Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Turquoiside]

You can only spy revolt another civ to a civic you are running yourself. Maybe that was it ?

I had been using the civic for at least 6 turns. After seeing this I went to the patch logs to see if this has been fixed (I'm playing an unpatched game) and I see this:

What about the diplo bug where you can't bribe a civ runing their favourite civic to change any of their other civics?

I guess it's just a bug and/or "little known feature". I guess there's always next game >_<

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

If you have put beakers towards a tech , does it reduce the cost of stealing it via a spy mission ?

 

[r_rolo1]

No: Full cost all the times.

 

[Yaksha]

Hey all - I'm Yaksha and I'm an addict

Couple quick questions:
1) Do I still get the double-production bonus on buildings/wonders if I only acquire the relevant resource part-way through building it? If so, does the double production start from that point only, or do I need half the amount of hammers total that were necessary at the start?

2) When researching a new tech (for example 'Polytheism' at the start to get a religion, then realising with 1-2 turns to go that someone else already got it) - is it possible to reassign the time taken on that tech to something else, rather than having to start again on a new one?

3) If I have only 1 of a particular resource and trade it with another Civ, is it replacing my resource with their one, or is it like 'sharing' the two resources between us?

Thanks in advance

 

[God-Emperor]

1) Yes, you get the bonus. It is a production bonus, not a cost reduction, so it only gets you a reduction in build time for the remaining portion.

2) No.

3) When you trade it away, you don't have it anymore if it was your only one.

Welcome to Civ Fanatics.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Hey all - I'm Yaksha and I'm an addict

Hi Yaksha.

Couple quick questions:
1) Do I still get the double-production bonus on buildings/wonders if I only acquire the relevant resource part-way through building it?

Yes.

If so, does the double production start from that point only, or do I need half the amount of hammers total that were necessary at the start?

It starts from the turn that you hook up the resource (i.e. it isn't applied retrospectively).

2) When researching a new tech (for example 'Polytheism' at the start to get a religion, then realising with 1-2 turns to go that someone else already got it) - is it possible to reassign the time taken on that tech to something else, rather than having to start again on a new one?

Nope. That's part of the gamble of going for a religion - or any tech path or build, really. If you could just extract the investment you'd made into a technology - or building - when you realised you no longer wanted it, then everyone would be switching all the time... and investments would be valueless.

3) If I have only 1 of a particular resource and trade it with another Civ, is it replacing my resource with their one, or is it like 'sharing' the two resources between us?

If you trade your only source of a resource to someone else, then you lose access to that resource until the trade is cancelled or you acquire another source somewhere. Generally you only want to trade away your only source of a resource in extreme circumstances, or when it is of absolutely no use to you at the present time.

For example, if you have an excess health resource and already have tonnes of health in all your cities, you could trade away that health resource for another resource or some gold, since it's doing nothing for you at that time anyway. Just don't forget to take back the resource when you need it again (in this example, probably after growing your cities).

Thanks in advance

No problem.

 

[nikgame]

@nikgame:

1) This means that for every 10% of culture being generated, your city will get 1 extra happiness point. So: 10 culture = 1 happiness, 20 culture = 2 happiness, etc. You get the happiness in addition to the culture not instead of it.

2) When there is no improvement to destroy the tile will be greyed out for that option. Air units can only damage ground units to 50% of healthy strength, so when all the ground units on a tile are at 50% health or less, the tile will be greyed out for that option. Also, any tile that is out of range will be greyed out if your plane tries to attack it.

3) Fighting costs one movement point.

4) First strike is when the unit is immune to taking damage for one round of combat. You will only see this if you have the combat log active, since all combats are fought round after round until one unit is destroyed or retreats, once you attack or are attacked. +1 First Strike Chance means the computer "rolls the dice" to see if the unit gets a First Strike or not. +1 First Strike means the unit definitely gets the free round. +2 means two free rounds, etc.

You have to have enough espionage points (EP) to carry out the mission, in that city. You can see how many EP you have in each foreign city by looking at the Espionage Screen (the last icon in the upper right corner of your main screen). It will also tell you if that is enough EP for whatever mission. It varies from city to city. So, pick a cheap one!

Thanks a lot!!

But my city is producing 360 culture per turn and I have not got a single happiness from this "1 hap. per 10% or 20%" thing, niether from theater nor from colloseum. Colloseum is only giving the 1 happiness fixed tht comes with it and theatre only the 1 with dye. In fact none of my cities seem to be getting the bonus..2 of my next big cities have 123 n 111 culture/turn but there too no bonus.

