Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[BarrageQueen]

I have a question re vassal culture.

I've noticed a few times how the cultural border balance with my vassals turns rapidly in my favor after vassaling. So I'm quite sure that their culture relative to mine weakens as a consequence. The question is quantitative. Anyone know how much this cultural weakening is quantitatively? Is it a halving or so?

 

[Lord Parkin]

Their culture does not weaken; rather, you automatically get any tile that is within any of your city radii. Effectively all of the tiles that the vassal owns have a preference to go to the master's territory if it will benefit his cities.

You can see a similar thing happening when you play in teams (or sign permanent alliances) - city borders will rearrange themselves so that each person can use the maximum amount of useful tiles to them, regardless of actual cultural values.

 

[MaximForever]

I simply wish to know if there is a base cap or pre req when it comes to custom avatars, as is when i go to edit avatars, there seems to be no option to upload my own.

Was wondering if they simply only have pre defined avatars...which sucks, or that it's based on some kind of ghetto reward system, I'm guessing it's defined by the number of posts, considering the nature of the site.

I'm sure this has been answered some were in this thread, though forgive my hesitation of skimming through 101 pages, again any info would be appreciated, thank you for your time.

 

[DrewBledsoe]

I simply wish to know if there is a base cap or pre req when it comes to custom avatars, as is when i go to edit avatars, there seems to be no option to upload my own.

Was wondering if they simply only have pre defined avatars...which sucks, or that it's based on some kind of ghetto reward system, I'm guessing it's defined by the number of posts, considering the nature of the site.

I'm sure this has been answered some were in this thread, though forgive my hesitation of skimming through 101 pages, again any info would be appreciated, thank you for your time.

Cut and pasted from forum rules page :-

Postcount titles & avatars.
Each poster has a title and an optional avatar image shown below his/her username. The default titles are Chieftain, Warlord, Prince, King, Emperor, and Deity. The minimum postcounts required are listed below:

Chieftain (Minimum Posts: 0)
Warlord (Minimum Posts: 100)
Prince (Minimum Posts: 300)
King (Minimum Posts: 600)
Emperor (Minimum Posts: 1000)
Deity (Minimum Posts: 2000)

You can also put a picture, or avatar, under your name. There are hundreds of Civish avatars for you to choose from.

If you have 30 posts AND have registered for 30 days, you can give yourself a custom title and a custom non-animated avatar. The dimension limit of custom avatars is 70x70 pixels and size limit is 4 KB. You can change your title or avatar in your User CP.

 

[_alphaBeta_]

So I've been playing BTS for quite a while, but there's one last part that I'm hazy on: trade routes. At the beginning of any game I notice that I'll get the symbol next to certain players in the scorecard on the bottom-right of the screen. That said, here's my questions:

1. I think means that the capitals are connected. Sometimes this happens before I've even found the civ's capital though. Is this because they've found mine first?

2. Even with this symbol displayed having open borders with the civ doesn't result in any trade routes with their cities. It always seems random when these trade routes suddenly come to life. I'm sure it isn't - but what are the requirements? I'm aware that you'd need a road connection (unlikely in the stage of the game I'm talking) or the sailing tech for trade via the coast or rivers. I would swear that sometimes the symbol shows before I've researched them. Could it be that the other civ already has it and only one civ needs it?

If someone could walk me through or point me to a good reference on trade routes I'd appreciate it. Only recently have I noticed how important they are.

 

[Roland Johansen]

So I've been playing BTS for quite a while, but there's one last part that I'm hazy on: trade routes. At the beginning of any game I notice that I'll get the symbol next to certain players in the scorecard on the bottom-right of the screen. That said, here's my questions:

1. I think means that the capitals are connected. Sometimes this happens before I've even found the civ's capital though. Is this because they've found mine first?

2. Even with this symbol displayed having open borders with the civ doesn't result in any trade routes with their cities. It always seems random when these trade routes suddenly come to life. I'm sure it isn't - but what are the requirements? I'm aware that you'd need a road connection (unlikely in the stage of the game I'm talking) or the sailing tech for trade via the coast or rivers. I would swear that sometimes the symbol shows before I've researched them. Could it be that the other civ already has it and only one civ needs it?

