Frequently Asked Questions

[micmc_atl_ga]

Heya Rom,

When you want to spy on someone (before you have espionage,) right click on your capital, (just as if you were going to to the menu to zoom into the city) and you'll see a entry 'conduct espionage' this will let you create an embassy (if you meet new folks after you discover writing) (or re-create an embassy if you whup on someone take thier last city, and they flee to another part of the continent where you have to go hunt them down again)

This will also let you spy on a city, and -um...errr, can't think of the other thing right now, (sorry, early morning-pre-caffine disease) after you build a Intellegence Center do the same thing (right clicking on the city where it is, (you'll see a weird little icon above the city with the Center) you'll get teh same menu choice, click on it, then you can either use a diplomat or a spy, and do all sorts of groovy tunes to you neighbor.

Hope it helps

 

[TheKMan]

more resource questions...

why can't I have access to a luxury in my city if it is attached via a road.... once it was attached to my capital, then suddenly all connected cities have the luxury. shouldn't the one city at least have access to it if a road connects it?

also... just discovered the wheel and no horses on my continent - do I just have to wait until I can build a boat or might horses appear at some random time?


Thanks from a message-board noob.

 

[Justbob]

I've noticed on the different units, underneith the health bar, there are small white hashes. What do they mean?

 

[micmc_atl_ga]

Heya Justbob,

Those are there to show you there are multi-units in the stack, 3 little white slashes under the health bar, indicates 3 units. Hope it helps

 

[ToolMan]

What exactly does the CTRL-N command for workers do?

It says, "Trade Network" in the manual. Huh?

 

[Shaitan]

Originally posted by ToolMan
What exactly does the CTRL-N command for workers do?

It says, "Trade Network" in the manual. Huh?

It will build roads to connect cities.

 

[Colonel Kraken]

Well, since no one else chimed in, I'll take a stab at your questions, TheKMan.

Originally posted by TheKMan
more resource questions...

why can't I have access to a luxury in my city if it is attached via a road.... once it was attached to my capital, then suddenly all connected cities have the luxury. shouldn't the one city at least have access to it if a road connects it?

From my experience, any city that is connected by road to a luxury, will get that luxury. In fact, have you ever built a resource right on top of a luxury? Your domestic advisor will immediately inform you that you citizens in x city have y luxury to make them happy. The city does not have to be connected to the capitol.

also... just discovered the wheel and no horses on my continent - do I just have to wait until I can build a boat or might horses appear at some random time?


Thanks from a message-board noob.

From what I've read here and at Apolyton in the forums, most strategic resources do run out and re-appear in other locales. Horses, however, do not run out. So, also, they will not move. Sorry, but you're stuck.

I know that can really suck. In my current game, I'm playing the Japanese. I have no access to iron which negates my unique unit. My neighbors don't have iron, and my neighbor's neighbors have no iron. I guess taking over a supply of iron is out of the question. That really sucks.

 

[Civ_Rocks!]

I've read through the general questions, but can find no mention of drafts. In the manual, it discusses how various governments can institute different draft rates "in case of emergency", but stops there. What exactly are drafts in the game, and how do you start them?

Thanks

 

[Shaitan]

Originally posted by Civ_Rocks!
I've read through the general questions, but can find no mention of drafts. In the manual, it discusses how various governments can institute different draft rates "in case of emergency", but stops there. What exactly are drafts in the game, and how do you start them?

Thanks

The draft is available after you've researched Nationalism. A city must have a barracks and be size 6 or greater for you to draft from it. You can right click on the city and choose "Draft" from there or go into the city view and hit the draft button (next to the hurry button).

 

[whuppy]

How do I make a stack? Is it simply a matter of putting several of the same unit on one square, or is there more to it than that? And while we're at it, how does a stack work? E.g. do four archers on one square all attack at once, or does each archer have their battle in turn? I'm a huge Heroes of Might and Magic player and a total Civ newbie, so forgive me if I only think in stacks.

 

[Shaitan]

In Civ3 a stack is just however many units are in the same tile. There's no way to move or command more than one unit at a time. Each unit will attack and defend individually (the best defender on a tile will automatically be the active defender). Attacking units can attack once per turn (tanks are the exception - they can attack as long as they have movement left) and attacking takes one movement point. Defending units will defend until they are defeated.

An army works something like the stack you are familiar with. All units in an army attack and defend in turn as a single unit. To get an army you need a Great Leader. To get a Great Leader you need to win battles with elite units. Each time an elite unit wins a battle there is a chance that a Great Leader will emerge (1 in 16, or 1 in 12 for militaristic civs). Return the Great Leader to a city with a barracks and one of the unit commands for him/her will then be to "Create Army". Load units into the army and you're on your way.

