Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[EMan]

Better to ask and get a Quick Answer.

A good question might be: Why are all you guys playing Civ 3 instead of Civ 4?

I'm sure you'll get Quick Answers to ANY question in the Civ 4 QA. Ask away....players love to help!

 

[Meteor Man]

Cause civ 4 runs REAL slow on my computer, and it is very boring to wait so long to play, so i reverted back to civ 3. In my opinion, Civ 3 is funner.

 

[Hertzel]

What happens when you attack an infantry with a swordsman?

 

[Aabraxan]

Ordinarily, you lose a swordsman.

Welcome to CFC, Hertzel.

 

[btfx]

Hey guys, I'm getting a little bored with monarch, but still get mu rear handed to me in Emperor. There was this one *awesome* game where I spawned on an island on a pangea map. It gave me a "great disadvantage". Basically, I got a runaway civ (briefly) and that's when the island was really close to the pangea. Anyway, in my current game 3 civs spawned on islands, 2 of them on a faraway island cluster. I was wondering if there was a way to switch civs in the beginning of the game, or something.

 

[Mathias]

You can only choose your start position by creating a scenario in the editor. All you need to do is generate a map in the editor, assign the desired start position to Player 1, save the file, then load it as a scenario in the game. If you have the world seed from your game (you can extract it with Seedbeast), you can generate a similar map in the editor.

 

[btfx]

Bah, I think I'll just start random games and explore the shoreline, until I get a solo Island map =\

Ok, second question, I think the civilopedia mentions naval blockades. Does anyone know exactly how these work? Do I have to block all adjacent tiles? Can I blockade outside of the country's borders? Can transports be used? Do I have to block every possible path or every other path, or just have all paths visible?

 

[Aabraxan]

As far as the map goes, btfx, you could also use MapFinder to generate maps meeting certain criteria.

 

[NickyH]

I've managed to make the governor propose builds that often matches what I like, by setting priorities in the production window that you find when you choose "Contact governor". But the governor almost never chooses market, which I would like to happen more often. Does anyone know which setting affects how often markets are proposed?

 

[Meteor Man]

Ok, second question, I think the civilopedia mentions naval blockades. Does anyone know exactly how these work? Do I have to block all adjacent tiles? Can I blockade outside of the country's borders? Can transports be used? Do I have to block every possible path or every other path, or just have all paths visible?

I always (usualy) blockade all the water tiles around a city that the city is adjencent to:

Alternatively, you could blockade the end of a harbor:

 

[btfx]

Thank you Meteor Man for the great explanation to blockades. And I'll have to play with MapFinder, can't get it to do what I want yet. But I managed to generate at least one map that I like, just bu making random ones and sending the initial units in diff directions along the coast (did you know if you send them into the ocean [black tiles] they'll follow the coast until the whole coastline is explored?)

edit: I'm the English (orange)

 

[Meteor Man]

It looks like a bunch of plains around your start area...you like that?
And yes, transports can be used for blockades. Any naval unit can be used, but preferably one with a high defense in case the AI doesn't like the idea of your blockade .

 

[btfx]

Hah, the plains are terrible, especially since I can't irrigate them for millenia. But I was going for unconventional difficulty.
Edit: Besides. There is a vary nice island right next to me...

 

[darski]

I readily concede that I have the worst RNG luck of anyone I know here so I have to remember that when combat just goes to the other guys.

Recently, I have often been able to build the SoZ so I get several AC's over the time it is working.

My problem is that they just seem to be useless for me. These things are almost as bad as Cleo's war chariots. The extra hit point just means that it wastes more game time to get them dead.

I haven't noticed others saying much about AC either good or bad which makes me think that they are so-so at best. Any thoughts?

Oh, and to be fair, when they are against me, they don't seem that tough then either but I can't really recall too much of that.

 

[Aabraxan]

I like ACs. They're just like Gallic Swords, but without the funny pajamas. I've had good luck with them and I've had bad luck. They're great if you find yourself in possession of ivory, but without horses or iron. Just like any other unit, though, you should put them in stacks. My problem is that as soon as I get one, I'm ready to send it out onto the battlefield when I really should wait for 3-4 to get lined up. The other really nice thing about SoZ and Knights is that the city that gets them is effectively doing double-duty in producing units.

 

[darski]

i think my problem is that I don't use them fast enough. I stack 'em up but the tech leaves them behind and I still haven't had a war. I thought they would be useful against swords and spears but they folded like cheap funeral parlour chairs.

 

[Aabraxan]

For me, they've been fine against swords and spears. It's when pikes come along that the mortality rate skyrockets.

 

[TheOverseer714]

If you are following SGFN05, ACavs are our best unit, our horses suck, but the ACs are kicking butt. You are attacking pikes with them?

 

[Optional]

My experience is the opposite of Darski's. For a while I've been quitting games as soon as I noticed Ivory near my start position; how can you not win with Knights in the Ancient Age? Comparison with Swords doesn't do justice to their strength. That extra hitpoint is about as strong as an extra attack point.
I had to do a Timerover here. I'm not modding a lot, but I felt I had to mod the way overpowered Statue of Zeus. So I got rid of the extra hitpoint and made it into a small wonder. Making it into a small wonder is actually fun; it makes it worth trying to track a civ that has Ivory and trade for it.

 

[Aabraxan]

. . . . You are attacking pikes with them?

Let's say I have done so in the past. It does not work particularly well.