Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Torrello]

Something to add to the answers already given... this isn't really what you asked, but I'll answer it anyway just in case.

One resource can give you +2 or +2 in certain cases, if you build the right building. When I first started playing Civ4 I was going crazy trying to figure out why 3 Furs gave each of my cities +1 but 1 Silver gave each of my cities +2. Well, I build Forges like crazy, which give an extra happiness from Gold, Silver or Gems. I played several games confused about that until I accidentaly stumbled across the answer in the Civilopedia. It also explained why 1 Fish would give some cities +2 and other cities only +1- my coastal cities had Harbors (that double the for seafood resources) and my inland cities didn't.

This is why the BUG (or BAT) mod is soooo good. Hovering over buildings will provide all this info, like harbors giving +1 for fish, clam and crab, and additionally telling you what you actually get ("Actual +2" cos you've only got fish and clams, for example). This is good for custom houses, because sometimes you 'actually' get no bonus, as all your trades routes in that city are domestic.

 

[Mental_Gear]

I've only started playing recently and I'm pretty green, but learning a few things here and there as I go along - but I still have some questions.

1. If I have a city with very large cultural borders, is there any point in building farms, workshops or cottages on tiles that are out of its working range (aside from, of course, building another city with those tiles within its range)? What is a good use for them?

2. This is going to sound like a very stupid question - if I build several cities does it slow down their growth? In my first game my cities' cultures didn't grow much but in my last game, for fun I tried to see if I could win having one massive city. Its culture was ridiculously high. I was playing on the quickest speed and it reached Legendary ages before the end.

3. If you have bunch of workers hovering around a city, do you automate them all? I did that in my last game but I'm starting to think their AI for building improvements is awful - my city needed extra and there was a rice field nearby, but the worker there thought it was a good idea to build a fort there.

4. One thing that irritates me a little is that you can only view the civ / leader bonuses when starting a game in Play Now, or Quick Play, can't remember what it's called, but custom game has far more options (I'd rather disable timed victory and specify exactly how many other civs I want in the game)...however in custom game I can't view the bonuses or how my leader looks when selecting leader and civ. Is there a mod so I can view the bonuses while selecting my civ / leader in custom game or is it just something you learn through experience?

5. What settings (difficulty / map type / size / number of other civs) should I first go with to learn the game? I don't want something too easy, but I've lost both of my games so far (one on warlord, the other using just one city)

 

[Ansive]

I've only...

1. Like you said you could build them for a future city. Sometimes you might also need to build farms outside the city's working radius just to get an irrigation chain working. They might also slow down barbarians since they'll stop to pillage improvements. All resources should of course also be linked for their bonuses.

2. Every city's culture is separate and is increased in various ways (buildings, specialists, religion). Check the lower left corner for the current value.

3. Starting with BTS forts can link any resource. So building a fort on that rice not only makes it available but also easier to defend. This is useful for resources that cannot be worked by any nearby city. Forts also act like harbors for ship, canals up to 2 tiles long and airports.

4. I only use Play Now

5. Try a normal sized (7 civs) fractal map on noble or prince for a balanced experience.

 

[Camikaze]

Welcome to the forums, Mental_Gear.

1. The only point would be if there was a resource on the tile. Even if you are not actually working the tile, the appropriate improvement on a resource connected to your trade network gives you access to that resource. The only other thing that is useful if built outside a city's BFC (big fat cross) is a fort.

2. No, culture is not dependent on the number of cities you have. However, if you are city spamming, and those cities are not of very high quality, they will not be able to produce as much culture as a city that is of a high quality. Also, if your city maintenance costs are too high, you may not be able to have the cultural slider set too high, so this would also limit your cultural growth in comparison. But those are indirect effects; there is no direct relation between number of cities and culture.

3. Yes, their prioritisation and decision making is awful. I never automate, personally.

4. Not that I know of. However, it might be an idea to look at the civilopedia before going into 'custom game', as that displays all leader information, so you can make your choice there.

