Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

You're probably missing a strategic resource needed for building those units, most likely oil. Maybe it was pillaged, destroyed by enemy spies or maybe your workers replaced the necessary oil improving improvement from the oil resource in your empire.

And welcome to civfanatics! :dance::band::beer:
Good point thanks for that I'll scan my oil wells. I have noticed more of my competitor nations wanting me to trade oil, which I have been accepting, would this have an effect on my own supplies?
 
Hi all, I am not that new but the question must be very rookie. In starting a new game in an island setting is it that bad of a strategy to start by building a workboat? What about if there are little natural hammers in the city? Will that set me back that much?
 
I seem to remember there being a way to disable the clouds in globe view. I thought this was something you could do with Blue Marble but I cannot find the option anywhere.

Can clouds be disabled?
 
With Blue marble, yes . I can't confirm now, but I think it is some option called cloud coverage ( in BM interface, that is )

P.S I remembered now: changing the clouds was not directly in Blue marble, but on CivScale. CivScale, as you probably know, was discontinued by Coldfever due to the defective interaction of changing the relevant files with the actual result in game.

It should be easy to do with some XML editing, though.

P.S 2 I gave a look to the game files in my laptop and saw this in Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Misc.XML
Code:
		<MiscArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_GLOBEVIEW_CLOUD_SHADOWS</Type>
			<Path>Art/Terrain/Sky/Clouds01decal.dds</Path>
			<fScale>1.0</fScale>
			<NIF>None</NIF>
			<KFM>None</KFM>
		</MiscArtInfo>
		<MiscArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_GLOBEVIEW_CLOUDS</Type>
			<Path>Art/Terrain/Sky/Clouds01.dds</Path>
			<fScale>1.0</fScale>
			<NIF>None</NIF>
			<KFM>None</KFM>
		</MiscArtInfo>
I think this is what you are looking for.
 
Good point thanks for that I'll scan my oil wells. I have noticed more of my competitor nations wanting me to trade oil, which I have been accepting, would this have an effect on my own supplies?
If you trade away your oil, you can no longer use it -- but after 10 turns you can cancel the trade and get it back.
 
With Blue marble, yes . I can't confirm now, but I think it is some option called cloud coverage ( in BM interface, that is )

P.S I remembered now: changing the clouds was not directly in Blue marble, but on CivScale. CivScale, as you probably know, was discontinued by Coldfever due to the defective interaction of changing the relevant files with the actual result in game.

It should be easy to do with some XML editing, though.

P.S 2 I gave a look to the game files in my laptop and saw this in Assets\XML\Art\CIV4ArtDefines_Misc.XML
Code:
		<MiscArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_GLOBEVIEW_CLOUD_SHADOWS</Type>
			<Path>Art/Terrain/Sky/Clouds01decal.dds</Path>
			<fScale>1.0</fScale>
			<NIF>None</NIF>
			<KFM>None</KFM>
		</MiscArtInfo>
		<MiscArtInfo>
			<Type>ART_GLOBEVIEW_CLOUDS</Type>
			<Path>Art/Terrain/Sky/Clouds01.dds</Path>
			<fScale>1.0</fScale>
			<NIF>None</NIF>
			<KFM>None</KFM>
		</MiscArtInfo>
I think this is what you are looking for.

I also found this in GlobalDefines.XML but I'm not sure if it can be used.
Code:
<Define>
		<DefineName>RENDER_GLOBEVIEW_CLOUDS</DefineName>
		<iDefineIntVal>0</iDefineIntVal>
	</Define>
 
Hi all, I am not that new but the question must be very rookie. In starting a new game in an island setting is it that bad of a strategy to start by building a workboat? What about if there are little natural hammers in the city? Will that set me back that much?


Fishing boat first is good if you have sea food sources. If your city lacks for hammers you can use slavery (available with bronze working tech) to whip production.
 
Hi all, I am not that new but the question must be very rookie. In starting a new game in an island setting is it that bad of a strategy to start by building a workboat? What about if there are little natural hammers in the city? Will that set me back that much?

I would say it depends on whether you start with Mining or not. Without mining, it's probably worth starting with the workboat and building a worker afterwards at size 2. In the meantime be teching something that your worker will be able to use once it's built. If there's a lot of forest you might have to head straight for BW.

I might consider building a worker first if there are really good land-resources that can be improved early (e.g. two corns or something like that).
 
