Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Lord Parkin]

Holy crap! That is ALOT of commerce AND hammers.

Just to be clear, the hammer bonus for Bureaucracy does NOT work in the same way as the commerce bonus does. The +50% hammers is just applied to the base hammers like all the other hammer multipliers.

But yes, Bureaucracy is a rather beneficial civic nonetheless. It's certainly one of my favourite early-game civics (right up there next to Hereditary Rule and Slavery).

 

[nthingasitseems]

I would like to start my first SG, but I need a couple questions answered first:

1. What button do you have to hit to make a screen shot? I've looked everywhere!!!
2. What's the procedure for uploading a save onto a forum thread so the rest of the team can pick up the game?

 

[ori]

you can take screenshots by hitting the prnt or prnt scrn key on your keyboard - they are then saved to my games\<gamename>\screenshots

you can upload saves (and images) by clicking on go advanced and then on manage attachments below the quick reply box. For images I'd recommend Imageshack or Photobucket (free hosting sites) though.

 

[Sisiutil]

Newbie Questions from a [Vanilla] Civfan...

OK, I'm having fun but I'm kind of stuck in a rut. I keep re-starting games for one reason or another, never getting much beyond 1AD or maybe 500AD before I do so. Part of this is the simple joy of pushing back the fog in yet another randomly generated world; I also have enjoyed starting out as random civilizations and have not yet settled on a favorite.

What tends to happen is that I am not making smart choices or sticking to a working strategy and instead am trying to 'cover all the bases'. I try rapidly expanding and I end up with too many cities and with management costs I cannot afford them all. I try a military path and either end up with too many (captured) cities again or after razing them I am then faced with another opponent moving in to fill the gap. I have tried focusing on Religion (culture) and then seem to fall behind financially or militarily and when I negelect Religions I typically suffer from cities that do not expand. (What is the best way to 'catch' Religion, anyway?)

Mostly I seem to be failing at managing my costs; if someone could outline their typical technology flow to get to a set of civics and buildings/improvements which stand the test of time. What is the best path to follow if I wish to have a lot of cities early? Four seems to be about as many as I can manage usually. I believe I understand certain basics like the 60% rule, 1.5 workers, and I believe I use 'chopping' and 'whipping' appropriately.

Oh, and I have seen the light and play games now on Prince (moved up from Noble) difficulty, Marathon speed and Large (not Huge) map size.

Welcome to CivFanatics and your new obsession.

First off, if you've moved up beyond Noble, you can start abandoning supposedly hard-and-fast rules like keeping the science slider at 60% all the time. If you choose to expand rapidly either peacefully or through war, you can expect the slider to decline, but if you manage it carefully, you should be able to bring it back up again.

Second, and on that note, supporting the expansion of an empire is a matter of planning and timing. Granted, there are definite benefits to simply acquiring more land--but you'll do even better if you can additional advantages that, in turn, help you recover from the economic decline you experience during the REX or war.

By now, I'm sure you have heard how important cottages are (at least until you start trying out a specialist economy). Well, the more cottages you work, the better off your economy will be. You need more citizens to work more cottages, so your cities have to be able to grow. For that to happen, you need to keep them happy. So... a war that claims territory and grabs one or two happiness-increasing resources you didn't possess previously will help you grow your cities, work more cottages, develop your economy, and recover. (If the resource provides a high amount of commerce, such as gold, dye, gems, or silver, so much the better.) Another economic benefit from a war would be conquering a holy city with a religious shrine for the extra income.

In addition, certain technologies are vital. Sailing, Currency, and Code of Laws are crucial early economic techs. I always try to get Currency and/or Code of Laws around the same time I'm finishing off a classical-era war. The additional trade routes, marketplaces, and courthouses all help me grow economically. (Also: do NOT wait for the "perfect" location for the Forbidden Palace; build the required number of courthouses and build it in one of the cities that's furthest from your capital, pronto. The earlier you get that sucker built, the better.)

On a final note, I rarely found religions. I usually wait for a few to spread to my cities, then convert to the one that will gain me either the most allies or the most beneficial ally. An example of the latter: suppose you share a continent with Gandhi, Cyrus, Mansa Musa, and Montezuma. You share borders with Gandhi and Monty. Gandhi, Cyrus, and Mansa are all Hindu, Monty is Buddhist. While going Hindu might get you more allies, converting to Hinduism could keep war-crazy Monty off your back while you go after Gandhi.

You might want to have a look at some of the ALC (link in my sig) and other posted games in the Strategy forum to see examples of how other players recover economically from REX and/or wars.

 

[CivIVMonger]

I don't know how viable this tactic is, but... Could someone post how to use a sword-cat SoD 1AD rush? As in, having your stack ready and mobilized by 1AD. The only real questions I have are the following:

1. Should I go for fewer or more cities? The more cities would strain your economy. All of the strain room should be saved up for your SoD's cost.