5. I started out by playing on the Earth map. Try as China, Rome or France on a low difficulty, and visit the strategy forums to see some specific advice for your start. Reading a bit of the King of the World series might help, as it is both entertaining and informative as to strategy on Earth maps.

Edit: Crosspost

 

[Psyringe]

1. If I have a city with very large cultural borders, is there any point in building farms, workshops or cottages on tiles that are out of its working range (aside from, of course, building another city with those tiles within its range)? What is a good use for them?

Apart from hooking up special resources, and forts for defense (or as channels or airbases), there's no use building improvements in tiles that your cities can't work.

2. This is going to sound like a very stupid question - if I build several cities does it slow down their growth? In my first game my cities' cultures didn't grow much but in my last game, for fun I tried to see if I could win having one massive city. Its culture was ridiculously high. I was playing on the quickest speed and it reached Legendary ages before the end.

Each city has its own cultural growth, they don't influence each other. Hover your mouse over the purple culture bar (city screen, lower left) to see a city's cultural growth. Wonders usually produce a lot of culture - if you had only one city, and concentrated wonders there, then the city certainly had more cultural growth as when you spread the wonders across several cities. Also, you may have used great artists differently.

3. If you have bunch of workers hovering around a city, do you automate them all? I did that in my last game but I'm starting to think their AI for building improvements is awful - my city needed extra and there was a rice field nearby, but the worker there thought it was a good idea to build a fort there.

That's actually a good idea since the fort does hook up the resource. If the rice field wasn't workable for your city, then building a fort is better than building a farm, because the fort can also be used as a channel, airbase, or defense position. It takes longer to build though.

In general, it is better to manage workers manually though. The AI does not take specific needs of a city into account (though I think the Better AI mod changed that), and is too eager to destroy existng improvements if you allow it (there's a game option "auto workers leave existing improvements intact"). But the workers are not so stupid that they build improvements in places where they make no sense at all (as you may have thought when you saw them building the fort).

4. One thing that irritates me a little is that you can only view the civ / leader bonuses when starting a game in Play Now, or Quick Play, can't remember what it's called, but custom game has far more options (I'd rather disable timed victory and specify exactly how many other civs I want in the game)...however in custom game I can't view the bonuses or how my leader looks when selecting leader and civ. Is there a mod so I can view the bonuses while selecting my civ / leader in custom game or is it just something you learn through experience?

Hmm, never missed that info. Doesn't the manual escribe the bonuses? Or could you check the Civilopedia before entering the "Custom game" screen? There's also a very good PDF companion for BtS floating around on the forums, which (IIRC) has the information you want, and neatly ordered too.

5. What settings (difficulty / map type / size / number of other civs) should I first go with to learn the game? I don't want something too easy, but I've lost both of my games so far (one on warlord, the other using just one city)

Hard to give general advice here, as every player is different. If you lost two Warlords games, I'd play one on Settler and see which level I enjoyed more. The game is quite complex and even a veteran can still discover new things, so a player's first games will never be "optimal". Just choose a level that provides an enjoyable experience for you while you learn the game, and experiment a bit.

Edit: And now we're double-crossed. Waiting for the XXX post to come in any moment.

 

[Mental_Gear]

All right, thanks for the input. I've since started another game and it's going quite well. However, I used to have a war going on against Napoleon, and regrettably he took over one of my cities. My two allies, Catherine and Caesar, had started pushing into his land and then the whole war was called off - he 'forced' a peace treaty or something.

Now I can't declare war on him to get that city back.

Is it going to be like this for the rest of the game or is there some way I can go to war with him again?

 

[Ansive]

You can always declare war against a civilization as long as it is not a vassal of yours.
Once a peace treaty has been signed, war cannot be declared for the following 10 turns.

Also if another civ ever demands or asks a gift from you, accepting it will start a forced 10 turn peace treaty.

And careful about declaring war on someone else's vassal as you will have to fight the master as well.

 

[Sisiutil]

Also if another civ ever demands or asks a gift from you, accepting it will start a forced 10 turn peace treaty.

This is also true if you made the request/demand and it was fulfilled.

 

[taulph88]

Where is the civ city name file located? The AI destroyed one of my cities, and I want to build it again with the same name, but it's so long I don't remember what it was.

