Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Fizz'l]

What might have happened is that he forgave the closed borders issue earlier, but still didn't want to open borders because he was cautious, so the game only mentioned it when he became pleased. Unless you were checking every turn to see if the prior closed borders message went away, but I assume you were simply waiting for the game's message

To be fair, I wasn't checking every turn, but I was checking fairly regularly. In any case, there's no other reason why he would be unwilling to open borders at cautious, unless he hadn't forgiven me for the previous slight.

 

[konata_LS]

Hello,

I have a question about the game mechanics of UN and AIs' votes. Near the end of a recent Hammurabi game (NC 301), an AI built UN, and my vassals' votes made me the secretary general. Some turns later, I could choose a resolution to vote. Since I was very close to conquest at the time (actually the vote was 1 turn before the remaining two AIs capitulated), I didn't choose diplo victory and decided to ban nukes instead.

On the next turn, the AIs' choices looked surprising to me:
(NC 301 spoilers alert)

Spoiler :

Initially I thought all the AIs would vote "yes", but several AIs voted "no". I also thought the AI who knew Fission would deny the nuclear non-proliferation, but this vote proved me wrong: Joao was the only AI who knew Fission, but he voted yes; Toku and Alex were the most backward ones and they didn't even have Electricity, but both of them voted no.

And some people told me "the vassals will always vote the same as their masters, unless the vassal is a candidate". But it seems it's not always true here...? I voted "yes", but my vassal Toku and Giggle voted "no" . Even Toku's attitude was Friendly with me, he still made a different choice. Darius was Annoyed towards me, but he voted "yes" as I did .

Judging from this vote, all the low peaceweight AIs voted "no", and all the high peaceweight AIs voted "yes". Maybe such votes are related to AIs' peaceweight?

So, does the peaceweight affect AIs' choice in UN or AP? For example, do warmongers usually prefer nukes while peaceful AIs wish to ban nukes?

And why do the vassals vote differently from their master?

Thanks

 

[f1rpo]

@konata_LS: Here's the AI code. Based on that – no, not peace weight, but other personality values (build-unit prob, warmonger respect) that correlate strongly with peace weight. Also chance, SDI, number of owned nuke units and the "OWABWNW" AI strategy (short for "our words are backed by nuclear weapons", presumably). The decision about adopting OWABWNW is made here, i.e. based on owning any nukes, on build-unit prob and on chance.

And, a few lines above the first link: Vassals support the master on "team votes" (leadership, diplo victory); for other votes, friendly attitude is needed. Apparently, only voluntary vassals are forced to be friendly to their master. As for Tokugawa, the UI displays only player-on-player attitude values, but the voting behavior – like war planning – is based on team-on-team attitude, which gets averaged for masters and their vassals. I'm guessing that Tokugawa doesn't like your other vassals enough.

So, all pretty arbitrary and obscure.

 

[s.bernbaum]

Based on nothing but my experience, those AIs that can build nukes tend to vote no. Those that cannot tend to vote yes.

 

[konata_LS]

@f1rpo
Thanks for your answer! Yes, as you predicted, Tokugawa is Cautious or even Annoyed with my other vassals (Darius, Joao, Giggle...) mostly due to peaceweight. I didn't know the difference between "team vote" and other votes in the UN. It's also the first time I hear about "OWABWNW". Thanks for telling me that!
It seems you've created some amazing Civ code database

@s.bernbaum
Yes, some AIs who know Fission don't want to use nukes; some other AIs are far from Fission but they want to nuke .

 

[pob]

The Internet gives you technologies for free if they are known by two civilizations, is this still the case if they are on the same team?

I'm currently playing a multiplayer game where we are in teams 2v2v2v2v2. We are approaching the modern era and could beeline the Internet. There is only one other team on tech parity with us, so if it would work where we'd get all techs known by just that team pair, then the internet would be an okay investment. If it would need two teams to know the tech, the internet would be a terrible investment.

edit: to answer my own question, according to this thread it looks like techs do need to be known by 2 teams and not just 2 civilizations as per the civilopedia.

 

[6K Man]

How do units on ships defend?

If I park my warships in a city (mine, or neutral) that has no land units owned by me, an AI I'm at war with can kill them automatically by moving a land unit into the city.
If I park transport ships in the same city, will units on board the transports defend if an enemy unit tries to enter the city? Or do I have to unload the units first?

