Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[ori]

Well, I didn't get an answer in another thread so I thiought I'd try here.

On the world map religion tab, some religions in cities are shown white, others black, others a shade of grey.

What do these differeing colors mean?

Thank you.

Welcome to CFC!

The black and white color just alternates between the religions.
White/Black is the holy city for that religion, while light grey/dark grey is a city with that religion.

Is there a way to make a 'custom' civilization? I'd like to use my favorite custom from Civ II.

And I don't mean a whole new civilization from scratch, I mean, different names, custom personality, and just recycle one of the other animations for the leader.

you can do this by opening
...\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Civilizations\CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml
And changing the values in this file for one leaderhead for a new leader - The different tags are explained in the Personality Matrix linked in my signature.
In order to change the Civ's Name and maybe even enter new city names you can do this in this file:
...\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Civilizations\CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml
I would not alter any tags that include words like art/script/sound/unit if you don't want to dig into the python or c++ code yourself...
You can alter the .xml files using any texteditor.

 

[Roland Johansen]

BFC= Big Fat Cross, the area that a city can work. CAII, CivAssistII, is an elegant helper programme for Civ3 written by CFC's own Ainwood and Tomas. It is far more user-friendly than Civ3 itself, which in turn is infinitely better than Civ4.

Big Fat Cross, ah, I usually see people referring to it as the 'Fat Cross'. Is there a small fat cross?

And I know about the civassist programs. I used to use them also. Very well made by someone who plays civ himself and in constant contact with the community. Of course, it is easier to recognise what are the needs of the community after the game has been out for a few years than when it's new.

I disagree with civ 3 being more user-friendly than civ4, but I agree with the greatness of this user created utility, fully integrated into civ3. Very well done.

Civ4 was a major step backwards in the user interface and the graphics. You can't see anything. You don't get animations for foreign movement pass your troops, just a stupid little message which (sometimes) tells you that the enemy is near some city. The Dialog Boxes are clunky and don't even have links. The civlopedia is also a step backwards.

Apparently, you don't like civ4 very much. Still, I would like to mention some stuff that you might have missed. In the options menu, you can click 'show enemy moves' and 'show friendly moves'. Messages can be reviewed in the event log (CTRL TAB). If you click on the message that a certain unit is close to Berlin, then you will move to the foreign unit that is close to Berlin.

The civilopedia could clearly have been made better.

And don't even get me started about what happens when you try to click on the map. Suddenly you are halfway across the world and you've just moved a unit to Timbuktu. Then, of course, Civ3 also had better picking too. For example, try to click on the city name if there is a unit in the tile just below it. Can't be done. This is simply atrocious.

I don't know what you mean about clicking and then being halfway across the world.
When you want to enter a city, you don't have to click the name under a city. You can also just double click the city graphic itself. If you want to change something about a city without entering it, then you can also SHIFT click the city.

Back to the STRATEGY layer.

What else would you use it for except dotmapping?

I also use it to draw some large scale military plans so that I remember when I play the next time.

Dump the FoW. Resources don't change just because you haven't been in the area in a while. Civ4 has does have a mode where it removes the FoW but you can't write on it and you can't use it to plan, since it takes away all the units and the city names. For the love of God, why?

I don't want the fog of war removed when I activate the strategy layer, so we don't all agree on this. I usually switch between the strategy layer and the resources layer when I need to have both of the options. Maybe not ideal, but I don't see how I could draw accurately on the map with all of those resource balloons and when zoomed out a bit, I wouldn't be able to see the resources without the resource balloons.

For a STRATEGY layer, you need a BFC tool. You need to see the resources. EVERYWHERE. And the Civ3 display of them is infinitely better than Civ4. Hell. Civ1 was better.

Yes, I would also like a tool to activate or draw a fat cross around the mouse position. That would reduce the time that I need to draw them by hand.

As for the clouds, they are simply horrible. I don't have much objection to them in the world view, which is just eye candy anyway, but not in a STRATEGY layer.

Yes, yes, as said before, games tend to focus a bit too much on eye candy nowadays. It sells and that is important for the publisher. But I fully agree that it's useless.

By the way, there are some mods out there that improve some of the advisors or add messages when the city grows or other stuff. For instance, the Hall of Fame mod has some nice improvements to the main game.

 

[feldmarshall]

sometime when you ask your vassal for tribute, refusal means war and sometimes it doesn't. under what condition does refusal mean war?

 

[Sisiutil]

sometime when you ask your vassal for tribute, refusal means war and sometimes it doesn't. under what condition does refusal mean war?

I think only a refused request for a resource will lead to war. Your vassal can refuse you anything else without consequence. For example, a vassal will absolutely not trade space ship techs to you. However, if you ask them for their only source of aluminum because you don't have any either, and they turn you down, it's WAR.

 

[a4phantom]

Has anyone charted the effects of multiple wars with the same civ? I think it goes beyond multiples of the standard "you declared war on us, boo hoo, my Aztec warriors are little sissy girls" -3. For example, when concluding my first war with a civ, whoever started it, I can usually extort some pretty cool techs for peace. When concluding the second war, which I almost always start, even cheap techs are redlined, even if capitulation is on the table.

