Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Luthor_Saxburg]

Thanks! Very clear.

I do have one more question - what is FFA? I've seen the word around but I have no clue...

 

[rah]

If related to an MP game. Free For All. A no team MP game where each player is on their own.

 

[CocoIsKing28]

How far from your capitol is the maximum for a second city?

 

[Ghpstage]

Theres no maximum per se, but unless your settling it for blocking purposes then, in general, the closer it is to your capital while getting some food for itself the better.

 

[1889]

What does it mean when a civ has the little espionage symbol near its score in the bottom right hand corner of the screen? Thanks

 

[shlks]

I'm pretty sure that espionage symbol there indicates that you have a greater number of points invested in that civ than they do to you.

Now for my own question!

Does the AI benefit from the maps I sell them? This could be complicated but I'm guessing the simple answer is "no."

 

[God-Emperor]

The answer is "yes", but usually not a lot. If it shows them places they have not seen then they can use that information, particularly for deciding to send a settler over there. It is always bad when you find a fantastically good spot (like some spot that has 3 food resources, one or more of which you don't already have, and a couple of luxury resources you don't have) and the AI beats you to it - it is even worse if they only knew about it because you sold them your map.

The AIs also like to explore some. They calculate a number of exploration units for each area (continent or ocean) they have a city in based on the number of unrevealed plots in that area. By showing them more territory, you may be reducing the number of those units that they will spend time building, letting them build other things. They will also divert generic Attack unit AI type units into exploring if the number of explorers is low, almost always diverting at least 1 since the check it uses for that is wanting a number of explorers that is actually 1 greater than the calculated number. So by revealing more of the map for them, they will also tend to "waste" fewer Attack units on exploration.

 

[TheMulattoMaker]

I think AIs will also sell your maps around to the other AIs, just like if you trade them a tech.

 

[s.bernbaum]

I think AIs will also sell your maps around to the other AIs, just like if you trade them a tech.

Quite so. That is why I would only sell or trade the map, if I am willing to do so with all the AIs. If you are selling it to one, sell it on the same turn to every AI that is willing to buy, no matter how little the others will pay. If you are trading with one of them, trade it with all of the ones that you think the one you are planning to trade with will pass it on to - certainly not to that one's worst enemies though.

 

[Sisiutil]

Quite so. That is why I would only sell or trade the map, if I am willing to do so with all the AIs. If you are selling it to one, sell it on the same turn to every AI that is willing to buy, no matter how little the others will pay. If you are trading with one of them, trade it with all of the ones that you think the one you are planning to trade with will pass it on to - certainly not to that one's worst enemies though.

Most of the time, the gold gained far outweighs the downsides mentioned above. Most of the time.

 

[dalamb]

Is there any way to turn off map trading, as you can do with tech trading?

 

[pob]

Mod the paper tech (I haven't done any modding but I think this would work):

• Put a copy of CIV4TechInfos.xml in custom assets.
• Open it in notepad; go to the paper tech and change "<bMapTrading>1</bMapTrading>" to "<bMapTrading>0</bMapTrading>".

 

[Chakram Bearer]

You can't bribe an AI to declare war when they're already planning to go to war (they show "We have enough on our hands right now" in the trading screen). But, does this rule apply to other AIs as well? Can an AI be bribed by another AI when they are in WHEOOHRN mode?

 

[wazzzuup]

hmmmm thats trickyi dont know!

 

[Mukersman]

I've actually posted this in the official BTS mods subforum, but I figure this thread would get more traffic? Is there a way to play RFC or other BTS scenarios and disable worldbuilder? Or any of the other options in the options list that is there when you create a custom game?

 

[UnforcedError]

I've actually posted this in the official BTS mods subforum, but I figure this thread would get more traffic? Is there a way to play RFC or other BTS scenarios and disable worldbuilder? Or any of the other options in the options list that is there when you create a custom game?

Option "Lock modified assets" will disable the worldbuilder.

 

[cevarez]

Hi. I want to know how to make the artillery, cannons and catapults bombar units, not only cities.

Thanks

 

[UnforcedError]

Hi. I want to know how to make the artillery, cannons and catapults bombar units, not only cities.

Thanks

Just attack a stack with them and they will cause collateral damage. (This will very often kill your siege unit but it's still a useful tactic to weaken an enemy stack.)

 

[rah]

I think he's asking about making them ranged weapons.

 

[UnforcedError]

I think he's asking about making them ranged weapons.

Oh, sorry. I'm sure there are some appropriate mods for that in the download section...