Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

In a hotseat game, I will see a message like Your Cavalry has been destroyed by a pikeman. How can I see _where_ this happened? The indicator disappears too quickly--is there a way to "replay" the battle? Or, at least, a way to have the indicator stay until dismissed?
 
In a hotseat game, I will see a message like Your Cavalry has been destroyed by a pikeman. How can I see _where_ this happened? The indicator disappears too quickly--is there a way to "replay" the battle? Or, at least, a way to have the indicator stay until dismissed?

If you enter the turn log in a normal single player game, then you can click the message of a battle and the map will shift towards the location of the battle. The battle log will describe the result of the battle in detail. Together that should give you some information. The same should work in a hotseat game.
 
It just is not right for the AI to hide behind the excuse (I'm not talking to you!) while he goes about his bussiness of getting ready for war. Then the gaul of it all is the invisobility trick, so you can't even fight till he or she is ready-(The Bomb) maybe. Please explain?
 
Ok so I haven't been able to read up since the last time I posted, but I'll do that later. Right now I have a rather quick question I'd like to ask...

What does "We are afraid of your enemies!" mean? Could someone please translate what that means in the video game terms? It makes no sense to me because i have been at war with this one civ and have all but totally wiped him off our map. I think he only has 1 or 2 cities left, while I have half the world to myself. I have gotten backstabed by another AI Civ (we'll call this backstabber AI "civ B") but have also destroyed their units at a ratio of close to 15:1 thanks to Tanks/Infantry/Machine Guns/Bombers vs Calvary/Knights/Riflemen/Trebuchets and some smart military strategy combined with patience to drive them back to the point I am now invading their cities.

Yet, AI civ A refuses to to capitulate because they "are afraid of my enemies".

This makes absolutely as much sense to me as shooting yourself in the head. What would you rather do? Capitulate and become my vassall with me protecting you, or would you rather me just completley destroy you and kill you off forever because you're MY enemy?

If I want AI civ A as my vassall, what options do I have? Either to kill them off or just focus on civ B?
 
It just is not right for the AI to hide behind the excuse (I'm not talking to you!) while he goes about his bussiness of getting ready for war. Then the gaul of it all is the invisobility trick, so you can't even fight till he or she is ready-(The Bomb) maybe. Please explain?
Maybe you could explain first. I'm not sure exactly what game situation you're referring to.
 
Ok so I haven't been able to read up since the last time I posted, but I'll do that later. Right now I have a rather quick question I'd like to ask...

What does "We are afraid of your enemies!" mean? Could someone please translate what that means in the video game terms? It makes no sense to me because i have been at war with this one civ and have all but totally wiped him off our map. I think he only has 1 or 2 cities left, while I have half the world to myself. I have gotten backstabed by another AI Civ (we'll call this backstabber AI "civ B") but have also destroyed their units at a ratio of close to 15:1 thanks to Tanks/Infantry/Machine Guns/Bombers vs Calvary/Knights/Riflemen/Trebuchets and some smart military strategy combined with patience to drive them back to the point I am now invading their cities.

Yet, AI civ A refuses to to capitulate because they "are afraid of my enemies".

This makes absolutely as much sense to me as shooting yourself in the head. What would you rather do? Capitulate and become my vassall with me protecting you, or would you rather me just completley destroy you and kill you off forever because you're MY enemy?

If I want AI civ A as my vassall, what options do I have? Either to kill them off or just focus on civ B?
In many respects, the AI is programmed to be eternally optimistic. Thus, it hopes that you'll seek peace with it after you're received a bit of damage--lost some units, say, or even a city. This is when the AI seeks peace, remember? Even if the AI becomes a vassal, it's programmed to try to one day break free, become independent, and win the game.

And if an AI civ becomes your vassal, it means that when you go to war, they go to war. In this situation, the AI is "hoping" that you'll accept peace now that you've lost a few units (because that's what the AI would do), but it has checked the power rating of a large, powerful rival civ that doesn't like you and figures that you'd both be toast if you went to war with that enemy.
 
Thanks for the advice. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it now. I spent today trying cultural/diplomatic games for a bit and kept going back to war. :lol: Normally I'm the diplomatic guy in these types of games but I find myself always getting side-tracked to stomp over my neighbors when I play.

I do have one more question though before I get back to playing: I see a lot of posts about quick war games, but I was wondering (since I play with time victory off): if I wanted to start a game off at ancient and war my way into the modern era, is there a particular civilization that would do better with a long, slow war?

