Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[lymond]

Yep...it works. I setup a little test in WB with a city with culture on the diagonal so we test that as well.

Spoiler Before Popping Border over ocean :

Spoiler After border pop :

On the diagonal it appears like the culture is not touching but technical it is. So based on that test, settling 1E of pigs would work after the border is popped. Ofc, settling between pigs and corn seems ideal anyway.

Edit: Ok...scratch that. I tested again with an AI city this time. The trade route was connected, even when I moved the AI city to a different location. (in other words culture borders did not need to touch) So it appears that culture did create a bridge over the ocean. So in your case you should have trade access to the overseas AIs, as long as there is a clear path along the coast to there cities.

From you screenshot, it looks like some fog down there. Fog will block trade routes along the coast. I'm assuming you've somehow met someone down there, but send a workboat scout down there to clear the path and you should start getting overseas trade routes.

 

[Fizz'l]

Thanks for confirming for me. It looks like I cannot get trades at the moment, because there is a barbarian city in the way along the coast - I might just have to take it out or something, because I really want those overseas trades but don't want Astronomy (which will get rid of all those juicy 4 coastal tiles that I'm working).

 

[R82]

A couple of questions:

First, does anyone else have the impression that animals are sometimes way too easy to beat with Warriors by attacking them first? Sometimes, when you think about attacking animals with Warriors, you get plausible combat odds, but sometimes you're shown odds that are way too much in your favor. I recently got something like 98 or 99 percent victory odds for an unpromoted Warrior on the attack against a full-strength bear, which doesn't make any mathematical sense to me.

Second, what are the rules for popping tribal villages by founding cities or expanding your cultural boundaries? Is that treated by the game as equivalent to a Warrior entering the village, or as equivalent to a Scout entering the village, or what?

Third, do new tribal villages sometimes appear in the Fog of War after the game starts? I've sometimes seen villages so close to other Civs' units or borders that I found it hard to believe that they hadn't been "harvested" yet.

Finally, if you play as the Celts (I've only done that once or twice a long time ago so far), and you built a Dun, does that give the Guerilla I promotion to ALL land units built in that city, or only to the ones that are usually eligible for it?

 

[Qactus]

A couple of questions:

First, does anyone else have the impression that animals are sometimes way too easy to beat with Warriors by attacking them first? Sometimes, when you think about attacking animals with Warriors, you get plausible combat odds, but sometimes you're shown odds that are way too much in your favor. I recently got something like 98 or 99 percent victory odds for an unpromoted Warrior on the attack against a full-strength bear, which doesn't make any mathematical sense to me.

Seems odd. On the lower levels you get a certain number of free wins for the first fights vs Barbs/animals. Maybe that's the reason?​

Second, what are the rules for popping tribal villages by founding cities or expanding your cultural boundaries? Is that treated by the game as equivalent to a Warrior entering the village, or as equivalent to a Scout entering the village, or what?

Still different. A scout can't spawn barbs, but can still get experience which you obviously can't get with cultural borders. Also, if it's your first city (settled next to a hut) you can't get a tech yet.​

Third, do new tribal villages sometimes appear in the Fog of War after the game starts? I've sometimes seen villages so close to other Civs' units or borders that I found it hard to believe that they hadn't been "harvested" yet.

No, AI just sometimes don't collect them. I often see it especially in the jungle, as if they avoid it. ​

Finally, if you play as the Celts (I've only done that once or twice a long time ago so far), and you built a Dun, does that give the Guerilla I promotion to ALL land units built in that city, or only to the ones that are usually eligible for it?

That would be sooo cool, but sadly only eligible units get it. Would've been especially nice for Axemen that want to escort 2-move Gaelics.​

​

 

[lymond]

Yep, you get some free kills against barb units on lower levels like Noble. I forget the exact number but I think it's around 2. Once that grace period is over, human should have neutral attack odds on Noble. Barb odds increase the higher the difficulty, as they get a little bit of a bonus.

The Civlopedia for the Dun is in error. Only archery and gunpowder units get the promo, but it obsoletes with Rifles.

 

[R82]

Thank you for the quick answers! Now, a question that might become relevant in a game I'm currently playing: it is generally known that you can only have two National Wonders at most in each city. However, the Palace in your original capital doesn't count for that limit- you can have two National Wonders there in addition to your Palace. But what if you decide to move your capital by building a Palace elsewhere? Does that new Palace, then, count as one of two National Wonders, or not?

 

[Samson]

Thank you for the quick answers! Now, a question that might become relevant in a game I'm currently playing: it is generally known that you can only have two National Wonders at most in each city. However, the Palace in your original capital doesn't count for that limit- you can have two National Wonders there in addition to your Palace. But what if you decide to move your capital by building a Palace elsewhere? Does that new Palace, then, count as one of two National Wonders, or not?

I am fairly sure not, as the palace is not really a national wonder.

