Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[kcd_swede]

Alright, silly question I'm sure, and most probably answered somewhere in these 630 some pages, but I haven't the patience to try to find it, nor the search skills!

Is there any method to be able to determine the Civics of the opposing forces? I know that when they change one it will show up briefly in the in between turn notes, but I can't find anywhere else that will provide the info, or do I need to develop spies first? I have LOS for several opposition cities through religion, and a couple where I have explorers stationed, but that only provides city info. Any additional info would be greatly appreciated.

Silv is correct. Or you could go into the Domestic Advisor screen and click on the "INFO" tab and see all the leaders civics at once, and what civic is or will be their favorite.

This thread is just fine for asking/answering the same question 600 times. That's sort of what its for.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Silv is correct. Or you could go into the Domestic Advisor screen and click on the "INFO" tab and see all the leaders civics at once, and what civic is or will be their favorite.

Note that this tab is only available with the Beyond the Sword expansion, as I recall. Since Bloodstone mentioned about line of sight from religion, I'm guessing he's not playing using Beyond the Sword, and therefore won't find the "Info" tab.

The boxes by the leader names inside diplomacy (as Silv pointed out) will work fine though.

 

[s.bernbaum]

In vanilla if you mouse over the leader head in the Relations screen of the Diplomacy area, the current Civics being used by that leader will be displayed.

 

[Bloodstone]

Thanks to Silv and the others. Worst case I can check as Silv pointed out, I don't remember seeing a Tab in the Domestic Advisor Area. I just bought the CIV IV game, which had the Warlords expansion included, but not the BTS, so I'm assuming that Tab won't appear until I go out and buy the expansion.

Thanks to all in the mean time!

 

[Roland Johansen]

Not that I disagree with the gist of your post and I know this is from a few pages ago, but I think you are in error on one point. The reduced collateral damage granted by the later drill promotions does in fact work against bombers. I am not sure of the exact mechanics but the drill units do appear to take less damage than non-drill units. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

I didn't know that. I'm probably confused with the immunity of siege engines against siege collateral but not collateral from bombers. I thought I had read that it worked the same for the promotion damage reduction, but now I'm going to test it for myself to see exactly how it works. Thanks for the info.

 

[DanaLea]

I did a pretty extensive search for the answer for this question, and I think I have it figured out, but never saw it spelled out so I'd like to know if this is right?

When the game generates the map, it places goodie huts all over randomly? They are there until found right? They won't disappear if not found by a certain date?

If so, then the only reason to hurry and find them is to beat the AI's to them (and to better take advantage of the early help)?

Thanks!

-dana

 

[DoubleCheck]

I did a pretty extensive search for the answer for this question, and I think I have it figured out, but never saw it spelled out so I'd like to know if this is right?

When the game generates the map, it places goodie huts all over randomly? They are there until found right? They won't disappear if not found by a certain date?

That's right, goodie huts stay around forever (at least until someone finds them). It is possible (although unlikely) that you may enter the industrial age with goodie huts still on the map. Granted, you would have to a large island/continent all to yourself, have very poor expansion skills, and never scout out the land around you.... so yeah, pretty unlikely.

And yes, the AI is pretty good at finding them, so don't waste any time.

 

[Silv Something]

Can the AI cheat at finding goodie huts?

 

[phoenix_sprite]

Although I'm anti tobacco and I don't smoke marijuana. do you think in the event of the legalization of marijuana in the US and abroad, it will be eventually in the Civ series? Marijuana and Tobacco are the top cash crops in the world currently!

 

[DanaLea]

isn't there an article on the different types of maps that come with Civ4 and their different properties/characteristics? Anyone have a link?

TIA

-dana

 

[Roland Johansen]

Can the AI cheat at finding goodie huts?

The AI has slightly higher visibility than the human player, but it doesn't remember anything that it did the turn before.

isn't there an article on the different types of maps that come with Civ4 and their different properties/characteristics? Anyone have a link?

TIA

-dana

Yes, here it is:

The Complete Guide To Map Generation.

I'll have to warn you that the thread is pretty popular and therefore the bandwidth of the image provider is regularly overused by the end of the month. It's renewed around the 4-th of the month resulting in the availability of the pictures. The pictures are presently visible.

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Two questions regarding MP:

1- What is FFA?

2- How do you position your troops? If you keep a single SOD, the others can see where it is and attack you in the other side of your empire, if you spread your forces all around your land, they can attack you anywhere with a big SOD and you won't have time to group them to fight them off.

 

[DrewBledsoe]

Although I'm anti tobacco and I don't smoke marijuana. do you think in the event of the legalization of marijuana in the US and abroad, it will be eventually in the Civ series? Marijuana and Tobacco are the top cash crops in the world currently!

They are already in the Mod I play (History In The Making), and some other mods too. Tobacco gives +1+2 plus bonus fron each plantation.

Hemp (used as a generic name for Cannabis etc.), helps build "Sailing Age" ships faster, plus gives a happiness bonus from the Dutch "Coffee House"...it can also become banned by national wonders...e.g. US "Homeland Security"..

In the main game, I doubt Firazis are brave enough to include them...

