Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[EMan]

There are also Science Tech calculator programs you can download from this site that will show you exactly how many beakers you need to learn a technology. For example TechCalc 2.01 is one utility program I use.

The utility program CivAssist II also has just about everything you might want to know.....but perhaps is not as easy to use for specific requirements.

 

[Aabraxan]

Huge help thanks. It appears that Micro management is the key to everything and any time I see 4 turns to research something to begin with I need to check the slide rule.

The sliders are your friends. Check on them regardless of whether you're at the 4-turn minimum. That trick about turning the slider down on the last turn is useful, regardless of whether you're on the last turn of Writing or the last turn of Synthetic Fibers. In the early game, you may only gain a couple of extra gold, but in the later game, it can make the difference of a couple of hundred.

Glad I could help.

 

[EMan]

And, remember at Chieftain level, you can run a negative gold per turn, have a zero gold balance and there's no penalty! (Viz. Set the Science slider to 100%.)

Sometimes you might want to mix and match. For example, when you can discover a Tech in 4 turns, you may be able to set the Gold at 100% for 2 turns (with a single Scientist) and then switch to Science at 100% for 2 turns. This is a Chieftain-level strategy.

 

[D0NIMATRIX]

Question about attacking ships in port. Are ships bombarded by land, air and sea units given a penalty when they are in a city? This was in civ2 and it seems when I bombard ships in cities they sink a lot easier than when at sea in Conquests.

Yes, ships in port are given a penalty. I believe that walls and coastal fortresses provide more defense for them, but I'm not sure. You might have to ask someone else.

Welcome to CFC Zeronex!

 

[jtdog]

Still in my first CIV3 game ever (actually trying two different games at same time). I’ve read here about the loss of rep for breaking a Treaty before 20 turns. Here are some questions to that topic.
Questions:
WHY soon after signing a Peace Treaty does your partner CIV plant a city and military in a small gap between 3 of your cities in middle of your empire ( even had a fortress w/archer in their city limits!)? Is there a way to ask them to leave without declaring war and making it look like I’m the treaty breaker?

After signing a peace treaty with England it seems they joined with the French against me after only about 10 turns. Did I miscount or does this happen? Is there any penalty to the AI for breaking treaties?

I can’t seem to find a screen for proposing alliances, How do you create military alliances? Do you have to have an embassy with them?

How good are your advisors? If your foreign advisor (in the box in the left) says a deal is insulting or acceptable, are they ever wrong? Does your military advisor really know the number and unit ability of enemies that are close vs. never encountered?

In the turn sequence it seems to start at unit 1 and go to the last unit, then start at last unit and go to first unit (which makes it seem like a unit gets close to 2x in a row). Do the AI CIVS have the chance to have two turns in a row in the same manner (sometimes CIV ships seem to move twice as much (and unload) as I can move I one turn)?

 

[Bartleby]

Still in my first CIV3 game ever (actually trying two different games at same time). I’ve read here about the loss of rep for breaking a Treaty before 20 turns. Here are some questions to that topic.
Questions:
WHY soon after signing a Peace Treaty does your partner CIV plant a city and military in a small gap between 3 of your cities in middle of your empire ( even had a fortress w/archer in their city limits!)? Is there a way to ask them to leave without declaring war and making it look like I’m the treaty breaker?

The glib answer is don't leave gaps for them to settle in.

After signing a peace treaty with England it seems they joined with the French against me after only about 10 turns. Did I miscount or does this happen? Is there any penalty to the AI for breaking treaties?

The AI doesn't understand reputation, they only know if yours is good or bad.

I can’t seem to find a screen for proposing alliances, How do you create military alliances? Do you have to have an embassy with them?

You have to have an Embassy, and an alliance is usually impossible unless you're already at war with the civ you want to ally against.

How good are your advisors? If your foreign advisor (in the box in the left) says a deal is insulting or acceptable, are they ever wrong? Does your military advisor really know the number and unit ability of enemies that are close vs. never encountered?

The foreign advisor is always right about whether a deal is acceptable and the military advisor is always right about whether the AI is strong/weak, but they don't understand that human tactics make a mockery of "strong" AI civs

In the turn sequence it seems to start at unit 1 and go to the last unit, then start at last unit and go to first unit (which makes it seem like a unit gets close to 2x in a row). Do the AI CIVS have the chance to have two turns in a row in the same manner (sometimes CIV ships seem to move twice as much (and unload) as I can move I one turn)?

The AI can't move twice in one turn. Sometimes the way the screen draws it can look like funny business goes on, but it doesn't. You do know that you don't need to have movement points on your boat to be able to unload the units, so long as the units have movement points? (for aaages the only way I knew how to unload a boat [except in a harbour] was to try to move the boat onto a land square. If a boat ends its turn next to the coast, you can right click and "wake transported" and then unload).

