Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Zello]

Question:
How does the medic promotion work? Specifically, is it dependent on the unit itself being able to heal in that turn, or can your medic attack a city for instance, and still provide healing bonus for those units that don't attack/move/etc. in that turn?
And what about units that do attack in that turn (and therefore wouldn't heal in that turn under normal circumstances)?

 

[a4phantom]

How'd I know you were going to ask that? The answer is here.

BTW, I've been meaning to ask, is your forum name the same airframe as the F4 Phantom?

Yes, specifically the F/A4 Phantom. I think the A might be for the Israeli Air Force configuration or something, or I may have just made it up. I picked the name for my instant messenger account about 7 years ago and it was the style of the times to have your screen name start with the same letter as your name (Aleks). The Phantom is a very cool plane, and the IAF in particular worked military magic with it, although I recently saw on the History Channel that the version we Americans flew over Vietnam DID NOT HAVE GUNS! Apparently jets and missiles had made dogfighting or any close combat (as you probably know missiles had a minimum range) obsolete between Korea and Vietnam, but noone bothered to tell that to the other side.

Thanks for the link.

==Zello Question:
How does the medic promotion work? Specifically, is it dependent on the unit itself being able to heal in that turn, or can your medic attack a city for instance, and still provide healing bonus for those units that don't attack/move/etc. in that turn?
And what about units that do attack in that turn (and therefore wouldn't heal in that turn under normal circumstances)?==

Edit: The straightforward answer to your question is no, the medic does not need to be able to heal that turn (it attacked or moved) for other units that did not attack or move to get its healing bonus.

A medic will heal 10 hitpoints (a healthy unit has 100, a dead unit has 0) to each unit stacked with it that heals naturally that turn, including itself. If these units move, attack or pillage, they forfeit both their natural healing and the medic's bonus to them. Defending, fortifying and unfortifying don't prevent healing, but upgrading does. [edit: see complete list below] If the medic attacks, upgrades or pillages it is not eligible for either natural or its own healing because it has moved, but it will still add its bonus to any units that do heal that turn (the unit has to end the turn, and therefore also begin it since moving prevents healing, on the same square the medic ends his turn on, whether the medic started there or not). As Cabert pointed out, medic bonuses do not stack so no unit can get more tran +10 hitpoints from medics in a turn. There's a very complete article on healing somewhere, I'll try to find it for you.


*********************************************************************
Unit Healing - by PieceOfMind

The purpose of this article is to explain all aspects of unit healing in Civ4.

Questions have popped up quite frequently concerning medic stacking and healing etc. This article will cover that.

Please direct my attention to anything you believe is incorrect or misleading. Please post if there is anything this article needs which I missed (including suggested additions to the Useful Observations section).



The term friendly will be used in this article to describe a civ which you are at peace with. Allied civs include teammates and civs with a permanent alliance.

Definition: In general, a unit is only eligible for healing if it does not move in its turn. Units that fortify/sleep or sit in a transport that's moving are not moving of their own accord and so are eligible for healing. Essentially a unit forfeits its move to be eligible for healing.

A unit that is damaged (has less than 100HP) and eligible for healing will be healed at the beginning of the next turn, after all other AIs/players/barbarians have moved.

Eligibility for Healing
A unit that performs ANY of the following actions will NOT be eligible for healing:

* Attack
* Pillage
* Bombard
* Load or unload (including from ship to ship)
* Airlift
* Bombing/Air Strike (air units)
* Reconnaissance (air units)
* Re-basing (air units)
* Upgrade
* Moving (excepting the indirect movement of cargo in cargo ships)

EXCEPTION: The March promotion
The March promotion makes a unit ALWAYS eligible for healing regardless of any actions made by the unit in its turn. For example, a horse archer with March can move 1 tile, pillage an improvement and then still be eligible for healing.


These actions will not affect a unit's eligibility for healing:

* Fortify
* Sleep
* Sentry
* Defending from an attack
* Sitting in a cargo ship while it moves
* Accepting a promotion
* Intercept Mission (air units)


-------------------------------

In most documentation, a unit will be said to heal a given percent in a turn. eg. the manual will tell you Medic I heals units on the same tile by 10%.
The heal percent is the number of HP that will be healed. eg. A medic will add 10HP to units it heals.

The amount a unit is healed is found by combining (by adding) its situational healing, any medic healing, hospital healing and any healing from Combat promotions.

[and so forth . . .] http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=157954

 

[frankcor]

OFF TOPIC:

a4phantom: yes, the first pilots of the F4 were horrified to learn it didn't have any guns. In reality, the missles were better at dog-fighting than guns but the manufacturer eventually installed machine guns on under-wing mounted pods to appease the pilots.

