Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[tjs282]

A worker in unmodded civ has neither HP nor attack or defence.

Workers don't have visible HP because they're A.D=0.0, but (the game nonetheless acts as though) they do have 'virtual' HP.

Same applies to the A.D=0.0 bombardment-units. You can see this while playing e.g. the Sengoku Conquest: if you have "Animate Battles" switched on when a Ninja Stealth-attacks a bombard-unit sheltering under a unit with A/D > 0, you will see the gunners fire back 3-4 times (i.e. once per each remaining vHP), before the bombard-unit (inevitably) dies.

Not sure whether that 'repeated attack' effect's triggered by the Ninja's Stealth-attack ability, its Hidden Nationality, its Invisibility, and/or some combination of those three. But I'm >99% sure that the Stealth-attack ability is involved (or at least, the fact that the Ninja will not be able to occupy the bombard-unit's tile afterwards), since Ninjas capture Peasant Workers without any difficulty (and the AI uses them for that. All. The. Time).

 

[Takhisis]

Yes, I remember that Sengoku had weird things going on and I've attacked some artillery for the sake of testing and the artillery ‘defends’ and loses every bout.

Also remember that weird thing where units with hidden nationality cannot be captured so a unit with hidden nationality and 0 hp can share a tile with another unit that has HP (I'm not sure about nationality) as is used in EFZI.

 

[Theov]

I'm not sure. A galley attacking my land units is still a galley that has HP and an attack and a defence stat. A worker in unmodded civ has neither HP nor attack or defence.

It was a medieval worker (0/0/1) who came from a city and tried to walk onto a place where my invisible HN spy (2 def) was.
The worker had an attack animation, so he swung right at him 3 times and lost.

Now I wonder what happens if
A: a worker doesnt have an attack animation (I guess he will just stand there 3 rounds and die)
B: the spy has 0 def.

So thats why I dont like invisible units all that much.

 

[Takhisis]

How many HPs did the spy have?

 

[Theov]

How many HPs did the spy have?

4 bc I have Sun Tzu's.

 

[Lanzelot]

It was so weird, the worker hitting him with his shovel.

 

[Takhisis]

Well, workers in EFZI have a defence stat and can actually fight -only when attacked- and their animations display properly.

4 bc I have Sun Tzu's.

Units without attack animation, such as some of the Firaxis-made King units, will just stand there displaying their basic .flc.

I don't know what made the worker display its chopping motion exactly three times, but it's interesting nonetheless.
I have a theory, at least. Civ3 presumes that units are ‘regular’ in experience level unless something forces it to create them elsewise. Perhaps that is why there are three virtual HPs?

 

[Theov]

Well, workers in EFZI have a defence stat and can actually fight -only when attacked- and their animations display properly.

Units without attack animation, such as some of the Firaxis-made King units, will just stand there displaying their basic .flc.

I don't know what made the worker display its chopping motion exactly three times, but it's interesting nonetheless.
I have a theory, at least. Civ3 presumes that units are ‘regular’ in experience level unless something forces it to create them elsewise. Perhaps that is why there are three virtual HPs?

I think it was 3 times.
I'm not sure, I was so surprised to see a worker lose his mind and go berserk mode on someone.

If they didnt have a rax t would be a regular unit so 3 hp, or 4 if it was a vet. I dont know if non-combat units get extra hp from the rax, but I dont see why not.

 

[tjs282]

I dont know if non-combat units get extra hp from the rax, but I dont see why not.

I'm pretty sure that any land-unit built from a Rax-town gets veteran status -- regardless of whether we can see it in-game.

 

[Takhisis]

Such as an army?

 

[tjs282]

Armies founded by MGLs are usually (always?) tagged as "Regular", even after getting loaded with Elite* units.

Not sure about Armies built by the MilAcad, but I'd guess that if the town has a Barracks as well, then they will be Vets.

 

[Samson]

Not sure about Armies built by the MilAcad, but I'd guess that if the town has a Barracks as well, then they will be Vets.

They are.

 

[Takhisis]

Armies founded by MGLs are usually (always?) tagged as "Regular", even after getting loaded with Elite* units.

Not sure about Armies built by the MilAcad, but I'd guess that if the town has a Barracks as well, then they will be Vets.

I *know*.

I was highilighting the point that even if you have a barracks, your leader will spawn an army, so somewhere in the tangled civ3 code is this weird line that sets it so.

Funny thing, I finished a game last night where I had a military academy and could have removed the barracks to see what the army came up as and forgot to do it. I'll blame the 35 ºC heat.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

What's the difference between how Taxmen affect SCI research versus Scientists? I know that more money for research can make it go faster, but what exactly do the Science specialists do, and how does one determine which is better?

(Currently playing Russia/Monarch/Large Map/Continents.)

