Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Lord Parkin]

Of course, if your power exceeds that of the AI, they may never become furious enough to declare war on you.

Yeah, I know that all too well. I once desperately wanted Mansa Musa to declare war on me (only three civs left, and we both had a defensive pact with Frederick so I couldn't attack him and have Frederick on my side). I managed to get him to a total of -35 in diplomacy, mainly through -20 worth of failed spying attempts. Still he would not declare...

 

[Lord Parkin]

Thanks for the input Keraunos. By "on this field" I presume you mean that tile?

Regarding "can't exclude" a civ ... BUMMER! I am just so sick of seeing the Egyptians and Persians, they have been in the last 4 games in a row. I know ITS RANDOM but come on, I want to be able to get some of the ones I have'nt seen yet! I don't want to go into world builder to see oponents as it reveals map details that I would rather discover in play. Reloading the start isn't an option IMO because you don't know whom it is out there until you've played a while. My games are very slow; I have only so long to play each day and session, I like to look everything over, make careful decisions, and consequentally it typically takes a long time per turn- getting to say 1000 BC takes me about a week or 1.5 wk. of RL time.

Drat not being able to exclude Civs you've seen too many times!

You know, if you want you can always load up a game, go to the WorldBuilder, check what civs are present, then (if the civs are present as you want) regenerate the map. You'll get a completely new map, and won't know anything about the lay of the land, but all of the civs from the previous test game will be in there.

 

[floppymoose]

Forget WorldBuilder, just choose the "Custom Game" option at startup and you can pick your opponents.

 

[S Baldrick]

Hey nice thread.

I just had a quick newbie question about building roads and the connectivity of my cities.

1. I'm having trouble determining if my roads are connected and also, if the improved spaces (farms, cottages, etc) around my cities are considered roads

What I mean is let's say I want to run a road between two of my cities. Do I have to start the road mode from my city and run to my other city or can I start it at the farm that's next to my city and run it to the cottage that's next to my other city?

2. Another question I have is, early in one of my games I got a message that said my two cities were connected or something. I checked my trade route and indeed my 2nd city was getting +1 gold from my capital city, but there were no roads connecting them and their culture was not overlaping. The only thing I can think that it might have been was that they were both on the same river.

3. I'm getting +2 gold from a trade route called "Tiwaniku" in one city and "Cuzeo" in another city. Even though none of my city's are name either of these.

4. Finally, I improved some spaces that were 1 tile south and 4 tiles west from my city. They were within my cutlural influence shade thingie but when I went to the city screen for that city I couldn't put a circle around them they were almost off the screen. Is this normal?
Anyway, any help is much apprecitaed.

 

[Lord Parkin]

What I mean is let's say I want to run a road between two of my cities. Do I have to start the road mode from my city and run to my other city or can I start it at the farm that's next to my city and run it to the cottage that's next to my other city?

The bolded part is correct. All city tiles count as "roaded" as soon as they are built (and they count as "railroaded" as well when you get the requisite technology). So you don't need to work city tiles.

Another question I have is, early in one of my games I got a message that said my two cities were connected or something. I but there were no roads connecting them and their culture was overlaping. The only thing I can think that it might have been was that they were both on the same river.

Yeah, it could be that they were on the same river. But I also think (not completely sure) that two cities become "connected" when their cultural borders overlap as well. I'll have to check up on that though.

 

[grohyt]

Hey.

Just a quick question.

say i have 3 civs who i can trade with.

how come i can i ask them to convert there religion to mine. But i can't offer to change my religion to theirs say for resources or gold.

It also seems the same for trading i can ask them to stop trading with say ghandi but i can't offer to stop any of my trades or to make peace with someone.

Is it actually possible to offer to change my religions, civics etc. instead of only asking them.

Cheers.

 

[Lord Parkin]

No. But that's a good idea you've got there.

 

[Keraunos]

Hey nice thread.

I just had a quick newbie question about building roads and the connectivity of my cities.

1. I'm having trouble determining if my roads are connected and also, if the improved spaces (farms, cottages, etc) around my cities are considered roads

What I mean is let's say I want to run a road between two of my cities. Do I have to start the road mode from my city and run to my other city or can I start it at the farm that's next to my city and run it to the cottage that's next to my other city?

2. Another question I have is, early in one of my games I got a message that said my two cities were connected or something. I checked my trade route and indeed my 2nd city was getting +1 gold from my capital city, but there were no roads connecting them and their culture was not overlaping. The only thing I can think that it might have been was that they were both on the same river.

3. I'm getting +2 gold from a trade route called "Tiwaniku" in one city and "Cuzeo" in another city. Even though none of my city's are name either of these.

4. Finally, I improved some spaces that were 1 tile south and 4 tiles west from my city. They were within my cutlural influence shade thingie but when I went to the city screen for that city I couldn't put a circle around them they were almost off the screen. Is this normal?
Anyway, any help is much apprecitaed.