Basically fight fight fight, then stop for awhile to tech up/expand, then fight fight fight s'more?
 
How many tiles are there in each different size map from duel to huge? Or does the map type also a factor in this?
 
How many tiles are there in each different size map from duel to huge? Or does the map type also a factor in this?
map type plays a role. For the maps shipping with the original release look here for the standard size values.
 
How many tiles are there in each different size map from duel to huge? Or does the map type also a factor in this?

These numbers are for BtS (and maps like Terra are bigger than this, I think, but these numbers give a good estimate):

Duel - 24x40 (960 tiles)
Tiny - 32x52 (1664)
Small - 40x64 (2560)
Standard - 52x84 (4368)
Large - 64x104 (6656)
Huge - 80x128 (10240)

A huge map is almost 2.5 times as big as a standard map!
 
It just is not right for the AI to hide behind the excuse (I'm not talking to you!) while he goes about his bussiness of getting ready for war. Then the gaul of it all is the invisobility trick, so you can't even fight till he or she is ready-(The Bomb) maybe. Please explain?

Maybe you could explain first. I'm not sure exactly what game situation you're referring to.

My guess is that maybe EarthGod wants to know why he can't declare war on a civilisation that doesn't want to talk with him. This would thus result in a situation where his enemy can build up an army to meet EarthGod's forces while EarthGod would like to declare war now when the enemy is weak.

If this is the question that you're asking EarthGod, then you're simply mistaken. You can declare war at any time. If you Alt-click a leader name in the Score Board, then this will result in war with said civilisation even if you can't talk with them. The Score Board is in the lower right section of the main game screen. It's active by default and if you switched the Score Board off, then you can re-enable it with one of the small buttons above the mini-map.

If this isn't your problem, then please try to explain your problem a bit clearer. There are several mistakes in your english spelling and sentence structure. We can't all write perfect English, but just try a bit harder. Use a spelling checker and try to describe the context of your ingame problem.
 
:confused:I just bought and i installed it but it keeeps saying that i have the wring cd rom or something do i have to have civ. IV before i can use civilization gold edition???
 
Thanks for the advice. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it now. I spent today trying cultural/diplomatic games for a bit and kept going back to war. :lol: Normally I'm the diplomatic guy in these types of games but I find myself always getting side-tracked to stomp over my neighbors when I play.

I do have one more question though before I get back to playing: I see a lot of posts about quick war games, but I was wondering (since I play with time victory off): if I wanted to start a game off at ancient and war my way into the modern era, is there a particular civilization that would do better with a long, slow war?

Basically fight fight fight, then stop for awhile to tech up/expand, then fight fight fight s'more?
Everyone has their favourites, but my own favourite leader/civ for playing this sort of game is Julius Caesar of the Romans. I start by researching Bronze Working -> the Wheel -> Iron Working (starting with Mining gives me a head start). My 1st Settler is timed to complete around the same time that I discover IW. I settle to claim IW, then start spamming Praetorians and set out to conquer the world.

Partially it's that I have a great interest in Roman history, but Julius is well-suited to this sort of a game. He starts with the best early UU in the game that I can use to both defend my cities and capture others. Most of my Praets will survive and accumulate XPs; they remain the mainstay of my army as I upgrade them. On that note, though, one very cool thing about Praets is that I don't really have to upgrade them to Macemen, since they have the same strength. Imperialistic lets me get my first few cities established quickly, then ensures that I get many, many Great Generals throughout the game. And Organized saves me $$$ while running some of the more expensive and attractive early-game civics (HR, Bureaucracy, Organized Religion).
:confused:I just bought and i installed it but it keeeps saying that i have the wring cd rom or something do i have to have civ. IV before i can use civilization gold edition???
Ensure that you have the correct CD for the game you're playing in your CD ROM drive. If you're playing a Beyond the Sword game, for example, make sure that BtS Disc 1 is in the CD drive. If you start "vanilla" Civ IV while the Warlords disc is in the CD drive, for example, you'll get this error message.
 
Everyone has their favourites, but my own favourite leader/civ for playing this sort of game is Julius Caesar of the Romans. I start by researching Bronze Working -> the Wheel -> Iron Working (starting with Mining gives me a head start). My 1st Settler is timed to complete around the same time that I discover IW. I settle to claim IW, then start spamming Praetorians and set out to conquer the world.