 

[Takhisis]

Taxmen don't directly affect research. They just add more money to your treasury directly, which might just mean that you can make it more profitably to use the tech slider to devote more money to tech research. Which, if you have any improvements or wonders that apply multipliers to that number (libraries, Copernicus' Observatory, &c.) is more profitable. (this also depends on your government's possible research caps, tile penalties, and corruption/waste).

In the early game, though, science cities can turn the game in your favour - start on a riverside next to wheat or floodplains or other 4-food territory, irrigate and sit back while you churn out workers and a high scientific production.

 

[vorlon_mi]

What's the difference between how Taxmen affect SCI research versus Scientists? I know that more money for research can make it go faster, but what exactly do the Science specialists do, and how does one determine which is better?

(Currently playing Russia/Monarch/Large Map/Continents.)

Each of the specialists adds some uncorrupted yield to the city. Taxmen add uncorrupted gold, which Scientists add uncorrupted beakers. Now, think about what your empire *needs* at different times.

• In the early game, with fewer cities and still in Despotism, I tend to try to use Scientists instead of clowns (Entertainers) to iron out happiness issues in cities. A few uncorrupted beakers are useful to move research along.
• In the early/mid game, after switching to Republic, I might need more gold on hand to rush-buy troops or a Settler. A Taxman might make sense for some towns. As Takhisis notes, having some Taxmen might let you bump up the science slider and still have a positive cash flow.
• After I've reached the Middle Ages, I rely heavily on Scientists to increase my overall beakers-per-turn to get to key techs quicker. I have settled and conquered enough cities that my overall commerce rate is up; I usually have sufficient gold on hand to rush the things I need to rush-buy.
• In the Industrial Age (when I'm going for space), I swap in Civil Engineers to help build a Marketplace in new towns (or newly conquered towns). I swap them back to Scientists after the building is done.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Each of the specialists adds some uncorrupted yield to the city. Taxmen add uncorrupted gold, which Scientists add uncorrupted beakers.

I'm just not clear on the "gold" versus "beakers" concept. Am I right in thinking beakers are what help speed up research irrespective of gold on-hand?

Now, think about what your empire *needs* at different times.

• In the early game, with fewer cities and still in Despotism, I tend to try to use Scientists instead of clowns (Entertainers) to iron out happiness issues in cities. A few uncorrupted beakers are useful to move research along.
• In the early/mid game, after switching to Republic, I might need more gold on hand to rush-buy troops or a Settler. A Taxman might make sense for some towns. As Takhisis notes, having some Taxmen might let you bump up the science slider and still have a positive cash flow.

I've done that in general, and I like the idea of promoting growth while using specialists. Usually I want to get the growth as high as possible (i.e., to 6 or 12 prior to Hospitals, even I even research for them) first, and then switch to specialists (usually Scientists, unless I'm trying to speed up production.

• After I've reached the Middle Ages, I rely heavily on Scientists to increase my overall beakers-per-turn to get to key techs quicker. I have settled and conquered enough cities that my overall commerce rate is up; I usually have sufficient gold on hand to rush the things I need to rush-buy.
• In the Industrial Age (when I'm going for space), I swap in Civil Engineers to help build a Marketplace in new towns (or newly conquered towns). I swap them back to Scientists after the building is done.

I'm in Industrial now, nearing the end (currently researching MotorTrans), and thus far haven't needed to use the civil engineers (I think). I typically use them to try & speed up Wonder production if there's a race.

(I did, however, learn my lesson from that previous game & did not trade away Electronics until after I got Hoover's.)

 

[Takhisis]

I'm just not clear on the "gold" versus "beakers" concept. Am I right in thinking beakers are what help speed up research irrespective of gold on-hand?

Gold is the accounting unit.

Taxation is gold sent directly to your reasury.
Beakers are gold that is spent on scientific research.

Techs cost gold, and the more gold that you invest (beakers) the closer you are to completing research, so the higher the spending per turn, the quicker your research will be complete.

 

[jarred!]

I'm just not clear on the "gold" versus "beakers" concept. Am I right in thinking beakers are what help speed up research irrespective of gold on-hand?

Techs cost beakers, the slider converts commerce from cities to happiness (smilies), tax income (gold) or scientific research (beakers). A scientist adds uncorrupted beakers to a town, which are then multiplied by whatever buildings are present (lib, copernicus'). A tax collector adds uncorrrupted tax income to a town, which is then multiplied...And a clown adds happiness. So a tech might cost 300 beakers, each turn you spend researching that tech, the beakers produced in each town are summed and that total is subtracted from the total cost of the tech. If your summed beakers add up to 30 beakers each turn, you'll research that tech in 10 turns [The math: 300 beakers * ( 1 turn / 30 beakers) = 10 turns]. Obviously, the beakers you generate can change drastically from turn to turn.

Gold and beakers are both generated from base commerce, but the slider (and specialists) determine how that commerce is allocated.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Thanks, all. Is there any way to tell how many beakers a given tech costs?