Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[WeirdoJoker]

Use that surplus on rushing buildings. If you don't have military aspirations, then upgrading units doesn't work toward a goal. Disband units that can't be used as MPs or to lower flip risk in cities building infrastructure.

I'm playing Babylon & not looking to Conquest or Domination, so disbanding makes sense.

To get to 4 turn research, build all scientific buildings in any city that the maintenance cost won't make the city pay more in maintenance than it makes in post-corruption commerce. High corruption cities and cities with many buildings can become drains on your economy; in cities at near maximum corruption or above, irrigate everything and have only enough citizens working tiles to not starve (at 6 or 12 pop) and make everyone else scientists.

The thing is, I have plenty of cash - lump and per-turn. The problem is that I'm not getting to 4-turn research (though I used to be there) even with the slider near the top.

What VC are you going for?

Going for the Spaceship, which is my current favorite.

 

[justanick]

The thing is, I have plenty of cash - lump and per-turn.

Chances are that this will not last forever. In the industrial age buildings consume quite some gtp. In the long run expenses are in the magnititude of 30 gtp per metropolis. In the long run any gold equals 2 shields that you donnot need to use for wealth.

Also one thing to consider is that at higher levels research is more expensive and so can be diplomacy. So the kind of game i play relies more on commerce. If you consistently have large amounts of cash at hand this can indicate that your difficulty setting is too low.

The problem is that I'm not getting to 4-turn research (though I used to be there) even with the slider near the top.

You need more territory. This increases the research output, it may increase the gtp you need for buildings and it may decrease the gtp you can get from diplomacy.

How does one determine whether to upgrade or disband for the shield value? I have a bunch of old units that is just ridiculous to keep around, but I never got around to dealing with them. (I don't have Leo's.) Ideas?

I deem it sensible to limit upgrading to few selected instances. When your army is small, upgrades make a meaningful difference in the short term. Also the upgrade knight to cavalry deserves consideration as it enables you to make a dent when it counts.

Later in the game shields will be plenty. Upgrading is mainly a question of what is useful in the short run.

If you have (military) units that you will not need in the foreseable future, then you should disband them for the shields. Also needing those shields is good argument to disband units and possibly build new units for the purpose of disbanding.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Chances are that this will not last forever. In the industrial age buildings consume quite some gtp. In the long run expenses are in the magnititude of 30 gtp per metropolis. In the long run any gold equals 2 shields that you donnot need to use for wealth.

I've been doing quite well, monetarily speaking, since probably around early-mid industrial, on account of selling Luxes (I managed to obtain five Ivory!) and techs that were far behind me already. Mostly Japan is the one paying me huge per-turn sums. I'm in the modern age building the Ship and still have over 10K gold

Also one thing to consider is that at higher levels research is more expensive and so can be diplomacy. So the kind of game i play relies more on commerce. If you consistently have large amounts of cash at hand this can indicate that your difficulty setting is too low.

That's possible. I often have trouble at Monarch, but once in a while I hit a game similar to this one where things generally fall together. I don't consistently have large amounts of cash, but if I can get that consistency then maybe I can consider moving up to Emperor.

Also, this is my very first game playing a Large map - previously had not gone larger than Standard - so I'm dealing with far more AI Civs with more money & stuff to sell. I'm speaking generally; as usual, a few Civs are close competitors (though no one else is building the Ship yet), and the rest have nothing but territory. If I was not going for the Ship, I could have wiped out a couple by now (see below).

You need more territory. This increases the research output, it may increase the gtp you need for buildings and it may decrease the gtp you can get from diplomacy.

That had not occurred to me. Though it's late in the game and I'll probably win as it is, I'll keep that in mind for future games. Thanks!

I deem it sensible to limit upgrading to few selected instances. When your army is small, upgrades make a meaningful difference in the short term. Also the upgrade knight to cavalry deserves consideration as it enables you to make a dent when it counts.

Later in the game shields will be plenty. Upgrading is mainly a question of what is useful in the short run.

If you have (military) units that you will not need in the foreseable future, then you should disband them for the shields. Also needing those shields is good argument to disband units and possibly build new units for the purpose of disbanding.

I did upgrade Knights to Cavs, and Riflemen to MI. Most of my Infantry, too (still lacking Barracks in a couple of remote towns). Most obsolete stuff I just disbanded, and it raised my income while not really diminishing anything, since they were practically useless anyway.

 

[Takhisis]

How does one determine whether to upgrade or disband for the shield value? I have a bunch of old units that is just ridiculous to keep around, but I never got around to dealing with them. (I don't have Leo's.) Ideas?

I myself would use them to rush buildings in conquered areas or as military police, as needed.

 

[jarred!]

The thing is, I have plenty of cash - lump and per-turn. The problem is that I'm not getting to 4-turn research (though I used to be there) even with the slider near the top.

Going for the Spaceship, which is my current favorite.

