Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[WillyNilly]

The granary says it "Stores 50% of food after growth". It sounds simple. But I just don't understand the math. What does that really mean?
I don't want food stored. I want it to be used for growth.
Let me give an example. Assume that city population growth from 3 to 4 requires 2 more food (it's almost there). You earn 14 food that turn and 6 is consumed to sustain the current population level of 3. You should have a surplus of (14-6=8) 8 food for growth. The first 2 of your 8 surplus is used to grow the city to the next population level of 3. What exactly happens to the last 6 of your 8 surplus?
Is is correct to assume that WITHOUT a granary, it just gets lost? And that WITH a granary you get (50% of 6 is 3) 3 food toward the next population level of 5?
Being a very analytical type of person, I have quite a few questions about the math involved in the game. If anyone knows of a good reference on Civ calculations, I would love to have it.

Thanks

 

[WillyNilly]

Figured out the Granary - thanks

Got the granary figured out, now I just need to figure out the posting and replies...... disregard all the mumbo jumbo.

 

[IAM]

WillyNilly Welcome to Civilization Fanatics Forum!

 

[Cripple X]

Hey folks,

I played Civ. II on a Buddy's computer a REALLY long time ago, something like 10+ years ago. I saw Civ. IV complete edition on sale and it brought back the nostalgia of playing that older game. I'm thinking about picking the Civilization IV complete edition up. I was wondering how exactly the Expansions work. Would I install all Civilization IV and all the expansions at once and play the game or should I play Civilization IV by itself then install the expansions in sequential order?

Also, its been a very long time since I've played the Civilization series, does the complete edition game have a fairly comprehensive manual and tutorial mode to make sure I understand everything, and to update me about what the expansions add? I'm worried about being overwhelmed with all the complexity.

Thanks guys.

 

[DoubleCheck]

Hey folks,

I played Civ. II on a Buddy's computer a REALLY long time ago, something like 10+ years ago. I saw Civ. IV complete edition on sale and it brought back the nostalgia of playing that older game. I'm thinking about picking the Civilization IV complete edition up. I was wondering how exactly the Expansions work. Would I install all Civilization IV and all the expansions at once and play the game or should I play Civilization IV by itself then install the expansions in sequential order?

Also, its been a very long time since I've played the Civilization series, does the complete edition game have a fairly comprehensive manual and tutorial mode to make sure I understand everything, and to update me about what the expansions add? I'm worried about being overwhelmed with all the complexity.

Thanks guys.

First of all, by complete edition, I assume you mean Civ IV, Warlords, BtS and Colonization. All you have to do is install each of them in that order. The Warlords and BtS expansions work as additions to the original game, while Colonization is sort of a separate game in itself.

As for the complexity, Civ IV is a real improvement on the others in the series both in graphics and actual game play. The interface is actually quite easy to use once you get used to it though, and the War Academy (for Civ IV) on this website is extremely helpful to new players. I would advise playing through a couple games on settler (the easiest level) to learn the basics. Then you can work your way up from there.

Another thing you can do is go to this website: http://www.garath.net/Sullla/civ4.html, and check out a few of those games. They certainly helped me a lot.

Lastly, any questions you might have can be answered by the many experts in the forums. Just post a new thread or search through old ones and you shouldn't have any problem learning Civ IV.

Edit: I forgot the most important thing, and that is to read the Civilopedia. Almost all the info you might need is in there.

 

[Snonskoid]

If you capture a city containing a World Wonder, do you receive the benefits from the Wonder, and if so, when?
I captured The Pyramids in my current game. The city isn't in disorder and it has become 100% mine, but the civilization which built the Wonder is still alive. I find I can't change to the advanced Civic I want (State Property)- why? Do I have to kill the Indians off?
Are the Indians still getting the benefits from building the Pyramids in my game? If so; surely that makes it imperative to raze Wonders? Which would be a shame!
I'm playing Civ IV on a Mac with no expansion packs. I'm playing as a Noble on the Earth map at Marathon speed.
Any advice/ explanations would be most appreciated, thanks

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

When you capture a wonder, you keep its effects. Capturing the Great Library will keep the two first scientists, capturing the Great Wall will prevent barbarians from entering your land in the continent and so on. OTOH, you don't get any culture from the wonder.

The problem you describe happens because the Pyramids allow you to choose any government type, the options you have in the first of the five civics columns. Your choices are Despotism (default), Hereditary Rule, Representation, Universal Suffrage and Police State. State Property is one of the Economy civics and the Pyramids give you no options there.

