Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Roland Johansen]

Ok this is what happened. My disk for civ4 broke in half(stupid story). So I went out and bought the gold edition. I installed everything. I didn't get any new icon on my screen for warlord or anything in my programs. When I put in disk 1 it starts up Warlords and their is no way to start reg. civ. WTH do I do?

Did you actually install the gold edition over the normal version? I don't know what will happen in that case. I would have uninstalled the old version before installing the gold edition as the gold edition contains the original game.

The gold edition should give you multiple shortcuts for the various versions of the game. If it doesn't, then you could go into the directory structure. Civilization4.exe inside the main directory of the game starts the vanilla game. Civ4Warlords.exe in the Warlords subdirectory starts the Warlords expansion. Don't forget to patch the game before you start playing. The patched game is more balanced and stable.

 

[frankcor]

I just lost a cultural game to Lincoln on the same turn that Darius launched his space ship.

I stand corrected. I'm brand-new to BtS and was basing my decision on Warlords and Vanilla experience.

In my first-ever monarch win in BtS, I was tech-leader and just starting to build my spaceship when three civs on the other continent started popping legendary culture cities. Naturally, all three had a defensive pact triangle. I had to switch research to military techs, did a Normandy invasion and ended up winning by Conquest.

I was wrong. (Man, those are three hard words to combine into a sentence.)

 

[a4phantom]

I was wrong. (Man, those are three hard words to combine into a sentence.)

It's easier if you put them out of order ("I wrong was".) It's distracting, and it gets people thinking about Yoda, which is more distracting.

 

[blackrabbit]

It's easier if you put them out of order ("I wrong was".) It's distracting, and it gets people thinking about Yoda, which is more distracting.

Yes it is distracting cuz it made me think of how Yoda would actually say it... "Wrong, I was"

 

[a4phantom]

It was hoopty. They cut through city defenders like butter. Once I upgraded them to macemen even crossbows couldn't slow them down.

Oh my goodness! Tower Shields early on for the second game in a row! I love random events, even though my farms take a lot of hits.

Yes it is distracting cuz it made me think of how Yoda would actually say it... "Wrong, I was"

Aha! You see, it worked even better than advertised.

 

[Crowqueen]

Oh my goodness! Tower Shields early on for the second game in a row! I love random events, even though my farms take a lot of hits.



Aha! You see, it worked even better than advertised.

Or like the woman in the coffee shop today; I was asking about their "Foundation Day" event where they gave all their profits to charity, mostly about how much they managed (if you are in the UK, drink at Costa it's much cheaper than Starbucks and they do a lot more for the coffee-growers on the whole. Illy have even publicly stated that they don't do Fair Trade coffee because it keeps the countries involved over-dependent on cash crops: in Civ terms it's like exploiting the game to make your vassal research Music and not Astronomy so they can't settle elsewhere except their tiny little home island ...I used to drink Illy coffee for precisely that reason but they seem to have got quieter about it now .). She didn't speak much English and what came out was ... "It is FEEENISH."

re: Random Events - that is why everyone should buy BtS - simulates a real-world crisis much more. There is nothing like having that Forge event when you are halfway through the Colossus, though thankfully you are able to buy it off. Makes you ensure also that you have extra back-up supplies of key resources like Horses because some events are just unbuyable back - luckily my chariot rush was over but I hadn't bothered to connect up two other sources of horsies and I was prioritising chopping the Colossus with my army of workers. Then I realised I didn't have Horseback Riding and made sure I got it before anyone else did. Thank God for espionage points.

EDIT - since I was the last person to post here I've edited my post now I actually have a question:

AP - "The election has been cancelled: Stop trading with the infidels" - so Zara would have got Hinduism spread to him?

 

[Cruiserip]

1. One of the benefits of the new civic mechanism is the many different types of combinations and synergies available. However, some of the most frequently used civics combos are...

• Vassalage/Theocracy: Often called the "War Civics" because they grant units additional XPs. If you own the Pyramids, you can combine them with Police State early on to speed up unit production as well.
• Representation/Caste System/Mercantilism/Pacifism: Sometimes called the "Great People" or "Specialist Economy" combo. CS lets you run as many scientists, merchants, or artists as your cities can manage, Mercantilism gives you one extra specialist in each city, Rep gives you +3 per specialist, and Pacifism doubles the GP point generation in each city. A very powerful combination, especially if you built/captured the Pyramids to be able to run Rep early on.
• Universal Suffrage/Free Speech/Emancipation: In contrast, this is the Cottage Economy combo. US gives you +1 per town, FS increases cottage revenue, and Emancipation makes new cottages grow faster.
• Police State/Nationalism/Free Religion: This is the anti-war weariness combo. Police State reduces WW by 25%, Nationalism gives you +2 for barracks, and FR gives you +1 for each religion a city has.

2. Early and mid-game wonders are challenging. You have a very small empire, hammers are hard to come by, and climbing up the tech tree is a challenge. You should only pursue a very small number of these early wonders. Having that focus will, in and of itself, help, because you can then streamline your efforts.