I have 7350 espionage points against my neighbour but still the option to "steal tech" does not come up...the others like foment unhapiness n poison water cost around 82 ESP(without any stationary cost reduction)...surely the "steal tech" would not cost above 7350 ESP ??? the ones tht are not showing are : Steal tech, Influence religion, Sabotage improvement n sabotage project.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Thanks a lot!!

But my city is producing 360 culture per turn and I have not got a single happiness from this "1 hap. per 10% or 20%" thing, niether from theater nor from colloseum. Colloseum is only giving the 1 happiness fixed tht comes with it and theatre only the 1 with dye. In fact none of my cities seem to be getting the bonus..2 of my next big cities have 123 n 111 culture/turn but there too no bonus.

The 10% or 20% refers to the culture slider. This is a slider that appears in the top left of the screen (next to the research slider) after you research Drama. When you increase this slider above 0%, you start claiming the happiness bonuses from Colosseum and Theaters.

Generally it's best not to use the culture slider too much unless you're (a) suffering from a lot of temporary unhappiness e.g. war weariness, or (b) heading towards a cultural victory. Otherwise your research rate will suffer.

I have 7350 espionage points against my neighbour but still the option to "steal tech" does not come up...the others like foment unhapiness n poison water cost around 82 ESP(without any stationary cost reduction)...surely the "steal tech" would not cost above 7350 ESP ??? the ones tht are not showing are : Steal tech, Influence religion, Sabotage improvement n sabotage project.

The option for Steal Tech is only available if there is a tech which that civ has that you don't have, and that you have all the prerequisites for. I think Influence Religion is only available if the two of you have different religions. Sabotage Improvement only works if you move your Spy onto a tile with an improvement you want to pillage. Sabotage Project only works if the player is building a Project in that city - which will only happen right near the end of the game, and mostly correlates to sabotaging the Spaceship (the parts of which make up most of the Projects in the game).

 

[Yaksha]

Thanks for your help Lord Parkin & God-Emperor

 

[nikgame]

The 10% or 20% refers to the culture slider. This is a slider that appears in the top left of the screen (next to the research slider) after you research Drama. When you increase this slider above 0%, you start claiming the happiness bonuses from Colosseum and Theaters.

Generally it's best not to use the culture slider too much unless you're (a) suffering from a lot of temporary unhappiness e.g. war weariness, or (b) heading towards a cultural victory. Otherwise your research rate will suffer.

The option for Steal Tech is only available if there is a tech which that civ has that you don't have, and that you have all the prerequisites for. I think Influence Religion is only available if the two of you have different religions. Sabotage Improvement only works if you move your Spy onto a tile with an improvement you want to pillage. Sabotage Project only works if the player is building a Project in that city - which will only happen right near the end of the game, and mostly correlates to sabotaging the Spaceship (the parts of which make up most of the Projects in the game).

OHH! Thanks a lot!!
I had totally forgot abt the culture slider Should've tried tht one.

Yea I do think I have all the techs tht he has..
Actually am implementing free religion civic..so I guess there's nothing to influence coz its not showing fr any city of any civilization.

And against one of the civs in the score list at bottom right corner..it's showing "espionage sign - Physics (7)". Does this mean tht civ is stealing Physics from me??? and against another there's only an espionage sign.. Does this mean he has spies in my cities?

And what exactly is meant by "Espionage ratio with myself: 4928/5238" that appears next to Civs in score list. If the first no. is his esp. points against me n the 2nd mine against him, in the esp. screen it shows cost at 133% against him. How is tht possible if I have more points than him?

Thanks in advance

 

[Lord Parkin]

OHH! Thanks a lot!!
I had totally forgot abt the culture slider Should've tried tht one.

No worries.

And against one of the civs in the score list at bottom right corner..it's showing "espionage sign - Physics (7)". Does this mean tht civ is stealing Physics from me???

Nope. It means you have enough espionage points invested into him to spy on what he's researching. Very useful stuff to know, especially in multiplayer, as you can plan ahead for what units/bonuses your opponent might be getting soon.

Stealing techs is an instantaneous thing - if they're stealing from you, one turn they won't have a tech and the next they will. It should also be notified in the event log that a Spy has stolen technology from you. (The event log can be found by clicking the pen and paper button near the top left of the screen.)

and against another there's only an espionage sign.. Does this mean he has spies in my cities?

Nope. Seeing the espionage sign is a good thing - it means quite simply that you have more espionage invested into them than they do into you. If you don't see the espionage sign, that means they have more espionage invested into you than you do into them - that's not as good.

