Newbie Questions - Ask here and get Answers!

[Bamspeedy]

Originally posted by tomart109


I guess the word "boredom" creeps in here (sacrelige!!!)....
Some of the PTW victory conditions (like Mass Regicide, where my use of all 8 kings as scouts and resource-denial units is obviously unfair, but fun to do sometimes as a diversion) are unfit for competitive play, but interesting to explore...

Especially when i take stabs at Deity sometimes!! (Yeah, that's the ticket!) Finding an interesting new edge can make even a Deity game fun...

Besides, i bought the game, i could mod my Scouts as 9-6-3 superunits if i want (i did once, and was delighted with the results!)

But just good ol' insatiable human curiosity, that's all the excuse i need, n'est-ce pas?

Thanks for enlightening me (once again,) Gracious Anarres... so, do tell, what's yon exploit consist of?

Merci beaucoup, mon ami.

The mobilization exploit is more powerful than giving yourself a 9.6.3 scout.
Basically, you can give any city unlimited shield output.

If you want to 'cheat' in a single player game, then play with the debug mode in PTW, so you can give yourself units, techs, gold, improvements, wonders, etc. whenever you feel like it. You can even give the AI units and mess with their city production. If they get too powerful, give yourself a bunch of MA to knock them down for awhile.

 

[Galcador]

Originally posted by tomart109
ok, WillJ, try the thread link Shabba made just above!

Tomart, the link you're referring to gives the low-down on culture flipping. What WillJ is researching is resistance quelling. A subtle but significant difference.

Looking forward to seeing your results, WillJ.

 

[anarres]

Yeah, it's my thread Shabba linked and I even already posted advice to WillJ about testing his resistance-quelching.

 

[Shabbaman]

'Your thread', pah! I didn't expect such materialistic behaviour from a lefty like you []

edit: stupid bracket IMG purge system getting at my nerves...

 

[anarres]

Shabba, your simlies will never work again!

tomart109, it's really for the best not to spread info around on the mobilisation bug since it's use and exploitation can not be prevented in competative games.

 

[Grille]

Originally posted by DaviddesJ

Originally posted by Grille
For example, you could spot 1 unhappy citizen (that was just born in that turn) in X-city by hitting F1, then decide to rush a temple there before you end the turn. In the beginning of the next turn, both pop-ups "X-city has disorder" and "X-city built temple" show up....

No, this isn't right. If your city is in civil disorder, then it won't build anything, even if the shield box is full. (This is different from anarchy---if you are in anarchy, you can still build if the shield box is full, even though your cities don't produce any shields.)

I didn't mean that the town was actually in disorder. *Say* you have pop=2 (grown from 1 to 2 in that very same turn when you spot your unhappy citizen) and you run no lux tax, have no luxs connected, don't have a war (i.e. "reverse" ww effects), no mood influences by improvements/wonders and no garrison (in case of having a "martial law gov") put there on emperor/deity level. Then you can rush a temple and will get both mentioned pop-ups at the beginning of the next turn. Although city display screen wouldn't show any unhappy citizens, X-town would be in disorder (w/ all the disadvantages) and has just built a temple.

 

[scubagtr]

Just curious? So how much text does one have to type for it to count as a post? I seen a post or 2 where I responded to someone's question with a short answer and it didn't count as a post for me

 

[Padma]

I don't believe there is any "minimum". If there were, it would probably not even accept the post until you reached that length.

However, there are some "anomalies" in the post-count algorithm used. There have been other "strange occurrences" noticed in the past.

BTW, this kind of question normally belongs in Site Feedback.

 

[scubagtr]

Thanks Padma, I'll be sure to head over to the other thread.

 

[WillJ]

While testing resistance, I noticed in the Editor, in the "Culture" tab, there's a section called "resistance chance." Does anyone know what that means? In my testing so far, every time I captured Alexandria (the only city that I've tested with so far), all of its citizens resisted. They were "admirers of" my culture, and in the Editor it says that "admirers of" has a 50% initial chance and 40% continued chance of resistance. This I find strange, since I'd expect to see resistance in the city 50% of the time, or about half of the population going into resistance most of the time, or something like that. I did not do exactly the same thing each time (mostly because I was testing different numbers of units), so it's not because of the random number generator. Can anyone explain?

Another thing I found odd is the fact that they're "admirers of" my culture. The editor says that this means that I have twice as much culture as them, yet they should have twice as much culture as me, because I gave them two temples, but I only gave myself one.

My test is on chieftain level, BTW, if that matters, but in the editor it doesn't mention anything about difficulty level relating to culture, so I doubt it does matter.

 

[jbmagic]

when u get the united nation , how do you do the voting?



any tips when playing a diplomacy game ?

what civs type is good to play?

whats a good size map for diplmacy and how many AI should u have playing the game?



thanks

 

[pdescobar]

Originally posted by WillJ
While testing resistance..

(I just quoted the first line for context) It may be wise to just make a separate thread to discuss the testing methods and results, BTW

I read the "resistance chance" values in the editor the same as you do. Namely, with a 50% resistance chance and 40% continued resistance, I would assume that on the initial capture, every citizen flips a coin and resists if heads, doesn't if tails. On subsequent turns, I would expect every citizen currently resisting to roll a random number with a 60% chance of quelling on their own, and 40% chance of continuing to resist. I expect those numbers to apply only with a zero garrison. Of course, this is kinda why you are testing in the first place -- to see if these things work like we think they will

I don't know the details of your testing, but here are some things to consider. First, let's get this out of the way. I am morally obligated to ask this: Preserve Random Seed is off, of course, yes?

