Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[NickyH]

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll certainly check the threads on the Succession Games.

As was pointed out, this kind of optimization seems suitable only to certain situations and periods in the game. I started thinking about it when I was preparing for a war, and there were three types of units that I wanted. (Cavalry, muskets and cannons.) Once the war started, I had all the muskets and cannons I wanted, so I produced only cavalry without thinking much about wasted shields.

 

[Aabraxan]

Also, what are the most important techs in the ancient age? Should I go straight for republic to receive the commerce bonus or should I research horseback riding, iron working, and mathematics so I can start building my army to destroy my neighbors?

I frequently beeline for the Republic slingshot, trading for other techs along the way. The question of what is the "most important" is a big question that could involve lots of discussion. You may want to run a search on the board for other threads discussing this, or you may want to start a new thread for this topic. That said, I like different techs for different reasons, so I value them differently, based on my empire's needs.

 

[AshMan105]

i manily go straight for republic for the bonus and u can also wen your in republic u also u expand and grow quicker than over civs so ya i recomend that you go staright for republic first

 

[respicefinem]

Is there any way to get opponents to cancel "right of passage"?

Here is my problem. It was modern era with railroads everywhere. There were 3 civs left (me, Iroquois, Maya). The Iroquois had more land than me and wouldn't give me oil, so I planned to conquer the Maya who had oil and aluminum (who were well behind the Iroquois and I). I controlled the seas completely and there was no land route to me except through a lot of Iroquois land. I assumed that dumping some units on a mountain in their area and declaring war would lead to me slaughtering most of their troops on the mountain. I forgot they had right of passage with the Iroquois... After an irritating 15 turns I had all the cities I needed and took a surrender. Was there a way to get the Iroquois to cancel ROP? I had a trade embargo with them vs the Maya. I know that having MPP and pulling Iroquois into the war would've canceled the ROP, but is there any other way? Thanks!

 

[respicefinem]

Also, why republic instead of monarchy? No unit support, no military police... is corruption a WHOLE LOT lower? Is there some other advantage?

 

[respicefinem]

In regards to shield optimization...

If you're trying to build units to transfer the disband shields, build units that have a value divisible by 4. Infantry cost 90, so you get 22 shields. Mobile SAM cost 100, so you get 25 shields. The rounding leads to lower % value.

Depending on what speed you want in making useful units or disband units, change your amount of mined and irrigated squares to get the least wasted shields possible.

60 shield cities for TOW and Mod.Ar. 50 shield cities for Mobile SAM that can be used to feed shields to smaller cities. 30 shield cities for settlers, infanty, and guerilla that can either be disbanded or used. Getting slightly less shields than needed and then using police to lower corruption can make your shield waste minimal.

Just watch out for pollution, it can lead to whole turns worth of shields wasted...

I haven't played much, but I just noticed shield/science waste in my last game, so there are some tips.

 

[Tone]

Is there any way to get opponents to cancel "right of passage"?

I know of no way in civ III to get to opponants to cancel their ROP

Also, why republic instead of monarchy? No unit support, no military police... is corruption a WHOLE LOT lower? Is there some other advantage?

As you mention "no unit support", I assume that you are playing vanilla/PtW. Most players here are playing Conquests which gives some unit support (although still less than Monarchy).

Although the benefits are less substancial in vanilla, I would still choose Republic in many circumstances due to the commerce bonus. Republic and Democracy give an extra coin for each tile worked that is producing gold which means that you have a fair bit of extra cash floating around. As long as you don't place a couple of spears in every city, this is normally enough extra cash to cover the unit costs with plenty to spare. The rest of this extra cash will then enable you to research faster or save more cash to buy techs from your rivals. It mostly depends upon how many units you insist upon having as well as fighting wars that are quick and decisive.

On shield optimisation, I'll build what I need rather than what has least waste at the end. If I need both horses and cats, then the 6 spt town will build the horse and the 4spt will build the cat. However, if I only need horses I'll put up with the waste. Also if the 6spt town is closer to the front line, I might even build the cat there so that I don't waste turns getting the unit into action if the situation requires it and use the towns further away from the front to build the fast units. In short, I'll avoid waste when possible but only secondary to building what I need.