 

[Bartleby]

I'm fairly sure that's a mistake in the manual.

 

[Scratcher]

Bartleby, if you move the boat into a coastal town and then wake the passengers they will have full movement. If the land is railed they can even attack the same turn.

 

[Bartleby]

Yeah, I know that. (I said "except in a harbour")

edit: I see what you mean now, my terminology was a bit out of whack.

 

[Whythat]

The AI doesn't understand reputation, they only know if yours is good or bad.

I read some place else the AI does take faction hits the same as a player if they break treaties even treaties between two AI's. Are you sure the AI doesn't take a faction hit or are you just saying it takes the hit but doesn't care?

Also the AI's seem to trade a lot more between themselves than between humans. The constant trading should have the AI at a higher faction between other AI's to begin with so a rep hit for breaking a treaty would be less damaging for an AI. (But of course I still know very little).

 

[Bartleby]

I think they take the hit and don't care. Whether the hit is as severe as the one the human takes, I don't really know.

 

[EMan]

...The AI can't move twice in one turn. Sometimes the way the screen draws it can look like funny business goes on, but it doesn't...

However, there are instances where the AI cheats! 3 that come to mind:

1. If you attack an AI city with a Population of, say, 2 and the AI is in Despotism......Quite likely the AI will pop-rush a defender, reducing his city to size 1. So you thought you were going to end up with a new size 1 city........and, instead you end up with a pile of rubble!

2. The AI "knows" where all the resources are on the map. So, not only does he not have a "Fog Of War" but can see "hidden" resources as well.

3. An AI cheat to use to your advantage: If you give the AI a Tech such as Democracy, he may well begin to switch Governments IMMEDIATELY (viz. Go into a state of Anarchy), even though it's not his turn to move. This can be a useful tactic if you are ready to begin a war with the AI. (Viz. He cannot immediately come out of Anarchy.)

 

[Lord Emsworth]

In the manual it says that when changing governments it is possible to switch around the government choices in the same turn after the anarchy period. I tried that after picking one type and when I went back to try another, all I was offered was another revolution. Is there a way to do this I don't know about? This is in the Conquests game, btw.

I seem to remember that it actually worked that way. However that was a few patches ago - in Vanilla.

 

[Optional]

Ok, I did a quick test and the result may come as a small shock. There does not seem to be any effect at all.

That does come as a shock to me Lord Emsworth! (and sorry for my late reply, I'm an infrequent visitor of this thread).
I had expected a Right of Passage deal to be impossible after a RoP rape. We have always been told, by the likes of Bede for instance, that if you break a certain agreement, you can not make that same type of agreement again. Was this test performed on Conquests fully patched or Vanilla?

 

[Lord Emsworth]

That does come as a shock to me Lord Emsworth! (and sorry for my late reply, I'm an infrequent visitor of this thread).
I had expected a Right of Passage deal to be impossible after a RoP rape. We have always been told, by the likes of Bede for instance, that if you break a certain agreement, you can not make that same type of agreement again. Was this test performed on Conquests fully patched or Vanilla?

Vanilla 1.29 b2 (Mac)

Don't forget though that this was not a proper RoP rape. There were no deals in place, except for a Peace Treaty.

 

[EMan]

...I had expected a Right of Passage deal to be impossible after a RoP rape...

I think this is still true.

 

[darski]

I have been playing a Continents map and managed to remove the Aztecs from *my* continent and left them with one city on each of 3 little islands.

At some point, I decided to check on the defenses in the Aztec cities and found the first two to be vacant. In a previous game with Monty, I discovered that his cities were undefended and it just had that look again.

I attacked his three cities and only the capitol had one r-pike. (I would guess that he built that one pike when I started the attacks.)

Is this something that other people have seen? Do any other Civs besides the Aztec try this trick?

I am surprised the Germans - who shared an island with one city - didn't attack and take that city. My city had the iron source there.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Yes, I have seen this. It generally will happen if the AI is running a negative and is in a no-unit support government (Republic (Vanilla, PTW), Democracy) and the level itself has no built-in unit support, i.e. Regent or lower. The units get simply disbanded and they probably have no improvements either.

The most likely reason for the negative is that some deal that gave them gpt ended while another deal where they pay gpt is still draining them.

 

[darski]

Thank you. That does make sense. (it was Regent level)

 

[Optional]

Don't forget though that this was not a proper RoP rape. There were no deals in place, except for a Peace Treaty.

Yeah, I've heard about the term 'Implied RoP' for the situation where you're at piece with a nation and have units in that nation's territory. I might have taken premature conclusions out of that term.