One of the main problems with focusing on Settlers and Workers is that your city expansion stops while they are being built.
This is the other good reason to build military. :) When you want to build Settlers and Workers from a given city, first figure how many of those you're going to build, then FIRST build their escorts and SECOND build the Settlers/Workers themselves. This gives the city time to grow a pop point or three, allowing you to churn out the Settlers and Workers faster. (For obvious reasons, it's counterproductive to build the Settlers/Workers first and the escorts second.)
Typically, I go for Stonehenge, to get the free monument and have new cities built with a little culture already. So if I understand this correctly, culture and the resultant border expansion will have to wait.
Creative leaders help a lot with this. :)
On the other hand, if you start with fishing, building the workboat first and as fast as possible (e.g. by working a forested plains hill for 3 hammers and no growth) would let you improve the seafood square sooner, which would let you build the worker faster. You'd need to work the numbers to be sure which is best.
I disagree. Half the fun of building a Work Boat first is that your city gets to grow while you do it. I am much in favour of timing it so that your city grows before or on the turn the Work Boat finishes - allows for an even faster Worker.
 
On the other hand, if you start with fishing, building the workboat first and as fast as possible (e.g. by working a forested plains hill for 3 hammers and no growth) would let you improve the seafood square sooner, which would let you build the worker faster. You'd need to work the numbers to be sure which is best.

This is the other good reason to build military. :) When you want to build Settlers and Workers from a given city, first figure how many of those you're going to build, then FIRST build their escorts and SECOND build the Settlers/Workers themselves. This gives the city time to grow a pop point or three, allowing you to churn out the Settlers and Workers faster. (For obvious reasons, it's counterproductive to build the Settlers/Workers first and the escorts second.)

Creative leaders help a lot with this. :)

I disagree. Half the fun of building a Work Boat first is that your city gets to grow while you do it. I am much in favour of timing it so that your city grows before or on the turn the Work Boat finishes - allows for an even faster Worker.

Typically, you'll want to increase the productivity of the tiles around your city as fast as possible. This will allow the fastest construction rate of things among which workers. You'll won't get the worker the fastest by growing the city while creating the workboat. The reason for this is that the added unimproved tile offers little extra productivity to the city while the earlier improved sea resource offers lots of productivity. Using unimproved tiles in general adds little productivity to a city. I'll show it in an example:

City with forested plains hill, plains forest and grassland forest tiles and fish. Normal speed game. City tile: 2 food, 1 hammer.

Case 1: Timing the construction of the workboat with the growth from size 1 to 2, then building a worker with the improved tiles:
We need 22 food for growth and 30 hammers for the workboat. The city has a net production of 2 food, 2 hammers (forested grassland), 1 food, 3 hammers (forested plains) or 0 food 4 hammers. It takes 11 turns to produce both 22 food and 22 hammers by using the grassland forest, 2 turns with a grassland forest and forested plains hill in the size 2 city to get to 32 production and finish the workboat. Improving the fish tile that turn and using it gives one a city with a net output for building workers of 7 (whether you use more food by using the grassland forest or more hammers by using the forested plains hill). It takes 9 turns to finish the worker (65/60 hammers, 5 overflow). It's turn 11+2+9=22.

Case 2: Quickly creating the workboat without any growth, then building the worker.
You need 30 hammers for the workboat which will be built by using the forested plains hill for 7 turns and the grassland forest for 1. Then the city will have 2/22 food and the workboat will be finished exactly. Improving the fish tile gives one a city with a productivity of 6 for building workers. It takes 10 turns to finish the worker (60/60 hammer, 0 overflow). It's turn 7+1+ 10=18. (Note that if we would want to grow the city, it would at this point take just 4 turns. 4 turns during which we would get production and would use the worker.)
 
Fair enough. I really should learn to check the math before I shoot my mouth off. :p

edit: On the other hand: you are assuming favourable conditions for building. You've given a forested plains hill, which is an exceptionally high-production tile - but not one which is exceptionally high in food. What if our only choice is between forested grassland hill and forested grassland?
 
Fair enough. I really should learn to check the math before I shoot my mouth off. :p

edit: On the other hand: you are assuming favourable conditions for building. You've given a forested plains hill, which is an exceptionally high-production tile - but not one which is exceptionally high in food. What if our only choice is between forested grassland hill and forested grassland?

It was the original assumption by dalamb, so I followed that. If the choice is between a 2 food, 1 hammer or a 1 food 2 hammer tile, then there isn't that much difference.

If there are several good land improvements that can be done, it might be better to first build the worker if you can't finish the workboat fast. Then the worker might chop the workboat or improve a food resource.

One of the most favourable conditions to build the workboat would be starting on a plains hill and having a forested plains hill available. You could build the workboat in 6 turns.

Case 3: using a forested plains (or forested grassland hill) to build the workboat quickly.

You'll produce 1 food 3 hammers for 10 turns which will finish the workboat. Then you start using the improved fish tile for 10 turns to finish the worker. The worker is finished on turn 20, the food storage is 10/22. You'll grow at 5 food a turn when not building a settler or worker.

