Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Roland Johansen]

Why was my fully healthy level 5 modern armor beaten by a fricking axeman?

Because in Civization combat results are determined by random numbers so that a slight edge in technology doesn't mean that you always win in combat. So a strength 10 unit can win against a strength 12 unit. It just has less than 50% chance.

As the strength difference between combatants increases, the odds that the stronger one wins increases dramatically. If the strength difference starts to become as huge as you describe, then the odds of losing such a battle approach the odds to win the lottery. But just as there are people who win the lottery, there are people who lose at such odds. You were the lucky winner!

Whats the deal witht he differant speeds? Epic, Normal and Quick? I would just check the manual, but I lost. I originally bought this game the it came out, but my graphics card could not handle it, I finally got one that could and just loaded it. However, 3 moves later it have disappered.

At epic speed the amount of change per turn is smaller, you will build a smaller percentage of a building, you will research a lower percentage of a technology and you will get a smaller fraction of the amount of food that is needed to grow a city per turn. But there are more turns in the game.
At quick speed things are just opposite, you get larger fractions per turn, but there are less turns in a game.
At normal speed, things are normal.

This means that at epic speed, you'll have more moments that you can intervene and change stuff, but each change matters less. At quick speed, you'll have less moments that you can intervene and change stuff, but each change matters more.

The main constant is the movement speed of units, it's the same at every game speed. This means that units move relatively quickly at epic speed and relatively slow at quick speed. It also means that there is more time to wage a war at epic speed as other elements of the game move relatively slower while you're waging a war. At quick speed, the rest of the game moves at lightning speed while you're waging a war.

I don't understand the rest of your post.

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

I don't understand the rest of your post.

I was just stating (with a multitude of spelling and grammatical errors, due to not reading my post before I posted it) I have moved three times since I bougt the game, and some where during those 3 moves I lost the manual.

 

[Roland Johansen]

I was just stating (with a multitude of spelling and grammatical errors, due to not reading my post before I posted it) I have moved three times since I bougt the game, and some where during those 3 moves I lost the manual.

Ah, ok. Then I got the most important part of it, the question.

Civ IV is a complicated game to start playing without the manual (although the manual isn't that great).

 

[Sisiutil]

I was just stating (with a multitude of spelling and grammatical errors, due to not reading my post before I posted it) I have moved three times since I bougt the game, and some where during those 3 moves I lost the manual.

There might be a .pdf version of the manual on one of the game discs--have a look. Alternatively, you could always check my beginners' guide (link in my sig).

 

[schro69]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I read through the first 15 pages of this thread, used the forum search and googled this many times and have never found a single answer. Perhaps it's easy and most people find it on their own, but it's been eluding me and driving me nuts.

Is there a way to view which world wonders have already been built? And possibly which civ built it? I know that you can view this in the event log, but after long periods of time information like that is lost in a jungle of text and impossible to find.

It pisses me off so bad that the game lets me start building a world wonder, and then at 95% completion it says I cannot finish it and just gives me gold. The following turns I get no messages stating that another civ completed it. That can only mean the wonder was already built before I even started building it. Why does the game let me begin to build a world wonder if it's already been built? This is especially frustrating since one time I wasted a great engineer to rush a wonder, to find that I could not complete it, yet I couldn't find a single record anywhere of another civ building it.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CCRunner]

The top 5 cities/ Wonders screen shows (drum roll...) the top 5 cities and all the wonders in the world as well as who built it. You can find it in the demographic button at the top of the screen. The option to switch views is at the bottom. In your case though, the wonder actually wasn't already built, another civ was building at the same time as you and just finished it before you did. To avoid this chop/overflow whip your wonders.

I'm sure there's an F# shortcut but I don't know it off the top of my head.

 

[schro69]

Ahh thanks man, I was sure I had checked out all of those screens. And in the case I stated, the message never popped saying so and so completed the wonder. In fact I never saw the message that anyone built it.

Oh and in the case of the great engineer, I started the wonder and rushed it in the same turn meaning it was started and finished in one turn. There is no way someone else beat me to it, it had clearly been built already previous to me starting the build.

 

[JujuLautre]

Oh and in the case of the great engineer, I started the wonder and rushed it in the same turn meaning it was started and finished in one turn. There is no way someone else beat me to it, it had clearly been built already previous to me starting the build.

