Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Matty R]

Is there any way to change it so a single worker can build roads/railroads in a single turn and chop down forest/jungle in a single turn? I saw someone asking how to change the number of turns it takes to build something, so I'm really hoping it can be done with this.

 

[Raisin Bran]

Is there any way to change it so a single worker can build roads/railroads in a single turn and chop down forest/jungle in a single turn? I saw someone asking how to change the number of turns it takes to build something, so I'm really hoping it can be done with this.

The only way I know to chop in one turn is to pre-chop your forests.
You basically put one of your worker on chopping forest but you make him chop another forest before he finishes chopping the first one (when there is 1 turn left to clear the forest) and so on. The game remembers the turns already taken when a forest has been pre-chopped, so afterwards you can do a Chopping spree with forests that had been pre-chopped and pop out a wonder ultra fast.

There may be another way to chop in 1 turn but I don't know it.



EDIT: Does Serfdom make the forests chopped 50% faster?

 

[Matty R]

The only way I know to chop in one turn is to pre-chop your forests.
You basically put one of your worker on chopping forest but you make him chop another forest before he finishes chopping the first one (when there is 1 turn left to clear the forest) and so on. The game remembers the turns already taken when a forest has been pre-chopped, so afterwards you can do a Chopping spree with forests that had been pre-chopped and pop out a wonder ultra fast.

There may be another way to chop in 1 turn but I don't know it.

I was thinking more along the lines of changing the XML documents, if thats how its done. Thanks anyway though.

 

[Raisin Bran]

I was thinking more along the lines of changing the XML documents, if thats how its done. Thanks anyway though.

There must be somewhere to do that in XML or phyton but I don't know in witch documents these attributes are found.

 

[lost_civantares]

Does Serfdom make the forests chopped 50% faster?

It should.

 

[Matty R]

There must be somewhere to do that in XML or phyton but I don't know in witch documents these attributes are found.

I've been looking at the terrain stuff, but I don't understand any of it.

 

[a4phantom]

How does production of settlers and workers work? Does food get added to production, or is excess food harvesting simply wasted?

By the way I like wonders, but I would point out that Oracle is the only one you have to build yourself. Parthenon is a great early game wonder, but there's no particular reason to build it yourself instead of capturing it. Pyramids is very nice for the Great Engineer points, but since recent patches have balanced the government civics better it's not nearly as strong itself. And once again, there's no real reason to build it instead of taking it.

 

[Roland Johansen]

There must be somewhere to do that in XML or phyton but I don't know in witch documents these attributes are found.

It's in the file CIV4BuildInfos.xml

The modifier is called iTime and when the iTime value is 500, then it means that using a standard civic (not serfdom) on normal speed, it takes 5 turns to build that improvement.

It's better to create a mod, then to change your normal game files. Otherwise it might be difficult to reverse any changes you make.

How does production of settlers and workers work? Does food get added to production, or is excess food harvesting simply wasted?

Excess food is added to the production. You can see that clearly when you mouse over the production value inside a city. A city with a few food resources can build settlers and workers very fast.

 

[a4phantom]

Excess food is added to the production. You can see that clearly when you mouse over the production value inside a city. A city with a few food resources can build settlers and workers very fast.

That's what I thought but I always wonder these things when I can't open Civ to investigate.

 

[Matty R]

It's in the file CIV4BuildInfos.xml

The modifier is called iTime and when the iTime value is 500, then it means that using a standard civic (not serfdom) on normal speed, it takes 5 turns to build that improvement.

It's better to create a mod, then to change your normal game files. Otherwise it might be difficult to reverse any changes you make.

Couldn't I just keep a note of what I've changed? Please don't get all technical on me. I'm young and impressionable.

 

[a4phantom]

Couldn't I just keep a note of what I've changed? Please don't get all technical on me. I'm young and impressionable.

If you have your cds and the ability to update back to 1.61 (high speed connection or the file saved on your computer) after reinstalling, then go for it.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Couldn't I just keep a note of what I've changed? Please don't get all technical on me. I'm young and impressionable.

I like to keep things structured and organized, but that's just me. I don't like the thought of reinstalling civ4 just because I don't know exactly what I've changed anymore. Keeping a note on everything you change is probably a lot more work than creating a minimod out of it. I've never created a mod for civ4 before, but I think it is very easy (I have created a mod for civ3). There's probably a tutorial for this in the creation and customization section of this forum.

If you want to create a mod out of it:
A) Go to the mods directory and create a directory 'My great mod' (or something more humble if you like).
B) The file CIV4BuildInfos.xml is in ...\Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Units, so you have to create a similar directory structure in your mod: Civilization4\Mods\My great mod\Assets\XML\Units. Place a copy of the file CIV4BuildInfos.xml in that directory and mod it to your heart's desire. Now your mod is finished. (The game will look for modded files in the My great mod directory and when it doesn't find a certain file it will look in the main Civilization 4 directory. So it isn't needed to have a copy of every gamefile in the 'My great mod' directory.)
C) When starting the game you can choose your mod from the Main Menu or you can mod the civilization4.ini file so that the game automatically starts loading your mod.

At present the civilization4.ini file has a line:
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = 0

To change this so that it automatically loads your mod you probably have to change this to
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = Mods\My great mod


Now it is very easy to disable your mod. You just have to change the civilization4.ini file back to normal (replace Mods\My great mod by 0 again).

By the way, why do you want to change the building times of improvements so drastically?

 

[Dagnabit]

New to CIV but after playing the Demogame from an old PCmag CD I got hooked in a couple days and bought the game a couple of weeks ago and haven't stopped playing or reading since. (I am up to page 118 on this thread). I was reading about trade routes which prompted this question. Even after hooking up all my cities with roads, only a couple of them show up on the city screen. Am I getting total benefit in my cities or am I missing some other link I need?

