Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Forellenfilet]

i've read in a guide here that your citizens can only work on tiles inside the so called "fat cross". However, you can improve tiles in any place within your cultural borders. That said, what's the point in the game in alowing you to build stuff you can't work on? So, if i build a lumbermill (example) outside the city borders but within the cultural ones, is it good for anything?

You could improve the land in preparation for another city you're going to build next door.

Resources will also still need their specific improvements (and road/river connection).

Edit: I guess you could also slow down invaders by putting useless improvements near your borders and having the enemy pillage them.

 

[a4phantom]

thanks a lot!

another one:

i've read in a guide here that your citizens can only work on tiles inside the so called "fat cross". However, you can improve tiles in any place within your cultural borders. That said, what's the point in the game in alowing you to build stuff you can't work on? So, if i build a lumbermill (example) outside the city borders but within the cultural ones, is it good for anything?

A lumbermill on a tile no city works is useless, but a mine on an iron deposit outside any city's borders but within your culture is very important, as with a road it gives you access to that iron. Other than harvesting resources, sometimes irrigation outside your city could be built in a chain to irrigate the city's squares (after Civil Service).

 

[Lord Parkin]

Also, you may need to bring in fresh water from a source outside your city's "fat cross" by chaining farms. So that's another use for improvements outside your city's workable radius.

EDIT: a4 beat me to it...

 

[a4phantom]

Also, you may need to bring in fresh water from a source outside your city's "fat cross" by chaining farms. So that's another use for improvements outside your city's workable radius.

EDIT: a4 beat me to it...

And Forellenfilet beat me to the rest. Two of us should probably quit answering.

If I capture the Egyptian cities the Germans conquer, and give them back to Hatshepsut, do you think she'll go to Homecoming with me?

 

[ggganz]

And Forellenfilet beat me to the rest. Two of us should probably quit answering.

If I capture the Egyptian cities the Germans conquer, and give them back to Hatshepsut, do you think she'll go to Homecoming with me?

Eeeeeewwwwww!

 

[rychan]

Most buildings have their culture rate double after 1000 years (which are only 25 early turns! a good reason to whip for those obelisks).
Exceptions :
- academies
- free obelisks from stonehenge

Awesome, thank you, but where the heck is this documented? and are there other equally arcane mechanisms anywhere in the game?

 

[linzamin]

What is considered a coastal city? Does the city have to be built on a tile right next to the water? Is this a requirement in order to use boats for fishing and exploring?

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Yes and yes, to both.

 

[Lord Parkin]

What is considered a coastal city? Does the city have to be built on a tile right next to the water? Is this a requirement in order to use boats for fishing and exploring?

A coastal city must be next to a water tile, but that water tile must be part of a sea. Small lakes (called "fresh water lakes" in the game) are not considered "coastal" (ie you can't build ships and improvements such as Lighthouses in them).

As long as that requirement is satisfied, then GingerAle's answers are correct.

Incidentally, that raises my own question... how "small" does a lake have to be to be considered "fresh water" by the game? I know I've had some games with inland lakes which were actually large enough to be considered "seas" by the game (ie I could build ships and buildings like Lighthouses in cities bordering the lake).

 

[Roland Johansen]

Incidentally, that raises my own question... how "small" does a lake have to be to be considered "fresh water" by the game? I know I've had some games with inland lakes which were actually large enough to be considered "seas" by the game (ie I could build ships and buildings like Lighthouses in cities bordering the lake).

I did a little search for that one as I was curious for the answer. From GlobalDefines.xml:

<Define>
<DefineName>LAKE_MAX_AREA_SIZE</DefineName>
<iDefineIntVal>9</iDefineIntVal>
</Define>


So I think the answer is 9. But to be absolutely sure, you'd have to make a 'lake' of size 9 and 10 with the world builder and check it for yourself.

 

[Lord Parkin]

I did a little search for that one as I was curious for the answer. From GlobalDefines.xml:

<Define>
<DefineName>LAKE_MAX_AREA_SIZE</DefineName>
<iDefineIntVal>9</iDefineIntVal>
</Define>


So I think the answer is 9. But to be absolutely sure, you'd have to make a 'lake' of size 9 and 10 with the world builder and check it for yourself.

Just checked it myself. 1-9 tiles of water linked together are considered a Fresh Water Lake. 10+ tiles of water are considered a Sea.

If I capture the Egyptian cities the Germans conquer, and give them back to Hatshepsut, do you think she'll go to Homecoming with me?

Gah. Each to their own, I guess... I'd rather take Elizabeth though.

 

[a4phantom]

What is considered a coastal city? Does the city have to be built on a tile right next to the water? Is this a requirement in order to use boats for fishing and exploring?

As Ginger said, yes, and it's bad for a city to be one space away from the coast because then you can't build lighthouse or workboats (although a nearby coastal city could eventually do that).

 

[cabert]

What is considered a coastal city? Does the city have to be built on a tile right next to the water? Is this a requirement in order to use boats for fishing and exploring?

good answers already.
Just to clarify a bit:
- If you don't build on the coast, you can still work water tiles. What you can't do is build a lighouse, a harbor, or a boat.
- another city can build a workboat and it can then move to the resource in your non coastal city.
- a coastal city can have trade routes to every other coastal city in the world (with sailing for trade routes that don't require crossing oceans, and with astronomy for routes across oceans)

 

[a4phantom]

- a coastal city can have trade routes to every other coastal city in the world (with sailing for trade routes that don't require crossing oceans, and with astronomy for routes across oceans)

Does that mean a noncoastal city, linked by roads to a coastal city with a harbor, cannot?

 

[cabert]

Does that mean a noncoastal city, linked by roads to a coastal city with a harbor, cannot?

No, but a coastal city doesn't need the roads.
Sorry if I was not as clear as I wanted.

 

[ArghLuiz]

ok, i don't know if this thread is the right place for this, but out of curiosity: are there any news on upcoming new expansions? or is civ4 already a "dead" game, meaning it's more interesting for firaxis to invest on civ5?

 

[ArghLuiz]

oh yes, and thanks for all the previous answers...all three of them

 

[Roland Johansen]

ok, i don't know if this thread is the right place for this, but out of curiosity: are there any news on upcoming new expansions? or is civ4 already a "dead" game, meaning it's more interesting for firaxis to invest on civ5?

The previous expansion pack sold well, so I see no reason to not make another. Civ 3 also got 2 expansion packs. I do hope that the next expansion pack has a bit more content and I don't mean scenarios but content for the main game.

 

[Ben E Gas]

Pig Eye.

I've seen this a couple times in civ, but I forget exactly where. I discovered some tech and Mr. Spock said it in a quote. I always have skipped over it too quick to stop and take proper note of it. My questions are: Who said the quote?, What does it mean? and which tech was it, that it appears? And, what is the exact quote?

Thanks.

 

[Sisiutil]

Pig Eye.

I've seen this a couple times in civ, but I forget exactly where. I discovered some tech and Mr. Spock said it in a quote. I always have skipped over it too quick to stop and take proper note of it. My questions are: Who said the quote?, What does it mean? and which tech was it, that it appears? And, what is the exact quote?

Thanks.

Isn't it "Pig IRON", in the quotation you hear when you discover Railroads? "I fooled you. I got pig iron. I got pig iron. I got all pig iron."

In any case, I'm not exactly sure what "pig iron" is, and what the quote means!