Great Leaders can also be used to finish any construction job in a single turn (only way to rush Wonders) so many people are loathe to use them to create armies. I normally use my first Great Leader to create an army and then use subsequent Leaders to rush wonders. The reason I do this is because you need to have had a successful army (at least one victory) in order to build the Heroic Epic, Military Academy and Pentagon small wonders. The Heroic Epic increases the chances of getting more Leaders. The Academy allows you to build armies yourself and the Pentagon allows you to put four units into an army (normal limit is 3). I just LOVE armies so I always want to build these wonders.

 

[Troyens]

Stacks??

If I have twelve combat units on one tile near an enemy I am planning to attack, I should be able to highlight the whole bunch and move them as a group. Moving them one by one gets very tedious.

How about fixing that too, Firaxis?

 

[cyborgasm]

In a few circumstances, I have restored a saved game in a turn in which battles take place. I've noticed that these battles ALWAYS turn out exactly the same right down to the battlefield promotions. I'm curious, would the battles of two turns played consecutively before restoring turn out the same? How about extended throughout the game? If you played the game exactly the same twice, would the computer as well? I would assume not since the computer couldn't determine all reactions at the beginning of the game, and there has to be some randomness involved, but does it randomly determine the outcomes of all possible battles at the beginning of each turn and then save that in the save game file or something? An investigation of this might be interesting.

 

[bloodysmurf]

My apologies if any of these were covered earlier in the thread:

• Does anyone have a guess on what radius (in tiles) the palace covers when corruption is calculated?
  
• What % production bonus does a nuclear power plant provide?
  
• What are your favorite mods/maps?
  
• How is the % reduction of corruption from a courthouse and/or police station calculated? I hate building a courthouse only to find that my corruption is unchanged...

Thanks!

:crazyeyes ollie :crazyeyes

 

[Cerberus]

You build a courthouse - and the "reduces corruption" line in Editor is clicked ON - and you STILL have no reduction???

 

[Beam]

Originally posted by cyborgasm
In a few circumstances, I have restored a saved game in a turn in which battles take place. I've noticed that these battles ALWAYS turn out exactly the same right down to the battlefield promotions. I'm curious, would the battles of two turns played consecutively before restoring turn out the same? How about extended throughout the game? If you played the game exactly the same twice, would the computer as well? I would assume not since the computer couldn't determine all reactions at the beginning of the game, and there has to be some randomness involved, but does it randomly determine the outcomes of all possible battles at the beginning of each turn and then save that in the save game file or something? An investigation of this might be interesting.

The last setting of the random generator is also stored in the save game file, i.e. if you reload the result of your first battle with same units (you and AI) will be exactly the same. The ramdom generator as then reseeded. So, 2nd and consequetive battles could look familiar but are in reality different.

There is a workaround here as well. Suppose you want to fight that all-important-strategical battle and your unit is losing. Just find another of your units and have it fight a less important battle. It will probably loose, but the random generator is reset. Is this cheating? Yes it is. But a lot of players do it if I read the threads well.

This phenomenon is discussed extensively in a number of threads!

 

[verasue]

Hi!

I am not sure if this questions has been asked before, but her goes:

I remember that in CivII (I think) I was able to disband cities by building too many settleres for the population. This allowed me to remove cities from my map. I was wondering if this works in CivIII (I haven't actually tried yet) or if there is any other wasy to get rid of cities. I skimed through the manual and couldn't find any reference to it.

Thanks for help!

Anya

 

[Hurricane]

Originally posted by verasue
I remember that in CivII (I think) I was able to disband cities by building too many settleres for the population. This allowed me to remove cities from my map. I was wondering if this works in CivIII (I haven't actually tried yet) or if there is any other wasy to get rid of cities. I skimed through the manual and couldn't find any reference to it.

You can do this, but it´s a bit more complicated than in Civ2. First of all, your city must be of size 2 if you build a settler, or size 1 if you build a worker. It must have ZERO growth, otherwise the city won´t complete the unit. This way it can be hard (or even impossible) to disband a city founded on a cow or other high-food tile.

 

[verasue]

Originally posted by Hurricane


You can do this, but it´s a bit more complicated than in Civ2. First of all, your city must be of size 2 if you build a settler, or size 1 if you build a worker. It must have ZERO growth, otherwise the city won´t complete the unit. This way it can be hard (or even impossible) to disband a city founded on a cow or other high-food tile.

Thanks a bunch!

(sorry for the spam everyone else)

Anya

 

[bloodysmurf]

Originally posted by Cerberus
You build a courthouse - and the "reduces corruption" line in Editor is clicked ON - and you STILL have no reduction???

Only in some cities that are distant from my palace. I'm not among those who dislike the implementation of corruption, but I would like to be notified if building a courthouse in my "1 shield is all you get" city will prove pointless.

:crazyeyes ollie :crazyeyes