In relation to culture, when you place a city on a map in the editor, you can right-click on it and then set the exact current cultural value in the city properties. It seems to me this would be far more useful in setting up initial cultural differences than relying on X number of temples or cathedrals.

With regard to difficulty, it shouldn't matter, but it might. To be truely rigorous, you should run your tests on an easy level and get some results. Then repeat the tests on a medium and hard level to see if you get similar results. Whether or not you actually do so, is of course completely up to you

 

[DaviddesJ]

Originally posted by pdescobar
On subsequent turns, I would expect every citizen currently resisting to roll a random number with a 60% chance of quelling on their own, and 40% chance of continuing to resist. I expect those numbers to apply only with a zero garrison.

That's not right, because if you have zero garrison, then resistance will never end (no resisters will ever convert to regular citizens without troops stationed in the city).

My guess is that the parameter is the probability (or base probability, subject to other modifications) that each unit you station there will turn one resister into an ordinary citizen, each turn.

 

[pdescobar]

@DaviddesJ: Well, it was a guess Your own explanation does sound reasonable to me

 

[ivory]

While waiting for thye dedicated thread on resistance quelling:
Once I forgot about a resisting town size two. Both resisted and never gave up because I had left it empty. Many years after I had destroyed their mothercountry, I stationed a regular swordsman there, the next turn both were happy.

 

[MadScot]

Originally posted by jbmagic
when u get the united nation , how do you do the voting?

The game will put a pop-up, asking if you want to hold a vote. If you click yes it will tell you who the contestants are - if you build the UN you are automatically a contender IIRC.

Click on your chosen candidate. NB it's considered normal to vote for yourself. You are the best candidate for the job, right?

any tips when playing a diplomacy game ?

what civs type is good to play?

whats a good size map for diplmacy and how many AI should u have playing the game?

Some of these might be discussed in the Strategy and Tips Forum .

Basic rule for winning Diplomatic victory: be nice! Break no deals. All sorts of things can affect AI Attitude - see the linked thread for much more info.
Or this thread on diplomatic victory strategy.

Which civ is best depends on your style of play. For diplomatic you probably should try an industrious/scientific one. Those characteristics might be best for that.

Size and no of AI. Bigger map with fewer AI will give a more peaceful game, generally. But also a slower pace for tech, I think. Play with it till you find something you like. When that bores you, mix it up a bit.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by pdescobar
I read the "resistance chance" values in the editor the same as you do. Namely, with a 50% resistance chance and 40% continued resistance, I would assume that on the initial capture, every citizen flips a coin and resists if heads, doesn't if tails. On subsequent turns, I would expect every citizen currently resisting to roll a random number with a 60% chance of quelling on their own, and 40% chance of continuing to resist. I expect those numbers to apply only with a zero garrison. Of course, this is kinda why you are testing in the first place -- to see if these things work like we think they will

I don't know the details of your testing, but here are some things to consider. First, let's get this out of the way. I am morally obligated to ask this: Preserve Random Seed is off, of course, yes?

Well, your guess is wrong (or my testing is strange), because every single time, every single citizen in the city I'm testing right now has resisted (or actually, all but the one that died when I captured the city). And yes, I have preserve random seed off. (Actually, I didn't make sure that it's off, but I've always had it off before. I'll make sure next time I start up the game.)

@DaviddesJ: Your guess seems to be wrong (I won't bother explaining the details right now, but I'll mention that the strength of the unit matters, and your "one-for-one" assumption is a bit off, from what I can tell).

Oh, and I agree with you, pdescobar, about making a seperate thread. I'll make one the next time I have something to say about it, and I'll use that thread from then on.

Edit: I can't find the preference for whether or not you want to preserve the random seed. Where is it?

Edit2: Oh freakin' crap, I have preserve random seed on!

So if there's a certain randomness to it, should I do everything several times to find the normal results, or what? I don't see how I could get any farther than determining the factors, if there is indeed a bit of randomness.

Edit3: And couldn't I just ask one of the Firaxians on this forum about it? I'm sure one of them would know how it works, no?

 

[tomart109]

Originally posted by Galcador

Tomart, the link you're referring to gives the low-down on culture flipping. What WillJ is researching is resistance quelling. A subtle but significant difference.

Yes, you're quite right; I stand corrected. But I thought at least it was overlapping, and would help in his endeavour.

Originally posted by anarres

tomart109, it's really for the best not to spread info around on the mobilisation bug since it's use and exploitation can not be prevented in competative games.

Oops! Sorry... but i thought MadScot had said it was "disabled" in competitive games, so I assumed it was ok to talk about...

Originally posted by MadScot
And there's a hideous exploit with it, so it's banned (disabled in fact) for GOTM and perhaps other competitive games too.

Mea Culpa.

 

[pdescobar]

@WillJ: that's alot of edits

If you know someone at Firaxis who could explain it, that's obviously easier than testing, assuming it works as advertised.

As for randomness, yes you would have to do multiple trials and average them out in order to see the pattern. Of course, randomness being what it is, the more trials the better....

 

[Stapel]

Is there a link to an exact description on when to enter a golden age?

Cheers,
Stapel