Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[nikgame]

sorry for the double post

 

[Ambidexter]

I am also new to this game and I have started playing Civ 4(Just the 2nd game though) even though I have BTS installed but reading the above posts I am wondering whether I should directly start playing BTS.

I recommend playing BTS rather than vanilla. There's some bugs and glitches in vanilla that are fixed in BTS. Also you want to download Patch 3.19 (do NOT do it from the game, it doesn't work). When you're comfortable with BTS, then you might want to look at some of the mods.

 

[nikgame]

I recommend playing BTS rather than vanilla. There's some bugs and glitches in vanilla that are fixed in BTS. Also you want to download Patch 3.19 (do NOT do it from the game, it doesn't work). When you're comfortable with BTS, then you might want to look at some of the mods.

I have patched BTS to 3.19 from the downloads section of this site using one of the mirrors Atomicgamer (the Firaxis one does not seem to be downloading). I think I've managed to do it successfully..atleast the game shows build as 319.

When I play at higher resolutions(1366x768 and 1360x768), the title screens are somewhat different..the Title "Civilization IV" seems to be way up touching the screen..This happens for all the 4 title screens available in options but is especially noticable in Civ 4 and Warlords title screens(the very top of title almost going out of the screen)

In Civ 4(1.61) when I play at higher resolutions, this issue is not there..Is it possible to get the title screen in BTS back to normal ?? Any help would be great.

 

[Jwitti]

idk, I don't really care Now, if the top of the in-game interface is missing, then be worried. I have that problem, since I have a widescreen resolution (like twice as wide as tall)

 

[nikgame]

idk, I don't really care Now, if the top of the in-game interface is missing, then be worried. I have that problem, since I have a widescreen resolution (like twice as wide as tall)

It's weird how in Civ 4 this prob is not there..only in BTS

 

[MaxWar]

I have no such problems and i run 1920x1200. But ive seen something similar on some mod splash screens.

 

[s.bernbaum]

My screen is 1680X1050. The splash screen is pushed up a bit so probably the top of it can't be seen but everything in the game is fine. Since I don't stay at the splash screen longer than needed to choose from the main menu, it bothers me not at all. It is even more noticeable in Final Frontier but again, since it is only the splash screen behind the main menu, it matters not.

 

[Teutorian]

Just wondering
Are all of the civics active at the same time are are you choosing one of the above?
For instance, is Nationhood and Police State and Caste System all working together with one another or are you only choosing one of these to work at one time?

I just switched from Civ V to Civ IV and just built the Pyramids and want to know if I can choosing one from each category before going into anarchy.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Teutorian]

Ah, ok.
Just made google my friend. I guess they all work hand in hand together.

 

[Jwitti]

You get one from each category.

 

[nikgame]

My stonehenge is producing 16 culture/turn...isnt it supposed to be 8 per turn ???

 

[Sisiutil]

My stonehenge is producing 16 culture/turn...isnt it supposed to be 8 per turn ???

All culture-producing buildings, including wonders, double the culture they produce after 2000 years, IIRC. This only happens once per building. Kind of the game's version of becoming a tourist attraction. (Though a commerce bonus would be required to completely fulfill that analogy.)

 

[God-Emperor]

I think it is always 1000 years in BtS.

This is a small advantage to the earlier wonders (and culture buildings in general), built when turns are multiple years each. Later game wonders will never double unless you have turned off the time victory condition and play for a long time after the usual end.

A quick check... It looks like the Palace is the only building that gives culture that this does not apply to.

 

[AJ11]

I think it is always 1000 years in BtS.

This is a small advantage to the earlier wonders (and culture buildings in general), built when turns are multiple years each. Later game wonders will never double unless you have turned off the time victory condition and play for a long time after the usual end.

A quick check... It looks like the Palace is the only building that gives culture that this does not apply to.

Well, I suppose the game developers thought that you won't like perfect strangers coming through your living room and bedroom by the tens of thousands...

 

[Mec AntiKythera]

You hit the nail in the head, i exactle do that every time . I just like to build everything what the game offers to me (more so in New Dawn, there is so many to build!).

I try your suggestion next time.

Thx

Also, try whipping and chopping some settlers and workers and city defenders when possible. Pretty soon your problem will be that you have too many cities too quickly and your economy collapses.

Here is another set of crazy useful charts.

