Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Aabraxan]

How long do AI civs stay in anarchy when they change governments? Is it the same as for the human player?

@ EMan -- Yes, or MapStat. I never think of that one just because I don't use it that much.

@ Pacioli -- When I first started playing C3C, I found it very odd to use a program to help me play a computer game but the two mentioned are incredibly helpful.

 

[Spoonwood]

AFAIK, the AI anarchy period depends on two things:
1. The presence or absence of the religious trait
2. Difficulty level.
At higher difficulties the AIs have shorter anarchy periods.

Only the religious trait shortens a human player's anarchy. People have seemed to say that it depends on size of empire otherwise, but I don't know for sure.

 

[timerover51]

AFAIK, the AI anarchy period depends on two things:
1. The presence or absence of the religious trait
2. Difficulty level.
At higher difficulties the AIs have shorter anarchy periods.

Only the religious trait shortens a human player's anarchy. People have seemed to say that it depends on size of empire otherwise, but I don't know for sure.

Hmmm, I can simply report that I have had anarchy periods as short as 2 turns for the Dutch, when I have only 3 cities, so empire size might have some effect on that.

 

[vmxa]

My experience leads me to accept the empire size having an impact on duration of anarchy. The sheer number is affected by map size. IOW I have been surprised to get 4 turn anarchy, with more than 20 towns on a really large map.

It sort of acts like a scaling, to town count. I have seen it enough to expect it and when I can I try to switch, before adding more towns. If I am about to go on attack and expect to gain towns, I prefer to switch and try to get a smaller duration.

Not scientific to be sure.

 

[Aabraxan]

Thanks for the input everyone.

My experience also suggests that empire size affects the anarchy period. Whenever I've switched governments with a smaller empire, I seem to draw a smaller anarchy period. Like vmxa, this is not scientific, but it seems to be borne out in my games.

 

[IvanDolvich2]

Thanks Aabraxan and EMan. To date, I have not used any utility programs but seems that I should start.

@ Pacioli: I agree with Aabraxan that using a utility program to play a computer game seems a little odd.
I would however suggest that it will help you take your game to the next level. It is not a cheat program as it only gives you data that is available to the game via information in the save file.
City number is important as it determines how many Armies you can have (1/4 cities). I have seen a technique used by CommandoBob where he numbers each city as it is built or captured so that at a glance he can see how many he has i.e. 01_Washington, 02_Boston, 03_London, etc.

 

[IvanDolvich2]

Golden Ages: Wonder initiated.
I've built one wonder (scientific) and I need a commercial wonder to start my GA. Do I need to build it, or can I capture it to get my GA?

 

[vmxa]

IIRC capture will work as well.

 

[Aabraxan]

IIRC, there's something squirrelly about the Wonder GAs. I want to say (& someone correct me if I'm wrong), that when you complete a Wonder, the game checks to see if you possess Wonders with the right trait flags. So if you capture a Wonder that would start your GA if you built it, your GA won't actually start until you complete a Wonder, but it doesn't matter if the Wonder you build has your trats flagged or not. Can anyone confirm or correct?

 

[Tone]

That's correct, Aabraxan.

 

[Aabraxan]

Thank you, Tone.

 

[IvanDolvich2]

IIRC, there's something squirrelly about the Wonder GAs. I want to say (& someone correct me if I'm wrong), that when you complete a Wonder, the game checks to see if you possess Wonders with the right trait flags. So if you capture a Wonder that would start your GA if you built it, your GA won't actually start until you complete Wonder, but it doesn't matter if the Wonder you build has your trats flagged or not. Can anyone confirm or correct?

Thanks Aabraxan, I thought I remembered reading that the GA was initiated at the completion of a Wonder. So I may be able to capture a commercial wonder, Collusus or Lighthouse, then build *any* (i.e. cheaper) wonder to initiate the GA... does that sound right?

 

[Dis is Baman]

Hi everyone im new o the civsit. I been trying to create my own units and tech advances in the editor but i cant seem to get it to work. t add a new unit but when i try to play with it the game always crashes. any help would be great!

 

[Aabraxan]

IvanDolvich2, at the risk of stating the obvious, as long as you're talking about a Great Wonder, that sounds right. (Small Wonders don't cut it.)

Welcome to CFC, Dis is Baman! There's a Creation and Customization forum and that's really the place for that question. I'd answer it if I could, but those guys down in C&C are the ones you really need to ask.

 

[IvanDolvich2]

IvanDolvich2, at the risk of stating the obvious, as long as you're talking about a Great Wonder, that sounds right. (Small Wonders don't cut it.)

Thanks, even the obvious is very appreciated.

 

[Zenobia42]

Okay, so I'm still getting used to C3C from having played "vanilla" Civ III for a while. I don't know if I've encountered a bug of just don't know how to use this new feature right: I just got Replaceable Parts and now I can make civil engineers - a cool new addition to the game IMO... except... they don't seem to be creating any shields for me! Is there some other advance I need to make them actually work? Or some special conditions they need to work?

To be more specific, I have a city of population 6 on the outskirts of my nation - where waste is all but one shield if I try to produce by working the squares. So I have 3 citizens making enough spare food that it can have 3 specialists. When I change those 3 to civil engineers, it shows 2 shields beneath each specialist graphic, but the shields do not show up in production, not even as waste. Should I not have a production of 7 shields with my 3 engineers?

I am playing v 1.22 Rev. A (v10667a) on a Mac.

 

[vmxa]

CE will not put shields to all items. If you are making a structure like a lib or bank. You will get the shields. If it something like a tank, you do not. In the case of the tank, use a Policeman to reduce the corrupt shields and you may gain one or more net shields.

 

[Zenobia42]

Oh, so they work of structures not units? That makes sense, like a real civil engineer, lol. Thanks for the info!

 

[Aabraxan]

Exactly. CE's only work for structures. If you can see the shields beneath them, they're putting shields in. I don't know if those shields show up in the "shields produced" bar in the middle of the screen. I do know that you'll see shields beneath their heads if you're building a structure & those shields will disappear if you switch the build to a unit.

 

[Snarkhunter]

Exactly. CE's only work for structures. If you can see the shields beneath them, they're putting shields in. I don't know if those shields show up in the "shields produced" bar in the middle of the screen. I do know that you'll see shields beneath their heads if you're building a structure & those shields will disappear if you switch the build to a unit.

You'll also see the time-to-complete go down when you switch specs to CE's, assuming you are building structures. I generally focus on that, rather than shields being generated, in these situations.

kk