Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

Question:
How can I see the city list of a civ in Civ 4?

I am not sure what you mean. You can see your city list with f1 as with all versions of civ. You can see what cities another civ has by talking to them, go to the trade table and expanding the cities bit. This will list all their cities but not their capital.
 
I got a new question can you play a hole game in one age, for example if i whant 2 play the midelages for the hol game.
is that posible and if it is how do I do it?
 
Hiya

Wow, thank you MrCynical for such a swift reply to my questions - extremely helpful.

I have some more, though - I'm not sure how combat works with a stack. If I have a stack of units and they are attacked, does an attacker fight the one with the best defence? If it loses, does he fight the next best defence etc one at a time, or is the whole stack destroyed? Equally, if I attack with a stack, do I get to choose who to attack with, or does the game choose for me?

If I have a spearman (4) unit and a swordsman (6) unit in a stack, and attack a horse archer (6) unit and a maceman (8) unit in a stack, would the swordsman (my best attack) attack the maceman (enemy best defence) or would my spearman (8 against mounted) attack the horse archer? Or would they attack the maceman?

If a stack of Maceman (8) plus Phalanx (5) attacked a stack of Crossbowman (6) plus Horse archer (6) plus Swordsman (6), who would attack who first?
Maceman vs Crossbowman = 8 vs 9
Maceman vs Horse Archer = 8 vs 6
Maceman vs Swordsman = 12 vs 6
Phalanx vs Crossbowman = 5 vs 9
Phalanx vs Horse Archer = 10 vs 6
Phalanx vs Swordsman = 5 vs 6

Equally, if I attack a stack of Immortals (4) and longbowmen (6) with archers (so the Immortals get 6) who gets to defend first?

In general, is it better to have a stack of units containing one that's good against mounted, one that's good against archers, one that's good against melee, etc?

Help - my brain hurts!

TDM
 
Hiya

Wow, thank you MrCynical for such a swift reply to my questions - extremely helpful.

I have some more, though - I'm not sure how combat works with a stack. If I have a stack of units and they are attacked, does an attacker fight the one with the best defence? If it loses, does he fight the next best defence etc one at a time, or is the whole stack destroyed? Equally, if I attack with a stack, do I get to choose who to attack with, or does the game choose for me?

If an attacker attacks your stack, then it will have to face the defender that has the best chance of defeating it. The fight is a fight to the death with one exception: some units have a chance to retreat. If the attacking unit is about to be destroyed during the combat and it has a chance to retreat, then a virtual die is rolled to see whether it will retreat or fight to the death. The combat is only between those 2 units, the rest of the units are not affected (exceptions collateral damage and flanking attacks). Units with the blits promotion can attack multiple times per turn (as long as they survive) allthough each attack will cost one movement point.

If you attack with a stack, then for each attacker a best defender is selected. The attacker that has the best chance to defeat its best defender will attack first. You however don't have to attack with a whole stack. You can also choose your attacking unit yourself and only use that unit to attack with and then see how that battle develops.

If I have a spearman (4) unit and a swordsman (6) unit in a stack, and attack a horse archer (6) unit and a maceman (8) unit in a stack, would the swordsman (my best attack) attack the maceman (enemy best defence) or would my spearman (8 against mounted) attack the horse archer? Or would they attack the maceman?

The best defender for the spearman is the maceman. The best defender for the swordsman is also the maceman. The swordsman has a better chance to defeat the maceman, so it will attack first.

If you have stack attack enabled (options menu), then the spearman will attack next. If you haven't enabled stack attack, then you will have to attack again with your remaining units after the first battle.

If a stack of Maceman (8) plus Phalanx (5) attacked a stack of Crossbowman (6) plus Horse archer (6) plus Swordsman (6), who would attack who first?
Maceman vs Crossbowman = 8 vs 9
Maceman vs Horse Archer = 8 vs 6
Maceman vs Swordsman = 12 vs 6
Phalanx vs Crossbowman = 5 vs 9
Phalanx vs Horse Archer = 10 vs 6
Phalanx vs Swordsman = 5 vs 6


The best defender for the maceman is the crossbowman. Crossbowmen have a 50% bonus versus macemen so it would be 8 vs 6*1.5 or 8 vs 9.
The best defender for the phalanx is also the crossbowman: 5 vs 6*1.5 or 5 vs 9. The maceman has a better chance so it will go first.

Equally, if I attack a stack of Immortals (4) and longbowmen (6) with archers (so the Immortals get 6) who gets to defend first?

I think the immortals because they're cheaper and have the same chance to beat the archers, it's both 3 vs 6, but I'm not sure and haven't tested it. Such situations don't arise often. Usually, there is one unit type with the best chance to beat the attacker.

In general, is it better to have a stack of units containing one that's good against mounted, one that's good against archers, one that's good against melee, etc?

This stack will have a tough defender against every type of enemy unit. If the enemy comes with a large stack of similar units, then you want strong units versus those units. If the enemy comes with a mixed stack, then you also need a mixed stack. If the enemy is defending cities, then you need units that can get the city raider promotion and thus get bonuses against cities. If you have to defend cities, then you want units that can get the city garrison bonus so that you get bonuses to defend the city. If you want to attack a large stack of units in the field, then you want units that do collateral damage combined with the barrage promotion. If you want to attack a large stack of unit in a city, then you want units that do collateral damage combined with the city raider promotion. If you want to remove the city defence bonus from cities, then you want siege units combined with the accuracy promotion. More examples can surely be presented.
 
