Questions & Answers

[Samson]

You can cancel a deal after ten turns. You can get rid of a vassal by making an unreasonable demand that they will refuse, forcing you to go to war. Then you can sue for peace, I think that will break the vassal/master relationship.

You may find this hard however. I have not tried THAT hard, but I have never managed to loose a vassal this way. I have declared war on a strong neighbour of a vassal, and let him take much of the vassals territory. He will usually break the vassal/master relationship so as to make peace (and usually become a vassal of) the neighbour.

 

[ck07]

Just downloaded 1.187. I now see four options where I used to see two: 3000 BC, 3000 BC "unlocked," and same for 600 AD. FAQ does not explain what the difference is though.

Also, can a I load a 1.184 save in 1.187? Do I choose locked, unlocked, or just load from the single player main menu?

Finally, 1.187 changelog says economies of certain countries have been strengthened or weakened (e.g., Portugal, which is the savegame of interest). But it odes not say how. Are there hidden modifiers, or does this just mean that some tiles have been changed?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Baldyr]

Just downloaded 1.187. I now see four options where I used to see two: 3000 BC, 3000 BC "unlocked," and same for 600 AD. FAQ does not explain what the difference is though.

The "unlocked" scenarios allows you to play any Civ. Otherwise the later ones (like America) aren't available because of the long auto-play wait.

Also, can a I load a 1.184 save in 1.187? Do I choose locked, unlocked, or just load from the single player main menu?

No, you can't.

 

[Leoreth]

Finally, 1.187 changelog says economies of certain countries have been strengthened or weakened (e.g., Portugal, which is the savegame of interest). But it odes not say how. Are there hidden modifiers, or does this just mean that some tiles have been changed?

There are many hidden modifiers actually, ranging from research costs to upkeep and building or unit cost modifiers. Don't know what exactly Rhye changed to Portugal, though.

 

[ck07]

I thought I saw a mention of a city counting as [named city] for UHV as long as it has that name, even if not on the right spot. Context was moving the Babylonian start 1 space NE to get the copper. Is this right? If yes, how do I rename a city?

Also, after two failed attempts at Babylonian UHV I am persuaded that to beat Delhi for culture I need to "catch" Judaism very early. Anything I can do to increase odds it will spread to me?

 

[Baldyr]

I thought I saw a mention of a city counting as [named city] for UHV as long as it has that name, even if not on the right spot. Context was moving the Babylonian start 1 space NE to get the copper. Is this right? If yes, how do I rename a city?

That sounds wrong to me. You can rename a city in the city view by clicking on the name header.

Also, after two failed attempts at Babylonian UHV I am persuaded that to beat Delhi for culture I need to "catch" Judaism very early. Anything I can do to increase odds it will spread to me?

Open Borders?

 

[Leoreth]

I thought I saw a mention of a city counting as [named city] for UHV as long as it has that name, even if not on the right spot. Context was moving the Babylonian start 1 space NE to get the copper. Is this right? If yes, how do I rename a city?

That won't work. The UHV code specifically checks the city's coordinates, not its name.

Also, after two failed attempts at Babylonian UHV I am persuaded that to beat Delhi for culture I need to "catch" Judaism very early. Anything I can do to increase odds it will spread to me?

Not really, and Babylonia's chances are not very high on getting it, so that's really a luck based strategy. Have you tried building Stonehenge to run Caste System?

 

[ck07]

Here are the settler maps. Basically they tell where you can settle with/without penalties. It goes yellow>red>maroon>purple>pink>dark grey>light grey>white I think. Theres also a green for some civs and I'm not sure where it is, but I'm assuming around maroon or purple or pink. So the satelittes aren't prime settlement locations, but they're not the worst either. Hope that helped.

These use a different color scheme from the maps in the wiki. Does anyone know which set is more up to date? Is there a set for 1.187?

Thanks.

 

[ck07]

That won't work. The UHV code specifically checks the city's coordinates, not its name.

Rats.

Not really, and Babylonia's chances are not very high on getting it, so that's really a luck based strategy. Have you tried building Stonehenge to run Caste System?

Could try, I guess.

 

[ck07]

No, you can't (load a 1.184 in 1.187).

