Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Dagnabit]

To use the multi-quote (a fairly new feature), do the following:

1. Press the 'multi' button on message A (e.g. Roland's above). The 'multi' button will turn a different shade of red.
2. Press the 'quote' button on message B (Dagnabit's)
3. The editor will appear with BOTH messages quoted. Edit and add your own comments.

Step 1 can be repeated multiple times to quote more than two messages.

Thanks Zophos- the puzzle is now complete!

 

[Roland Johansen]

Post not needed anymore. Deleted.

 

[Roland Johansen]

To use the multi-quote (a fairly new feature), do the following:

1. Press the 'multi' button on message A (e.g. Roland's above). The 'multi' button will turn a different shade of red.
2. Press the 'quote' button on message B (Dagnabit's)
3. The editor will appear with BOTH messages quoted. Edit and add your own comments.

Step 1 can be repeated multiple times to quote more than two messages.

Hmm, didn't even know about that new feature. You could multi-quote before, but it was more work.

 

[Zophos]

Hmm, didn't even know about that new feature. You could multi-quote before, but it was more work.

Yes, it's no longer a manual process. They added this feature about a week ago. They also added a linkback feature to the quoting - now the quotes automatically link back to the quoted message, in case you need the context. Very nice.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Yes, it's no longer a manual process. They added this feature about a week ago. They also added a linkback feature to the quoting - now the quotes automatically link back to the quoted message, in case you need the context. Very nice.

Yes, I noticed the linkback feature. That's very nice indeed, I've used it a few times already.

 

[Ben E Gas]

I'm just beginning to mess around with the use of the UN in my games. Recently I had a compo leader voted in as the leader or whatever of the UN. So he could call for votes. He wanted to pass a vote called "global civics". What is that?
Later in the game I was voted in as leader of the UN. I was given an opportunity to call for votes on different subjects.

Is there a list somewhere on these forums that describes what each law will do if it passes? Some of them I just don't understand what they mean for my civ world and if I even want to vote yes or no.

I did a search, but each search requires you to what 60 sec. between each search for some reason and I couldn't find anything on this yet.

 

[s.c.dude]

they vote and if it gets the amount required every civ must have it regardless of well anything

 

[Ginger_Ale]

I'm just beginning to mess around with the use of the UN in my games. Recently I had a compo leader voted in as the leader or whatever of the UN. So he could call for votes. He wanted to pass a vote called "global civics". What is that?
Later in the game I was voted in as leader of the UN. I was given an opportunity to call for votes on different subjects.

Is there a list somewhere on these forums that describes what each law will do if it passes? Some of them I just don't understand what they mean for my civ world and if I even want to vote yes or no.

I did a search, but each search requires you to what 60 sec. between each search for some reason and I couldn't find anything on this yet.

There's a list of the resolutions you can pass, and their effects, here (scroll down a bit).

 

[Lord Parkin]

I'm just beginning to mess around with the use of the UN in my games. Recently I had a compo leader voted in as the leader or whatever of the UN. So he could call for votes. He wanted to pass a vote called "global civics". What is that?
Later in the game I was voted in as leader of the UN. I was given an opportunity to call for votes on different subjects.

Is there a list somewhere on these forums that describes what each law will do if it passes? Some of them I just don't understand what they mean for my civ world and if I even want to vote yes or no.

I did a search, but each search requires you to what 60 sec. between each search for some reason and I couldn't find anything on this yet.

The civilopedia is a very good source of information, providing you know where to look.

If you open Civilization IV and click on "Civilopedia" in the main menu, then go to "Game Concepts" in the sidebar, and click on "United Nations", it gives you a nice detailed explanation of what all of the different types of votes do.

