Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Lord Parkin]

intel report?
hum, not really.
But a nice excel sheet, with every detail on the various leaders personalities :
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=3359.

It's somehow hard to read, but full of very important informations, like this one :
Alexander will never agree to a permanent alliance

Neither will Napoleon or Tokugawa, apparently.

Wow, thanks, that's a really great and useful reference. Quite a bit of bedtime reading to get through. I'm going to keep it handy and consult it regularly in future when I need to make important decisions. Once more, thanks a heap for the link!

Question:
I haven't played much with Permanent Alliances before, so I have some questions. Are they exactly like teams games? I've tested them and have noticed the same things in common - shared line of sight, view of each others cities and what they are building, shared research (with +50% research cost penalty), inability to declare war on each other, lasts for the entire rest of the game. Is there anything different between a teams game and Permanent Alliances? So far the only thing I've noticed is that teams games can have more than 2 people on the same team, whereas Permanent Alliances appear to be only between two civs, ever.

Has anybody ever played with Permanent Alliances in multiplayer, and used them? To me it seems like there would be no benefits over a 'verbal alliance' deal, and in fact would be hindering to both civs (due to the 50% research penalty).

 

[bernieboy31]

Gurus,

Just installed Civ IV - no probs but when I try and run the game get error telling me to disable CD/DVD emulation software and restart the game.

The provided link points me to "http://www.2kgames.com/?product=136093115&locale=2057&error=16" which tells me nothing useful.

Help pleaze what do I do to get CIV working?

Cheers

 

[Roland Johansen]

Gurus,

Just installed Civ IV - no probs but when I try and run the game get error telling me to disable CD/DVD emulation software and restart the game.

The provided link points me to "http://www.2kgames.com/?product=136093115&locale=2057&error=16" which tells me nothing useful.

Help pleaze what do I do to get CIV working?

Cheers

First of all, welcome to civfanatics!

The game seems to detect CD/DVD emulation software on your computer. These are programms that make the computer think that you have an extra CD/DVD player in your computer and there are some tricks that allow you to play games this way illegally (without buying them). So games programmers try to prevent that.

If you don't know how to stop these programms, then I would advice you to ask the question in Technical Support forum.

 

[bernieboy31]

Cheers Roland

Found the problembo - I once had a "dodgy" clone CD proggie installed but this was deleted some time ago. Found that it was still in win.ini file.

All fixed and now starting the game

Bernie

 

[Stargate]

worker can improve tiles, right?
my question is: how many turns for worker to improve each one of the differents tiles in differents terrain? (with or with out resources)
i had find many threads for help, but no info about it

 

[cabert]

worker can improve tiles, right?
my question is: how many turns for worker to improve each one of the differents tiles in differents terrain? (with or with out resources)
i had find many threads for help, but no info about it

right from the top of my head i know only a few:
- 2 worker turns (=2 workers, 1 turn or 1 worker, 2 turns) for roads
- 3 worker turns for chopping a forest

after that, it's based on rule of thumb
- RR is 2 turns, but is it 3 turns with +50% improvement speed from steam power or straight 2 I don't know
- 4 worker turns for a cottage (? = not sure)
- 4 worker turns for a mine (?) (regardless of resource)
- 4 worker turns for a quarry (?)
- 5 worker turns for a farm (?)
- pasture? (more than a farm IMHO)
- camp? (more than a pasture IMHO)
- oil well (8? 9?)
- fort?


That's at normal speed
for epic, it's the same +50% = x1,5
for marathon, it's the same +200% = x 3

modifiers
1- for desert or tundra improvements, it's 50% slower (3 turns for a road)
2- +50% improvement speed from steam power
3- +50% improvement speed for running serfdom civic
4- +50% improvement speed for Hagia Sophia (obsoleted by steam power)

 

[Underrated]

I researched iron working but no iron showed up.
Is this a game glitch?
Will iron show up as I expand my cultural influence more?
With no iron I don't see how I can be successful - time to quit and start another game?
It would be a shame since I took some risks for fast expansion and got lucky with 5 cities spread out, and room for 3 more inside my borders.

 

[frankcor]

It's not a glich, just bad luck. If you are also without Copper, you can consider quitting and trying another game. But if you're pleased with your early empire, start researching Horseback Riding and maybe Archery to see if you can train horse archers. Then use them to acquire a neighbor's iron.

 

[Shawnosaurus]

I researched iron working but no iron showed up.
Is this a game glitch?
Will iron show up as I expand my cultural influence more?
With no iron I don't see how I can be successful - time to quit and start another game?
It would be a shame since I took some risks for fast expansion and got lucky with 5 cities spread out, and room for 3 more inside my borders.

You can definitely make a go of it without iron. It's also usually not hard to explore around some and find some iron out there that you can build next to. I've won games where I didn't get horses, copper or iron in my starting region. I ended up with them all eventually, but I had to go get them. Some I found, like in the northern snowy areas that people are slow to settle, and some I took by force.

Don't give up, face the challenge

 

[frankcor]

WTG, Shawosaurus. It sounds like you've mastered the "archer rush!"

 

[Sisiutil]

WTG, Shawosaurus. It sounds like you've mastered the "archer rush!"

