I still don`t understand some parts of this game.

[Socratatus]

1. sometimes when using catapults or ballista I can`t hit an enemy unit. Now I understand that:
a,if I`m on a hill they can fire for 2 hexes,
b,if they have a friendly unit that can see the enemy they can fire further,
c, If Arty is in a jungle it can`t fire far
d, If there`s a hill in the way,
e, If it`s moved.
but even with these things, sometimes my unit still can`t fire until I am right next to the enemy and they just get slaughtered. What other factor am I missing?

2. Why is it that if I have 6 cities and the AI captures two of them my people actually get happier? Shouldn`t they be more more sad and upset? It`s like the people like losing the war. In real life if the enemy took Coventry and Nottingham from England or New york and Los Angeles from America people would be really, really unhappy.

It don`t make sense.

 

[Ellye]

1. Hills aren't the only tile that blocks "line of sight" for ranged units - forests, jungles and mountains do too.

2. Yeah, the "global happiness" mechanics of Civ 5 are a bit... silly.
It's just that the two cities you lost had more unhappiness (citizens) than happiness, so when you lost them, you ended up positive.

 

[Moriarte]

Easy. Your people are expecting the end of rule of bloody tyrant. Expectation of liberation from your opression makes them jump in joy. (joking right)

 

[RedRover57]

If you are on flatland and there is a hill, forest or jungle between you and the enemy, you can't fire over it (unless you have artillery or the indirect fire promotion, in which case you also need to have sight of the target).

If you are on a hill and have a bare hill or any type of flatland (bare, forest, jungle or marsh) between you and the enemy then you can hit them. If there is a hill with forest or jungle in between then you can't fire over it (again, unless you have artillery or the indirect fire promotion, plus sight).

 

[Aaron90495]

1. sometimes when using catapults or ballista I can`t hit an enemy unit. Now I understand that:
a,if I`m on a hill they can fire for 2 hexes,
b,if they have a friendly unit that can see the enemy they can fire further,
c, If Arty is in a jungle it can`t fire far
d, If there`s a hill in the way,
e, If it`s moved.
but even with these things, sometimes my unit still can`t fire until I am right next to the enemy and they just get slaughtered. What other factor am I missing?

2. Why is it that if I have 6 cities and the AI captures two of them my people actually get happier? Shouldn`t they be more more sad and upset? It`s like the people like losing the war. In real life if the enemy took Coventry and Nottingham from England or New york and Los Angeles from America people would be really, really unhappy.

It don`t make sense.

Basically, a siege unit PRE-artillery can fire two hexes if ether 1) there is not forest/jungle/hills blocking it or 2) if it's on a hill and there isn't a hill WITH forest/jungle blocking it (I think). Artillery can fire wherever other units can see, unlike previous siege units. However, setting up requires a move point for all siege units other than rocket artillery.
With regard to happiness, your people get happier because population generates unhappiness. Your civ will get happier if you lose a lot of population, although that might not happen if, when losing the city, you also lost access to your last copy of a luxury resource.
Am I missing anything, other peeps?

 

[kamex]

1. Already answered I think. Forest / jungle blocks line of site, but artillery onward can always fire as long as a friendly unit can see target. Bare in mind if you are on a hill, you can see 'over' an adjacent forest, but not if you are adjacent to a hill with a forest... I think. You get used to it.

2. Yeah its really silly huh? Empires get especially happy about being nuked!

 

[Donaskme]

Yeah its really silly huh? Empires get especially happy about being nuked!

Look at it this way. You're in Texas busting your hump every day on a ranch. You come home, and find out that New York got nuked off the face of the earth. Can I get a "yeeha!"

 

[gozpel]

Look at it this way. You're in Texas busting your hump every day on a ranch. You come home, and find out that New York got nuked off the face of the earth. Can I get a "yeeha!"

Is that so? What do they say in Nebraska? And do they do mass square-dancing in Oregon, if New York was completely removed?

For line of sight, just remember your first archers. They can stand on a hill and kill something 2 tiles away, IF there is no forest or mountain in the way.

 

[Socratatus]

Thanks for the hints, guys. When I first played this game I didn`t realise that hills were blocking the view. It`s a pity that hills don`t look more elevated or that you can`t zoom horizontal to see if something is blocking a unit`s way.

Still, there are times, considering all you`ve all said, when my arty won`t fire....