If someone could walk me through or point me to a good reference on trade routes I'd appreciate it. Only recently have I noticed how important they are.

Very good questions and really not that clear when you're playing the game.

1) yes.

2) Basically, you need to have a trade road connection to their lands, open borders and you need to see their cultural borders. But it's a little more complicated then that. So I'll let DanF5771 do the explaining as he did in excellent job in this post of his.
If you can't trade with a civilisation after the symbol appeared, then they are benefiting from trade routes with you, but you aren't benefiting from trade routes with them.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Whenever I found a religion, that weird music plays and scares the heck out of me cos I never expect it and its kinda loud. Which audio control would it be under?

thanks

 

[MaximForever]

Cut and pasted from forum rules page :-

ty, I figured as much.

 

[IAM]

Whenever I found a religion, that weird music plays and scares the heck out of me cos I never expect it and its kinda loud. Which audio control would it be under?

thanks

You can go to the options menu and cut off music completely or just adjust the volume.

 

[grace1760]

So I've learned how to capture screenshots, and post them as thumbnails (attachments)...but how does one paste them within the body of a message/post?

Seems like you can add more images that way and is much easier for others to view.

 

[r_rolo1]

You get the link of the image and put it between

 

[grace1760]

You get the link of the image and put it between tags . If you want to go lazy, just click in the small icon with a mountain photo in the answer box upper tab and put the link in the pop up text box.[/QUOTE]

Not trying to be dense here, but apparently failing...

What do you mean by link? I have JPEG image files.

 

[r_rolo1]

For you to show pics here, you need to put those JPG files in the internet (you don't want everyone snooping in your computer, right ? ). There are free services for that, like Imageshack or Photobucket ( just google it ).

In there, after you upload the files there, there will be some "links" that you can copy. You choose the "link" that is between

 

[grace1760]

Now I understand. Thank you.

 

[Jet082]

Certain resources in the city screen, like horses for example, show a "+1 Hammer" when you hover over it with a mouse. Yet I see no difference to the number of hammers used for production when I gain access to the new resource. What does that +1 Hammer actually mean?

 

[Sisiutil]

Certain resources in the city screen, like horses for example, show a "+1 Hammer" when you hover over it with a mouse. Yet I see no difference to the number of hammers used for production when I gain access to the new resource. What does that +1 Hammer actually mean?

It means nothing. It's misleading (because the similar health and happiness symbols nearby DO mean something).

Just ignore it.

 

[Admiral8Q]

The million dollar question:

Where do downloaded maps, and scenarios go. Also do you leave them in .rar? Or do you have to un-rar them?

Thanks

 

[JECTX]

Is there a way to watch a game full of AI play out?

 

[Admiral8Q]

The million dollar question:

Where do downloaded maps, and scenarios go. Also do you leave them in .rar? Or do you have to un-rar them?

Thanks

Ok, I found this:

How do I install a downloaded scenario, mod, or map?
When you download a mod or scenario for Civilization 4, simply place the mod or scenario folder in your ../My Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4/MODS/ folder. If it is a map, all you need to do is place the downloaded WorldBuilder file into the ../PublicMaps/ folder.

I have done this for maps, but they are not showing up in the game.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Is there a way to watch a game full of AI play out?

Not quite in the way I think you've got in mind, but you can fudge it. Just edit a map to place your starting location on a 1-tile island in the middle of an ocean, with a few units as defenders if you want. (You do this in the WorldBuilder, accessible through the menu inside the game as long as you haven't disabled it.)

You can then watch the game play out between the AI by hitting "end turn" a few times, opening the WorldBuilder to look at what they're doing, closing it and hitting "end turn" a few more turns, opening it again, etc. (If they start interfering with you in the later game by declaring war, you can force peace in the WorldBuilder and/or give yourself more units to keep them away. An alternative is to put a ring of mountains around your starting location, so that nobody can get to you.)

A warning though: watching the AI play a game against itself is NOT the way to learn how to play the game well. The AI does far worse than an intelligent human in many situations - worker movements are one example, war planning is another. If you want to learn how to become good at the game, try reading some strategy articles instead.

If you just want to watch the AI play against itself for the fun of it though, go enjoy yourself!