 

[Fizz'l]

I am fairly sure not, as the palace is not really a national wonder.

The palace does actually call itself a national wonder when you scroll over it, but I can confirm that it does not count towards the two national wonder limit per city.

 

[R82]

I hope this question is not too advanced for this thread: any tips on how to wage war against your neighbors if they're all the same religion, which also has the AP, and you have no or few cities with that religion so far? Or on how to prevent that situation in the first place? Looks to me like, once you've conquered cities with the religion in question, the AP resident will introduce a resolution to end the war, and you will either be outvoted and made to stop attacking, or you can defy the resolution and render all your cities with the religion in question effectively useless. That seems to be something that can develop in the game, you can't do anything about it, and once it has happened, you basically have to throw in the towel (unless you either already have all the cities you'll need to win, which is unlikely, or a lot of empty land to expand into, which is also unlikely).

 

[AcaMetis]

One trick is to call for a cease-fire the turn that the "stop the war!" vote takes place, and let the turn pass. The resolution won't go through because the war is already over, but that means it also doesn't enforce any peace treaties, and since the war was ended with a cease-sire you can declare war again immediately. It's not an ideal solution, since it's likely to displace your army, you're taking another round of diplo penalties from declaring war and your war success is reset, but it can be a better move than either eating forced peace treaties or the unhappiness from defying a resolution.

A more advanced trick, which works better if you're Spiritual/in a Golden Age and/or able to run Free Religion (either because you've got the tech or the wonder, either works), is to swap into a heathen religion, use prepared spies to swap one of the religious block AIs into that same heathen religion, and swap into Free Religion on the same turn to immediately get out of the religion. The end result is that the religious block will be broken up briefly, since the AI is highly likely to switch back basically as soon as possible, but one turn might just be enough to bribe AIs into wars, and that might be enough to turn the tide in your favor.

 

[Pangaea]

You can also capture the city with AP in it, and burn it to the ground. Don't know if already succumbed AP anger will be removed then, but at least you don't get more pesky AP stop the war resolutions coming your way

 

[lymond]

One trick is to call for a cease-fire

This is my approach to handling any possible AP interference. Although, if I recall, I think you need to do ceasefire the turn before the vote. If the vote takes place the turn of ceasefire, the resolution will still go through and enforce a peace treaty - regardless of the fact the war actually ended that turn. At least that is my experience, but it's been a while.

Anyway, ceasefire is a good way to manage the AP. You can track the AP timer on the AP tab in the victory screens (F9?). So try to time your DOW at the start of a new count at 9. If you can't achieve your goal before it hits zero, then take a ceasefire. With ceasefire, you can immediately DOW the next turn. Yes, you lose your war success, but can reap your gains.

Meanwhile, as I grow the Empire, I try to make sure to spread the AP religion so that my vote eventually is strong enough to prevent the war resolutions from passing. (Being in the AP religion itself increases your vote)

 

[ArchGhost]

any tips on how to wage war against your neighbors if they're all the same religion, which also has the AP, and you have no or few cities with that religion so far?

You shouldn't focus on trying to use voting power...like ever...to handle AP cheese in a lovefest unless you are like double pop of anybody else with the religion fully spread. They will just outvote you with solidarity. Later, yeah, but I would just have burned the AP by that point if at all possible.

Avoiding the threat of an AP stop vote or Holy War (can only be called on you if you have zero cities with the AP religion) is fairly easy by using proper timing. The maximum window you have is the same turn that another resolution is being put to vote up to a turn before the next. The AP leader can't call another resolution until the expiry on the cooldown between votes and can't call a stop war if you aren't at war with a member. Then sue for peace ASAP before the next vote comes up to avoid a forced peace treaty/potential holy war. I don't generally like ceasefire tactics, for the first AI at least, because it makes capping the AI harder and drives up diplo penalties for multiple DoWs at the most vulnerable part of your military campaign. I tend to choose the easiest target and either cap or take as much as possible as quickly as I can to consolidate gains for the next step. But you do what you have to do to make up ground.

As for selecting a target itself, things aren't much different than normal...except everybody is quite likely to love each other. Beg peace treaties to isolate the AIs, pay attention to bribing thresholds and try to play on differences in peaceweights to further break up the bloc, and choose a target you can quickly beat. Having a Cathy or Ragnar can be helpful in religious blocs as they are more easy to bribe into wars against targets they like, and if they are buddies with others in a love-fest, might even bribe some backup for you (if you set them on an outlier target in this example). Tying the AIs' hands with either begs or wars is part of Warmongering 101.

Occam's Razor solution to the AP is to just raze the city it's in to the ground. Not always feasible on the first war, but it could be a very helpful goal in the future.

Don't know if already succumbed AP anger will be removed then

No

 

[R82]

Thank you, everyone!

