Quick Answers (formerly Newbie Questions)

[cgannon64]

What is the name of the program that determines when Domination will happen, and where can I get it?

I'm playing a game with Germany now and I'm pretty large, but I don't want to win by Domination. I'd rather win by something else or play around.

 

[zorven]

It's called MapStat. I am sure it is in the downloads...I will check and update my post with a link.

Here is the thread

 

[el_picaro]

Is it possible to upgrade a catapult to a cannon ? if so, dont you think that it doesnt make any sense to be able to do that ?!?!

 

[zorven]

Yes, the catapult upgrades to the cannon. And it doesn't make real world sense, but it is probably this way for game balance reasons.

 

[Grille]

Originally posted by el_picaro
Is it possible to upgrade a catapult to a cannon ? if so, dont you think that it doesnt make any sense to be able to do that ?!?!

It makes as much sense as any upgrading chain. Galleons become transports, by upgrading you can add a jet engine to fighters ... in the end, your MI was a spear once.
I agree w/ zorven on the balancing reason.

 

[Padma]

Actually, it makes more sense than you might think.

Each *unit*, over a period of time, upgrades from using Catapults to using Cannons. They don't turn the Cats into Cannons, they replace them. This is the way units are "upgraded " in the Real World, today.

 

[AlanH]

Originally posted by el_picaro
Is it possible to upgrade a catapult to a cannon ? if so, dont you think that it doesnt make any sense to be able to do that ?!?!

A catapult can eventually become a radar artillary unit. I don't think the concept of upgrade is meant to be taken so literally. The catapult doesn't get physically converted. Its simply a way to transfer your written-down shields investment into an equivalent more modern unit.

I would agree that the cost of upgrading looks a bit low, specially if you have Leo's workshop. But that's the way it is. On the higher levels it helps to even out the major build cost advantages the AI has, since you can play tricks with upgrades that the AI doesn't have a clue about.

 

[DaviddesJ]

Originally posted by AlanH

On the higher levels it helps to even out the major build cost advantages the AI has, since you can play tricks with upgrades that the AI doesn't have a clue about.

I would say this the opposite way: creating such artificial capabilities for the human player, that the AI doesn't/can't use (like resource disconnects to build obsolete units that can then be cheaply upgraded) is what makes it necessary to give the AI such big handicaps in order for it to be competitive.

 

[Nad]

Some of the upgrades make sense (eg, spear - pike, archer - longbowman, horseman - knight, etc) but others do not (medieval infantry - guerillas, longbowman - guerillas). The way I see upgrades is you take your soldiers and equip them with new (but similar) weaponry, the gold cost being the additional expense in buying the new weapons and in training the troops in their new weapons. Thus, the spear to pike upgrade is easy to understand, it's essentially a longer weapon with a similar fighting technique, wheraeas the longbow to guerilla upgrade does not make sense, since the fighting styles and weapons are completely different.

I do not agree that upgrading is about "replacing" units....to my mind, "replacing" is disbanding your old units and building new ones. Upgrading is "re-equipping" units you already have.

 

[cgannon64]

Thanks for the link Zorven. That will be very helpful.

 

[Food Eater Lad]

In a war, weariness gets the people upset. I am tired of doing a round robin and making the city happy. Is there a hot key for doing it just once to all the cities? It would save me from carpal tunnel syndrome.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Thunderfall]

Yes. You can right click on a city, select 'Contact Governor", then set the "Manage citizen moods" to yes for all cities.

Of course, another thing you can do is change gov't to maybe Communism where war weariness is not a problem. Building Women's Suffrage wonder also helps.

PS: Welcome to the forum.

 

[MadScot]

Food Eater

If you are prepared for the inefficencies involved, open the governor ("contact governor" from the map, or the governor thing on the city view.) Set the governor to "manage happiness" and select one of "this city", "continental cities" or "all cities" according to which works best for what you want. that will turn on the governor for all the cities at once if you like.

After that the governor will keep everyone happy, albeit in a pretty ******** fashion.

An alternative is to just keep cranking up the happiness tax allocation in F1 until you see happy faces in the city summaries; no need to check each city. Some people use custom citizen faces to make it easier to see which are unhappy; somkeone will no doubt be able to suggest a link, I don't use them I'm afraid.

edit: beaten by TF

Although it's "Universal Suffrage" and it isn't really very effective; you'll do much better with police stations in larger cities than US, which is only worth one citizen for war weariness

 

[Food Eater Lad]

Thanks for the info and the welcome. I have been playing civ since civ 1 i just stumbled onto this forum now!

 

[Food Eater Lad]

Is there any way to upgrade units in armies?

 

[MadScot]

Not supposed to be - a few bugs have allowed it. but if you are fully patched up it is not possible

 

[Food Eater Lad]

thanks

 

[Grille]

Originally posted by Food Eater Lad
Is there any way to upgrade units in armies?

(No.)
However, you may not fill an army completly and add better units later to keep it up to date (to some degree, that is).
-Say- you put just 2 swords into an ancient army. Later, you add a musket and finally an infantry (after pentagon). While that army w/ 2 swords could cause some damage on offensive duty, it would be a nice defender later (D=4 w/musket, D=10 w/ infantry). Note that a healthy 2swords/musket/inf army (all veteran units) is as strong as a "pure" 4inf army (all vets) for at least three upcoming combat rounds of a single battle.

 

[Food Eater Lad]

What good are stealth fighters?

 

[Turner]

Cheaper bombing units. . . good for spotting, tho. I've found that by doing recon's first the bombing goes a bit better.