I`ll figure it out.

 

[Camikaze]

This article from the War Academy explains ranged combat, and should help you with line of sight issues.

 

[Crafty Bison]

If artillery won't fire it's not a line of sight issue, as they all have indirect fire. it could be:
target is out of the 3 range.
you need a spotter (artillery can only see 1 hex without one).
you need to set up the artillery (costs one point of movement).
there is a glitch in the game which sometimes causes enemy units to appear in the wrong position, see if other units can attack the target.
you are not at war with the target.
artillery is out of movement points.
genuine bug.

 

[Browd]

Pay particular attention to DaveMcW's June 17, 2012 post (no. 17) in the thread Camikaze referred you to. It explains the most mysterious limitations of 3 range indirect fire.

 

[shaglio]

I just wish there was a way that you could tell whether or not you can definitely hit a target with a siege weapon before you waste a turn setting up only to find that you can’t actually hit it from where it is.

 

[Smokeybear]

I just wish there was a way that you could tell whether or not you can definitely hit a target with a siege weapon before you waste a turn setting up only to find that you can’t actually hit it from where it is.

There is. Experience, and observation. There will only be one or two tiles between your ranged unit and its target. You simply factor in what what kind of tile you are on (hill or flat), what kind of tiles are directly between you and the target (hill or flat), whether the tiles between you and your target have forest/jungle on them, and whether you have a unit which can shoot over any obstructions, even mountains (ex: artillery, battleships, rocket artillery). After a bit of trial and error, you can pretty easily eyeball it just from knowledge and experience.

Another nuance, is the placement of your unit and the target, vis a vis where both of you are on the hex grid. You may have noticed that sometimes the idiosyncrasies of the hex grid will place a hill so that it is blocking your shot- while in other slightly different positionings, on hexes with different angles to the same hill, even though it appears the hill may be blocking you, you can actually shoot around it as though it wasn't there. Again, this is an 'eyeball' thing, something that is much easier to get the hang of if you have the grid turned on all the time.

 

[Sethyboy0]

Another piece of advice I can give for ranged combat is to go into your options and look for something along the lines of tooltip delay. If you set it to 0 , you can easily mouse over any terrain to see if it has a hill on it or river near it. This can be handy when forests and jungles are blocking your view (rivers don't effect ranged combat, but they're still easier to view this way).

An easy way to calculate how terrain will effect your ranged units. Consider a flat tile to have a sight of 0, and that adding a hill or forest/jungle each adds 1 to that (ie. flat (0) + hill (1) + forest (1) = (2)).

You can only shoot over tiles that have a sight value less than or equal to yours (don't count forests on your tile), and you can't shoot over mountains.

The indirect fire promotion lets you shoot over everything, even mountains.

 

[Donaskme]

What do they say in Nebraska? And do they do mass square-dancing in Oregon, if New York was completely removed?

I don't know what they say in Nebraska, but if you want mass square-dancing to break out in Oregon, you need to retarget and blow California off the map!

 

[Socratatus]

Thanks for your answers once again. I will read camikaze`s link to see if I`m missing something, if not, it could be a bug, eh.

Cheers.

 

[Smokeybear]

I don't know what they say in Nebraska, but if you want mass square-dancing to break out in Oregon, you need to retarget and blow California off the map!

Hehe, another web-footed rusty Duck, I see!

 

[Deggial]

1) Seems to be well covered.

Regarding 2):
See it like this: Larger empires have a larger elite class of inhabitants (nobles, clerics, rich merchants, educational elite, ...). Those people do request more luxury (this is represented by the happy-boost of luxury ressources) and amusement (happy-buildings as theatres ect.) to be pleased. And the bigger the empire is, the higher the expectations (see also: the "Anno"-series).

Now, if your empire loses cities during war or even gets nuked, those elite class claims are lowered, too: There are more important things to care about / the surviving inhabitants feel increased solidarity and are satisfied with less luxury / the national (trade) collapse bankrupts rich families which can not afford all those things anymore - there are simply fewer members of higher classes in consequence.

So yes - loosing a city/getting nuked IS a terrible thing for all residents. But CiV's "Happiness-System" is a not only about literally "being happy"!

 

[Smokeybear]

CiV's "Happiness-System" is a not only about literally "being happy"!

Then shouldn't they have named it something more accurate, like, uh... "Random Arbitrary System for Stunting Player Expansion"?