Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Crowqueen]

OK a change to my question, I know to modify most things you do so in the XML file and I have been able to modify a few things such as the default color of certain civilizations, move points but what I can't figure out is how to make a unit specific to only 1 civilization and how do you change the units you start out with, both the kind of units and how many?

Thanks

There is a Creation and Customization forum here that might be able to answer that better than us. Welcome to the forums, BTW.

@Copywriter

1. Yes. You begin with the borders 1 tile in each direction like so:

E---E---E
E---C---E
E---E---E

(where E is Expansion and C is City)

Then when your borders expand once, you get

X---E---E---E---X
E---T---T---T---E
E---T---C---T---E
E---T---T---T---E
X---E---E---E---X

(where X is eXcluded, E is new expansion and T is a Tile already covered, C of course is your city). This second expansion is your Big Fat Cross, which is the area which your city can work to produce (commerce), (production), and (food).

After that your city's borders will go on expanding (exponentially slower) but your city cannot work tiles outside the BFC, although it can connect up resources. You should lay your cities out so that few tiles are outside the BFC of one city, otherwise you will waste a lot of land that could be made productive and increase the distance from your capital which will cost maintenance. Sometimes it is beneficial to overlap cities' BFCs but in the main I prefer to tessellate the cities and make sure that each city has the maximum space possible to work and develop their own tiles.

2. No. On land maps or maps that have finite boundaries (most continent/sea maps have ice at the poles so it is impossible for this to happen normally) you will need to take that into account when placing cities. I don't know many people here who play land maps so I am not sure what to suggest, because to be honest it depends on resources I need to harvest (e.g. if there is an iron square one from the top of the map I will put a city down next to it in order to connect it up, usually with the iron in the first 3x3 grid rather than the second BFC) but again, what is best at the time is best at the time. If it is a late-game city usually you don't lose much by plonking it down, but an earlier city is best given plenty of space to grow to at least its BFC area so I would avoid putting anything down in the top two rows of a map before you have a wide and diverse empire itself.

3. You wouldn't be able to trade it if they weren't able to research it. So if you can trade it to them - that is, if it shows on your side of the trading screen - it is possible for them to research it.

For example, take the following technology progression: Metal Casting leads to Machinery leads to Engineering.

Suleiman doesn't yet have Metal Casting, whereas I have Engineering. When I trade with Suleiman, all that shows on my side of the trading table is Metal Casting. I can't trade Suleiman Machinery until he has Metal Casting, and I can't trade him Engineering until he has Machinery. (This happens, BTW, because the AI doesn't seem to prioritize Metal Casting even though it is usually a vital technology if you want to get ahead in warfare.)

 

[Copywriter]

Thanks for that.

I still have one question though.

If 1 tile to the north is taken by another CIV (or maybe me), does that E get shifted to another direction (E,S,W) or do you just lose it?

Also, I have one city on my first Civ4 game that's huge (like 26), but lots of land isn't selectable in the city screen. Would it be wise to build another city in it's space, so I can use those resources?

Thanks

 

[Crowqueen]

Thanks for that.

I still have one question though.

If 1 tile to the north is taken by another CIV (or maybe me), does that E get shifted to another direction (E,S,W) or do you just lose it?

Also, I have one city on my first Civ4 game that's huge (like 26), but lots of land isn't selectable in the city screen. Would it be wise to build another city in it's space, so I can use those resources?

Thanks

1. You just lose it (if another Civ has it) or you can use it immediately (if you own it yourself).

Sometimes if your city's culture outranks theirs, you will take over the use of that tile.

2. No. First of all you have 18 usable tiles (assuming nothing overlaps with anywhere else) - that is 18 "people" working the city surroundings. Look to the right-hand side of the screen where you will see a "list" of various figures - I can't remember what it looks like offhand, but let me go into one of my games...

Spoiler Open this for an image - Washington ~1200 BC :

The circles on the main map show the tiles being worked. In your case all eighteen possible tiles would be selected.