There is also a very cool ref booklet located around here somewhere, that is written in the spirit of how the manual looks like, with lots of good information.

I think I have seen those but will have a look to be sure. I can´t get enough of this stuff. Thank you.

 

[dalamb]

When you vassalize someone after conquering some of their cities, what governs how fast the "yearn to rejoin our motherland' goes away? Does it have to do with your relative % of the tiles (e.g. when it says 37% you, 63% vassal)? If so, how can one speed up the increase in one's own percentage? build more cultural buildings and build culture once done with that?

Yes, I know it's easier if you just wipe out instead of vassalizing, but I chose not to because his remaining cities were lousy and he was blocking other AIs from settling the same lousy spots.

 

[r_rolo1]

Tile culture in the city tile is the only variable in here. The only ways of dealing with this are killing the guy or build your only own culture to minimize his % of tile culture there.

Other way is, before you conquer the city, to use the spread culture spy mission if possible to have a comfortable tile culture count in there when you conquer it.

 

[steveg700]

Posts: 27 Just cut over from V to IV BtS. Lots of little differences. There's suppsoedly a tutorial in IV, but I guess with BtS thats not present anymore. Questions:

1) Is culture good for anything besides border expansion?

2) How far from your city will citizens work? Is it two or three tiles?

3) Cities don't defend themselves at all, right? So, how full should I stuff my cities with defending units? Is one archer okay in the early game?

4) It seem like production can be queued, but if I click a unit, it automatically goes to the top. I can't drag and drop and there are no "move up" and "move down" arrows. Is there a convenient way to manage it?

5) I automated some workers, but they completely ignored improving the iron near my cities, so I had to manually send them over to mine it. Is there a known reason for this hesitation?

Thanks in advance.

 

[MaxWar]

1) Cultural borders is the most obvious result of culture but the secondary idea is to play the " I have more culture than you" game with the other civs. It can lead to cities flipping from one civ to another, can also impress some civs and of course Cultural victory

2) 2 tiles

3) Really depends on a lot of stuff, you need to adapt, but dont leave cities undefended, and obviously border cities near rival will need more immediate protection.

4) Add items with shift. To modify order the trick i use is to simply delete all queue and rebuild it while holding Shift.

5) NEVER AUTOMATE WORKERS!!!

Thats it but im sure other more experienced members can add more insights

edit : darn that was my 700th post!

 

[s.bernbaum]

Posts: 27 Just cut over from V to IV BtS. Lots of little differences. There's suppsoedly a tutorial in IV, but I guess with BtS thats not present anymore. Questions:

1) Is culture good for anything besides border expansion?

2) How far from your city will citizens work? Is it two or three tiles?

3) Cities don't defend themselves at all, right? So, how full should I stuff my cities with defending units? Is one archer okay in the early game?

4) It seem like production can be queued, but if I click a unit, it automatically goes to the top. I can't drag and drop and there are no "move up" and "move down" arrows. Is there a convenient way to manage it?

5) I automated some workers, but they completely ignored improving the iron near my cities, so I had to manually send them over to mine it. Is there a known reason for this hesitation?

Thanks in advance.

1) Culture expands borders, adds a defense percentage to your city military defenders, is needed for culture victory, can be used to flip nearby neighbors cities into your empire and to keep them from flipping your city to their empire, among other things.

2) The citizens can work the eight tiles immediately adjacent to the city and the twelve consisting of three each located two tiles from the city and centered on it, in both horizontal and vertical directions, for a total of 20 tiles plus the city itself. This forms what is referred to as the Big Fat Cross (BFC).

3) One military unit is fine at first. Later you many need more but usually it is better to have a field army that can move to intercept invaders before they reach the city.

4) If you hold down Alt while clicking the item to add to the queue, it will end up at the bottom of the list. Holding cntrl will add it to the top. Just clicking without any "helper" key will put it at the top, ahead of the current top item, if the item already there has at least one turn of production in it, otherwise it will replace the top item.

5) Don't automate workers. They do a terrible job without human supervision.

As for the tutorial, if you are playing BTS, then you also have the original CIV. The tutorial can be played from there. I would suggest starting up the original game to play the tutorial. After that you can stick with using BTS. Everything in the tutorial is still accurate for BTS. There are just a number of things in BTS that are not in the tutorial but it is a good place to get the hang of the very basic game.


And Welcome to CFC CIV!