Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[lymond]

Will huts pop barbs if the No Barbarians option is on?

no

 

[mycophobia]

Ah I was hoping they would, like the "huts only" option in Civ II

 

[Hafenguy]

Hi folks
Is there any way to copy the in-game civpedia on to the Smartphone so that I can read the information on the Phone?

Im trying the legends of Revolution mod and would like to get familiar with it and didnt have much time to play.

 

[a pen-dragon]

The civilopedia for BTS is saved as an XML in ...\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete\Beyond the Sword\Assets\XML\Text\CIV4GameText_Civilopedia_BTS.xml.
For Mods it is typically found in ...\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete\Beyond the Sword\Mods\[Mod name]\Assets\XML\Text\, sometimes in a big file for all text.
This is the file that the game usesand contains all languages, so it is not very human readable.

You might also try to search for it on the internet, some mods do have the civilopedia online.

 

[lymond]

I think LoR had a website at one time, but pretty sure it is inactive now. Can't remember if they had a civlopedia there. You might ask someone over in the LoR thread. I think it is mostly inactive but I'm sure some still play it.

 

[f1rpo]

Most of the mod-specific info in the Pedia comes directly from the stats in various XML files such as Civ4UnitInfos.xml. In the unmodified game, the strategy help in Civ4GameText_Strategy.xml repeats a lot of that info, e.g. Archer: "This primitive ranged unit is a great early choice for defending your cities from attack. It gets a first strike chance and gets defensive bonuses in cities and on hills." This example coincidentally already demonstrates that those texts tend to become inconsistent with the actual game rules over time – Archers don't merely have a first strike chance. Mods often don't bother updating strategy help at all, and this also seems to be the case with LoR: Pedia shows that a withdrawal chance has been added to the Archer unit, but the strategy help is unchanged. The non-text XML files are even less readable than the game text files, and even a diff between the mod's file and the original file isn't helpful.

Screenshots can be taken fast, but I think one really needs to be able to look up specific info, and a bunch of numbered screenshot files don't allow for that. Just reading through all pages sequentially is no good. Except perhaps for the pages in the LoR Concepts category, which describe the mod in prose. Screenshots of a few overview screens could be of some use: Tech tree, civics advisor, unit upgrade chart ... Maybe screenshots combined with the fairly detailed changelog (especially the "Version History" spoiler box)? For the initial release of the mod it just says "Altered Tech tree"; unhelpful on its own, but maybe along with screenshots ...
Edit (for posterity): Recently created list of stat/ rule differences in LoR.

By and large, I think the answer is simply no – without launching BtS and loading the mod, its Pedia can't be perused. A standalone Pedia viewer could be implemented; kind of an interesting idea. But I don't think it has been done.

I wonder if feeding the XML files of the mod and those of BtS, Warlords and the base game into a chat AI could produce something readable. I've given it a quick try; as usually, it's like pulling teeth.

Spoiler :

Let's only try a proof of concept then. I'll copy-paste the partial contents of the file Civ4TechInfos.xml from the game "Civ 4 - Beyond the Sword" and a corresponding excerpt of the modified version of that file of the community-created mod "Legends of Revolution". I would like you to describe the changes in the mod, preferably using the lingo of the game, i.e. rather "the cost of Meditation has been increased by 20" than "the value of iCost for TECH_MEDITATION has been changed from 80 to 100". I'll do the copy-pasting in a separate prompt; please provide your description/ summary in response to that. For the moment, please just tell me if this request is comprehensible to you.

Yes, your request is comprehensible to me. You can provide the excerpts from the original file and the modified file separately as text inputs in different prompts. After you provide the excerpts, I can generate a description or summary of the changes in the mod using game terminology. Please go ahead and provide the excerpts, and I'll be ready to assist you further.

[...]

Thank you for providing the excerpts. Here is a summary of the changes in the mod "Legends of Revolution" compared to the original game "Beyond the Sword - BtS": [nonsense]

I haven't sent the data for the Legends of Revolution mod (LoR) yet. Here it comes: [...]

Apologies for the confusion. Here is an updated summary of the changes in the "Legends of Revolution" mod compared to the original game: [partially correct, wordy answer]

Are you sure that the AI flavor has changed? It seems unchanged to me. And could you omit the info that there are no changes? Just the differences, please.