There is an extremely cheesy (imo) and annoying variant on the stack attack combat, and this is with a stack of galleons "guarded by caravels". This happened to me today so its fresh in my mind. Civ "x" decides for some insane reason to attack me, when hopelessly outmatched in tech.

Im overseas, and his invasion force, was 10 galleons and 9 caravels. At his point of intrusion, I had 6 ironclads, and 2 destroyers (just got combustion and upgraded). Even though his galleons were by far the better defenders, because they were full of troops, the caravels defend first. So the caravels acted as pure sacrificial "bait". I wasn't allowed to attack the galleons, until all the caravels were at >99.9% odds destroyed. It didn't really matter in the game terms, but well I still consider it a bit cheesy as I said. Its like keeping 10 warriors in your stack of say pure cavalry, and the enemies pikes have to fight them first as sacrificial bait.

Anyways, this is an example where the best unit doesn't defend.
 
Hi

CIV4: BTS

I am attacking a CIV that at one time created their own colony (vassal). I have decimated tha main civ's lands. The main civ will not captulate. By normal vassal rules, the vassal should be free'ed because i have taken so much of the main civ's lands.

Why is the colony still a vassal. How do i get someone here to captulate?
 
i believe the main civ will never captulate because that civ created a colonial vassal civ.
 
Do you have to have Warlords to use Multiplayer? I don't have Warlords and when I try to go into Multiplayer, I receive a message saying "Download Patch 174" and everytime I do and try to restart the game I am told I have to reinstall it! HELP!
 
Wha? 1.74 is the latest patch for civ IV Vanilla. It should be downloading and installing. When you start up civ IV again, you should have the next version.
 
Wha? 1.74 is the latest patch for civ IV Vanilla. It should be downloading and installing. When you start up civ IV again, you should have the next version.

Every time I do install it, I get a message saying a certain file, starting with "D," is missing and I have to reinstall it. It's so annoying!!!!!1!!1ONE!!!
 
Every time I do install it, I get a message saying a certain file, starting with "D," is missing and I have to reinstall it. It's so annoying!!!!!1!!1ONE!!!
its the most recent DirectX 9c from Microsoft that is missing, you can read more about that here and download it here :goodjob:
 
There is an extremely cheesy (imo) and annoying variant on the stack attack combat, and this is with a stack of galleons "guarded by caravels". This happened to me today so its fresh in my mind. Civ "x" decides for some insane reason to attack me, when hopelessly outmatched in tech.

Im overseas, and his invasion force, was 10 galleons and 9 caravels. At his point of intrusion, I had 6 ironclads, and 2 destroyers (just got combustion and upgraded). Even though his galleons were by far the better defenders, because they were full of troops, the caravels defend first. So the caravels acted as pure sacrificial "bait". I wasn't allowed to attack the galleons, until all the caravels were at >99.9% odds destroyed. It didn't really matter in the game terms, but well I still consider it a bit cheesy as I said. Its like keeping 10 warriors in your stack of say pure cavalry, and the enemies pikes have to fight them first as sacrificial bait.

Anyways, this is an example where the best unit doesn't defend.

Skyooz me? But the troops inside a ship are dehydrated and shunken to small spherical capsules until they disembark. The troops inside the galleons will not defend the ship because they weigh 7.43 oz. each and have no form.

Spoiler :
Units on a ship do nothing until they get off the ship.
 
its the most recent DirectX 9c from Microsoft that is missing, you can read more about that here and download it here :goodjob:

Now I am getting a cryptographic services error stating that the cabinet file is not "valid" and can not be accepted. My services are ON, I varified that but I can't figure out what to do.
 
Skyooz me? But the troops inside a ship are dehydrated and shunken to small spherical capsules until they disembark. The troops inside the galleons will not defend the ship because they weigh 7.43 oz. each and have no form.

Spoiler :
Units on a ship do nothing until they get off the ship.

Yeah, but my point is that the galleons are 4:strength:, the caravels 3:strength:, and yet the caravels defend first.....
 
Yeah, but my point is that the galleons are 4:strength:, the caravels 3:strength:, and yet the caravels defend first.....

I must say that I don't have a problem with the fact that transport vessels defend last even in cases that these ships have the highest chance to win the defensive battle. It makes it easier to defend transport ships. Especially in the case of galleons before frigates are available or you can't build frigates because of lack of the iron resource. It's a fairly logical exception to the rule that units with the highest victory chance defend first.
 
I must say that I don't have a problem with the fact that transport vessels defend last even in cases that these ships have the highest chance to win the defensive battle. It makes it easier to defend transport ships. Especially in the case of galleons before frigates are available or you can't build frigates because of lack of the iron resource. It's a fairly logical exception to the rule that units with the highest victory chance defend first.

I just think its rather a cheesy exploit. For instance, lets say its the modern era, and I invade civ "x" with 15 transports. Now they have battleships, destroyers, subs and carriers, and I don't want to get my smaller equiv "modern" navy damaged or destroyed.

So I just keep the 12 caravels I build hundreds of yrs ago as sacrificial escorts. As long as the ai doesn't have 13 individual ships at my point of attack, all my 60 troops land, which is the point. The transports are invulnerable, and my "proper" navy is safe back home. Just seems, well a little wrong to me.
 
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