Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[StarEye]

Thanks for the answers, both of you.

I suspected the difference between religions would be tiny or non-existant to avoid offending anyone within the religion. The differences would have to be inoffensive, and I guess that would be hard to do without taking it too far away from history.

I guess it's the same reason why Adolf Hitler isn't one of the leaders. I'm sure many would be offended, but for me it's more about the history and being able to change it. Also being able to bomb the out of him would be a nice bonus .

But I guess this kind of stuff would be best left for modders if they want to implement it, and have the vanilla versions be as inoffensive as possible. Maybe in Civilization 20 will include Hitler - having it in Civ 5 would probably be too early. It needs to be more or less ancient history before people can accept stuff like that. And I don't blame them.

EDIT: seriously, this post made me look like a real jerk, which I can assue you I'm not. The wording may look a bit offensive. I'm not comparing Hitler to religion, just so that's out of the way.

EDIT 2: just thought of another question. Mines improve the output no matter what, but will the mines automatically discover copper or iron and so forth when I get the tech for the resource? Is there a smaller chance of discovery of resources if I make a mine before I get the tech for it, than if I wait until the tech is researched?

 

[Roland Johansen]

EDIT 2: just thought of another question. Mines improve the output no matter what, but will the mines automatically discover copper or iron and so forth when I get the tech for the resource? Is there a smaller chance of discovery of resources if I make a mine before I get the tech for it, than if I wait until the tech is researched?

Each turn, worked mines have a small chance (1/10000) to discover a resource for every type of resource which is technologically available to you. So once you discover iron working, your worked mines will get a small chance to discover iron on top of the already existing small chance to discover copper, gold, silver and gems (forgot one?). Later on, once you discover the late game technologies, you'll also get small chances to discover aluminium, coal and uranium.

 

[EsaKo]

There's only two tiny gameplay differences between the religions. The first is that their appropriate cathedrals (those unlocked by Music that give 50% culture) are sped by different resources (Copper, Stone, Marble). This might come in handy when playing with Choose Religions on and pursuing a Culture victory - you can handpick religions for whose cathedrals you have the speeding resource.

The other is that autospreading is calculated "in order" for each city, and stopped if the autospread succeeds. Judaism is checked first, so it has a teeny-tiny bit bigger rate of autospread than the others.

Actually there are a few religion specific random events (at least Judaism had something about a wise rabbi) if I recall correctly. I play with those off in any case.

 

[batman562]

I am new to the game, and have a problem. My 2 lrgest cities are starving( I put them too close), and I have run out of room! If I start a war, will the other AIS attack me on other fronts? Can I lower the pop. by building military units in the staving cities? When attacing cities, go I need a 3/1 advantage in units? just a few questions for the more experiencde players. Thanks

 

[Sisiutil]

I am new to the game, and have a problem. My 2 lrgest cities are starving( I put them too close), and I have run out of room! If I start a war, will the other AIS attack me on other fronts? Can I lower the pop. by building military units in the staving cities? When attacing cities, go I need a 3/1 advantage in units? just a few questions for the more experiencde players. Thanks

Welcome to CFC!

There's nothing wrong with a little tile overlap. You could just let the cities starve down to an acceptable population level, though that's something of a waste; if you're running Slavery you can whip the extra citizens away, or if you're running Nationalism you can draft them. (No, no city build in an of itself will decrease population.) But there are other options.

• Change some of the tile improvements to farms and/or windmills.
• Make Civil Service and Biology into priority research targets (I don't know how far along in the game you are) to enable chain irrigation and increase the food yield from all farms by 1, respectively.
• Make Corporations, Medicine, and Refrigeration into late-game Tech Targets. Generate a Great Merchant and found either Sid's Sushi or Cereal Mills. Spread the corp to both cities and trade for additional corporate resources to increase the food available to the cities.
• Refrigeration also enables Supermarkets, which add +1 food to a city containing one.
• If you spawn another Great Merchant, or if it's way too early in the game to found corporations, settle him in one of those cities to provide +1 food. Ideally it should be a good commerce city with a marketplace, grocer, and bank to make the most of the extra gold the settled GM will also give you.
• Is either city unable to feed itself because of health issues? If so, read up on ways to remedy this in Cabert's excellent Ways into Health article.

