Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Skallagrimson]

Good points. One of my key war aims in an early war--when your economy is most vulnerable--is to gain some sort of economic advantage to compensate for the outlay I'll be going through. Capturing a holy city is great (especially if it already has a shrine), but capturing high commerce luxury resources are good too--they ensure the captured city will pay for itself, and the boost means you can run more specialists or work more cottages. A little later, with Alphabet and Currency, you have the option of getting techs and/or gold (respectively) in exchange for peace. Heck, even just snagging city and pillage booty can keep you going a long time!

Well I did an early war in a new game I started last night and the economic impact wasn't near as bad as I'd feared. I captured 2 holy cities while wiping out Ashoka's empire, one of which already had a shrine. It also brought in gold and gems as goodies, so slider only dropped to 50% and I was within trading distance of only being third from last in techs. Best of all, taking Ashoka's cities opened up a relatively large Fractal peninsula that I can settle in later at my leisure. I can now turtle up on my eastern flank, take my economy from surviving to thriving, do some peaceful expansion into the opened up land (while using some wild lands as a training zone killing barbarians, nice to trim up several units to 10 XP before facing AI units again), and then when my English Redcoats open up, total war, total war, and more total war to its ultimate conclusion (saving up some gold to turn CR3 swords to CR3 redcoats will help enormously). I'm liking being Churchill more than I thought I would.

 

[God-Emperor]

Can someone tell me how the "inflation" index count per turn, please?

The inflation rate modifies your expenses: city maintenance, civic maintenance, unit upkeep, that sort of thing.

It is not the rate at which the costs go up each turn. It is the total current adjustment. The total change since the beginning of the game, in essence. If it is at 100% then your total costs are double what they would be if it was 0%.

At the start of the game it is 0. After some number of turns at 0 it starts to increase. The increase is, as far as I have noticed, just a linear increases as time goes by (or very close to it - it might increase slightly from other things like advancing to a new era, I'm not sure if it does this at all but if it does then the adjustments are small). The initial time spent at 0 and the rate at which it increases is set by the game speed (slower speeds = longer time at 0 followed by slower increase). It is also modified by the difficulty level (harder = more inflation).

It is usually not a major factor, more of a minor irritation when noticed (which shouldn't be very often), as long as you keep building the occasional financial building and working more commerce producing plots as your city populations grow (or use more money producing specialists). If some of the new population in your growing cities is assigned to work a cottage then the increasing output from the growing cottage/hamlet/village/town will counter the increasing inflation rate.

There is one random event which can happen that can result in a decrease in inflation. That is the only thing that can happen during a the game that can reduce it.

 

[elohssa]

I have a question about global warming. I would imagine the 20 nukes I used contributed to it spreading but...

1. Does chopping down forests contribute to global warming?
2. Do other civilizations suffer? It seems to have affected many of my cities but I haven't kept tabs on other civilizations' cities.
3. Can it's effect be positive? E.g. can it turn tundra into normal forest/plains landscape? I would imagine it turns normal plain/forest into dessert but can it turn cold-inhospitable places into warmer ones?

 

[nfw]

1. I believe so
2. not sure
3. No, only into desert (but maybe you get a flood plain if it's riverside?).

 

[Ansive]

Everyone suffers the same from GW.
It hits a random tile, if it has a forest or jungle the feature gets removed. If it doesn't have then the tile turns to desert.

 

[Darth Fred]

I believe it's only on the tile they're actually sitting on - though I could be wrong. (Maybe it's a 1 tile radius.) Either way this may not seem like much, but typically you don't have that many tiles that need to be protected - just key cities and critical resources. I do know that a Security Bureau in a city gives the same effect as a Spy sitting on a city tile - and that effect doesn't stack. So if you have a Security Bureau in a city, adding a Spy there has no additional effect.

I was hoping they would at least have a one tile radius. That would at least increase some of their coverage.

Thank you.
F

 

[AJ11]

Question:

For quests that give a bonus to a building, does the bonus go away if the building becomes obsolete.

For example, the Horse Whisperer quest gives you +1 food for stables. Do you lose the food at Advanced Flight when stables becomes obsolete?

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Question:

For quests that give a bonus to a building, does the bonus go away if the building becomes obsolete.

For example, the Horse Whisperer quest gives you +1 food for stables. Do you lose the food at Advanced Flight when stables becomes obsolete?