Part of your pursuit should be based upon the map. Do you have a wonder-accelerating resource such as stone or marble available? If so, wonders accelerated by that resource become more attainable (while in contrast, those sped by resources you don't have become less attractive). Also, will the wonder have good synergy with the map? If you're inland on a large continent, then neither the Colossus nor the Great Lighthouse are going to do you much good. In addition, the map may put you on a path to certain wonders. If you have a lot of marginal tundra near you--classic barb-spawning country--then you might want to try to build the Great Wall.
Finally, wonders are nice, but not essential. I've run a specialist economy without the Pyramids, I've won the Liberalism race without the Great Library, and I've gained a tech lead without the Oracle. So don't fret too much if you don't build the chosen wonder--you can still win the game without it.

Thanks so much.
I just brought Warlord yesterday. since my langage just launch it 2 months only.
Look forward may need very very long time to have BTS, unless I buy english version of Mixed edition

 

[DanaLea]

I did a search for "resources standard balanced" and did not find my answer...

When making your choices in the Custom Game screen, there is a Resources tab, with the options of Standard (default) or Balanced. Whats the difference?

-dana

 

[DanaLea]

When making your choices in the Custom Game screen, there is a Resources tab, with the options of Standard (default) or Balanced. Whats the difference?

I didn't find it in a search of THIS thread, but I did a google search and found another thread on this site talking about weather it should even be a choice once warlords was released... and it explained the difference.

Just in case there are lurkers who like me, didn't know, "In this thread, we will discuss Standard versus Balanced resources. Standard speaks for itself. The Balanced option ensures that every player has Aluminum, Coal, Copper, Horses, Iron, Oil and Uranium within 5 tiles of the start location, and eliminates Marble from the map."
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=184476

-dana

 

[Joshua368]

Take autopromote off, even so. Much of what the AI does for you you can do much better yourself. Promoting units can be used for rapid healing, for instance, or you may decide you need better strength against Archers rather than Gunpowder units or Melee units, so you should take control yourself, as with Workers. I tried it for a while but it didn't work so well as when I was choosing the promotions myself.

Ha ha, no kidding. Once when I had like two dozen workers lying around with nothing left to do (and getting very tiresome to micromanage), I didn't want to let them waste away sleeping so I stuck them in autopilot.

A few turns later I caught one trying to farm over one of my advanced cottages, even though the city had no food problems. Yeah, they all got put to sleep quickly. Do not autopilot anything ever, it's better to just put things asleep. (same for cities, just put them in all money/culture/research if they have nothing better)


But anyway, I came to ask a question... culture flipping. When a revolution starts for a rival city to join my empire, what determines whether it's successful or not? Sometimes I've had them succeed pr fail even though there's no apparent change in or around the city. Is there anything I can do to help it switch? Conversely, if one of my cities is trying to culture flip away, is there anything immediate I can do to stop it?

 

[a4phantom]

I didn't find it in a search of THIS thread, but I did a google search and found another thread on this site talking about weather it should even be a choice once warlords was released... and it explained the difference.

Just in case there are lurkers who like me, didn't know, "In this thread, we will discuss Standard versus Balanced resources. Standard speaks for itself. The Balanced option ensures that every player has Aluminum, Coal, Copper, Horses, Iron, Oil and Uranium within 5 tiles of the start location, and eliminates Marble from the map."
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=184476

-dana

That's why I don't play multiplayer. Worrying about fairness would hinder my enjoyment.

Ha ha, no kidding. Once when I had like two dozen workers lying around with nothing left to do (and getting very tiresome to micromanage), I didn't want to let them waste away sleeping so I stuck them in autopilot.

A few turns later I caught one trying to farm over one of my advanced cottages, even though the city had no food problems. Yeah, they all got put to sleep quickly. Do not autopilot anything ever, it's better to just put things asleep. (same for cities, just put them in all money/culture/research if they have nothing better)

I think you can set them to not destroy improvements or chop forests. But promoting units is fun, and I don't want a spearman with Combat1, City Raider1 and Guerilla1.

 

[Roland Johansen]

But anyway, I came to ask a question... culture flipping. When a revolution starts for a rival city to join my empire, what determines whether it's successful or not? Sometimes I've had them succeed pr fail even though there's no apparent change in or around the city. Is there anything I can do to help it switch? Conversely, if one of my cities is trying to culture flip away, is there anything immediate I can do to stop it?

The culture flip is only possible when a civilisation who doesn't own the city controls more than 50% of the culture on the tile. The higher this percentage, the bigger the chance for a culture flip.
Other important factors are the cultural control of tiles around the city (the more tiles are controlled by the owner of the city, the smaller the chance of a culture flip) and the number of units of the owner in the city (the more advanced units in the city, the smaller the chance of a culture flip) and whether the state religion of the owner and the one who is pressuring the city is present.

So if you want to cultural flip an enemy city, then you'll try to increase the cultural pressure and spread your state religion in that city. If you want to protect one of your own cities, then you'll have to increase the culture production in the city (long term) and place more units in the city (short term) and spread your state religion there (short term). You can see the chance of a cultural flip on the culture bar inside your own cities. It decreases immediately once you move more units in the city.