Certainly! Here are the specific differences in the "Legends of Revolution" mod compared to the original game "Beyond the Sword - BtS":
Mysticisim: No changes.
Meditation:
The cost of Meditation has been increased from 80 to 100.
The technology now belongs to the Classical Era instead of the Ancient Era.
It now requires the "Priesthood" technology as a prerequisite.
Please note that these are the highlighted differences in the mod compared to the original game. Let me know if there's anything else I can assist you with.

Maybe someone more deft at writing prompts (and with a user account that allows file attachments) could get something readable and semi-reliable out of this.

 

[Piquito2223]

Hi everyone!

Here is my problem:

As you can see in the screenshot I want to improve my capital's production. But everytime I work a hill I lose food. So, how do I make my way around the tiles in order to grow the city's food surplus while at the same time work the mines.

 

[lymond]

Hi everyone!

Here is my problem:

As you can see in the screenshot I want to improve my capital's production. But everytime I work a hill I lose food. So, how do I make my way around the tiles in order to grow the city's food surplus while at the same time work the mines.

don't work the mines if you want to grow the city. AThens is a poor food city, so probably should have kept the flood plain farm as well. It's a decent production city though so sometimes you simply have to work more food tiles to grow. It really depends on your priorities at a give point in the game. Each new citizen costs 2 food and the gold and plains hils mined are food deficit.

If you want more advice to improve your game, consider posting a game over in the Strategy & Tips forum.

edit: and FYI, FOOD >>> Mines in this game

 

[Lexicus]

Hi everyone!

Here is my problem:

As you can see in the screenshot I want to improve my capital's production. But everytime I work a hill I lose food. So, how do I make my way around the tiles in order to grow the city's food surplus while at the same time work the mines.

Sadly this is a pretty food-poor start, so there isn't much you can do to increase your food surplus while also working your high-production tiles. Every citizen consumes 2 food per turn, so any tile producing fewer than 2 food per turn is a food sink. One obvious thing you could do is work the farmed flood plain tile from Athens rather than from that other city (which, btw, should be built adjacent to the river, not one tile away).

Fwiw this is a start I probably would have rerolled on as 1 grassland cow is not enough food to have a good surplus.

 

[Samson]

Hi everyone!

Here is my problem:

As you can see in the screenshot I want to improve my capital's production. But everytime I work a hill I lose food. So, how do I make my way around the tiles in order to grow the city's food surplus while at the same time work the mines.

The way you are doing it, basically.

Assuming you do not change which city has which tiles or do any improvements (ie. this city cannot have that flood plains and you do not irrigate that last grass land) you have a maximum food surplus of 6 (2 from city, 2 from the cow and 1 from each irrigated grassland).

You can "spend" that surplus by working 2 food tiles and growing, or by working hills and growing slowly or not at all.

 

[Lexicus]

It should be noted the city has 8 happiness and 5 unhappiness, so can still grow 3 more citizens without getting unhappy faces from population.

 

[Thrasybulos]

Don't work any mine until you're size 8: work farms (as the others have said, steal the Flood Plains farm from the other city), work the lake.
Once you're size 8, you'll need 16 food.

• City center: +2 Food
• 2x FP Farms: 8 Food (+4 Food)
• Horses: 2 Food (+0 Food)
• Grassland farm + Grassland Hill: 4 Food (+0 Food)

That's total 16, exacly what you need. You have a surplus of +6 Food, so can assign 3 citizens to 0 Food tasks.
That would be 3 Plains Hill mines, or one mine and two scientists.

That's how you can do it.
Now, whether you should do it, that's another debate.
(For instance Grassland Farm + Grassland Hill means 2 citizens yielding 3 Production total... not exactly a great deal. You have an Academy, so working commerce tiles might be a better idea: those two citizens could be working two grassland cottages instead.)

 

[Plains-Cow]

Hi everyone!

Here is my problem:

As you can see in the screenshot I want to improve my capital's production. But everytime I work a hill I lose food. So, how do I make my way around the tiles in order to grow the city's food surplus while at the same time work the mines.

There are more issues here, from looking at your screen shot, because everything's built off of the early game. I'm not sure why your city is pop 5 in 100 AD and you also don't have Mysticism tech yet. By this point, even with whipping from slavery, you should have had more than enough time to grow that city to a larger population. You are also building a stable. Why? Are you going to rush someone with horse archers? Might be a bit late for that. You're also at a pretty big money deficit on the slider, so keeping the extra cash rather than burning it on surplus research to pick up cheap techs is probably a waste of your reserve funds. Why split the gold tiles to different cities? Do they have buildings that make them better than your capital? What are your worker units doing/building right now?