As for your questions regarding war, the AI will usually make a bee-line to whatever city you have that's closest to theirs. The ratio of attackers to defenders isn't just a numbers game--you have to have the right types of units as well. Have a look at my Early Rush and Stack of Doom guides (links in my sig) to get more information about the use of military in Civ IV.

 

[Silu]

Actually there are a few religion specific random events (at least Judaism had something about a wise rabbi) if I recall correctly. I play with those off in any case.

You're partly right, the holy mountain quest does appear to require you to have an Abrahamic (Judaism/Christianity/Islam) state religion. It's the only one (that's enabled, anyway) though. And the quest royally sucks so it doesn't really affect gameplay

 

[22bebo]

Is it possible to determine what a unit can see? Is there a method to determine what they can see, like with movement?

 

[IAM]

Is it possible to determine what a unit can see? Is there a method to determine what they can see, like with movement?

Not sure exactly what you're asking but... a unit can always see the tiles next to it, being on a hill allows further site but forest can restrict some of that, sentry promotion ads to sight distance, optics ads to sight distance in your coastal areas, spys espionage points and relegion also play a role (particularly in seeing what 's in cities) Hope that helps.

 

[Baldyr]

I am new to the game, and have a problem. My 2 lrgest cities are starving( I put them too close), and I have run out of room! If I start a war, will the other AIS attack me on other fronts? Can I lower the pop. by building military units in the staving cities? When attacing cities, go I need a 3/1 advantage in units? just a few questions for the more experiencde players. Thanks

As for the hunger issue - you're looking at it from the wrong perspective. It's not that your cities don't have enough food to support the population - rather than your cities have grown bigger than the available food supply. It might seem like a petty distinction, but its essential that you view it this way.

What to do about it? It depends - do you want your cities to grow or not? What about happiness - will that become an issue if you manage make more food available and thus grow your cities? Because then that food will do you no good what so ever.

Know that your cities are made up of populations points - or "Citizens" - and that they are essentially made up of Food . If you produce a surplus you get additional Citizens, and if you run a deficit you lose Citizens. Its not always good to have more citizens and its not always bad to get rid of Citizens (unhealthy or unhappy ones). You could say that it's - situational.

Take another look at the City Screen and see if you can't figure how this all works on your own. It may be a bit confusing at first, but I promise its all very logical. If you can't - make sure to ask for any advice. Because once you figure the City Screen out you will playing the same game that the rest of us!

As for the military issue - the main thing is to some have siege units. Period. These have two functions - and its vital that you understand the distinction: First and foremost siege units will lower the inherit defensive bonus of the city. (Its the percentile associated with the city on the game map.) In fact - you should always lower it to zero (or thereabouts) before you actually attack. This is called Bombardment and does not damage any units in the city - only the city defenses.

Secondly you use siege units to cause collateral damage on the enemy units defending the city. You do this by attacking with your siege units first - all your siege units, no matter the loses! Because once your foot soldiers or your mobile units go in to actually take the city, it will basically be a cake walk! You don't even need those City Raider promotions or high end units to take the city. As long as you have enough siege units, that is. You know that you have too few if you lose other than siege units taking cities.

To conclude: Build more siege units than other types when conduction siege warfare. You need them for the bombardment and the collateral damage - and you need still more because you will lose some in the initial attack. So you build even more of them!

 

[batman562]

Thanks for yhe advice. That will help. I am at war now, and have taken 3 of the enemys cities. I lost a lot of units befor I took them. I,ll do better next time.

