Couldn't find answers to these...

[Wib]

Hi, I'm currently reading/studying a few other threads here and great, great info is all I can say, but I have a few questions that I can't find an answer to and one overall question about this game. Any help is greatly appreciated.

1. How do you Zoom in or out on the map? I still can't figure this one out.

2. Is it possible to completely skip a tech? I'm speaking of one of those dead-end techs that ends a chain. Can you go the entire game and never have to get one of those?

3. Do you always have to fight wars to win the game? I'm playing as the Celts on Regent level. I'm surrounded by the Netherlands, French, and English. So far the Netherlands has attacked me 3 times. I've fought off all 3, but at great expense. The ENglish are making demands for goods and or gold and I always say no, and so far they haven't attacked. The French are also threatening me. I ended up giving the French silks just so they'd go away and be quiet. From the last few turns and up till now I've done nothing but build my military. I have iron and horses and I now have pikemen. I'm currently buiding knights. I also built the Sun Ztu Art of War Wonder (or something like that), so I have a barracks in every city! I used a leader to build it. I'm now building the Knights Templar.

It seems I have no choice. I've played the game before on the lowest setting and I never had to fight this much, but on Regent my opponents seem much more aggressive. I'm also new to this and only played twice before on CHieftan. So is this how it goes? I have to build either a strong defensive military or an offensive one and attack all of the time in order to survive? I know about other types of victories, I read the manual, but I'm afraid that without a really strong military I'd never survive the middle ages!

Thanks for any help you can offer!!

 

[IbnSina]

1. "z"
2. yes
3. no, but it's rare not to have one of the AIs attack you. I think it's impossible to win the game without knowing -how- to fight a war.

 

[Wib]

"z" Doh!!

Thank you for the info! I'll put it to good use.

Wib

 

[punkbass2000]

2. Yes, as long as the tech has that little circle with a line through it in the upper right corner. Any tech with that symbol is unnecessary for age advancement.

3. No, you definitely do not need to attack to win. I've won many a game without taking any cities that I did not found.

 

[allin1joe]

You might be able to win without fighting a war, but so far, I haven't actually done it (I've won up to Monarch .. have yet to beat Emperor, but I'm working on it ). Without knowing many details of your current situation, it sounds like you are doing the right thing by building up your army. When you do decide to attack (sounds like the Netherlands are a good choice since they've attacked you so many times), try to bring France and England in on your side as well. If you don't, the Netherlands might bring them in on their side. This way, you can be pretty sure you'll only have to fight a one front war.

Also, even if you decide not to go to war, a strong army will reduce the # of demands toward you.

 

[Whomp]

Another thing fyi
if you don't care about the moves by the AI hit "shift"and it speeds up the game .

 

[Wib]

Excellent ideas all around! Thank you!

 

[punkbass2000]

Another thing fyi
if you don't care about the moves by the AI hit "shift"and it speeds up the game .

If you have C3C you can press 'Caps Lock' as opposed to holding shift. IT works in the manner that you usually would expect for relation between the two keys.

 

[wilbill]

3. Do you always have to fight wars to win the game?

No, you don't. Good players have won games at high levels without ever building a military unit.
For us mortals, though, the best way to keep from being attacked is to keep a strong military. Check your military advisor. If he says "compared to them we're weak" about any of the AI opponents, you're at risk of being attacked. Being "about the same" or "strong" compared to the AI's doesn't guarantee that you're safe, but it will tend to minimize the chances.
I'd also suggest that "the best defense is a good offense." Instead of building tons of defensive units and piling them up in your cities, build a large, mobile "striking force" located where it can counterattack if the AI decides to take you on. This has a couple of advantages. First it gives you more control of things if you do have to fight, and second, attack units have more weight in the AI's calculation of military strength than defensive units do.

 

[Jon Shafer]

Something you can do to limit AI attacks is to turn down the Aggression level for the game.

 

[Tomoyo]

No, you don't. Good players have won games at high levels without ever building a military unit.

You might want to change that to "a good player".

AFAIK Charis is the only one to have done it on Emperor or above.

 

[supaguruzebidy]

I like to go to war. My main tactic is to bring countries that share borders with my enemy into the war. Then sit back for 5 or so turns and build up a nice stack of troops near one of their cities. You wont have to worry about being attacked as your enemy will be to busy dealing with your allies. By the time your ready to strike your enemy could have already lost the bulk of his forces to pointless attacks on your allies, and maybe, even lost a city or two to them as well. In this weakend state you can launch a blitzkrieg attack and roll up quite a few of their cities in a couple of turns, before making a peace deal that involves them giving up even more territory in concesions.

 

[Wib]

Thank You to all of you! Very helpful info indeed!

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

No, you don't. Good players have won games at high levels without ever building a military unit.

Errrr?!

How? Only if you turn Barbarians OFF!
I can understand that is possible to have no wars with the other Civ's. For me, my more peaceful game as one when the AI only declared war on me one time, but it is possible to have no wars, even though without ANY units, you might be in a more difficult spot.

But with Barbarians ON, you'd have to be VERY lucky to do that, no?! Or tell me the magic trick!