Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[Takhisis]

Oh yes, the AI's a total asstard regarding diplomacy. Half the AIs in a Continents game will get each other to declare war on you so you can spend 40-50 turns trying to guess where the next couple Caravels with Knights will land on your shores until they finally decide that it's really idiotic to spend time building and shipping units who'll just get crushed upon landing while both you and they really could better spend resources elsewise.

 

[Ozymandias]

Some of the issue(s) might regard your Civ's "Reputation." I recently posted a YouTube tutorial about that here.

 

[waarzawa]

Hi all
It seems I can't see any active treaty in the diplomatic panel when I select a player.
Here's a screenshot, did I miss something ?
I'm at war and have MP / ROP with several of the civs but nothing shows up...

 

[Civinator]

Simply click on 'select all'. At present you have 'All Off' activated.

 

[waarzawa]

It's being activated on the picture I posted.
Maybe a weird bug on the macintosh port of CIV iii ?
Here are 2 screenshots, one with the treaties "on" and the other one "off"

 

[Civinator]

In the 'select all' option, the boxes should be enabled. My first screenshot shows the situation when the 'All off' option is activated. I attache a secons screenshot with the 'select all' option enabled.

 

[r16]

ı get the "empty" screen sometimes . Clicking on leaderheads brings the lines defining relationships .

 

[waarzawa]

rt6 > I tried that... nothing happened.
Civinator > thanks for your answer but I don't see what is different between your screenshot and mine. I clicked on "select all" and have all boxes ticked.
I tried again this morning to click everywhere... nothing brings the lines showing the treaties.
I'm playing on mac with the gog.com version installed through the "porting kit" (https://portingkit.com/)

 

[EMan]

One thing that's different is Civinator's Foreign Advisor fills the screen. You don't have any info boxes (in view) on the bottom left and right of your main map screen........Why is that? If you do have the "Info Box" in the bottom right of your screen, you can click on the "D" (for Diplomacy) button to see your opponents and then click on them individually to see your Agreements with them!?

 

[waarzawa]

EMan > I play in high res (adding KeepRes=1 in the conquests.ini file) so maybe that's why my Foreign Advisor isn't full screen ?
Also I cropped the screenshots, therefore you can't see the info boxes in the bottom left and right.
Clicking on the "D" button doesn't help by the way...

I just noticed something : on Civinator screenshot you can also see the lines (red, blue,...) in the treaties tab on the right. Not in mine. Isn't it odd ?

 

[tjs282]

I just noticed something : on Civinator screenshot you can also see the lines (red, blue,...) in the treaties tab on the right. Not in mine. Isn't it odd ?

I noticed that as well, and I would guess those two problems have the same underlying (code-based) cause.

Is that screenshot from a game based on the "5CC" modfile that I made for you? If so, it's quite possible that I inadvertently messed something up somewhere — but I would have no idea where, sorry! Maybe one of the master-Modders would be willing to take a look at the thread and the .biq...?

 

[waarzawa]

No it's a regular game...
Well I guess it's one more flaw on the list of this mac port

 

[WeirdoJoker]

I have only played Tiny, Small and Standard sized maps ... never Large or Huge. Is there any advantage to the larger maps aside from personal taste?

 

[r16]

as a slow starter always playing monarch , ı imagine the need to expand and so much land to fill makes Al forget me for a while , allowing me grab a couple of wonders ı like and get ahead in science so that ı will have higher tech units to improve the exchange ratio . Shields Al wastes on units are shields that can not spent on improvements .

 

[Aabraxan]

I have only played Tiny, Small and Standard sized maps ... never Large or Huge. Is there any advantage to the larger maps aside from personal taste?

I think it increases tech costs, but better players than I should feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I don't have a clue how much it increases them. Larger maps also give you more time to expand (up to and including Emperor; I can't really speak to DG+ levels), but they also give the AI more time. Don't overlook the importance of landform, either. I can remember reading that some Sid-level players go for Huge Archipelago maps, because the AI isn't very good at dealing with water.

 

[EMan]

...I can remember reading that some Sid-level players go for Huge Archipelago maps, because the AI isn't very good at dealing with water.

Yes, Archipelago Maps, any size, can be good at higher levels:
1. You have a greater probability of having the island to yourself and
2. It's easier to keep the AI Civs away until you have time to build up military units. (I've even used workers on the coastline to stop the AI from landing! )

 

[vmxa]

The cost factor for Regent is 10, for Monarch 9, for emp 8, for DG 7, Deity 6, Sid 4. That is independent of map size. The map size has another cost factor: 240 for std, 320 for large and 400 for huge. I use 650 for 250x250.
To me, the bigger the map, the easier for the human (all other things being equal), unless you increase the number of civs. On 250 I use 31.

 

[waarzawa]

I have only played Tiny, Small and Standard sized maps ... never Large or Huge. Is there any advantage to the larger maps aside from personal taste?

Personally I never enjoyed playing on large maps (more than 100x100). I have more fun feeling some pressure from other civs early on. I also prefer to deal with limited space, you just don't plant settlers anywhere on smaller maps, and each city location become very important strategically. Each battle becomes also more significant.
I guess larger maps are for seasoned players, who like long, deep and subtle games and micro-managing (which I hate !)

 

[Buttercup]

Please excuse my double-take at your post, but how on earth did you end up playing a Civilisation game if you hate micro-management?

Isn't that like training to be pilot and then saying "I like driving the thing but I hate the whole up in the air aspect"...

 

[WeirdoJoker]

I'm just thinking a larger map might generally have more resources available, to either obtain myself or to trade for. Is scarcity something that changes with difficulty level?

My most recent game had me trading for uranium. Monarch/Tiny/Continents/Germany vs. Spain, Carthage and India. Only Spain had uranium, 3 of them. They traded 1 to Carthage, and refused to trade to me once the Space Race began. On top of that, Carthage got the drop on me and was loaded up ahead of me, even though I had the tech lead (it took longer for me to build Apollo). So I built everything I could, then attacked Spain at the last minute and held the uranium for all of one turn - just enough to start building the last part in 2 turns to eke out the victory. (It helped that Carthage did not yet have Robotics, of course.)

I was originally planning for Domination, but I waited too long to start and it became no longer feasible, so I switched gears. This has happened to me a lot once I started playing Regent ... mostly Spaceship wins. I haven't figured out how to get a military edge on the AI yet, even difficult at Regent.