 

[Verarde]

Alright! Using the information I have gathered here, I have now beaten the game on Chieftain difficulty! I used Darius I of Persia, Standard size, fractal, Ancient start, and 8 civs total.
I started out pretty peacefully, but the continent I was on was crammed with the Sumerians, French (De Gaulle) Byzantines, America, and Rome, so I figured I needed a little "expansion." I wiped out France, and had a diagonal empire. Then I noticed Hammurabi, who was on an island continent that just barely missed being connected to mine, and wiped him out. Then I went over to Tokugawa halfway across the world and beat him up. I could have killed Huayna Capac also, but I decided instead to win by Space Race, which I did easily in 1988 AD, and finished with a score of 6189, which when normalized became 9465. Is that good or bad for someone playing BtS on Chieftain difficulty?

Alright then it is on to Warlord difficulty! Any suggestions?

 

[22bebo]

Not sure exactly what you're asking but... a unit can always see the tiles next to it, being on a hill allows further site but forest can restrict some of that, sentry promotion ads to sight distance, optics ads to sight distance in your coastal areas, spys espionage points and relegion also play a role (particularly in seeing what 's in cities) Hope that helps.

Yeah, it does. What I meant was, each space you move into has a certain cost, like forests cost two, plains cost one. I was asking if sight has the same thing, you have a certain number of "sight points" and you can only see across spaces in one direction if they total up to or equal your sight points. Does it kind of work like that?

 

[Look_whos_here]

Im srry if this was asked im not reading 700 pages to find out
what units are for defending and attacking?
im used to civ rev which has separate stats fro each like an archer has 1 attk and 2 def, so its a def unit since attk<def
but in this game its only 1 number, like an archer has 3 strength, what kind of unit is it?? is it equal in value to a unit with the same amount of strength?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Check the bonuses (like +25/50% city defense). Usually this means your defenders are archers and gunpowder units. Mounted, melee, armor, siege are generally your attack units.

 

[Sisiutil]

Im srry if this was asked im not reading 700 pages to find out
what units are for defending and attacking?
im used to civ rev which has separate stats fro each like an archer has 1 attk and 2 def, so its a def unit since attk<def
but in this game its only 1 number, like an archer has 3 strength, what kind of unit is it?? is it equal in value to a unit with the same amount of strength?

All units can potentially be used for either defense or attack (with the sole exception, IIRC, of Machine Guns, which can only defend). However, the unit will be better suited to either attack or defense depending upon (a) the promotions you give that unit and (b) the unit's built-in capabilities.

As a unit fights battles and accumulates experience points or "XPs", you can give it promotions (and if it was built in a city with a barracks, it gets 3 XPs and one promotion to start). A promotion like City Garrison or Guerrilla, if you read the details, are defensive in nature; both give a unit a bonus when defending, but not when attacking. Other promotions, like Combat, are in effect when either attacking or defending, meaning you can use the unit in either capacity. Still more promotions, like Flanking or (I may be mistaken about this one) Drill, are only in effect when attacking. So as you give the unit promotions, give it those that suit its purpose, and use the unit primarily for that purpose.

In addition, some units get either defensive or offensive bonuses, which means each one lends itself better to one use or the other by its very nature. An archer is usually thought of as a defensive unit because it gets a bonus when defending on a hill and inside a city; a swordsman, on the other hand, gets a benefit when attacking a city, so it's obviously an offensive unit. Most mounted units can't fortify and benefit from the increase in defense, so they are usually attackers as well.

Generally, you should give units promotions that complement their built-in benefits; thus, an archery unit, for example, with its built-in hill and city bonsues, can be made into an even better defender by giving it City Garrison or Guerrilla promotions, then deploying that unit to defend either a city or a hill (or better yet, a city on a hill).

I hope that helps!

 

[Look_whos_here]

Okay another question, im using napoleon as france, should i build a barracks , to have 2 promotions, one from experience one from aggressive trait, and axerush somone?

 

[Baldyr]

what units are for defending and attacking?

This one confused me also in the beginning, as earlier versions of the game had both attack and defense values.

