Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[NecroAngel]

You mean other than taking a video of the screen the whole time the game is being played?

Well yes. Most RTS and such have the ability to save replays of you playing them. Then again this is Civilization where games last much, much longer. But still, could be a fast forward and speed up option.

 

[ggganz]

Well, then no, there is not.

 

[Elros]

Something I've been wondering. What is the actual impact of eras other than choosing a start time and changing the graphics?

 

[Lucifa42]

I've picked up the game again after a long time of not playing it and after 2 games now I've noticed that the AI never really goes to war with each other. There have been an odd few wars, but that's about it. Most of the time it's peace all the way through - is this related to the aggressive setting?
I didn't really a super aggressive game, just a few wars I could involve myself in a few times.

Civ 4 (no expansions) with the latest patch.

 

[Sisiutil]

I've picked up the game again after a long time of not playing it and after 2 games now I've noticed that the AI never really goes to war with each other. There have been an odd few wars, but that's about it. Most of the time it's peace all the way through - is this related to the aggressive setting?
I didn't really a super aggressive game, just a few wars I could involve myself in a few times.

Civ 4 (no expansions) with the latest patch.

The AI will war with one another, but it varies from game to game.

Some leaders are more warlike than others. The likelihood of war is affected by several things, with a RNG value thrown in.

The AI, from what I've seen, prefers to rely on massive numbers of troops for a war. And frankly, the AI is not, overall, very effective at war, which may be why it doesn't fight them very often.

Remember that you can always bribe the AI leaders into fighting one another.

Something I've been wondering. What is the actual impact of eras other than choosing a start time and changing the graphics?

Not too much, although in BtS some of the random events--quests in particular--are era-dependent (you have to complete them before a certain era begins).

 

[Elros]

I'd figured that might be the case since it was undocumented.

Thanks

 

[ori]

Not too much, although in BtS some of the random events--quests in particular--are era-dependent (you have to complete them before a certain era begins).

sorry to say you are wrong
iAIPerEraModifier is perhaps the strongest bonus the AI gets it:

reduces Upgrade cost
reduces production cost
reduces unit upkeep
reduces inflation
reduces War Weariness
reduces the growth threshold for every city
increases unit supply

e.g. this gives an additional discount on all of these of 5% for a deity AI in the Ancient era, 10% in the classical era, 15% in the medieval era etc.

 

[Roland Johansen]

I've picked up the game again after a long time of not playing it and after 2 games now I've noticed that the AI never really goes to war with each other. There have been an odd few wars, but that's about it. Most of the time it's peace all the way through - is this related to the aggressive setting?
I didn't really a super aggressive game, just a few wars I could involve myself in a few times.

Civ 4 (no expansions) with the latest patch.

The number of wars can differ a lot from one game to the next. It is very important which civilisations happen to be in the game and how the religions spreads over the various civilisations.

That said, the aggressive AI setting will increase the number of wars and the aggression of the AI is also increased in the expansion pack Beyond the Sword, especially for the aggressive AI setting.

sorry to say you are wrong
iAIPerEraModifier is perhaps the strongest bonus the AI gets it:

reduces Upgrade cost
reduces production cost
reduces unit upkeep
reduces inflation
reduces War Weariness
reduces the growth threshold for every city
increases unit supply

e.g. this gives an additional discount on all of these of 5% for a deity AI in the Ancient era, 10% in the classical era, 15% in the medieval era etc.

This is a significant bonus for the AI in the later eras on the highest difficulty levels (emperor, immortal and deity), but it is rather insignificant on lower levels and on the levels noble and below the bonus doesn't even exist (is zero). So, I wouldn't call it the biggest AI bonus. The growth, production and the research bonus are also pretty significant and they are present in all eras. And even in Beyond the Sword, the AI still has a significant upgrade bonus although it's not as ridiculous as in Warlords and vanilla Civ4.

Still, I don't know of any other effect of the eras on gameplay. The music, graphics and on the higher levels, the AI bonuses change.

 

[NecroAngel]

Can anyone tell me what most people's 'build order' is if they're a warmonger starting with, say, Genghis Khan? Like. What would they do exactly in the first 10-20 turns? What would they usually build/research, in order?

Thanks.

 

[DrewBledsoe]

Can anyone tell me what most people's 'build order' is if they're a warmonger starting with, say, Genghis Khan? Like. What would they do exactly in the first 10-20 turns? What would they usually build/research, in order?

Thanks.

Depends upon the game speed...but in general play to the leaders strengths...With either Khan, you really want to know where the horses are asap, so Animal Husb isn't a bad option first, then through mining to Bronze Working to find the Copper. Build order again depends a lot on starting position, terrain and game speed. If there are several tiles you can usefully improve straight away (or after An Husb), a worker is often a good first bet, if not, a barracks isn't a bad idea too. Then again, if you have a "seafood" start, you best bet is probably to get fishing first.

There are no cut and dried rules, thats what makes Civ so much fun to play again..and again..and....you get the message. Happy experimenting

 

[GenocideBringer]

I'd like to point out that if you play on a map with massive amounts of land to spread out on, you wont get war. Use a standard map size and at least 14 AIs for some war. Aggressive AI if you want more

 

[ori]

So, I wouldn't call it the biggest AI bonus.

might have exaggerated a bit
Actually the only tangible gameplay effect was introduced in BtS with the chance of random events being

1%/2%/4%/4%/6%/8%/10% per turn for any event to occur (era specific Ancient/Classical/Medieval/Renaissance/Industrial/Modern/Future)

 

[Roland Johansen]

might have exaggerated a bit
Actually the only tangible gameplay effect was introduced in BtS with the chance of random events being

1%/2%/4%/4%/6%/8%/10% per turn for any event to occur (era specific Ancient/Classical/Medieval/Renaissance/Industrial/Modern/Future)

Hmm, I didn't know that last one. Interesting.

