Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[friedonions]

the stealing option is only available in BTS, so this could be a first reason.

otherwise, you need a spy into an ennemy city, you need to be able to research a tech they have, you need to have stop the spy for at least one turn; the cost of this mission on a per-city basis is shown into the espionnage screen (ctrl-E)

If everything is in order... then post a save

;wow that was fast! thanks so much man this helped me a lot

 

[Darthstar]

hi, one quick question. Is there any disadvantage in using workers in "auto" mode?

 

[MrCynical]

@Darthstar: Definitely. Automating your workers putas you at a severe disadvantage, as they make a fairly random set of improvements rather than specialising them to the city's needs. They also have a bad habit of building over existing improvements for no obvious reason.

The automated build trade network isn't too bad if your workers have nothing else left to do. Full worker automation is a mistake though.

 

[Roland Johansen]

hi, one quick question. Is there any disadvantage in using workers in "auto" mode?

Yes, it is less efficient. They don't do what you want them to do as they can't read your mind. So, they'll improve the terrain according to some AI algorithm. This AI algorithm isn't extremely bad, but it is less efficient than the way an experienced human player would improve the terrain.

A second disadvantage would be that you are ignoring a part of the game which means that the various aspects of this game won't come together very well. A big part of this game revolves around creating efficient cities and improving the terrain around cities is very important when you want to create efficient cities. If you want to create a productive city in an area with a lot of hills, then you want to build a forge, factory and power plant in that city and you want to build mines in the hills and farms in the flatlands to create enough food so that you can work those mines. If you let the AI control your workers, then you might build that forge, factory and power plant in the city, but you can't control whether the AI will build mines on the hills and farms in the flatlands. It might choose to build windmills on the hills and cottages in the flatlands. You won't get that efficient productive city that you wished to create.

 

[Darthstar]

thx for the answers.
that means controlling the workers full time is best but very time intensive way.
Thx!

 

[Crowqueen]

Also they will build Forts on a nice big black patch of oil...waste of time but try controlling all the workers I normally end up with and you get bogged down. I managed to steer the ones I had working on the Fort away to other jobs but then found that auto-workers from elsewhere came along and built the Fort anyway on top of the oil before I had Combustion to build the well for it. I went back and over-wrote the Fort with a Well before too long, but it was a bit ridiculous nonetheless.

Basically you either have to put up with behaviour like that or control them all yourself. I was starting off needing a lot of cottages in this particular game, so I ended up micromanaging to a certain extent, but once the game was off the ground I just automated them. Obviously not too good an idea though I did find oil elsewhere as well.

 

[JujuLautre]

in BTS, having a fort on top of a ressource provides access to that ressource the same way as the correct improvement. So with a fort on oil, you will have access to oil the second you learn combustion, without having to build a well.

 

[Endure]

At the lower difficulty levels, you can easily get away with automating your workers.

If you want to master the game and move up into the higher difficulties levels, learning to manage your workers to efficiently specialize your cities is a big part of the game.

 

[Crowqueen]

I had a go this evening. It was difficult finding enough for them to do before Railroad, but as long as a fort on a resource means you can use it as if you had built another improvement, I might go back to automation for the time being.

Incidentally - either it's me not reading the manual properly or just not being interested in the detail of the game enough, but where is it shown that this happens? BtS' manual doesn't seem to go into detail either...so I'm guessing it's either trial or error or the Civilopedia or something like that. Either way there is life in the old saying, "You learn something new every day".

 

[Roland Johansen]

Incidentally - either it's me not reading the manual properly or just not being interested in the detail of the game enough, but where is it shown that this happens? BtS' manual doesn't seem to go into detail either...so I'm guessing it's either trial or error or the Civilopedia or something like that. Either way there is life in the old saying, "You learn something new every day".

Are you asking where one could find the changes in the BTS expansion pack which updated the way forts work?

In that case, you could find the information in the civilopedia under the heading 'BTS concepts' and then under the subject title 'updated forts'. Since several things have changed in BTS, it might be interesting to also read some other subjects which fall under the heading 'BTS concepts'.

