Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[CivIVMonger]

I picked the standard number of opponents.

The number are a bit higher than I thought. I have 68 cities momentarily of which I settled 43 myself. The biggest competitors have 39, 38 and 33 cities, mostly settled by themselves (and the game will probably see some permanent alliances being formed). It's a huge big and small map at immortal difficulty level with no tech trading (with BetterAI and Bug Mod) on which I aggressively settled on my starting continent and aggressively settled some islands. Some cities are a bit marginal, which I settled in Arctic regions (not the first ones I settled of course). All of this aggressive expansion had the downside of a high tax rate. I had a tax rate of around 50% for a large amount of the game and around 70+% after the first expansion rush (now around 27% as my economy has become stable a while ago but the corporations start to cost lots of money). Big and Small maps might be a bit land heavy maps. But mostly it's just that Huge Maps are just that: HUGE.

There are some mods that allow even larger than huge maps, but I'm not sure if my computer would take the strain.

I like controlling a large empire with lots of cities instead of a collection of cities numbering 6 or so on a smaller map. It just wouldn't feel as an empire. Capturing 2 cities from an opponent would already cripple them. But everyone has different preferences and luckily this game has lots of options.

Ummm... Tax rate? I thought you were talking about the research slider but you can't put it at 27%? I'm confused... Is there a tax slider, or is it a patched research slider?

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

If an AI builds the Internet and you capture the city where it was built, do you start to get all techs known by two other civilizations?

 

[Roland Johansen]

Ummm... Tax rate? I thought you were talking about the research slider but you can't put it at 27%? I'm confused... Is there a tax slider, or is it a patched research slider?

Tax rate = the amount of commerce you transfer into gold. For most players this is usually 100%-research percentage (it actually is 100% - research - culture - espionage). A high tax rate means you have high upkeep as I had during a large part of that game.

27%: Estimated break even value at that point in the game. In the unmodded game, you can only change the percentage with 10% at a time but usually your break even point isn't at a multiple of 10%. At 20% I was losing lots of money, at 30% making a little money.

If an AI builds the Internet and you capture the city where it was built, do you start to get all techs known by two other civilizations?

Yes. (never tested it, but it should work that way and I've never read a bug report about it)

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Yes. (never tested it, but it should work that way and I've never read a bug report about it)

Unfortunately, you don't get the free techs if you capture the Internet. I made the question because I had never been in such a situation and I was facing it in my current game. After conquering all English cities, I figured I would get the techs, but I didn't.

Here is the tech situation before the war (spoiler for LHC XLIX - Mao Zedong):

Spoiler :

And here is the tech situation one or two turns after the end of the war:

Spoiler :

Here is the screenshot that shows Churchill completed the Internet and that he's dead:

Spoiler :

I don't know if this is a bug or anything. Just in case, I've attached the save of the turns before and after the war.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Unfortunately, you don't get the free techs if you capture the Internet. I made the question because I had never been in such a situation and I was facing it in my current game. After conquering all English cities, I figured I would get the techs, but I didn't.

Here is the screenshot that shows Churchill completed the Internet and that he's dead:

Spoiler :

I don't know if this is a bug or anything. Just in case, I've attached the save of the turns before and after the war.

Hey, wait, I answered to quickly. The internet is a project, not a world wonder located in some city. You can't even capture it.

Sorry that I misled you. I shouldn't answer questions when I should be going to bed. But you misled me a bit also by suggesting that you captured it while that isn't even possible. You tricked me.

 

[Gwynnja]

This thread should be renamed "quiz Roland Johansen about Civ IV!" Seriously, kudos and proper respect.

 

[Pablod]

i unistall civ 4
when install again show fatal pyton error
i can't play,please help

 

[Lord Parkin]

i unistall civ 4
when install again show fatal pyton error
i can't play,please help

Perhaps the installation somehow got corrupted. I'd recommend a complete uninstall and reboot of your computer, then a reinstall from scratch. Make sure you install in the correct order (ie Civ4 -> Warlords -> BTS, and only patch in chronological order). See if that works.

 

[CivIVMonger]

This thread should be renamed "quiz Roland Johansen about Civ IV!" Seriously, kudos and proper respect.

Yes, I second the notion! This was what I was talking about when I said "I look forward to your posts." You have been steadfast to answer even the most worthless questions! I too, give you my kudos and proper respect! Thanks for all of your replies!

