Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Bubba_Dub]

Hello everyone. I love Civ4 and I love this site. But I have a question and I hope this is the right thread to post it in. If not, I apologize.

Anyway, this might sound stupid, but I am very obsessive/compulsive (I think that's the term) when it comes to my games in Civ4 and I was wondering if there's a way to completely remove certain civilizations from the game.

I know you can choose your opponents, but I only play Rise of Mankind with Barbarian civ and revolutions on, so it doesn't really matter what opponents I choose since the entire roster can and does eventually come into play.

Say for example, if I wanted to completely take Holy Rome out of the picture, is there something I can edit in one of the files to remove them or something? I have no problem with Holy Rome, but when I'm playing as Rome and I come across Holy Rome on a completely different continent, it really gets on my nerves.

 

[Sisiutil]

How can I edit the Hall of Fame screen in BTS to remove old scores or games?

Thanks!

Go to C:\Users\(your name)\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Replays and delete the files you don't want anymore.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Hello everyone. I love Civ4 and I love this site. But I have a question and I hope this is the right thread to post it in. If not, I apologize.

Anyway, this might sound stupid, but I am very obsessive/compulsive (I think that's the term) when it comes to my games in Civ4 and I was wondering if there's a way to completely remove certain civilizations from the game.

I know you can choose your opponents, but I only play Rise of Mankind with Barbarian civ and revolutions on, so it doesn't really matter what opponents I choose since the entire roster can and does eventually come into play.

Say for example, if I wanted to completely take Holy Rome out of the picture, is there something I can edit in one of the files to remove them or something? I have no problem with Holy Rome, but when I'm playing as Rome and I come across Holy Rome on a completely different continent, it really gets on my nerves.

This is more of a modding question for the Creation & Customization subforum.

However, I looked into some files for you. I wouldn't be surprised if setting the value of the variable <bAIPlayable>1</bAIPlayable> from 1 to 0 would make the civilisation unplayable for the AI. This variable is stored in the file ...\Beyond the Sword\Assets\XML\Civilizations\CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml and the value can be set for each civilisation.
In your case, you'll have to find the version of the file used in the mod.

You can check if it works by setting the value to 0 for every civilisation but one and then playing a game with a single opponent. If the single opponent is the one with the value of the variable set to 1, that's a strong indication that the setting is doing what I expect. If it's the one in two successive games, then you can be almost sure that it's working.

 

[DukeofDokken]

I'm still confused about everything on the city screen menu. After reading the basic strategy guide from this site, it got me questioning what exactly to do with the citizen +- on the right. That and the whole white circles. I know this is very basic, but I've been playing without paying much attention to them. When the guide mentioned assigning citazens to work the cottages, I assumed it did that already.

 

[Samson]

I'm still confused about everything on the city screen menu. After reading the basic strategy guide from this site, it got me questioning what exactly to do with the citizen +- on the right. That and the whole white circles. I know this is very basic, but I've been playing without paying much attention to them. When the guide mentioned assigning citazens to work the cottages, I assumed it did that already.

I hope this is vaugly answering your question, if not please elaborate on what you are unsure of:

In a city you have a certain number of citizens to do work, the city size. They can either work the land around the city, in which case they are reprasentted by a white circle, or be a specialist which you do with the "+- on the right". Working the land will produce some combination of food, hammers and commerce, and if on cottages will make them grow. Specalists will produce a smaller amount of hammers and / or commerce products (science, money, culture and espionage) and also the very important great person points, which add up and produce very powerfull great people.

 

[Baldyr]

I'm still confused about everything on the city screen menu. After reading the basic strategy guide from this site, it got me questioning what exactly to do with the citizen +- on the right. That and the whole white circles. I know this is very basic, but I've been playing without paying much attention to them. When the guide mentioned assigning citazens to work the cottages, I assumed it did that already.

Ah, you thinking in these patterns means that you're ready for the Great Leap Forward as a Civ Player!

Understanding what goes on in the City Screen is the bare minimum to know if you're ever gonna master this game on any level. Because, the cities are what make up your Civ. Without this understanding you will never be able to employ any kind of city specialization or plan your economy or whatever strategy you would like to learn - or develop yourself.

Lesson #1 would be to figure out what Commerce commerce is and what it has to do with the percentile numbers in the upper left corner of the game interface. Where does come from? What is it used for? Is it the same thing is Gold gold? (Can it be?) The answers are actually right there in the City Screen, all you have to do is put it all together. Tip: Mouse over numbers and stuff in the City Screen to get more information or a more detailed breakup of whatever it is you're looking at. Compare different cities for reference (preferably at a later stage of the game, to have more varied setups available).