As Lord Parkin already answered 1, I'll start with clarification of 2
2. You can connect cities in 3 ways: river, roads/railroads, coast/ocean (with appriopriate techs).

3. These are foreign cities - you can also benefit from foreign trade, as long as you don't have mercantilism civic. But remember, your neighbours benefit from this trade as well..

4. It also mus be in city radius. Below is a diagram that represent max city radius (x-workable tile, c-city)

-xxx-
xxxxx
xxcxx
xxxxx
-xxx-

Hope that helps

 

[du1387]

This might have been asked already, but how do you insert a custom unit into the game?

 

[grohyt]

A few more Queries.

1. In a game to day i had about 7 citys, but seemed that for a couple of citys i would have ot keep re-doing the same structures such as walls or granarys even though they had been built earlier.

2. What does it mean when the circle next to your city is green.

Thanks

 

[frankcor]

Grohyt, I have no clue why you'd have to rebuild buildings. That's not a normal part of the game.

When the circle next to your city is green, it means your city population is growing (surplus food). If it's white, it means your city is stagnant and when it's red, your city is starving and the population will shrink.

 

[a4phantom]

4. It also mus be in city radius. Below is a diagram that represent max city radius (x-workable tile, c-city)

-xxx-
xxxxx
xxcxx
xxxxx
-xxx-

Hope that helps

Could also be that another city is using the square.

 

[S Baldrick]

Thanks for the answers.

Got another one questions...

Ok I'm trying to rush produce The Parthenon. It's been driving me CRAZY trying to get it done before the other guy. I've replayed the same 600 years 5 times now and have become completely addicted to getting this building! I've been able to come within 5 or 6 turns of getting it done before the other guy and I'm determined!

The city I'm buidling it in has access to among other smaller things things, 1 tile with 3 hammers and another with a big anvil. I'm also about to improve a tile that during one of the last turns gave me 3 hammers, although I think that might be random so I'm not sure if it'll happen again.

My current population in that city is 1 (2 circles). Basically I've been trying to decide if I should focus on food for a while so I can get a population that could take advantage of those few extra hammer tiles or just focus on hammers.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is, what's quicker when it comes to production, focusing on hammers, or focusing on food for a bit to get your population up so you can have access to more tiles with hammers on them?

Thanks!

 

[a4phantom]

It depends, RJ might be able to whip you up a mathematical formula, but probably you're just going to have to learn to guess. But in this case it's obvious - 1 is a newborn city, and you want bigger than that for building anything especially wonders. But you should do the growing before you get the tech that enables the wonder so you're ready to go when you do. Is this your capital?

How about using slavery to whip it finished when it says 7 turns to go? Also, chop down every forest near the city.

 

[S Baldrick]

ya I've been chopping down tree's in the area but there's only a few to chop down. I converted to slavery and have been using it with some success but it doesn't seem to be coming up for the Parth project. Keeps telling me I need more pop.

 

[Lord Parkin]

The best and easiest way to boost production of The Parthenon is to get access to Marble. Do whatever you can - found a new city, trade for it, declare war and steal it. That will speed up your production more than anything else you can do.

As for the food/hammers dilemma though, it depends on the situation. For a short-term project, immediate hammers are good. For a longer-term project, a slight period of growth may be more beneficial before switching to the hammers.

 

[S Baldrick]

I checked nobody I'm connected to has any marble. Ah well I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I must have played those 600 years 20 times. Each time I found something I could tweak to better my chances. At the end I was probably about 5 turns away but I still didn't have enough population to whip.

It was just a dumb idea for me to sit there and play the thing over and over like that anyway. Dunno why I got so obsessed with it. I'm feeling a little burnt out, so I'm gonna take a break for a bit. Thanks for all the good advice, though : )

 

[frankcor]

It was just a dumb idea for me to sit there and play the thing over and over like that anyway. Dunno why I got so obsessed with it. I'm feeling a little burnt out, so I'm gonna take a break for a bit. Thanks for all the good advice, though : )

Yeah, but you did have fun doing it, right?

 

[Raptor77]

I would look it up but I don't know exactly what to search for and there is no way I could look it up in the 179 pages of this entire thread so... My question is: is there a way to play a single player game and only be able to go to a certain era? I mean that if you want to start on ancient can you stop the era advancement at classical? Because I want to play a domination game that you can only use swordsman, maceman archer etc. not advance on up to rifleman and grenadiers or eventually tanks and such. So is there a way to do that or not?

 

[ggganz]

First and most important, on a single player game, is it possible to switch between civilizations? (ex. Play as Japan then switch to Russia)

1. No, I don't think so.

Actually, you can!

1. Go into the world builder and make a tiny change, then exit the WB.
2. Go into the world builder and change it back, then exit the WB.
3. Exit to main menu.
4. Go to Play a scenario and select "WorldBuilder Quick Save" (or something like that).
5. Select the civ you want ot play as.