 

[Roland Johansen]

This thread should be renamed "quiz Roland Johansen about Civ IV!" Seriously, kudos and proper respect.

Yes, I second the notion! This was what I was talking about when I said "I look forward to your posts." You have been steadfast to answer even the most worthless questions! I too, give you my kudos and proper respect! Thanks for all of your replies!

Heh, just when I missed a quiz question about the internet. However, it's really nice to hear that my input is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Hey, wait, I answered to quickly. The internet is a project, not a world wonder located in some city. You can't even capture it.

Sorry that I misled you. I shouldn't answer questions when I should be going to bed. But you misled me a bit also by suggesting that you captured it while that isn't even possible. You tricked me.

I thought that world projects could be captured. Silly me!

 

[Fidardorist]

My newb question is as the title suggests. I don't see it in options. I want it to auto save each turn...

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Open the file Civilization.ini in the BTS folder (I run Vista and it's in documents\my games\Beyond the Sword in my PC, may be different for other OS) with notepad. There's a line there that reads

; Specify the number of turns between autoSaves.  0 means no autosave.
AutoSaveInterval = 4

Set it to 1.

Edit. Be sure to make a backup before editing that file.

 

[Gwynnja]

along those same lines, i'd like to save more than 4 auto saves in a row, can I save like 10 0r 20?

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Open the same file I mentioned. One line above the other, there's this one:

; The maximum number of autosaves kept in the directory before being deleted.
MaxAutoSaves = 5

Then...

 

[QuakeMazer]

I thought I might register an account on here to hopefully find a couple people who might be willing to assist me through instant messenger. Just the occasional quick tip now and again. I won't be a bother to anyone.

If you wouldn't mind, would you either share with me your screen name information and which messenger you use or simply add me to yours. (Philosophy1982 is my aim name) and (firedancer400@hotmail.com is my msn messenger name) I use trillian so they are both on all the time. Thanks for reading.

bill-

 

[Oddible]

I thought I might register an account on here to hopefully find a couple people who might be willing to assist me through instant messenger. Just the occasional quick tip now and again. I won't be a bother to anyone.

If you wouldn't mind, would you either share with me your screen name information and which messenger you use or simply add me to yours. (Philosophy1982 is my aim name) and (firedancer400@hotmail.com is my msn messenger name) I use trillian so they are both on all the time. Thanks for reading.

bill-

Welcome to CFC QuakeMazer!

You know if you have quick questions this is a great place to post them. I notice it has been a while since you posted this and the reason you haven't gotten a response sooner is you didn't post a question! Hopefully you'll get someone to connect on IM but in the mean time, read through the posts in the War Academy, the Strategy forum section and this General section and if you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to post here in Quick Answers or in a new thread. The community is very active and you'll likely get a quick reply.

 

[QuakeMazer]

Well, I guess my first concern would have to be that when I play the scenario "Africa" (which is standard I think) I find myself clicking "end turn" 3 dozen times in a row.

I mean when a settler takes sooo man turns to come out and your little hole in the ground capital city is just beginning there is simply nothing to do in the way of actions other than scout the entire map.

Right now its "turn 163" which sets me in the 155 b.c age. Things are finally starting to pick up a little, but sheesh. Would it have something to do with the fact that I entered "epic" length game? Would that be the reason things are soo slow even up to this point?

Many thanks

 

[Oddible]

I've never played that scenario but yes, epic, has stretched out the timeline. I'm not sure what your familiarity level is with Civ but I'd recommend starting out in the regular game on a standard map size (Continents / Fractal) at normal speed just to get a feel for it. Start at one of the lower levels and see how you do. The scenarios all feel a bit tweaky to me - they have some really fun flavor but the mechanics are often a bit bent to make that so.

 

[IAM]

Well, I guess my first concern would have to be that when I play the scenario "Africa" (which is standard I think) I find myself clicking "end turn" 3 dozen times in a row.

I mean when a settler takes sooo man turns to come out and your little hole in the ground capital city is just beginning there is simply nothing to do in the way of actions other than scout the entire map.

Right now its "turn 163" which sets me in the 155 b.c age. Things are finally starting to pick up a little, but sheesh. Would it have something to do with the fact that I entered "epic" length game? Would that be the reason things are soo slow even up to this point?

Many thanks

If you want to jump start a game you can start in a later age or use advanced start. Advanced start allows you to buy techs, warriors, settlers, population, etc. the first turn of the game. The amount of gold you start with is dependent on the level of difficulty.