Now, a trivial question: are there city names that appear on the standard city name list for two different Civs, and get used by only one of them on a "first come, first served" base? Like, say, Thebes for Egyptians and Greeks, or Memphis for Egyptians and Americans, or perhaps some city names for Germans and Holy Romans?


And a much less trivial question: how, exactly, does the Granary/Terrace work? I mean aside from the additional health from grain, and the culture points if it's a Terrace? The standard explanation is that it stores 50 percent of food after growth, but, well, what does that mean in concrete terms? What is happening differently in a city with a granary compared to one without one?

 

[WarriorSettler]

Thank you, everyone!
And a much less trivial question: how, exactly, does the Granary/Terrace work? I mean aside from the additional health from grain, and the culture points if it's a Terrace? The standard explanation is that it stores 50 percent of food after growth, but, well, what does that mean in concrete terms? What is happening differently in a city with a granary compared to one without one?

Normally, when your city gains one population, the food bar goes back down all the way to 0. However, with a granary, the bar will go back down only to half. This makes growing your city much faster.

 

[Fizz'l]

Normally, when your city gains one population, the food bar goes back down all the way to 0. However, with a granary, the bar will go back down only to half. This makes growing your city much faster.

Also note that the first time the population increases after you complete your granary, you may not retain an entire half-bar of food. I think it depends on how full the food bar was when the granary was completed. If it was over half full at this time, then less than half a bar of food will be retained after population increase. If you're into micromanagement, you could try to time the granary to finish when the food bar is exactly half full.

As for city names, I ran a quick test, and it seems that the game checks other city names before choosing a name for a new city... so I guess you are correct. Memphis will not appear as an American city if it has already been used by the Egyptian empire.

Spoiler Picture :

Edit: Note this is the Earth 18 civs map showing the start location of France and England - I have named the French capital London, and so England (who moves later) has been forced to name their capital York, which is normally the second English city

 

[elmurcis]

This question made me to look into city names itself for civs and realize that number of "original" names varies a lot - India has over 90 while some other just 30 names in list. Learn something new.

 

[lymond]

And a much less trivial question: how, exactly, does the Granary/Terrace work? I mean aside from the additional health from grain, and the culture points if it's a Terrace? The standard explanation is that it stores 50 percent of food after growth, but, well, what does that mean in concrete terms? What is happening differently in a city with a granary compared to one without one?

A city with a granary stores food surplus (food produced less food consumed - you can see this at left of food bar) into its granary. The stored food is then used at the next pop point to fill the food bar up to 50%. A city without a granary does not store food, obviously, and may only see just a little bit of food at the next pop point if there is some food overflow. Cities with granaries grow significantly faster which makes turning food into production more optimal and efficient.

Fizz is right in that it is ideal to complete a granary at or before hitting 50% food at the current pop point the granary is built. This generally gives sufficient time for the granary to store enough food for the next pop point. An alternative approach, if one finishes a granary after 50%, is to hold growth for one turn by activating the hold growth button in the bottom right of the city screen.

Food surplus itself is also a factor. Cities with high food surplus will store food faster, and could lead to some food overflow as well. So you may see food bars exceed 50% a bit on next pop, especially at lower pops where growth is faster anyway. You may have cases where cities at low pop and high food surplus grow in 1 turn.

Granary without question is the most important building in the game by miles.

 

[AcaMetis]

Now, a trivial question: are there city names that appear on the standard city name list for two different Civs, and get used by only one of them on a "first come, first served" base? Like, say, Thebes for Egyptians and Greeks, or Memphis for Egyptians and Americans, or perhaps some city names for Germans and Holy Romans?

I don't know of any city names that are shared between civs, but I do know that the default name the game will assign to a new city is the first name on that civ's city list that is not already in play - for example if you rename your initial city to "capitol" your second city will default to, say, Amsterdam, because that name isn't (shouldn't be, unless you're playing with duplicate civs and/or MP I guess) already in play. If a civ's entire list of names is already in play it'll start from the top and add "New" in front, e.g. "New Amsterdam". After that I don't know what happens, but as said some civs have 90-odd city names defined, so running out the list twice over would require settling a crazy number of cities.

 

[Fizz'l]

I don't know of any city names that are shared between civs, but I do know that the default name the game will assign to a new city is the first name on that civ's city list that is not already in play - for example if you rename your initial city to "capitol" your second city will default to, say, Amsterdam, because that name isn't (shouldn't be, unless you're playing with duplicate civs and/or MP I guess) already in play. If a civ's entire list of names is already in play it'll start from the top and add "New" in front, e.g. "New Amsterdam". After that I don't know what happens, but as said some civs have 90-odd city names defined, so running out the list twice over would require settling a crazy number of cities.

The city names that I could find which are shared between civilizations are:
Birmingham (England and America)
Memphis (Egypt and America)
Peshawar (India and Persia)
Richmond (America and England)
Tula (Aztec and Russia)