Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions
- Thread starter Civrules
- Start date
Welcome to CFC! 
Lord Parkin
aka emperor
Also, if you hover the mouse over your own current score in the game, you'll be able to see the score you would get if you won that turn. 
Freddegredde
Chieftain
Great! Thanks a lot! 
I knew I'd seen a thread before in the forums about the scoringsystem.
So the finishdate indeed influence the final score, but obviously the population has a great affect (a weight of 50% on the score. I guess it's about balancing victory-date with a big population to get a high score. Well, I'm not that much of a "score-hunter", but it's interesting to understand the parameters behind your victoryscore.
I knew I'd seen a thread before in the forums about the scoringsystem.
So the finishdate indeed influence the final score, but obviously the population has a great affect (a weight of 50%
on the score. I guess it's about balancing victory-date with a big population to get a high score. Well, I'm not that much of a "score-hunter", but it's interesting to understand the parameters behind your victoryscore.
Great! Thanks a lot!
I knew I'd seen a thread before in the forums about the scoringsystem.
So the finishdate indeed influence the final score, but obviously the population has a great affect (a weight of 50%) on the score. I guess it's about balancing victory-date with a big population to get a high score. Well, I'm not that much of a "score-hunter", but it's interesting to understand the parameters behind your victoryscore.
right and right
Getting an overly big score for a duel size settler game is kind of hem, ... how can I say, ... wrong?
But if you understand the scoring system better you can better read your own HOF
I was wondering if someone would like to get on line with me and teach me how to play. My yahoo messenger is bgast7851, my ICQ # is 425-066-078. My email address is bgast1@hotmail.com.
I probably will try again tonight later on, with and obvious different approach than last night when I got my butt handed to me.
I probably will try again tonight later on, with and obvious different approach than last night when I got my butt handed to me.
Roland Johansen
Deity
Thanks for the interesting analysis of the State Property civic, Roland.
Are you certain that rush buying is so good though? Realistically, it is not as if you can put every gold piece earned by your towns towards rush buying buildings throughout your entire empire. A lot of it will have to go towards your research, or else you will fall behind. Some will also have to go towards your treasury, to prevent your civ from going into debt. If you are planning on a cultural victory, some may also need to go towards producing culture. Is the amount of gold that is left over after all of those portions have been taken out of it really worth more than the hammers one could get from a mined (rather than a cottaged) hill, for instance?
Yes, I really think that rush buying is so good. Or to be more precise, I think that by building (free speech and universal suffrage enhanced) towns instead of (state property enhanced) workshops (or mines or lumbermills), you can have more hammers invested in construction while still maintaining the same rate of research. The reason is that the commerce from the additional towns (which replace workshops) can be fully converted into gold which is used for rush buying while the old towns can provide the old level of research.
People often like an example as it better shows the line of thought.
I'll compare two versions of the same city, one with more workshops, one with more towns. I'll assume that the state property civic is used to enhance the workshops and the free speech and universal suffrage civics are used to enhance towns. I'll assume that the production bonus and the gold bonus in the city are equal so that the 3 to 1 conversion of gold into hammers is correct. I'll only consider the extra production and commerce added by the tile improvements as the basic terrain is the same in both cases.
City version 1: 10 workshops, 10 towns, 70% science rate, 30% tax rate:
10*3 + 10*1 = 40 base hammers (to be enhanced by buildings)
10*7 = 70 commerce, 49 base science (to be enhanced by buidlings), 21 base gold (to be enhanced by buildings)
(7 towns are used for research, 3 for gold)
City version 2: 6 workshops, 14 towns, 50% science rate, 50% tax rate:
6*3 + 14*1 = 32 base hammers (to be enhanced by buildings)
14*7=98 commerce, 49 base science (to be enhanced by buildings), 49 base gold to be enhanced by buildings)
(7 towns are used for research, 7 for gold)
City version 2 has 28 extra gold which can be used to rush buy 9.3 hammers. City version 2 has 8 less hammers. So a net bonus of 1.3 hammers
Note that the extra 4 towns are purely used for gold rushing by setting the science-tax rate at the right level.
