some want the best war units, which would be Elephants, others want to get to Trade or Philosophy the fastest, etc. Changing your Tax/Sci/Lux ratios also can "pacify" people as they get more Luxuries, but you need to have a decent number of trade arrows or a multiplier like Marketplace helping out. Trade Routes to other cities give you extra arrows, based on the sizes and terrain being worked in each city. Wonders Like Michelangelo's Chapel or JSBach's Cathedral give you some content citizens in every city without building improvements; Oracle works by doubling the effect of Temples, but expires with Theology.
 
I had not considered Trade Routes or wonders. I currently am trying to figure a logical balance between Tax/Science/Lux. I may be to heavy on the Science. I have too few caravans I think going from cities that have lots of food to some who are not as productive. I am going to have to change some of the things to create a better balance. Thanks much for the help. I found myself today in the grocery store wondering about the game instead of keeping my mind on what I was doing as a result dinner was a little odd tonight. :crazyeye:
 
:rotfl:

Once you discover Trade you can build caravans carrying commodities like Beads, Hides, Silk and Gold. Click once on a destination AI city and it will tell you what three commodities it is "demanding", which means you will get a bigger payout if you get that commodity there before they change their demand. Payouts and Trade Routes are bigger for deliveries to AI cities than your own, but late in the game you can juice up domestic routes with such things as RailRoad links, SuperHighways, and Airports.
 
Originally posted by scloopy
I guess I am not checking often enough. I love this game, but I may be in a loony bin before I even figure half of it out.:eek:

(Laughing) And people wonder why we end up playing this thing until 4 in the morning on work nights! Seriously, you do get so wound up trying to keep everything balanced, maxing out production, trying to stay ahead of the computer opponents.... I assure you, don't feel bad about having to ask questions in here. In fact, your questions are helping me learn about some subtleties. I've been working along without ever understanding what the Happy button is all about in the city displays.

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned explicitly in this section: your cities go into unrest when you have more red (unhappy) citizens than turquoise (happy) in your display. Others have noted how Temples, Cathedrals, and Colisseums keep people happy when you have troops away from town. Police stations also aid in this, starting after Communism. Good WoWs include Oracle and Women's Suffrage; minor WoW aids come from Mike's Chapel and Bach's Cathedral.
 
Originally posted by scloopy
I had not considered Trade Routes or wonders. I currently am trying to figure a logical balance between Tax/Science/Lux. I may be to heavy on the Science. I have too few caravans I think going from cities that have lots of food to some who are not as productive. I am going to have to change some of the things to create a better balance....

It does come down to trade in the end. Trade is what's driven a lot of American foreign policy in the 19th-20th centuries, and it's just as true in this game. A quote from Fisher:

Do I spend heavily on research or do I invest in war? The answer is: without technology, you cannot win a war. And without production and trade you cannot acquire technology. I always put the growth of my Civilization first and foremost.

Unless you have trade going, you won't generate much gold, or science OR luxuries, because the breakdown comes from the amount of incoming trade. I'll confess, though, I usually end up neglecting trade. By the time I've got boats that can carry caravans across the sea without running a 2/3 chance of sinking, I'm usually involved in a shooting war someplace. Or I can't find the target city I'd like to sell in. You can win without massive amounts of trade, but it's more difficult.

One way to get the maximum effect from trade might be to focus on your Super Science City first. Again from Fisher: choose the city that has the best trade in the beginning, and build the Colossus there; then Copernicus' Observatory and Newton's College. The SETI Program can be built in any of your cities, as it effects them all simultaneously. Make sure you also have a Library and University in the SSC.

As you're working up on all these, make sure that this city establishes caravans with as many of its commodities as possible. It'll improve trade, therefore taxes/science/lux, and give you a gold boost as well. :goodjob:

When it comes to actual allocation ratios, my best guess so far is: you dont' have to worry about luxuries in Despotism or Monarchy, and definitely not in Fundamentalism. I've never played Communism, so I can't say there. (I'm a disciple of Fisher, and most other players in here will tell you that Fundamentalism is the best War Fighting Government -- so much so that Firaxis took Fundamentalism out of the game when they wrote Civ3. It actually unbalances the game in your favor, unless everyone else is in Fundy as well.) Anarchy you have no control over, so forget about that as well. That leaves Republic and Democracy.

:scan: I usually get good results by allocating only 10% to luxuries in Republic, and 20% in Democracy. I lock luxuries then, and adjust the balance for just enough taxes to decently cover my expenses AND keep discoveries rolling every <10 turns. Every <5 would be better; every other turn is best. If you want that, trade, trade, trade! :cooool:
 
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