Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Sisiutil]

Im a noob and just now realized how powerful spamming cottages is, but now Im confused about how to work a hammer-city in with all those money-cities.

1. Are hammer-cities even neccesary if you have steam-power and dont mind running universal suffrage?

2. What is the ideal terrain/improvements for a hammer city?

3. How does being able/willing or not to run Caste System and State property change #2?

4. For a balanced playstyle, how many hammer-cities should you have compared to money-cities?

1. Steam power and US don't come along until much later in the game, so you're probably going to require a few production cities before then. If you want, you can convert them to cottage cities later--running Emancipation will help with this.
2. Thanks to the variety of tile improvements available, almost any city can have its terrain adapted to suit any purpose. However, for production cities I usually look for adequate food, hills, and at least one hammer-rich resource (copper, iron, horses). The terrain will be a mixture of mines on the hills, enough farms on flat lands to feed and grow the city, and either watermills or workshops on any extra flat tiles. Some tiles will likely get converted to workshops once I have (a) Civil Service for chain irrigation and (b) Biology for +1 food on all farmed tiles.
3. Generally, they don't, as the key limitation on the number of hammers is food--you need enough farms, and those tiles generally don't provide many hammers. As noted above, it's CS and Biology that may prompt you to change tile improvements. Caste System and SP just give you extra hammers.
4. You should have at least one military pump where you build the Heroic Epic. I think it's good to have a second military city that can pump out units if and when the HE city must focus on its few non-military builds, and where you can build West Point later in the game. Beyond that, it depends on your play style. If you like wonders, you should have a production city focused on them. If you're playing a warmonger game, you'll want several production cities devoted to producing units.

If you have a ton of flood plains at the start, but the only food is an animal, would you go agriculture or AH as the first tech?

I'm assuming you start with Hunting, since not having Ag either means you can't research AH out of the gate.

Generally I'll go for Ag first as I'll eventually need it anyway, it will make research of AH a little cheaper, and I can farm the flood plains for extra food.

 

[AJ11]

1. Steam power and US don't come along until much later in the game, so you're probably going to require a few production cities before then. If you want, you can convert them to cottage cities later--running Emancipation will help with this.

1. 
   
   Workshops or watermills would be helpful until he gets those levees up and running.

 

[reddishrecue]

If you have a ton of flood plains at the start, but the only food is an animal, would you go agriculture or AH as the first tech?

That would depend on who the leader you are. IF the leader has the wheel as a starting tech, then go for agriculture and then go cottages for better techs. if this animal is horse then go for AH because with the wheel you could make horse and help out production. If this animal is not horse then go for agriculture. You'll get more food off the farms, you'll research it faster, your worker won't be idle for awhile.

 

[Ansive]

Don't you need Animal Husbandry to see horses? Maybe you meant cow.

 

[SuperNewb]

Hey everybody! I'm new here... apparently this is the place to post.

I picked up Civ IV during the Steam Sale a couple weeks ago and am finally taking an opportunity to dig into this legend of a game and I've gotta say it completely lives up to the hype. (Also purchased Civ V but since Civ IV is apparently the 'better' or 'more Civ-like' or whatever of the games I thought I'd start here).

Have a few questions...

I'm getting through my first game alright but now that I'm getting into the mid-game (1880ADish) I have a few quick problems.

1) Towards the mid-game do players usually end up picking a tech route and ignoring part of the tree? I've sprinted forward toward some naval technologies because I'm playing a game on two continents and have begun an attack on a civilization on the other land mass... but I'm worried about ignoring some earlier tech items I skipped, still don't have Education for example.

2) As soon as I attacked this other civilization I began getting bombarded by Airships... Beyond my confusion about their presence at this age in the game I also can't see them or fight them in anyway. Are they completely un-attack-able until I get air units or something? They don't seem to do much damage but it could build up over time and really hinder this attack.

3) I've noticed that when you dedicate all of a city's production to Culture, Research, or Gold that output is unaffected by bonuses like Banks, Markets, and Library's... do players use this feature frequently or do they generally just continue producing units from all cities?

Edit: 4) I thought I had this figured out but I clearly don't... I was under the impression when someone attacks a stack the unit selected to defend is the unit the best odds of defeating the attacking unit yet a Cuirassier just attacked a stack I had that included Pikeman and was matched up again my canon instead... Is this what the game means when it says the unit gets a "Flanking bonus?"

Thanks for any help you all can offer!

 

[nfw]

1) Yes, you can beat someone up and extort those techs from him.

2) What is your tech level? The earliest unit that can defend against air is Machine Gun.

 

[Ghpstage]

1) Towards the mid-game do players usually end up picking a tech route and ignoring part of the tree? I've sprinted forward toward some naval technologies because I'm playing a game on two continents and have begun an attack on a civilization on the other land mass... but I'm worried about ignoring some earlier tech items I skipped, still don't have Education for example.

People do beeline certain techs frequently, but its rare that naval forces are going to be pivotal when fighting AIs. Education in fact is one of the most commonly beelined techs in the game as it gives an important national wonder (Oxford), opens up the very useful Liberalism and Economcs techs and is needed for numerous important later techs (Communism, Assembly Line, Corporation)

2) As soon as I attacked this other civilization I began getting bombarded by Airships... Beyond my confusion about their presence at this age in the game I also can't see them or fight them in anyway. Are they completely un-attack-able until I get air units or something? They don't seem to do much damage but it could build up over time and really hinder this attack.