Also, why does it take so long for the AI to get some strategic resource and trade it with me? I'm friends with this AI who has two sources of coal, both mined, but none are showing up in the diplomacy screen.

 

[Frost_]

Regarding city specialization, when a city has huge production, food, or commerce potential, its quite obvious. However, not all city sites are optimal. For non optimal cities, I have a tendency to just cottage them. Are there better options?

Note, besides obviously amazing sites, I usually choose sites with at least 1 or more resources (and preferably if at least one of them was a food resource).

 

[Sisiutil]

Regarding city specialization, when a city has huge production, food, or commerce potential, its quite obvious. However, not all city sites are optimal. For non optimal cities, I have a tendency to just cottage them. Are there better options?

Note, besides obviously amazing sites, I usually choose sites with at least 1 or more resources (and preferably if at least one of them was a food resource).

The second part of your answer holds the key. I base the specialization of a city on its surrounding resources. Even if a city is otherwise lacklustre, if it has a single dye tile, it's probably best off functioning as a commerce city; likewise, if it has little to recommend it but say it has a crab tile for food and a copper tile along with a couple of hills, then it will probably best serve as a production city.

 

[kcd_swede]

Where is the civ city name file located? The AI destroyed one of my cities, and I want to build it again with the same name, but it's so long I don't remember what it was.

Also, why does it take so long for the AI to get some strategic resource and trade it with me? I'm friends with this AI who has two sources of coal, both mined, but none are showing up in the diplomacy screen.

Either the AI does not have Steam Power (and therefore only YOU know what those "black rocks that burn" are in his mines), or he might not have them connected to his capitol by trade routes (roads/rivers/coast/airport etc). If he has the coal and won't trade it to you, that's a different story (he may be trading it to someone else, or just not like you), but you would see it in the Resources screen (under the diåplomatic advisor) as "won't export".

 

[(Pro)Peanut_P]

Regarding city specialization, when a city has huge production, food, or commerce potential, its quite obvious. However, not all city sites are optimal. For non optimal cities, I have a tendency to just cottage them. Are there better options?

Note, besides obviously amazing sites, I usually choose sites with at least 1 or more resources (and preferably if at least one of them was a food resource).

• 
  If a city site is lacking resources/hills/food to become a specialist city, just have it as a hybrid city, this can work cottages/mines and have buildings such as libraries and forges/barracks.I often have cities like this that produce less expensive units and also bring in a little bit of commerce/research.

 

[Frost_]

I've gotten a few quests (blessed sea and colloseum one) and I'm trying to get a feel for the amount of time it'll take for me to get them done. Is there a reference on which techs advance you to the next ear or something like that I can refer to? Both civopedia and a google search has come up with nothing. Thanks

 

[Mental_Gear]

Speaking of quests, how are they triggered? I got one or two in my first game but none in my last two games.

Also, what exactly does game speed alter? Just research? Or everything?

 

[Loukoum427]

You don't have to share techs with your vassal. It's sometimes a good idea to do that (e.g. if you want your vassal to fight in your wars), but if you don't want to, then you don't give him techs. You can even tell your vassal which tech to research, so if he has a decent research rate, it's sometimes useful to give him techs so that the two of you can both research important techs, then trade them among each other when you get them.

I've never found out how to tell vassals which tech to research, how do you manage it ? (I play BtS)

 

[Psyringe]

I've never found out how to tell vassals which tech to research, how do you manage it ? (I play BtS)

I don't have the game here to verify it, but I think you choose "Let us talk about something else", and then "Why don't you research ...".

 

[(Pro)Peanut_P]

I don't have the game here to verify it, but I think you choose "Let us talk about something else", and then "Why don't you research ...".

^Correct

 

[Loukoum427]

Thanks ! I guess I should talk more to my vassals, instead of just "asking" for their ressources...

 

[Loukoum427]

Another question : I keep reading posts where people say they keep spies inside their cities to protect from other civ's ones. How does it work ? It seems useless when I do so, it doesn't prevent sabotages nor poisonings.