Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Wulture]

Does anyone actually play with montezuma?

 

[bestbrian]

Does anyone actually play with montezuma?

I have, and it can be alot of fun.

The SA is a great UB.

 

[VollAufRisiko]

I just started playing vanilla two weeks ago. I have only played 2 games through, so I am still learning the game. I was looking at the FAQ section on the site and came across popular mods. Sevomod and Total Realism sound fun and interesting.

Do you think it is worth looking into mods now, or should I get more comfortable with the game first?

 

[Keevanbln]

following problem:

there are a lot of galleons with kossaks on right at my coast but i cant see all of them...how can i scroll down the list?

btw its civ4 (no addons)

thx for the help

 

[Yxklyx]

I just started playing vanilla two weeks ago. I have only played 2 games through, so I am still learning the game. I was looking at the FAQ section on the site and came across popular mods. Sevomod and Total Realism sound fun and interesting.

Do you think it is worth looking into mods now, or should I get more comfortable with the game first?

If I were you I'd only get the BUG mod at this stage. I think it makes it easier to learn the game. It does not change any rules - it just gives you more information.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Question about export and import at the Info Screen( or Demographics Screen? dont remember) on the upper right:

When I click the "info" to see how I am doing vs other civs, even when I am number 1 in army, land, gold, production, I'm usually last when it comes to export and import. Are you guys at usually last place too when it comes to export/import on the Info Screen?

I usually have the least export/import...and its rare for an AI to have less export/import than me.

The figure shown there is wrong in the sense that you want to be worst in this category. If you're last there, then you're doing well.

following problem:

there are a lot of galleons with kossaks on right at my coast but i cant see all of them...how can i scroll down the list?

btw its civ4 (no addons)

thx for the help

You can't.

However, at the bottom of the list, there is something like cossacks (17) shown. This means that the stack contains 17 further cossacks.

If I were you I'd only get the BUG mod at this stage. I think it makes it easier to learn the game. It does not change any rules - it just gives you more information.

Bug doesn't work with vanilla civ4.

 

[Yxklyx]

How do you determine how many Oil or Iron resources an AI has at its disposal?

 

[Shouldbeworkin]

I'm confused, or have a bug, with the way city defenses are reduced by siege weapons. I'm currently playing BtS, but I'm pretty sure I had this problem in Civ 4 before that add-on.

I'll come up to an enemy city with 100% defense and bombard with a catapult, but the defense only drops by 2% (according to the unit description, it's supposed to drop by 8%). Also, as I watch AI movements, I'll often see the defense % cut in 1/2 (i.e. 98% turns into 49%), but then it returns to 98% once it's my turn again.

Any helps appreciated! I really don't want to sit around for 50 turns trying to reduce a cities defenses!!!

 

[Roland Johansen]

I'm confused, or have a bug, with the way city defenses are reduced by siege weapons. I'm currently playing BtS, but I'm pretty sure I had this problem in Civ 4 before that add-on.

I'll come up to an enemy city with 100% defense and bombard with a catapult, but the defense only drops by 2% (according to the unit description, it's supposed to drop by 8%). Also, as I watch AI movements, I'll often see the defense % cut in 1/2 (i.e. 98% turns into 49%), but then it returns to 98% once it's my turn again.

Any helps appreciated! I really don't want to sit around for 50 turns trying to reduce a cities defenses!!!

It's a bit complicated, but not bugged.

City defence bonuses from walls and castles only work against certain attackers. When you select pre-gunpowder units, then the wall and castle defence bonus will apply, when you select post-gunpowder units, then the wall and castle defence bonus will not apply.

So if a city has a castle and walls and 60% cultural defence bonus, then you'll see a 100% defence bonus when you select a trebuchet and a 60% decence bonus when you select a musketman.

Furthermore walls and castles both reduce the damage from pre-gunpowder siege units. If a city has both, then bombardment damage is reduced to 1/4th of normal.

To expand on the previous example. You bombard that city with 5 unpromoted trebuchet units which each normally inflict 16% bombard damage. Because the city has walls and castles, the bombardment damage will be 1/4 * 5 * 16% = 20%. So the defence bonus is reduced from 100% to 80% as long as you select the trebuchets. However when you select a musketman, the defence bonus will be 80% of 60% = 48%

And by the way, welcome to civfanatics!

 

[buffalo6542]

Good question. I can't remember to have encountered a forested tile with copper or silver or something like that. You can find jungle banana and gems. So I wonder what the rule is.

I think you can with any resource. I have fooled around wiht World Builder and have hidden wheat in a forest.

 

[henrebotha]

How do you determine how many Oil or Iron resources an AI has at its disposal?

Assuming you've revealed all of his land at least once, and you've met every civ, you can use the F4 screen to determine whether he's trading Oil or Iron to or from another player, and you can turn on the resource display (Ctrl+R) and fly over his land to see whether he has any.

Or maybe there's an easier way and I'm (a) ********; and/or (b) playing Vanilla.