And what exactly is meant by "Espionage ratio with myself: 4928/5238" that appears next to Civs in score list.

The first number is their total espionage against you. The second number is your total espionage against them. Espionage goes up each turn when you generate it from buildings and spy specialists, and it goes down when you spend it on missions for your Spy units.

 

[Lord Parkin]

If the first no. is his esp. points against me n the 2nd mine against him, in the esp. screen it shows cost at 133% against him. How is tht possible if I have more points than him?

Just noticed your edit. The 133% is not related to your current espionage ratio against this civ, but rather it's a factor that adjusts mission costs. It's been ages since I've used Spies myself so I'm rather rusty on the details, but I think the % number has something to do with the ratio of your total espionage spending across all civs all game. I think (can't remember) that spent espionage points do not matter for this calculation, but I wouldn't trust my memory. Someone else is probably more familiar with it.

 

[nikgame]

Just noticed your edit. The 133% is not related to your current espionage ratio against this civ, but rather it's a factor that adjusts mission costs. It's been ages since I've used Spies myself so I'm rather rusty on the details, but I think the % number has something to do with the ratio of your total espionage spending across all civs all game. I think (can't remember) that spent espionage points do not matter for this calculation, but I wouldn't trust my memory. Someone else is probably more familiar with it.

Just checked the Civilopedia and it says that the "% modifier is based on the total number of espionage points you have spent THROUGHOUT the game against this opponent".
I remember starting accumulating points against him quite late but I guess he has been doing tht since much earlier and might have spend a lot against me. Maybe the total points he has spent against me is greater than what I have spent against him even though at present I have more than him. Maybe thats why the cost modifier favours him.
I had thought the % was based only on the current points both have.

 

[steveg700]

So, I've got two cities with access to iron. In Civ V, a resource deposit has a number of uses, but apparently not so here. Does that mean those two cities can produce unlimited iron-based units?

Also, does that iron have to be within two squares to be tapped?

 

[Ghpstage]

So, I've got two cities with access to iron. In Civ V, a resource deposit has a number of uses, but apparently not so here. Does that mean those two cities can produce unlimited iron-based units?

Yes a single resource can be used an unlimited number of times, a second just provides a backup if the first is cut for whateevr reason, an extra to trade away, or if your playing BTS they boost the strength of certain corporations

Also, does that iron have to be within two squares to be tapped?

No, if its within your culture, mined and with a route you have access to the iron, though you do generally want it within a cities big fat cross (BFC) as the tile yields for working iron tend to be very high.

 

[steveg700]

Thanks. So, does that mean that ultimately in Civ IV you wind up with cities compressed very tightly together into an array of BFC's? In the game I started, I'm not very far in and I'm already bumping borders with three other civ's.

 

[Vaidd]

Thanks. So, does that mean that ultimately in Civ IV you wind up with cities compressed very tightly together into an array of BFC's? In the game I started, I'm not very far in and I'm already bumping borders with three other civ's.

I'll give you a really helpful answer: It depends.

The goal is basically to arrange your cities so that their citizens are working as many useful tiles as possible. Sometimes, particularly in the early game, that means crowding them together with a fair degree of overlap. Other times, you'll want more space because the tiles won't support much population (e.g. tundra or a wide swath of plains).

Go look through some old succession game threads or threads where people post their games and ask for advice. There's typically a lot of discussion about city placement ("dot-mapping" as it's known around here), with many, often contradictory, opinions.

Also remember that in Civ IV, the owner of a tile is the one with the most culture on that tile, so it can swing back and forth between neighboring civs. If you're worried about a particular tile, build an extra culture building or two in a nearby city to try to hold onto it a little longer. Of course, just like in Civ V, the best way to take over a tile is by conquering the nearest cities.

 

[steveg700]

So, let's say I'm Ethiopia. I build my Steles. What's the next thing I can research and implement for culture-bombing other civ's?

 

[s.bernbaum]

Libraries are an excellent choice because they give you a 25% research boost as well as additional culture. Besides that, they allow you to have Scientist specialists who will further increase your research rate and generate Great Person points (GPP).

Other good choices, if culture is your goal, are monasteries, temples, and theaters.

Of course in all cases, you need to research the appropriate techs. You should choose your techs to fit your plan for the game, not just for the buildings enabled.

 

[steveg700]

Thanks again for the tips.

So I just got mauled by Ragnar. Is there any way I can know what his relative military strength is?

Also, I guess I need to understand religion better. Why do other civ's care if I accept their religion? Are they getting something out of it? What are those missionaries doing in my cities?