 

[Matty R]

I've picked up the game again after a long time of not playing it and after 2 games now I've noticed that the AI never really goes to war with each other. There have been an odd few wars, but that's about it. Most of the time it's peace all the way through - is this related to the aggressive setting?
I didn't really a super aggressive game, just a few wars I could involve myself in a few times.

Civ 4 (no expansions) with the latest patch.

Welcome to the forums.

I've found that playing with a larger number of civs increases the amount of wars. I once played a Huge Pangea map with 18 Civs (17 rivals). Within a short time (maybe 200 turns) there was always atleast one war going on. I'd see 2 civs go to war with another, wipe that civ out then fight each other. I once saw a war between 3 civs that went on for maybe 500 turns, and in the end all 3 still existed.

I'm playing a Large Pangea map at the moment with 10 civs (9 rivals) and apart from a 4 turn war soon after I started, the only other wars have been started by me against Catherine who was settling each extra city closer and closer to me. Its taken 3 short wars to force her back.

 

[Cactus Pete]

Can anyone tell me what most people's 'build order' is if they're a warmonger starting with, say, Genghis Khan? Like. What would they do exactly in the first 10-20 turns? What would they usually build/research, in order?

Thanks.

Circumstances can dictate the optimal choices, but generally . . . in almost all game conditions, you want to build a worker first, because it greatly facilitates your development. If you want to go to war quickly, you are going to want to both chop forests and use Slavery, so getting to Bronze Working very early is, again, almost always the way to go.

Now I have a query:

There is little in the manual about the Space Race victory condition. Do you achieve victory based on when you launch your ship or when it reaches the stars?

 

[Ashmantious]

I am running vanilla CIV IV 1.74 patch. One the audio options I see the box to tic to use the custom music folder. I then use the browse button to select a music folder but it says it can't find it and won't play any music. Any luck using the custom music feature?

 

[cabert]

I am running vanilla CIV IV 1.74 patch. One the audio options I see the box to tic to use the custom music folder. I then use the browse button to select a music folder but it says it can't find it and won't play any music. Any luck using the custom music feature?

never had a problem,
then again I only tried it once, with warlords 2.08.

Are you sure about the folder you selected that it does contain at least 1 mp3 file?

 

[Roland Johansen]

There is little in the manual about the Space Race victory condition. Do you achieve victory based on when you launch your ship or when it reaches the stars?

In the Beyond the Sword expansion pack, it is when the space ship arrives. In earlier versions of the game, it is when the space ship is launched.

I am running vanilla CIV IV 1.74 patch. One the audio options I see the box to tic to use the custom music folder. I then use the browse button to select a music folder but it says it can't find it and won't play any music. Any luck using the custom music feature?

I've never had any problems with it, but I've only used it in Warlords 2.08 and picked a folder from the game itself. (I don't like the modern age music but like the music from the earlier ages.) Maybe the game only recognizes certain types of music files. The music files of the music in the various ages are mp3 music files.

 

[BrantleyL1]

Can anyone tell me what most people's 'build order' is if they're a warmonger starting with, say, Genghis Khan? Like. What would they do exactly in the first 10-20 turns? What would they usually build/research, in order?

Like the other posts said, there are a LOT of "it depends" and probably even more IMHO (or maybe "not so humble"...

I am not a warmonger... I've tried to get there, but maybe I'm just "chicken" (with apologies to Marty McFly). But here's a starting plan - should be good for a newby. I've yet to really move on an early war that I started. Sometime soon, the stars and resources will align and I will try it.

I start with this build order:
Warrior
Worker
Settler
Warrior

When the settler pops, I send him and the 1st warrior off to settle someplace else. The second warrior will protect the city very quickly, especially if you rush him (a.k.a. "whip").

I research agriculture (to give the worker something to do) if necessary.

Mining, then bronze working - I immediately switch to slavery.

I use the worker to chop trees (usually building farms). Usually that cuts down the time to build the settler & the 2nd warrior.

With LUCK, when you complete bronze working, there will be copper in your immediate vicinity - so you can mine it and start producing axemen. If you find it "out there", settle near it, build another worker, and connect your two cities (if necessary).

Start poping out axemen. Whip them, if necessary. Axemen are VERY powerful in the early game. VERY useful against roaming barbarians and barbarian cities - early. Take 2x the enemy defenders and you can almost always take a city. The barbs like to build archers.

I understand that you can use axemen for an early attack on AIs.

My problem is that by the time I get enough axemen built, the AIs have gotten a little too strong. The copper mines have not been really good to me. Last game, I had to research for the iron mines and then build axemen.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

I have another question: from my reading of the war academy, SGs, etc., it seems that farming plains is not ideal (although that is currently what I do). It looks like better options are workshops (for extra production - but wouldn't that make the food output 0, unless you have state property) or watermills if next to a river. What are your thoughts? Is it not worth it to have a 2F/1H tile? What about cottages?

Is there any rule of thumb about placing farms/cottages/workshops (I know the basics, but perhaps I'm missing something)?