Partially it's that I have a great interest in Roman history, but Julius is well-suited to this sort of a game. He starts with the best early UU in the game that I can use to both defend my cities and capture others. Most of my Praets will survive and accumulate XPs; they remain the mainstay of my army as I upgrade them. On that note, though, one very cool thing about Praets is that I don't really have to upgrade them to Macemen, since they have the same strength. Imperialistic lets me get my first few cities established quickly, then ensures that I get many, many Great Generals throughout the game. And Organized saves me $$$ while running some of the more expensive and attractive early-game civics (HR, Bureaucracy, Organized Religion).

Ensure that you have the correct CD for the game you're playing in your CD ROM drive. If you're playing a Beyond the Sword game, for example, make sure that BtS Disc 1 is in the CD drive. If you start "vanilla" Civ IV while the Warlords disc is in the CD drive, for example, you'll get this error message.

Thanks a lot :)
 
I was wondering if there's also some sort of guide to tech-tree "builds", that analyses in more detail why and how to get to certain techs how fast, depending on the situation.

tried search but didn't find anything. maybe one of you can point me to something like a "complete idiot's guide to the tech tree or how I stopped worrying and love the bomb" ;)

This won't really help you tech faster, but it is an idiots guide to the tech tree that I created for my own use. It helps me decide what to tech towards or trade for (the annoying thing about tech trades offered by the AI is that you can't open the tech tree during the negotiation :( )

Civ4 key techs.

First to it gets Free stuff:
Music (free GA)
Liberalism (free technology)
Economics (free GM)
Physics (free GS)
Communism (free GSpy)
Fascism (free GG)
Fusion (free GE)

Religions founded:
Meditation
Polytheism
Monotheism
Code of Laws
Philosophy
Theology
Divine Right

Corporations Foundable: Corporation PLUS

Railroad + Engineer = Mining Inc (hammer bonus, consumes Gold/Silver/Coal/Iron/Copper)
Medicine + Merchant = Sid's Sushi (food and culture bonus, consumes Fish/Crab/Clam/Rice)
Combustion + Engineer = Creative Constructions (hammer and commerce bonus, consumes Iron/Copper/Aluminum/Marble/Stone)
Refrigeration + Merchant = Cereal Mills (food bonus, consumes Wheat/Corn/Rice)
Rocketry + Scientist = Aluminium Co (creates aluminium and science bonus, consumes coal)
Mass Media + Artist = Civilized Jewelers (cash and culture bonus, consumes Gold/Silver/Gems)
Plastics + Scientist = Standard Ethanol (creates oil and science bonus, consumes Corn/Rice/Sugar)


Obsoleting techs:
Economics - Castle
Rifling - Walls, Chichen Itza
Corporation - Great Lighthouse
Astronomy - Monument, Stonehenge, Colossus
Steam Power - Hagia Sophia
Scientific Method - Great Library, Parthenon, Temple of Artemis, Monastery
Combustion - Whale
Industrialization - Ivory
Plastics - Fur
Computers - Angkor Wat, Spiral Minaret, University of Sankore
Mass Media - Apostolic Palace
Advanced Flight - Stable
Fibre Optics - Kremlin

Other:
Mathematics - +50% chopping yield
Currency - +1 trade routes
Civil Service - farms spread irrigation
Guilds - +1 hammer workshop
Printing Press - +1 commerce villages/towns
Replaceable Parts - +1 hammer windmill/watermill
Corporation - obsoletes Great Lighthouse but +1 trade routes/city
Chemistry - +1 hammer workshop
Biology - +1 food farms
Electricity - +1 commerce windmill, +2 commerce watermill
Satellites - reveals map
Genetics - +3 health in all cities
Future Tech - +1health/+1happy in all cities
____________________________________________

Obviously, I've left out some stuff (like the enabling techs for Oracle, or Representation, etc.) but I find this helps me plan my tech path, wonder/unit builds, and so on.
 
Can anyone tell me how to install a new unit or mod, so I can play it in my game, after I download it from this site. Thanks
 
Can anyone tell me how to install a new unit or mod, so I can play it in my game, after I download it from this site. Thanks

It depends of the unit/mod; you should try to ask to the person who made it, if there is no installations instructions (which is strange)
 
This is related to a bug. Install Bhruic unofficial patch on top of the official BTS 3.13 patch to solve this issue.

I thought it might be related to that... This leads to several other questions...

