Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Roland Johansen]

Yes for sure. I know I am in the green in terms of GPT. On the AI side, it shows how much gold they have, and then I can click that and put it up to however much they have available. But then when I click ok, nothing happens. Same when I put in how much I want to give. I am offering money that I have.

Are you talking about gold or gold per turn? There is a distinction there and it is not really clear what you're offering on the bargaining table. When you have 20 gold + 30 gold per turn, then you can't offer 25 gold.

Note that this would go a lot faster when you'd upload some screenshots or a savegame + exact description of the actions that we should take to reproduce your result. I guess that in this case, screenshots should suffice.

And of course, the always useful inquiry: "Have you patched your game?"

Edit: some screenshots

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=207012&stc=1&d=1237112677
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=207013&stc=1&d=1237112677
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=207014&stc=1&d=1237112677

 

[SandmanPiers]

Long time lurker, near first time poster. Can someone tell me what to download to get the more detailed interface?

Spoiler :

Thanks.

 

[CCRunner]

It's called BUG mod. Here's the CFC forum for it. http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=268

 

[SandmanPiers]

Thanks again. One more however, When someone posts a gamesave on here and I try to load it, The game crashes. Is this normal?

 

[CCRunner]

No it's not. They all work fine for me.

 

[SandmanPiers]

Oh dear, I get a runtime error when I open them.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Maybe they're using a different patch or mod to you?

 

[Chuey]

Within a city's radius (fat cross), does the city still get benefits from tiles with not worker in them? Therefore I should improve every tile in the fat cross?
And what should I be connecting roads to and from? I know about connecting them to resources outside the fat cross, but should I build roads inside the fat cross?

Thanks very much for help!!

 

[Roland Johansen]

Within a city's radius (fat cross), does the city still get benefits from tiles with not worker in them?

Within the civilisation community, we use the term worker for the unit that can improve tiles. I guess (by context) that you're using the term worker for the citizen rings that are visible when you've opened the city view.

A city works a number of city tiles equal to the size of the city plus the centre city tile. The city gets more citizens to work the land by growing and it grows by producing more food than is eaten by the citizens. An improved tile is far more productive than an unimproved tile, so it is very valuable to let cities only use improved tiles and to quickly improve the best tiles around a city (with worker units).

Therefore I should improve every tile in the fat cross?

You should prioritise the tiles that you're using or are going to use in the near future. Try to improve tiles quickly enough so that you're always using improved tiles. You typically need about 1-2 worker units per city to achieve that depending on the type of terrain and the growth speed of your cities.

And what should I be connecting roads to and from? I know about connecting them to resources outside the fat cross, but should I build roads inside the fat cross?

In order to exploit resources, you need a road connection to your cities and a special tile improvement on the resource (check the civilopedia or hold your mouse over the resource tile on the main world map to find out which tile improvement is needed). For the rest roads improve the movement speed of all of your units. Furthermore, the later railroads improve the output of some production improvements.

Thanks very much for help!!

You're welcome and

Welcome to civfanatics!:beer

 

[6K Man]

Within a city's radius (fat cross), does the city still get benefits from tiles with not worker in them? Therefore I should improve every tile in the fat cross?

Yes and no.

You should improve at least one of every special resource you have with the appropriate improvement and then connect them to your city/trade network, usually with a road. That way, the benefits (e.g. +1 , ability to build Axemen) will be felt throughout your empire even if you aren't working the tile with a citizen.

Otherwise, just improve tiles that you will be working. Cottages don't grow and mines don't pop special resources if there is no citizen working them, and you don't get production/food/commerce benefits from unworked tiles.

And what should I be connecting roads to and from? I know about connecting them to resources outside the fat cross, but should I build roads inside the fat cross?

Thanks very much for help!!

Connect all your resources with roads. Sometimes you can get the connection with a river or coast, but it's better just to road them to be safe - and roads make it easier to defend them, for that matter.

 

[IAM]

Welcome Chuey!

Therefore I should improve every tile in the fat cross?

As a rule of thumb I try to have at least 2 more tile improvements than population and continue to improve tiles in the fat cross until they are all improved. Tiles are improved based on importance. Copper will get a mine before I'll put a plantation on a third spice resource.

Three reasons to have more tiles improved than your population can work are:

1- If barbarians or an enemy pillage a tile or two you still have other improved tiles to work.
2- When your cities grows to the next population size there is already an improved tile to work.
3- Random events can destroy tile improvements.

Eventually when workers have time I road every tile. Again with that much highway pillaging a tile won't cut me off to vital resources and allows me to quickly move against any threat entering my empire.

 

[Chuey]

Thanks for the advice! I'm amazed at how active the forum is for such an old game!
I have another question though =s.
When should you start to consider building military (e.g. how far down the tech tree), I thought as soon as I got Seige units was a good time, but should I have quite a lot of military units before I get to Seige tech?
And how big is the leap from Civ 4 to Warlords/Bts?

Thanks again!

 

[6K Man]

Start building military units immediately, unless you are isolated on an island by yourself. You'll use them to either attack someone else, or deter them from attacking you.

 

[Abegweit]

Thanks for the advice! I'm amazed at how active the forum is for such an old game!

It's called CivFanatics for a reason.