 

[feldmarshall]

I think only a refused request for a resource will lead to war. Your vassal can refuse you anything else without consequence. For example, a vassal will absolutely not trade space ship techs to you. However, if you ask them for their only source of aluminum because you don't have any either, and they turn you down, it's WAR.

ok, now i have other question. can you build improvement in your vassal's region? Say i don't have iron but my vassal do. before i vassalized him, I pillaged his mine. it was his only iron mine. I don't think he will build that mine again, because i will surely demand the iron

If i can't buid that mine, the only way is to declare war again and capture the nearby city. but i cannot declare war on my vassal! is this temporary or permanent? is there any way to free vassal?

 

[a4phantom]

ok, now i have other question. can you build improvement in your vassal's region? Say i don't have iron but my vassal do. before i vassalized him, I pillaged his mine. it was his only iron mine. I don't think he will build that mine again, because i will surely demand the iron[

Unless you're playing MP, I think you can count on that mine being rebuilt. Generally though I would conquer the iron city before accepting capitulation.

If i can't buid that mine, the only way is to declare war again and capture the nearby city. but i cannot declare war on my vassal! is this temporary or permanent? is there any way to free vassal?

Sadly no, short of meeting the size/population requirements.

 

[yarayara]

I just got civ iv, never had this problem before. I havent figure how to whip the citizens or buy with gold somel units.

good you have this silly questions threads!
quite interesting though!



-yarayara
-----------------------------

reading around previous questions, I found my answer:

---------------------------------
----------> You need a civic that gives you that ability. Slavery gives you "pop rushing" and Universal sufferage gives you cash ruching.
---------------------------------

 

[Arvedui]

sometime when you ask your vassal for tribute, refusal means war and sometimes it doesn't. under what condition does refusal mean war?

Also, from my experience, you can only demand 1 resource at a time; that is, if you force your vassal to give you horses, for example (in a 'refusal means war' kind of way), then you won't be able to demand any other resource in the same way. You still can plain demand it, and they may even give it to you, although I don't know why, since you can't declare war, anymore...

 

[feldmarshall]

Also, from my experience, you can only demand 1 resource at a time; that is, if you force your vassal to give you horses, for example (in a 'refusal means war' kind of way), then you won't be able to demand any other resource in the same way. You still can plain demand it, and they may even give it to you, although I don't know why, since you can't declare war, anymore...

oh now i see why people say vassal concepts in civ are quite crappy. what's the point having vassal if you can only demand resources and half of its pop points count toward you, but you permanently lose the chance of conquering it.

 

[a4phantom]

I think you can only extract one resource PER TURN. And vassals aren't entirely useless, for one thing capitulation lets you end a war much sooner (WW) and gives you a permanent ally who won't get you in trouble by independent action. When you're going for a Domination victory they're very handy late in the game, because half of their territory is a lot more land than just their city squares and eventually the immediate surrounding area, and finally the fat cross.

 

[Mischief]

What is the optimum number of cities to have in the early game if I`m relying on a SE (small map)? Does this ratio and the distance maintenance cost change when I play on a larger map? Just how important is the distance to the capital?
Many questions, I know
I`m trying to step up to monarch and overexpanding in the early game seems to be one of my biggest problems

Cheers

Mischief

 

[Sisiutil]

I think you can only extract one resource PER TURN. And vassals aren't entirely useless, for one thing capitulation lets you end a war much sooner (WW) and gives you a permanent ally who won't get you in trouble by independent action. When you're going for a Domination victory they're very handy late in the game, because half of their territory is a lot more land than just their city squares and eventually the immediate surrounding area, and finally the fat cross.

In addition, you can tell them exactly what you want them to research. This has a number of benefits. Obviously if you coddle them and get them happy with you again they'll trade techs with you (which is why Gandhi and Mansa, especially, make excellent vassals--they're very forgiving, good researchers, and eager to trade techs). This is why I try to avoid razing cities or multiple declarations of war on a civ I intend to make a vassal. It's also why, ironically, it's often best to war on and vassalize a friend rather than an enemy.

Even if the vassal won't trade techs, you can still take advantage of this feature. You can direct a vassal away from a "prize" tech like Liberalism or one that grants a free GP, for example. You can have them research techs other civs have to make them cheaper for you to research or to make other civs more willing to trade them (especially "monopoly techs", which the AI will almost never trade). If you plan to build the Internet, your vassal can be the 2nd to research techs that project will grant you.

 

[Roland Johansen]

What is the optimum number of cities to have in the early game if I`m relying on a SE (small map)? Does this ratio and the distance maintenance cost change when I play on a larger map? Just how important is the distance to the capital?
Many questions, I know
I`m trying to step up to monarch and overexpanding in the early game seems to be one of my biggest problems

Cheers

Mischief

These are quite difficult, nearly impossible questions to answer. There is no optimal number of cities. As you expand, your older cities are developing and soon they reach a state where they're that profitable that you can support even more cities. Almost every crappy city can and will eventually produce more commerce than its city upkeep + civic upkeep. Some cities will do this sooner, some later. If your capital or second city has a few gold mines, then you can expand faster because your commerce yield is big enough to pay for the maintenance of many cities.

