Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

I can post a screenshot if necessary, but I'm creating a custom scenario in WorldBuilder and many of the terrain tiles have pink circles around them, often consecutively and adjacently. Does anyone know what this means? I am using the Realism Invictus mod but they didn't make any changes to WorldBuilder, so I would guess that the mod has no effect on this, just mentioning for clarity in case this isn't something usual in BtS.
 
Hmmmm :yup:

Normally that shows that the "pink" nation thinks, those places are really good spots for new cities.
 
I've got a pretty basic question about creating scenarios with world builder: I want to make a series of scenarios each using the map of earth but with different civs for each. I've found the map of earth provided with the game but can find no way of choosing civs and putting their starting points on the map - I just end up with the civs that came with the map. How do you do this?.
I'm more used to working with civ 2 where you can choose the maps and civs separately. I can't find a way of doing this for civ 4. Am I being a bit stupid?
 
I've got a pretty basic question about creating scenarios with world builder: I want to make a series of scenarios each using the map of earth but with different civs for each. I've found the map of earth provided with the game but can find no way of choosing civs and putting their starting points on the map - I just end up with the civs that came with the map. How do you do this?.
I'm more used to working with civ 2 where you can choose the maps and civs separately. I can't find a way of doing this for civ 4. Am I being a bit stupid?
Sorry I cannot help with your main question, but I can assure you you are not being stupid (or at least no more stupid than me). Also welcome to CFC :beer::band::beer:[party]
 
I've got a pretty basic question about creating scenarios with world builder: I want to make a series of scenarios each using the map of earth but with different civs for each. I've found the map of earth provided with the game but can find no way of choosing civs and putting their starting points on the map - I just end up with the civs that came with the map. How do you do this?.
I'm more used to working with civ 2 where you can choose the maps and civs separately. I can't find a way of doing this for civ 4. Am I being a bit stupid?
Might be more than one way to approach this, but do note that there are some existing map scripts/mods out there that have civs in their starting locations. For the delivered map, all I can suggest right now is to create a scenario from the map. Start a custom game with the map > select the civs you want > run game > open WB > I think you should then be able to plant a starting city for each civ where you want them. Delete the start units, of course, as they will be in random positions. Then select a civ > plant a city (i think it is the first option on the terrain tab but forget) on the tile you want them to start on > add starting units > select next civ > repeat. Then save the scenario file in WB. I believe that scenario should then play each civ in the starting location you planted the city. Not sure, but it might work by just moving the starting units to the appropriate spots without planting a city, but for your purpose planting a cap city in the WB file should work fine. If that does not work, I suggest posting the question in the Mod forum (C&C) cause someone is sure to know there. Plenty of mods out there have scenarios with static start positions.

edit: If you are starting with an Earth "scenario" like Earth18, you cannot change the civs from in-game. You can from notepad. I suggest saving off the scenario from WB so as not to overwrite the original. WB scenario files can be opened in Notepad and edited. In notepad note the Team #s and match them with the corresponding settings, i.e, the first list has things like starting techs and civs met (usually themselves), and the next has much more civ-related stuff. You can overwrite the text here to replace one civ with another. If unsure of the code for each civ, try running a separate game with the civs you want > save scenario in WB > open that in notepad to get the proper code. Make sure you change all the necessary fields for the civ and make sure they have the right starting techs above that for the same team. Here is an example:

Spoiler :

Team=0
LeaderType=LEADER_HATSHEPSUT
LeaderName=Hatshepsut
CivDesc=Egyptian Empire
CivShortDesc=TXT_KEY_CIV_EGYPT_SHORT_DESC
CivAdjective=TXT_KEY_CIV_EGYPT_ADJECTIVE
FlagDecal=Art/Interface/TeamColor/FlagDECAL_EyeOfRa.dds
WhiteFlag=0
CivType=CIVILIZATION_EGYPT
Color=PLAYERCOLOR_YELLOW
ArtStyle=ARTSTYLE_MIDDLE_EAST
PlayableCiv=1
MinorNationStatus=0
StartingGold=0
StartingX=69, StartingY=37
StateReligion=
StartingEra=ERA_ANCIENT
RandomStartLocation=false
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_GOVERNMENT, Civic=CIVIC_DESPOTISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LEGAL, Civic=CIVIC_BARBARISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LABOR, Civic=CIVIC_TRIBALISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_ECONOMY, Civic=CIVIC_DECENTRALIZATION
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_RELIGION, Civic=CIVIC_PAGANISM
Handicap=HANDICAP_NOBLE