2. Should I try to block-off opponents? The aquired land will go to me if the attack is a success, however, this gives me less power and could potentially make them more powerful. The idea here is to spread them thin, so you get more cities and less resistance.

3. How will I keep my economy going while I do this? The cost for units alone is pricey, along with any cities I need. Plus, the fact that they will most likely be hammer cities because you need to build the stack.

4. Should I include axemen or anything else?

 

[Lord Parkin]

I don't know how viable this tactic is, but... Could someone post how to use a sword-cat SoD 1AD rush? As in, having your stack ready and mobilized by 1AD.

To me, using a predominantly Sword/Cat stack around 1 AD sounds like a very bad idea, unless you are completely certain that your enemy has no access to metal. (Usually not very common by 1 AD.) If they do have metal (more than likely), you need to build FAR less Swordsmen, and FAR more Axemen and Chariots/Horse Archers. Otherwise you're going to be losing an extremely high number of Swordsmen to enemy Axemen.

1. Should I go for fewer or more cities? The more cities would strain your economy. All of the strain room should be saved up for your SoD's cost.

Strike a balance. On a standard map, 6-8 cities by 1 AD is decent and fairly typical.

2. Should I try to block-off opponents? The aquired land will go to me if the attack is a success, however, this gives me less power and could potentially make them more powerful. The idea here is to spread them thin, so you get more cities and less resistance.

Depends on the layout of the map. If you can easily block someone without going too much out of your way, do so. If blocking someone means an extremely inconvenient city location, don't bother - it's usually not worth the hassle and hit to your economy to found a blocking city in the middle of nowhere in the early game.

3. How will I keep my economy going while I do this? The cost for units alone is pricey, along with any cities I need. Plus, the fact that they will most likely be hammer cities because you need to build the stack.

Don't neglect commerce. Secure some resources like Gems/Gold/Silver if you can, and work them. Build plenty of cottages, especially at the capital. Usually you can work a few cottages and still have very decent production in your cities.

Scout out the area you're planning to invade beforehand, and make sure you can take the nearest few cities with no real issue. The gold from capturing these cities should keep you going for a while.

If you're having major issues with unit maintenance, then it could signify that you're building too many units and waiting too long to declare war. This is a very common mistake that players make - waiting too long to declare war actually makes things worse, by allowing your opponent time to build more troops and research new military technologies to counter your units. It takes a bit of practice to figure out the line between not enough preparation and too much.

4. Should I include axemen or anything else?

Definitely, if there's even the slightest possibility that your enemy has metal (or will trade for it). I would go so far as to make the stack predominantly Axemen, with a few supporting Swordsmen and Spearmen.

 

[CivIVMonger]

^^ Thanks LP. However, there are a few more questions...

I don't see how this is possible at 1AD. Especially @ normal. How many units are we talking? (On a very rough average.)

Should I include a pillaging party of HA's?

 

[Mojotales]

As someone who likes what I've seen of the role Religion plays as a force in the game, is there an "ideal" talent run that gets you the best grouping?

 

[Bluesman]

Could someone take a moment with a devilish problem I can't figure. I see where in Advanced and Options I can, say, cancel out Random Events so they don't happen. It looks that's down a different road than the "ez" version of setting up a game in terms of clicking on everything from climate to which state you want to play. Are they somehow exclusive in sitting up a game? What steps would I take?

Again, thanks

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

The regular options like the map type, world size, etc. are on your left in the custom game. The ones in the right are the ones you've described. The "Play Now" option is like starting a custom game with all of them unticked.

 

[Lord Parkin]

^^ Thanks LP. However, there are a few more questions...

I don't see how this is possible at 1AD. Especially @ normal. How many units are we talking? (On a very rough average.)

Really depends on the game and on your rival. Typically 15-20 units would be more than enough to begin a serious campaign with, though - as long as you use a good strategy.

Should I include a pillaging party of HA's?

No, there's no point in building both a city capturing stack and a pillaging stack at the same time - the two strategies work against each other. Decide before the war whether you want to capture cities, or just pillage and bring them down a notch. Capturing cities is almost always preferable, unless your enemy is too strong to tackle behind the city walls... in which can a pillaging party is an option. But DON'T build both a pillaging stack and a city capturing stack - you're working against yourself by pillaging the land that will soon be yours, and at the same time you're wasting time building pillaging units when you could be spending those hammers in building city capturing units.

Now don't get me wrong, a few Horse Archers are a nice addition to any stack, especially if the enemy has a lot of siege units running around - but you shouldn't build a separate Horse Archer stack for the specific purpose of pillaging the land you want to conquer. That's just shooting yourself in the feet.

As someone who likes what I've seen of the role Religion plays as a force in the game, is there an "ideal" talent run that gets you the best grouping?

I really don't understand what on earth you're asking, I'm sorry. Can you rephrase the question? Are you wanting to know when you should research religions? Which AI's are more likely to go for religions? The mechanics of religion spreading? Your question is very confusing.

