Newbie Questions: Ask here and get answers!

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

Heike:

Ideas: one or two cities should be settler factories. That is: they have tiles and improvements that allow them to grow as fast as they build settlers. Example: If a town has access to bonus resources and you build a Granary, you can quickly build settlers one after another, or maybe go settler warrior settler warrior and so on.

Do NOT build a lot of buildings at the start! Place your towns to be good growers and producers with the 9 initial tiles. Then, build settlers until there's hardly any room left.

btw: are you patched to the latest version? If not, check out the thread in my signature, the FAQ one. Get the patch from the link given there.

Read through some succession games, too. Especially higher level games often include a LOT of information about micromanagement and strategic decisions along with build queues and reasons for them, too.

Go and check out the War Academy, too, btw! Read crackers post on early moves and similar stuff in the forums for strategy stuff.

Happy civving!


btw, quite a few people have LOST their first Chieftain games!

 

[Globetrotter]

You are playing on Warlord, hence, the AI has some advantages you can best see in the FAQ (i guess), regarding extra units + researching advantages.

On top of that, you are right about them storming through your cities to build some of their own.

In my latest game, i left culture away for a while, and built settlers + war units. I got strangled between 3 civs (playing huge map + all civs), and couldn't find any empty space to settle.

I switched all my production to military, and declared war on my closest and weakest neighbor, and claimed his cities and weakened him so that he's no longer a threat (i just took 12 of his 14 cities). In that case, i did not need any settler anymore but i surely needed a strong military, as i believed it was the only option i had left. I had all in all around 16 cities, and sued for peace (i kept him alive in too sh*** cities so that he pays me gold and stuff).

Then, during peace, i focused on some cultural improvement while still cranking military units, and then declared war on my second neighbor, and repeated the history

But going to war should be carefully studied, as it might turn against you if you haven't prepared for it well.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

as for the unit move through thingy: you can FORCE them out (on the risk that they declare war) if they move many troops into your territory or if them move them next to your cities. Not a very smart implementation. It is often easier to block enemy units with troops.

 

[Grille]

Heike,
check out war academy. There's plenty of clous for early expansion. Generally, build settlers as soon as possible and nothing else
except granary.

 

[DiamondzAndGunz]

Originally posted by heikeott
Is there a trick or tip or strategy for early expansion?

You really just gotta crank out those settlers (as you mentioned) but also build up a military (if you don't want to be bullied). Have a couple of your quickest-growing cities produce settlers. If you don't have any that grow exceptionally quick, you can build a granary, which really helps. Don't try to build other improvements in the cities while going for expansion, just build military units while you let the city grow. You can then maintain a sizeable military and ward off your closest neighbors. I actually prefer to whipe out 1 or 2 of my closest neighbors, which leaves me with a fair amount of land. If anything, a military can help you keep those settlers out of "your" terrain.

I thought the "territory" concept in III would keep them out, that I could build a "ring" of outer cities and expand towards the center, but they go right through my territory and build cities betwixt and between, ignoring my repeated demands to get out of my territory even though they say they will comply (along with some gratituitous insult like "were I as weak as you, I'd feel threatened too).

Yeah, it is meant to show the boundries. But, it gives the human and AI some leeway in terms of travel through the territory, especially if you are on good terms with them. You can keep them out by just attacking their warrior/settler (spearmen/settler after bronze working). Archers/swordsmen, or even horsemen, are good for this.

Obviously I am not expanding nearly fast enough, as I am seriously outpaced by all of the CPs. If all you do is crank out settlers and build more cities early in the game, though, how do you ever get anything else built?? Seems like all of your cities would remain very small (because they keep losing pop to settlers) and you would have very low production of everything!
Obviously that's not entirely the case since the CPs still manage to research tech and build wonders faster than me, but I can't figure out how they do it!!

Yes, the cities will remain small. But that's not really a problem early in the game. You can set research pretty low, and still get the techs at a decent rate. If you set it at minimum research, you'll be getting a sizeable income, which you can use to buy techs with later anyway. Low production is not something to worry about early in the game, though you should start to develope something of an idea of which city you're gonna start building wonders in (i usually switch my capital to a wonder if I've got several other cities pumping settlers). I's all a matter of developing a good habit in the early game.

