Quick Answers / 'Newbie' Questions

[justanick]

A good source of Civ 3 knowledge before Flintlock is in the Civ 3 wikipedia in the German civforum.de. justanick is the "electronic brain" in that forum.

To be fair: Most of that knowledge stems from CFC and sometimes other english sites. There are really few details that you can find on the german wiki but not CFC.

 

[Spoonwood]

Depends on your game style and context!

For a 20k game, the Great Library is an early 6 culture per turn wonder - it's a must!
If you have an SGL, Pyramids are already built, and want an early game break from research can build up your treasury under a Republic while the AI research for you, it's great!
As a crutch to help you with research when you are falling behind - you aren't good enough at trading techs and knowing which techs you can research to get a monopoly on yet.

It's not OP to capture - if you can crack another civ that was strong enough to build the GL's core to capture it, you probably don't need it.

Now if we are talking about building it, gifting it away to a weak civ, and then recapturing it when you see Cavalry Sir Pleb style..... we may be talking OP.

It is not overpowered in any form of competitive play, unless it's against the rules. And I've never seen any Great Library tactic forbidden.

If it's just a personal game, well I say it's not overpowered at all. Because I would be the one playing the game, and I don't believe in anything "overpowered", unless it causes me to lose interest. The Great Library doesn't do that.

Also, one can't get gold or gold per turn from the tech leader via The Great Library. That's *less* powerful than becoming the technology leader and selling techs for gold and gold per turn (and also than strategic deals combined with pillaging).

Last few times I've built it that I recall I didn't shut off research. Most of my Deity space/diplomatic game, I think I built it just to keep up in technology, but didn't shut off research... or at least would try to learn Education by research rather than learning it via The Great Library. Again, there exists more profit in researching and selling technology... once the AIs have Currency and The Repulic, if the map is big enough, and the level is high enough.

 

[tenny]

tenny, where can I find "The game rewritten" ?

Hi Civinator,

I have made a .pdf file where I explain a little bit what I was referring to in my post. And thanks for the links!

 

[Samson]

Hi Civinator,

I have made a .pdf file where I explain a little bit what I was referring to in my post. And thanks for the links!

LaTeX FTW

 

[Samson]

The general question is how do you get the seed from a save game after you have started a different game? CivAssist2 is failing for me on Windows 10. The specific question is what is the seed for this map?

 

[Bartleby]

From CAII I get:
seed number 1395910371
standard pangaea 60% water, normal/temperate 5 byo, no barbs, normal aggression.

Mapstat tells me the opponents are Egypt, Scandinavia, India, Zulu, Japan, China, America

Edit:
If you go to the CAII thread and look for the older download, I found that that worked for me in Win 10.

 

[timerover51]

Hi, where can I download flicster? I found an older post from 2001 but two of the links were broken, and the one that wasn't seemed to be missing files.

Also, if anyone has tips on how to replace leaderheads with custom flag images (and also adding custom music to the scenario) I would really appreciate it! I'm semi-new to modding and scenario building. Thanks a lot.

You need to post this in the Creation and Customization forum.

 

[Elite]

If I sign an MPP with another civ and I or the civ I signed the pact with declares war on another civ, does that cancel the MPP? I forgot, been awhile, sorry..

 

[tjs282]

No, actually, signing MPPs with the small-fry, and then declaring war on the big gun(s) just before you finish the UN (to ensure that everyone hates them for attacking you), is a great way to cheez a Diplo-win.

But signing peace with the common enemy before the 20-turn MPP is finished, will break the MPP (and likely also your trade-rep).

 

[vorlon_mi]

Another important aspect of the MPP is the trigger event. If I sign an MPP with CivA and CivB declares war on me, CivA won't actually declare until CivB attacks one of my units or cities.

As you asked, you sign an MPP with CivA. If CivB declares on CivA, nothing happens until CivB actually attacks CivA. Then you are dragged into the war.

If you declare war on CivB, then CivA won't enter the war on your initial attack, only on their response.
I used this to my advantage, when my neighbor -- whom I was about to attack -- signed an MPP with one of my other neightbors. I didn't really want a two-front war.

1. Southern neighbor/victim A signs an MPP with northern neighbor/fiend B
2. I sign an MPP with "friend" B
3. I declare on A, line up my troops on my side of the border, and wait
4. Next turn, A sends his troops to attack my troops across the border
5. That triggers B to declare on A, breaking his MPP. Now B and I are both at war with A, fighting a one-front war

 

[BlackBetsy]

If I sign an MPP with another civ and I or the civ I signed the pact with declares war on another civ, does that cancel the MPP? I forgot, been awhile, sorry..

