Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Michael Alan]

you need culture culture to expand your city borders. The first city has the palace in it which automatically produces 2 /turn - all other cities do not start out with producing buildings so you need to build those, e.g. a monument or library...
The border expansions occur at certain thresholds - they are different for each speed, I just forgot what exactly they are...

Sometimes a tech (Sci method) or wonder or something (i forget really) makes another thing like Stonhenge or other culture wonders to go "obsolete". So does that mean your item like Stonehenge would stop producing culture for you when it goes obsolete? Are those obsolete rules only applied to my own civ for my advances and do not go across to other civs (or back onto my civ from their advances)?

 

[ggganz]

Only your civ. There is a thread around here somewhere... anyway some effects stop and some don't. Stonehenge will keep producing great people, but no monuments/obelisks. And monuments/obelisks you built before that stop producing culture. (I think some things still do produce culture when obsoleted, though )

 

[ori]

Sometimes a tech (Sci method) or wonder or something (i forget really) makes another thing like Stonhenge or other culture wonders to go "obsolete". So does that mean your item like Stonehenge would stop producing culture for you when it goes obsolete? Are those obsolete rules only applied to my own civ for my advances and do not go across to other civs (or back onto my civ from their advances)?

wonders stop giving you their benefit but NOT the or GPP they produce themselves. Stonehenge gives you free monuments - those vanish when it is made obsolete. And it only obsoletes when you own the wonder AND know the tech.

Only your civ. There is a thread around here somewhere... anyway some effects stop and some don't. Stonehenge will keep producing great people, but no monuments/obelisks. And monuments/obelisks you built before that stop producing culture. (I think some things still do produce culture when obsoleted, though )

this is incorrect. Monuments do not stop producing culture. If they were granted by Stonehenge they vanish if they were build before they still produce culture (as do all obsoleted buildings that produce culture) - you can no longer build them though.

 

[ggganz]

So... monuments you manually built do not lose the culture, but you can't build new ones?

 

[Verge]

So... monuments you manually built do not lose the culture, but you can't build new ones?

That is correct, same with other obsolete buildings (e.g., Monasteries)

 

[Rambuchan]

Autosaves:

I recently had a crash after a long stretch of play in which I didn't save the game. I see text every now and then when playing saying that the game is autosaving. Are these save game files like those you make when you manually save your game? Can I retrieve my game through these? If so, how?

 

[ggganz]

Yes, go to My Documents\My Games\(name of game)\Saves\Single\Auto. You can change how often autosaves happen by finding the options in the ini file, in My Documents\My Games\(name of game).

 

[taulph88]

I always wondered, all the bars in Civ4, (production, culture, great person, etc) what is the second bar? For example, when researching Chemistry, I see the bar , but I also see a second faded one. What does that mean?

 

[Verge]

I always wondered, all the bars in Civ4, (production, culture, great person, etc) what is the second bar? For example, when researching Chemistry, I see the bar , but I also see a second faded one. What does that mean?

It represents the amount of production/research/culture/etc that will be added to the current bar next turn.

 

[Evalen]

Sorry about such a dumb question, but this is getting to me.
I now have Civ3 and am hoping to get Civ 4 for Christmas.
I am a great grandmother, so as you can see, the old brain is not working like you young ones, but perhaps you can answer my question

What does AI stand for?
I said this was dumb, I have looked everywhere to no avail.
Can't wait to get this game.

 

[Verge]

What does AI stand for?

"Artificial Intelligence." In other words, the computer players.

And welcome to CFC!

 

[Roland Johansen]

What does AI stand for?

Every sufficiently large group of people start to invent and use their own set of acronyms and this is also true for the members of the civfanatics site. AI is actually a more commonly used acronym (just use Google to look for it), but the people here use many more weird acronyms. If you ever wonder what any of those acronyms mean, then the first place to look would be this handy list of acronyms:
CIV ACRONYMS: List of Commonly Used Acronyms in the Civ Community.

It's part of a larger set of civilization related articles called the War Academy. There is a civ4 War Academy and a civ3 War Academy.

Oh, and Verge is completely correct, AI means Artificial Intelligence, a set of algorithms that control the computer players moves and try to simulate intelligence.

Ah, and a welcome from me too.