 

[Roland Johansen]

I think you can with any resource. I have fooled around wiht World Builder and have hidden wheat in a forest.

Whether you can place a forest on a tile with the world builder doesn't tell anything about whether a forest can naturally spread to that tile and that was the question. The world builder doesn't follow the same rules as the rules governing the naturally spreading of forests.

 

[Shouldbeworkin]

It's a bit complicated, but not bugged.
...
To expand on the previous example. You bombard that city with 5 unpromoted trebuchet units which each normally inflict 16% bombard damage. Because the city has walls and castles, the bombardment damage will be 1/4 * 5 * 16% = 20%. So the defence bonus is reduced from 100% to 80% as long as you select the trebuchets. However when you select a musketman, the defence bonus will be 80% of 60% = 48%

And by the way, welcome to civfanatics!

Thanks for the explanation and the welcome. It all finally makes sense! It was confusing me for long enough that it finally drove me to stop lurking this site and join to ask a question!

I had earlier mis-interpreted that the castle / wall defense was against collateral damage of units instead of bombardments of the city defense.

So I think my takeaway here is that I either need to get serious about acquiring Machinery & Trebuchets, or I need to start using 10-15 catapults to go after a city instead of using just 2 or 3. Or it also just hit me that I should see if I can get a spy to take out the walls or castle.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Thanks for the explanation and the welcome. It all finally makes sense! It was confusing me for long enough that it finally drove me to stop lurking this site and join to ask a question!

I had earlier mis-interpreted that the castle / wall defense was against collateral damage of units instead of bombardments of the city defense.

So I think my takeaway here is that I either need to get serious about acquiring Machinery & Trebuchets, or I need to start using 10-15 catapults to go after a city instead of using just 2 or 3. Or it also just hit me that I should see if I can get a spy to take out the walls or castle.

You need lots of trebuchet attacks to remove the castle defence bonus: 25 trebuchet bombardments or 17 accuracy promoted trebuchet bombardments. It's a time period with hard to crack defence bonuses. If you have 8 trebuchets in your attack stack, then you can bombard for 3 turns and then in the fourth turn use 1 trebuchet to bombard and 7 (or less) to weaken defenders. Trebuchets are very effective at weakening defenders and with several city raider promotions, they will typically be victorious when they attack a city with removed defence bonuses.

 

[Shouldbeworkin]

You need lots of trebuchet attacks to remove the castle defence bonus: 25 trebuchet bombardments or 17 accuracy promoted trebuchet bombardments. It's a time period with hard to crack defence bonuses.

That last sentence probably sums it up. I'm not looking forward to the maintenance costs of an extra ~15 catapults, or of waiting another 10-15 turns to get machinery to then try to build trebuchets. I'm currently in an Emperor level game and I'm not set-up with a lot of trade resources, so currently hurting on & .

I've actually just picked-up gunpowder (I know, early to have that w/o machinery, but I've been trying to work down some of the later techs and then trade them w/ AIs for the earlier techs I didn't get to research). So now I'm thinking I might be better off to build up the musketmen and just deal with the cultural bonus that the defenders will have.

If you actually go through a war in this time period, after the battle do you disband the siege engines to avoid paying the extra 10-15 gold in upkeep per turn? I think the hammer / gold bonus you used to get in Civ 2/3 when disbanding is now gone...

 

[Roland Johansen]

That last sentence probably sums it up. I'm not looking forward to the maintenance costs of an extra ~15 catapults, or of waiting another 10-15 turns to get machinery to then try to build trebuchets. I'm currently in an Emperor level game and I'm not set-up with a lot of trade resources, so currently hurting on & .

I've actually just picked-up gunpowder (I know, early to have that w/o machinery, but I've been trying to work down some of the later techs and then trade them w/ AIs for the earlier techs I didn't get to research). So now I'm thinking I might be better off to build up the musketmen and just deal with the cultural bonus that the defenders will have.

If you actually go through a war in this time period, after the battle do you disband the siege engines to avoid paying the extra 10-15 gold in upkeep per turn? I think the hammer / gold bonus you used to get in Civ 2/3 when disbanding is now gone...

Attacking cities defended by longbowmen with a cultural defence bonus of 40-80% with musketmen? Sounds like suicide. If you can get cannons however, then you're cruising through those castles.

I don't disband units. If I have a lot of units, then I'm (going to be) at war. Units sitting around doing nothing is a waste. You should build enough units to go to war or you should build the minimum to defend yourself. At emperor level and above, the other costs are so high that unit upkeep costs are usually relatively low. Unit upkeep costs should be low compared to the output of your economy or your economy isn't working well. Free unit upkeep is about 1 for every 4 city sizes that you have, (if you grow a city from size 3 to size 7, then your free unit upkeep will increase by 1). If you don't use too many defenders on spots where these aren't needed, then the main part of your army can be free of cost.

 

[CoolGuyVic]

Hey guys! New poster here! Nice to meet y'all.