1) Is Firaxis ever going to formalize & release Bhruic's patch?
2) I sometimes play the GOTM. This requires the HOF mod - which I thought was supposed to include most (if not all) of Bhruic's patch.
2a) Is the GOTM compatable with Bhruic's patch?
2b) Maybe I should play with the HOF mod turned on all the time??

Thanks!!

You can't be friends with 2 people who hate each other. They will continuously ask you to chose between them and when you don't, then they'll start to hate you too.

One other question/thought... Many times, the civs are on another continent. When they are on YOURS, it's a bit trickier. A hates B and asks you to terminate relations. You do. B is strong and now is mad at you, so they attack. Now, you are in trouble. Or you don't and now A is mad at you, so they attack.

If they are on another continent, they are MUCH less likely to sail across the sea to attack you, just because you stopped trading with them.

There are similar considerations for War Declarations. I don't see a lot of problems declaring war on someone far away (because another civ asked). Just be sure you are on the right side (the one more likely to win) - because you will suffer a permanant relations hit - either way.
 
I thought it might be related to that... This leads to several other questions...

1) Is Firaxis ever going to formalize & release Bhruic's patch?
2) I sometimes play the GOTM. This requires the HOF mod - which I thought was supposed to include most (if not all) of Bhruic's patch.
2a) Is the GOTM compatable with Bhruic's patch?
2b) Maybe I should play with the HOF mod turned on all the time??

Thanks!!

1) There are some rumours that a formal patch is on the way. But these rumours have been going on for a long time, so that's no guarantee. Normally, it doesn't take this long for a gaming company to produce a patch, so they are either working on it with a very small group or have been working on it in the past and it was cancelled by the publisher some time ago.

I have tried looking in my crystal ball, but as ever, it just looked like a plain crystal ball and it didn't help at all.

If Firaxis creates a patch, then it will be their patch and not Bhruics patch. They can't just blindly copy his work as it is their responsibility that the official patch works without any issues. A formal patch is always held against higher standards then the (of course great) work of a guy who fixes some issues in his spare time. Firaxis will of course look at Bhruics work, but they can't blindly copy it.

2) The last time I looked, the HOF-mod used an older version of Bhruics patch. I thought they didn't want to include his latest patch because some of the fixed items were considered to be in the grey area between a mod and a patch. When you're fixing issues of the game, then sooner or later, you'll enter this grey area where some players consider the change to be a patch and some consider it to be a mod.
But if you want to know the finer details of this issue, then you'll have to ask the creators of the HOF-mod. I haven't looked at this mod for a while.

2a) I don't think so. The main file which was changed by Bhruic is also changed by the HOF-mod and the changes are not the same so you can't simply combine the files of both mods into one big mod.
It could be that the changes to that file in the HOF-mod are just a subset of the changes which Bhruic made and in that case, you can just copy Bhruics version of that file over the HOF-mod version of that file. (that file = CvGameCoreDLL.dll) However, the HOF-mod was created to get official HOF-scores and thus games played with this newly created mod will not be admitted to the HOF.

2b) I use 2 shortcut links. One which starts the normal unmodded game and one which starts a game with slightly modded game rules and this mod includes Bhruics patch and the BUG (BTS Unaltered Gameplay) mod. If you also sometimes play the GOTM-games, then you could use a shortcut link for that mod. This makes it very easy to switch between the standard game and mods.

One other question/thought... Many times, the civs are on another continent. When they are on YOURS, it's a bit trickier. A hates B and asks you to terminate relations. You do. B is strong and now is mad at you, so they attack. Now, you are in trouble. Or you don't and now A is mad at you, so they attack.

If they are on another continent, they are MUCH less likely to sail across the sea to attack you, just because you stopped trading with them.

There are similar considerations for War Declarations. I don't see a lot of problems declaring war on someone far away (because another civ asked). Just be sure you are on the right side (the one more likely to win) - because you will suffer a permanant relations hit - either way.

You are right that the geographical position of another civilisation should influence your diplomacy. A distant civilisation is less likely to be a military threat and you're also less likely to want to conquer that distant civilisation.

By the way, the 'You refused to help us during war time' diplomatic modifier is not permanent although it can take a very long time to get rid of it. I don't know the details (I'd have to look into the CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml file for the values), but it's something like the diplomatic modifier will remain for a random number of turns between 1 and 100. The length is probably also dependant on the opposing leader. Some leaders are more likely to forgive you in this situation than others.
 
Back
Top Bottom