Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Baldyr]

I thought that the reason for influencing civics was to get the AI on your good side. Since they like you more if you both share civics. Or break up a civic based relationship between two civic buddies.

Also, it could be helpful to get the AI to, say, open up trade routes or to allow your corporations to spread. Or your religion. Speaking of religions, you can influence state religion also, can't you? That should also to work to improve your relations - or damage someone else's.

I haven't tried any of this my self, though. It would be cool to get other Civs to adopt State Property and actually found a "Communist International" club.

 

[Baldyr]

1. Yes. that is why you want to bombard the defenses to zero before attacking.

Yeah, you need siege units to attack cities. Notice the difference between bombardment and collateral damage. You need both of these features from your siege units in order to take cities efficiently.

I recently learned that the City Raider promotions isn't really necessary either, if you only bring enough siege units. The promotion works best on siege units though, as they will be the first ones attacking a city.

City Raider is quite useful early on in the game. Before you have siege units (Catapults) - or before the AI gets any defensive city bonuses (from either culture or walls). Also, City Raider would be useful for attacking Forts, but I don't even think I've ever seen the AI actually use them.

2. What level are you playing at? At Settler and Chieftain, the AI is pretty passive. At Warlord it is more active military-wise but still not very aggressive. At Noble and above they get progressively more pushy.

And at any level below Noble the player has production and research bonuses. Furthermore, there are different strategies for winning and even if the AI doesn't try to win the game, World Conquest simply wasn't on the AI's agenda this time around. It almost made me feel sorry for those poor peace lovin' Mongols, getting raped like that!

Sometimes the player does awful things.

 

[Sisiutil]

I thought that the reason for influencing civics was to get the AI on your good side. Since they like you more if you both share civics. Or break up a civic based relationship between two civic buddies.

Also, it could be helpful to get the AI to, say, open up trade routes or to allow your corporations to spread. Or your religion. Speaking of religions, you can influence state religion also, can't you? That should also to work to improve your relations - or damage someone else's.

I haven't tried any of this my self, though. It would be cool to get other Civs to adopt State Property and actually found a "Communist International" club.

This is partially true; it only works if both you and the civ in question are both running the AI leader's favourite civic. It doesn't work just because you're running the same civic(s). Also keep in mind that the AI leaders tend to adopt and stick with their favourite civic once it's available, so it's rarely necessary to use a spy to nudge them in that direction.

However, your second point is a good one: bribing or forcing the AI to change from, say, State Property or Mercantilism to Free Market (or even better, Environmentalism, where corp payments are higher), will allow you to spread your corporations to them. Forcing a change away from Theocracy will allow you to spread your religion there. Just make sure you have your executives/missionaries in position and ready to go, since the AI is very likely to switch away from that civic quickly, especially if this is a leader with the Spiritual trait.

 

[bestbrian]

Hello, got a couple questions.

1. Say a Mechanized Infantry was defending a city with 100% defense. Does this mean the unit would have double the strength, a total of a whopping 64, which it will probably take two Modern Armors to defeat?

2. My last game was Tiny-sized. I'd thought there would be three civs, but it was only me (George Washington) and Kublai Khan. After I start pumping privateers to hold him down, and when they start attacking -- nothing from Khan.
It was only Kublai and I/me. Does anybody have any justification on how Kublai was quite unintelligent at that time?

How's he last long enough for Privateers to come into play?

The AI is not coded to no where they're coming from. Think of them as Barb Privateers.

 

[Baldyr]

The AI is not coded to no where they're coming from. Think of them as Barb Privateers.

Was the problem in fact that the AI didn't realize it was the other player who used those Privateers? Well, that's actually a feature. The rule is that Privateer usage can't be cause for a declaration of war, and it applies regardless how many players there are.

Because, they're not you navy. They are private fleets working (more or less) covertly under your supervision. Basically the unit should be automated and there would also be a risk of it turning on you, sinking your ships, pillaging your improvement and blockading your ports. But thats something for the modding community tackle.

 

[bestbrian]

"Those privateers aren't mine; I don't know what you're talking about. That Great General I just got when not at war with anybody? Popped him from a hut." - paraphrased from Kmad's sig.

 

[phoenix_sprite]

Can I track my quest progress?

 

[bestbrian]

Can I track my quest progress?

Sort of. Say you need to build x number of Stables. If you go into the Statistics screen it will show how many Stables you've built. That's pretty much it. BUG makes this a little easier, as the BUG interface makes all this information more easily accessible.

 

[Reiser]

How's he last long enough for Privateers to come into play?

Well, I'll tell you, I just won a Domination Victory by rolling my Tanks over...the friendly...Mongols...but they had Longbows!
Besides, I'm not new to Civ (even though I stick to Settler because I'm too scared of the higher difficulties )
Anyways, going back on-topic, I have some more questions.

Do these really work (a.k.a., the spear/pike wins?):
1. Spearman VS. Tank?
2. Pikeman VS. Tank (do they do it better)?
3. Spearman VS. Gunship (it upgraded from horsemen...so...)?
4. Pikeman VS. Gunship (do they do it better)?

 

[Baldyr]

Besides, I'm not new to Civ (even though I stick to Settler because I'm too scared of the higher difficulties )

You just made my day!

