Quick Answers (formerly Newbie Questions)

[morkaphi]

Originally posted by Zapp Brannigan
What is the effect of runnign out of money? I have had a treasury of 0, and lossing 22 Gold Pieces per turn, and I could not figure out what the effects where, everything seemed to be going normally.

Nothing happens if you are at the Chieftain level. If you are at any higher level, you will lose one unit and one city improvement each turn if you have a negative balance. I'm not sure how the game decide what unit and improvement to be taken out, but probably on a random basis.

 

[AlanH]

Originally posted by Zapp Brannigan
What is the effect of runnign out of money? I have had a treasury of 0, and lossing 22 Gold Pieces per turn, and I could not figure out what the effects where, everything seemed to be going normally.

I've always tried to avoid doing it, but I believe your city improvements start getting sold off to pay your debts, and units get disbanded - that sort of thing. So you're probably going to get a nasty shock next time you look at your city screens.

 

[Padma]

Originally posted by Sparrow3
Grille:
How in the world did you discover [shift-right-click on a leader head]. I've looked in all the books and a lot of the forums; I never ran across a reference to it. Are there any other undocumented controls you know about?

This one's been known for quite a while. The earliest reference to it I have found was way back in November 2001. I believe it was discovered by a few players trying to figure it out, and was later verified by Firaxis.

And by the way, stuff like that is all documented here in the Frequently Asked Questions thread, stickied just like this one. If you haven't browsed through that one, please do so. We have, as a group, learned a LOT about this game over the years.

 

[Speaker]

Originally posted by morkaphi
I'm not sure how the game decide what unit and improvement to be taken out, but probably on a random basis.

I think in Sp5 we determined that a city was chosen at random and the first improvement was taken out. In most cases this was a granary or barracks. We did not do a scientific test, but that was our best guess.

 

[Leha]

Never payed attention to this earlier : does resistance continue in the captured city even if its "mother country " is annihilated ? Today I had this with Abu's cities when he was no more .

 

[Houarno]

A quick question: how does the propaganda espoinage option work? I know that if the target civ is a democracy it doesn't work (right?), but do you have to be at war with a civ before you can use propaganda? And, since I've never been able to use it: is the propaganda option a useful one, or simply pretty useless addition? Thanks,

Houarno

 

[DaviddesJ]

Originally posted by leha
Never payed attention to this earlier : does resistance continue in the captured city even if its "mother country " is annihilated?

Yes. Although you won't get any resisters in the last city you capture.

Today I had this with Abu's cities when he was no more.

Seems like that answers the question, then.

 

[anarres]

It is worth noting that you have a 100% success rate in quelling resistors when the mother nation is dead. If you have 10 resistors and 2 units there they will be quelled fully in 5 turns.

 

[wildWolverine]

The folly of Shaka:

The setup:
I'm playing Egypt on Warlord (forgive me: it's only my third civ game ever). I'm on a reasonably sized island that I control completely, the rest of the world is pretty much settled. Aside: the world looks remarkably like an archipelago map, even though it is supposed to be continents... My current government is Democracy.

The problem: ~1750, Shaka demands incense. I refuse, and he declares war. To put it nicely, I was caught with my pants down -- I was building cathedrals, universities, et al. Pretty much my defenses were limited to a rifleman or two per city. Anyhow, Shaka's roving squadrons of knights (knights in 1750: yes, this is Warlord) had their way with me for 25 years, but I finally eliminated them. I went on the offensive, and have a sizeable stack of cavalry on a peninsula in Zululand (took a small city). Revenge will be MINE!

The problem is this (twofold): Zululand is three turns away from my nearest port, so it is difficult for me to maintain my supply lines. Which is it more important to get over there first: more cavalry, or riflemen? I would think cavalry, but seeing as I lost my beachhead three times before I wised up and plopped 12 cavalry down there (instead of four), my cavalry seem to be remarkably adept at getting slaughtered by attacking Zulu knights/cavalry. However, I want to make the utter conquest of Zululand as quick as possible, and that would be difficult with riflemen....

