Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Lord Parkin]

Try looking in your city each turn, mouse over the GP slider bar, you will see the changes over several turns , it soon becomes apparent how it works

your most Likely get a prohet. "MURPHY'S LAW"- if something can go wrong -IT WILL

Heh... although actually I don't mind Great Prophets. Even if you don't have a good shrine to build, in the early game they're good for +2 hammers and +5 commerce in your capital (+3 beakers as well with Representation), and in the later game they're great for Golden Ages. Plus occasionally it can be useful to bulb a tech, like Theology or Divine Right. Not too shabby really.

By the way, to the original poster, there is an article HERE which explains how Great Person probabilities are calculated. However, it's quite old and I'm not completely sure it still applies with the latest patch for BTS - but it should at least be similar, if not exactly the same.

 

[kosiosko 1]

I like great prophets too, just had the feeling that with 3 artists 'Sarassin" was after One of them, I was just thiking in several turns Sci 20% Art 75% Proph 5%

 

[DrakenKin]

By the way, to the original poster, there is an article HERE which explains how Great Person probabilities are calculated. However, it's quite old and I'm not completely sure it still applies with the latest patch for BTS - but it should at least be similar, if not exactly the same.

Great article, thanks!

But damn, it is amazing how many hidden mechanics this game has. No wonder I never mastered any of the previous civilization games... There are things you just can't learn by simply playing.

 

[Arakhor]

you're most Likely get a prohet. "MURPHY'S LAW"- if something can go wrong -IT WILL

That's Sod's Law. Murphy's Law is that the most inconvenient turn of events is the most likely

 

[kosiosko 1]

That's Sod's Law. Murphy's Law is that the most inconvenient turn of events is the most likely

YEP "MURPHY'S LAW" is that the exact quote- Me to Me -you sure- yep- you sure- yep

 

[kcd_swede]

Great article, thanks!

But damn, it is amazing how many hidden mechanics this game has. No wonder I never mastered any of the previous civilization games... There are things you just can't learn by simply playing.

I agree. This was eye-opening for me as well. Of course, I follow the odss on screen, but now I know why it is so ineffective trying to tip the odds by hiring a huge number of one type of specialist towards the end of a city's GP cycle. The percent chance is averaged over the number of turns that GP were generated. So if you had a prophet go it alone for 20 turns and then hire a bunch of scientists... you'd be better off just hiring one scientist and letting it take more turns if it is a scientist you really want.

And also if you build wonders that act as sources of different GP types, it explains why your ability to steer which type of GP you get is very limited indeed.

And here I thought the odds were just a % of the sum of each type of GP generated!

(These may be newb questions, but they certainly are advanced finesses of the game being discussed, which is what makes this thread so valuable to follow even for those of us who no longer consider ourselves newbs). (I recall when I was new to the game that GP's just seemed to show up at random intervals as a nice little bonus, like popping a hut! )

 

[IAM]

Some players specialize great person city's. Only building wonders with a certain type of GPP and only using specialist of the same type. The only time I use that strategy is if I capture a prevalent relegious holy city and there's no shrine. I whip temples and use the preist specialist otherwise I just max out engineers, scientist and merchants in a great person factory.

 

[DrakenKin]

Oops.... seems like the article is outdated, and wrong.

A recent patch changed the calculations from number of sources to number of points, just like it should be.

Read the post here.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Oops.... seems like the article is outdated, and wrong.

A recent patch changed the calculations from number of sources to number of points, just like it should be.

Read the post here.

And if you read the posts after that one, you'll also see that the article is severely outdated on the subject of 'average over turns' vs 'average over number of points'. So since BTS, it fully functions like you would intuitively think it would: If you gather 50 prophet GPP, 100 Merchant GPP and 50 scientist GPP during the creation of a 200 GPP's Great Person, then the odds are 50/200 = 25% to create a Great Prophet or Great Scientist and 100/200 = 50% to creat a Great Merchant no matter how you got those great person points. It doesn't matter what great persons you were generating during one turn vs the next or how many 'sources' of great persons were used to do it. The only thing that matters are the total numbers of great person points of each type created in the city during the construction of the great person.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

So, Bismarck declared war on me in a game I'm playing (even though he was Pleased with me). He is on the other side of a continent, needs to launch attacks through my neighbours. Alexander and Napoleon border his territory, both are Pleased with me. I thought it would be neat if I sic'd both of them on Bismarck. I had to give them Civil Service, and one or two ancient techs. I'm aiming for a diplomatic victory. Will this bite me in the backside later (it's Noble)?