 

[DiamondzAndGunz]

Originally posted by Globetrotter
You are playing on Warlord, hence, the AI has some advantages you can best see in the FAQ (i guess), regarding extra units + researching advantages.

I think you've got it a lil bit backwards. On cheftain and warlord, the human player has the advantage, in terms of research, happiness, etc. The AI starts to gain an advantage on Monarch.

 

[Reddwarfian]

NOW you tell me!

First game, I stupidly tried a Regent game. Got flattened, and forced to eat humble pie by Ceasar and Bismark.

It'll soon be up on my website. Once my finals are done.

Thanks for your help. I'm now working on a Chieftain game, I'm allying myself with Ceasar & Alexander, to form the "Mediterrainian Pact," then I'm booting everyone else off my continent, all the while keeping my eye on Japan.

 

[Reddwarfian]

Oh, and by the way, I have won dozens of Elite battles in my recent conquest of Russia. (11 Turns! My fastest warfare yet!)

Shouldn't a Leader pop up around now?

 

[Grille]

A leader pops up immediately when elite units win a fight (use patch 1.29 & you are asked to give that unit a name). Sorry, you weren't lucky enough to get GL...

 

[morkaphi]

In my most recent game, I was selling some luxs to the AI civs. I understand that when they are plain broke, they never agree to pay any per turn gold (even they still have enough money in the vault), and usually my advisor tells me "They will never accept such a deal." Yesterday I found out that, China would rather pay me 350 instant gold for a lux instead of any gpt, and my advisor told me "they will be insulted" when I put the gpt deal on the table.

It makes sense that Mao probably doesn't have any gpt surples to pay me for the lux, but why my advisor told me "they'll be insulted"?

 

[heikeott]

Thank you all who responded to me. I have been an isolated Civ! That is to say I did not know anyone else who played the game and was not aware of the existence of the "Civ community." So you are being diplomatic and helping out poor little backwards me. Luckily I do not have any resources or techs for you to start trying to extort from me in a few turns!

I tried to get Cracker's toolbox but none of the links work and I can't figure out where to go to gain an in-depth understanding of the strategies he is mentioning (short rushing, worker optimization, barbarian farming, etc.)

The CPs sell workers? They do? I've never, ever seen a worker for sale. Does it depend on the difficulty level you play at whether that is part of the game?

And another question - in my current game my only possibility of victory might be cultural assimilation and/or a points win since I am NOT a good warmonger. Will it help cities to flip if I move my capital close to their border temporarily, or does the palace lose its age bonus and start over when you move it?

Can I capture a few key cities by distracting the AI civ to capture my workers, (if there is a stack of workers blocking their way, can they only capture one per turn or can they get the whole stack at once??), and then make peace and buy back my own workers for no maint. cost? And if I did that, would they still only work at 1/2 efficiency?

How does the game decide which unit to display when several are fortified in a city? I had thought it was the "best" one, but when I stuck a war chariot in a city with a swordsman because I'd run out of other tasks for the chariot, the swordsman stayed "on top."

It's fun and I'm learning a lot. Glad you all are out there - reading and chatting here is ALMOST as much fun as playing Civ!

Heike
PS I have the latest patch available for me, 1.21g for Mac OS, thanks for asking!

 

[DiamondzAndGunz]

The CPs sell workers? They do? I've never, ever seen a worker for sale. Does it depend on the difficulty level you play at whether that is part of the game?

You can only buy/sell workers when they are in the capital city of the civ. That might explain why you've never been able to. Great to buy them early, since theres a pretty good chance they're traveling throught the capital, and can give you a substantial bonus.

Can I capture a few key cities by distracting the AI civ to capture my workers, (if there is a stack of workers blocking their way, can they only capture one per turn or can they get the whole stack at once??), and then make peace and buy back my own workers for no maint. cost? And if I did that, would they still only work at 1/2 efficiency?

If they capture a stack of workers, they capture them all at once. For some reason, the AI tends to dispand any of my workers it captures...
If you do manage to buy back your workers, I believe they cost mainainence, and work full speed.