Airships are available at Physics and can cause a maximum of 20% damage to a unit. They are extremely useful despite the apparently weak damage.
Air units cannot be attacked directly, they must be intercepted by another unit while the air unit is attacking. Fighters are the most effective method, but numerous ground units have an intercept chance too, including Sam Infantry, Machine Guns, Anti-Tanks and Destroyers.

3) I've noticed that when you dedicate all of a city's production to Culture, Research, or Gold that output is unaffected by bonuses like Banks, Markets, and Library's... do players use this feature frequently or do they generally just continue producing units from all cities?

They are affected by hammer multipliers instead (forges, factories, coal plants).
Personally I build Wealth at some point in almost every game I play, and Research in many games too.
Research comes a little earlier and its main role for me is to get me to Currency, and Wealth I use to raise my science slider midgame.
The reason being that while the Wealth isn't boosted by banks, the gold produced will fund commerce based research that will benefit from Libraries .
Building Culture is a very niche use, only likely to se use for speeding up a culture win or getting a border pop.

 

[SuperNewb]

Airships are available at Physics and can cause a maximum of 20% damage to a unit. They are extremely useful despite the apparently weak damage. Air units cannot be attacked directly, they must be intercepted by another unit while the air unit is attacking. Fighters are the most effective method, but numerous ground units have an intercept chance too, including Sam Infantry, Machine Guns, Anti-Tanks and Destroyers.

So I'm just supposed to SIT HERE AND TAKE THIS?! Jeez!

They are affected by hammer multipliers instead (forges, factories, coal plants).
Personally I build Wealth at some point in almost every game I play, and Research in many games too. Research comes a little earlier and its main role for me is to get me to Currency. Wealth I use to raise my science slider midgame, while the Wealth isn't boosted by banks, the gold produced will fund commerce based research that will benefit from Libraries .
Building Culture is a very niche use, only useful for speeding up a culture win or getting a border pop

God this game is awesome... Is there a set number of turns after installing a new governor that it takes a city to truly become yours?

 

[Danelius90]

So I'm just supposed to SIT HERE AND TAKE THIS?! Jeez!

God this game is awesome... Is there a set number of turns after installing a new governor that it takes a city to truly become yours?

you mean after you capture a city? Yes, you have a few turns of revolt where the city is useless and then becomes usable. The amount of turns is based on culture of the original city and a few other things... basically the bigger it is and the longer it was there = greater revolt period after capture.

regarding point 4 in your first post, you are correct, the unit with the best odds defends when attacked. In this case, it was either cannon (12 strength) or pikeman vs mounted (12 strength). The unit may have had shock, which gives 25% vs melee, or something that made the cannon have the better odds (maybe pikeman was injured too).

flanking is where siege weapons (such as the cannon) can be damaged even when you don't fight them. For example, if a horse archer attacks an axeman who is in a stack with catapults, if the horse archer survives some catapults may be damaged.

This game IS awesome and there's lots more depth in it to go yet!

 

[Verarde]

Not a question, just a laugh. Was playing as Mao, contacted Catherine to see what was happening, and she goes, "I find you strangely unattractive, Verarde. Do not return until you are better looking."

Now there's a strong woman!

 

[Ataxerxes]

Not a question, just a laugh. Was playing as Mao, contacted Catherine to see what was happening, and she goes, "I find you strangely unattractive, Verarde. Do not return until you are better looking."

Now there's a strong woman!

I think that's the best one I've heard of Cathy's remarks and hers are better than the others. Even better than RFC Ramses "Feel free to grovel in terror and awe if the mood takes you".

 

[jaybsky]

what is the best way to download files from this site when they don't install directly into the proper folder?

 

[s.bernbaum]

It depends on what kind of files you are asking about. Place mods into the mod folder in the games directory... the same mod folder where the mods that come with the game are located, not the mod folder in the directory where your save games are located. Place maps in the maps folder. Scenarios also go in the maps folder if they are essentially specialized maps. War academy articles go wherever you like to put reference articles. Most mods, BTW, are packed in some format and once unpacked include installation instructions. If you are asking about something else, please be more specific.

 

[papakapp]

Can you culture flip a barbarian city?

 

[Ansive]

Yes, it's also very easy to do.

 

[Skallagrimson]

Workshops or watermills would be helpful until he gets those levees up and running.

And prior to Machinery a farm: which I call a "whipshop".

 

[elohssa]

I have questions about building wealth.

1. Do banks impact on the hammers converted into gold or do they only effect the base commerce.
2. Do factories and forges increase a city's ability to build wealth.

 

[Turquoiside]

I have questions about building wealth.

1. Do banks impact on the hammers converted into gold or do they only effect the base commerce.
2. Do factories and forges increase a city's ability to build wealth.

For your second question:

Yes, they increase the overall hammers your city produces, and those are then converted into gold.

For your first, I'm not sure but I'd assume it only affected base commerce.

 

[Lord Parkin]

For your first, I'm not sure but I'd assume it only affected base commerce.

When building wealth, it's only the hammer multipliers that take effect. Any commerce multipliers (such as Banks) are not applied to the built wealth. The same is the case with research multipliers when building research.

 

[Ghpstage]

1. Do banks impact on the hammers converted into gold or do they only effect the base commerce.

They don't affect commerce at all, just the base gold.
It impacts outputs from specialsts and buildings (shrines), not just gold from the commerce slider. Building Wealth bypasses the base gold stage going straight to post multiplier gold.