Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Crowqueen]

As Nate said, cottages are crucial, as are courthouses. By the way, the Currency tech is a prerequisite for Code of Laws, which makes courthouses available. Currency is also very helpful, as it increases the number of trade routes your cities have, providing further income, and allows you to sell resources to other civs for gold per turn (GPT) and to sell things like technologies for gold as well. And you can build markets, which multiply the gold a city generates; build these in your cities with the most cottages being worked. Markets also increase the number of happy citizens you have, allowing your cities to become larger, work more cottages, earn more money... you catch the drift, methinks.

Sis, far be it from me to contradict the meister on this one, but Code of Laws is available prior to Currency. The only pre-requisite I need is Writing. I routinely get it as the tech from the Oracle (often rushing Writing while building) but Currency I leave till a lot later.

Still sound advice. Welcome to the forums, elle. What I tend to do on Warlord is to expand slowly, making sure I have a surplus of gold-per-turn when I do so. I find 70% research gives me a nice surplus as well as the opportunity to cover enough ground early on to block off any potential threats, and to keep me ahead of the competition, but I limit myself to one or two cities (dependent on how much gold I pull from huts) at the beginning to make sure I can run the slider on 100% with only a -1 gpt deficit to get most of the key techs like Animal Husbandry, Fishing, Pottery, Mining, Masonry, even Bronze Working and Writing. I do beeline Stonehenge and the Great Wall (as well as an early religion) but in the mid- to late game you will have more momentum, particularly at Chieftain or Warlord, to spread your empire wider, either by conquest or settlement. I find it difficult to wean myself off this gambit so am playing some games on mods with different tech paths, but it should be easy even on Warlord to use that same formula.

Good luck and hang around.

 

[a4phantom]

If you're playing as a Creative leader, however, don't bother with either monuments or Stonehenge, as your cities automatically produce +2 culture by default.

That's why the Ethiopian Unique Building (Stele) seems so useless to me, since the only Ethiopian leader is Creative. It wouldn't be that great a building anyway (I'm not saying I can't see some uses, but . . .), but it's also a supped up monument for a Civ that shouldn't need to build monuments. Now if Culture still played the role it did in Civ3, the Stele would be a huge early diplomacy boost, but it doesn't so it isn't.

Does building Anti-Tank infantry in low hammer cities and then upgrading them to Mech Infantry with free Ambush seem like a good idea? I want to try it when I get Civ4 working, but I wonder if the people here with a better grasp of the game's numbers think it'd be a seriously inefficient use of cash.

 

[Roland Johansen]

That's why the Ethiopian Unique Building (Stele) seems so useless to me, since the only Ethiopian leader is Creative. It wouldn't be that great a building anyway (I'm not saying I can't see some uses, but . . .), but it's also a supped up monument for a Civ that shouldn't need to build monuments. Now if Culture still played the role it did in Civ3, the Stele would be a huge early diplomacy boost, but it doesn't so it isn't.

Does building Anti-Tank infantry in low hammer cities and then upgrading them to Mech Infantry with free Ambush seem like a good idea? I want to try it when I get Civ4 working, but I wonder if the people here with a better grasp of the game's numbers think it'd be a seriously inefficient use of cash.

At that point in the game, I usually have an economy largely based on towns and thus I don't think upgrading is a waste of cash at all. It's just a way to transfer gold into hammers without using universal suffrage.

However, in the late game, you also have the quick gunships to combat tanks and modern armor, so I don't know how useful the mechanized infantry units with free ambush are going to be. It's probably a more universal defender against modern armor and other units, but it doesn't perform as well against modern armor as gunships would do.

 

[a4phantom]

At that point in the game, I usually have an economy largely based on towns and thus I don't think upgrading is a waste of cash at all. It's just a way to transfer gold into hammers without using universal suffrage.

However, in the late game, you also have the quick gunships to combat tanks and modern armor, so I don't know how useful the mechanized infantry units with free ambush are going to be. It's probably a more universal defender against modern armor and other units, but it doesn't perform as well against modern armor as gunships would do.