I still prefer this over the growing first scenario (case 1) as the worker is available 2 turns earlier. Those 2 turns can be used to almost close the gap in city size or start building another worker or whatever. The worker can start improving the terrain earlier which will improve the productivity of the city earlier. Having a food resource farmed 2 turns earlier gives you something like 2 turns of a 6 food tile instead of 2 turns of a 2 food, 1 hammer tile (+8 food, -2 hammers).

One of the least attractive situations to start building a workboat is:
-not having a high production tile and
-not having a fish tile but a crab or clam tile

A worker can be better if you have (several) land food resources or can chop forests early in the game. It's not that easy to see which is better in every case. Usually it's best to improve tiles as fast as possible and only grow when the extra citizen can use improved tiles.
 
Civilization IV: Quick Answers

Hi everyone!

In this thread, feel free to ask basic questions about Civilization IV. This should make it easier for you guys to get answers quicker, and it should also separate discussion threads from more basic questions. :) With time, this will make it possible for us to put together an official Civilization IV FAQ article as well. If you aren't in a rush to post any questions, make sure to read through the available information, which is likely to answer a lot of questions itself.

Just post your questions here without worrying about if it's already covered somewhere else, and hopefully some of the experts will answer them.

I encourage everyone to participate here, answering questions they can. Thanks!

Thanks for this,
I had a question about being able to view a certain civ's preferred civics during a game. It seems one can only view the other opponent's preferred civics, so am i to remember from the the setup all of the civics i should go for? i triy looking on the civilopedia but can't find specific info.
 
Thanks for this,
I had a question about being able to view a certain civ's preferred civics during a game. It seems one can only view the other opponent's preferred civics, so am i to remember from the the setup all of the civics i should go for? i triy looking on the civilopedia but can't find specific info.

Favourite civics are of no use to the leader when you play as them. Favourite civics are simply there so you get a relations boost if you share that civic with an AI, and possibly so the AI is more likely to adopt civic though I'm not sure about that.
 
Thanks for this,
I had a question about being able to view a certain civ's preferred civics during a game. It seems one can only view the other opponent's preferred civics, so am i to remember from the the setup all of the civics i should go for? i triy looking on the civilopedia but can't find specific info.

The preferred civic of a leader doesn't give any advantages to that civilisation whatsoever. There's no gameplay reason to follow the favoured civic of a leader. The favoured civic is just there for roleplaying purposes. If you use the favoured civic of another opposing leader, then this leader will like you more. The game designers put this into the game to give opposing leaders a bit of a personality: if you follow their beliefs (religion, favoured civics), then they will like you more.

There's no reason for you to follow the favoured civic of the leader that you're presently playing. There is a reason to folow the favoured civic of opposing leaders: they will like yo more.

You can find the favoured civics of leaders in the civilopedia entry of the leader.

edit: PieceOfMind beat me to it...
 
Hi all.

I'm currently trying to play a save off this site. I downloaded it onto my USB stick then onto my computer. To be sure, I put it in the single player save folder, and the WorldBuilder. But whenever I load up the save, an error occurs. What am I supposed to do?

EDIT: The error says something about how the program runs 'RunTime' to terminate the program in an 'unusual way'.
 
Hi all.

I'm currently trying to play a save off this site. I downloaded it onto my USB stick then onto my computer. To be sure, I put it in the single player save folder, and the WorldBuilder. But whenever I load up the save, an error occurs. What am I supposed to do?

EDIT: The error says something about how the program runs 'RunTime' to terminate the program in an 'unusual way'.
Possibly the save is either for a different expansion pack, or a different patch? You can usually only play a save if it was made using the exact same version of the game that you have. ;)

But a hill with food sources is not the best military place it also has to have iron,copper,rock to help build the units faster.:)
First of all, Iron and Copper do not help you to build units faster, rather they allow you to build the units in the first place. You cannot build a Swordsman until you have a source of Iron, for instance.

Furthermore, Iron and Copper can be connected to a city from anywhere. You do not need to have these resources next to a city for it to be able to build the associated units, as long as there is some other city that has access to Iron or Copper in your empire.

(This also applies to all the other strategic resources, like Horses.)

Finally, it's worth noting that Stone and Marble do not help you with building units in any way.
Are you talking about civ4 or civ3.:confused:
I was referring to Civ4. However, all that I have said (except for the last paragraph about Stone and Marble) should also apply to Civ3. :)
 
Possibly the save is either for a different expansion pack, or a different patch? You can usually only play a save if it was made using the exact same version of the game that you have. ;)

The same expansion pack (BtS) but I don't know about the patch. I have (according to 'About the Build') , Civ Version 3.17 and Save Version 301.
 
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