Second (more pressing): As I originally said, I am in Democracy. Even though it was the Zulu who declared war on me, it has gone on long enough that my cities are just about to all go into disorder due to war weariness. Also as I've previously said, I'd like to exterminate the Zulu from the map. Therefore, I think I need to switch governments -- which is the best war time government? My cities are all have courthouses and are relatively close to my capital, so corruption wouldn't be all that big of a problem. Here's the kicker: in my struggle to keep up in the tech race, I skipped communism. It is a tossup whether I could research it in time to avert the "entire country in disorder" syndrome. Should I go for the communism, or settle for monarchy or republic? Additional point for consideration: I'm currently at a +14 gold surplus. Does the bonus in free troops from a monarchy usually balance the increased corruption?

<desperate to teach the Zulu to be respectful>

 

[wildWolverine]

Third question: I managed to get two of the larger countries in the world, China and Japan, to enter alliances with me against the Zulu. I expended large amounts of gold, several luxuries, and a tech. For twenty turns, I defended my country and finally launched an offensive. The Chinese and Japanese did absolutely nothing. Is there any way to persuade your military allies to actually DO SOMETHING?

 

[Shabbaman]

Regarding your third question: no.

 

[Galcador]

@wildWolverine:
1) As you have discovered, Cavalry don't defend too well against Cavalry. You'll need Riflemen to hold the cities. Perhaps you need more boats?
2) As Egypt you have one-turn anarchies. Personally I'd go for Republic, which should make the war weariness manageable in the short-term. If the war drags on, you can always switch to Monarchy later.
3) It's usually advisable to recruit allies who have land borders with your enemy. That way they're almost certain to fight each other. If they need to cross water they often won't bother. Also, you often don't see the fighting that's going on unless cities start changing hands.

 

[Turner]

In regards to your first question. . . both. Get both of them over there. Send as many ships as you can, with about half and half (although you may to 3:1 or 5:1, Calvary to Riflemen) and use the 'offensive defense' measure. . . stationing your strong attackers in your cities as 'defense' to quell resistors, while using the multi-move units to attack any nearby attackers. The AI will back a unit off if it's missing hit points, usually.

Depending on your situation, I would go 2:1, maybe 3:1. With as many ships as you can get over there.

Second question: Well, that's a tough one. I would say stay in democracy, as war was declared on you. That goes a long way towards thwarting WW when you're in demo. Plus you get the quicker worker actions, and higher commerce. If your cities are about size twelve, you'll really notice the drop in commerce. It really comes down to personal preference, tho. Do what you think is best, and hope for the best as well. I could tell you to do one thing, but if you're not conversed in it (And this goes for my first point as well) you may not do it as, well, effectively as I suggest. Simply because I know how to do what I'm saying, it's reality to me, but theory to you. . . .

Edit: Now that I think about it, I probably would have continued on as normal, building more defenders than normally, and gone about my business. If he's on another continent, it's not going to be a very long war. And WW for him will be high, as he's losing troops and not gaining cities on another continent in a war he started. So sit tight until you've got the infrastructure to pump out units and ships to ferry them, and can take and hold land on his continent.

 

[wildWolverine]

Thanx for the tips. Shaka WILL fall...

 

[Arturo]

Does a unit's defence rating make any difference when attacking? Eg, Will Infantry (A.D : 6.10) be more likley to win a fight than a Cavalry (6.3)? Or does Defence only come inot it when being attacked?

Similarly, if a unit attacks from a mountain or hill, is it more likley to win than if it attacked from a grassland due to the defence bonus?

 

[Gainy]

Defence only counts for units that are defending.
Ie If a Spearman (2/1/1) was on a hill, and an archer decided to attack him from grassland, the spearman would get a bonus for being on the hill (50%). The archer however would gain nothing. The only time terrain affects units, is when they are defending.

ps. btw, the spearman would have a defence of 3 when on the hill ... and defence does nothing for a units attack

 

[MadScot]

@Arturo

No, and No.

The only statistic used is the attack (for attacker) and defence (for defender).

Only terrain in the attacked square (or along the edge e.g. rivers) matters.

 

[Vivisector]

Does anyone know how to turn off the splash screens and movie?

I seem to recall there's a civ.3.ini file.... What do I put in it and where does the file go? Is there a page somewhere that discusses the options for civ3.ini?

 

[Arturo]

Thanks guys.

Another question - Do units fight at less than full force if they attack on their last movement point, as in Civ2?

 

[Turner]

Arturo - No, that penalty does not apply to Civ3.

Vivisector - There is a .ini switch Play Intro=0 that turns off the intro movie.