On the right you have the specialists - Spy, Engineer, Merchant, Scientist, Artist, Priest, Citizen. If you take someone off working the 18 tiles, or if you have more than 18 people in the city, you can distribute the remaining "citizens" among these specialists for extra bonuses. Given you sound like you have reached the modern era or thereabouts you should have the option to use one or more of these specialists, depending on what buildings you have. For example a Theatre gives you the possibility of using an Artist, a Temple gives you the chance of a Priest, and Scientists come with buildings like Libraries or Universities (you will get free specialists with the Great Library, where you get two scientists above and beyond any citizens working in the city. I have a free Priest because I have already built the Temple of Artemis in my city. I don't have any buildings yet which would allow me to take people off working on the city's land and put them to other uses like a Merchant or an Artist or even a Spy (if you have Beyond the Sword, the expansion pack that opens up espionage properly) but you probably do and your city governor - that is, the computer automated AI controlling the distribution of citizens and people working the tiles - has probably chosen several specialists for you already to make sure your city is producing as much as it possibly can at that level.

Sorry it's a bit long-winded but I'm not a very good teacher. Someone will probably have beaten me to this by now but keep on asking and I'll keep on answering.

PS - to everyone else - Warlord, Roosevelt, Continents-and-Islands, I pwned Mansa Musa, Tokugawa and Wang Kon for a domination victory and that is the axe rush, or beginning thereof, which slaughtered Isabella.

 

[Copywriter]

Cool. Thanks!

I think I understand now.

So if my strategy is to cut off the enemies growth by planting a city, I should allow a few titles for growth one way or the other.

Can't wait to start my 2nd game. I've learned a lot about building. Think I built some pointless stuff in the wrong areas.

 

[Roland Johansen]

OK a change to my question, I know to modify most things you do so in the XML file and I have been able to modify a few things such as the default color of certain civilizations, move points but what I can't figure out is how to make a unit specific to only 1 civilization and how do you change the units you start out with, both the kind of units and how many?

Thanks

Crowqueen is right, there is a special forum for these types of questions and you'll typically get better answers there. I'll try to answer them nonetheless.

- Unique units.

The unique units are mentioned both in the file CIV4UnitInfos.xml and the file CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml. I think that the inclusion of the unique unit in the section of that specific civilisation in CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml makes them the unique unit for that civilisation.

The following section in that file determines the unique unit for the Roman civilisation.

			<Units>
				<Unit>
					<UnitClassType>UNITCLASS_SWORDSMAN</UnitClassType>
					<UnitType>UNIT_ROME_PRAETORIAN</UnitType>
				</Unit>
			</Units>

-Starting units

That same file CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml also mentions starting units:

			<FreeUnitClasses>
				<FreeUnitClass>
					<UnitClassType>UNITCLASS_SETTLER</UnitClassType>
					<iFreeUnits>1</iFreeUnits>
				</FreeUnitClass>
			</FreeUnitClasses>

The game also assigns you a best starting exploring unit. You normally get a warrior, except when you start with hunting. If you start with hunting, you get a scout.

You can set higher numbers of starting units in the file CIV4HandicapInfo.xml.

			<iStartingDefenseUnits>0</iStartingDefenseUnits>
			<iStartingWorkerUnits>0</iStartingWorkerUnits>
			<iStartingExploreUnits>0</iStartingExploreUnits>

The Defense Unit will be the best available defensive military unit (warrior normally), the exploring unit will be the best available exploring unit (scout or warrior normally), the worker unit will be a worker. You can set this for every difficulty and this is just for the human player. The AI has its own entry for starting units in that same file.

Note that all of what I mention above is untested. I have never messed with those parts of those files before. Any modifications are at your own risk.

Good luck modding and welcome to civfanatics!

 

[Crowqueen]

Cool. Thanks!

I think I understand now.

So if my strategy is to cut off the enemies growth by planting a city, I should allow a few titles for growth one way or the other.

Can't wait to start my 2nd game. I've learned a lot about building. Think I built some pointless stuff in the wrong areas.

Good luck , but not necessarily.