How does the game decide which unit to display when several are fortified in a city? I had thought it was the "best" one, but when I stuck a war chariot in a city with a swordsman because I'd run out of other tasks for the chariot, the swordsman stayed "on top."

Generally, it displays the unit with the highest defense. If there are several units with the same defense, it'll display the one with the highest hitpoints.

 

[heikeott]

Originally posted by DiamondzAndGunz


If you do manage to buy back your workers, I believe they cost maintence, and work full speed.

Aw, shucks. I guess it would have been too much fun the other way.

Figuring out exploits and how the thing works is almost more interesting than playing it. Or maybe it's just my errant mind.

 

[drewshark]

Does anybody know the formula for the upgrade cost relative to how many shields are left to produce in Monarchy/Democracy/Republic? What about Pop rushing in despotism, how many shields left to build equals 1,2,3 etc. citizens. Thanks. Also, what affects corruption aside from distance from the capital and forbidden palace? Does type of terrain have any effect? Thanks

 

[anarres]

drewshark:

If you are rushing with shields it always costs 4 gold per shield.

If you are rushing with pop it costs 1 citizen per 20 shields or part thereof, so 1 to 20 shields costs 1 pop, 21 to 39 costs 2, etc

Edit: Read this corruption thread for the exact reasons for corruption:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19922

The thread is a little involved, but well worth understanding the concepts (but not the formula!)

 

[Bamspeedy]

Upgrading is (shield difference to build the units*2). Warrior is 10 shields, swordsmen 30, so we have (30-10)*2=40 gold. Horsemen 30, to knights 70 so it is: (70-30)*2=80 gold.
Edit: oops, misunderstood when you said 'upgrade'.
Yep, 4 gold/shield to rush by somthing if you have at least 1 shield built towards the item. Double the price if the shield box is empty.

Poprushing is 20 shields/citizen if the game is patched. It was 40 shields/citizen with the game straight out of the box.
You can't rush more than 50% of your citizens. If there is no shields built towards the item, the price is doubled (same for cash-rushing). So if you wanted to poprush a spearman while at size 2 for example, you would need 1 shield built towards it, so you really only got 19 shields from the poprush. If you build 10 shields towards a 30 shield item, then you could poprush for the full 20 shields. You need to pay attention to # of shields, because you don't want to spend 2 population points popping something where you only needed 21 shields (the last shield costed you a whole extra person!).

Find Alexman's corruption study titled 'Do you think you understand corruption?' in the strategy articles forum for details on corruption. Terrain does not affect corruption at all. Main things are government, distance, # of cities in between that city and the palace, WLTK days, courthouses, police stations, the city is connected to the capital, etc.

 

[anarres]

@drewshark:
Sorry for not mentioning the cost of upgrading, I missed it when I read your post.

It is also worth noting that Leonardo's workshop halves the cost of upgrading to 1 gold per shield, instead of 2 gold.

Bamspeedy: Alexman's corruption thread is the one I already linked.

 

[hbdragon88]

If anarchy is supposed to be easy to plant spies (or be planted with them), it seems to be that it's really bad luck or drilled into the game that it's hard. Two times while I was in anarchy I caught spy plant attempts. When a civ was in anarchy my spy got caught that I was trying to plant.

What is with this?

 

[Hygro]

Does the Missile Defense Anti Nuke Starwars Strategic Defense Shield Laser Satelite (or whatever it's called) stop tactical nukes. If so, is it the same chance as ICBMs?

 

[Hurricane]

Originally posted by morkaphi
In my most recent game, I was selling some luxs to the AI civs. I understand that when they are plain broke, they never agree to pay any per turn gold (even they still have enough money in the vault), and usually my advisor tells me "They will never accept such a deal." Yesterday I found out that, China would rather pay me 350 instant gold for a lux instead of any gpt, and my advisor told me "they will be insulted" when I put the gpt deal on the table.

It makes sense that Mao probably doesn't have any gpt surples to pay me for the lux, but why my advisor told me "they'll be insulted"?

The advisors can say strange things.

Or maybe you kept the 350 gold cash deal on the table, and together with a gpt deal it grew to so much that they wouldn't accept it anyway. Anyway, it's no big deal.