Quick Answers (formerly Newbie Questions)

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Benderino
I've stumbled into a snag. I've found a picture I like, but when I shrink it to the right size, it only allows me to show the upper left corner. Let's say I want a section in the middle or to the right, how do I go about getting it? Thank you kindly.

I'm assuming you're using Paint? To resize your image in Paint, find out how many pixels it is in the Attributes box, and then use the stretch/skew option. For example, if it's 130x130, and you want it to be 65x65, make both the length and width 50%. Typing in how many pixels you want in the Attributes box will just crop it, like what's happening with you.

Edit: And thanks, anarres and Bamspeedy. I'll try it in a little bit.

Edit2: Yep, it worked. Quite fun watching me beat up everybody.

 

[Benderino]

Its still only going to the...Oh, nevermind, I got something here.

Thanks.


EDIT: Oops, I've asked this before, but I forgot again. How do I change my avatar, I forget where to go.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Benderino
EDIT: Oops, I've asked this before, but I forgot again. How do I change my avatar, I forget where to go.

UserCP (at the top of the screen), then options, and then it's the last thing at the bottom.

 

[Benderino]

Oh ho! George and I say thanks .

 

[wildWolverine]

Hello all.

I have several newbie questions:

1. If I just purchased Civ 3 (May, 2003), do I still need to download all the patches (and/or does the latest patch include all the previous improvements)?

2. Will Conquest include ALL of the additions in Play The World?, i.e., would it be foolish to buy Play The World now, and Conquest in three months? I've read some reports that said all the civs would be included but no multi-player, and vice versa. Which is true?

3. This was partially answered in the FAQ, but I require further clarification. How redundant are power plants? If I have a bunch of coal plants, and then build the Hoover Dam (gives all my cities hydro power?), are the two plants redundant? -- should I sell my coal plants, to get rid of pollution? Furthermore, if I later build a nuclear reactor, will it improve the output of the city by 100% of the current output, or by 50% of the output before I had a coal/hydro plant?

Thanx for any and all assistance.

 

[MadScot]

1. Which version? 'Game of the Year' has the patches I think. If it's the original box, you need the latest patch (1.29f). That includes all the others, you only need the latest one.

edit: to check, start the game. the patch version of the game is shown in the lower LH corner of the startup screen. if it doesn't say 1.29f, you need the patch

2. Don't know.
still don't know

3. If you are confident you'll keep hoover, sell the nasty dirty coal plant.
Only one of the 4 'power plants' can have an effect - Nuclear, Solar, Hydro or Coal. Nuclear trumphs the others (higher production bonus), the other 3 all have the same effect, whether you have one or all.
The nuke plant will not give the full theoretical improvement if you already have a hydro plant, only the incrfemental change.
(And it's based on basic output, not current, by the way)

factory: 50% increase in production
coal, solar, hydro plants: 50% increase in 'factory output'
nuke plant: 100% increase in 'factory output'
manfacturing plant: 50% increase in production
iron works: 100% increase in production

So, a city with 16 actual shields produced on worked tiles has 2 waste, leaving 14 basic shields of production.

A factory alone gives 50% of 14 = +7 shields

A coal, solar or hydro plant will give 50% of 14 = +7, if a factory is also built.

A nuke plant will give 100% of 14 = +14, again only with a factory also

A manufacturing plant will give 50% of 14 = +7, regardless of other improvements

The Iron Works will give 100% of 14 = +14

So this city with factory and hydro gives 14 + 7 + 7 =28 spt

If you build a nuclear plant you'll get 14 + 7 + 14 = 35 spt

Yet another topic badly (not at all) explained in the manual.....

hehehe beat Grille to it by seconds. that thread he links is way better presented though

 

[Grille]

wildWolverine,
you can check the version of civ3 on the first screen that appears right after the intro movie. IIRC version is stated in the bottom left corner.


When it comes to power plant related questions, there's an excellent analysis provided by Catt's article.


edit: @MadScott: yeah, you beat me... again

When submission time takes longer than usual, I can bet MS is posting (or editing) the same stuff I was about to submit

 

[WillJ]

1. Is it possilbe to play a scenario in mulitplayer? If not, is there another way of playing multiplayer without the default graphics?

2. And can someone give me the low-down on playing multiplayer over more than one session? Am I correct in assuming that after saving a multiplayer game in order to play later, when everyone's ready to play again (which I'd know from this forum), you start a new game like any other, but have the "saved game" option selected? And then it asks you what game you want to play from? And how can you make sure that each player gets his/her own civ back, and not another one?

