Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[s.bernbaum]

Sisiutil and Roland:

Thanks for the info about catching spies!

I guess I can put all of mine who are watching for infiltrators to sleep, although since all my cities have security bureaus perhaps I don't need those spies at all. The extra ones that I added are apparently useless. I'll start watching for changes in the number of espionage points that my opponents have. I'll also have a look at the spy detection thread.

For an active counter espionage mission, does my spy have to be in a particular city or just inside the other empire's borders?

 

[Silu]

Ok, so a couple of my friends and myself spent a whole weekend playing an extended game of Civ 4 BTS, but we are still a ways off of finishing. One of my friends works out of town during the week, so we cannot continue again until the next weekend... which for anyone who has been hooked by a civ game knows how problematic that can be- so my question is:

Is it possible to take a game that was started as a LAN game, and play that game over the internet?

One of my friends claims that it is not possible, but I figured I would turn the question over to some people with a bit more experience.

Thanks in advance!

I don't see why it wouldn't be possible. AFAIK a LAN game is just a normal TCP/IP game in a limited environment. I mean, the Internet is just a big LAN, right? Can't you just load the save in Direct TCP/IP mode and test? To my knowledge there are only 3 kinds of saves, single, multiplayer and worldbuilder.

Hey all,

Just restarted CIV4 after a month off and the first few games I got awful terrain. I mean, were talking alot of brown, very little resources or bonus resources. Now I can always modify my terrain using Worldbuilder but I'm just wondering if it's a settings thing.

I usually play continents or Hemispheres, 3 or 4 continents, Large Map, normal sea level, nothing weird. I usually play a custom game.

Any thoughts?

Double check you haven't mousewheeled the climate to Cold/Arid or something. Other than that, it's just bad luck (in a way, if all AIs have bad terrain as well it's usually beneficial for the human).

 

[Gwynnja]

if an ai is in wehorn, can it be bribed into war by another ai?

 

[r_rolo1]

^^No ...

The only ways that a AI can be driven to war against a civ while already gearing to war vs a third civ are:

- A player refused a demand from them and they decided to start a limited war vs them ( see this from this post on ... too bad it starts one post before page break )

-They were forced by external forces to do that. This includes Defensive pacts and the AP crusade resolution

-They got a event with the option of doing war and chose it ( AFAIK the AI can only choose the war option if it is cautious or below against the target civ )

 

[Armchair Admira]

Greetings,

An intervention was staged and a new computer was ordered for me. Does Civ 4 (and/or Civ 2) play on Windows 7?

Thanks in advance

AA

 

[Yonez]

Can you decide who gets the wood from a chopping if the tile is equidistant from two cities, but not in a BFC? I don't know how it works, but I'm guessing it's down to how much culture how much each city has put onto that tile, so I would assume not.

 

[ori]

usually in the game if there is a tie the one with the lower ID (i.e. the older one) wins...

 

[fantsu]

Confused about MODs...
So... I have CIV4 and BtS, not the complete (if it matters?).
I have patched my BtS in 3.19 form.

What confuses me, what would be good MOD to increase the pleasure, I would like better Civipedia and such. I don't want Rise of the Mankind style of stuff that changes the whole game, just little tweaks. There is BUG, BULL and BAT and BUFFY and PIG and so on... what is good for me? Too many choices... Some obsolete now? Don't know. BUG screenshots look nice, I like those extra buttons, I also don't mind little bit of altered gameplay (like little changes to units and so on, just not too much stuff for me please). I just want to enjoy CIV4, not any other game what it might become.

Thanks!

 

[Silu]

What confuses me, what would be good MOD to increase the pleasure, I would like better Civipedia and such. I don't want Rise of the Mankind style of stuff that changes the whole game, just little tweaks. There is BUG, BULL and BAT and BUFFY and PIG and so on... what is good for me? Too many choices... Some obsolete now? Don't know. BUG screenshots look nice, I like those extra buttons, I also don't mind little bit of altered gameplay (like little changes to units and so on, just not too much stuff for me please). I just want to enjoy CIV4, not any other game what it might become.

Thanks!

BUG, BAT, BUFFY and BULL are basically the same thing. BUG is the basic thing with no extra bells and whistles, BAT adds some graphics, BUFFY is for HoF games here and BULL is BUG with some extra features made possibly by modifying the DLL. BUG is enough for normal play, get BAT if you want some unit and terrain graphic variety on top of that.

PIG is a good mod if you want a little polishing over the standard game with 99% of the game untouched. It buffs some sucky things a little bit (like Serfdom) and nerfs some overpowered things (like Slavery).

So in a nutshell, any of the B-ones for a better interface (makes the Civilopedia better too), PIG for tiny changes here and there to balance the game further.

 

[TheLazyHase]

I second PIG mod. It alter a little the gameplay, but as far as I know, all strategy that work on BtS work with PIG - they are just a little less (over)powered, and some strategy are made viable.

Also, it combine a lot of mod that add little improvement, like Better AI, but also thing more minor, like cultural linked start, that kind of thing.

 

[fantsu]

So if I get PIG, I don't need any other of those/other doesn't work with PIG or aren't needed.