There is. You start it, rush it, it will not be built until your next turn. If, in between, someone finishes it, then you lose the race.

 

[KinesongPayaso]

and then at 95% completion it says I cannot finish it and just gives me gold

Oh and in the case of the great engineer, I started the wonder and rushed it in the same turn meaning it was started and finished in one turn. There is no way someone else beat me to it, it had clearly been built already previous to me starting the build.

Are these 2 different instances?
Because if you built then rushed it, you shouldn't have been in 95%

 

[schro69]

Yes, 2 different instances. One I was at 95% then it just said I cannot complete it, although in that turn and the following turns (kept my open for 10 more turns just in case) the message that someone else built it never popped.

For the engineer, I started the build, rushed it and hit end turn. Next turn even though at 100% it simply said I cannot complete it. No message popped up stating that someone else had built it within that timeframe.

I understand that someone can complete the wonder before me if we're building at the same time, but a message will pop up saying they did. In these 2 specific instances those messages never popped up. I am almost certain the game let me start building these wonders even though an AI had already completed them.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Yes, 2 different instances. One I was at 95% then it just said I cannot complete it, although in that turn and the following turns (kept my open for 10 more turns just in case) the message that someone else built it never popped.

For the engineer, I started the build, rushed it and hit end turn. Next turn even though at 100% it simply said I cannot complete it. No message popped up stating that someone else had built it within that timeframe.

I understand that someone can complete the wonder before me if we're building at the same time, but a message will pop up saying they did. In these 2 specific instances those messages never popped up. I am almost certain the game let me start building these wonders even though an AI had already completed them.

It's very easy to miss messages because sometimes many appear at the start of a game turn and some players will start playing and won't wait until all messages have appeared. If you click next turn before all messages have appeared, then messages can even start to lag behind. In this way, the turn that Buddhism or Hinduism are founded can seem to be shifted a few turns just because in the starting turns people click next turn too fast for the messages to appear.

You can always read old messages in the Turn Log (reachable by the small button in the upper left corner or by clicking CTRL TAB). This way, you can see that using a great engineer to rush a wonder is useful or not. If the wonder has already been constructed, then you'll lose the race. If the great engineer finishes the wonder and the wonder hasn't already been constructed, then you'll win the race. Wonder races between players who finish a wonder at the same turn are determined by turn order and the human player is always first in the (single player) turn order.

 

[schro69]

First of all, you imply that I'm just clicking next turn every 2 seconds. Way to make implications about someone you know nothing about. In my own defense I'll say that it's not from clicking next turn too fast. I spend a minimum of 5 minutes every turn because I micromanage every single unit and town under my control every single turn. It's not for everyone of course, but it's how I like to play. So once again, I'm pretty sure I didn't miss the messages, I take note of every single one that crosses the screen.

Newbie, yes. Perfectionist, yes. Dumb, no.

 

[Lord Parkin]

First of all, you imply that I'm just clicking next turn every 2 seconds. Way to make implications about someone you know nothing about. In my own defense I'll say that it's not from clicking next turn too fast. I spend a minimum of 5 minutes every turn because I micromanage every single unit and town under my control every single turn. It's not for everyone of course, but it's how I like to play. So once again, I'm pretty sure I didn't miss the messages, I take note of every single one that crosses the screen.

Newbie, yes. Perfectionist, yes. Dumb, no.

I'm fairly sure Roland wasn't intending any offense in his message. What he was getting at is that it's very easy for even the most careful players to miss in-game notices... heck, I miss things fairly often myself!

I presume you're playing in single player mode. If this is the case, then you should always get a wonder if you have rushed it (or built it) to within 1 turn of completion and someone else hasn't built it yet. However, there is a minor flaw in the game, in that if you were constructing a wonder and then it is built somewhere else on a particular turn, the game will not prevent you from expending a Great Engineer to rush the wonder (even though it is futile). I presume this is what happened in your case - although I can't tell for certain without a savegame file.

Hope this helps.

 

[Roland Johansen]

First of all, you imply that I'm just clicking next turn every 2 seconds. Way to make implications about someone you know nothing about. In my own defense I'll say that it's not from clicking next turn too fast. I spend a minimum of 5 minutes every turn because I micromanage every single unit and town under my control every single turn. It's not for everyone of course, but it's how I like to play. So once again, I'm pretty sure I didn't miss the messages, I take note of every single one that crosses the screen.