I have another question though =s.
When should you start to consider building military (e.g. how far down the tech tree), I thought as soon as I got Seige units was a good time, but should I have quite a lot of military units before I get to Seige tech?

Like most things in Civ, it depends. It is certainly possible to make successful rushes long before seige (below Monarch, warriors work just fine). OTOH, waiting 'til Rifles is perfectly viable in other games. At the highest levels there may not even be an alternative.

You do need to defend yourself. Keeping your power level over half that of the weakest AI should be adequate for this purpose as the AI stinks at war..

And how big is the leap from Civ 4 to Warlords/Bts?

There is little difference between vanilla and Warlords. BTS adds several new concepts, notably corporations and espionage, but you can play the game perfectly well without worrying about them. Get it anyway. It's simply a better game. For one thing, the AI is far superior. Then add the BUG mod for a better gaming experience.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Thanks for the advice! I'm amazed at how active the forum is for such an old game!

Civ4 is a very replayable game, so it's possibly to enjoy it for many years. Plus, it's very open to customisation, so if you ever tire of the regular game, you can download "mods" that allow you to (for instance) play far into the future with robots, or play in the realm of fantasy with elves, dwarves, spells and magic.

I have another question though =s.
When should you start to consider building military (e.g. how far down the tech tree), I thought as soon as I got Seige units was a good time, but should I have quite a lot of military units before I get to Seige tech?

It is generally a good idea to have a decent sized military before siege units. Axemen and Chariots should be the staple units of an early empire, especially if you want to invade a neighbour in the early game (which can be very beneficial, since the cities acquired by conquest are often very valuable - especially rival capitals).

And how big is the leap from Civ 4 to Warlords/Bts?

Warlords is a very small step from Civ4, with only minor changes that are easy to grasp. The AI is essentially no different from Civ4.

BTS includes quite a few new game concepts, which take a while to fully grasp. But you can still play quite happily without even knowing anything about them. The AI in BTS is more intelligent than in previous versions, but to compensate they are given fewer "cheats" (like no more free happiness in their cities). Some people find this makes the AI on the whole a bit easier to play against than for Civ4/Warlords, and some find it makes them a bit harder. It depends on the situation.

But it's definitely worth getting BTS, if you haven't got it already. It's a huge improvement over regular Civ4 (which was already awesome). (Important note: DON'T buy Warlords separately if you haven't got it, as BTS includes all the Warlords additions apart from some minor Scenarios.)

 

[henrebotha]

Are Musketeers at all useful?

 

[IAM]

Are Musketeers at all useful?

I'm not a big fan of most UUs. I play huge crowded maps and there's no single unit or time period that will carry me through an entire game. In general though muskeets (and I know that's not your exact question) are a nice jump not reflected in their strength but in what they nerf for the other guy.

Two quick examples are: any shock promotions from an opponent are now virtually useless and units like crossbomen with a +50% advantage against melee units are now mostly outdated units. So although their strength isn't vastly superior to previous units their nerf advantage is formidable.

 

[henrebotha]

I agree on that count - Muskets may not have the raw power edge over their contemporaries, but their type (and promotion versatility) makes them fairly useful.

I'm just wondering if I'm not missing something with the Musketeers; maybe there's some way I'm not thinking of in which the extra movement point can be leveraged.

 

[Crowqueen]

I agree on that count - Muskets may not have the raw power edge over their contemporaries, but their type (and promotion versatility) makes them fairly useful.

I'm just wondering if I'm not missing something with the Musketeers; maybe there's some way I'm not thinking of in which the extra movement point can be leveraged.

Extra movement points magnify pretty nicely with roads, work well with moving/pillaging and quick blitzkriegs, and can get to a city needing extra defence quickly. Not a big fan of playing France so I am not up to speed on the Musketeer, but Impis are good and in Civ III the Gallic Swordsman which gives an extra point of movement wiped several AIs out even in the short window that they were available and were a PITA when the Celtic AI was at war with me and essentially made me start over playing the Celts myself. In big battles an extra movement point is pretty much a godsend - IMO of course.

 

[Roland Johansen]

I agree on that count - Muskets may not have the raw power edge over their contemporaries, but their type (and promotion versatility) makes them fairly useful.

I'm just wondering if I'm not missing something with the Musketeers; maybe there's some way I'm not thinking of in which the extra movement point can be leveraged.

I personally enjoy faster unis for 3 reasons

- When I start a war, I often wait until the enemy has thrown a big chunk of their army at me. I then have the ability to destroy these forces (usually a large SOD) within my own borders which has several benefits: faster movement, no war weariness and faster healing. Fast units are better suited for this counterattack as they cover a larger area.

- When I'm at war, the AI sometimes invades with small numbers of units while I'm capturing their cities. I leave some fast units behind to counter these attacks.

- When I'm invading an enemy, then I have some fast units in my army to be able to attack small groups of enemy units that are next to my SOD. These fast units can attack, destroy and move back into the protection of the SOD.


Musketeers exist in the age of knights and maybe Cuirassiers. Their advantage is that they are not countered by pikemen and elephants. Their disadvantage is that they have 1 point less strength than knights. This makes them an excellent counter unit versus all units except the knight and cuirassier. They can still defeat these horse based units with an anti-mounted promotion.