As a summary:
Secretary General - there are always two candidates, the person who built the UN, and the civ with the highest population after them. The Secretary-General gets to choose which thing will be voted on when elections come around, from all of the following options.
Diplomatic Victory - all nations vote as to whether they want the current Secretary General to win the game.
Single Currency - gives all civs in the world +1 trade route in all cities (usually beneficial to everybody)
Free Trade - all nations can have trade routes between them as if they have Open Borders, regardless of their diplomatic state, even if they're at war (usually beneficial to everybody)
No Nukes - disallows nuclear weapon construction for all civs in the world for the rest of the game (or until the "No Nukes" treaty is re-proposed and outvoted). Nukes which already exist (have been built before the No Nukes treaty is accepted) are allowed to remain. (This treaty is usually beneficial to you if you are behind on technology, but a hindrance to you if you are ahead on technology.)
Universal Civics - 5 different votes, each for a different civic (always the bottom one on the civics screen in each of the 5 categories). If passed, EVERY nation in the world immediately adopts that civic, regardless of their diplomatic or technological situation (even if they don't have the prerequisites for the civic). Also, those nations CANNOT change out of that particular civic unless the UN proposes the vote for that civic again and it is outvoted. (These votes can be very beneficial or very irritating for you, depending on the situation. For one example, forcing everyone to adopt Free Religion will remove any religious tensions in the world, which may be good if you had a lot of religious enemies, but could also be detrimental if you had a lot of "brothers of the faith".)

EDIT: Ginger Ale got to it first (and with a lot less work).

 

[a4phantom]

You can't be a rogue state? I liked Master of Orion, when you could win by being elected Leader of the Galactic Council, and if you turned it down every other species united in holy war against you.

 

[Idiodyssey]

How exactly does first strike work? If I attack an archer with first strike with an axeman and the first strike occurs, is my axeman now attacking with 2 str instead of 5? What are the odds of a first strike?

How much money do trade routes net per city and per route? Is Merchantilism a worthwhile civic, since it gives one free specialist per city (meaning each city is now working towards a great person) at the expense of trade routes or are the trade routes more important? Do trade routes occurs between domestic cities as well?

Speaking of great people, if one city gets a great person, do the amount of great people points that are needed for a great person increase for every city, or just the city that recently spawned the great person?

If I place eight units around an enemy city, and they want to either move units in or out of the city, are they forced to attack my units or can just "jump" over them? Same thing for water chokepoints.

 

[Lord Parkin]

How exactly does first strike work? If I attack an archer with first strike with an axeman and the first strike occurs, is my axeman now attacking with 2 str instead of 5? What are the odds of a first strike?

First strike works basically as a "free shot" combat round. The odds of a first strike are exactly the same as the odds for a "normal" combat round - that is, they are the odds displayed when you hold "alt" and hover over the unit you're about to fight. I explained the way first strikes work in an earlier post of mine:

Basically, "normal" combat works on a round-by-round basis: each round one or the other of the two units will "win" and inflict damage on the other unit. The chance of each unit winning each round, and the amount of damage that they do is determined by their relative strengths.

So, for instance, you might get:
Axeman vs Chariot
Combat Round 1 - Axeman wins, inflicts X damage on Chariot
Combat Round 2 - Chariot wins, inflicts Y damage on Axeman
Combat Round 3 - Axeman wins, inflicts X damage on Chariot
Combat Round 4 - Chariot wins, inflicts Y damage on Axeman
Combat Round 5 - Chariot wins, inflicts Y damage on Axeman
Combat Round 6 - Chariot wins, inflicts Y damage on Axeman
Combat Round 7 - Axeman wins, inflicts X damage on Chariot
Combat Round 8 - Chariot wins, inflicts Y damage on Axeman, kills Axeman
Chariot wins the battle with some (X+X+X) damage.

Now, the first strike is basically a "free shot" round in which one of the units gets an extra chance to inflict damage. In a "first strike round", the percentages of each unit hitting the other are as usual, but there's a difference - the unit with the first strike is the only one that can inflict damage during that round.

To illustrate by example:
Archer vs Chariot, Archer has 2 first strikes
First Strike Round 1 - Archer wins, inflicts X damage on Chariot
First Strike Round 2 - Chariot wins, no unit recieves any damage (ie "draw")
Combat Round 1 - ...etc

So the first strike rounds are "freebies" in which the unit with the first strike(s) is itself invulnerable to damage, but may inflict damage to the other unit. After the first strike rounds, battle progresses in the normal way with combat rounds in which either unit can receive damage.

I hope that clears that up for you. Just incidentally, I think that generally the consensus amongst players is that first strikes are usually not quite as powerful as the combat promotions. However, they're still quite useful for tilting the scales slightly in your favour when the units engaged in combat are fairly close in relative strength to each other.

Hope that helps with that.

How much money do trade routes net per city and per route? Is Merchantilism a worthwhile civic, since it gives one free specialist per city (meaning each city is now working towards a great person) at the expense of trade routes or are the trade routes more important? Do trade routes occurs between domestic cities as well?