 

[ggganz]

Yeah, welcome!
And as you will soon find out (and may have already from civ3), AI can also mean anti-intelligence. (As in the AI players are stupid.)

 

[nightwingaven]

has anyone else experienced the game crashing after you complete a wonder in the early game. It has been happening to me constantly; usually after I complete the oracle, but it just happened again after the great lighthouse. It didn't do this when I first got it, but now I can not go more than a 100 turns without a game crash. Any thoughts?

 

[Verge]

has anyone else experienced the game crashing after you complete a wonder in the early game. It has been happening to me constantly; usually after I complete the oracle, but it just happened again after the great lighthouse. It didn't do this when I first got it, but now I can not go more than a 100 turns without a game crash. Any thoughts?

If you're crashing long after you build a wonder, it might not be due to the wonder construction itself. What's your computer specs, and what settings do you run at?

 

[nightwingaven]

If you're crashing long after you build a wonder, it might not be due to the wonder construction itself. What's your computer specs, and what settings do you run at?

My computer is plenty capable of running the game. When I first installed it, I didn't have any trouble at all with it. Recently, it crashes early. I am not sure what settings I run at and I don't think the wonders themselves are what is responsible for the crash. It just happens when the animation for the wonders pop up.

 

[Machtyn]

Okay, yet another newbie question. I've tried to do a search for the answer, and after 30 minutes of trying different terms, I could not get my answer.

What I am trying to figure out is when I am trading resources, there is a number next to my available resources. Also not all of my resources are listed.
1) What does that number mean? Supposing it states Coal (1). Does this mean I have 1 total coal in my nation and if I trade it, I have no coal for myself (which, in this case, all railroad construction would come to a halt). Or does it mean I have all the Coal I need for my nation and I have 1 Coal resource to trade?

2) Why aren't all of my resources listed? I'm assuming it means that the nation I am trying to trade with does not need the resources that are missing from my list.

Thank you for an answer.

 

[Verge]

My computer is plenty capable of running the game. When I first installed it, I didn't have any trouble at all with it. Recently, it crashes early. I am not sure what settings I run at and I don't think the wonders themselves are what is responsible for the crash. It just happens when the animation for the wonders pop up.

Hm, crashing due to wonder movies is something I've heard about, but I don't know a suitable fix aside from disabling the movies entirely.

Okay, yet another newbie question. I've tried to do a search for the answer, and after 30 minutes of trying different terms, I could not get my answer.

What I am trying to figure out is when I am trading resources, there is a number next to my available resources. Also not all of my resources are listed.
1) What does that number mean? Supposing it states Coal (1). Does this mean I have 1 total coal in my nation and if I trade it, I have no coal for myself (which, in this case, all railroad construction would come to a halt). Or does it mean I have all the Coal I need for my nation and I have 1 Coal resource to trade?

2) Why aren't all of my resources listed? I'm assuming it means that the nation I am trying to trade with does not need the resources that are missing from my list.

Thank you for an answer.

I'm assuming you're describing what you see in the diplomacy screen. If so, then

1) The number indicates the total number of resources in your nation, not the surplus. So don't trade away your Coal (1), since it's the only one you have at the moment.

2) If a resource is missing from the list, it either means it's not hooked up to your trade network properly, or you have traded it away without knowing it. If the nation you are trading with already has a certain resource, then the resource will be redded out on your diplomacy screen.*


*This is how it works in Beyond the Sword. I have a feeling that it's different in Vanilla and/or Warlords, but I can't recall. So if you don't have BtS, take this point with some caution.

 

[Rambuchan]

Yes, go to My Documents\My Games\(name of game)\Saves\Single\Auto. You can change how often autosaves happen by finding the options in the ini file, in My Documents\My Games\(name of game).

Nice one. You saved me a lot of grief.

 

[_alphaBeta_]

My computer is plenty capable of running the game. When I first installed it, I didn't have any trouble at all with it. Recently, it crashes early. I am not sure what settings I run at and I don't think the wonders themselves are what is responsible for the crash. It just happens when the animation for the wonders pop up.

You may want to take this up in the tech support forum. In any event, turn off your movies via the INI file (or is it an in-game option? I can't check right now) and see if the crashing stops. Try different settings to isolate the problem.