Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[D0NIMATRIX]

Take your time.
No pressure.

 

[junebug]

I'm playing at the warlord level with a Firaxis vanilla Civ3. I have this horrible suspicion that something has been missed because I'm frequently being massacred by an AI - usually Egypt.

I've done a lot of experimenting: lots of wonders one game, not so many the next or huge army or smaller, lots of workers or not, huge science investment or less, massive irrigation/mines or less but at some point a war starts and I'm swamped.

The AI has much greater scientific advances, more advanced units, and hordes of units. After seemingly playing it close I'm buried. When the game analysis is run after the dust settles my country is often pretty close, once even leading, in my score. Yet there was no doubt I was going to lose.

So. I'm thnking that some large piece of the puzzle has gone missing. I've done a lot of reading on this excellent site but nothing jumps out at me. I seem to be at some critical disadvantage and can't figure it out.

Aaargghhhh - I hate this game but will be starting a new one in about ten minutes!

Junebug

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

Start a new thread and upload or link to a saved game so that others can see what you are doing. You should get some good feedback this way.

edit: Make sure you let everyone know it is vanilla.

 

[darski]

@ junebug

I would suggest that you try a game as Persia. In Vanilla - which I play, they give you a good, strong unit early in the game. You can immediately research Iron Working and go pound some AI early on so that you have room to grow and might to keep you going. Immortals are good until Cavs.

Just a quick thought - do you expand as quickly as you possibly can? Claiming land and having lots of cities is a baseline need for winning at Warlord. IMHO

 

[TheOverseer714]

You should be science king at warlord, you have a huge advantage, I believe 20% production bonus. I am not a vanilla player, but I know that RCP is a valuable tool, and the forbidden palace can create a second core. As Watorrey says, post a save in a thread in the strategy and tips forum and you'll get tons of advice, but it will be up to you to choose what to listen to, as there is a fight for hearts and minds going on there.

 

[junebug]

Thanks for the advice - gives me someplace to go and learn things.

The uplink/analysis appeals.

 

[darski]

I generally avoid roading jungle squares; I take the time to clear them first but I am wondering if there are times it is worth it to just road the square and get on with it?

Sometimes you need that city connected more than you need the jungle clear... right???

 

[vmxa]

Depends on the town and what is around it. If I got the town and know it will soon be bypassed by many other towns, I just want to get a road up.

If it is a contested area, I probably cannot do much, unless I want to risk workers or units to cover them. In those towns, I try to find a chance to run in enough workers to put up a road on the tile that the attackers use.

I want to be able to strike and then get back inside. I rarely will clear a jungle tile until I have a gang to get it done in one or two turns. That is going to be later in the game.

 

[timerover51]

I generally avoid roading jungle squares; I take the time to clear them first but I am wondering if there are times it is worth it to just road the square and get on with it?

Sometimes you need that city connected more than you need the jungle clear... right???

I only clear jungle if it is costing me workers dying of disease that I cannot afford to loose. If I need to put a road through to link two cities or reach a critical resource, normally rubber, I put 4 to 6 workers on it to clear it as rapidly as possible. Otherwise, I avoid it as much as possible. Even when I play with worker jobs, making them shorter, I leave "clearing jungle/wetlands" as the longest job. If I want a challenging map, I will set the map generation parameters to warm and wet, as that normally results in lots of jungle.

 

[D0NIMATRIX]

Thanks for the advice - gives me someplace to go and learn things.

The uplink/analysis appeals.

Post the link up when you create the thread.

 

[darski]

i was playing a game as Japan and Good 'ol Abe declared war early ... of course.

At one point in the game... I had one catapult that I could not bombard with. I have no idea why and I am hoping that someone here can help me.

Surrounding info... I had tried to get my Meiji leaderhead in the game and I was getting a pic of Abe in my "slot" on the diplomacy page. i fixed that.

But I had other cats that I could use. Does any one know of a reason why this one would not bombard. I was working over 1 tile... as usual. When that didn't want to work, I tried hitting the tile exactly next to my city... nothing.

any ideas???

... Besides the possiblity that the RNG's hate me and are punishing me even further.

 

[denyd]

What was the target?

You cannot bombard a red-lined unit without lethal land bombard turned on (catapults normally don't).

 

[TheOverseer714]

You have to have a viable target. If all units on a tile are red-lined and theres no improvements to destroy, you can't bombard, you get a circle with a slash instead of a target. If that's your problem. Mods can cause unpredictable behavior with any game.

Edit: X-post with Denyd, though I was a bit less succinct

 

[darski]

The targets were various enemy units. a spear, a sword or two and an archer none of whom were redlined.

 

[darski]

You have to have a viable target. If all units on a tile are red-lined and theres no improvements to destroy, you can't bombard, you get a circle with a slash instead of a target. If that's your problem. Mods can cause unpredictable behavior with any game.

Edit: X-post with Denyd, though I was a bit less succinct

yeah tell me about it. I got two crashes in a row with trying Meiji.

(in game) I got the red circle, which I recognize of course. That tells me that they knew it was a bombard unit. Well I went in and fixed old Abe so maybe it will be better.

I am so ticked about my Meiji. I really want him in the game... <<<sigh>>>


Edited to add... I was playing this game with my "less corrupt bic" removed. So it was all graphics mods by this game.

 

[Firestorm94]

How do you establish embassies, in the civilopedia it says double click on the capital city icon, what is that?

 

[EMan]

There are 2 ways that come to mind:
1. On the Large World Map Screen, there is a star next to the right of your Capital City's name. Double-click on it and get the Espionage Screen.
2. In Conquests, there is an "E" in the bottom right of the Map Screen. Click on that.

When the Espionage Screen appears, click on the AI you want, then the "Build Embassy" box and then "follow your nose".

 

[darski]

What sort of terrain were you trying to bombard? If the catapult has "wheeled unit" checked in the editor, and the terrain it was trying to fire into was one where wheeled units needed a road to enter, then the unit wont be able to attack or bombard into that tile. I believe in the stock game, catapults might have that "wheeled unit" checked and I know mountains are impassible to wheeled units without a road. Since you mention you are playing a mod, I mention this because the mod designer might have made other terrain types impassible to wheeled units also.

this makes no sense at all. I wasn't trying to get to that terrain square and I have bombarded every sort of unit on every sort of terrain that was within limits. My mods were all graphics only and did not affect the game play at all.

Further, my other cats were able to bombard those same units at the same range.

 

[TheOverseer714]

Manufacturers defect, you got a lemon. If a catapult doesn't work, it's an expensive cart....

 

[darski]

Manufacturers defect, you got a lemon. If a catapult doesn't work, it's an expensive cart....

Well I guess you know lemons if you run the international cartel