Since you are working mines, I'd dump those and focus on clicking the farms to work instead. You will grow onto the mines as you develop a food surplus. As @Lexicus said, each pop costs 2 food, so even your food-poor start should allow you to work the hills eventually with enough farms. Once you get access to windmills, I'd look into building those on the plains hills until your food situation improves regarding the farms. This capital would also be killer with a forge and Bureaucracy.

 

[Piquito2223]

There are more issues here, from looking at your screen shot, because everything's built off of the early game. I'm not sure why your city is pop 5 in 100 AD and you also don't have Mysticism tech yet. By this point, even with whipping from slavery, you should have had more than enough time to grow that city to a larger population. You are also building a stable. Why? Are you going to rush someone with horse archers? Might be a bit late for that. You're also at a pretty big money deficit on the slider, so keeping the extra cash rather than burning it on surplus research to pick up cheap techs is probably a waste of your reserve funds. Why split the gold tiles to different cities? Do they have buildings that make them better than your capital? What are your worker units doing/building right now?

Since you are working mines, I'd dump those and focus on clicking the farms to work instead. You will grow onto the mines as you develop a food surplus. As @Lexicus said, each pop costs 2 food, so even your food-poor start should allow you to work the hills eventually with enough farms. Once you get access to windmills, I'd look into building those on the plains hills until your food situation improves regarding the farms. This capital would also be killer with a forge and Bureaucracy.

I was whipping horse archers to take a Barbarian city before the AI beat me to it, that's why the population is low. I'm playing as Pericles, who is Creative so I dismissed Mysticism for a while because Monuments aren't needed to create Culture. The stable is for preparing myself to attack with knights, while at the same time growing up the city's population. Keep in mind that I recently researched Currency so now I have more cash to spend it on units, that's why I'm beelining Guilds for the knights. I have 7 cities and my workers are busy cottaging and farming some cities, improving the Calendar resources and building roads. Maybe I need more workers. Also my priority right know is to settle a city to work the Iron for the knights.

 

[Plains-Cow]

I was whipping horse archers to take a Barbarian city before the AI beat me to it, that's why the population is low. I'm playing as Pericles, who is Creative so I dismissed Mysticism for a while because Monuments aren't needed to create Culture. The stable is for preparing myself to attack with knights, while at the same time growing up the city's population. Keep in mind that I recently researched Currency so now I have more cash to spend it on units, that's why I'm beelining Guilds for the knights. I have 7 cities and my workers are busy cottaging and farming some cities, improving the Calendar resources and building roads. Maybe I need more workers. Also my priority right know is to settle a city to work the Iron for the knights.

Where are your horse archers? Polynesian? Dead?

Also, take a look into forges. They will make your whipping and production go A LOT farther and will help with happiness with that gold. They're the best econ building besides granaries in the game, but I know some people skip them depending on their early game strats. What era do you plan to win in and how? What difficulty is this on?

 

[6K Man]

Hi everyone!

Here is my problem:

As you can see in the screenshot I want to improve my capital's production. But everytime I work a hill I lose food. So, how do I make my way around the tiles in order to grow the city's food surplus while at the same time work the mines.

Echoing everyone else - the Gold tiles are a trap. It's easy to get excited by Gold in the initial BFC, but unless you have wet grain or Pigs you'll have a hard time working those Gold tiles and growing. The floodplain farm and the grass Cows are your best tiles, work those always. And when you whip, you have to sacrifice working the Gold tiles. Not ideal.

Gold>Grass hill mine IMO. Grass farms aren't great - IMO the rivered grass farm would have been better as a cottage.

Cut down those trees!

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

how should I attack this city? start with my Catapults or Keshiks?

 

[AcaMetis]

Catapults are generally best used to wear down city defences (that city has none) or weaken top defenders that could tear through many attacking units (of which there are none in this case).

That's a situation where you don't even bring siege, you send enough Keshiks to take the city on the first turn of the war.

 

[skarpa]

Can anyone please tell me why sometimes Temples generate a hammer and mostly they don't. I seem to have missed the bit in the civilopedia. Ta

 

[Plains-Cow]

Can anyone please tell me why sometimes Temples generate a hammer and mostly they don't. I seem to have missed the bit in the civilopedia. Ta

If the temple's faith is of what the AP (Apostolic Palace) faith is, you get hammers from those buildings.