Additional benefits of gold rushing:
-usually when gold rushing becomes available, you have a bigger bonus on gold than on hammers because the gold enhancing buildings are available earlier in the game than the hammer enhancing buildings. This means that gold rushing becomes more efficient.
-gold rushing can be used anywhere you want to, not only in the city where the gold is produced. Hammer building can only be used in the city where the hammers are produced. This benefit is huge. It greatly enhances your flexibility allowing you to help a certain city a lot or just spreading around the gold rushing.
-You don't have to use the extra commerce from additional towns for gold rushing. You can use it for extra research speed if you don't need the production. Or you can use is for spy actions. Again commerce can be applied to far more things than hammers, increasing your flexibilty.
-You can finish something when you want to. Gold rushing a defender can be great. Winning a border cultural war by gold rushing some cultural buildings. Adding that library to that sea city that has great commerce but low production. Winning that wonder race while your opponent was miles ahead of you in producing it. The possibilities are limitless.
-Financial trait improves the power of towns and thus of gold rushing.
Limitations to gold rushing:
-Space ship components cannot be gold rushed.
-Rushing of World wonders and small wonders is more expensive. The conversion factor is not 3 to 1 for these buildings (it varies between various wonders).
-Rush building something which doesn't have any hammers already invested in it (in the first turn of construction) costs 50% more. Don't do that.
-Not all cottages are towns (allthough emancipation speeds up the growth) and if towns are destroyed you can't rebuild them quickly. Workshops, mines and lumbermills are quickly rebuild.
-Some cities have a production bonus that is higher than 100% which is typically the maximum gold bonus (exception Wall Street). It's not so efficient to gold rush in cities with the Ironworks or the Heroic Epic. This also applies to some buildings that get production bonusses due to your traits or the availability of special resources (stone, marble, etc.)
The Kremlin removes any thought process about the question whether to rush or not.
Conclusion: In a well developed economy, gold rushing is very powerful if applied in the right circumstances. In optimal situations it gives more production than traditional building methods and it greatly improves the flexibility of your economy. There are certain situations where it is inefficient to use it. The Kremlin makes gold rushing overpowered. Luckily the wonder is obsolete fast.
about gold rushing
it's powerful alright but :
- you don't benefit from forges, factories,...
- there is a penalty for wonders
- some things (projects, including space parts) cannot be rushed.
I tend to put cottages everywhere but in the top notch production cities in the late game and use US. But I mostly use it to concentrate money on specific cities :
- cultural cities, be it on border cities or on the big 3 when i go for cultural,
or
- wanabee production cities = rushing factories, laboratories, ... when going for space,
or
- aircrafts in low production cities when going for domination/conquest (rare occasion, to have US + loads of money when going for conquest)
it's powerful alright but :
- you don't benefit from forges, factories,...
- there is a penalty for wonders
- some things (projects, including space parts) cannot be rushed.
I tend to put cottages everywhere but in the top notch production cities in the late game and use US. But I mostly use it to concentrate money on specific cities :
- cultural cities, be it on border cities or on the big 3 when i go for cultural,
or
- wanabee production cities = rushing factories, laboratories, ... when going for space,
or
- aircrafts in low production cities when going for domination/conquest (rare occasion, to have US + loads of money when going for conquest)
Just bought Civ 4 and have enjoyed it a lot. However I have lost about every game. Here is my first question. How does a city work a hut (or whatever they are called) so that it will increase in size? I have been building a bunch of huts but none have grown in size or production. After reading the How-To articals which indicate that 2 workers and 1 settler can be constructed by T40, but not at my production rate so I figure it must be my huts.
Next question, is there an artical that explains how to manage a city? Most articals are for experienced players and use language that I do not fully understand. Thanks
Next question, is there an artical that explains how to manage a city? Most articals are for experienced players and use language that I do not fully understand. Thanks
captaind12
Chieftain
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2006
- Messages
- 7
Thank you for all your input. I have returned Civ 4 to the store. I bought a new computer just so that I could play but even after installing two patches it still did not play right. The movies jumped and sometimes the sound quivered. I'll stick to Civ 3. Thanks again. There is no need for reply. ADIOS
First, welcome to Civ4!
