Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[bgast1]

I have it, but haven't gotten to it yet. Is Warlords only for experienced players?

 

[frankcor]

A city must revolt before it can flip.

When another Civ's borders are pressing up against your city, open the city -view screen and hover your mouse over the Culture bar located just above the city's build queue:

Adding more troops to the city will reduce the chance of revolt. Stack enough troops to make it go to 0% and the city can never flip. As the city builds more culture, it will require fewer units to keep the chance at 0%.

Someone smarter than me might tell us the formula to determine how much each additional unit reduces the chance, but I do know it's not a lot.

 

[siegeflare]

help! how do you reinstall civ 4 ?!? my NEW computer (grrrrrr...) froze when i put in the second cd!

 

[Sisiutil]

I have it, but haven't gotten to it yet. Is Warlords only for experienced players?

Not necessarily. The expansion pack is not so radically different that you need to have mastered Civ IV to play it. In fact, you may have an advantage in that there are possibly some habits you won't have to "unlearn" because they no longer work, or are just not optimal.

 

[ArghLuiz]

hmmm but considering your city has already revolted, is there any other option besides stacking military units to prevent the fliping? you only got two or three turns...

also, another thing (non-related to the above) that crossed my mind today. if you focus a city on production, eventualy some buildings/units will demand only 1 turn for being built. that means, logically, that the total amount of needed for that building is less than the city produces each turn, correct? in that case, where does the rest of the go? are they just simply lost - meaning you could spend some population on, let's say, commerce, without affection the production at all? or is it converted to some other thing? what is the answer to the fundamental question of Life, the Universe, and Everything Else? more importanly: what is the question? Why did the kamikaze pilots wear helmets? Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

i need a beer.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Just lost my first city to a culture flip. I hadn't been paying attention,
and the AI cultural boundary just sorta crept up and enveloped me.

1) After the first revolt, you get a turn (maybe 2?) to try to salvage
the situation. What are my options? I tried setting up an artist to build
more native culture, but still lost the city. Can one stop a flip
domestically?

2) In Civ3, one could prevent a flip by garrisoning military units in
a city at risk. Does this work in Civ4? Can one stop a flip by adding troops?

Thanks in advance!

1) The main option for preventing a flip is to use a Great Artist. Realistically, that's the only way you can get a sufficient amount of culture pumped up in the short time that you have.

2) Yes. It usually requires a considerable number of troops to completely quell a revolt though (the more the less of your city you control).

hmmm but considering your city has already revolted, is there any other option besides stacking military units to prevent the fliping? you only got two or three turns...

As stated, the Great Artist is the only realistic option, but it's perhaps unlikely that you'd have one just lying around. Consider razing cities that you capture which will simply flip to another empire anyway. Don't found your own cities too close to other civs'. And pump up your own culture early, before the problem arises in the first place.

also, another thing (non-related to the above) that crossed my mind today. if you focus a city on production, eventualy some buildings/units will demand only 1 turn for being built. that means, logically, that the total amount of needed for that building is less than the city produces each turn, correct? in that case, where does the rest of the go? are they just simply lost - meaning you could spend some population on, let's say, commerce, without affection the production at all? or is it converted to some other thing?

Good question. Hammers are in fact stored, at least up to a point. If you spend more hammers than an item costs, then those hammers will go towards the next build, up to a point. This point is the cost of the item you are building; for instance, if your current build costs 80 hammers, then you can only 'carry over' up to 80 hammers to the next build. Any additional hammers are lost.

In fact, the situation of being able to build things in just 1 turn doesn't crop up often. Units and buildings both get more expensive as the game progresses onwards, to counter your increasing production capabilities. You will usually find that most times you will not be able to produce many items in just 1 turn.

By the way, if you do by chance encounter the situation of 1 turn builds regularly, then it could be that your game speed is too fast. Try Marathon for a change; I guarantee you'll hardly ever see a 1 turn build there.

 

[a4phantom]

Roland, a4--respectfully, and I'm not trying to play mod here, but do you really think this discussion belongs in "Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions?

It's a good discussion, so it deserved its own thread!

Fair enough, I just thought RJ and Lord Parkin were the two experts most likely to do the analysis, and this was the place to find them. Also, the wonderfully vague/flexible nature of the thread's mission kept me from feeling guilty. Once we've resolved this discussion I won't ask for another game's analysis here. On the other hand, I think advice and correction that applies to me might be helpful to other medium skilled players who are moving to levels where the lack of a tight opening strategy can be costly.

RJ, granted that I need to build more workers earlier, when? There's just so many things a new city needs built. Does anyone ever establish a city on floodplains as a worker factory? If there's an up to date thread on this a url would satisfy me.

 

[a4phantom]

I have it, but haven't gotten to it yet. Is Warlords only for experienced players?

Nah, jump right in. Warlords is a slight expansion and improvement, not a graduate level course or a distinctly different game

 

[Mateo]

I was wondering if it is possible to set the Era in which your game is limited to. For example, I want my game to get to the Medieval Era, but I don't want it to advance any further technology-wise, but I'd still like to play my game out. I know that I'm able to set which Era I start in, but was wondering if there was any way to set a limit on how technology advances throughout the game.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Fair enough, I just thought RJ and Lord Parkin were the two experts most likely to do the analysis, and this was the place to find them. Also, the wonderfully vague/flexible nature of the thread's mission kept me from feeling guilty. Once we've resolved this discussion I won't ask for another game's analysis here.

RJ, granted that I need to build more workers earlier, when? There's just so many things a new city needs built. Does anyone ever establish a city on floodplains as a worker factory? If there's an up to date thread on this a url would satisfy me.

