Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Mknn]

If your family members used this switch, then you cannot enter the world builder.

Understood.

If they did NOT use that switch, do they or I need to do anything special to access the WB after the first turn?

 

[ori]

Understood.

If they did NOT use that switch, do they or I need to do anything special to access the WB after the first turn?

No .

 

[jet9313]

hey im new to the modding thing can some one help me i was trying to put in a new civ that someone else made and they said to put it in the MOD folder then go to advanced and select the civ name but the game just reloaded and i still could not play as the added civ?

 

[AbuHab]

I have a question about the synergy (if any) between Aluminum Co and Creative Constructions.

Aluminum Co apparently provides access to aluminum in each city in which the corporation is present. (That's my reading of the Civilopedia; if I'm wrong about that, please let me know.)

Creative Constructions consumes aluminum, among other things.

So, if I create Aluminum Co and spread it to 10 cities, does that count as 10 instances of aluminum for purposes of determining the Creative Constructions bonus? Or does it count as only 1? Or even zero?

 

[Abegweit]

when i get biology, would it be better to replace some of the farms with cottages or should i just use the extra food on specialists?

Biology ups the value of farms and has no effect on cottages. So, on the contrary, it should incite you to tear down your cottages.

 

[bonkers1]

I wonder if anyone can help me. I used to play Civ 3 a lot which had a very basic feature; if you didn't wish a city to keep producing units, it allowed you to switch off production. In Civ 4, however, it seems that this feature has been removed; when one of my cities finishes producing a unit, I get a menu prompt that shows me a list of units and I must choose one of them to produce whether I wish to or not. So, is there a 'Produce No More Units Till I Tell You' button that I've missed? or do I have to keep on producing units and then detroying them - which seems rather wasteful.

 

[MrCynical]

There isn't a "build nothing" option in Civ 4. However there's only a very short phase of the game where you don't have at least one of build gold, science or culture available, and after that it would never be desirable to build nothing. Better to get a few gold or science for your hammers.

Biology ups the value of farms and has no effect on cottages. So, on the contrary, it should incite you to tear down your cottages.

Not really. Even if you're working with cottages, you'll usually need some farms to counterbalance cottaged plains. Biology simply reduces the number of farms needed to get the city to work all tiles, allowing some to be converted to cottages.

Converting developed cottages into farms is usually plain stupid, albeit a favourite approach of the AI.

 

[Giovanni Caboto]

I wonder if anyone can help me. I used to play Civ 3 a lot which had a very basic feature; if you didn't wish a city to keep producing units, it allowed you to switch off production. In Civ 4, however, it seems that this feature has been removed; when one of my cities finishes producing a unit, I get a menu prompt that shows me a list of units and I must choose one of them to produce whether I wish to or not. So, is there a 'Produce No More Units Till I Tell You' button that I've missed? or do I have to keep on producing units and then detroying them - which seems rather wasteful.

There are some techs which enables you to convert production into gold (Currency), into research beakers (Alphabet) or culture ([I think it's] Music) instead of producing wasteful buildings or units.
Although I must admit that I rarely use that feature since only half of the production will be converted and there is almost always a vicious Monty around the corner and I am always happy to have some extra units.

 

[Roland Johansen]

hey im new to the modding thing can some one help me i was trying to put in a new civ that someone else made and they said to put it in the MOD folder then go to advanced and select the civ name but the game just reloaded and i still could not play as the added civ?

The best place to ask how to install a mod is in the thread where you found the mod. Usually, it's a pretty straightforward action like copying the downloaded files in a certain location. However, a mistake can be made by placing them in the wrong location.

If you pick a mod inside the game, the game will always restart, that's normal. You should however see the name of the mod in the upper right corner of the main menu (after the restart) and the changes made by the mod should now be available.

There are some techs which enables you to convert production into gold (Currency), into research beakers (Alphabet) or culture ([I think it's] Music) instead of producing wasteful buildings or units.
Although I must admit that I rarely use that feature since only half of the production will be converted and there is almost always a vicious Monty around the corner and I am always happy to have some extra units.

In BTS, the conversion rate is 1 to 1 and it converts the hammers with bonuses from the forge, factory and power plants. So, it's better in BTS, but I still never use it. There's always something better to build.

 

[bonkers1]

There isn't a "build nothing" option in Civ 4. However there's only a very short phase of the game where you don't have at least one of build gold, science or culture available, and after that it would never be desirable to build nothing. Better to get a few gold or science for your hammers.




Converting developed cottages into farms is usually plain stupid, albeit a favourite approach of the AI.