 

[a4phantom]

Is there an RJ counterpart for quick answers and newbie questions about real life? Moral quandaries, women, stuff like that? Or is Civ the only aspect of life that comes with such expert support?

 

[Roland Johansen]

Is there an RJ counterpart for quick answers and newbie questions about real life? Moral quandaries, women, stuff like that? Or is Civ the only aspect of life that comes with such expert support?

Hmm, a War Academy for conquering women and a discussion with Montezuma and Ghandi about Moral quandaries. It would be nice.

Life can sometimes be a game below chieftain level and sometimes a game above deity level and it's random number generator is extremely unpredictable...

 

[The Turk]

Help!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just downloaded a remodling of greek units file and put it in my MODS folder, but for some reason when I loaded the Mod and started playing (i was the greeks) the units didn't change?
__________________
THE TURK

 

[a4phantom]

Hmm, a War Academy for conquering women and a discussion with Montezuma and Ghandi about Moral quandaries. It would be nice.

Life can sometimes be a game below chieftain level and sometimes a game above deity level and it's random number generator is extremely unpredictable...

And it's buggy and unbalanced as heck!


India surrendered to me after I took two cities (because one of them is Delhi and because Hatshepsut is in love with me), so it's very close to half my territory size . . . but no where near half my population. Will the capitulation end ("free at . . .") if India meets one criteria or both? Will there be a declaration of war, or just an announcement that India is no longer my vassal?

Only vaguely related to Civ, but here's one of the few audio recordings of Gandhi: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/06/27/VI2008062703016.html?hpid=topnews

 

[Wenla]

Take autopromote off, even so. Much of what the AI does for you you can do much better yourself.

Most propably you are right, but I try to avoid war (and military aspects) as much as possible (I may even some day try a game with "Allways in peace" option) and that's why/because I don't know military things very well. That's why (as far as I my self understand it) I haven't won a singel game over warlord difficulty level. Avoiding war makes (at least for me) game more interesting, challencing and difficult. One of my best (IMHO) games have been those two I won (at warlord level) without being a single day at war...

That's also one reason I like Civ serial very much, you can make via several options game play like you favour to play and it's allways different kind of experience.

Some other topics is labeled something like "Do Civ favour bad boys", and for me answer is clearly YES.

Wenla

 

[a4phantom]

Most propably you are right, but I try to avoid war (and military aspects) as much as possible (I may even some day try a game with "Allways in peace" option) and that's why/because I don't know military things very well. That's why (as far as I my self understand it) I haven't won a singel game over warlord difficulty level. Avoiding war makes (at least for me) game more interesting, challencing and difficult. One of my best (IMHO) games have been those two I won (at warlord level) without being a single day at war...

That's also one reason I like Civ serial very much, you can make via several options game play like you favour to play and it's allways different kind of experience.

Some other topics is labeled something like "Do Civ favour bad boys", and for me answer is clearly YES.

Wenla

I think the AI's behavior is "optimized" to the game mechanics better than most players' when it comes to growth and expansion. Essentially it knows the rules better than we do. When you get to higher levels, it also gets substantial growth/development/research bonuses. So when you're trying to outperform the AI, it has significant advantages. However, none of these advantages help it actually out-think the player, which is why war gives us an advantage. I play at Prince, where the AI has slight advantages, and on pure growth I suspect the AI civs would leave me in the dust. However, I usually win because I can outstrategize the AI when it comes to war. Also, I declare war when and with whom gives me the most advantage. The AI fights wars largely according to relationships. Kind of ironic, but when it comes to warmongering the human player can be much more ruthless and efficient than the computer. Not many AI leaders will declare war on me if we have a good history, a lot of trade, and the same religion, just because I have a Wonder or resource it wants, but I'll certainly do that to the AI.

I'm not trying to argue you into warmongering (although you really should have an idea of how to build at least a defensive/deterrence army), just my theory on why Civ rewards us bad boys.

My question: Say I've got an undefended city near China. Is China more likely to declare war on me because of that low hanging fruit, even though our overall balance of forces is about even?

 

[JujuLautre]

Help!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just downloaded a remodling of greek units file and put it in my MODS folder, but for some reason when I loaded the Mod and started playing (i was the greeks) the units didn't change?
__________________
THE TURK

Without knowing anything about what you did or downloaded; impossible to say anything. Also, MODs must be loaded in this game.

I strongly suggest you to ask to the maker of these units. He should know better than everyone. Also, perhaps there is a readme.

 

[Wenla]

I'm not trying to argue you into warmongering (although you really should have an idea of how to build at least a defensive/deterrence army), just my theory on why Civ rewards us bad boys.

Yes, I understand value of good defence, actually it is one of corner stones of my games. If I have good enough defencing forces, I don't necessary have to go to war, and if this is not enough, I usually survive so far that I get more and better military and get my enemy destroied. So far my defence forces haven't been good enough with noble level games, haven't won one yet...

Some body (I don't just now remember who) said once that "If you want peace, prepare for war" or something like that, and it's true also with Civ.

Wenla