I'll try to get some time to look at your game soon, a4phantom.

About the workers, the earlier the better in general. Sure there are many things a new city needs built, but a worker will allow all of those things to build faster (and the city will grow faster and produce more gold in the meantime). As for founding cities, it entirely depends on the situation. If there are a lot of flood plains nearby in an easily accessible location, then I will generally try to make that one of my main city spots. Not necessarily as a worker factory, but definitely as an early gold factory (which can then support the maintenance costs from my fast expansion).

I was wondering if it is possible to set the Era in which your game is limited to. For example, I want my game to get to the Medieval Era, but I don't want it to advance any further technology-wise, but I'd still like to play my game out. I know that I'm able to set which Era I start in, but was wondering if there was any way to set a limit on how technology advances throughout the game.

Unfortunately, I don't believe there is an easy way to do this. However, it might be possible with some modding of the game files... this would probably require an expert though. But who knows, someone may have already made a mod for something similar. Check out the modding forums for Civ4.

 

[a4phantom]

Thanks Lord Parkin.

I was wondering if it is possible to set the Era in which your game is limited to. For example, I want my game to get to the Medieval Era, but I don't want it to advance any further technology-wise, but I'd still like to play my game out. I know that I'm able to set which Era I start in, but was wondering if there was any way to set a limit on how technology advances throughout the game.

The extent of my modding has been to add Ella Fitzgerald and Bob Dylan as Great Artists, but I bet the easiest way is to have all civs start with the techs that bring you into the Medieval Era, and make post Medieval techs prohibitively expensive. But I don't know if the AI would be smart enough not to waste huge amounts of resources trying to research them.

I'm sure there is a good midieval (or whatever era you're looking for) mod out there, which probably has a lot of added midieval techs, so you don't end up with only a few units and civics available.

 

[shorxrore]

ok so maybe i'm just insane...but i've had civ 4 for like a year now and i still dont know how to reset the hall of fame. how do i clear all the stats on it?!?! there used to just be a button you click in past civs but i dont see it ackkkkk!

thanks!

 

[motherboard1]

Is there a way (other than manually, one at a time) to undo the use of an "All cities" Gather Point?

 

[master sword]

Newbie question about the broadcast tower. Warlords version.

I had 5 cities going, and wanted to build a couple of broadcast towers to up my culture. I finished building a tower in one city, but thereafter, the broadcast tower build icon does not show up for any of my other cities.

Is only one allowed?

 

[Sisiutil]

ok so maybe i'm just insane...but i've had civ 4 for like a year now and i still dont know how to reset the hall of fame. how do i clear all the stats on it?!?! there used to just be a button you click in past civs but i dont see it ackkkkk!

thanks!

You're not going insane. The HoF games are saved as replay files in either

C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Replays

or in

C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Games\Warlords\Replays.

To clear the HoF, delete the files in these folders.

 

[ChinaBlue]

The extent of my modding has been to add Ella Fitzgerald and Bob Dylan as Great Artists

Ella! did a search but no succes. Can you give a link or send it to me please?

 

[a4phantom]

Ella! did a search but no succes. Can you give a link or send it to me please?

Dude either I spelled her name incredibly wrong or you're using one lousy search engine, Ella Fitzgerald is probably the most famous American female singer of all time (and deservedly so, she was way back before Britney when talent was still a major factor).

Ella Fitzgerald
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Ella Jane Fitzgerald
Also known as Lady Ella, The First Lady of Song
Born April 25, 1917
Origin Newport News, Virginia, United States
Died June 15, 1996; Beverly Hills, California, United States
Genre(s) Vocal jazz
Years active 1934–1991
Label(s) Decca, Verve
Website EllaFitzgerald.com

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella (the First Lady of Song), was considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century.
With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, near faultless phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. She is widely considered to have been one of the supreme interpreters of the Great American Songbook.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Fitzgerald

Her duets with Louis Armstrong are incredible (I'm pretty sure he was already listed as a Great Artist). Here are pictures:
http://images.google.com/images?q=e...-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[a4phantom]

Newbie question about the broadcast tower. Warlords version.

I had 5 cities going, and wanted to build a couple of broadcast towers to up my culture. I finished building a tower in one city, but thereafter, the broadcast tower build icon does not show up for any of my other cities.

Is only one allowed?

Did you build or capture the Eiffel Tower? That creates a broadcast tower in every city, like monuments with stonehenge, so you can't and don't need to build any more.

 

[ChinaBlue]

Dude either I spelled her name incredibly wrong or you're using one lousy search engine, Ella Fitzgerald is probably the most famous American female singer of all time (and deservedly so, she was way back before Britney when talent was still a major factor).

Ella Fitzgerald
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Ella Jane Fitzgerald
Also known as Lady Ella, The First Lady of Song
Born April 25, 1917
Origin Newport News, Virginia, United States
Died June 15, 1996; Beverly Hills, California, United States
Genre(s) Vocal jazz
Years active 1934–1991
Label(s) Decca, Verve
Website EllaFitzgerald.com

Yes thanks a lot for the info 'dude', I'm a girlie btw
You misunderstood, sorry I if I haven't been clear; I LOVE ELLA!!!
That's why I'd like to have your mod that adds her to the game as great artist!! (failed to find it on these forums..)

 

[robjones890]

simple question, didn't have much luck searching (236 page thread) but it sounds like a stupid question.

I just built a cottage, and it says it wont grow until it works. Can somebody please explain this, and help me fix it?