Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[DrewBledsoe]

...................Only a guess but I think it might be because the catapult doesn't kill; it damages then withdraws.

Hmm, you may have a point there (and I forgot all about WB testing and just went on with the game, as I was having fun)

Will test next time I fire the game up...

Thanks

 

[jm4civ4]

Hi guys etc.
What, exactly, is the big jump between warlords- and noble level that I have missed?

Hey...I am still a newb but I win on Monarch (usually)

If you are able to stay ahead or even up to liberalism or so, then you are doing many things right, IMHO. What do you tech after LIB? What free tech do you take from LIB? Let's look there....

Do you run CE, SE?

hope i can be helpful

 

[Hegel]

Hi - I'm so jealous I can barely contain myself

Well, depending on the set-up, I normally pick whatever tech is most costly as the freebie after liberalism, but if I am already falling behind in military strength, I might go for something that helps me there.

I mainly go for CE, but I diligently try to go for some city specialization as well. My most succesful (i.e., least disastrous) attempts have all been with Elizabeth as a leader, so I try to have a science speciality city built up with a science academy and at least one super-scientist and a more production-oriented one to get some nice engineers. All that, and I try to develop economy as well.

Having played all the previous civilization games, I have developed a pretty defensive atitude: I generally do not like to attack before I have armor... could that be a key to explaining my failure? Also, I have speculated that I might go for advanced civics etc. too soon...

oh - for techs researched after liberalism, I usually go for a mix of older techs I have missed out on because of bee-lining for liberalism, and techs leading towards consolidating my economy...

 

[DrewBledsoe]

Hi - I'm so jealous I can barely contain myself

Well, depending on the set-up, I normally pick whatever tech is most costly as the freebie after liberalism, but if I am already falling behind in military strength, I might go for something that helps me there.

I mainly go for CE, but I diligently try to go for some city specialization as well. My most succesful (i.e., least disastrous) attempts have all been with Elizabeth as a leader, so I try to have a science speciality city built up with a science academy and at least one super-scientist and a more production-oriented one to get some nice engineers. All that, and I try to develop economy as well.

Having played all the previous civilization games, I have developed a pretty defensive atitude: I generally do not like to attack before I have armor... could that be a key to explaining my failure? Also, I have speculated that I might go for advanced civics etc. too soon...

oh - for techs researched after liberalism, I usually go for a mix of older techs I have missed out on because of bee-lining for liberalism, and techs leading towards consolidating my economy...

Im wondering if part of the answer is given in your last sentence..i.e.

I usually go for a mix of older techs I have missed out on because of bee-lining for liberalism

If you are going to go after LIberalism, at the expense of everything else, then you have to ask yourself why your are doing it (it IS only one free tech, and unless you are going cultural, its not really that useful in itself)...

Ok a free tech is always nice, but missing stuff out on the way, can lead to problems. Take a much earlier example at the start of the game. Say you first tech An Husb, then Bronze Working, and have neither Horses nor Copper anyway near you. Well, now teching straight for Iron Working may seem a good idea, but its generally suicidal, you have to go Hunting/Archery instead. By the time you get to IW, the barbs/ai civs will have killed you (dependant on map size / difficulty lvl etc.) Even when you get Archery, then you still can't really go straight for IW, you need Pottery and/or Writing first, otherwise your economy will kill you instead (taking that you are expanding as best as you can)...

I play Emp and above, and whatever the civ, I almost always tech Hunting/Archery first, just because well, experience has taught me better safe than sorry

Back to beelining for Lib, I virtually never bother with it. If I get there first, its a bonus, if I don't then so what...I'd place a much higher value on learning to trade to your advantage, and teching paths that suit your civ, map and opposition....which only really comes through experience...

Not saying that this applies in particular to you, but hey, hope there was something useful somewhere in this ramble

 

[Sisiutil]

Hegel:
Welcome to CFC!

I would suggest starting a new thread in the Strategy forum where you ask for advice. This time, however, post a saved game file from around the time that the wheels start to come off. Maybe a few saved game files from different points in the game--for example, one from the turn that you acquire Liberalism. You'll get advice that is much more specific to your own play that way.

 

[jm4civ4]

Hi - I'm so jealous I can barely contain myself ....
I generally do not like to attack before I have armor... could that be a key to explaining my failure?

After reading many posts on these forums my game improved...there are some great players out there. Hats off! Your successs will most likely increase as you apply what you read.

The Spec Econ guide in the war academy was especially helpful.

As to the above, that may be an area to look at. I wage a fair amount of war at various stages, regardless of what stage my military has progresssed to. Lately I have trying EARLY rushes and it has worked at times. There is a post about that too, I will post the link shortly. I have found that so much of my success depends on the map and where the rivals are. Development is tied to who is or is not isolated or has room for safe expansion.

My umbrella tactic is too wipe out someone early and assume their lands. And geography dictates my strategy.

There was also a recent by Kesshi about an evolving economy. I will also send that, as it has been very useful.

 

[jm4civ4]

The Spec Econ guide in the war academy was especially helpful.

Lately I have trying EARLY rushes and it has worked at times. There is a post about that too, I will post the link shortly.

There was also a recent by Kesshi about an evolving economy. I will also send that, as it has been very useful.

