FAQ

[heliogabalus]

Hi everyone.

There is one thing in our game of Civ2 that has remained mysterious to me until now. I suppose that many of you share this feeling. Therefore I am putting up this FAQ thread where any sort of question related to Civ2 or to our game especially can be put to the people.

(For example, recently there was the question of the shield cost for Copernicus Observatory. That sort of things everybody forgets once in a while. In this thread, the seeker can quickly find enlightenment in the wisdom of the others. Or maybe just the answer to a question )

If I can, I will try to answer questions in this thread. But since I am a) not omniscient and b) only here about once a week, everybody is invited to present his or her answers here.

I'll start out with the case that is still perplexing me.

A while ago Jayne and GaryNemo found out that moving a unit into a city caused black dudes (extremely unhappy people) to appear in the city. That goes against any notion I have ever had about Military Policing in the game. As far as I know, the two of them have theorized that it has "something to do with Deity level". Does anyone have a more explicit explanation?

- edit: made the "Faq" a "FAQ" endedit -

 

[duke o' york]

Copernicus' Observatory requires 300 shields to build.

The black dudes that appear when you move units into a city are not caused by the level alone, but by the presence of the Hanging Gardens on Deity level. The HG will always make the first citizen of a city happy, but it has other effects to which I give you this link as I'm too lazy to explain them myself.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?postid=470913#post470913

 

[GaryNemo]

IPRB and PRB explained, with examples

Incremental Partial Rush Buy. Suppose a city produces 7 shields per turn. It is a simple matter to build a Caravan in 7 turns, even though 7*7 = 49 < 50. I call this the "Rule of 28". After 4 turns, the city will have accumulated 28 shields. Change to Diplomat and Rush Buy, cost $4. Then immediately change back to Caravan - Do Not Forget. The Caravan will be completed in 3 more turns, a total of 7, saving one turn and 6 shields of production.
The "Rule of 18" applies similarly, to a city that produces 6 shields.

Partial Rush Buy is the same thing, but applies to city Improvements. The same city could build a Marketplace quickly as follows. Wait at least one turn, so 7 shields have accumulated. Now change to Barracks and Rush Buy, cost $66. Then change immediately back to Marketplace. In 6 more turns, it's done.

 

[GaryNemo]

Caravans, delivery into demand at Max Trade

When you deliver a Domestic Caravan and get perhaps $100, or a Foreign Caravan and get say $400 gold, we also get that many Science Beakers. This is major. It takes many turns to earn that much gold, and also shaves a turn or two off of the next Science Discovery. The gold can then be invested to IPRB another key unit ($11 here and there, again and again), or PRB a Marketplace, or subvert an enemy city.

To get the Science, timing is an issue. Take a look at F6 Science Advisor. When full, about to discover on the next turn, is a poor time to deliver a Foreign Trade Caravan. The extra Science beakers will be lost. Wait one turn, until many beakers are needed for the next advance.

There are many factors which influence Caravan Delivery Payoff. A primary factor is the trade arrows of the source and destination city. This is calculated at the moment of delivery. So set both cities to max trade, then deliver the caravan. Keep serfs on high trade squares, Silk, Gems and such, and consider putting all other serfs in the ocean, river roads, otherwise on roads. Marketplace, negative food or support make no difference. Micro manage both cities, if domestic. Then deliver the Caravan, collect the Gold and Science Beakers, finally put the serfs back where they were.

If the Demand of the destination city changes, the bonus is horribly reduced. Consider waiting a turn or two for the Demand to return, or going back to build a wonder.

This is difficult to control when a Goto Command is active, so don't use the Goto command for Caravans into the destination city. I generally don't use the Goto command at all.

 

[GaryNemo]

Settlers and Charging

It takes Settlers several turns to accomplish a task. A Settler Turn is of value, a tragic thing to waste. Suppose a Settler must move 7 spaces along a road to irrigate a square. Move 2, then touch I or M, then immediately click the Settler to Clear Orders. Do Not Forget. Next turn, do that again. Third turn, ditto. At this point the Settler has moved 6 squares in 3 turns. On the next turn, move the last road and touch I. Instead of taking 5 turns to irrigate, only 2 are required -- the Settler was 'Charged'. Actually, a total of 5 turns were utilized, and the time to move to the square was zero!

It takes a Settler 10 turns to Mine a Hill or Mountain.

This info, and also the idea that any number of Settlers or Engineers can be combined to complete a task is in the Settler Bible . Consider bookmarking it; I have also saved a copy on my local hard drive.

Engineers are even more wonderful, because they can move 2, 5 along a road or river. So move 2 along a road, then off-road onto plains, touch R, instant Road! One new Road per turn. To Irrigate quickly, move 5 along a road, touch I or M to charge then Clear Orders. Do not Forget. Next turn move up to 5 to irrigation site (already roaded), touch I, could be instant Irrigation. Mines take 5 turns iirc, so the Engineer could move 5, charge, another 5 and charge, and the desired Mine is now half completed.