Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[AcaMetis]

1. IIRC barbs will stop spawning once every civ reaches a certain era, and after that new barb cities won't spawn, but if there's existing cities, yes, barbs will continue to improve. I've gone as far as barb Rifles, personally.
2. The score doesn't matter overly much in terms of how good/powerful/dangerous/etc. a civ is. You shouldn't worry about it until the game approaches...2050 AD? The year that the game ends on a score victory.
3. Beyond "not dead", no, not really. Obviously having X number of cities by Y date or this and that tech by 1AD and what have you is generally preferred, but whether you're in a good spot depends more on the map situation than anything else.

 

[lymond]

1) Are there any limits on how powerful Barbarian units can get? That is, if there are still unused areas in the Modern Age, should I expect Barbarian tanks or modern armor emerging from them?

2) How far can I fall behind the highest-scoring other known Civs in the numerical score before I should start panicking?

3) Are there any hard-and fast rules about where I should be in the game at what point if I want, say, a space victory?

I've seen Rifles before in this Deity Barb challenge game some years ago, but nothing beyond that...doesn't mean they might get more advanced, but there is really a rare chance of that happening.
As Acametis mentioned, score really is irrelevant. If you learn the game well, and it is a complex game, score will come eventually but it is not something a pay attention too.

Space victory can be won with X number of cities or many more. It really depends on if you just want to eke out a Space win, or really go for the fastest Space Victory you can. At this point in your new venture into Civ IV, you are probably just trying to win games, so rule the game. So with that said, you should at least consider a guideline of 6 cities by 1AD (that is in no way a max limit, but just a minimum guideline. You can't build Oxford without 6 cities). However, it is important to note that achieve higher beaker rates and production you want as many cities as you can. A typical approach by experienced players is to get as close to the Domination land limit as possible, with as many cities as possible.

Right now though, these are not very important questions for you in terms of learning the basics of the game. I highly recommend that you learn the basics of a successful early game..first 100 turns. You can do this over in the Strategy & Tips forum I pointed you to previously.

 

[R82]

Thank you!

One more question: Does connecting cities so that they share resources really work the way it's described in the manual and Civilopedia? I've got the impression that the game (under BTS) generally tells me cities are connected even if there's not road between them and I haven't researched Sailing yet, simply because their cultural territories are continuous.

 

[AcaMetis]

I don't know what the manual says about it, but cities within the same sphere of culture are not automatically connected. You must have either a road, a river or a coastline to connect cities. Roads will work so long as they don't cross through another civ's borders (unless you've got Open Borders with them). Rivers and coast also need to be within your cultural borders to work, or only revealed on the map if you've got Sailing. Trading across Ocean tiles requires Astronomy.

 

[Lexicus]

I think Fishing unlocks trading via rivers if they're in your cultural borders.

 

[Imperator Knoedel]

I think Fishing unlocks trading via rivers if they're in your cultural borders.

I think it's the other way around: Within your cultural borders you can always trade across river, coast and ocean, regardless of technology. Fishing, Sailing and Astronomy allow you to trade on river, coast and ocean respectively outside of your cultural borders.

 

[R82]

I think it's the other way around: Within your cultural borders you can always trade across river, coast and ocean, regardless of technology. Fishing, Sailing and Astronomy allow you to trade on river, coast and ocean respectively outside of your cultural borders.

Ah, thank you, that explains it.

 

[Trout]

I apologize in advance because it is likely the answer is somewhere on this board but cannot find it. Can a barb city culture-flip the same as an AI? I have a situation where a barb city is in a good spot where I would like a city but is only 1 pop and completely surrounded by my culture with no chance to grow so that I could capture it. So trying to decide whether to let it culture flip in time or whether I will need to go ahead and kill it then settle there. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[6K Man]

Absolutely and they are really easy to flip, since they put out very little culture of their own.

 

[sampsa]

Yes, super easy to flip with creative leaders since barbs don't acquire cultural buildings swiftly and religions don't spread to barb cities.

 

[Trout]

Thanks for the quick help 6K Man and sampsa!

 

[R82]

What happens if a Civ that has vassals becomes a vassal itself?

 

[Lennier]

The vassals are freed. Often times, they’ll be willing to capitulate as well.

 

[R82]

Thank you!

 

[R82]

1) How exactly does the math of using hammers and food in cities producing settlers or workers work? I'm completely baffled by that.

2) What are the standard rules for which resources can appear in what kinds of tiles? I've got the impression that, under a standard resources generator, tiles with forests on them can only contain calendar resources, and tiles with jungles on them can only contain calendar resources and gems. Is that true?

 

[sampsa]

1) Very simple. All (excess) is transformed into . So for example, your city is generating 55 per turn. If you start building a settler/worker, you gain 10 per turn towards it.

2) On a standard map script: pigs, rice, ivory, banana, dye, sugar, gems (hope I'm not forgetting anything) can be jungled (and jungle can grow on them, if adjacent tile is jungled). Ivory can be camped even when jungled, others require you to chop the jungle away. Deer, fur, spices, silk can be forested. Deer and fur can be improved without chopping the forest.

 

[lymond]

Oil can be found in jungle.

Not sure about uranium..usually by the time I pop it the land is clear anyway.

I think....but not certain....that silver can have forest on it, but not sure if forest will spawn on it with adjacent forest. ( I may be confusing that with non standard map scripts though..my recollection is fuzzy. Silver is often in wastlands anyway)

Can't spices be in jungle too, sampsa?

 

[sampsa]

Pretty sure forested silver only on special map scripts. Jungled spice, hmm... I think no, but not 100% sure.

 

[6K Man]

Note that on standard map scripts, the BFC surrounding your starting settler will not have any desert, mountain, or jungle. So in some rare cases, you’ll get Plains Forest Deer or Plains Incense (which normally spawn on Tundra and Desert, respectively).

 

[lymond]

I think you are right. Some GOTMs are on no-standard scripts or doctored maps, which is probably where I got that idea....maybe spices too.