Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Lord Parkin]

That's the only reason I use it; makes all those cottages extra tasty. Also, if you play a Revolutions-based mod (like I do, with Legends of Revolution), then it serves an added purpose in making the people happy, so they don't revolt. TBH, though, prior to LoR, I very seldom used it; I was much more of a Police State-kinda guy.

I've played that same mod too, but to be honest I think the hammer benefit alone is enough to make it a worthwhile civic in most of my games.

 

[elohssa]

Noob question here. How do you find out the combat odds BEFORE you attack (terrain etc. taken into account)?

Another question. When settling a city - is settling it in an area with a high defensive bonus an advantage when defending it?

 

[Lord Parkin]

Noob question here. How do you find out the combat odds BEFORE you attack (terrain etc. taken into account)?

Select the unit you want to attack with, press "G" (or click the "Goto" button), and mouse over the unit you wish to attack. The combat odds will be displayed in the lower left corner of the screen, with the % chance of victory along with the breakdown of the contributing factors (terrain etc).

For the record, there is also a mod by PieceOfMind which shows more detailed combat statistics when you mouse over units, if you're interested. His mod has been incorporated into several other mods as well, such as Legends of Revolution.

Another question. When settling a city - is settling it in an area with a high defensive bonus an advantage when defending it?

Only hill tiles add a defensive bonus to a city (+25%). Forests and jungles do not add any defensive bonus to cities because they are automatically cleared whenever a city is founded. Most players will recommend settling on plains hills where possible, since you get a free hammer throughout the game from the city tile in addition to the +25% defense bonus - but often it's tricky to do this so don't worry too much about it. Usually I don't bother going out of my way to settle on a hill unless it's perfectly placed for the extra bonus hammer (plains hills only), or unless I expect a city to be on a front which might be seeing some military action soon.

Hope that helps somewhat.

 

[Ansive]

In BTS normal play now games, will conquered cities ever flip back? I've seen them rioting but I don't remember them flipping. I'm guessing it's just an inconvenience that might leave you open for an attack during a war.

Is cultural pressure the only thing that can flip a city? (and only if you never owned it)

 

[Verarde]

I believe in one of my recent games, a captured Japanese city flipped back to them. Luckily, I had one rifleman in there. So yes, I am quite sure it can happen.

 

[Lord Parkin]

In BTS normal play now games, will conquered cities ever flip back? I've seen them rioting but I don't remember them flipping. I'm guessing it's just an inconvenience that might leave you open for an attack during a war.

Unless you've got ticked the option to allow conquered cities to flip (which won't be the case in a "Play Now" game), then cities conquered by a nation will never flip back to the original owner. Note, however, that they can still flip to a third party civ if that civ has enough culture on the city tile.

Is cultural pressure the only thing that can flip a city? (and only if you never owned it)

There are a few ways of getting control of a city:

- Military force (very reliable, as long as you know what you're doing tactically)
- Culture (much less reliable, considering that not only do you have to build a city close enough to a rival city and get enough culture to it to get the borders out, but if the rival puts enough units in the city he can completely remove any chance of it flipping regardless of your culture)
- Apostolic Palace or UN vote (requires a lot of work first; obtaining >50% culture in a rival city, getting elected head of the council, spreading the religion to get the votes needed to pass the resolution to flip a city to you, and on top of that you need no one to defy the vote... tricky but plausible)
- Demanding via diplomacy that a city be "liberated" (very rare and difficult to come by; usually as part of a peace deal after a war, but even then it's uncommon)

Those are all the ways off the top of my head. By definition culture is technically the only way of "flipping" a city, because in the general usage in this forum, "flipping" refers specifically to when you culturally overpower a city. So technically it's true that culture is the only way of "flipping" a city, but it's kind of a circular statement.

 

[God-Emperor]

There is a game option that allows cities to flip back to the original owner after they were captured from them (called "City Flipping After Conquest"). If the option is off, then it won't happen - and "off" is the default setting.

I don't think there is anything stopping them from flipping a city that was captured from someone who captured it from them. So I think a city owned by A that was captured by B then taken from B by C can flip back to A even if the option is not active. But I'm not completely certain of that.

 

[Lord Parkin]

I don't think there is anything stopping them from flipping a city that was captured from someone who captured it from them. So I think a city owned by A that was captured by B then taken from B by C can flip back to A even if the option is not active. But I'm not completely certain of that.