I'd guess that you'd have more success by rushing with Catapults under those circumstances, with Archers as defensive units.

 

[Roland Johansen]

I researched iron working but no iron showed up.
Is this a game glitch?
Will iron show up as I expand my cultural influence more?
With no iron I don't see how I can be successful - time to quit and start another game?
It would be a shame since I took some risks for fast expansion and got lucky with 5 cities spread out, and room for 3 more inside my borders.

I see that you've also reported this in the bug thread. It's definately not a bug. The randomness of resources is a feature of certain map types, it's part of the game, part of the challenge.

If you play on huge maps, then the resources are more widespread and it is normal to not have iron in your first few cities. But on any map size, you can end up without certain resources. It would be quite boring if you were ensured all types of strategic resources in your empire. If that were the case, then the effect of resources on the game would be almost nothing. Resources enable certain units. If you always have all the strategic resources, then their effect is almost non-existant. Sometimes, you'll have to trade for resources, sometimes you can conquer them, sometimes you'll just have to manage without them.

Good luck and consider it as a nice challenge.

By the way, welcome to civfanatics.

 

[a4phantom]

Oil's the only resource I think it would be crippling to lack, at least until the Space Race. Almost all the defensive units in the game are resource free. Of course some early warmongering almost guarantees that you will have oil, along with everything else. I suppose lacking iron or coal for your railroads could be a big production loss and military vulnerability.

 

[cabert]

Oil's the only resource I think it would be crippling to lack, at least until the Space Race. Almost all the defensive units in the game are resource free. Of course some early warmongering almost guarantees that you will have oil, along with everything else. I suppose lacking iron or coal for your railroads could be a big production loss and military vulnerability.

In most games I don't bother with oil...

Iron is really important to me : needed for canons!

 

[azzaman333]

A more MP view, a source of metal is very important if you want to survive an attack by a human. Either that, or an early UU with bonuses against melee units (Numid Cavalry and Hwacha come to mind)

 

[Roland Johansen]

A more MP view, a source of metal is very important if you want to survive an attack by a human. Either that, or an early UU with bonuses against melee units (Numid Cavalry and Hwacha come to mind)

For the multiplayer maps the 'balanced' resource distribution was developed. With the 'balanced' resource distribution, you're ensured all the strategic resources within a certain distance of the capital. A bit boring, but quite needed for competitive multiplayer games.

I'd say that copper is more important in multiplayer, but I have virtually no experience in multiplayer so maybe I'm wrong. But in my opinion the axeman is the most crucial unit in ancient age warfare as it is needed in attack and defence. And axeman are available much earlier in the game than the iron based units and thus copper is needed much earlier in the game.

 

[a4phantom]

In most games I don't bother with oil...

Iron is really important to me : needed for canons!

Do much Industrial Age and later fighting?

 

[Lord Parkin]

Absolutely, Oil is a lifeline for any civ in the Industrial and Modern ages. If you don't have it, get it immediately, or you're doomed to die (at least in multiplayer with humans; it's still bad in single player though). While Uranium can be used for the modern naval vessels, without Oil you can't get any air force whatsoever (so no bombers, fighters, or helicopters), and you cannot build Tanks or Modern Armour. That's rather a severe handicap, as anyone who has warred in the Industrial and Modern ages will know.

right from the top of my head i know only a few:
- 2 worker turns (=2 workers, 1 turn or 1 worker, 2 turns) for roads
- 3 worker turns for chopping a forest

after that, it's based on rule of thumb
- RR is 2 turns, but is it 3 turns with +50% improvement speed from steam power or straight 2 I don't know
- 4 worker turns for a cottage (? = not sure)
- 4 worker turns for a mine (?) (regardless of resource)
- 4 worker turns for a quarry (?)
- 5 worker turns for a farm (?)
- pasture? (more than a farm IMHO)
- camp? (more than a pasture IMHO)
- oil well (8? 9?)
- fort?


That's at normal speed
for epic, it's the same +50% = x1,5
for marathon, it's the same +200% = x 3

modifiers
1- for desert or tundra improvements, it's 50% slower (3 turns for a road)
2- +50% improvement speed from steam power
3- +50% improvement speed for running serfdom civic
4- +50% improvement speed for Hagia Sophia (obsoleted by steam power)

Tundra and Desert are 25% slower (not 50%). Ice is 50% slower. And quick speed improvements take 67% of the time as normal speed ones, I believe.

At normal speed on non-penalising terrain, with no Worker speed bonuses:
Camp - 4
Cottage - 4
Farm - 5
Fort - 6
Lumbermill - 8
Mine - 4
Pasture - 4
Plantation - 5
Quarry - 6
Railroad - 3
Road - 2
Watermill - 8
Well - 10
Windmill - 5
Winery - 5
Workshop - 6

 

[cabert]

^^thanks lord parkin

 

[cabert]

Do much Industrial Age and later fighting?

no.
If I want to win the militaristic way, i go for it earlier and try to finish with cannons. Destroyers and transports can be built with uranium too, so oil isn't such a big deal.
If I go for space race, I don't need any late game units really, so oil is totally useless.