Little questions & answers thread

[sixty4half]

Does anyone do advanced age starts? I've tried two; the first an utter failure in the Modern Age and the second a Exp Age game I'm on T48 (8 turns from shipbuilding). Im playing on Sovereign like I normally do, Archepelego, Isabella/Spain with a 4Food/8Production per tile on 3 tiles natural wonder in the Capital.

The AIs start with a huge advantage. They've got near double yields in Culture, Science and Gold compared to what I'm making. Some a little above or below double but all of them are outpacing me. I'm rushing tech to Shipbuilding but I construct every building I can, I just can't catch up in yields. I'm only winning in Happiness.

I've stollen tech from two highest Science producers and only getting extra Science, no tech, but they might be researching Masteries.

I thought i was making up for the shortfalls in other categories with Production. I have the most settlements with 8 compared to 1 at 6, 2 at 5 and the others at 4. But I noticed I'm not even getting the build options for ANY wonders which means they are researching them and building them before I can get to it.

I've also faught 3 defensive wars but since it's Archepelego they weren't that much of a threat.

Pretty sure I'm gonna golden age Culture and Trade but I still feel like I'm struggling in this game. Has anyone that's played advance start have any tips on how to catch up to the AI?

 

[evonannoredars]

What is the deal with ice? When can/can't you move through it? I swear sometimes I couldn't move through it and sometimes could, but now I'm wondering if that was just because I couldn't move through ocean tiles at the time and they're otherwise always passable.

 

[reddishrecue]

How do you build alliances? It seems like people like to double team players and I was wondering how alliances worked.

 

[AriochIV]

How do you build alliances? It seems like people like to double team players and I was wondering how alliances worked.

You just have to get the other leader's relationship with you high enough ("Helpful", I believe -- red heart icon), and they will usually accept an alliance offer.

Relationships are improved by spamming as many beneficial endeavors as you can.

 

[MACKA0ili]

I just quit an advanced start exploration age deity game since I severely underestimated the combined military of my home continent, but whenever they had my last city dead to rights they would back off. That didn't stop them from stopping every single one of my settlers from leaving my borders, but none of them would strike the final blow when several of them had committed armies of units to taking down its defenses and all I had was an army commander left. Its not as if it wasn't a bad city either, it had plenty of resources and a natural wonder in it.
Does eliminating a civ give enough of a diplomatic penalty to deter even deity AIs? Are there even any penalties for taking out another civ completely or is it just a negative relationship modifier?

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I just quit an advanced start exploration age deity game since I severely underestimated the combined military of my home continent, but whenever they had my last city dead to rights they would back off. That didn't stop them from stopping every single one of my settlers from leaving my borders, but none of them would strike the final blow when several of them had committed armies of units to taking down its defenses and all I had was an army commander left. Its not as if it wasn't a bad city either, it had plenty of resources and a natural wonder in it.
Does eliminating a civ give enough of a diplomatic penalty to deter even deity AIs? Are there even any penalties for taking out another civ completely or is it just a negative relationship modifier?

In my experience, 'merely' eliminating another Civ does not give permanent or even Age-long negative bias towards the eliminator. However, combine that with going to war with someone, even if you don't take any of their cities from them, and the additive effect seems to be pretty permanent: in my last game, having eliminated one early AI contact made no apparent difference in my relationship with anyone. Fought one brief inconclusive war with two other AI civs, and for the next 200 turns to the end of the Exploration Age they have been constantly at the most negative level of relationship with me.

From this and other instances, I conclude that no single action will make the AI hate you for very long, but the combination of 2 or more negative actions (a war, a denounce, an espionage action) will make them negative enough to go to war and it takes a great deal of effort to change their little digital minds. Unlike in Civ VI, though, the Civ VII I does not appear to be Suicidal: Since I have as many settlements as any two other AI Civs in the game combined, and am friends with 3 out of 6 of them, and have a larger army and fleet than any of them, in that game described above no one has actually declared war on me despite having very negative attitudes. This alone is much better AI reaction to in-game situations than I saw in Civ VI.