Yes, but I am not getting a 'build gold, science or culture' option on the menu. I wish I did. What am I doing wrong?

 

[bonkers1]

There are some techs which enables you to convert production into gold (Currency), into research beakers (Alphabet) or culture ([I think it's] Music) instead of producing wasteful buildings or units.
Although I must admit that I rarely use that feature since only half of the production will be converted and there is almost always a vicious Monty around the corner and I am always happy to have some extra units.

Aaaah, that makes sense - those are techs I haven't actually learned. thank you.

 

[Endure]

Yes, but I am not getting a 'build gold, science or culture' option on the menu. I wish I did. What am I doing wrong?

You haven't reached the necessary techs for those options to become available to you yet.

 

[Crowqueen]

To build Culture you need Drama, not Music.

I would always build military units at this stage in the game. Before Currency particularly, between about 2000 and 1000/500 BC, the barbarians start in earnest. Better to be fortifying your cities with more than one archer and to have a number of swords- or axemen to go on active patrol, particularly of vulnerable gaps in your road network or cultural borders.

Although I must admit that I rarely use that feature since only half of the production will be converted and there is almost always a vicious Monty around the corner and I am always happy to have some extra units.

I find Wealth useful in the late stages of the game or when I am planning a war. A city with nothing better to produce and not enough production to churn out a rifleman per turn is good to switch to producing Wealth, but this is in the late game when you need a huge warchest to wipe out your rival, if you haven't already won a diplo victory which is what I normally and rather lazily aim for. Marching my Dutch armies across Portugal was fun (in mid-game, early AD when I am normally busier churning out missionaries and opening my borders to insert them into other countries in order to get the AP diplo victory) but I ended up on -40-odd GPT which wasn't so much fun when I had to try and reorientate my economy to stop me haemmorhaging cash.

However in the early game I am mostly trying to improve food networks (granaries), trade routes (Lighthouses), and build the basics of what a city needs. I run a commerce economy because money is always important for war/defence, production and so on (IRL I am always looking for something to flog on eBay or produce for myself to sell and so on).

 

[Roland Johansen]

To build Culture you need Drama, not Music.

No, Giovanni Caboto is right, it's music that is needed to build culture.

 

[kopfschuss]

Um, hello. I'm back with one more question (something always seems to be cropping up!): I see a lot of references to people preferring to be builders instead of warmongers. I'm just curious what that means in terms of this game (aside from focusing on wonders/bigger cities) and what type of victory that normally leads to?

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Warmongers tend to pursue conquest or domination victories, while builders focus on space race, diplomatic, and cultural victories. Overall, those are rather broad generalizations. It boils down to how much war each player wants.

 

[Sisiutil]

Um, hello. I'm back with one more question (something always seems to be cropping up!): I see a lot of references to people preferring to be builders instead of warmongers. I'm just curious what that means in terms of this game (aside from focusing on wonders/bigger cities) and what type of victory that normally leads to?

Builders tend to prefer constructing their civ and perfecting it. Pursuing world wonders are usually central to the builder approach, but in addition, a builder will fill his/her cities with as many enhancements as are possible and/or appropriate to maximize the economy, culture, and research. Military is a lower priority--usually just enough to avoid getting attacked, or at least enough to fend off an attack if it comes.

Warmongers forgo wonders and many buildings in favour of military. Rather than expanding peacefully, warmongers usually prefer to build the bare minimum number of cities to produce units for the first early war, then just capture enemy cities rather than founding them. The same goes for wonders: most are captured rather than built.

I myself hold to something than someone once said in an ALC thread: I war in order to build. If you're small and weak, the AI tends to pounce on you. It's better to be the pouncer than the pouncee. By mid-game, I can often be in a dominant position thanks to my conquests to both fend off further attacks and to pursue whatever goals I desire. I can and often do, in other words, change from a warmonger to a builder half-way through the game. Thus, I tend to build a lot more of the late-game wonders than the early ones.

 

[Crowqueen]

Roland - you're right, maybe I'm getting mixed up with the Culture slider which you need Drama to move.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Roland - you're right, maybe I'm getting mixed up with the Culture slider which you need Drama to move.

That could very well be. The effects of the two technologies are quite similar and thus easy to mix up. I just wanted to avoid confusion for new players who read your correction of Giovanni Caboto's statement.

 

[UnlockPotential]

Whenever I play a team game (2v2,3v3,4v4 whatever) I noticed people manage to place little signs (A rectangle with a arrow pointing down onto a tile), to remind them where to place cities or way to attack. How do I do this?