If you are trying to cut an enemy off, go for a chokepoint like an isthmus and either stretch your empire a little bit or overlap. In my current game I was happily planning my empire before I realised my enemies beyond the Isthmus of Ravenna were expanding like the rabbit population after Valentine's Day. Therefore I sent an emergency settler out to garrison the isthmus properly, squashing Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia between the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire, and eventually incorporating him into the Imperium Romanicus. (Well, he was Hindu after all. All brothers of the faith must be gathered together under one standard!) Now I have ample space to expand into while everyone else is just sitting there waiting to be similarly incorporated into the Dominant Power.

...Also it is POINTLESS beyond words to build a city one tile in from a coastline and lose access to the sea. As long as there is a coastal tile in the first radius of your new city, you will have access to the full range of shipping or harbour/lighthouse/drydock tiles (and also with Fishing you can use those tiles for A LOT of if you are a Financial leader). If this happens you can always leave one tile between the BFC of the next city over and the BFC of the new city, but be prepared to have a sentry patrolling the road in and out to protect your traffic, particularly your workers, from barbarians while your city's borders expand. I don't think I have another screenshot of this but think strategically about where you place cities designed to milk the coastline for all it's worth or cut off an enemy from the rest of their empire or a continent via an isthmus. (I did that in my latest game and I have a whole area to fill in later whereas my rivals are all squashed together. I have about 12 cities and room for more while most of them are limited to 8 because of making sure I grabbed the isthmus, so it is well worth making that leap early on, particularly if you have an Organized leader like Julius Caesar. BTW the best leader for people to experiment with is Darius I of Persia - he is Financial - bonus to commerce production - and Organized - reduction in city costs.)

If you are on lower difficulties you should be able to build generalized cities. Starting that way you can experiment with the specialists. On Warlord I have to think more about where to place the military bonus buildings, particularly the National Wonders such as the Heroic Epic (+100% military unit production), or where to settle Great Generals or use their Military Academies to best effect. But on Settler and Chieftain difficulties you don't really need to think that much and can experiment properly, which I think I am going to do at the moment as the new patch for Beyond the Sword has tightened the screw somewhat in terms of AI behaviour and difficulty in general.

Do what seems natural, in short, but if you have long roads between different portions of your empire, you will have to balance sentries with other military and economic growth. Far better just to axe rush someone early on (there are articles on this in the Strategy and Tips section) and buy yourself enough time to develop outward at your leisure. At Warlord you are always looking over your shoulder at your nearest rival, but take some time to explore the game at Settler and Chieftain level before you start trying to specialize and you will be better able to judge strategic positions by eye.

 

[Copywriter]

"Also it is POINTLESS beyond words to build a city one tile in from a coastline and lose access to the sea. "

Now you tell me.

I did this a couple times in my first game (still playing). I read someone's walkthrough so I won't be doing that again.

The Settler and Chieftain levels are all I'll be playing for a bit until I understand the complexities of game operation.

 

[Copywriter]

Oh, another question: religion.

Can I manually spread religion to my other cities of mine? I noticed that some cities in my empire, out of nowhere, adopted a religion.

And to spread it to other Civs (aside from trade screen), do I just send a priest or some thing? What if no open borders?

Thanks

 

[JujuLautre]

Religion can spread automatically, but only to cities without any religion yet. This spreading is random, and just need a connection between the holy city and the new city.

Otherwise, you need missionaries, buildable with monasteries or organized religion. and of course, if you want to spread a religion via missionary to another civ, you need open borders.

 

[AlleyGator]

Crowqueen is right, there is a special forum for these types of questions and you'll typically get better answers there. I'll try to answer them nonetheless.

Thanks for the reply and I did see the other section of the forum but I noticed this thread said I could ask a question without worry if it had been answered elsewhere and even though I did try searching for answers to my questions I came up with none but I have learned a lot that I wouldn't have, I will try your suggestions and also I will try the other section of the forums as well, I just didn't want to be chastised for asking a question that had been answered before.
And I will continue to read this thread as it has answered questions I didn't know I had.

Thanks
AlleyGator

 

[Copywriter]

Religion can spread automatically, but only to cities without any religion yet. This spreading is random, and just need a connection between the holy city and the new city.

Otherwise, you need missionaries, buildable with monasteries or organized religion. and of course, if you want to spread a religion via missionary to another civ, you need open borders.

OKay thanks.

And I assume that you can't "assign" a religion to a city?