Losing every game while you're learning sounds about right -- you're on the right track. I think what you're calling huts are really what we call cottages. Cottages grow into hamlets grow into villages grow into towns when they are worked, each becoming more and more productive. To work a cottage (or any tile), double click on your city. When the city view screen appears, if there is a blue circle around the tile, that means it's already being worked and thus, in the process of growing. If it's not being worked, click on the tile and a blue circle will appear. In most cases, the blue circle will have moved from a different tile to the one you just clicked meaning you've stopped working something else to work the cottage.
There probably isn't one that sums it all up in one. Managing a city involves managing the production queue, managing growth (
), production ( 
) and commerce ( 
), managing specialists, managing happiness and sickness and managing great people production, to name just a few. As far as growth goes, you'll find more than you need at first in City Growth. Most players find that in order to play at more difficult levels, you need to specialize your cities: A Guide to City Specialization and Land Improvements is probably a good place to start.
Search the Civ4 Strategy Articles for more info on specific questions that come up as you learn to work your cities better.
Oh, and finally, have FUN!
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
They're called cottages--huts are the goody shacks your exploring units pop early in the game.
To have the cottages grow in size and revenue (to hamlets, villages, and towns), citizens need to work them. This is related, unsurprisingly, to your second question, how to manage a city. The city screen is pretty busy--there's a lot of information there and it takes some time to get used to figuring out what it all means.
Here's a screenshot of a city screen from aelf's most recent EMC game thread:
I won't focus on everything here. The manual does a decent job, I think, of explaining what you're looking at; there may also be articles in the Civ IV War Academy. I'll just focus on how to work the cottages.
Seoul has a pop size of 7, meaning it has enough citizens to work 7 tiles in the city's "fat cross" of 21 tiles, plus the city tile itself. For a cottage to grow, a "citizen" must be assigned to work that tile. This is indicated by the pale blue circles you see above. The tile 1SW of the city itself (1 tile south of the lake) is a cottage. It is being worked by a citizen, as indicated by the circle around it. Thus, it will eventually grow in size. In fact, this one already has; it has grown from cottage to hamlet.
Now say aelf improved the tile directly south of the city (1E of the worked cottage tile) with a cottage. It would not grow in size because no citizen is assigned to the tile. aelf would have to come into this screen and click on the tile to make a citizen work it. That will, however, remove a citizen from working another tile which you may want them to work. Most players prefer to select which tiles get worked and which ones don't; this is done by first clicking on the tile you don't want to work (the citizen then becomes a generic specialist). Then click on the tile you do want worked.
If I had another cottage near this city, I would click on the coast tile 1E of the city and then click on the cottage tile. Why? The coast tile is producing 2 food and 3 commerce (thanks to the Financial trait). That's as good as it's ever going to get. A cottage on one of the grassland tiles, however, can grow to a hamlet in 10 turns (normal speed), at which point its yield will match that of the coast tile--as the existing cottage does already. As time goes on and the cottage grows, its commerce yield will keep improving, further aided by the Free Speech civic (+2 commerce from towns) and the Printing Press tech (also providing +2 commerce from villages and towns).
G
Gainy
Guest
Hi
Sometimes when building units i've noticed that I corresponingly lose GPT. This leads me to believe that there's a unit support system similar to Civ3 (?), but I haven't been able to find anything written about it. Could someone explain how unit support works in Civ4?
Sometimes when building units i've noticed that I corresponingly lose GPT. This leads me to believe that there's a unit support system similar to Civ3 (?), but I haven't been able to find anything written about it. Could someone explain how unit support works in Civ4?
I confess that I have not read all of these postings. The best that I can do so far is a time victory on the settler level. I did that as Roosevelt. I want to set up a game to try and kick some butt militarily. What kind of world would be best, what leader would be the best to choose? and the best way to go about it. Also, is there a way that I can post that game I won with Roosevelt and have it critiqued?