Lesson #2 would be to figure out how and where Food food comes from - and what it has to do with city growth. Because, one could say that = citizens. Strange but true. But why is it so?

Lesson #3 is figuring out where the for you production come from, and how they relate to the numbers that are accumulating every turn in the City Screen. It might not be as simple as it looks at first sight!

Lesson #4 is assigning Citizens to different duties. At the bottom of the City Screen (to the right of the build options) are the Governor buttons. Mouse over them and give your governor orders to change the configuration of your citizen workforce. Now, you have to do the same thing manually - can you figure out how its done? Tip: you will have to click on stuff in order to change or move them.

Lesson #5 concerns Specialists (located in the right side panel). If you completed lesson #4 with honors, you accidentally created your first Specialist (a "Citizen"). Create additional such Specialists and try to make them into Spies (requires Courthouse), Engineers (Forge), Scientists (Library), Merchants (Market), Artists (Theater) or Priests (Temple). You should be able to figure it out by trial and error, but anyone would admit to that it isn't very intuitive at first.

Lesson #6 is Culture culture and how its accumulated. You need to locate the bar in the City Screen and figure out where exactly the displayed amount of comes from. What will happen once you reach the next "level"? What can you do to increase your output from inside the City Screen?

Lesson #7 is the last one and concerns Great People gp. You will get these special unit eventually if you make some of your Citizens into specialists - or if you build Wonders in the city. But how does it work, and what type of will you end up getting? The answer is, as always, right there in the City Screen, and you can also influence the outcome (to a certain point). Can you figure it out?

Maybe there's a guide somewhere that can help you out, but otherwise it would require someone to write an entire manual chapter to explain everything for you. This is also why you probably should read your game manual, as it will get you on the right track pretty effortlessly. Some things you do have to figure out for yourself, but you're up for the challenge, right?

 

[DukeofDokken]

UNBELIEVABLY great responses. I really appriciate it, this definitely helped. One of the downsides of the complete edition is the lack of a detailed printed manuel. But what I love about this game is that there is sooo much I don't know. One of best forums I've been apart of. thanks again

 

[kleen]

Is one member defying a UN resolution enough for it not to go through at all?

 

[Sisiutil]

Is one member defying a UN resolution enough for it not to go through at all?

That's correct. If one nation defies a AP or UN resolution, it fails. The price for this, remember, is loads of in several of the defiers' best cities...

 

[Silu]

The price for this, remember, is loads of in several of the defiers' best cities...

To elaborate, with UN it's 5 in all of the defier's cities per defying. With the AP it's the same but only in the cities with the AP religion, plus you lose the hammers from AP religion buildings until you vote yes to something The red faces do decay AFAIK, but quite slowly...

 

[Baldyr]

Lesson #2 would be to figure out how and where Food food comes from - and what it has to do with city growth. Because, one could say that = citizens. Strange but true. But why is it so?

It was late at night when I wrote that stuff, and I obviously forgot about Happiness and Health. So, the extra assignments would be to figure out:

A. What has to do with and why exactly unhealthiness is bad from the game mechanics point-of-view? Is it something that should be corrected or can it be (largely) ignored?

B. How does one go about figuring out how many unhappy citizens mad there is in a city? Is it related to city size or maybe difficulty level, or both? What exactly are those unhappy citizens up to, if anything? Why should one avoid them? Should one try to get rid of them? Can they be made content?

If you can't figure these and other questions out we'll of course give you the answer, but you should be able to find your own answers to most of them. If you're unsure - ask.

 

[Baldyr]

But what I love about this game is that there is sooo much I don't know.

Heh, I believe that you just might have found your game! As long as you don't feel overwhelmed by all the specifics of the game, you will be able to evolve as a player for a loong time to come.

 

[Aeiouv]

I was curious what you guys do with cities that will have excess food. Other than making it a great person city, I usually just let the extra food become specialist but by the time that happens its around the end of the game and I already have a great person city. I'm probably gonna turn the extra food into workshops since I run environmentalism.

 

[DukeofDokken]

It was late at night when I wrote that stuff, and I obviously forgot about Happiness and Health. So, the extra assignments would be to figure out:

B. How does one go about figuring out how many unhappy citizens mad there is in a city? Is it related to city size or maybe difficulty level, or both? What exactly are those unhappy citizens up to, if anything? Why should one avoid them? Should one try to get rid of them? Can they be made content?

