Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions
- Thread starter Civrules
- Start date
Something tells me that the languages are made up like in Age of Empires 2. My German units sound like African tribesmen sometimes.
The German units do speak German.
Freddieflux
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2009
- Messages
- 4
I read about using Draft through the nationhood civic, so i tried this in my last game.
A few questions:
1) What is the preferred unit to draft? Muskets or rifles?
In my current game playing as Frederick, i drafted muskets and built some trebs and I completely steamrolled Mansa Musa who had longbows/macemen/knights etc.
Is it worth waiting for rifles or is this totally situational?
2) How to deal with the unhappiness this creates? Or is there nothing to do about this?
3) Is there a way to draft even faster? Like not go to 3 city screens/turn to press draft button?
If someone could elaborate that would be simple awesome.
A few questions:
1) What is the preferred unit to draft? Muskets or rifles?
In my current game playing as Frederick, i drafted muskets and built some trebs and I completely steamrolled Mansa Musa who had longbows/macemen/knights etc.
Is it worth waiting for rifles or is this totally situational?
2) How to deal with the unhappiness this creates? Or is there nothing to do about this?
3) Is there a way to draft even faster? Like not go to 3 city screens/turn to press draft button?
If someone could elaborate that would be simple awesome.
2) Drafting is a huge hole in my game that I never got around to using properly, but the received wisdom is to take a city with a lot of food, build the Globe Theatre there (for the unhappiness issues), and then use/abuse that as your drafting city.
Ghpstage
Deity
Rifles are the most efficient, especially as Muskets are not really strong enough to overwhelm medieval defences consistantly. When I go for Cannons, I do mass draft Maces and Muskets, almost anything can follow Cannons and win.
The Globe Theatre in a food heavy city allow you to draft a unit per turn for as long as your food allows. Dealing witrh unhappiness in other cities comes down to spreading drafting between cities, and using Theatres with the culture slider for lots of
.You can select the city on the map and draft without actually going into the city screen, but I don't know of anything faster than that.
Wolf Rider
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2009
- Messages
- 77
I don't know if this question has been asked, but: what is a good system for measuring when a city is to close to others (overlap) and too far (maintenance)? Is overlap generally O.K., or generally bad? What would be considered too close? I know it all depends on the situation, but just some general suggestions would be great.
snepp
King
I know this is kind of a tired answer, but it really depends on the map.
Overlap isn't a bad thing, I think too many players go out of their way to avoid it. I look to put my cities in the best possible locations first, multiple resources, rivers, coast, then consider overlap at the end.
Abegweit
Anarchist trader
A more general rule is to consider food. Each city should have at least one food resource and each food resource should be within the BFC of at least one city. The layout of your cities really depends on the location of your food.
Danelius90
Hunter (of vegetables)
Agreed. I used to/am getting out of doing this. The thing is, many cities can't really grow to their full potential, using every tile in the BFC. And even if you did, you would probably be using trashy tiles, and there's more maintenance for more population. So you might as well overlap some tiles, because in most cases you won't be able to use them all anyway.
Plus, if you try to overlap tiles, you end up getting gaps too, where lots of tiles are in no cities' BFC, overall needlessly increasing distance cost.
Not that there aren't exceptions, but don't be held up on overlap
Babylonian, Sumerian, Egyptian, Aztec
Seriously, both the Babylonian and Sumerian units could be speaking Akkadian which was lingua france for that region for a long time. More purists might prefer pre-dynastic Sumerian and neo-Babylonian, but I don't know what the game designers chose.
Wolf Rider
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2009
- Messages
- 77
Thanks for answering the questions. Also, should you ever move your settler at the begginning to try and get to another, better, spot? A friend said that he always moves his settler to the coast if he doesn't start on it. Is this a good idea?
Like all things, it depends. A little scouting around before settling isn't a bad thing, but you don't want to tarry to long before getting your capital up and running; particularly, on the upper levels. As you play you'll get a "feel" for starting locations, and reading terrain; you'll even be able to "spot" areas that hold hidden resources. That experience will help inform your decisions on whether to move, or settle in place.