 

[Roland Johansen]

Thanks for the reply and I did see the other section of the forum but I noticed this thread said I could ask a question without worry if it had been answered elsewhere and even though I did try searching for answers to my questions I came up with none but I have learned a lot that I wouldn't have, I will try your suggestions and also I will try the other section of the forums as well, I just didn't want to be chastised for asking a question that had been answered before.
And I will continue to read this thread as it has answered questions I didn't know I had.

Thanks
AlleyGator

Oh, you can ask those questions here, but you're more likely to get good answers to modding questions in the Creation and Customization forum. I know a bit about simple XML modding, but if you're going to delve into Python and the SDK, then I'll be of almost no use to you.

This forum is in general not very harsh on people asking questions that have been asked before. If you spend some time using the search function of the forum and didn't find an answer, then don't worry about asking your question. Easy questions are best asked in this thread and other questions in the most appropriate subforum.

OKay thanks.

And I assume that you can't "assign" a religion to a city?

Religions aren't very competitive in this game. A city can have multiple religions without serious negative consequences. There are some benefits to having a religion in a city as it allows the construction of monasteries, temples and cathedrals linked to that religion and happiness and civic benefits in that city if said religion is your state religion.

 

[Copywriter]

Religions aren't very competitive in this game. A city can have multiple religions without serious negative consequences. There are some benefits to having a religion in a city as it allows the construction of monasteries, temples and cathedrals linked to that religion and happiness and civic benefits in that city if said religion is your state religion.

Ah okay. I wasn't sure.

I've been reading pages of stuff here. And now I've discovered the articles forum. I can't imagine anything CIV not being here.

Thanks again!

 

[a4phantom]

Thanks RJ and CheScott.

Yes, I forgot to mention the medic, of course I always include one. My favorite trick is to promote an early chariot to medic, and then stick a Great General to him for Medic3 and to enable West Point.

 

[cheesemoose]

I have yet to aquire this awesome game. When I bought Civ III i got Complete, which includes PTW and C3C. Now, I'm trying to buy Civ IV but there's no "Complete" package, only Gold with BtS sold separately. How do expansion packs work? Are they added to your Civ IV game or played separately??

 

[PieceOfMind]

cheesemoose,

To play BtS you need the original Civ IV as well. Note you do not need Warlords to play BtS. I don't know of a Civ IV + BtS package. But I would recommend only buying Civ IV and BtS because all of the features of Warlords are included in BtS anyway, except for the specific mods/scenarios in Warlords (which most don't really care about). The mods in BtS are better anyway.

 

[Aristos]

Quick question:

I never tried this before, so I don't know if it is WAD or a new or old bug.

I could not defy some nasty UN resolutions, so I bet for the destruction of the city with the UN HQ (I had to do it anyways because the builder civ was going for a cultural victory)

So, I prepare and execute, and the UN HQ is reduced to ashes (old dream...).

Big surprise after that: the already passed resolutions stay in effect even of there is no UN anymore.

WAD or bug?

 

[Roland Johansen]

Quick question:

I never tried this before, so I don't know if it is WAD or a new or old bug.

I could not defy some nasty UN resolutions, so I bet for the destruction of the city with the UN HQ (I had to do it anyways because the builder civ was going for a cultural victory)

So, I prepare and execute, and the UN HQ is reduced to ashes (old dream...).

Big surprise after that: the already passed resolutions stay in effect even of there is no UN anymore.

WAD or bug?

I think it's WAD, but the design is not so great.

You could try to bring it up in the new unofficial patch thread, although I'm not sure if the creator of the unofficial patch will see it as something that needs to be fixed.

 

[a4phantom]

I have yet to aquire this awesome game. When I bought Civ III i got Complete, which includes PTW and C3C. Now, I'm trying to buy Civ IV but there's no "Complete" package, only Gold with BtS sold separately. How do expansion packs work? Are they added to your Civ IV game or played separately??

I got Civ4 and BTS (as two items) from Amazon for $35. There is no "Complete" package currently. [edit: Apparently there is in Portugal].

 

[r_rolo1]

^^ in the States , you mean. In here Civ IV complete is in the shelfs for months