Newbie, yes. Perfectionist, yes. Dumb, no.

I wonder why you were so offended by my post. I reread it and can't find the offending part. Maybe you're used to more hostile forums. In this forum, most posters are fairly civilised in their response. I didn't suggest that you were dumb or even a newbie. It's just easy to miss some of the messages because many things are happening at the start of a turn. Many happen to miss messages because they're clicking next turn too fast (there have been several threads about this issue). Even a perfectionist can miss a message just because many things are happening at the same time. I also miss messages and I'm a perfectionist too.

In the second part of my post I suggested a helping function of the game. There exists a Turn Log that stores the messages and it would only take a small part of your five minute turn to check it. It is also useful because clicking messages in the turn log will shift the map to the relevant part of the map. Were you already aware of this feature of the game?

I'm fairly sure Roland wasn't intending any offense in his message. What he was getting at is that it's very easy for even the most careful players to miss in-game notices... heck, I miss things fairly often myself!

I presume you're playing in single player mode. If this is the case, then you should always get a wonder if you have rushed it (or built it) to within 1 turn of completion and someone else hasn't built it yet. However, there is a minor flaw in the game, in that if you were constructing a wonder and then it is built somewhere else on a particular turn, the game will not prevent you from expending a Great Engineer to rush the wonder (even though it is futile). I presume this is what happened in your case - although I can't tell for certain without a savegame file.

Hope this helps.

Note that even in this case, during the turn that you actually rush the wonder, you should have already gotten a message that the wonder has been finished. But Lord Parkin is absolutely correct, there is no reason to allow the player to continue constructing the wonder in this turn and especially allowing the player to rush the wonder is annoying. It might be the case that the programmers intended the feature that stops you from constructing the wonder and changes the production into gold to occur one turn earlier but made a tiny programming mistake. It's not very bad as there is already a message that the wonder is finished, but that message is easily missed. It's better to disallow the player to continue building the wonder when it is already finished.

Note that if the turn log really doesn't have a message that the wonder was already constructed, then you're game is buggy. Post it here and we'll check it out.

 

[KinesongPayaso]

I wonder why you were so offended by my post.
In the second part of my post I suggested a helping function of the game. There exists a Turn Log that stores the messages

This is probably why he thought that you thought he was a "insert brand here"

This was like 2-3 posts back

I know that you can view this in the event log, but after long periods of time information like that is lost in a jungle of text and impossible to find.

 

[jeyanand]

which is the best space mod of civ 4.

 

[Roland Johansen]

This is probably why he thought that you thought he was a "insert brand here"

This was like 2-3 posts back

Ah, yes. I of course didn't remember that piece of information from his earlier post.

In that case, I wonder whether schro69 checked the Turn Log after he noticed that he missed the wonder race. If the message wasn't logged, then there is something wrong with his game.

You can quickly find the logged message by finding the construction date in the Wonders screen and then finding that date in the Turn Log. In this case, it's not needed to filter through every message for ages (as explained earlier).

 

[KinesongPayaso]

Is there a map creator in civ?
No not worldbuilder's terrain editor
that would mean a pre-generated map, with predetermined civ AIs, and a chosen civ already

I would like to create a map, where I can switch around AIs, and change my civ
also, after fixing the terrain, a feature to randomly place resources

 

[6K Man]

OK, so I defied the Apostolic Palace on the resolution to stop trading with my vassal-by-conquest Sitting Bull. (As an aside, that seems kind of cheesy to direct a resolution at a vassal and not the master. As a further aside, Bull still hates me and I get no attitude bonuses for standing with him against the AP guys. Hm. )

I've noticed that since defying the resolution, I don't have a -5 for "TWCYAV" in all of my cities. Is the penalty only confined to cities with the same religion as the AP? If so, can I make it go away or reduce it by introducing new religions to those cities?

 

[DrewBledsoe]

I've noticed that since defying the resolution, I don't have a -5 for "TWCYAV" in all of my cities. Is the penalty only confined to cities with the same religion as the AP? If so, can I make it go away or reduce it by introducing new religions to those cities?

Yes and No...