 

[Turner]

1. Yes, you can. Under Game Mode, click Scenario.

2. Not sure about that one. . . I just do PBEM.

Edit: Should be game mode. . .

 

[CramzCiv07]

Someone probly aready asked this but how do you plant a spy in other civ's

 

[mayakovsky]

Is there a way to check (or change) the victory conditions? I can't remember what I chose.

 

[hbdragon88]

Once you build the intelligence agency, double click on the gray polygon. It will ask you if you want to plant a spy. Double-click on that and pick the civ to plant the spy in (Civ3 only)

Change in the first screen when you start the game. It goes with changing the barbarian activity, the temperature, the landmass, etc. If you want to change the victory conditions during a game, you have to use C3MT.

 

[Ant509y]

Hello, everyone, I have a question for you all. Does it cost money to use GAmespy, to play Civ 3 online? I'd love to go online with it, but the time I checked into it a while ago, it seemed to ask some stuff about user fees or something. x.x. Anyway, does it cost money to play? If I'm just miisinterpereting something, let me know, since I'd love to play Civ online with all of you. [ of course, you'd all beat me the first ten times I play, but oh well! ]

 

[WillJ]

@Turner: OK, thanks. I'm assuming that when the game starts, if you have scenario selected, it asks you which scenario to play?

@Ant509y: No, all costs come with the purchase of the game.

I'll repeat my currently unanswered question:

Can someone give me the low-down on playing multiplayer over more than one session? Am I correct in assuming that after saving a multiplayer game in order to play later, when everyone's ready to play again (which I'd know from this forum), you start a new game like any other, but have the "saved game" option selected? And then it asks you what game you want to play from? And how can you make sure that each player gets his/her own civ back, and not another one?

 

[Turner]

It asks right when you click on Scenario. I've never taken it beyond that, so I'm not sure.

Why don't you get a couple of people together and test it? Your second question, that is. Then you could tell us, and then we'd know!

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Turner_727
Why don't you get a couple of people together and test it? Your second question, that is. Then you could tell us, and then we'd know!

*sigh* You know the Quick Answers thread (and the Newbies thread before this) isn't that great when the answers for quite a few of my questions resulted in "Why don't you test it yourself?" (Just kidding of course.)

I guess I'll give it a shot in my multiplayer game that I'll start in a little bit.

Edit: Oh, and thanks for the scenario clarification.

 

[Turner]

Well, Mr. Hips-in-Wanton-Swirl, just remember that the lord helps those who help themselves. . . I've always wanted to say that.

Seriously, tho. . .there comes a point where people just don't know, and you either have to bribe them to experiment what you want to know, or do it yourself. . . I'd be willing to help out, but it's going to be 12 hours before I can sit in front of the puter and play with Civ.

 

[pdescobar]

Originally posted by WillJ
*sigh* You know the Quick Answers thread (and the Newbies thread before this) isn't that great when the answers for quite a few of my questions resulted in "Why don't you test it yourself?" (Just kidding of course.)

Happens to me too. That's just cause you and I like to ask the wrong questions

 

[wildWolverine]

Ubiquitous questions abound. I have severe difficulties accruing gold in my treasury. By the time I get to the Modern Age, I'm usually running at a -250 deficit (I'm playing chieftain level). My armed forces aren't exceptionally large -- most of my expenses are due to scientific research. However, even when I set my research level very low, i.e. 20%, I'm still only operating at a +23 surplus. I've read posts here of people who claimed to generate a 1000+ gold per turn surplus. Granted, this is probably inattainable for a humble beginner like myself, but I would be elated to operate at a surplus of even +100 per turn. On a related note, I've experimented with operating at different research levels for the entire game, but only achieve victory if the setting is high (>= 80%). Is this because I'm at chieftain (the other civs seem to research very slowly -- difficult to arrange trades)? I can't seem to find a good range for my research over the course of the game (balancing speed of advancement with depletion of the treasury).

 

[Civrules]

hello wildWolverine,

Well, first you need to trade as much as possible with the AI. The AI will give you +300 gold for the smallest industrial/modern age tech. Since you play on chieftain level, the AI dose not have that much gold and therefore will rarely trade with you even though I have seen the AI give me +200 gold when they have like 30 gold.

Hey I was in Ann Arbor yesterday! It is a cool city!