It should be pretty clear here what fields to change by comparison to the dummy scenario. Note that each team section here has set start positions by x and y that fixes them to the spot. That is one way to do it but takes a bit more work, but you can get the x/y position for a tile by hovering over it I believe(in-game). If say, you want to change just the leader to Ramses, just change the LeaderType and LeaderName. Or you can replace the civ entirely but change the obvious fields based on a comparison the what the civ you want looks like in the dummy game.
You can also delete a team/civ entirely, but just make sure you adjust the numbers and remove the team entirely in both spots. Or just change Team 0 - X and delete the rest. Or add more if you wish.
Lastly, note that the starting units are set further down in the file and correspond to the starting x/y position of the civ. You can find them by searching on "unitowner" and just matching it to the team.e.g., unitowner=1 is Team 1's starting units. Adjust, reposition or delete as needed. Not sure how that is affected by difficulty though, so play around with it to see if it will still adjust with difficulty - not sure how that works exactly.
 
Last edited:
I am playing BTS on Immortal difficulty, normal speed, no mods except for BUG. I have met four AI. It is 225 BC and no-one has discovered alphabet yet. Is this odd? I had assumed that they would get this tech much earlier than this.
 
A bit rare, but not inconceivable. Depends quite a lot on the particular AIs.
 
I've got a pretty basic question about creating scenarios with world builder: I want to make a series of scenarios each using the map of earth but with different civs for each. I've found the map of earth provided with the game but can find no way of choosing civs and putting their starting points on the map - I just end up with the civs that came with the map. How do you do this?.
I'm more used to working with civ 2 where you can choose the maps and civs separately. I can't find a way of doing this for civ 4. Am I being a bit stupid?
Use Notepad++
It's much better than the windows notepad.
As has been mentioned above you'll need to remove a bunch of stuff teamreveal= and so on and notepad++ helps you find all the instances.
I enjoy messing with the Earth18 map and changing the leaders. Click the link below my post to see what I've done to it. It might give you some ideas and you can look at the wbs file.
 
Lastly, note that the starting units are set further down in the file and correspond to the starting x/y position of the civ. You can find them by searching on "unitowner" and just matching it to the team.e.g., unitowner=1 is Team 1's starting units. Adjust, reposition or delete as needed. Not sure how that is affected by difficulty though, so play around with it to see if it will still adjust with difficulty - not sure how that works exactly.
He is better off deleting all the units from the wbs file. The game supplies the necessary units to the starting positions. If you forget to remove units and teams have a unit in the wrong place it can cause some problems. I remove all instances of teamreveal= which doesn't take too long on Earth18, takes forever on the giant maps.
 
A bit rare, but not inconceivable. Depends quite a lot on the particular AIs.
The AIs are Mansa, Churchill, Shaka and Gilgamesh. I managed to box in Mansa so he only has 3 cities, but the others have ~7-8.
 
The AIs are Mansa, Churchill, Shaka and Gilgamesh. I managed to box in Mansa so he only has 3 cities, but the others have ~7-8.
Mansa tends to tech very well even with 3 cities, so I guess him not having alpha 225BC is pretty rare.
 