 

[Roland Johansen]

So, Bismarck declared war on me in a game I'm playing (even though he was Pleased with me). He is on the other side of a continent, needs to launch attacks through my neighbours. Alexander and Napoleon border his territory, both are Pleased with me. I thought it would be neat if I sic'd both of them on Bismarck. I had to give them Civil Service, and one or two ancient techs. I'm aiming for a diplomatic victory. Will this bite me in the backside later (it's Noble)?

We can't predict what will happen in this game. By bribing two civilisations into attacking Bismarck, Bismarck will hate you even more and it will be extremely hard to make him vote for you later in the game. However Alexander and Napoleon are in a joined war with you against Bismarck which adds lots of diplomatic points, especially if it's a long drawn out war.

Usually, becoming large yourself also helps a lot in acquiring the necessary votes to win. It's the warlike path unto a diplomatic victory and might thus feel less diplomatic.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Don't really care much about Bismarck's vote. The two I bribed are Pleased, and Huayna is Friendly. Also, war is a continuation of diplomacy by other means.

Though I'd like to know what those two attack dogs' victory preferences are.

 

[IAM]

Don't really care much about Bismarck's vote. The two I bribed are Pleased, and Huayna is Friendly. Also, war is a continuation of diplomacy by other means.

Though I'd like to know what those two attack dogs' victory preferences are.

It sometimes happens that you can inadverdently create a monster. When one of your bribed war dogs vassalize the enemy.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I don't have Warlord and BTS. Yet. Although conquering them completely would probably be just as bad.

 

[22bebo]

What do opposing espionage missions that aren't detected shown as? I'm not sure how to figure this out, but it's been bothering me. Are some of the random events shown an espionage mission? I've never played online, so maybe that's what it is there, but . . .

 

[Baldyr]

What do opposing espionage missions that aren't detected shown as? I'm not sure how to figure this out, but it's been bothering me. Are some of the random events shown an espionage mission? I've never played online, so maybe that's what it is there, but . . .

Hmm... Not quite following you there.

 

[kosiosko 1]

What do opposing espionage missions that aren't detected shown as? I'm not sure how to figure this out, but it's been bothering me. Are some of the random events shown an espionage mission? I've never played online, so maybe that's what it is there, but . . .

if you mean your the target of the AI, something like----
1. you mine has been destroyed, by emeny spy
2. a spy has been detect--- gives you a location
3. nothing ---- most common the spy comes in steals gold or tech or map BUT you don't detect him

If the spy is successfull, there's only a chance he will be detected, so the message go something like my eg., or you just don't know

 

[Dusk]

What do opposing espionage missions that aren't detected shown as? I'm not sure how to figure this out, but it's been bothering me. Are some of the random events shown an espionage mission? I've never played online, so maybe that's what it is there, but . . .

Your post it abit unclear, I'm not quite sure I understand you correctly, but here goes.

The random events you might be referring to are the "City X has been hit by a powerful hurricane" etc. It shows these events for all civilizations. These events occur randomly and are not related to espionage.

You do not get news of espionage missions which aren't related to you. Only the ones you perform or the ones performed against you. It should be clear from the event text whether it's a random event or an espionage mission against you which causes the effect.

If you could specify your question abit more it would help us provide you with an answer.

 

[22bebo]

What I meant was that when a spy comes in and destroys your mine, and you don't detect it, what does the game tell you happened?

 

[Dusk]

What I meant was that when a spy comes in and destroys your mine, and you don't detect it, what does the game tell you happened?

I can't remember the wording on these exactly, but they look like this:

If you catch the spy, before it can do any damage:
A "civilization" spy has been caught causing trouble within our lands or
A "civilization" spy has been caught due to counter-intelligence

If an enemy espionage mission succeeds:
A mine has been destroyed by enemy infiltrators

Note that you can catch a spy, but the mission is still carried out and sometimes it will tell you who sent the spy.