The Indians are surely not getting the benefits of the Pyramids anymore. If they were in a civic they didn't have the technology to run, they reverted back to Despotism. Killing them off is not necessary.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[Snonskoid]

Fantastic answer: many thanks Ignorant Teacher.

 

[Tamed]

Okay, here we go.

I'm new, so... why do my cities always whine and whine about population? Even if I make 20 settlers, the next turn they're back to complaining. It's honestly very annoying and sort of ruins the game experience. It's almost like I'm being penelized for flourishing.

How do I get my cities to stop being so unhealthy from population? National Parks are a 1 off thing, and the hanging gardens + aqueduct combo is simply not enough, nor is having every +1 health resource available and building any +health buildings. Sheesh!

I understand the max is 21 tiles of harvest around your city (excluding the ones directly n\s\etc.) -- what if there is, say, a uranium mine far off from my city but I build a mine on it and a road to it? Do I still need a new city to get uranium?

When I trade tech with someone, do I lose that tech? What if I have things that require that tech and then trade it? If I trade my horses, do I continue to use them? (same question, sorta)

Lastly, is there any "must have" mods for the game for multiplayer? I'm playing with 5 friends and just wondering, thanks.

Edit: Just read a post here about a real earth map, and they were talking about all the resources being in the same place. This isn't true for all map scripts right? I was thinking it was procedurally generated each time.

Edit2: Do Citizens need to work Watermills and Windmills?

 

[Camikaze]

Welcome to the forums.

Okay, here we go.

I'm new, so... why do my cities always whine and whine about population? Even if I make 20 settlers, the next turn they're back to complaining. It's honestly very annoying and sort of ruins the game experience. It's almost like I'm being penelized for flourishing.

You are being penalised for flourishing. Or more to the point, there is a mechanism to balance it out. Building settlers doesn't diminish your population's unhappiness. Unhappiness comes from a number of factors, but the one that you are probably most concerned about is the overcrowding unhappiness. There isn't anything you can do about this except keep your cities small. It is an automatic unhappiness penalty applied for every population point you have, so as to limit growth, which would otherwise be too easy. Building settlers will not reduce your population, so this unhappiness will still be there. Your best options in the early game to compact unhappiness are to limit population growth to levels consistent with no surplus unhappiness, and to aim for something like the Monarchy technology, which allows you to use the Hereditary Rule civic, giving you extra happiness in each city dependent upon the number of military units in the city. There are also various buildings you can build and resources you can utilise throughout the game to improve happiness, amongst other things. But don't worry too much about it, just don't overextend your empire. Be aware that there are penalties in place for expanding too quickly, or growing your cities too quickly, so make sure you balance it.

 

[Metal_Casting]

Hi guys,
I have seen several games containing 18+ civs, But when I tried it, the game started lagging severely . What configuration do I need to play such large games? I have 2 gb Ram , sempron 3000 processor, and an ati hd 4670.

 

[r_rolo1]

The biggest bottleneck for huge maps in Civ IV is the size of the avaliable RAM ( btw, what is your OS? Makes a huge diference.... XP uses normally close of 200 MB by itself, while Vista uses normally somewhere between 800 and 900 MB of RAM ... )

A correction:

The Indians are surely not getting the benefits of the Pyramids anymore. If they were in a civic they didn't have the technology to run, they reverted back to Despotism. Killing them off is not necessary.

Losing the Mids or S.Paya does not force a civ out of a civic from which that civ has not the enabling tech. Not having the enablers means that you can't adopt the civic , not that you can't run it if you are already there

 

[Metal_Casting]

^^ My OS is XP, would another gb be enough?

 

[r_rolo1]

Well, XP is somewhat problematic because the OS, by default, will not give more than 2GB of RAM to any app. There are ways to circumvent this though ( read this thread for further details ) .

Anyway, the RAM is the biggest bottleneck, but not the only one. The graphical card is also important ( i really don't know if yours is good or bad for the game ) and the CPU also plays a role. So, i can't give you warranty that the game will necessarily run better. But my personal experience is that 2 GB->3GB makes the game run much better on big maps.

 

[Silu]

Losing the Mids or S.Paya does not force a civ out of a civic from which that civ has not the enabling tech. Not having the enablers means that you can't adopt the civic , not that you can't run it if you are already there

What, are you sure? I could swear I've been booted out when I lose the 'mids, and the AIs swap immediately (to something they can adopt) if they lose them.

 

[Windsor]

In a team game (me+AI) is there any way to get a control over a tile? Victoria(team mate) settled a city which overlaps my BFC and a mine flipped to her. I got 98% culture on the tile and would like to have it back...