"Aamto12" started a thread in the BTS forum called "Oh my goodness! Liberalism slingshot to..." it is a great read.

Post#21 of the thread is Kesshi's early/trade route economy. It is in the context of a 44-cities, don't expect the same results from a 5-8 city fledgling empire.

Post#14 contains the link to Kesshi's "Religious Economy". Putting his excellent ideas together with the little I know about SE gives the "evolution of economy" concept.

The above metioned articles are:

Beg.'s Guide to SE by Jack of Clubs in War Academy/Empire Management.

Early Rush by Sisisutil in War Academy/Miltary Strategy & Tactics.



Just for example..I have included the saves for my highest scoring game. These are BTS 3.13 files using the HOF 3.13 mod, you must have the mod to open the files. If this is useful then I would be pleased.

I was not expecting a result anything like this. I was amazed when I saw the adjusted score above 100k. I simply applied the JackofClubs SE ideas and was aggresive when I felt I could be. Most importantly, the map was my biggest ally. I was able to cut off the Ottomans (in the east) and they became easy targets. In an even bigger stroke of luck, there was desert between me and the other 3 rivals, so expansion toward me was less than usual AND caused wars amongst those three. I was able to roll right on in...well more like roll around....and in....and out.....then back over there, then back here. Have fun and let me know how it goes.

 

[JujuLautre]

I'm sorry to say that, but you really should take your whole post and post it elsewhere, like in the strategy & tips forums. Here is not the place to start a discussion.

 

[jm4civ4]

fair enough

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Moderator Action: I have copied the recent discussion here to this thread.

Please try to keep the "Warlord to Noble" discussion there, since it is likely that talk could consume quite a few pages! It'll also make it easier to get more input and feedback, and, since it wasn't really a "quick question," this thread wasn't the best place for it.

 

[the_flying_fish]

Why am I limited in the amount I can per turn to the AI in trade? Surely if I have 3000 gold, I could give 50 per turn if I want to or whatever I think a resource per turn is worth, but it limits it to a seemingly arbitrary amount?

 

[JujuLautre]

In the diplomacy screen, the amount of gold/turn you can give in a trade is at maximum the number of gold/turn you gain at this moment. So unless you are losing money at 100% taxes, you can always raise the gold slider for an instant, do your trade, and then lower it again.

 

[dalamb]

you can always raise the gold slider for an instant, do your trade, and then lower it again.

Ooh, that's what we computer geeks call a 'neat hack' -- working outside the designer's apparent intent by combining features that might not have been meant to be put together.

This raises the question: what happens to a gold-per-turn agreement when you run out of gold? I suppose it's automatically canceled, but isn't there a period of a few turns when you aren't allowed to cancel? or is that just peace treaties?

 

[theflyingfish]

Ooh, that's what we computer geeks call a 'neat hack' -- working outside the designer's apparent intent by combining features that might not have been meant to be put together.

This raises the question: what happens to a gold-per-turn agreement when you run out of gold? I suppose it's automatically canceled, but isn't there a period of a few turns when you aren't allowed to cancel? or is that just peace treaties?

it says in the manual that trades last ten turns and it will meet your gold per turn obligation by selling units if neccesary

 

[swartzne]

Please can anyone help. I had to uninstall the game because the movies said they were not installed properly. When I go to reinstall I get an error message that says Default Frature, Data Error (cycle redundancy check) D:\data.cab

Then the install just quits. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[The Turk]

just try reinstalling the game

 

[Mulligan]

Just got the game and I'm still just messing around on the lowest difficulty levels. I know the strategy is completely different, but I'm interested in seeing how at expert player would act on deity (or at least noble/monarch). Is there any mod/archive of finished games that lets you skim through what actions a player did each turn?

The closest I see is the hall of fame saves and it seems that would just show how the world looked after victory.

 

[CCRunner]

Check the strategy and tips forum. There's a sticky there that contains almost every series/walkthrough. It has all of the major ones from recent times.

 

[se7entee7]

I just picked this (Gold) up last night. I've been playing CivRev since before it came out in the US (import from UK), so I understand how the game works, even though Civ4 is much more indepth.

messed around with Noble-Terra-Huge-Marathon map last night (just to see how my new comp would handle the game).

here's my question/issue...
very beginning of the game and Capital is rocking 1 citizen. the food surplus is increasing the Pop bar up until the point at which it only has a few turns until the Pop increases (63/66 for example). from that point on, all the surplus food, somehow converted to extra Prod. this goes on for many turns until out of nowhere the Cap goes up to 2 Pop, and everything seems fine after that.

after playing for a bit (and getting done in by Barbs), I started up another game to test it, and it did exactly the same thing.

Is there a setting (that I searched for) that I'm missing?
Is this suppose to happen, and there's an explaination for it (that I'd love to hear)?

Thanks!!!

 

[Sisiutil]

very beginning of the game and Capital is rocking 1 citizen. the food surplus is increasing the Pop bar up until the point at which it only has a few turns until the Pop increases (63/66 for example). from that point on, all the surplus food, somehow converted to extra Prod. this goes on for many turns until out of nowhere the Cap goes up to 2 Pop, and everything seems fine after that.

Without looking at a saved game file, it sounds like you were building either a Worker or a Settler. City growth freezes when you build either of those units, with all production and food going into the build.