Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Trapper439]

When I'm exploring the map with my first warriors and scouts I often waste(?) a turn or so moving them to the end of peninsulars so that the coast tiles beyond are revealed. I do this so that I won't be denied possible coastal trade-routes later on because just one coastal water square is still black.

Is my understanding of this correct? Or am I just wasting those moves when I could be exploring elsewhere?

(This is in Vanilla, btw. No BTS ocean trade-routes involved)

 

[CharlieM]

Early methods to Happiness:

--Monument (if Charismatic leader trait)
--tech to Priesthood and build Temples
--Forge with Gems, Gold or Silver
--tech to Monarchy, employ Hereditary Rule Civic and garrison troops (my favorite)
--tech to Construction and build Colosseum
--trade away your extra healthy resources for some happy resources
--make sure all your Happy-generating resources are being used, and are connected to the unhappy cities

I'm having the same problem in my current game as Genghis. Lots of food to grow, but few ways to get happy so I can keep growing my cities. As in real life, when I would guess that Genghis' people were not exactly delighted with their lives!

 

[Baldyr]

Early methods to Happiness:

--Monument (if Charismatic leader trait)

Yeah, Charismatic sure is nice early on. There seems to be no leader with both the Charismatic and the Creative (for early ) traits though, which is too bad since it could be a good combo for new players...

 

[ori]

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

no, but you can add an explanatory line to them, e.g.

[spoiler=this isn't really a spoiler I just want to hide stuff]stuff[/spoiler]

Spoiler this isn't really a spoiler I just want to hide stuff :

stuff

 

[Roland Johansen]

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.

The plot culture is growing the quickest when the tile is deep inside the borders of one or more of your cities for a while. So expanding the borders a few times and then waiting for a while will see the plot culture for your civilisation increase a lot per turn.

When a tile has been deep inside enemy borders for a while, the enemy will have a lot of plot culture on the tile and it will take longer to get a relatively large influence on the tile.

In the end, it's the most effective to remove the enemy civilisation from the game and thereby removing all their plot culture from the game. In my opinion, this is a bit too big an effect of removing the enemy civilisation from the game, but that's how it works.

When I'm exploring the map with my first warriors and scouts I often waste(?) a turn or so moving them to the end of peninsulars so that the coast tiles beyond are revealed. I do this so that I won't be denied possible coastal trade-routes later on because just one coastal water square is still black.

Is my understanding of this correct? Or am I just wasting those moves when I could be exploring elsewhere?

(This is in Vanilla, btw. No BTS ocean trade-routes involved)

Discovering a coastal route from your lands to the enemy lands will give you trade route opportunities with the foreign civilisation once you have invented coastal trading and have opened your borders. (different from ocean trading). Coastal trade routes are normally the earliest form of international trade routes. Sometimes a handy river will help early on, but roads are typically constructed a while later when borders are getting close to each other.

 

[22bebo]

no, but you can add an explanatory line to them, e.g.

[spoiler=this isn't really a spoiler I just want to hide stuff]stuff[/spoiler]

Spoiler this isn't really a spoiler I just want to hide stuff :

stuff

Okay. That stinks, but, I'll settle. Thanks again.

 

[DrakenKin]

When precisely does the game decide to jump eras?

Need the info so I can build the wonders limited to certein ages before they expire.

 

[Sisiutil]

When precisely does the game decide to jump eras?

Need the info so I can build the wonders limited to certein ages before they expire.

Wonders don't expire with a change in ages; they expire when the owner acquires a specific technology that makes the wonder obsolete. For example, the Great Library doesn't expire when you move into the Industrial Age; it expires when you acquire Scientific Method.

Are you thinking instead, perhaps, of certain quests in the game which must have a change-of-age expiry date?

 

[DrakenKin]

No I read that on this page : http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/wonders... it says :

Angkor Wat [...]
City more likely to generate Great Prophet
Can only be built on Medieval and earlier starts

 

[Baldyr]

No I read that on this page : http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/wonders... it says :

Ah, this is about the advanced start option. If you start playing at a certain era you won't be able to build all the wonders associated with earlier eras.

You will know know what era you start on if you use the advanced start option.

