Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Ben E Gas]

Is it a good idea to give your worker the orders to search a temple? I'm using the SevoMOD and I have the option to search a temple. What benefit do I get and how long does it take until I get my worker back?

 

[Sisiutil]

Is there a way to hide units over cities?

Do you mean the fighters you have circling in intercept mode? Not that I know of.

 

[Sisiutil]

Is it a good idea to give your worker the orders to search a temple? I'm using the SevoMOD and I have the option to search a temple. What benefit do I get and how long does it take until I get my worker back?

"Search a temple"? This sounds like an option unique to that mod. You might be better off asking about this in the forum for that mod: http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=219

 

[Wardog]

Sisiutil, I'm talking about my fortified units over my cities. Is there an option for the game not show it, like it was on Civ 3?

 

[Sisiutil]

Sisiutil, I'm talking about my fortified units over my cities. Is there an option for the game not show it, like it was on Civ 3?

You mean the graphic display of a unit standing in the middle of the city? Er, no, not that I know of.

 

[Zophos]

You mean the graphic display of a unit standing in the middle of the city? Er, no, not that I know of.

If I've been following the discussion properly, the question is, "Is there any way to prevent the game from showing me the list of city defenders (with strengths and promotions) when I mouse-over an enemy city?"

The answer is still "No", though. Unless you want to change some code using the SDK, at which point anything is possible.

 

[a4phantom]

I could help with putting his life in danger first!

Dude, the Praetorian Guard is gonna be knocking on your door.

 

[Roland Johansen]

A few questions that seem to have been forgotten:

What does it mean that your units go on a strike?

This typically happens when you expand your empire quickly at the start of the game without developing your economy equally fast. At some point, the cost of maintaining your cities, civics and units becomes so high that even with a 100% tax rate, you can't pay for the maintenance of everything. As you can't pay your units, they will go on a strike. You will lose units every turn and can't do any research as your science rate is at 0% (tax rate at 100%).

Try to develop your economy better the next time by building more cottages and letting your cities grow larger before you expand.

ok, another one.

how do I set a military gather point?

for instance, let's say i got 20 units spread all over the map, and i want ALL of them to gather in an especific point/city/tile. how do i do that?

I don't think that specific situation is easily manageble. You can send any unit that is build in your cities to a specific point on the map. Just select the city (single click the name of the city) and then SHIFT-click another tile (I believe it is SHIFT-click, but I never use it so I might be wrong). If you select multiple cities (SHIFT-click a number of cities to have that group of cities selected or ALT-click one city to select all of your cities), then you can set one gathering point for all of these cities by SHIFT clicking a destination point.

You can also ALT-click a unit in order to select all of the units of that type. Then you can send them all to one destination point.

 

[a4phantom]

Does anyone have guidelines on knowing when to time a rush? I.E. how to balance the time dependent variables: size and strength of attacking force, size and strength of defending force (both probably dependent on tech lead of attacker), cultural defense bonus of city, etc? For example, if I'm Persia, I have an obvious incentive to attack early and often with archer-eating Immortals. Are there any suggestions on how I can judge whether I have enough Immortals, since attacking with two few will be a disaster and waiting to build too many will lead to large maintainance costs for idle units and give my victim time to build spearmen?

Also, any word on a patch?

 

[Sisiutil]

Does anyone have guidelines on knowing when to time a rush? I.E. how to balance the time dependent variables: size and strength of attacking force, size and strength of defending force (both probably dependent on tech lead of attacker), cultural defense bonus of city, etc? For example, if I'm Persia, I have an obvious incentive to attack early and often with archer-eating Immortals. Are there any suggestions on how I can judge whether I have enough Immortals, since attacking with two few will be a disaster and waiting to build too many will lead to large maintainance costs for idle units and give my victim time to build spearmen?

Also, any word on a patch?

For me, the key (pre-Construction and Catapults) is my target's cultural defenses. I use that and the number of defenders to determine the force I'll probably need.

20%: 2-to-1 ratio of attackers to defenders.
40%: 3-to-1
60% or higher: 4-to-1

Promotions figure into things as well. I've sometimes attacked a city with 60% cultural defense with a 3-to-1 ratio because my units have City Raider II or higher thanks to the 20% cities (and/or barb cities) they've attacked. Conversely, though, if the defenders (usually Archers) have City Garrison promotions and/or the city's on a hill, I'll need more attackers.

But if my opponent has high cultural defenses, I usually content myself with taking the low-hanging fruit (the newer, lower-defense cities) to weaken him, then get peace and maybe some tech if I have Alphabet. Then I come back later with Catapults.

 

[a4phantom]

For me, the key (pre-Construction and Catapults) is my target's cultural defenses. I use that and the number of defenders to determine the force I'll probably need.

20%: 2-to-1 ratio of attackers to defenders.
40%: 3-to-1
60% or higher: 4-to-1

Promotions figure into things as well. I've sometimes attacked a city with 60% cultural defense with a 3-to-1 ratio because my units have City Raider II or higher thanks to the 20% cities (and/or barb cities) they've attacked. Conversely, though, if the defenders (usually Archers) have City Garrison promotions and/or the city's on a hill, I'll need more attackers.