A manual that could hold all of the information that is stored in the civilopedia would be huge and pretty uninteresting to read, so I'm happy they didn't choose to do that. The manual is just a starting point for beginning players and since manuals are usually written a few months before the game is shipped, it is also pretty outdated.

 

[Darthstar]

i will improve my difficulty level soon and have a big question. Till now i upgraded all my cities the same way. Built universities, temples etc etc.

Now i hear that in higher difficulty levels a specialisation of cities must be done. Can someone give me 2-3 key facts what with this is meant? Not building all buildings in all cities? Building Wonders in one city, building troops in another and making science in a third?

 

[JujuLautre]

Building Wonders in one city, building troops in another and making science in a third?

Exactly

Cities will be more efficient if they have a given role. Also, you will spare the hammers needed to build every building in every city.

 

[Giovanni Caboto]

i will improve my difficulty level soon and have a big question. Till now i upgraded all my cities the same way. Built universities, temples etc etc.

Now i hear that in higher difficulty levels a specialisation of cities must be done. Can someone give me 2-3 key facts what with this is meant? Not building all buildings in all cities? Building Wonders in one city, building troops in another and making science in a third?

For me, some buildings are basic infrastructure and should be built by all means like granaries, libraries (to get a basic culture), harbours, lighthouses, courthouses etc.
First the terrain is a decision factor. If a city is e.g. surrounded by hills it makes sense to concentrate on production for military units since erecting advanced buildings for wealth or research improvement like bank or university is a waste. if a city is surrounded by plains then you may choose to develop a GP farm (building farms around so that the food production allows you to define many specialists. If you have say 2 to 3 GP farms you may choose economic/research centres with many cottages/villages/towns.

Other considerations are:
Is the city located to a border where there is a risk that the foe flips your city due to advanced culture? Or the other way around: is there a chance that you may flip a foe's city by higher culture?
Can you improve your health or happiness by a grocer or a market?
Do you need more temples to build a cathedral?

 

[DewMan29]

Question from a N00b :


What is the "optimal" number of workers in a Civ? If I have say 5 cities, then how many workers should I have doing upgrades? I think I have gone overboard because I have been averaging about 3 workers per city. I did this in order to get lots of upgrades and developments, but seems that my scoring is really low when I have lots of workers. I dunno ... confused ...


-DewMan

 

[JujuLautre]

having lots of workers is nice. But having too much is bad, because lots of them are unnecessary and are basically wasted hammers and growth.

In the beginning, you can try to get 1.5-2 workers per city approximately. After a whil, I feel one workers per city is enough, since lots of them are already fully improved.

 

[tikon]

Hello,

I have a really simple query.

Does Beyond The Sword version has everything from Warlords and Civ4, or they are all individual games with their own uniqueness, and if they are individual games, what version is better?

Thanks

 

[Endure]

You need civ 4 if you want to play at all.

Warlords and Beyond the Sword (BtS) are expansions for civ4.

BtS has everything warlords has (except it's scenarios) + all the new stuff in BtS.

So you could buy civ4 + BtS if you have a PC and skip the need to purchase warlords.

 

[kcd_swede]

in BTS, having a fort on top of a ressource provides access to that ressource the same way as the correct improvement. So with a fort on oil, you will have access to oil the second you learn combustion, without having to build a well.

Is this true? I have never read that anywhere before.

 

[JujuLautre]

It is. You can check by yourself, or in the civilopedia, section "new BTS concepts".

 

[wannabewarlord]

howdy,

two quick questions:

1. I am having a ressource (i.e. Fur) connected to my trade network via camp & road but let's assume not in any fat cross of any city. Does now every city get the health/happy bonus or none?
Or if it were in a fat cross, does only that one city get it?

2. I read a lot about "if this city has this and that, don't raze it". Obvsiouly you want wonders, shrines and such of a captured city and raze the deadweight. But how do you actually figure out what the city (if it is not an obvious one, i.e. the capital) has in terms of wonders, shrines, national wonders, etc? Is there a info screen (besides the Top 5 cities, I mean) or do you look at the graphic in close-up?

cheers
-wannabewarlord