Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

Oh yeah, forgot that. "Print Screen" (or whatever it says on your keyboard) puts a copy of the contents of the sceen into your clipboard. Use some graphics program to save the screenshot into a file.

Thanks again but ... we Mac users don't have a print screen key. I should have explained that I play in the Windows partition of an iMac.

I can't see myself ever having one of those SOTDs but I do think they're very good fun. If I do have one, I'll try to send it in to wake up the thread.

Here's another question: how do people compare playing against the AI as opposed to human opposition? I have played a few games with my son on a tiny map and we basically intend to cheat by allying ourselves for ever until we can go head to head ... but the game seems to run slowly, which is boring, which means we have not got far. OTOH, despite playing quite a bit, I really don't have a handle on how to keep the AI civilised and friendly - not without giving in to all their demands, which I tend not to do, forcing me to be a warmonger most of the time (fun though that is:)). I'll find my way to the Diplomacy tips and tricks and read up, but I wondered how folks felt about the two modes.
 
On the last page, you asked about keeping units in cities that were not on the border. It is standard practice to reduce your forces to a skeleton crew (at least under the amount that you'd have to pay for). But the AI knows which untis you have in any given city. If you leave a city ungarrisoned, the AI knows this and the more aggressive Tribes will try to send units in to take it. You can temp them with this ploy to start a war. Conversely, if you keep decent units in all of your cities, this temptation does not surface. Just a quick suggestion on how to keep the AI civilised and friendly. Another way is to offer to trade World Maps. Ask what they will give you for your WM (or Territory Map). Communication with the AI keeps them off your back.

About your game running slow, there are articles here about how to speed up your game. Hints like going to your Preferences screen and unclicking the options for animation, things like that.

Glad you're playing with your son. :thumbsup:

BTW, I enjoy playing solo just as much as I enjoy playing with humans.
 
On the last page, you asked about keeping units in cities that were not on the border. It is standard practice to reduce your forces to a skeleton crew (at least under the amount that you'd have to pay for). But the AI knows which untis you have in any given city. If you leave a city ungarrisoned, the AI knows this and the more aggressive Tribes will try to send units in to take it. You can temp them with this ploy to start a war. Conversely, if you keep decent units in all of your cities, this temptation does not surface. Just a quick suggestion on how to keep the AI civilised and friendly. Another way is to offer to trade World Maps. Ask what they will give you for your WM (or Territory Map). Communication with the AI keeps them off your back.

About your game running slow, there are articles here about how to speed up your game. Hints like going to your Preferences screen and unclicking the options for animation, things like that.

Glad you're playing with your son. :thumbsup:


BTW, I enjoy playing solo just as much as I enjoy playing with humans.
Thanks. I wondered how come they always knew which of my cities to attack. Do they spend on intelligence or do they just cheat?
 
Cheat. (The AI also knows where all the resources, present and future, are located on the map!)

If you want to both play against the computer and see how your skills are matching up against other good players, check out the Hall Of Fame section on this site:

http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ3/

Have Fun! :)
 
Hopefully soon, you'll be able to go back and "unfix" my message. :lol:

P.s. I did edit my previous post to indicate another cheat by the AI. :)
 
Hopefully soon, you'll be able to go back and "unfix" my message. :lol:
Yeah, hopefully. I must say I am enjoying reading up on some of the tips and tricks here. It's like a whole new ball game. Evidently, I have been overly-addicted to Roman sword rushes, a sort of caveman approach.
 
On the last page, you asked about keeping units in cities that were not on the border. It is standard practice to reduce your forces to a skeleton crew (at least under the amount that you'd have to pay for). But the AI knows which untis you have in any given city. If you leave a city ungarrisoned, the AI knows this and the more aggressive Tribes will try to send units in to take it. You can temp them with this ploy to start a war. Conversely, if you keep decent units in all of your cities, this temptation does not surface. Just a quick suggestion on how to keep the AI civilised and friendly. Another way is to offer to trade World Maps. Ask what they will give you for your WM (or Territory Map). Communication with the AI keeps them off your back.

About your game running slow, there are articles here about how to speed up your game. Hints like going to your Preferences screen and unclicking the options for animation, things like that.

Glad you're playing with your son. :thumbsup:

BTW, I enjoy playing solo just as much as I enjoy playing with humans.

Thanks Cyc. Understanding the AI better is a big area of improvement for me, especially for progress to the higher levels.

Edit: and my son has acquired a preference for World of Tanks (which I admit I like watching sometimes) now so we don't get to play so much.
 