Sure, I'll still have my gunships (Airborne Cavalry, hehehehe) along with my army, but for defending cities I'll depend primarily on Mech Inf, and throwing Ambush on top of GarrisonII sounds like a nice bonus.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Sure, I'll still have my gunships (Airborne Cavalry, hehehehe) along with my army, but for defending cities I'll depend primarily on Mech Inf, and throwing Ambush on top of GarrisonII sounds like a nice bonus.

That's indeed a good way to use the promotion. I'd only use it in areas where you think you might be attacked by lots of tanks and not in every city. And in those areas it will happen naturally as in the age of the anti-tank infantry, you'd probably station several of them in that area.

 

[Sisiutil]

Sis, far be it from me to contradict the meister on this one, but Code of Laws is available prior to Currency. The only pre-requisite I need is Writing. I routinely get it as the tech from the Oracle (often rushing Writing while building) but Currency I leave till a lot later.

Good catch. I should clarify: Currency is a predecessor tech for Code of Laws, not a "pre-requisite" per se. I usually research or trade for Currency first because it's a darn good tech and because it's a predecessor for CoL, it makes CoL cheaper to research. As I've moved up the difficulty levels, I build the Oracle less and less, so I wind up having to either research CoL or trade for it.

Both techs are invaluable for allowing you to finance an empire that is growing both vertically (population) and horizontally (expansion or conquest). They also make for good tech trading fodder.

 

[Crowqueen]

Good catch. I should clarify: Currency is a predecessor tech for Code of Laws, not a "pre-requisite" per se. I usually research or trade for Currency first because it's a darn good tech and because it's a predecessor for CoL, it makes CoL cheaper to research. As I've moved up the difficulty levels, I build the Oracle less and less, so I wind up having to either research CoL or trade for it.

Both techs are invaluable for allowing you to finance an empire that is growing both vertically (population) and horizontally (expansion or conquest). They also make for good tech trading fodder.

I knew you'd be right, just didn't realise or, I suspect, know, about that bit. Figures (the great Sisutil would never make an outright mistake), but even if I mess up the Oracle slingshot and have to take Metal Casting (because I haven't researched Writing), CoL is more powerful than Currency at the point at which I am going for it. In fact I normally have Theology, Alphabet and Mathematics before Currency, whereas - in order to get it early - CoL is my reason to build the Oracle ahead of schedule. There is the booby prize of Metal Casting if I mess up the Writing pre-req, but I'd say that for expansion purposes CoL is more important than Currency, simply because Markets often increase income far less than Courthouses increase it (because every city costs maintenance but only a few work commerce tiles and thus boost gpt as a result). If he is on Chieftain then it is possible to get the Oracle; at higher levels maybe not but still...the added bonus of a religion is often a reason to go for CoL first, then Currency.

 

[Sisiutil]

I knew you'd be right, just didn't realise or, I suspect, know, about that bit. Figures (the great Sisutil would never make an outright mistake)...

Er, you have been following some ALC games, haven't you? I make mistakes all the time, and the peanut gallery takes great delight in pointing them out!

 

[Caitlin1]

Can someone tell me how to settle a city on another continent? I don't know how to do it and I need hellp

 

[Simon_c]

but I'd say that for expansion purposes CoL is more important than Currency, simply because Markets often increase income far less than Courthouses increase it (because every city costs maintenance but only a few work commerce tiles and thus boost gpt as a result). If he is on Chieftain then it is possible to get the Oracle; at higher levels maybe not but still...the added bonus of a religion is often a reason to go for CoL first, then Currency.

The last couple of games I've prioritised Currency first because there's an instant 1gold/city boost due to the extra trade routes.

Location: Reading, UK

Hello form Arborfield

 

[Sisiutil]

Can someone tell me how to settle a city on another continent? I don't know how to do it and I need hellp

It's just like settling a city on your own continent: you need a Settler, and preferably some soft of defensive military unit as well. However, you also need the Astronomy technology and a Galleon--that's the first naval unit capable of transporting Settlers and military units across ocean tiles. (If only coastal tiles separate your continent from the other one, you can use the much earlier Galley unit.)