The last time I was in a war (Vietnam), the F4s did yeoman's work in close ground attack (the usual role for the A configuration, I believe). Those boys could bring some smoke.

 

[cabert]

In most documentation, a unit will be said to heal a given percent in a turn. eg. the manual will tell you Medic I heals units on the same tile by 10%.
The heal percent is the number of HP that will be healed. eg. A medic will add 10HP to units it heals.

The amount a unit is healed is found by combining (by adding) its situational healing, any medic healing, hospital healing and any healing from Combat promotions.

right
my 2 cents : 2 medics don't give you more healing than just one.

 

[a4phantom]

OFF TOPIC:

a4phantom: yes, the first pilots of the F4 were horrified to learn it didn't have any guns. In reality, the missles were better at dog-fighting than guns but the manufacturer eventually installed machine guns on under-wing mounted pods to appease the pilots.

The last time I was in a war (Vietnam), the F4s did yeoman's work in close ground attack (the usual role for the A configuration, I believe). Those boys could bring some smoke.

Oh hell I feel like an idiot, I assumed you were probably familiar with most of that from your question but I didn't know I was lecturing someone who'd been there. Sorry!

I did know that they specialized in ground attack, or at least that that's what the IAF primarily and very successfully used them for since their enemies' airforces never lasted long.

Why were missles better for dogfighting? Didn't they have a minimum range, not to mention a limited number of missiles? Or rather, accepting that they were better, wouldn't it have been better still to have guns to fall back on? The only Phantom dogfight I've ever heard described in detail was won and described by a guy who's now being convicted of bribery and corruption, but I think he described getting too close to the MIG to shoot missiles, whereas if the MIG had been facing him it could have ripped him apart with guns.

 

[a4phantom]

right
my 2 cents : 2 medics don't give you more healing than just one.

Good point, I'll add that. And for the record the research you're quoting isn't mine, it's PieceOfMind's.

 

[cabert]

Why were missles better for dogfighting? Didn't they have a minimum range, not to mention a limited number of missiles?

because missiles usually hit their targets, and you also have limited ammo in the guns...

 

[frankcor]

Oh hell I feel like an idiot, I assumed you were probably familiar with most of that from your question but I didn't know I was lecturing someone who'd been there.

Don't worry about it.

Why were missles better for dogfighting?

Walk into to the bar at any Air Force officer's club and ask that question. The debate still rages on. It's sort of like walking into an Internet Cafe and asking "What's better, a Mac or PC?"

F4s were great as fighters and great close air-ground supporters. They also flew the Wild Weasle missions -> anti-anti-aircraft-radar jobs. And they could just flat-out fly fast.

 

[a4phantom]

because missiles usually hit their targets, and you also have limited ammo in the guns...

Unless they started setting them to arm immediately after launch hitting the target wouldn't have done the trick.


I also don't know if they could even aquire and hit targets very close in (that's just speculation of mine though).

****************
Flying the Phantom [from the Wikipedia article F4 Phantom II, I don't see an author listed]

In air combat, the Phantom's greatest advantage was its thrust which permitted a skilled pilot to engage and disengage from the fight at will. Not surprisingly, the massive aircraft which was designed to fire radar-guided missiles from beyond visual range lacked the agility of its Soviet opponents. Although the F-4 proved somewhat liable to enter spins during high-G and high angle of attack maneuvers, pilots reported the aircraft to be very communicative and easy to fly on the edge of its performance envelope. In 1972, the F-4E model was upgraded with leading edge slats on the wing, greatly enhancing high angle of attack maneuverability at the expense of top speed. The J79 engines produced copious amounts of black smoke at military power which made the Phantoms easy to detect and visually track from a distance. By far, the biggest weakness of the F-4 was its lack of cannon armament. The American military doctrine at the time dictated that turning combat would be impossible at supersonic speeds and no effort was made to teach pilots air combat maneuvering. In reality, engagements quickly degraded the speed to subsonic values and the early missiles were inaccurate and unreliable. To compound the problem, rules of engagement in Vietnam precluded long-range missile attacks and many pilots found themselves on the tail of an enemy aircraft but too close to fire the short-range Falcons or Sidewinders. It did not take long for USAF F-4Cs to begin carrying SUU-16 or SUU-23 external gunpods containing a 20 millimeter M61 Vulcan gatling cannon, with some Marine aircraft carrying two pods for ground strafing. Combat trials demonstrated that while the externally mounted cannon was inaccurate, the cost of ammunition expended per destroyed enemy aircraft was a small fraction of the missiles'. The lack of cannon was definitively addressed with the F-4E

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-4_Phantom_II#Specifications_.28F-4E.29
*************************


What does "high angle of attack" mean? Diving on the enemy?