I'm pretty lame at Civ IV (kind of stuck at Prince, I'm pretty solid until steam power tech, but after that my end game play always seems to fall flat), but I have so much fun with it... I like to play for several hours on end. I actually probably play very differently than most. Every turn I want to look at all my units/cities and see their progress. It's like, the only time I ever seem to go through turns quickly is at the very, very beginning of the game or sometimes when I change civics and have anarchy in place. Games always take forever for me but I don't really mind because I have a lot of fun with it.

Don't really have a favorite civ yet, it usually takes me so long to finish games I haven't even played with half of the leaders yet!

Anyways, that's about me, but I have a couple of questions for the brilliant minds here at Civilization Fanatics.

1) I hear y'all talking about the Incan civ (and Huana Caupac or however you spell it) a lot. Now everytime I face his A.I., he is always at the bottom or near bottom of the barrel; I've never played with him. As I browse the site, I notice he is banned from some Hall of Fame games and things...? Is there some sort of exploit that only he is able to do? Just curious as to why I seen "Cannot use Incan Civ" everywhere.

2) Beyond the Sword has everything that was in Warlords, right? I keep getting mixed answers about this.

3) Is there any sort of Mod to Civ IV (either vanilla or BtS (which I will be picking up soon)) that lets you either gives you the option to disband cities or use them as trading fodder to other civs? Maybe with Vassals this isn't as big of a deal, but I find myself, especially in smaller maps with lots of civs (which is what I love to play) taking over cities in horrible areas. Either they will be unaccessable to good resources/food tiles, or they will be so far away from my capital that the maintenence costs end up being a big pain. I'm starting to raze more cities, but I don't know... always seems like a waste unless it's a city with like 1-2 pop.

4) To the "warmongers" out there (and even those who just play war when they have to) who is your favorite leader to beat down? I got such a pleasure out of whooping up Qin Huang the other day... oh and I also really love getting tribute from Ghandi XD

Thanks guys!

 

[IAM]

1) I hear y'all talking about the Incan civ (and Huana Caupac or however you spell it) a lot. Now everytime I face his A.I., he is always at the bottom or near bottom of the barrel; I've never played with him. As I browse the site, I notice he is banned from some Hall of Fame games and things...? Is there some sort of exploit that only he is able to do? Just curious as to why I seen "Cannot use Incan Civ" everywhere.

The Inca UU, Quechua, is very powerful for the early rush. Esspecially on higher levels where the AI starts with archery. Their bonus is +100% against archers. The UB is an early building with +2 culture and the leader traits just make it an all around great early civ.

4) To the "warmongers" out there (and even those who just play war when they have to) who is your favorite leader to beat down? I got such a pleasure out of whooping up Qin Huang the other day... oh and I also really love getting tribute from Ghandi XD

I like to smack down anyone who backstabs me, any civ just before they aquire their UU, or out war a civ that is more advanced than me; like having to tackle macemen with axemen makes for a nice challenge. Oh and anyone making excessive demands.

 

[Carwyn]

Anyways, that's about me, but I have a couple of questions for the brilliant minds here at Civilization Fanatics.

3) Is there any sort of Mod to Civ IV (either vanilla or BtS (which I will be picking up soon)) that lets you either gives you the option to disband cities or use them as trading fodder to other civs? Maybe with Vassals this isn't as big of a deal, but I find myself, especially in smaller maps with lots of civs (which is what I love to play) taking over cities in horrible areas. Either they will be unaccessable to good resources/food tiles, or they will be so far away from my capital that the maintenence costs end up being a big pain. I'm starting to raze more cities, but I don't know... always seems like a waste unless it's a city with like 1-2 pop.

4) To the "warmongers" out there (and even those who just play war when they have to) who is your favorite leader to beat down? I got such a pleasure out of whooping up Qin Huang the other day... oh and I also really love getting tribute from Ghandi XD

Thanks guys!

Not too brilliant and I don't have Warlords, so won't try to answer that one...

However I play the Rise of Mankind mod and love it. It's about 3 or 4 times more complicated than Vanilla Civ and full of random possibilities for replay so it never gets boring. I expect to play and enjoy Civ IV for years with that mod - I found the game flat and insipid before I found a good mod. I used to play Civ 3 with RaR mod also, very complicated and interesting. the RoM mod includes the best of several mods, it's set up to have the possibility of your cities going into armed revolt and war with you if they aren't happy with how you manage them and the AI also go off into flaming meltdown and all sorts of intrigue and economic challenge. Great mod! It's for BTS. I'd recommend using the 2.52 version for the time being, the 2.6 isn't entirely stable.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=269

As for "warmongering", I'm just happy to hold my own, to take out a civ early for their land and to consolidate my territory, then build and micromanage to my heart's content. I often play multiplayer with my friends and enjoy that a lot.

 

[VollAufRisiko]

What does LHC stand for? Its not in the abbreviations thread.