 

[DukeofDokken]

Is there a way to create an exodus of sorts? I started as the english and in the 1900s am trying to take over and or transfer my resources to the new world. I know i didn't play my cards right, but I felt that due to the little space (england,ireland-carter earth) other civs prospered wheras I'm trying to keep my head above water.

 

[dalamb]

Various people have played games as England and aimed to move to the New World as soon as possible. South America is usually unsettled by AIs and full of barbarians, and with enough workers to rapidly chop the jungles can be a great piece of territory. Also Monty tends to be technologically backward; if he hasn't conquered Roosevelt yet you could befriend the Americans and set up a beachhead there to wipe out the Aztecs.

This may be too late for you, but: England/America games I know about, both with non-English leaders and role-playing constraints, but possibly still instructive.

• madscientist's George III RPC. This involved moving the capital to America and spinning off the original island as a colony, but that was just for role-playing fun.
• Neal's recent Peter of England RPC.

There are suggestions about how to place England's cities optimally; you can get (IIRC) 4 on Britain, 1 on Ireland, 1 on Iceland, and 2-3 in Scandinavia without killing yourself with maintenance costs.

 

[DMOC]

Is there a way to create an exodus of sorts? I started as the english and in the 1900s am trying to take over and or transfer my resources to the new world. I know i didn't play my cards right, but I felt that due to the little space (england,ireland-carter earth) other civs prospered wheras I'm trying to keep my head above water.

The key to doing this is to make sure you're first to Astronomy and have at least 2 galleons.

 

[DukeofDokken]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Christophilous]

I am playing my first game of Civ IV - started on Noble as I was a veteran Civ II player so thought I could skip a level or two. I am, however, taking a bit of a battering - mainly because I'm fighting an enemy who has at least two dozen artilleries before anyone has actually discovered the artillery technology yet (according to my foreign minister anyway). Similarly, the Germans have just finished the Apollo program without discovering rocketry.

What's going on? Am I missing something or is this a bug?

Any help much appreciated.

 

[s.bernbaum]

I am playing my first game of Civ IV - started on Noble as I was a veteran Civ II player so thought I could skip a level or two. I am, however, taking a bit of a battering - mainly because I'm fighting an enemy who has at least two dozen artilleries before anyone has actually discovered the artillery technology yet (according to my foreign minister anyway). Similarly, the Germans have just finished the Apollo program without discovering rocketry.

What's going on? Am I missing something or is this a bug?

Any help much appreciated.

You don't say which techs you have. However, that may be your problem. Your foreign adviser (or minister) will only show you techs that other Civs have that you can discover or trade for. It won't show you more advanced ones that they have that you cannot trade for. For example: If you do not have Physics, then you will not know if anyone else has discovered Artillery, since you have to have Physics to research Artillery. If you have Physics, then the adviser will show you who has Artillery. If this does not solve your mystery, give us a few more details to work with.

 

[Aeiouv]

What do you do when the game becomes boring? The game has nothing left to offer... though that shouldn't come to surprise since I played the game everyday for 5 weeks.

 

[22bebo]

What do you do when the game becomes boring? The game has nothing left to offer... though that shouldn't come to surprise since I played the game everyday for 5 weeks.

Download cool mods. Duh.

My game doesn't want to work, apparently . . . It keeps saying that it has stopped running and then it asks to close it. I also had issues before that with crashing in the middle of a game. It never did this before I downloaded the BAT mod. I did add my own stuff to it, and I'm gonna try removing my stuff and just using the BAT, but what if it still doesn't work?

 

[Sisiutil]

What do you do when the game becomes boring? The game has nothing left to offer... though that shouldn't come to surprise since I played the game everyday for 5 weeks.

Do you mean Civ IV as a whole or the specific game you're playing?

If it's the former, leave it for awhile. Go do something else--there are plenty of ways to spend your leisure time.

If it's the latter, again, it's youre leisure time, spend it in the way that's most enjoyable. If you enjoy the early part of the game but find things get dull if you manage to build a substantial lead, there's no shame in abandoning it and starting over. Many players do this.

Alternatively, either one may be a sign that it's time to move up a level, or change map types, or try out a scenario or mod.

 

[LastLegionare]

When I try to get a vassal in diplomacy, the argument is "Sorry, it's out of our hands". I would like to know what it means.