Here's another question: how do people compare playing against the AI as opposed to human opposition? I have played a few games with my son on a tiny map and we basically intend to cheat by allying ourselves for ever until we can go head to head ... but the game seems to run slowly, which is boring, which means we have not got far. OTOH, despite playing quite a bit, I really don't have a handle on how to keep the AI civilised and friendly - not without giving in to all their demands, which I tend not to do, forcing me to be a warmonger most of the time (fun though that is:)). I'll find my way to the Diplomacy tips and tricks and read up, but I wondered how folks felt about the two modes.

To keep your AI neighbors friendly, build embassies as soon as possible. And give in to their early demands. They tend to demand more if they perceive you as weak.

You can also keep them off your back by setting them off against each other. If you do have an unavoidable early war, bribe all your neighbors to join in on your side. Not only will you neighbors do some of the fighting for you, but they will start to develop furious attitudes toward each other than can last a gametime. If they hate each other more than they hate you, they will fight with each other more than they will fight with you.
 
To keep your AI neighbors friendly, build embassies as soon as possible. And give in to their early demands. They tend to demand more if they perceive you as weak.

You can also keep them off your back by setting them off against each other. If you do have an unavoidable early war, bribe all your neighbors to join in on your side. Not only will you neighbors do some of the fighting for you, but they will start to develop furious attitudes toward each other than can last a gametime. If they hate each other more than they hate you, they will fight with each other more than they will fight with you.

I have tried this but generally when I'm already in a position of strength (like I have a tech lead which I can parlay into alliances). I did not know you could sow long-lasting enmity among them. That's useful to know.
Edit: Embassies - check.
 
Thanks again but ... we Mac users don't have a print screen key. I should have explained that I play in the Windows partition of an iMac.

I can't see myself ever having one of those SOTDs but I do think they're very good fun. If I do have one, I'll try to send it in to wake up the thread.

Ahh, you are dual booting.

And if I recall correctly you have a few more F-keys where on PC-keyboards there are 'Print', 'ScrollLock' and what not. You could try these F-keys instead, like F13 upwards. If that fails, there surely are all kinds of Screenshot utilities out there. Or, try a Google search; other people are bound to have the same problem as you.
 
Ahh, you are dual booting.

And if I recall correctly you have a few more F-keys where on PC-keyboards there are 'Print', 'ScrollLock' and what not. You could try these F-keys instead, like F13 upwards. If that fails, there surely are all kinds of Screenshot utilities out there. Or, try a Google search; other people are bound to have the same problem as you.

Thanks - there must be some simple way of doing it.
 
Is there a way fast way to know the city where an enemy has its Apollo Program, or it is necessary to investigate all the enemy cities to find it?

And if I destroy the city the enemy has the Apollo Program, do they lose the spaceship parts they built previously?
 
I think the spaceship pieces are stored in the capital, so if you take the capital they have to start the spaceship all over.
 
Great Wonders. The Apollo Program's a Small Wonder, and the individual SS parts aren't wonders at all.
 
Well, I used spy to find out the cities where Apollo Program of my three main rivals (Babylonians, Celts and Otomans) were located, and then started military attacks to destroy it before they complete the spaceship.

First I captured Babylon city, and got the message that their spaceship was destroyed.

Ok, then I cruised the oceans and captured Celt city that had their space program. They were 9/10 on the space race, and I'm 100% sure that Apollo Program was in the city I captured (I checked again one turn before the attack).

But then I got no message that their spaceship was destroyed, and looking at the space race screen I saw that their status kept the same (9/10). The same happened one turn later, when I captured Ottoman's city that had Apollo Program. Nothing changed to them. The cities they had Apollo Program were destroyed, but they kept alive on the space race.

Is it a bug of the game, or any rule I never knew about?

Any ideas?
 
It's probably related to that rule that lets a nation that's building Rails to complete the work they've already started, when their Coal disappears, but once the Worker has completed the rail, it can't build anymore until new coal is secured. Same with units. Building Infantry and lose your Rubber (no pun intended)? You will be able to complete all units you've started, but not build any new ones )until you secure more Ruber).

When you destroyed the Babylon city, they may not have been on their 10th part (like the other two nations). So when you took away their Wonder, there was no way to complete the SpaceShip. Whereas, when you destroyed the Wonder of the other two nations, they had already completed 9 parts and were working on the 10th. So they didn't require the Apollo Project to start another part. They just needed to complete the last piece.

You better hurry up with your 10th SS Part. :)
 
Thanks, Cyc, but I'm not sure that's the case.

The situation right now, after I conquered enemy cities with Apollo Program, is:

- Babylonians: 0(0)/10.
- Ottomans: 5(3)/10.
- Celts: 9(0)/10.

Babylon city had the Apollo Program and was their capital when I conquered it. Ottomans and Celts cities that I conquered and that had the Apollo Program were not their current capital.

Maybe to destroy the spaceship the player needs to conquer the civilization capital and not the city where the Apollo Program is?
 
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