I don't think so, but I could be wrong. The stable becomes obsolete, but I think the bonus remains because the building is "still there", except that now you train Gunships instead of say, Cavalry units.

 

[Ansive]

I would assume yes, though in the case of stables it hardly matters. You have biology, or a supermarket or a corporation by then.

Only culture doesn't go obsolete. One other thing would be walls and castles, they still reduce bombardment for siege prior to canons (and I might be wrong, but also modern ships lol).

 

[Skallagrimson]

1. I believe so
2. not sure
3. No, only into desert (but maybe you get a flood plain if it's riverside?).

That's a negatory on the riverside flood plain. I got global warming nuked a few games ago because ...well, long story lol. Anyway 2 or 3 of my GW hits in a row were river tiles and they were all just desert, no FP.

Never was the temptation so high to go into WB and fix such injustice!

 

[Sisiutil]

Question:

For quests that give a bonus to a building, does the bonus go away if the building becomes obsolete.

For example, the Horse Whisperer quest gives you +1 food for stables. Do you lose the food at Advanced Flight when stables becomes obsolete?

No, but if I recall correctly, that quest is a little different in that the +1 food is only granted to existing stables. New ones you build don't get the benefit, which is different from most other quests which grant their benefits to new buildings or units too.

 

[fbcpraise]

Alright you veterans, help me out here. I need to generate a couple of Great Prophets. I have founded Christianity and Islam and can't get the buildings that will bring in the $!!

I know that I can build temples that will allow me to engage a priest specialist, that will give me some Great Prophet points... but this is slow. My Great Scientist and Great Artist Points are overwhelming the holy men. Help!

 

[Ansive]

Temples and cathedrals, and switch to pacifism. Don't run any other specialists.

 

[Sisiutil]

Alright you veterans, help me out here. I need to generate a couple of Great Prophets. I have founded Christianity and Islam and can't get the buildings that will bring in the $!!

I know that I can build temples that will allow me to engage a priest specialist, that will give me some Great Prophet points... but this is slow. My Great Scientist and Great Artist Points are overwhelming the holy men. Help!

The Great Person you create is based upon the Great Person Points you produce. Thus, to increase the chances of producing a Great Prophet, you need to produce more GPP toward a Great Prophet. You can do this by (a) running more priest specialists, (b) running fewer or no specialists of any other type, and (c) building more wonders that contribute Great Prophet GPPs to the total.

The easiest of the above is to simply run more priest specialists (and none of any other type). If you have any other religions present in any of your cities, spread them to your Great Person Farm. This will allow you to build more temples, each allowing you to run a priest specialist. Build temples for each religion in at least two other cities as well; 3 temples built will allow you to build a "cathedral" for that religion in the GP farm, allowing you to run 2 more priests.

Supplement this with wonders. Remember that the Moai Statues national wonder contributes GPP toward a Great Prophet, so if the GP farm is coastal, build the MS there (provide you haven't already built two national wonders in that city already). Of world wonders, Angkor Wat, Chichen Itza, Shwedagon Paya, Stonehenge, the Oracle, the Apostolic Palace, and the Spiral Minaret also give you Great Prophet GPP. Angkor Wat also allows you to run 2 priest specialists, and the Temple of Artemis gives you one free priest specialist (though it muddies things a little by contributing GPP toward a Great Merchant). If the GP Farm is also a holy city, a shrine also contributes GPP toward a Great Prophet. And of course, the National Epic, the Parthenon, a Golden Age, and the Pacifism civic will all increase the production rate of GPP.

Another thing to consider: you might not use your GP farm to produce a Great Prophet. I often build the Great Library in the GP farm, so it is mostly focused on producing Great Scientists. But I may have a holy city with no shrine. What to do? I'll often look around for another decent specialist city and have it focus on Great Prophet GPP as described above. When it's able to run enough specialists to give my GP farm a run for its money, I'll put my specialists in my GP farm back out into the fields so the other city can produce the next great person--hopefully the Great Prophet I'm looking for.

EDIT: Credit to Ansive for providing the same answer in a much more succinct format!

 

[Skallagrimson]

Alright you veterans, help me out here. I need to generate a couple of Great Prophets. I have founded Christianity and Islam and can't get the buildings that will bring in the $!!