Fast expansion is good for acquiring resources. With many resources, you can let your cities grow bigger and more profitable without health or happiness problems.
If you however expand too fast, all of those small new cities won't produce any commerce and thus will cost you instead of benefit you. So build enough workers to improve the new cities with commerce terrain improvements (and other improvements). And when your older, better developed cities reach a certain commerce yield, it might become very profitable to build a library or marketplace there than to build another new small city.

Note also that if you expand at a rate so that your science production never really increases, then it might take too long to reach crucial economical technologies like pottery (cottages), currency (more trade routes and the market), code of laws (courthouses) and calendar (the availability of new resources will let your cities grow and become more profitable).

At the start of the game, your science production will typicaly be 9, 10 or maybe 11 (palace + center tile + maybe some commerce from another tile) (check it in the F2 menu, the financial advisor). Then you start improving the terrain around this city and commerce and science will go up. It will go down a little when you build the second city. You can easily see that happen by looking at the gold per turn just before and just after settling the city. You keep improving the two cities and commerce and science will go up again. And you keep expanding which will reduce the science rate. If after checking the science rate after an expansion, you think that it went down a bit hard, then stop expanding a bit or at least give it less priority.
Just regularly check your maximum science rate (without losing money) and check the gold per turn before and after settling a city to get a feeling for the costs of expansion.

I regularly will see my science rate go down to something as low as 20-30%. That's not strictly a sign that I'm expanding too fast. 20-30% of a huge amount of commerce is still a lot. Check the real science rate in your F2 menu (financial advisor) to know if it is going better or worse than a few turns ago.

The commerce graph in the F9 menu can also be a help, but it's not perfect. It doensn't take into account the influence of buildings like libraries and marketplaces.

On big maps, the costs for expanding are lower. The number of cities upkeep and city distance upkeep are smaller. But you need to build more cities to have a competitive empire and the resources are typically further away from the capital

The distance to the capital is important enough to want a centrally located capital in most games. It's not a must, but it is not so great to build your second and third cities at 10-15 tiles from the capital. Of course, it takes too long to walk that way and thus it is less interesting, but the costs also make it a less attractive option. But if you see a great settling spot a little further away, then you should still go for it. The costs are certainly not crippling.
It is far more interesting to build a courthouse in cities that are far from the capital than in cities that are close to the capital.

 

[KMadCandy]

For example, try to click on the city name if there is a unit in the tile just below it. Can't be done. This is simply atrocious.

my civ4 life improved the day i learned that hitting Insert on the keyboard will take me to the cityscreen of whatever city is nearest on the screen. some days/maps/moods, i'm too lazy to click or steer, i just hit Insert and then use the arrows til i get to the city i want.

 

[Abegweit]

my civ4 life improved the day i learned that hitting Insert on the keyboard will take me to the cityscreen of whatever city is nearest on the screen. some days/maps/moods, i'm too lazy to click or steer, i just hit Insert and then use the arrows til i get to the city i want.

I often use Insert too, especially if I plan on cycling through all my cities. My point was simply that the picking algorithm in Civ4 is atrocious. This is far from the only example - simply the one of the worst. My boss would have my head if mine stuff was that bad.

 

[bardolph]

Does Bureaucracy modify BASE hammers and commerce, before other multipliers?

If my capital has 20 commerce and a library, and I'm running Bureaucracy and 100% science rate, how many beakers does my capital produce?

Is it 35 beakers? (20 * 175%)
Or is it 37 beakers? (30 * 125%)

 

[Roland Johansen]

Does Bureaucracy modify BASE hammers and commerce, before other multipliers?

If my capital has 20 commerce and a library, and I'm running Bureaucracy and 100% science rate, how many beakers does my capital produce?

Is it 35 beakers? (20 * 175%)
Or is it 37 beakers? (30 * 125%)

There are no other modifiers for commerce. There are modifiers for science and gold which are derived from commerce. So your capital will produce 30 (=20*1.5) commerce and if you are running at 100% science that will be converted into 30 base science points. Those are multiplied by any other modifiers you have, in this case the 1.25 modifier from the library resulting in 37 science.

It is much simpler for hammers. There the bureaucracy modifier just works like any other production modifier and is thus additive to any other production modifier. (20 hammers from the land in a city with a forge and the bureaucracy modifier results in 20*1.75=35 hammers.)

 

[a4phantom]

Bureaucracy greatly increases efficiency and productivity? Good to know, then I won't have to schedule very long to get my driver's license renewed tomorrow.

 

[KMadCandy]

Bureaucracy greatly increases efficiency and productivity? Good to know, then I won't have to schedule very long to get my driver's license renewed tomorrow.

do you live in the capital of your empire?