 

[a4phantom]

Walk into to the bar at any Air Force officer's club and ask that question. The debate still rages on. It's sort of like walking into an Internet Cafe and asking "What's better, a Mac or PC?"

And then steal their drinks while they fight? I know <i> of </i> a girl who flirts with two guys in a bar until they fight over her and then takes their beers. I wonder if anyone playing Catherine or Hatshepsut has made use of that in multiplayer?

F4s were great as fighters and great close air-ground supporters. They also flew the Wild Weasle missions -> anti-anti-aircraft-radar jobs. And they could just flat-out fly fast.

Yes, what I've heard called a "power fighter", like the F14 Tomcat or P38 Lightning, not terribly nimble (as far as turning) but very fast and with the thrust to climb out of trouble.

 

[bad-aries]

I set the space race as the only form of victory.
I have researched the required technology. However, how could I make the space ship component being actually built?

Thanks.

 

[a4phantom]

I set the space race as the only form of victory.
I have researched the required technology. However, how could I make the space ship component being actually built?

Thanks.

First you have to build the Apollo wonder. Then every space ship component you have the technology for will be added to the build choices for your cities.

Note: If the Apollo wonder does not appear as an option, that city must already have two 'national wonders' (Forbidden Palace, Oxford University, etc). You must build it in a city with one or none.

 

[Argoth]

What is this "stealing a worker" and how do you do it?

 

[Roland Johansen]

What is this "stealing a worker" and how do you do it?

If you attack an enemy worker with a regular unit, then you do not kill it but you capture it. From that moment on it is indistinguishable from a worker that you've build. Some people like to do this at the start of the game to get an advantage and because it is cheaper to 'steal' a worker than to build it. This is mostly practical on the smaller maps where the other civilizations are close by. Of course it means an early war with this nation.

 

[Lord Parkin]

"Stealing a Worker" would simply refer to unit capture. If you move one of your military units onto a square with an enemy that you're at war with, and there's an enemy Worker on that square, you will capture/"steal" the Worker as soon as all enemy military units on that square are killed.

EDIT: Whoops, Roland beat me to it.

 

[Harrier]

Don't try stealing a worker with the Gunship though, it just gets killed.

 

[a4phantom]

What they said, plus capturing a city often gives you several workers because they hide inside when your army advances. Expanding on RJ's advice: the first worker a civ builds is a huge investment of early food and hammers. So if you can steal one early on, you add to your economic development and set back your victim's. As RJ said, this means war. If you do it literally right away, your victim will not have an army and therefore after a few turns will accept a peace deal (probably), but you have made an enemy for life. If you plan on fighting this civ early on anyway, taking his worker at the beginning can shift the power balance to you, but you'll lose the element of suprise for a later (bronze or early iron age) war. Also, you do plan on conquering the city whose land the worker is busy improving. Finally, make sure you escort the captured worker back to your land or a barb or animal will eat it.

 

[Matty R]

I'm back, and I'm confused.

Do resource mines have to be worked by a city to get the benefits? I've got 2 gold deposits just outside the fat triangle of one of my cities, meaning I won't be able to work them. I've got roads setup, but before I go any further I'd like to know about this. If I won't be able to get the benefits, I'll go back to an earlier save and build my city closer to them.

Thanks.

 

[Roland Johansen]

I'm back, and I'm confused.

Do resource mines have to be worked by a city to get the benefits? I've got 2 gold deposits just outside the fat triangle of one of my cities, meaning I won't be able to work them. I've got roads setup, but before I go any further I'd like to know about this. If I won't be able to get the benefits, I'll go back to an earlier save and build my city closer to them.

Thanks.

To get the happiness bonus from the gold mines, you have to build a mine on top of them (not a windmill, a mine is the improvement that harvests the gold), the mine has to be connected with your empire (through roads and rivers; coastal areas also connect cities that have access to a resource) and the mines have to be inside your culture zone. If you trade away all instances of a resource, then you won't get the happiness benefit anymore.

 

[Matty R]

To get the happiness bonus from the gold mines, you have to build a mine on top of them (not a windmill, a mine is the improvement that harvests the gold), the mine has to be connected with your empire (through roads and rivers; coastal areas also connect cities that have access to a resource) and the mines have to be inside your culture zone. If you trade away all instances of a resource, then you won't get the happiness benefit anymore.

Thanks for the reply. Thats good to know. I've got more questions.

How much culture can you get before the culture zone stops expanding?

If I put 5 workers in a group then tell them to build a road between 2 cities, will it be built 5 times as quick as a single worker would build it?

Is there a limit to the number of cities we can have?

Is there any way to make an outline of the fat cross appear in the main game, without having to examine individual cities?

How do you define which city a religion is founded in? I wanted to found religions in seperate cities, but all 3 that I've founded happened in my second city.