Getting up to speed?

[Zaimejs]

As I've been a Mac player stuck on Warlords and without the possibility of doing much modding, I'm trying to get caught up here, but I'm finding that this site is overwhelming with information! Don't you people have anything better to do

Seriously though, I don't understand what Solver's mod is... is it a complete makeover for BTS? And should I have it?

I haven't really done much with mods since Civ II. I found that they made the game kind of funky...

I'm also a bit confused by terminology and abbreviations that everyone uses. It's amazing how a subculture develops over time. It seems that a common them is that whipping is good. When I first started playing this game, I was against using slavery as a choice at all. Now it seems that the only way to really win the game and do well at higher levels is to whip, whip, whip.

I was pretty good at the Noble level on Warlords... winning consistently. But now on BTS, Warlord is giving me a bit of trouble. It seems that I'm always put on a continent surrounded by everyone and they all want to attack me.

Is the AI better in BTS? Do I have a whole new learning curve?

Thanks for any advice. I will continue reading the guides and manuals and all the incredible stuff you people have put on here for people like me.

 

[Bowsling]

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/reference/acronyms.php

for the acronyms.
as for the difficulty change, I can't say any thing, 'cuz i my first bts game was also my first prince game.
don't worry, you ain't the only one that doesn't mod civ IV... i modded civ III, but then the editor got to confusing

 

[Willem]

Seriously though, I don't understand what Solver's mod is... is it a complete makeover for BTS? And should I have it?

It's not a mod, it's an unofficial patch. It fixes some of the things that got broken by the last official patch and some things that weren't included in it. I personally would recommend it but it's up to you. If you play multi-player alot then you might want to skip it since having an altered DLL file might cause problems with logging into a game. And no it's not a complete makeover for the game, just a few fixes for some problems.

I haven't really done much with mods since Civ II. I found that they made the game kind of funky...

Well since it's not a mod and Solver is a competant programmer, you don't really have to worry.

It seems that I'm always put on a continent surrounded by everyone and they all want to attack me.

You're probably not building a large enough military. Keep an eye on your Power graph and make sure you don't fall towards the bottom, or they will attack you. You want to stay in at least the top third, if not the most powerful. Then most civs will think twice about attacking you and go after someone else instead.

Is the AI better in BTS? Do I have a whole new learning curve?

Yes, the AI has been improved signifigantly in BtS.