Wish I had though to check that. Correct me if i am wrong, the only way to get that game back would be to re-install BTS, patch it, play the game, then re-install 1.187 for future games.

 

[Baldyr]

Wish I had though to check that. Correct me if i am wrong, the only way to get that game back would be to re-install BTS, patch it, play the game, then re-install 1.187 for future games.

I guess, but I really wouldn't know.

 

[Leoreth]

Why reinstall BtS? Redownloading RFC 1.184 should suffice to open a 1.184 save.

 

[ck07]

Why reinstall BtS? Redownloading RFC 1.184 should suffice to open a 1.184 save.

I did not realize that 1.184 is still available. Where?

 

[ck07]

Exactly, there is a forum called Rhye's and Fall of civilization MP (which means multi-player). If you'd like to start a game, simply open a thread and ask people if they want to play a game let's say in about a week. Unfortunately, there are not many people that play RFC MP games (I prefer single player for example), so it could be that you have to plan the date a little later than you'd wish.

Can RFC be played hot seat? My son would like to.

 

[Linkman226]

Yes it can, via the RFC MP mod.

 

[Leoreth]

There's also the ability to cycle through civs after you've enabled cheat mode (was it Ctrl+Z of Shift+Z? I always forget that), which accomplishes the same thing without downsides, and it works for all mods as well.

 

[ck07]

I'd like to ask how to set new values for the Embassy buildings. I want to add new buildings (including 2nd UBs) to RFC, but each building/wonder starting from the American Embassy ends up overruling all other conditions. No culture, no sacrifice anger modifier, no worker speed improvement, nothing. They all end up as "Embassies" (requiring at least 10 against 'that particular civilization'), although I doubt the Embassy system connects them with any civ.

I want to know how to set off the embassy system to add more buildings than there already is, or at least how I can "push them out of the way" so that they don't overrule my made changes. This can be done either by restricting the number of Embassies on Embassies alone or giving me ~30 free building slots for use.

Are you saying that you have to have 10 espionage points to build an embassy? I have often wondered why I am not offered the option to build certain embassies.

 

[ck07]

There's also the ability to cycle through civs after you've enabled cheat mode (was it Ctrl+Z of Shift+Z? I always forget that), which accomplishes the same thing without downsides, and it works for all mods as well.

This and above post both quite helpful, thanks.

 

[ck07]

To the best of my knowledge Anatolia and Egypt were the breadbaskets of the Roman Empire (as well as every other empire which held them), not North Africa.

I think a decent number of the tiles in the levant and anatolia should be changed from plains to grassland to represent the relative fertility in those lands.

Also the fertile crescent isn't quite as fertile as the name implies-- even in the days of Babylon and Assyria it was nothing compared to Egypt, and by the common era soil depletion had weakened the agricultural potential of the land quite a bit.

That was later. In the late republic period the main grain sources were Sicily and Africa (Northern Tunisia, former Carthaginian territory). During the imperial period these were still important, although Egypt had become an even larger source and Hispania, Asia (Western Anatolia), and the Black Sea had also become important.

Environmental degradation of North Africa was not an important factor until after the Roman period, and even now some areas--Tunisia being the most important--are still in decent shape.

Conclusions:
-Better resources for the area around Carthage make sense.
-The general proposition about land improving (or, more often declining) over time also makes sense, although it is quite complicated. There is not only global and regional climate to consider, but also degradation due to deforestation and overgrazing, erosion (mainly due to the first two), and salinization (due to irrigation). The Sumerians were abandoning some towns for these reasons as early as 2500 B.C.

If one really wanted to model this the game would have more flood plains and would allow farming them from start, but ANY farming anywhere (plus cutting trees) would risk changing flood plains or grassland to plains or desert. Also the health penalty for flood plains would be absent, replaced by a generally lower health cap--there are or were pestiferous swamps almost everywhere, not peculiarly in the most important river valleys--and bigger bonus for forest/seacoast.

 

[ck07]

A quick google search for "breadbasket of Rome" revealed quite a few basket cases.

Sicily, North Africa and Egypt all got multiple mentions.

Personally, I think that some of the references to North Africa actually might be taken to mean Egypt more than the area around Carthage.

No, it means the province then named Africa (Northern Tunisia ~ Carthage).