Trade routes net at least one gold per turn per route, and sometimes more. The exact amount depends on the distance to the city the trade route is set up with, and whether or not it is a foreign city (ie belonging to another nation) - foreign trade routes get a lot more revenue than national ones, and distant cities more gold than near ones.

Whether or not Mercantilism is worthwhile depends on the map. Generally speaking, on a large map with many players and many cities, the lost trade from Mercantilism will not be worth the free specialists. However, on smaller maps with less civs (and especially for 1 vs 1 duels), Mercantilism is an excellent civic, far better than any of its counterparts (eg Free Market).

Yes, trade routes occur between domestic (or national) cities, although the automatic preference of the computer is to give you foreign trade routes when possible, since these net you more gold (as explained above).

Speaking of great people, if one city gets a great person, do the amount of great people points that are needed for a great person increase for every city, or just the city that recently spawned the great person?

Every city in your empire. Incidentally though, if you're playing a teams game, and a teammate of yours gets a Great Person, his Great Person Point requirements will go up by the usual amount, but yours will only go up by half the usual amount. This is presumably to give teammates a chance to generate their own Great People, especially if they're teamed (for instance) with a Philosophical civ which is "hogging" all the Great People for their team.

If I place eight units around an enemy city, and they want to either move units in or out of the city, are they forced to attack my units or can just "jump" over them? Same thing for water chokepoints.

If you are at peace, then a rival civ's units can move through the same tiles as your units (and you can move your units through the same tiles as their units). If you are at war, they will be forced to attack your units if they wish to move out of that area.

 

[Idiodyssey]

Thanks for those explanations! First strike makes a lot more sense now.

Question: how do free units work with the vassalage civic? I don't recall ever getting any free units using that civic.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Thanks for those explanations! First strike makes a lot more sense now.

Question: how do free units work with the vassalage civic? I don't recall ever getting any free units using that civic.

The free units with Vassalage are definitely there, it's just that you don't tend to notice the effect unless you go and look for it. If you check out the Financial Advisor screen (F2), then if you hover the mouse over the "unit support" you'll notice a detailed box with, among other things, the number of free units you're getting. That number goes up with Vassalage (and depending on the size of your empire, and other things). The high maintenance of the Vassalage civic will usually at least partially negate the benefit of the free units though (although it highly depends on the situation of course).

 

[Idiodyssey]

So is it random what unit and what city they appear in?

 

[Lord Parkin]

So is it random what unit and what city they appear in?

Ah, I think I see the reason for your confusion now. The "free units" are not extra units that appear in your cities. They are simply units which cost you no gold in upkeep per turn. (Usually each unit above a certain limit will cost you 1 gold per turn; Vassalage counters that by raising the threshold so that you don't start paying the 1 gold per turn until later.) Hope that clarifies it.

 

[Sisiutil]

So is it random what unit and what city they appear in?

Ah, I see the source of your confusion. "Free units" under Vassalage just means you don't pay the usual maintenance support for those units. It doesn't mean you suddenly get a handful of units randomly appearing in your cities. Be nice if it did, though it would be a little unbalanced!

 

[ggganz]

Ah, I think I see the reason for your confusion now. The "free units" are not extra units that appear in your cities. They are simply units which cost you no gold in upkeep per turn. (Usually each unit above a certain limit will cost you 1 gold per turn; Vassalage counters that by raising the threshold so that you don't start paying the 1 gold per turn until later.) Hope that clarifies it.

Ah, I see the source of your confusion. "Free units" under Vassalage just means you don't pay the usual maintenance support for those units. It doesn't mean you suddenly get a handful of units randomly appearing in your cities. Be nice if it did, though it would be a little unbalanced!

The same question was answered twice, and with almost the same begginning.

Also, if units suddenly appeared, where would they go if you changed civics?

 

[a4phantom]

Does Pacifism make units above your free unit threshold cost 2, or does it add 1 to the cost of every single unit? Or . . . something else?

 

[Lord Parkin]

Does Pacifism make units above your free unit threshold cost 2, or does it add 1 to the cost of every single unit? Or . . . something else?

Reading from the civic screen, it says "+1 gold support cost per military unit". Thus, taking this definition literally (and assuming they haven't explained things in the wrong way, as sometimes happens), then I would presume that adopting Pacifism will cause you to start paying an extra 1 gold of support per turn for each military unit under your control. (Of course, Pacifism has no maintenance cost to compensate for this.)