Do forts work the same way? I assume yes, but since I'm here I'll ask.

 

[Samson]

How do units on ships defend?

If I park my warships in a city (mine, or neutral) that has no land units owned by me, an AI I'm at war with can kill them automatically by moving a land unit into the city.
If I park transport ships in the same city, will units on board the transports defend if an enemy unit tries to enter the city? Or do I have to unload the units first?

Do forts work the same way? I assume yes, but since I'm here I'll ask.

I am fairly sure they do not defend, you will lose them all if an enemy unit enters the city.

 

[6K Man]

Thanks Samson. I suspected as much. I've occasionally lured AI fleets into neutral cities I have land access to and wiped them out with a land unit. But right now I'm moving an invasion fleet a long way, and the pathing tool keeps directing my ships through neutral cities on my enemy's continent.

 

[Samson]

Thanks Samson. I suspected as much. I've occasionally lured AI fleets into neutral cities I have land access to and wiped them out with a land unit. But right now I'm moving an invasion fleet a long way, and the pathing tool keeps directing my ships through neutral cities on my enemy's continent.

There is something about the pathing algorithm that seems to find all the most dangerous tiles. In mods where there is terrain damage it usually seeks out those tiles to route you over.

 

[s.bernbaum]

I never use the pathing algorithm to move ships. It does not choose the shortest route but rather the one that keeps the ships in coastal waters as much as possible. So, I always move the ships myself one turn at a time to reach the destination, especially large fleets. That will also keep you out of those neutral cities.

 

[Orion Pax]

Two questions:

1. Why do some civs from developing their land? It's odd to see some do it and others not.

2. Do roads on jungles & forest prevent or slow their growth? Roads on abutting tiles seem to halve growth to those tiles (according to this). But anyone know about the forest tile itself?

Many thanks!

 

[Zygmunt]

Do building roads collect money similar to the previous civ titles?

 

[need my speed]

Do building roads collect money similar to the previous civ titles?

Nope.

 

[AcaMetis]

1. Why do some civs from developing their land? It's odd to see some do it and others not.

Some leaders put a greater priority on development than others, as well as different leaders preferring different improvements. The AI is also notoriously...unintelligent when it comes to it's workers.

2. Do roads on jungles & forest prevent or slow their growth? Roads on abutting tiles seem to halve growth to those tiles (according to this). But anyone know about the forest tile itself?

As far as I know only the tile the forest is to grow on matters in terms of forest growth chance, but don't quote me on that.

Do building roads collect money similar to the previous civ titles?

Roads neither cost or generate income on their own in Civ IV. They can effectively generate income if they connect a city of yours to your trade network, which gives that city access to trade routes which generate commerce, but that's not specific to roads. Other things can connect cities to your trade network as well, roads are just the most consistent/convenient way usually.

 

[TheBirdMan]

Two questions:

1. Why do some civs from developing their land? It's odd to see some do it and others not.

2. Do roads on jungles & forest prevent or slow their growth? Roads on abutting tiles seem to halve growth to those tiles (according to this). But anyone know about the forest tile itself?

Many thanks!

Now that link in 2nd question is "gold" to me since I have my own more-or-less crazy ideas to how this game could be.So many thanks indeed.

Nope.

No, that is true. But it very simple to change it, so improvements gives gold (or food or production) depending on what type of route you choose to make. At least in the [BtS]-release.

 

[need my speed]

Actually, in vanilla Beyond the Sword (and all of Civilization IV, to my knowledge) Railroads add one production to Mines and Lumbermills, so yes, this is an easy change to make in the XML file (in ImprovementInfos, using RouteYieldChanges).

 

[Zygmunt]

Thanks for the replies. I didnt think so, I can easily do city view and see that the gold intake doesn't change. I remember civ 2 roads always added gold, you would go crazy adding roads in every city slot you could!

 

[lymond]

Actually, in vanilla Beyond the Sword (and all of Civilization IV, to my knowledge) Railroads add one production to Mines and Lumbermills, so yes, this is an easy change to make in the XML file (in ImprovementInfos, using RouteYieldChanges).

And Quarries

 

[Nick723]

I’m curious, one can build ‘research’, ‘wealth’ and ‘culture’, but you never unlock the ability to build ‘espionage’.

Any thoughts on why not? Simple oversight, or something deeper?