No, and that's why I avoid MPPs. If you sign an MPP with the Ottomans and then they start a war with the Russians, the moment the Russians counter-attack, you are now at war with the Russians. The volatility of AI-AI wars is a reason not to sign a MPP.

 

[Fergei]

I think that MPPs work beautifully if you replace Military Alliances with them. You need to ramp up the difficulty though. MPPs in default Civ 3 are horrible (due to the combination with Military Alliances).

 

[Fergei]

Actually, I may have to reconsider as I type. I make a MPP with Carthage. The next turn:
Portugal attacks one my unit and fails - Carthage does not join the war.
The next again turn.
Portugal attacks one of my units and succeeds - Carthage does not join the war.
The next again turn.
Portugal attacks one of my units and succeeds - Carthage does not join the war.
Portugal then gets an MPP with one of my major neighbours (Ottomans) and if I do anything to attack him I am staring certain defeat in the face as I'm going to guess the game will let that MPP kick in if I so much as fart in Portugal's general direction!

Can anyone explain why Hannibal is sitting on his hands? He literally has units right next to Portuguese ones and is just walking past them.

On the next turn Hannibal does declare war. So that was a 4 turn delay after we were in MPP and Portugal was destroying me. I have never seen that below.

Now I have to let Hannibal and Henry fight it out and hope the MPP Henry has with Ottomans expires without me losing further cities.

EDIT: now the Ottomans declare war on Hannibal and attack him, but the MPP doesn't immediately kick in for me either. So I have one more turn to make loads of MPPs and create the first world war

 

[Samson]

Actually, I may have to reconsider as I type. I make a MPP with Carthage. The next turn:
Portugal attacks one my unit and fails - Carthage does not join the war.
The next again turn.
Portugal attacks one of my units and succeeds - Carthage does not join the war.
The next again turn.
Portugal attacks one of my units and succeeds - Carthage does not join the war.
Portugal then gets an MPP with one of my major neighbours (Ottomans) and if I do anything to attack him I am staring certain defeat in the face as I'm going to guess the game will let that MPP kick in if I so much as fart in Portugal's general direction!

Can anyone explain why Hannibal is sitting on his hands? He literally has units right next to Portuguese ones and is just walking past them.

On the next turn Hannibal does declare war. So that was a 4 turn delay after we were in MPP and Portugal was destroying me. I have never seen that below.

Now I have to let Hannibal and Henry fight it out and hope the MPP Henry has with Ottomans expires without me losing further cities.

I think the critical thing is that they attack your territory. So if they are attacking your units outside of your territory that will not trigger the MPP. The usual solution is to not attack until after they do.

 

[Fergei]

Thank you. What threw me is that it was my territory up until a turn prior, when the city was razed.... interesting. Makes perfect sense now. Thanks!

 

[Takhisis]

if they are attacking your units outside of your territory that will not trigger the MPP

Is this true?

What happens on neutral ground?

 

[Samson]

Is this true?

What happens on neutral ground?

I am not certain, but I think neutral ground does not trigger it. It might be presence on or attempted move into a tile in your territory, and your units are irrelevant to the calculation.

 

[tjs282]

Yes, that's right: attacks made on units or tiles in neutral territory will not trigger MPPs; only cross-border attacks against one of the partners in an MPP will do that.

 

[Fergei]

Yes, so in my example I lose a city to Portugal and get a MPP with Carthage. If I attack Potugal to reclaim my city, it triggers their MPP with the Ottomans and bring them into the war against me. So I was effectively punished for not having an MPP in advance of being attacked, which I can't argue with.

Portugal attacked me 3 times on what was then neutral territory but as soon as they attack me in my territory with their fourth attack it triggered my MPP with Carthage. A lot to think about to stop such circustances disolving into a world war as other neutral AIs seem to take out random MPPs when a war kicks off.

 

[BlackBetsy]

Yes, so in my example I lose a city to Portugal and get a MPP with Carthage. If I attack Potugal to reclaim my city, it triggers their MPP with the Ottomans and bring them into the war against me. So I was effectively punished for not having an MPP in advance of being attacked, which I can't argue with.

Portugal attacked me 3 times on what was then neutral territory but as soon as they attack me in my territory with their fourth attack it triggered my MPP with Carthage. A lot to think about to stop such circustances disolving into a world war as other neutral AIs seem to take out random MPPs when a war kicks off.

Note that your "territory" does include whatever territory you take, so if you hold a city and Portugal attacks to re-take it, it triggers the MPP. Its one reason to take and hold vs. raze.