 

[respicefinem]

Tone is absolutely right about shield opt. Don't opt by building the wrong unit.

Now I'm curious what game I am playing...

I have CivIII complete. There are icons for CivIII, PTW, and Conquests. I click on conquests and then start a "new game". There is no unit support under republic or democracy, everyone except settlers can be airlifted... I don't know what would define which version I'm playing. What makes PTW into PTW, and what makes Conquests what it is?

 

[Aabraxan]

You're sure you're clicking the Conquests icon? Republic should have 1/3/4 support in Conquests.

Take a look at Ginger Ale's FAQ thread. It lists the changes made in PTW and Conquests.

 

[respicefinem]

I'm really sorry for posting bad info. My republic does have 1/3/4. I haven't tried republic much because of no military police (contentness) and war weariness. I got the 0/0/0 from looking in the info section on this site. I didn't realize that it was different in conquests.

I do have a question about democracy then. It says in my conquests civilopedia that it yields increased commerce and production. I see the commerce on every tile, but I don't see increased production on my tiles. I was switching over from Fascism.

Also, I've barely ever posted in forums. Let me know if I'm doing anything you don't want me to. I'd like to not irritate people.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

The civilopedia is simply wrong on that count.

 

[splunge the 2nd]

Quickie questions about armies:
I got extremely lucky early and got a milatary leader early in the ancient age. I built an army. Can I upgrade the units I load in the army later when tech and money allow? If not, can I unload the units and repalce them with better ones? If all the units in the army are destroyed, is the army lost also? Does the combat stregnth of the army change as it loses health bars?
Thanks! By the way, I did read the article on armies in the War Academy and found it useful.

 

[Aabraxan]

Quickie questions about armies:
I got extremely lucky early and got a milatary leader early in the ancient age. I built an army. Can I upgrade the units I load in the army later when tech and money allow?

No, sorry.

If not, can I unload the units and repalce them with better ones?

No, sorry.

If all the units in the army are destroyed, is the army lost also?

Yes.

Does the combat stregnth of the army change as it loses health bars?

No, only its health. Its attack & defense values remain the same.

 

[Snarkhunter]

Quickie questions about armies:
I got extremely lucky early and got a milatary leader early in the ancient age. I built an army. Can I upgrade the units I load in the army later when tech and money allow? If not, can I unload the units and repalce them with better ones? If all the units in the army are destroyed, is the army lost also? Does the combat stregnth of the army change as it loses health bars?
Thanks! By the way, I did read the article on armies in the War Academy and found it useful.

Don't think 1) and 2) are possible; at least, I've never been able to do them & others here report you can't, IIRC. As for 3), yes, although technically you don't lose any units until you lose all your hit points, which is what I assume you really meant. As for 4), I haven't noticed the strength changes; same as for other combat units.

kk

 

[splunge the 2nd]

Thanks for the fast replies SnarkHunter and Aabraxan!
OK, so my nearest neighbor is Japan who has iron. There's a horse square several squares away from one of my towns. Should I build an army of warriors or archers and try to attack the Japanese capital that has iron and the pyramids, should I wait colonize the horses and then build an army of horsemen, should I try to trade for iron and eventually get a swordsmen army or should I just sit on my army till better units become available. I'm playing my second real game, first time on regent and am in a fairly weak position.

 

[Aabraxan]

You should start a new thread and post a save. You should not build an army of warriors. The rest depends pretty heavily on your specific game. How far away is IW? What's your terrain and what are the odds you've got iron? How many cities? Where are the horses relative to the Japanese? There are lots of variables here.

 

[JV12345]

I have PTW and when i go play multiplayer, i never see a hoster game, but i see it in gamespy arcade, what i have to do?

 

[Globex]

I have read many posts on these forums that talk about a tactic where you construct a bridge of ships to move your army to another continent. I tried to use this tactic but I found that I could not move a unit from one ship to another ship. How is this tactic supposed to work? I have Vanilla Civ. Does this tactic only work in other versions of the game?

 

[EMan]

It should work in all versions.

You have to place the ship carrying units on the SAME tile as the ship that will receive them. Then right-click on the tile, click on "Wake Transported", then load the units on to the receiving ship.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

And make sure that the units that you want to transship still have movement left.