Roland Johansen
Deity
Yes, there is a military support system in Civ4 and a rather detailed one. You can find it in the financial advisor (F2). If you want to know every detail about it, then read this War Academy article. I wrote it a year ago for vanilla civ4, but it's still accurate I believe.
You're not meant to read all of these postings, you'd get crazy. You can always play a game and post a save. The best place to do that would be the strategy and tips forum, just start a new thread ("some tips on my savegame, please!" or something like that). If you want some of the people following this thread to look at it, then just let us know that you posted it. It's best to not post an end game save. An end game save doesn't show the minor mistakes or less optimal choises made halfway through the game. Post a save of when you're at the start of the middle ages or end of the classical age or something like that.
To play a fun militaristic game, pick Rome. Their preatorians are the most overpowered unit in the game (my opinion) and the two leaders of the romans are both organized, thereby reducing the upkeep of your large conquered empire a bit. Pick Augustus Ceasar so that the captured cities will expand borders not too long after capture.
A small pangea would make it easy. You'd find your enemies fast and you wouldn't need ships to kill them.
Do a research path to develop your economy (worker technologies and bronze working for the slavery civic and chopping) and then pick iron working rather quickly. Try to find some iron, build a city next to it, improve it with a mine, connect it to your cities and start building praetorians. Build a stack of praetorians (say 8-10) and walk up to a city with low cultural defence and attack it. Give the praetorians some city raider upgrades to improve their chances of winning.
You might want to add a few axemen to the stack with anti melee and combat upgrades just in case you encounter axemen that attack your stack. Spearmen with anti cavalry and combat upgrades can also be useful to protect your stack. Give one of your units a medic upgrade. Preferably one that is not going to be in the fight a lot. The only purpose of this unit is to heal the stack faster. Don't attack with wounded units.
Build enough workers to improve your old empire and later your captured cities.
Note that this is about the easiest way to win and thus the tactics that you employ in such a game are not going to work that well with another setup.
G
Gainy
Guest
Thanks. Pity they had to choose such a fooking strange number for the population multiplier. Can I confirm that rounding does not occur? IE a total population of '4' will not account for 1 additional unit support cost?
Much love
Roland Johansen
Deity
Thanks. Pity they had to choose such a fooking strange number for the population multiplier. Can I confirm that rounding does not occur? IE a total population of '4' will not account for 1 additional unit support cost?
Much love
You add all the population sizes of your cities together and then multiply it with 0.24 and round down. So at the following population sizes of your empire, you will get an additional free unit support:
5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25,
30, 34, 38, 42, 46, 50,
55, 59, 63, 67, 71, 75, etc.
So, it's close to once in every 4 population (which I mentioned as a rule of thumb in the article), but not exactly.
Note that your empire starts with a free unit support (the value of which depends on your difficulty level). So at the very start of the game, you will not suffer unit upkeep.
Just lost my first city to a culture flip. I hadn't been paying attention,
and the AI cultural boundary just sorta crept up and enveloped me.
1) After the first revolt, you get a turn (maybe 2?) to try to salvage
the situation. What are my options? I tried setting up an artist to build
more native culture, but still lost the city. Can one stop a flip
domestically?
2) In Civ3, one could prevent a flip by garrisoning military units in
a city at risk. Does this work in Civ4? Can one stop a flip by adding troops?
Thanks in advance!
and the AI cultural boundary just sorta crept up and enveloped me.
1) After the first revolt, you get a turn (maybe 2?) to try to salvage
the situation. What are my options? I tried setting up an artist to build
more native culture, but still lost the city. Can one stop a flip
domestically?
2) In Civ3, one could prevent a flip by garrisoning military units in
a city at risk. Does this work in Civ4? Can one stop a flip by adding troops?
Thanks in advance!
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
The second question is the answer to the first: move more troops into the city, that will lower the chances or even prevent it from flipping.
Long-term, build cultural buildings, run artist specialists, or even capture the nearest city that's pressuring the one at risk.
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