But if my opponent has high cultural defenses, I usually content myself with taking the low-hanging fruit (the newer, lower-defense cities) to weaken him, then get peace and maybe some tech if I have Alphabet. Then I come back later with Catapults.

Thanks Sisiutil. Your signature reminds me of the Devil's Dictionary:
CANNON, n.
An instrument employed in the rectification of national boundaries.

 

[mickeymoose]

Hi, wow I joined this site 2 years ago. hehe.

Ok. I'm Napoleon, it's mid ADs i think, just completely owned Tokugawa, so he's dead and now I've got about 12 or so cities I think, probably more. Anyhoo, I built insane numbers of troops to take him out and now I've got loads, so I guess disbanding them is good? My main problem was that my finances got screwed. I'm at 20% science and losing money (not that that's a problem cos I've got lots of it from Tok). How can I get my commerce sorted? LOADS of cottages?

 

[davidw89]

Could i ask if anyone is developing a program where you can watch screen by screen replay..like actually what the player are clicking on..u would then ahve the options to pause, exam what he /she is doing it..similiar to the replays in Warcraft 3?

 

[Roland Johansen]

Hi, wow I joined this site 2 years ago. hehe.

Ok. I'm Napoleon,

Uhm, sure you are...

Still, welcome to civfanatics, Napoleon We believe in liberty, equality and brotherhood, so no need to be aggressive, ok.

it's mid ADs i think, just completely owned Tokugawa, so he's dead and now I've got about 12 or so cities I think, probably more. Anyhoo, I built insane numbers of troops to take him out and now I've got loads, so I guess disbanding them is good? My main problem was that my finances got screwed. I'm at 20% science and losing money (not that that's a problem cos I've got lots of it from Tok). How can I get my commerce sorted? LOADS of cottages?

Indeed, you need many cottages and then add some market and groceries. As the majority of your commerce income is going into gold, it is good to increase this gold with 50% (market + grocery bonus). That will allow you to get the same amount of gold with a lower tax rate and thus allow you to increase the science rate. Then adding libraries and such can be good. Which buildings are more useful, just depends where your science/gold/culture slider is. Groceries and marketplaces are also excellent for the happiness and health of your cities if you own certain resources. The increased happiness and health can be used to grow the cities to larger sizes and larger cities can use more cottage tiles and thus generate more commerce and thus more gold/science/culture.
Also, the courthouses are useful in your distant cities. A courthouse reduces the upkeep of a city by 50%, so in a city with 4 upkeep, this means 2 gold. If that same city is also generating a base gold amount of 20, then the +25% gold from a market is generating 5 gold. It depends on the amount of commerce, the state of the gold/science slider and the upkeep of the city to see which building is better, the courthouse or the marketplace. Also try to estimate the state of the city (size, production, commerce yield) at the moment that the building will be finished. That might be very different from when you start the construction.

When you can get some open borders, then you can get the very profitable foreign trade routes. So try to get some good relations and open borders to get some free trade commerce. Foreign trade routes are 2.5 times as profitable as domestic ones. Each foreign city can only form a trade route with one of your cities, so having open borders with many nations can help a large empire get many foreign trade routes. The number of trade routes per city is also limited by the technological state of development of your empire (for instance + 1 trade route with currency) and the civics that you use.

You can quickly use the gold that you have to research some stuff by placing the science slider at 100% and using the money in your bank account for some research. Don't do this if you can't even break even at 100% tax rate. If that is the case, then you should improve your economy as quickly as possible before you run out of gold.

It would be a pity for a warmongerer as you are, Napoleon to disband your units. A real Napoleon would never do that. So I'm beginning to doubt your sincerity about being Napoleon. Is there no other enemy to be conquered? At the very least, you could use them to get additional happiness with the hereditary rule civic. Okay, that means a bit less equality, since you're the king. But still, it is good for the people in the long run. If you really have build far too many units, then you might disband some. Still a shame since all the work that has gone into the units is then lost.

Could i ask if anyone is developing a program where you can watch screen by screen replay..like actually what the player are clicking on..u would then ahve the options to pause, exam what he /she is doing it..similiar to the replays in Warcraft 3?

Such a program would indeed be useful for starting players who get overwhelmed by the number of options in civ4. However, it would also lead to some copying of a certain playing style and it is far more fun to develop your own style.

I don't know of such a program being developed. It would be a lot of work, I guess. You can post a request at the Creation and Customization sub-forum. Maybe, if you look around a bit in that forum, you might even find that it has already been developed (that would surprise me, but I don't look in that forum every day, so...)

 

[a4phantom]

I know some of the hardcores have argued fiercely about whether Academies are worthwhile compared to using every Great Scientist as a super specialist. For the rest of us, can someone provide some practical guidelines on when to use each?

 

[Wardog]

Thanks, Sisiutil.

 

[mickeymoose]

Uhm, sure you are...