 

[dalamb]

you shouldn't build a separate Horse Archer stack for the specific purpose of pillaging the land you want to conquer. That's just shooting yourself in the feet.

Not pillaging everywhere, for sure, but it can help a lot to send out a couple of HAs to pillage your opponent's strategic resources (copper, iron, horses in the early game). Pre-position near those resources (but outside the boundaries) just before declaring.

I really don't understand what on earth you're asking, I'm sorry. Can you rephrase the question? Are you wanting to know when you should research religions? Which AI's are more likely to go for religions? The mechanics of religion spreading? Your question is very confusing.

I wonder if he mean what leader traits (not "talents") went well with a religious strategy? In which case, Spiritual helps by reducing the cost of temples, but I'm not sure what else to say.

 

[gburdell1]

What is the formula for calculating the base production? Do I just count the total number of hammers that I see on the city tiles? I tried that, but the "base production" indicated on the screen is still a lot higher.

 

[Roland Johansen]

What is the formula for calculating the base production? Do I just count the total number of hammers that I see on the city tiles? I tried that, but the "base production" indicated on the screen is still a lot higher.

Welcome to civfanatics.

I'm not sure what you mean by base production. It's mostly used in this forum as the amount of production before modifiers are applied and without overflow from any previously constructed item. The production that you see next to the item that is being produced is NOT the base production.

The base production is calculated as the sum of various raw production sources among which:
-The production from city tiles including the centre city tile,
-The production from specialists,
-The production from super specialists,
-The base production added by some buildings. I'm thinking about the hammer bonus that some religious buildings might get when the Apostolic Palace is active. Mods can add lots of buildings that add base production,
-The production from corporations like Mining Inc.

The Bug mod can show this base value very accurately which thus enhances a players understanding of the game.

The base production is enhanced by production modifiers form buildings like the forge, the factory and power plants (which actually don't enhance the production bonus themselves but increase the production bonus from factories). Next to that, some constructions get a special production bonus from certain resources or leader traits. These modifiers act as a multiplier of the base production. So if you have a +125% production modifier from buildings and resources and traits, then your building at a rate of 225% (100% base + 125% enhancement) which means that the base production is multiplied by 2.25.

A confusing element is that the first turn of construction of an item sometimes shows a higher production value. This is due to the overflow of production from the previous item. Often a construction item has a construction value that is not a multiple of the production value of the city. So a city with 25 constructing an item of 90 will typically finish the item in 4 turns with some production overflow.

The calculation of the hammer amount invested in the current construction can be seen by hovering your mouse pointer over this value. You'll see a breakdown of the production into contributing factors.

 

[CivIVMonger]

@ LP: Thanks, very helpfull...

 

[Trainmaster423]

I'd like to change the stats of a few units (Redcoat or say Cossak to their vanilla levels) but I have no idea how to do this. I've never modded anything. On any game. If someone could give me help on this, I'd be really grateful. Thanks in advance.

 

[CivIVMonger]

I'd like to change the stats of a few units (Redcoat or say Cossak to their vanilla levels) but I have no idea how to do this. I've never modded anything. On any game. If someone could give me help on this, I'd be really grateful. Thanks in advance.

There is a whole section on the forums called, "Creation and Customization" You should check it out, it's really cool. However, you will be hacking directly into the program files of the game so beware.

 

[TheLazyHase]

There is a whole section on the forums called, "Creation and Customization" You should check it out, it's really cool. However, you will be hacking directly into the program files of the game so beware.

Simply put : NO you won't be hacking the program files for changing an unit force. It's too little a change. It would be as saying that modifying an excel spreadsheet is hacking excel.

I will not give instructions to change the unit force because 1) I never tested this particular part so I think people can do it better than me and 2) I disapprove thoses kind of change. Cossacks and redcoats were changed for good reasons.

 

[Trainmaster423]

Thanks for the insight guys. I just want to play a BtS game with the Vanilla versions of these units once, for the fun of it. I don't plan on leaving them super-charged.

 

[Bluesman]

Re: the Random events question earlier. The situation is, I really don't want them in the game.

Confusion: There seem to be two ways to set up a game. The first is Single Player followed by Play Now which has a simple to use batch of visual options to walk through - picking the map, climate, sea level, world size, select civ, game snapshot and then off you go.

But down that path, there's no chance to say "No Random Events"

The other route is Single Player followed by Custom Game which does include in the Options No Random Events (along with settings and Victory options). The problem is, that route of Custom Game has a very different section for picking the countries which makes no sense to me yet.

So, unpacking my original question, there are two roads to go down. First is Single Player/Play Now which seems the best for me but has no way to set No Random Events. Secondly, Single Player/Custom Game has the "No Random Events" thing but stops me cold trying to set up the countries and such.

Anyway to get "No Random Events" into the start of the Single Player/Play Now path? Or getting No Random Events working in an existing game where I'd like to change?

That's as organized with exact terms as I can get, alas.

Bluesman