Like justanick says, you'll want more territory. I generally start my military buildup around Motorized Transportation, I'm able to keep up 4T research until the beginning of Modern Times. When I finish the Industrial era, I'll trade up all the scientific AI, then my prebuilds for ToE, Internet (Hoover, SETI) finiah and I can steamroll some AI for their grasslands.

 

[justanick]

I'm in the modern age

By that time techs are really expensive. If in the late middle age you expanded your territory you may keep up to 4 turns per tech, but not keeping up such high pace should probably be considered normal.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

At this point, I've got a sufficient tech lead that I've probably got the Ship in the bag. Only once Civ is close, and they're behind a couple.

How does territory speed up tech? My next game I'll incorporate that as part of my strategy.

 

[r16]

possibly by decreasing unit costs by having 4 free for each town , possibility of having own luxuries , extra resources to export to improve the budget balance , all helping to the sliders at F1 and possibly having more grassland for science farms . Plays at monarch , suddenly discovers the larest techs never fit into one by every 4 turns .

 

[jarred!]

You want more territory so you can found more cities. This helps increase scientific output in one or both of these ways: adding low corruption cities will bring in commerce which is converted to breakers via the science slider with science buildings/wonders increasing that city's beaker-contribution; and adding high corruption cities increases science by acting as 'farms' which are cities in irrigated areas with huge food surpluses so they can support multiple specialist citizens.

 

[justanick]

If going for the space ship it can even make sense to get towns with high corruption to less than 70% corruption(via courthouse and police station) and metropolis size. This still gives a few more beakers than mere science farms. For best research output you would still need to irrigate for science specialists. This means that almost all production would come from disbanding units because food for funding science specialists is the priority in a science focussed game.

 

[Takhisis]

How does territory speed up tech?

Your tech output is determined by the effort made by your civilisation to research new technologies. In game terms, that's how much gold you put into research, hence why fiddling with the sliders means your treasury earns –or loses– more or less money depending on how much of your civ's income you devote to science and/or entertainment. The bigger your economy, the more money you can put into research, therefore you research technologies faster.
On top of the science farms discussed by jarred! and justanick you get the fact that larger territory means you can get more resources.
Bonus luxuries, obviously, give you more productive tiles.
Strategic resources can enable working tiles more productively (railroads) or (mostly in mods) buildings that will increase your output in terms of money, shields (which can be converted to money), beakers and/or happiness. In the main game you can get a nuclear plant and either produce wealth or just keep up high unit production to compensate for and defend your science farms.
Luxuries mean your people are happier, won't revolt, and free up resources (i.e. money) for that research, not just in terms of the entertainment slider but also in terms of being able to prioritise libraries and the buildings they enable over temples, cathedrals, and coliseums (the last of these is the last building built by most players unless things are really dire or really going that well).
And also you deny said resources to them.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Update: pulled off the Space Race victory fairly easily, my first game on a larger-than-standard (Large) map.

 

[CKS]

Congratulations!

 

[RobS]

Question on playing a vanilla game: Is the upgrade price of $90 from Pikeman to Musketman an error? It seems like a huge jump compared to other upgrade costs.
Also a comment: Disbanding a French Musketeer makes a sound like he's having an orgasm. Just sayin'.

 

[thetrooper]

Shield diff * 3

 

[tjs282]

Question on playing a vanilla game: Is the upgrade price of $90 from Pikeman to Musketman an error? It seems like a huge jump compared to other upgrade costs.

Not an error.

The upgrade-cost in Conquests/Complete is 3 gold per shield-difference in build-cost (it was only 2 gold per shield in original Civ3, and I think also in PtW). Pikemen cost 30 shields, Musketmen (and Musketeers) cost 60 shields: (60 - 30) * 3 = 90 gold.

Usually, rather than upgrading a Pike, you're better off just building a new vMusket (if you really need that additional D-point -- which may be debatable: 2 Pikes are more effective defence than 1 Musket).

If you have Leo's Workshop, which halves the upgrade-cost, it may be preferable to upgrade. Really depends on what you're playing for, though.

 

[Vuldacon]

Also a comment: Disbanding a French Musketeer makes a sound like he's having an orgasm. Just sayin'.

The Musketeer Death sound is what it is how ever you hear it. You can open it to hear it from inside the Musketeer Unit Folder.

 

[RobS]

The Musketeer Death sound is what it is how ever you hear it. You can open it to hear it from inside the Musketeer Unit Folder.

Speaking of game folders, is there a folder that lists all the city names for the various civilizations?

 

[Vuldacon]

Speaking of game folders, is there a folder that lists all the city names for the various civilizations?

Not a Folder but the City Names are in the Biq.
Open the Biq and go to Civilizations. There click on the Civilization: you want then you can read the City Names: on the Middle Left side.
City Names are listed in the Order that they will be named when Built in the Game.

 

[timerover51]

You can also change the city names if you want. However, then the biq is customized and needs to be saved under a different name. I find the names for the Iroquois towns get quite odd, and I have changed a lot of them into something more in keeping with the civilization. I also found a list of Iroquois towns from the U.S. Revolutionary War to work from.