 

[ydejin]

Does eliminating a civ give enough of a diplomatic penalty to deter even deity AIs? Are there even any penalties for taking out another civ completely or is it just a negative relationship modifier?

I often leave an opponent with 1-2 relatively poor quality cities. Some of the reasons to do so are a bit “gamey”, but I think they make sense from a strategic standpoint.

• You want to cripple an opponent so badly that they are never a threat again.
• But leaving a weakened state between you and your neighbors can act as a bit of a buffer. Better to have a small weak state next to you than a strong one. If you remove the weak state, think about who you’ll be next to.
• You can get the resources from a crippled opponent via trade routes without taking the penalty for having too many cities. Even if taking it would keep you under the settlement limit, you may want to use the limit for other settlements.
• Taking out an opponent adds a massive increase toward ending the age. I think it’s something like 15%.

It’s possible the AI uses similar logic or is just straight out programmed not eliminate another Civilization because it’s more often then not the right decision.

 

[reddishrecue]

You just have to get the other leader's relationship with you high enough ("Helpful", I believe -- red heart icon), and they will usually accept an alliance offer.

Relationships are improved by spamming as many beneficial endeavors as you can.

By endeavors you mean making something that will benefit them?

 

[AriochIV]

By endeavors you mean making something that will benefit them?

Actions in the Endeavors list always improve relations, and those in the Sanctions list always worsen them. The tooltip for each item will tell whether and by how much it will alter relationship.

 

[sixty4half]

I just quit an advanced start exploration age deity game since I severely underestimated the combined military of my home continent,

I also get gang declared on in Exp Age advanced starts. One disliked me because I had to many units. Another disliked me because I dared to have happiness and culture buildings :O and the other disliked me because I dispersed Independants (okay that one was legit).
You don't get to give them a 20 Influence welcome greeting in advanced starts and there is no +/- modifier from previous age. Which means between their agenda and getting lucky on the 1/3 chance you have the same govt as they do, it's easy to find yourself in -30 Relations REAL QUICK.

Once at -30 the AI will denounce you so you're about 10 turns from -60 when they'll declare war on you.

I couldn't even get one of them to accept a Endevour because they all had Negative Relations from the start.

Maybe they'll change this because it's even worse on Modern Age starts where anyone (including AI) can start with 1-3 Civics; putting them at an Ideology within 8 or so turns of the game start. We need at least a +20 Modifier from previous age to counter balance some of this.

 

[RedKetchup]

Is there a way (or there is a mod) to disable spying ? cause the counter spy sanction doesnt work. they are spamming you like crazy (for triple amount of value than you, you can get) even if it is ON.
Is it a bug ? counter spy against a civilization doesnt work at all

 

[reddishrecue]

Actions in the Endeavors list always improve relations, and those in the Sanctions list always worsen them. The tooltip for each item will tell whether and by how much it will alter relationship.

Sanctions and Endeavors, then. I see. Thank you.

 

[MACKA0ili]

Maybe they'll change this because it's even worse on Modern Age starts where anyone (including AI) can start with 1-3 Civics; putting them at an Ideology within 8 or so turns of the game start. We need at least a +20 Modifier from previous age to counter balance some of this.

I don't mind it so much as I was definitely at fault for underestimating them and not even trying to invest in them diplomatically. My modern age start game is going a lot better than the last one.

I just found it interesting how none of the AI would eliminate me even though they were given the chance to nab a juicy natural wonder city. Even they fear the age progressing too quickly.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Is there a way (or there is a mod) to disable spying ? cause the counter spy sanction doesnt work. they are spamming you like crazy (for triple amount of value than you, you can get) even if it is ON.
Is it a bug ? counter spy against a civilization doesnt work at all

I don't think it's reasonable to disable spying without deep system rebalance. Spying plays important role in both influence economics (by providing additional targets to spend and decreasing influence income) and in conflict management (by adding negative relations on revealed espionage).

Also, spying doesn't hurt you the same way it did in Civ5 and Civ6, actually it's a good source of influence. So, while it's annoying to see, it's not bad actually.