Use Notepad++
It's much better than the windows notepad.
As has been mentioned above you'll need to remove a bunch of stuff teamreveal= and so on and notepad++ helps you find all the instances.
I enjoy messing with the Earth18 map and changing the leaders. Click the link below my post to see what I've done to it. It might give you some ideas and you can look at the wbs file.
thanks for your help
Might be more than one way to approach this, but do note that there are some existing map scripts/mods out there that have civs in their starting locations. For the delivered map, all I can suggest right now is to create a scenario from the map. Start a custom game with the map > select the civs you want > run game > open WB > I think you should then be able to plant a starting city for each civ where you want them. Delete the start units, of course, as they will be in random positions. Then select a civ > plant a city (i think it is the first option on the terrain tab but forget) on the tile you want them to start on > add starting units > select next civ > repeat. Then save the scenario file in WB. I believe that scenario should then play each civ in the starting location you planted the city. Not sure, but it might work by just moving the starting units to the appropriate spots without planting a city, but for your purpose planting a cap city in the WB file should work fine. If that does not work, I suggest posting the question in the Mod forum (C&C) cause someone is sure to know there. Plenty of mods out there have scenarios with static start positions.

edit: If you are starting with an Earth "scenario" like Earth18, you cannot change the civs from in-game. You can from notepad. I suggest saving off the scenario from WB so as not to overwrite the original. WB scenario files can be opened in Notepad and edited. In notepad note the Team #s and match them with the corresponding settings, i.e, the first list has things like starting techs and civs met (usually themselves), and the next has much more civ-related stuff. You can overwrite the text here to replace one civ with another. If unsure of the code for each civ, try running a separate game with the civs you want > save scenario in WB > open that in notepad to get the proper code. Make sure you change all the necessary fields for the civ and make sure they have the right starting techs above that for the same team. Here is an example:

Spoiler :

Team=0
LeaderType=LEADER_HATSHEPSUT
LeaderName=Hatshepsut
CivDesc=Egyptian Empire
CivShortDesc=TXT_KEY_CIV_EGYPT_SHORT_DESC
CivAdjective=TXT_KEY_CIV_EGYPT_ADJECTIVE
FlagDecal=Art/Interface/TeamColor/FlagDECAL_EyeOfRa.dds
WhiteFlag=0
CivType=CIVILIZATION_EGYPT
Color=PLAYERCOLOR_YELLOW
ArtStyle=ARTSTYLE_MIDDLE_EAST
PlayableCiv=1
MinorNationStatus=0
StartingGold=0
StartingX=69, StartingY=37
StateReligion=
StartingEra=ERA_ANCIENT
RandomStartLocation=false
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_GOVERNMENT, Civic=CIVIC_DESPOTISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LEGAL, Civic=CIVIC_BARBARISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_LABOR, Civic=CIVIC_TRIBALISM
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_ECONOMY, Civic=CIVIC_DECENTRALIZATION
CivicOption=CIVICOPTION_RELIGION, Civic=CIVIC_PAGANISM
Handicap=HANDICAP_NOBLE


It should be pretty clear here what fields to change by comparison to the dummy scenario. Note that each team section here has set start positions by x and y that fixes them to the spot. That is one way to do it but takes a bit more work, but you can get the x/y position for a tile by hovering over it I believe(in-game). If say, you want to change just the leader to Ramses, just change the LeaderType and LeaderName. Or you can replace the civ entirely but change the obvious fields based on a comparison the what the civ you want looks like in the dummy game.
You can also delete a team/civ entirely, but just make sure you adjust the numbers and remove the team entirely in both spots. Or just change Team 0 - X and delete the rest. Or add more if you wish.
Lastly, note that the starting units are set further down in the file and correspond to the starting x/y position of the civ. You can find them by searching on "unitowner" and just matching it to the team.e.g., unitowner=1 is Team 1's starting units. Adjust, reposition or delete as needed. Not sure how that is affected by difficulty though, so play around with it to see if it will still adjust with difficulty - not sure how that works exactly.
thanks for your help, this looks useful.
 
Hi everyone!

To get the extra turn of GA from the Taj Mahal, is it enough to finish the Taj on the very last turn of the previous GA?
 
Hi,

I'm having some questions about promotions:
Do Promotions on the same unit stack? Will a unit with city garrison II have +55% city defense or just the 25%? Do you add both promotions together or do you just count the highest one?

Does Guerilla work defending cities/forts on hills? If yes, does it stack with garrison?

Does Guerilla III help attacking cities/forts on hills?

I'm not sure if the Advanced Civ mod rebalances promotions, but which one do you generally go for? Guerilla III for the withdraw chance seems really good, as do flank, drill, combat and blitz.
 