Thanks for any suggestions or pointing to appropriate threads.

I am enjoying the heck out of this game but my wife says the alnighters have got to stop!!!

 

[Roland Johansen]

New to CIV but after playing the Demogame from an old PCmag CD I got hooked in a couple days and bought the game a couple of weeks ago and haven't stopped playing or reading since. (I am up to page 118 on this thread). I was reading about trade routes which prompted this question. Even after hooking up all my cities with roads, only a couple of them show up on the city screen. Am I getting total benefit in my cities or am I missing some other link I need?

Thanks for any suggestions or pointing to appropriate threads.

I am enjoying the heck out of this game but my wife says the alnighters have got to stop!!!

First of all: Welcome to civfanatics!

The number of trade routes in your cities is linked to your technology level and the civics that you are using. Currency for instance gives and extra trade route and the free market civic gives another. You can find this information in the technology tree and in the description of the civics.
At the start of the game, your cities will only have 1 trade route per city. At the end of the game something like 4 or 5 (dependant on which civics you're using and if the united nations approved the free trade resolution).

Some of your trade routes are foreign trade routes. These give you far more money (2.5 times as much). You can get only 1 trade route for every foreign city. You have to have open borders and a road/sea connection with the foreign nation (ocean connections after astronomy). Foreign trade routes don't increase your maximum number of trade routes. They replace domestic trade routes but are far more profitable.

 

[a4phantom]

I am enjoying the heck out of this game but my wife says the alnighters have got to stop!!!

Once I was at war with Tokugawa. Isabela of Spain demanded that I give her gold. Wanting to keep the peace, I gave it to her. Soon she was demanding that I convert to Judaism. Predictably enough we ended up at war. Think about it.

 

[frankcor]

I am enjoying the heck out of this game but my wife says the alnighters have got to stop!!!

Usually, the advice you get here is top notch, but do you really want our advice on this? I mean, you're sleeping with her -- you're probably the expert.

 

[Matty R]

I like to keep things structured and organized, but that's just me. I don't like the thought of reinstalling civ4 just because I don't know exactly what I've changed anymore. Keeping a note on everything you change is probably a lot more work than creating a minimod out of it. I've never created a mod for civ4 before, but I think it is very easy (I have created a mod for civ3). There's probably a tutorial for this in the creation and customization section of this forum.

If you want to create a mod out of it:
A) Go to the mods directory and create a directory 'My great mod' (or something more humble if you like).
B) The file CIV4BuildInfos.xml is in ...\Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Units, so you have to create a similar directory structure in your mod: Civilization4\Mods\My great mod\Assets\XML\Units. Place a copy of the file CIV4BuildInfos.xml in that directory and mod it to your heart's desire. Now your mod is finished. (The game will look for modded files in the My great mod directory and when it doesn't find a certain file it will look in the main Civilization 4 directory. So it isn't needed to have a copy of every gamefile in the 'My great mod' directory.)
C) When starting the game you can choose your mod from the Main Menu or you can mod the civilization4.ini file so that the game automatically starts loading your mod.

At present the civilization4.ini file has a line:
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = 0

To change this so that it automatically loads your mod you probably have to change this to
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = Mods\My great mod


Now it is very easy to disable your mod. You just have to change the civilization4.ini file back to normal (replace Mods\My great mod by 0 again).

By the way, why do you want to change the building times of improvements so drastically?

I meant to get back on here last night, but I didn't have chance. I copied the XML file that had the build times I was looking for, then I changed that XML file to suit me. It works aswell, which I'm a bit surprised with.

I want to change them so much because I'm in land with alot of jungle and forest which needs getting rid of, and my cities are quite far apart. Its going to take me ages to develop the land in my territory, so I want to get the cities linked quickly for better movement. Thanks for the help.

 

[Roland Johansen]

I meant to get back on here last night, but I didn't have chance. I copied the XML file that had the build times I was looking for, then I changed that XML file to suit me. It works aswell, which I'm a bit surprised with.

That's the easiest way to do it. You'll have to keep track of the unmodded files though. Keep them in a place you can find them.

I want to change them so much because I'm in land with alot of jungle and forest which needs getting rid of, and my cities are quite far apart. Its going to take me ages to develop the land in my territory, so I want to get the cities linked quickly for better movement. Thanks for the help.

You are free to change the game the way you want to, but know that the fun in games comes from the fact that they challenge us. Maybe some challenges are unfun and repetitive to you and then you should change them. But if you take too many challenges away then the game will become boring.

This change will probably speed up the early game. You will need to build far fewer workers and thus are free to spent those resources on other stuff. I don't know what the AI will do. It will probably build a bit too many workers and disband most of them after finishing the improvements. I don't think it will hurt the AI a lot compared to you.

Have fun with your modded game!

 

[Matty R]

That's the easiest way to do it. You'll have to keep track of the unmodded files though. Keep them in a place you can find them.

You are free to change the game the way you want to, but know that the fun in games comes from the fact that they challenge us. Maybe some challenges are unfun and repetitive to you and then you should change them. But if you take too many challenges away then the game will become boring.

This change will probably speed up the early game. You will need to build far fewer workers and thus are free to spent those resources on other stuff. I don't know what the AI will do. It will probably build a bit too many workers and disband most of them after finishing the improvements. I don't think it will hurt the AI a lot compared to you.

Have fun with your modded game!

I've only had to mod a single file. I've got a copy of the unmodded version with my tech-tree and beginner's guide. I'm using this current game to create my own continent. I've left the other 10 civilizations on another continent. Its just a mess about really. I'm having fun already.

 

[Dagnabit]

Thanks Roland for the trade route info. More reading on my part on Civics is in order.

And about wife and playing time I guess I will have to find some Diplomacy threads to study!