Settler... Is hardly a difficulty level at all. I mean... Where's the difficulty?

Sorry if I'm being a jerk, but you really need to start playing Civilization. You have to be able to lose occasionally, how will you ever get any better otherwise?

Try going up just one difficulty level for starters, and have like a bunch of rivals. And some balls.

 

[Aeiouv]

Whats the most common settings used? It seems like standard size, normal speed, temperate weather on continents would be the most popular settings.

 

[Sisiutil]

Everybody has their own preferences. Most of the hard-core Civvers seem to like the slower speeds--epic or marathon. Other than that, everyone seems to have their own favourite maps, and it's rare to find two players who like the exact same settings.

I myself like archipelago with low sea levels and snaky continents--you tend to get large, intricately-shaped land masses with lots of choke points and locations for canals.

 

[WorldWarIV]

Hello! I have a couple of questions.

1) Is there any way, with a mod perhaps, to stop the evolution after you've reach the Renaissance for example? To only play in one era until someone is victorious?

2) Is there an earth map or a mod that let's you start with your civilization in it's actual historical location, with only his great peoples and wonders to built?

3) What will be the difference using a slower speed of game, except everything is slower to build? Is that the only difference?

Thanks!

 

[Baldyr]

1) Is there any way, with a mod perhaps, to stop the evolution after you've reach the Renaissance for example? To only play in one era until someone is victorious?

Try playing on Marathon level, that way you may be able to finish your game before the Industrial era. Also, there is a mod called RFC Europe in the makings that might suite your tastes.

2) Is there an earth map or a mod that let's you start with your civilization in it's actual historical location, with only his great peoples and wonders to built?

The absolute best scenario/mod simulation of world history is Rhye's and Fall of Civilization. Your Civ will start on its actual founding year and on its historical location. So, no more Stone Age "Americans".

3) What will be the difference using a slower speed of game, except everything is slower to build? Is that the only difference?

The balancing of the game gets a bit different in places, and this has an impact on your strategy. You should try it!

 

[WorldWarIV]

The balancing of the game gets a bit different in places, and this has an impact on your strategy. You should try it!

Thanks, I'll use your suggestions. But isn't it a bit boring to wait for a worker for 30 turns?

 

[bestbrian]

So, no more Stone Age "Americans".!

I believe I resemble that remark.

 

[dalamb]

Thanks, I'll use your suggestions. But isn't it a bit boring to wait for a worker for 30 turns?

I'd probably say yes, but there are lots of people who like Epic and some who like Marathon. Not quite everything slows down: your units still move at the same speed. So:

1. You take many more moves before your military units go obsolete. Thus you might be able to conquer the world with Chariots(which, of course, some players better than me manage to do anyway!) I'm fairly sure this is the main effect.
2. You get lots of exploration done before you can build your first settlers, so you know the terrain well and can plan ahead.
3. You make contact with other civilizations earlier in the tech tree. I'm not sure what practical effect this has, but it might mean that tech trading is less effective, since AIs start their counters towards deciding "We Fear You Are Becoming Too Advanced" (which stops them from trading techs with you) as soon as they meet you and IIRC how many civs you've met also has an effect.

 

[Sisiutil]

Thanks, I'll use your suggestions. But isn't it a bit boring to wait for a worker for 30 turns?

It can be, which is why when I play marathon I prefer to use the Advanced Start feature so I can start with a couple of exploring units, a couple of workers, a worker tech or two, and a slightly larger capital which helps accelerate your builds. It removes a lot of the boredom you otherwise experience for the first 50-100 turns of marathon speed, especially when your sole exploring unit is badly maimed or even killed by a barb animal...

 

[yanner39]

These are priorities and I would pretty much use the buildings that become available to me. Otherwise its easier to use HR to manage happiness. So, I'd go for Drama if I need the boost. Theater is one of the more useful buildings though, so I would probably build these anyway - if I happen to have Drama early on. Same thing with Temples - if I have a religion and don't have HR, sure I'd build a Temple. Otherwise I could put it off and start building my army instead. One unit does the same thing as a Temple (minus the , but the presence of the religion has already popped the borders).

One thing I started to discipline myself to do is only use HR to the extent that when I switch to Representation for the added I don't screw myself. I remember one game, I loaded up on soldiers in my cities, health was not an issue and I could grow my cities as much as I wanted. But when the opportunity presented itself to switch out of HR, I had a problem with unhappies.

So what I tend to do is put minimum 3 soldiers in my cities, thus increasing my happy cap by 3. Then I would look at what could potentially be available if I need it. So if I could also build a colosseum, then I now I can afford to build a cheaper military unit now. In the early going, I try and save so if an archer is cheaper than a colosseum, I go archer.

 

[Baldyr]

Yeah, you wouldn't wanna delude yourself from thinking happiness isn't an issue. Because come war time all those extra units will be marched off into battle, leaving your cities crippled from unhappiness. So I believe its prudent to not emphasize :fodd: production in the long run, but rather reach a happy cap with a few units in each city. Then divert plot production to something more useful hammers: & ) - unless you're running Slavery - and not farming . In that case fast growth and a big population, respectively, would still be a priority.

What to do with your super huge farm once its time to cut down on the local police force? Invest in the Globe Theater, of course!