Still, welcome to civfanatics, Napoleon We believe in liberty, equality and brotherhood, so no need to be aggressive, ok.



Indeed, you need many cottages and then add some market and groceries. As the majority of your commerce income is going into gold, it is good to increase this gold with 50% (market + grocery bonus). That will allow you to get the same amount of gold with a lower tax rate and thus allow you to increase the science rate. Then adding libraries and such can be good. Which buildings are more useful, just depends where your science/gold/culture slider is. Groceries and marketplaces are also excellent for the happiness and health of your cities if you own certain resources. The increased happiness and health can be used to grow the cities to larger sizes and larger cities can use more cottage tiles and thus generate more commerce and thus more gold/science/culture.
Also, the courthouses are useful in your distant cities. A courthouse reduces the upkeep of a city by 50%, so in a city with 4 upkeep, this means 2 gold. If that same city is also generating a base gold amount of 20, then the +25% gold from a market is generating 5 gold. It depends on the amount of commerce, the state of the gold/science slider and the upkeep of the city to see which building is better, the courthouse or the marketplace. Also try to estimate the state of the city (size, production, commerce yield) at the moment that the building will be finished. That might be very different from when you start the construction.

When you can get some open borders, then you can get the very profitable foreign trade routes. So try to get some good relations and open borders to get some free trade commerce. Foreign trade routes are 2.5 times as profitable as domestic ones. Each foreign city can only form a trade route with one of your cities, so having open borders with many nations can help a large empire get many foreign trade routes. The number of trade routes per city is also limited by the technological state of development of your empire (for instance + 1 trade route with currency) and the civics that you use.

You can quickly use the gold that you have to research some stuff by placing the science slider at 100% and using the money in your bank account for some research. Don't do this if you can't even break even at 100% tax rate. If that is the case, then you should improve your economy as quickly as possible before you run out of gold.

It would be a pity for a warmongerer as you are, Napoleon to disband your units. A real Napoleon would never do that. So I'm beginning to doubt your sincerity about being Napoleon. Is there no other enemy to be conquered? At the very least, you could use them to get additional happiness with the hereditary rule civic. Okay, that means a bit less equality, since you're the king. But still, it is good for the people in the long run. If you really have build far too many units, then you might disband some. Still a shame since all the work that has gone into the units is then lost.

Wow that's a lot. I stopped the workers being auto and did some crazy cottage building. Then I built Markets, Grocers, and Banks in all cities, got corporation, the spiral minaret, versailles and loads of courthouses. I got rid of some of the worse units. Now i'm gaining at 80%

so thanks!

I will forgive your libel against the great name of Napoleon for now, as I'm humming the Marseillaise.

 

[Lord Parkin]

I've heard strong claims that the order is determined by the largest overflow and I've heard strong claims that it has to do with the order in which the various players take their turns (the human would be first in that order). So, I don't know. With the various claims made as strongly as I've seen in various threads, at this moment I will only accept strong proof (a world builder screnario created specifically to test this that I can download to test it myself or various lines of code from the game that clearly show how it works). I've not seen such prood until now (not saying that it isn't in one of the many threads in this forum).

In multiplayer games, it is the turn order which decides who will obtain the religion (namely, the person who is closer to the top of the list). In single player games, I believe it is determined by tech overflow. That might explain the seemingly contradictory statements that you have been hearing.

EDIT: Nope, just read a little further down the page and it appears I am wrong. The "multiplayer case" which I stated is actually the norm for single player games as well.

 

[Lord Parkin]

A question I know has been asked a 1000 times but I can't find it by searching the forums. How do I modify my civs name. I've done it before but can't remember how. Is it in world builder? I think you can modify the adjective of your civ also. I remember it was very simple to do.

Thanks for the help,
Ben E Gas

In addition to going into the "Menu -> Your Details" bar, you can also press "Alt-D". Just thought I'd mention that.

Hi, wow I joined this site 2 years ago. hehe.

Ok. I'm Napoleon, it's mid ADs i think, just completely owned Tokugawa, so he's dead and now I've got about 12 or so cities I think, probably more. Anyhoo, I built insane numbers of troops to take him out and now I've got loads, so I guess disbanding them is good? My main problem was that my finances got screwed. I'm at 20% science and losing money (not that that's a problem cos I've got lots of it from Tok). How can I get my commerce sorted? LOADS of cottages?

Not really a useful note for your current situation, but in future it might be a good idea to limit your city numbers. Simply razing cities instead of capturing them all is an easy way of accomplishing this, and saves you from going broke while still allowing your military to continue onwards to plunder more lands.

 

[mickeymoose]

Not really a useful note for your current situation, but in future it might be a good idea to limit your city numbers. Simply razing cities instead of capturing them all is an easy way of accomplishing this, and saves you from going broke while still allowing your military to continue onwards to plunder more lands.

Yeah, but it seems like such a waste to destroy cities, fun as it is, when you can assimilate them instead. And they had good resources. Oh yeah and why does the AI hardly ever build city improvements?