Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

If one builds a few cities on some islands, far away from Civilization, you have the option to liberate them. What exactly does this do? Off the top of my head, I can think of three possibilities:

1) They become barbarian cities.
2) They are gifted to the nearest AI civ.
3) They become a brand new AI civ on their own.

Or does something else happen?
 
You can pause the game timer by hitting the escape key. Just be careful not to hit the space bar twice with this menu pulled up. For some reason, it deletes your game. Just sayin'
 
3) They become a brand new AI civ on their own.
This, but start as your vassal with a big +10 diplo bonus for "you liberated us". The cities don't even have to be far away, all you need is 2 or 3 on a landmass seperate from your capital.
Liberating cities is rarely a wise move however, the AI does a poor job of utilising those cities and seriously threatens your diplomatic position. Their uses tend to lie in obscure game mechanics abuses, like dropping below the max pop to allow diplo win votes or abusing AI bonuses on high difficulties.
 
Thanks all for the pause tips, as well as the BUG/BAT/BUFFY confusion clearing up, and Ghpstage for the liberation note. I think I'll try that in my current game (I've decided to go from Settler to Noble again, and am currently kicking butt with Victoria and England; 3x ahead in score! Nothing to be proud of, but I couldn't do that the first time I played civ4), seeing as how it won't really matter much. If I find some abandoned islands.
 
Right, I understand that. I just want to test it out, to see what happens for myself. And I installed BUG today, and it is so helpful!
 
I do that when I destroy everybody and turned on mastery victory... I release my extracontinentals and BAM more inter-civ contact
 
So I have four cities in a new continent and I want to grant independence to only three of them and keep one for myself. However, each time I choose the liberate option on the F1 screen I am only allowed to grant independence to all four. It doesn't matter if I select only the three cities I want to liberate in the F1 menu, it still wants me to liberate all of my cities in the continent. Is this normal? Is there a way to get around this?

Thanks for the help! :)
 
For the actual questions, Yes. No. Yes, it's normal, no, you can't get around it as far as I know
 
How do I make proper screenshots?

When I print screen, the screenshots is placed in a folder in the civ-folder.
They have the GUI hidden, however...

How can I make the gui visible on the screenshots?
 
How do I make proper screenshots?

When I print screen, the screenshots is placed in a folder in the civ-folder.
They have the GUI hidden, however...

How can I make the gui visible on the screenshots?
Um... it should be there in the screenshots if it's visible in your game. If it isn't visible in your game, try Ctrl-I or Alt-I to disable/enable sections of the interface.
 
It's visible in the game, but not on the screenshots. :(

Just an idea as I had a similar experience long ago with a different program. Some machines are set up so that it takes the screen shot and the actual screenie. Most often this is saved along side the screenie as a 2nd page or slide and is never actually noticed by the user, however there are times and programs that will list the desktop view first, instead of the screenshot you are looking for. Check your Screenie and see if there isn't a button somewhere that let's you "advance" or "view next slide", something to that effect.
 
I have two things I would like to know more about, namely the following:

Where can I find more about Permanent Alliances?

How does Internet work? Are there any exceptions to the rule (if a new civ arrives by someone grating colony independence)? How does it work when there are Permanent Alliances?
 
PA makes you on the same team (Like if you started that way in custom game) and only can happen if you turn it on in custom game. colonies count as a completely new civ for purposes of the internet project IIRC

otherwise I have no idea and would be interested to know
 
Internet Wonder gives you any technology that is known to any two teams. In most single player (SP) games, each team is only one civ, so the discussions usually refer to "any two civs". However, Permanent Alliance makes the involved civs become a team, the same as if they had been set up that way in the beginning in the Custom Games screen. So, after that they would count as one "civ" for the purposes of the Internet wonder. Any two in this context means that any tech known to any two civs (teams) at any time becomes known to you. If civ A and civ B know Tech 1, then you get Tech 1. If at the same time civ A and civ D (or civ C and civ D) know Tech 2, you also get that one. If later on, any combination of two civs learn a new tech that you don't already have, you get that one as well. Unless you are the way ahead tech leader, the Internet wonder is the wonder that keeps on giving.
 
Unless you are the way ahead tech leader, the Internet wonder is the wonder that keeps on giving.
And sometimes it's actually very useful to have (especially in multiplayer) even if you're well ahead of the other civs technologically - just for denial purposes. Sure you won't get any techs from the wonder yourself (or maybe just a few really old ones)... but denying your competitors the ability to get a large number of powerful techs for free is definitely a good thing.

Where can I find more about Permanent Alliances?
Hmm, I did a quick search but couldn't find a good article detailing all the mechanics of permanent alliances. It's probably something that should be detailed in the War Academy, but it doesn't seem to be there.

The basics of how a permanent alliance works once you sign it:
- You can never declare war on your ally for the rest of the game after signing, and vice versa.
- You share line of sight with your ally; in other words, you see everything they see and vice versa.
- You and your ally can view (but not change) each others' city screens, as if you had free Spies constantly inside them.
- Most wonders will provide benefits to both of your civs where applicable; for instance, Stonehenge will give you both free Monuments (if it isn't obsolete), the Pyramids will give you both access to the government civics, and the Mausoleum of Mausollus will give you both longer Golden Ages. The few exceptions include the Taj Mahal (only one Golden Age between you) and the Oracle (only one free tech between you).
- You will instantly share all technological knowledge; in some cases this can involve a very backwards civ suddenly becoming very advanced. There are a few exploits surrounding this, as I recall (haven't tested it in a while).
- Techs now cost 50% more, but you combine your research with your ally. Generally this will mean that overall you discover new technologies faster than you did before, unless your ally is severely underdeveloped or much smaller than you. The exception is usually in multiplayer - if you were constantly trading techs between yourselves before signing the PA, your overall tech rate will decrease slightly after entering a PA with that person.
- You and your ally can use each others' roads and rails, just as if you had permanent Open Borders.
- Your workers can now improve your ally's land as they can your own. (And vice versa - although I think AI allies won't interfere with your improvements.)
- Cultural borders between you and your ally will become "friendly". For instance, if you have a city with a massive amount of culture which was previously engulfing your ally's city, then as soon as the permanent alliance is signed, your borders will recede in that area to allow your ally's city to gain access to as many workable tiles as possible (the rest remains in your culture). In cases where the workable radii of cities intersect, the game tries to redistribute tiles evenly. (Actually it follows a predictable algorithm, which I won't go into here.)
- In the case of AI allies, you can tell them what to research (immediate effect), demand or offer any resource (immediate effect) or suggest where to attack (not immediate, also not guaranteed). With human allies you will of course discuss this between yourselves anyway.

There are several other minor effects too, including the fact that your troops treat your ally's territory as "homeland" (so you don't suffer unit supply costs while there), you can use your ally's nearby medics, and your units heal in your ally's territory at the same rate they would in your own homeland. But I think I've covered the main points. If anyone notices something I've missed, feel free to speak up. :)
 
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