If you can't figure these and other questions out we'll of course give you the answer, but you should be able to find your own answers to most of them. If you're unsure - ask.

Thanks again, I'm gradually educating myself. I've got unhappy cits in England due to being overcrowded, so I halted growth. But unsure how long I'm supposed to do this. I am a little confused on what to do with unhappy citizens that "miss the motherland".

 

[IAM]

Thanks again, I'm gradually educating myself. I've got unhappy cits in England due to being overcrowded, so I halted growth. But unsure how long I'm supposed to do this. I am a little confused on what to do with unhappy citizens that "miss the motherland".

Increase happy resourses through trade, build happy buildings, wipe out a civilization completely to stop the 'miss the motherland' effect, raze the city and rebuild with a settler, whip citizens down to a more managable level, play a leader with traits like charismatic that provide additional happy resources.

 

[Roland Johansen]

I was curious what you guys do with cities that will have excess food. Other than making it a great person city, I usually just let the extra food become specialist but by the time that happens its around the end of the game and I already have a great person city. I'm probably gonna turn the extra food into workshops since I run environmentalism.

While the primary great person city will by far create the most great persons, a second good one can still contribute to getting more great persons earlier. Each additional great person city will contribute less great persons and so it's up to you how many you want to build. I typically go for 1 till 3 true great person cities.

Some other cities will have some specialists late in the game, especially if I have a food corporation. But before food corporations, there exist few cities in my empire which have excess food without any farms around them. This also has to do with the placement of your cities. If you don't plan to get additional great person cities, then you should spread the great food tiles over cities and not create cities that capture multiple sources for themselves while other cities don't get any.

Increase happy resourses through trade, build happy buildings, wipe out a civilization completely to stop the 'miss the motherland' effect, raze the city and rebuild with a settler, whip citizens down to a more managable level, play a leader with traits like charismatic that provide additional happy resources.

Most of the above is true, with one exception. It's a widespread belief that razing and rebuilding will remove foreign influence, but this is not true. The culture is on the tiles themselves and not linked to the cities (although the cities were the original source). This culture won't be removed by destroying the city. It might seem like it does as the motherland unhappiness is related to both the percentage of foreign culture on the land and the size of the city on that land. Thus a small newly build city won't have much motherland unhappiness. But as it grows, the motherland unhappiness will become exactly as large as the originally razed city once it reaches the same size.

 

[Baldyr]

Most of the above is true, with one exception. It's a widespread belief that razing and rebuilding will remove foreign influence, but this is not true. The culture is on the tiles themselves and not linked to the cities (although the cities were the original source). This culture won't be removed by destroying the city. It might seem like it does as the motherland unhappiness is related to both the percentage of foreign culture on the land and the size of the city on that land. Thus a small newly build city won't have much motherland unhappiness. But as it grows, the motherland unhappiness will become exactly as large as the originally razed city once it reaches the same size.

So, you combat the homesickness with then? Like a Great Work mission by a Great Artist? Building high Wonders or settling Great Artists should also do the trick.

 

[Baldyr]

Thanks again, I'm gradually educating myself. I've got unhappy cits in England due to being overcrowded, so I halted growth. But unsure how long I'm supposed to do this. I am a little confused on what to do with unhappy citizens that "miss the motherland".

Once you get the unhappy citizens its time to halt growth, you got that right. Because every additional citizen will be an unhappy one, and they refuse to do any work. They do eat their rations though, so you're basically losing .

Instead of using the "avoid growth" option in the City Screen you could reassign citizens working tiles to either other tiles hammers: tiles or tiles) or as specialists. Did you ever get hang of specialists? And can you manage city growth manually at this point?

 

[22bebo]

Is it possible to make the SPOILER tags be around something but not say SPOILER? Thanks!

 

[Baldyr]

I was curious what you guys do with cities that will have excess food. Other than making it a great person city, I usually just let the extra food become specialist but by the time that happens its around the end of the game and I already have a great person city. I'm probably gonna turn the extra food into workshops since I run environmentalism.

That's basically your options late game, as you probably don't need any more Settlers/Workers. Late game Workshops would be attractive enough, I guess, but specialists are good even if you don't plan on getting by them. A few extra specialists never hurt but rather lets you specialize the city somewhat. They can supplement any deficiencies the city might have, or exploit any Wonders or other special buildings present. More production might not be your top priority either, if you end up building something like Wealth or Research in that city. (I don't believe those yields go through the city multipliers for or , so I pretty much only use them as a last resort until I can build a Wonder or a new building or something.)