 

[EMT]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, seeing as this isn't a gameplay question, more like, how to change something in the menu. I want to put, for example, maps like arboria and boreal in the play now option menu when I want to start a game, as well as in the custom games menu. How could I go about doing this?

 

[Roland Johansen]

Two questions regarding MP:

I don't play multiplayer games, but I'll try to answer your questions anyway.

1- What is FFA?

My guess would be Free For All.

2- How do you position your troops? If you keep a single SOD, the others can see where it is and attack you in the other side of your empire, if you spread your forces all around your land, they can attack you anywhere with a big SOD and you won't have time to group them to fight them off.

The defender has the advantage of quicker movement. This means that the defender can position his troops in several central regions and get to most positions in his empire fast, especially with 2 move units. Of course, this will become more troublesome with larger empires, but you should also be able to get more troops when your empire is larger.
Due to the faster movement, it should also be possible for the defender to get the first hit with collateral damage units. After several collateral damage hits, the defenders units should be able to pick off units from the SOD entering his territory with low losses. If the defender uses mounted units to do this, then he can hit the SOD and retreat back into safety while simultaneously severely hurting or destroying any siege units in the SOD. Collateral damage plus mounted flanking damage will make the SOD into a combination of units incapable of capturing a well defended city. A wounded SOD with few remaining siege units is ill equipped to capture cities.

The goal isn't necessarily to instantly defeat the SOD when it enters your territory. The goal is to make sure it cannot hurt you severely. Destroying it can happen later while it is trying to run away.

Diplomacy is probably even more important in multiplayer games. You can't single handedly defeat all the human opponents at once. You can't hope to win when surrounded by enemies from the start of the game. So you need to make deals with several of the human players, maybe to take out another player together or for other reasons. If multiple human players combine their forces against you, then you're in trouble.

The defender can also use spies (or late game air reconnaissance) to see where the enemy is concentrating its troops. Scouting the (potential) enemies is important.

You should also make sure that the cultural buffer (the tiles of your culture between you and your enemy) is as thick as possible. If units can get to a border city very quickly, then that city is very vulnerable. If you fear a seaborne invasion, then scouting the possible approach areas can be extremely important to react to attacks quickly enough.

An increased healing rate should also help the defender when the war takes longer. The faster movement will help your units retreat from enemy SOD's in your territory to fight another day and the greater healing rate will mean that surviving units can join another battle quickly.

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Thanks a lot RJ! I played my first MP games this week and they were a bit shocking. (I played only three). In the first one, my opponents were beginners so I ran over them easy. In the third one, nobody attacked anyone (on a Pangea!) and everyone eventually resigned because it got boring. However, the second one was really tough. I had a neighbor and someone rushed him. A while later I tried to take the rushed area, but got unlucky and was destroyed. That doomed me. When I saw it, the other guy came at me with three Cats/Phants stacks and conquered my whole land. I couldn't have destroyed them all, but if my troops were better placed, I might have been able to survive to fight another day. The guy was impressive. Really opened my eyes. At least I didn't resign until he had taken my last city. (It's very annoying when people quit, believe me).

 

[Roland Johansen]

Thanks a lot RJ! I played my first MP games this week and they were a bit shocking. (I played only three). In the first one, my opponents were beginners so I ran over them easy. In the third one, nobody attacked anyone (on a Pangea!) and everyone eventually resigned because it got boring. However, the second one was really tough. I had a neighbor and someone rushed him. A while later I tried to take the rushed area, but got unlucky and was destroyed. That doomed me. When I saw it, the other guy came at me with three Cats/Phants stacks and conquered my whole land. I couldn't have destroyed them all, but if my troops were better placed, I might have been able to survive to fight another day. The guy was impressive. Really opened my eyes. At least I didn't resign until he had taken my last city. (It's very annoying when people quit, believe me).

I can imagine that there are very good players in multiplayer, especially at the warfare part of the game. And it's of course very possible to get unlucky with aggressive neighbours towards you while others can become stronger far away.

From other games with human players, I know that you can make use of the emotional aspect that's not there with computer opponents. So for instance, when your neighbour was being destroyed, it might have been possible to deal with him in order to tackle the strong player together. You'd need to do this of course before the position of this player became hopeless. Because you would be in a strong bargaining position and a strong tactical position (with the weak player between you and the strong player), it might have been possible to get a very nice deal out of it.

Another trick up your sleeve when you were under attack might be to remind all the other players that were still in the game that the strong player was throwing everything he had at you which would mean that he should be vulnerable in his back. If anyone had any desire to win against the strong player, that would have been the time. Waiting until he had beat you into a pulp wouldn't have been wise.
But I don't know how much time there really is for making deals. In the tabletop boardgames that I've played with human opponents, deals are typically extremely important. No one is capable of winning those games by themselves.

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

Nice tips. I always forget you're playing against thinking people in MP. (I'm not being sarcastic). The dogpile suggestion is very good, thanks.

 

[DMOC]

Quick question: What is "stack attack"?

 

[Silv Something]

A stack attack is where you have a "stack" or "pile" of units. This is better than units spread about because:

1. You can have better defending fortified units that protect the injured ones and the weaker siege.

2. You can attack a city and possibly take it over in one turn

etc.

This* is what one would call a "SoD" or "Stack of Doom".

*Not my pic.