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
To supplement Bestbrian's answer a little bit... here are a few considerations when founding your capital. Some of them are reasons to move the Settler, others are reasons to stay put. As always in Civ, you have to make a judgment call based upon the unique characteristics of the map, your chosen strategy/goals, and so on. That's what makes it fun!
- Food: Always remember that food is king in this game. It allows your cities to quickly grow to the maximum size your
and caps will allow, and it supports whipping as well. The game's map generator usually ensures that your capital has at least 1-3 food resources, sometimes more. Be very wary of moving and giving up these invaluable resources. - Fresh water: The map generator almost always puts your Settler next to a source of fresh water, which gives your capital +2 right off the bat. Since your capital is one of your cities most likely to grow to its maximum size (and possibly beyond), that health bonus is not something to give up lightly. Consider carefully if moving your Settler will sacrifice this bonus.
- Forests: The more forests you have for chopping, the better. If your Settler starts on a forested tile, it may be worthwhile moving to a non-forested tile to found your capital, since you lose the potential chopping hammers from the forest if you settle on it. Also, you get more hammers from forests within the BFC than without, so try to keep as many forested tiles within the capital's workable area as you can.
- Rivers: Capitals are usually commerce cities (especially with the help of the +50% bonus from Bureaucracy in the medieval era and beyond), and tiles adjacent to rivers have an automatic +1
, making them very attractive for cottages. Therefore if you can move your settler to claim more riverside tiles, it's almost always worth it. - Hammers: Bureaucracy also gives you a +50%
bonus, so you should ensure your capital has a few hills to work as well. In addition, settling right on top of a plains hill will give you +1 as well as a defensive bonus. One hammer may not seem like a lot, but in the early game, it can be very significant. - Coast: Being on the coast can be very lucrative thanks to the trade routes, especially if you also build or acquire wonders that boost that bonus such as the Temple of Artemis and the Great Lighthouse. If you start close to the coast but not on it, it can be worthwhile to move the capital to a coastal site.
- Hidden resources: The map generator often (but not always!) gives you a hidden resource in the capital's BFC. Moving may deprive you of it, requiring you to found another city nearby to claim it. Watch in particular for flat tiles with no forest on them, especially if all or most of the surrounding tiles have forest. That's often an indicator of a yet-to-be-revealed resource.
- Commerce resources: Look for high-commerce resources near the capital such as gold, gems, or silver. These resources will give you a boost and also accelerate your initial research. If the commerce resource would be outside of the capital's fat cross if you settle in place, strongly consider moving to claim it.
- Early game goals: Are you planning on founding a religion? Building an early wonder? Axe-rushing a neighbour? If so, you want to minimize delays, which almost always means founding your capital on the starting turn, not plodding around the map in search of the "ideal" location.
Lord Parkin
aka emperor
An excellent analysis, Sisiutil. I agree completely.
For the record, I personally almost always end up founding my capital on the first turn of the game (so either where the Settler starts or 1 tile away). Very rarely I'll spend a turn moving if I spy a much better spot nearby. I've hardly ever delayed more than one turn before founding my capital in a serious multiplayer game. The gamble of finding a slightly better location with a longer trek is just not worth the guaranteed loss of hammers and science in those critical early turns - especially when you're playing against cunning human opponents, who will sometimes already be out hunting for easy worker and city steals.
For the record, I personally almost always end up founding my capital on the first turn of the game (so either where the Settler starts or 1 tile away). Very rarely I'll spend a turn moving if I spy a much better spot nearby. I've hardly ever delayed more than one turn before founding my capital in a serious multiplayer game. The gamble of finding a slightly better location with a longer trek is just not worth the guaranteed loss of hammers and science in those critical early turns - especially when you're playing against cunning human opponents, who will sometimes already be out hunting for easy worker and city steals.
s.bernbaum
Mostly lurking
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