 

[yanner39]

BUG, BAT, BUFFY and BULL are basically the same thing. BUG is the basic thing with no extra bells and whistles, BAT adds some graphics, BUFFY is for HoF games here and BULL is BUG with some extra features made possibly by modifying the DLL. BUG is enough for normal play, get BAT if you want some unit and terrain graphic variety on top of that.

PIG is a good mod if you want a little polishing over the standard game with 99% of the game untouched. It buffs some sucky things a little bit (like Serfdom) and nerfs some overpowered things (like Slavery).

So in a nutshell, any of the B-ones for a better interface (makes the Civilopedia better too), PIG for tiny changes here and there to balance the game further.

I just installed the BAT but I don't see anything different. I was running the BUG mod, installed the BAT but on the main screen, it still says "Press ALT+CTRL+O" to customize BUG. Nowhere in the Civilopedia does it even mention BAT. I just wonder if I installed it correctly.

 

[Roland Johansen]

For an active counter espionage mission, does my spy have to be in a particular city or just inside the other empire's borders?

No.

Notice that espionage mission cost also has lots of modifiers (mentioned in the linked thread). One of them is distance of the city from your capital, another is how long you keep the spy in the enemy city before you perform the mission with a maximum discount on cost if you wait 5 turns. But there are other modifiers like religion and culture. Optimally, you pick a close city which is under your cultural pressure and has your state religion and wait 5 turns. You can also see which city will be the cheapest by going into the espionage screen and finding the city with the cheapest cost to get vision of its surroundings. The city with the cheapest cost for that continuous effect also has the cheapest cost for every other mission that you can perform against the enemy empire.

 

[s.bernbaum]

Roland,

Thanks for the answer about what city to use for the counterespionage mission.

I thought of one more espionage question, that was not addressed in the spy detection thread. Can your vassals perform active espionage against you?

 

[karadoc]

I just got a great engineer. I'm trying to decide if I should get him to join a city, or save him for 12 turns so that I can use him to rush the Staute of Liberty. I'm currently in a golden age and no one else has democracy yet, so I can probably get the statue of liberty without him... but in any case, before I make my decision I really want to know: -- How many hammers does the great engineer give when he hurries a production? (epic speed, emperor difficulty, large map - just in case those things are important).

 

[Kalmah]

Cheers for the help.

First advice: post a game with screenies on the boards. Play maybe 30-100 turns at a time, post what happened, and people can help you with what to do and give you advice when you need it. Your cities starving might be caused by windmills which stop making food at electricity. If your cities are just to big, try a little and that should stop all your cities' food being eaten.

Starving means that the population is eating more food than it can produce, so you will have less people to work your cities' tiles. So yes, it does have an affect.

Another noob question, how do I whip? Is it worth upsetting your pop to get production done faster? Also I had no idea windmills stop producing at electricity, that's a real bummer. Is it still worth building them for the gold they produce or are mines better off?

 

[Darth Fred]

I had been under the impression that to get a resource from a given tile, it had to be within the boundries of a city and in use for that city (A city worker on that tile). Now it seems I'm wrong and it just needs to be hooked in by road/rail. Clarification?


F

 

[Silu]

I just got a great engineer. I'm trying to decide if I should get him to join a city, or save him for 12 turns so that I can use him to rush the Staute of Liberty. I'm currently in a golden age and no one else has democracy yet, so I can probably get the statue of liberty without him... but in any case, before I make my decision I really want to know: -- How many hammers does the great engineer give when he hurries a production? (epic speed, emperor difficulty, large map - just in case those things are important).

A GE can only rush about half of the Statue of Liberty, so especially if no1 else has Democracy yet don't rush it. Save for Mining Inc, settle or save for the next golden age instead. I've heard the exact number of but I don't remember it because usually the only thing you need to remember is "completely rushes TGL/Taj/NotreDame, only half of SoL"

I had been under the impression that to get a resource from a given tile, it had to be within the boundries of a city and in use for that city (A city worker on that tile). Now it seems I'm wrong and it just needs to be hooked in by road/rail. Clarification?


F

It needs to be inside your cultural borders and hooked up with road/rail/river. Separately, resource tiles usually have high yields (commerce, food, hammers) as well - to be able to use that the tile needs to be in range of a city so the city can work the tile.

 

[Darth Fred]

It needs to be inside your cultural borders and hooked up with road/rail/river. Separately, resource tiles usually have high yields (commerce, food, hammers) as well - to be able to use that the tile needs to be in range of a city so the city can work the tile.

This is good news. For instance, a Civ can pull a source of iron even if it's between cities.

Thank you.

F

 

[karadoc]

A GE can only rush about half of the Statue of Liberty, so especially if no1 else has Democracy yet don't rush it. Save for Mining Inc, settle or save for the next golden age instead. I've heard the exact number of but I don't remember it because usually the only thing you need to remember is "completely rushes TGL/Taj/NotreDame, only half of SoL"

Ok, thanks. I've settled it. Mining inc doesn't look very good for me this time around; but if I get another great eng after I can see coal and aluminium I might reconsider it.