 

[Roland Johansen]

Can someone tell me how to settle a city on another continent? I don't know how to do it and I need hellp

It's just like settling a city on your own continent: you need a Settler, and preferably some soft of defensive military unit as well. However, you also need the Astronomy technology and a Galleon--that's the first naval unit capable of transporting Settlers and military units across ocean tiles. (If only coastal tiles separate your continent from the other one, you can use the much earlier Galley unit.)

Welcome to civfanatics Caitlin1.

I'm not sure if any additional information is needed next to what Sisiutil told you, but I've often seen questions from starting players about how to use galleys and galleons (and later transports). There are basically 2 ways.

1) Move the units which you want to transport into the same city as the galley/galleon (in the expansion pack beyond the sword (BTS), a fort can also be used in place of the city). Select each of these units and press the load order button. Move galley/galleon plus cargo units to the other island/continent and select the unit(s) on the ship and order them to move onto the new land. This move onto the new land will use up all the movement points of the units. If you already have a new city on the other island, then you can also move the ship into the city and press the unload button.
Note that if you bump your ship into a land square other than a city (or forts in BTS), you will also be asked if you wish to disembark the units.

2) Move the galley/galleon to the coastline of your continent/island and do the same with the land units that you wish to transport. Now move the land units onto the ship as if the ship tile were a land square. This does take all of the movement points of these units. The rest of the transportation process is the same as explained in 1.

Note that ships can only transport a limited number of units. The values can be found in the civilopedia.

 

[6K Man]

BtS question: I gather that for domination purposes (population, land area), vassals are included in their master's numbers.

Are vassal contributions also included in other measures on the powergraphs and the demographics screen? For example, military size (since the master can call on the vassal to fight)? What about GNP, land area, production, and population on the demographics screen?

 

[Lord Parkin]

BtS question: I gather that for domination purposes (population, land area), vassals are included in their master's numbers.

Are vassal contributions also included in other measures on the powergraphs and the demographics screen? For example, military size (since the master can call on the vassal to fight)? What about GNP, land area, production, and population on the demographics screen?

The vassal's land and population only counts as half of what it is for the master's domination purposes. (This is because otherwise it would be far too easy to gain enough land/population for a domination victory.)

I believe the demographics for vassal and master are still calculated separately (as usual). Someone else will need to confirm that though (I don't use Vassal States very often).

 

[a4phantom]

Does it ever happen under default settings that entire multi-empire continents lack a strategic resource? Iron, horses, coal?

 

[Lord Parkin]

Does it ever happen under default settings that entire multi-empire continents lack a strategic resource? Iron, horses, coal?

Quite often. It's more common on smaller multi-empire continents (with only 2 or 3 civs), but it does happen occasionally on larger continents with many civs. It tends to happen more often on the smaller map sizes, from my experience.

 

[Gwynnja]

Anyone have any tips or a thread discussing the ideal placement for the forbidden palace?

 

[a4phantom]

Anyone have any tips or a thread discussing the ideal placement for the forbidden palace?

I would also like to hear that. The advice I've usually heard is that building it early is more important than putting it in the exact right place.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Anyone have any tips or a thread discussing the ideal placement for the forbidden palace?

I would also like to hear that. The advice I've usually heard is that building it early is more important than putting it in the exact right place.

The Forbidden Palace is more expensive than the normal Palace and it cannot be moved after construction while the normal Palace can be moved repeatedly. I'd build it in a place where it will be good in the long run and move my Palace to an ideal position relative to the Forbidden Palace and the rest of my current empire.

Note that the bureaucracy civic of course has a big influence on the ideal position of the Palace.

 

[a4phantom]

The Forbidden Palace is more expensive than the normal Palace and it cannot be moved after construction while the normal Palace can be moved repeatedly. I'd build it in a place where it will be good in the long run and move my Palace to an ideal position relative to the Forbidden Palace and the rest of my current empire.

Note that the bureaucracy civic of course has a big influence on the ideal position of the Palace.

Also, FP takes up one of a city's two National Wonders slots, and the Palace does not, right?