 

[madeirabhoy]

Some questions, some that im sure will have been answered already and some that might seem daft.

what's the consensus of when to change towns to cities, or what sort of ratio to have? Also when do people normally change town's focus from growth?

There's no workers, so do mines and stuff just appear?

happiness always drops for me, but I dont know how to improve it.

whenever independents are hostile, I just kill them. is that a bad idea?

in the first age, is it possible to sail boats and find other islands (terra incognito) as my boats just get lost.

 

[stealth_nsk]

Some questions, some that im sure will have been answered already and some that might seem daft.

what's the consensus of when to change towns to cities, or what sort of ratio to have? Also when do people normally change town's focus from growth?

There's no workers, so do mines and stuff just appear?

happiness always drops for me, but I dont know how to improve it.

whenever independents are hostile, I just kill them. is that a bad idea?

in the first age, is it possible to sail boats and find other islands (terra incognito) as my boats just get lost.

1. There's no consensus on both points. It depends on civilization, on settlement connection and on which bugs you encounter.
2. On settlement grow you either put a rural quarter on map or specialist. If you put rural quarter, things like farms or mines appear automatically. Unique improvements need to be built separately on top of existing ones
3. Happiness buildings and resources do the trick. Also try to minimize sources of unhappiness like war weariness or being over the settlement cap. Also, pay attention to buildings and specialists as they often require happiness maintenance
4. Killing hostile independent powers is totally fine, unless you play for befriending as many of them as possible. It could also be a good idea to kill some friendly ones too (especially those which are being befriended by others). You get some bonuses and experience for nearby commanders from dispersing independents
5. Distant lands are unreachable in the first age by design

 

[Ryansinbela]

Where in the files can I find out how narrative events are triggered, I need them so I can edit the wiki

 

[The_goggles_do_nothing]

Where in the files can I find out how narrative events are triggered, I need them so I can edit the wiki

There is a "RequirementSet" that is attached to narrative event. For example if you look for REQSET_1096A_NARRATIVE is this file you see there is a requirement to build three Monuments.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VII\Base\modules\age-antiquity\data\narrative-stories-gameeffects.xml

I don't think I can explain it well because I don't really understand it. I assume Firaxis has a tool that put these files together.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I don't think it's reasonable to disable spying without deep system rebalance. Spying plays important role in both influence economics (by providing additional targets to spend and decreasing influence income) and in conflict management (by adding negative relations on revealed espionage).

Also, spying doesn't hurt you the same way it did in Civ5 and Civ6, actually it's a good source of influence. So, while it's annoying to see, it's not bad actually.

The problem with Spy Actions is that the penalties and costs remain the same in all Ages, even though the availability of Influence does not. I find that on average my per turn Influence doubles with every Age, so that a per turn average of 25 - 40 in Antiquity becomes 100 - 150 by Modern. Since the cost of an Espionage Action remains static, that means it actually becomes considerably cheaper by Modern Age. In general, by then I'm getting hit with a Steal X action every 2 - 3 turns on average, which no matter what Counterspy action I take gets annoying very fast.

Easy Solution would be to either have each successive Steal X action increase in cost, or have each Espionage Action increase with each Age to keep in line with the general increase in other 'currencies' like Influence in each Age.

 

[stealth_nsk]

The problem with Spy Actions is that the penalties and costs remain the same in all Ages, even though the availability of Influence does not. I find that on average my per turn Influence doubles with every Age, so that a per turn average of 25 - 40 in Antiquity becomes 100 - 150 by Modern. Since the cost of an Espionage Action remains static, that means it actually becomes considerably cheaper by Modern Age. In general, by then I'm getting hit with a Steal X action every 2 - 3 turns on average, which no matter what Counterspy action I take gets annoying very fast.

Easy Solution would be to either have each successive Steal X action increase in cost, or have each Espionage Action increase with each Age to keep in line with the general increase in other 'currencies' like Influence in each Age.

I'm not sure if it's a problem. Spy actions are designed to intensify in later ages and modern is specifically designed to fuel world wars. And, as I said, unlike previous civ games, those actions don't really hurt you. So, I believe that's intentional.