Hi,

I'm having some questions about promotions:
Do Promotions on the same unit stack? Will a unit with city garrison II have +55% city defense or just the 25%? Do you add both promotions together or do you just count the highest one?

Does Guerilla work defending cities/forts on hills? If yes, does it stack with garrison?

Does Guerilla III help attacking cities/forts on hills?

I'm not sure if the Advanced Civ mod rebalances promotions, but which one do you generally go for? Guerilla III for the withdraw chance seems really good, as do flank, drill, combat and blitz.
First, welcome to CFC [party] :band::beer:[party]

Promotions definitely stack, city garrison II has +55% city defense.

Guerilla promotions apply to cities on hills, both for attack and defence.

Personally I tend to go with combat if I am using the promotion for healing, in that I do not know what the next attack will be. Drill is good for units that may be expected to defend multiple times without healing, but I tend to try and avoid that so I rarely take them. The unit type specific ones I will take if I am about to attack a unit and that gives the best chance of success. I do not tend to take blitz as it is some way down the combat line so few units have enough XP.
 
I'm not sure if the Advanced Civ mod rebalances promotions, but which one do you generally go for? Guerilla III for the withdraw chance seems really good, as do flank, drill, combat and blitz.
Generally the Combat line is the best promo to focus on if you don't have a specific task for the unit. It modifies the final power of the unit it's on and critically, it always applies and cannot be nullified by counter promos on other units, which is a very big deal considering the way the combat system behaves.

Combat promos (and most other modifiers) are also more valuable on higher base power units than similar strength promos on lower base power units. A combat 2 Cuiraissar is more powerful than a Combat 2 pike, for instance, which is why they beat pikes pretty easily in flat land engagements outside cities.


As for specific tasks:

-A Woodsman II unit is nice for scouting quickly in the early game, stealing workers, or choking AIs by zipping around from forest tile to forest tile.

-Flanking II is an easy way to get a few units that can be used to weaken powerful top defenders so your Combat-line or City Raider-line units can then clean them up along with the weaker units they were defending.

-Drill helps units defend exceptionally when they have good odds already (machine guns, etc) but also gives some protection to units in the open or that can't get defensive boni, like Tanks. It also gives you better chances against tough odds (Tank vs. Gunship, Archery unit vs. Archery unit) than Combat would but it's not as good as Flanking when doing that on offense.

-City Raider is the best promo for actually attacking cities, of course. It stacks so high so quickly that it can rob tons of defensive mods from the units you are attacking (very nice when they have like +210% stacked up!). If you manipulate the AI to put a stack in a city and then remove the defenses (use a Spy revolt, or let them take a border city that's not tactically important) the CR promos will let you SHRED the stack, which is a great way to beat equal-tier units or the hard counter to your attackers ... this is the easiest way to deal with Gunships using Tanks, for example -- bait them into a city where your CR promos strip some of their +100% armor combat.

-Shock is a good defensive promo for units that can get defensive boni, like Axes to shrug off Swords or other Axes. It tends not to be as good on offense as CR2 is better than C1+Shock, and because if you promote Shock to try to take on that Spear or Pike you'll just likely drop it out of the targeting rotation in favor of a Archer/Longbow instead that your Shock unit will be worse against than just a CR2 or C2 unit anyway.

-Blitz is not very good unless it comes native on the unit, like Tanks. Commando is likewise very gimmicky in the same way.

-Mobility is an awesome promo for exploration ships, or to give to your mounted medics so they can more easily hop around where they are needed. I think 26XP you can take MedicIII+Morale with a GG unit which is better than Mobility mounted units though. Edit: I was thinking of Navigation for ships, not Mobility.



I haven't used Guerilla promos hardly at all, as they seem fairly specific for offense and you need the triple for it to do anything then (you need 10XP for Guerilla III if not playing Celts or using a GG). The AI will promo Archers with it in hill cities even though Garrison is technically better for defending.
 
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense!

What map scripts would you recommend? Hemispheres with massive continents have produced decent results for me so far.
From what I observed, the AI seems to have more issues handling small islands/snaky continents. Marathon speed also seems to screw with the AI somewhat.
 
Top Bottom