This should be correct. It's certainly the case that if B captures a city from A, that city can still flip from B to C. So I'm pretty sure that if you get a situation like you describe with the city going from A to B to C in that order, then it's possible for the city to flip from C to A.

 

[Danelius90]

Noob question here. How do you find out the combat odds BEFORE you attack (terrain etc. taken into account)?

Another question. When settling a city - is settling it in an area with a high defensive bonus an advantage when defending it?

already answered really, but thought I'd just add that you can mouse over an enemy and press 'alt' to show the odds.

I used to go out of my way for hills. Its handy if you can get it but don't needlessly sacrifice a resource or river etc to settle on one.

 

[Darth Fred]

Probably. My take is that wonders, when obsolete:
- retain GPP output
- retain cultural output
- lose buildings they generate (e.g. Monuments).
- YOUR wonders lose special abilities that apply to YOUR civ when YOU obsolete them - e.g. no free commerce on water when you obsolete Colossus, no more cultural bonuses from Sistine.
- YOUR wonders lose special abilities that apply to AI civs when the AI (or AIs) in question, obsoletes them.
- AI wonders lose special abilities that apply to YOUR civ only, when YOU obsolete them
- Wonders that apply to ALL civs (like the AP) lose their special abilities when the Owner/Resident obsoletes them.

When captured, wonders:
- lose cultural output
- lose one-time abilities (obviously... no free GA if you capture the Taj, or free tech for capturing Oracle, or free pop point from Hanging Gardens).
- transfer ongoing bonuses (like the unhappiness from SoZ) immediately.

That all sounds right to me. I was hoping to find something meaty and comprehensive but there doesn't seem to be one (At least not that I can find). So I 'll guess I'll stick with what I know.

Thanks again.
F

 

[Art Cheslog]

Hi Everybody! long time civ player, old man, not too computer literate, first time post. my question is , in trying to get the three musketeers achievement, what are flanking bonuses? i attacked and killed a conquistator with center musketeer... no achievement? why? thx in advance art cheslog

 

[Ansive]

This thread is for Civilization 4, please check the forum for 5.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=383126

 

[nfw]

When you have a peace treaty with someone, and he then demands some stuff and you give in, do you:

1) get a brand new 10 turn peace treaty?
2) the current treaty gets extended by 10 turns?
3) nothing?

 

[Silv Something]

If a rival civ demands things from you, it does not effect the peace treaty, regardless of whether you give in or don't*. However, if you do give in to the demands, it may make the rival civ a little less likely to declare war on you in the future (depending on how much it hates you).

*Unless the demands are worked into the peace treaty "trade" and you deny the whole thing. Then war continues.

Bottom line: If a peace treaty has been agreed upon, you cannot change its length.

EDIT: I'm wrong (see below)

 

[Ansive]

You get another 10 turns starting from the demand (two peace treaties). Happened to me in my latest game.

 

[God-Emperor]

Giving in to a demand for tribute or request for help gets an automatic 10 turn peace treaty (I don't think this scales with game speed). Them giving you something you asked for also does this.

I'm pretty sure that if it happens when you already have a peace treaty then it does make the peace extend out to 10 turns from the current turn. The distinction between "extend current treaty" and "get new treaty" is pretty much irrelevant. Peace is peace. But internally it may very well be a new treaty. I base that on the alerts that BUG gives which do allow for multiple overlapping treaties - if you give in to a request for help and then immediately ask for something that they give you, you will get two "the treaty has ended" type messages 10 turns later. On the other hand, I don't know if this is purely internal to BUG or if it is getting multiple pieces of information from the game.

 

[Silv Something]

Never mind; I'm wrong then.

 

[tdy99]

Does March (able to heal while moving, I think it's March) enable a unit to heal others while moving or just itself? What if it already has Medic promotions?

 

[Danelius90]

Does March (able to heal while moving, I think it's March) enable a unit to heal others while moving or just itself? What if it already has Medic promotions?

just itself. as you know you normally have to be stationary, and this is when the medic promotion applies in a stack. The ability to heal while moving is granted only to those with march (and I think the medic promo will also apply to them while moving).
It would be uber powerful if it healed loads in a stack

 

[s.bernbaum]

Does March (able to heal while moving, I think it's March) enable a unit to heal others while moving or just itself? What if it already has Medic promotions?

March only allows a unit to heal itself while moving, not other units. If it already has Medic promotions, they continue to work as before getting March - the unit helps other units heal faster IF THEY ARE NOT MOVING, so the unit has to stand still as well since the others aren't going anywhere, if you want to use its Medic capabilities.