I know that I can build temples that will allow me to engage a priest specialist, that will give me some Great Prophet points... but this is slow. My Great Scientist and Great Artist Points are overwhelming the holy men. Help!

I usually cross my fingers hoping my neighbor (whom I am going to conquer) will found the religion and try try try to generate the GP for the shrine(s). And then take them.

That way I can put my GPPs more toward engineers, scientists, and the one merchant for Sushi. Any accidental artists become golden age givers for non-spiritual civic changes.

 

[fbcpraise]

Thanks, guys!

 

[mimixdad]

Well, my finger is above the button to delete Civ IV from my computer. Really had it with this game. Took the advice given above, tried for an easier win on Warlord level - tried cultural for some and space race for some. Tried probably 12 separate games. Not even close.

On one game - continents - had 3 other civs on my continent - tried to keep them all happy and they finally all decided to declare war on me at the same time - the same damn time - wiped me out completely.

This is too much frustration for one damn game. Any other advice would be appreciated ... taking my finger off the delete button .. one more time......

 

[Trystero]

Well, my finger is above the button to delete Civ IV from my computer. Really had it with this game. Took the advice given above, tried for an easier win on Warlord level - tried cultural for some and space race for some. Tried probably 12 separate games. Not even close.

On one game - continents - had 3 other civs on my continent - tried to keep them all happy and they finally all decided to declare war on me at the same time - the same damn time - wiped me out completely.

This is too much frustration for one damn game. Any other advice would be appreciated ... taking my finger off the delete button .. one more time......

I suggest posting a game to the Strategies & Tips forum. You can either post a save at the point you are having problems, or play a game out asking for help along the way. There are plenty of people willing to help struggling players (as long as they are open to listening to the advice given). Also reading through the games posted in that forum is a great way to learn the game.

Edit: This is a good example of the type of thing that might help you.

 

[Sisiutil]

Well, my finger is above the button to delete Civ IV from my computer. Really had it with this game. Took the advice given above, tried for an easier win on Warlord level - tried cultural for some and space race for some. Tried probably 12 separate games. Not even close.

On one game - continents - had 3 other civs on my continent - tried to keep them all happy and they finally all decided to declare war on me at the same time - the same damn time - wiped me out completely.

This is too much frustration for one damn game. Any other advice would be appreciated ... taking my finger off the delete button .. one more time......

Trystero's advice above is sound--posting saves and screenshots, if you can manage it, in the Strategy forum will elicit some good advice.

Based upon what you say above, I have a few comments/questions/suggestions:

• Keeping 3 civs happy with you at the same time is usually a tall order. They will often develop a dislike for one another and ask you to take sides. When you don't, repeatedly, you earn demerits from each; eventually you become the one they don't like. Sounds like you were trying to play peacefully, which is doable, but sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and join in a dogpile on someone else, lest you be the dog at the bottom of a pile shortly thereafter. You can earn big diplomatic credits for being a war ally.
• What were the religions adopted by each of the 3 civs? Sharing a religion is a great way to shore up relations. But it may mean, as implied in my first point, that if the other civs are filthy heathens, you'll have to join your spiritual buddy in wars, boycotts, etc.
• Were you asked for tribute? (Resources, techs, gold, etc.) Sometimes it's best to give in and earn the diplomatic credit than to arrogantly refuse. Especially if your military isn't strong. Speaking of which...
• What was your power level like? Even if you play peacefully, you need to maintain enough military power to (a) deter other civs from attacking you and (b) defend yourself if they still do. Be sure to have at least one good production city constantly pumping out units (build the Heroic Epic there to help with this).

Once you get the basic hang of Civ, it's an extremely fun game, so I hope you'll be able to find the patience to keep at it.

 

[AJ11]

Well, my finger is above the button to delete Civ IV from my computer. Really had it with this game. Took the advice given above, tried for an easier win on Warlord level - tried cultural for some and space race for some. Tried probably 12 separate games. Not even close.

On one game - continents - had 3 other civs on my continent - tried to keep them all happy and they finally all decided to declare war on me at the same time - the same damn time - wiped me out completely.

This is too much frustration for one damn game. Any other advice would be appreciated ... taking my finger off the delete button .. one more time......

Dude. If there were only 3 other civs in your continent, rush at least one of them early. That would save you a LOT of pain later one...