As the previous posters told you, its all about the bonuses. Like some units get bonuses attacking while some get them defending. But note that the game works kinda like rock-paper-scissors as almost every unit type also has a counter unit. And with the promotions you can have your own attack/defense bonuses, or make your own counter units. (About promotions - the Combat promotion might look dull and ineffective, but the way the game is designer, its actually a good all-round promotion. I'd suggest you use it before you get to grips with these unit issues.)

What this means is that you need a balanced force, both for attack and defense. Try and build most unit types available to you, and don't automatically replace or upgrade units without taking another look at what bonuses they have. Like a Pikeman has strength 6 and you might be tempted to replace it with a Musketman (strength 9). But then you'd lose out on the Pikemans +100% bonus against mounted units! Having both a Musketman and a Pikeman is better for both offensive and defensive purposes, as the Pikeman will be able to attack/defend against mounted units with a whopping strength of 12!

But, just as the guys said, some units are more suited for either attack or defense. You could call Archer and Longbowman "defensive units", while most melee units are mostly used for taking cities. (I usually use a Crossbowman as a anti melee unit as a part of my city garrison, instead of Axeman/Maceman.) Armored units are also offensive units, but mounted units on the other hand lend themselves for raiding and counter-attacking. Siege units are best used against cities - or against city attackers!

Note that a static defense isn't necessarily the your best option. You could have a stack of "offensive" units laying around for counter-attacks, also. Or you could just put some siege and mounted units in your border cities (along with Spearman/Pikeman to counter mounted units, and Crossbowman to counter melee units). The siege units will be able to deal collateral damage to anyone trying to besiege your city, softening the enemy stack for counter-attack! You use the mounted units for their flanking capabilities in order to pick out those devastating siege units from the enemy stack of units. This strategy will break the siege without you even using those "defensive" units that are just sitting there, waiting to get attacked.

In conclusion: At this stage you'd better be building and using all or most unit types, just to be sure you're covering all your bases. You will be giving yourself a fatal weakness by only building one unit type for attack/defense.

 

[Baldyr]

Alright then it is on to Warlord difficulty! Any suggestions?

Just that you have as much fun as you possibly can.

And try not to get stuck in a rut by replicating the same strategy game after game. There are almost unlimited ways of playing the game, and there is always more to learn. So be open to whatever opportunity that might present itself. Chances are that your current "winning strategy" is suboptimal at best, which you would only learn once you move up in difficulty. So allow yourself to lose games also, by experimenting and exploring the possibilities. How else will you learn more and be able to spot your own weaknesses?

Congratulations on your progress, by the way!

 

[Baldyr]

Okay another question, im using napoleon as france, should i build a barracks , to have 2 promotions, one from experience one from aggressive trait, and axerush somone?

Sure, knock yourself out!

If you spot an opportunity, you should try and exploit it. Once you get Theology and Feudalism you could get even more experience for you units with the Theocracy and Vassalage civics. Time for another offensive, maybe?

And if you really like those experienced units off the bat - settle you Great Generals in your main weapons forge city. They are +2 XP per "Military Instructor", if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Baldyr]

Yeah, it does. What I meant was, each space you move into has a certain cost, like forests cost two, plains cost one. I was asking if sight has the same thing, you have a certain number of "sight points" and you can only see across spaces in one direction if they total up to or equal your sight points. Does it kind of work like that?

No, as the scale of the game is somewhat large, all units only have one tile line of sight. You will be able to spot Peaks (and perhaps even Hills) from two tiles away, though, and having a unit on a Hills tile gives it an additional tile of sight - as long as its not blocked by another rugged terrain tile.

The Sentry promotion is the way to go if you like to add another "point" to your unit's field of view. Otherwise all land units just have "Sight: 1". (Naval units get another point with Optics.)

So your optimal sentries would be placed on Hills tiles, perhaps with the Sentry promotion. Use archery units with a defensive bonus on Hills, or promote the sentry along the Guerrilla line. (If you build a Fort on the tile and its within your borders, the City Garrison promotion will work just the same!)

edit: Corrected text in cursive.