 

[Silu]

In a team game (me+AI) is there any way to get a control over a tile? Victoria(team mate) settled a city which overlaps my BFC and a mine flipped to her. I got 98% culture on the tile and would like to have it back...

No way. AFAIK the controller of the tile is defined by (in priority order)
1) 4-neighbor distance from the city (like Rook movement in Chess)
2) Tile culture

For example, if a tile is 2W from your city, and 2E1S from your teammate's city, you have control over it even if he has 99% culture on it.

 

[DanaLea]

I feel I should know the answer to this, but I don't, so here it is in the newbie thread.

If I have a resources, say sugar, in an outlining city and I get another sugar in another, different outlining city, it doesn't give a second additional in my capitol? I still get the one, no matter how many of one type of resource I get? After the first, they're really just good for trading? What about the cities that have them in their bfc (big fat cross)? do each of those cities get a second , one for the distant one and one for working the second?

In other words, if I am having happiness problems, does it help to hook up all 4 spices I have just outside (or even inside) one city?

Other then trading, is there an advantage to having several of the same resources?

-dana

 

[bestbrian]

I feel I should know the answer to this, but I don't, so here it is in the newbie thread.

If I have a resources, say sugar, in an outlining city and I get another sugar in another, different outlining city, it doesn't give a second additional in my capitol? I still get the one, no matter how many of one type of resource I get? After the first, they're really just good for trading? What about the cities that have them in their bfc (big fat cross)? do each of those cities get a second , one for the distant one and one for working the second?

In other words, if I am having happiness problems, does it help to hook up all 4 spices I have just outside (or even inside) one city?

Other then trading, is there an advantage to having several of the same resources?

-dana

The only benefit to having mutiples of the same resource are trades and corps. Neither of which is to be sneezed at, btw.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Okay, here we go.

I'm new, so... why do my cities always whine and whine about population? Even if I make 20 settlers, the next turn they're back to complaining. It's honestly very annoying and sort of ruins the game experience. It's almost like I'm being penelized for flourishing.

Camikaze already gave you a good explanation of the mechanic and why the mechanic is needed for the balance of the game. His advice about the hereditary rule civic is also sound.

Most happiness later in the game is from the various happiness resources (see civilopedia) that you get from your own empire and from trading for other happiness resources with other empires. The effects of these resources are increased by some buildings that are present in the city. Effectively, you're fighting the increased demands from your more developed city with increased variation in luxury goods and the buildings to make them available to everyone (free interpretation of the game).

If you continue to have troubles with this aspect of the game throughout the length of the game, then you could be growing your cities too large (do you build lots of farms for excess food) or you might not be trading for luxury resources with your neighbours.

How do I get my cities to stop being so unhealthy from population? National Parks are a 1 off thing, and the hanging gardens + aqueduct combo is simply not enough, nor is having every +1 health resource available and building any +health buildings. Sheesh!

Similar to happiness, resources are the best answer. Later in the game, when factories start creating extra unhealthiness, there are some buildings that create fairly large amounts of health to combat this unheathiness.

These articles might be helpful:

Ways into happiness
Ways into health

I understand the max is 21 tiles of harvest around your city (excluding the ones directly n\s\etc.) -- what if there is, say, a uranium mine far off from my city but I build a mine on it and a road to it? Do I still need a new city to get uranium?

You get the resource effects of uranium, but no city will harvest the tile output.

When I trade tech with someone, do I lose that tech? What if I have things that require that tech and then trade it? If I trade my horses, do I continue to use them? (same question, sorta)

You can't lose technology by trading, you can lose resources through trading. If you have 5 instances of the horse resource and trade away 2, then you have 3 left. You need 1 to build mounted units.

Lastly, is there any "must have" mods for the game for multiplayer? I'm playing with 5 friends and just wondering, thanks.

Must have mods? I wouldn't say that. But BetterAI and BUG Mod are both pretty popular and included in many other larger mods. I like both mods. A way to combine them is described in the BetterAI forum.

Edit: Just read a post here about a real earth map, and they were talking about all the resources being in the same place. This isn't true for all map scripts right? I was thinking it was procedurally generated each time.

True.

The algorithm has a tendency to create patches of resources of the same type to stimulate trading between civilisations.

Edit2: Do Citizens need to work Watermills and Windmills?

You only get the output of a tile if a citizen in some city is working the tile. The city that is working the tile will get the output of the tile. The cottage line of improvements (cottage -> hamlet -> village -> town) will only grow to advanced stages when they are being worked in some city. Watermills and windmills aren't special.