Quick Questions and Answers

[Royal]

So I've picked Civ5 with all DLC a few days ago, and messing around. I have fairly advanced game (just have about WWI tech level, marathon, small map-inland sea-with 3 other civs and 4 CS, low difficulty...just starting), and I'm wondering about few things...

First, the damn aluminum. There are just three deposits on whole map, and none is anywhere nearby. Most accessible is probably one with mere 3 units that lies near the border of allied CS, although it's on the other side of map. Second is barely within reach of another civ's city (3 hex distance), but they're neutral, and also quite far away. Right now there is neither land nor sea connection possible to that city even if I capture it, because another civ's capital is in the way and city is inland. Third is on the other side of map, between two other civilizations with on good place around to place a city.

So I'm wondering if I can somehow help the allied CS to expand (into unclaimed lands) to grab the aluminum for me, or is there any way to replace it (like in Civ4 BTS where it was possible to gain some strategic resources via corporations), or whether attacking another civ is the only way...

I still don't know what victory I'm going for. It's a learning game, and I picked low difficulty...so now I'm way ahead in everything.

Another thing...when starting agame...is there any way, when using some of the randomly generated maps, to make it wrap around like in previous civ games? I don't like flat maps with safe corners and borders...

For aluminum, there is a building (I think it's called a Recycling Plant) that grants 3 aluminum.

But for other resources you may have the same problem (for me it's always coal, there's only ever 3 on the map).

 

[10000hours]

For aluminum, there is a building (I think it's called a Recycling Plant) that grants 3 aluminum.

But for other resources you may have the same problem (for me it's always coal, there's only ever 3 on the map).

Royal is close, you can build the Recycling Center after researching Ecology and it gives you 2 aluminum per building. You can build up to 5.

Strategic resources can be a bit of a crapshoot, but you can try selecting "Strategic Balance" in advanced settings for game setup, and that will balance out strategic resource placement. Otherwise, you may have to ally a CS, go to war, plant a GG for a citadel, or trade for strategic resources. Sometimes it's even worth planting a late city if it's something pivotal to your strategy that can't be found any other way.

Regarding wraparound maps: some do and some don't. I don't like the maps that just end in nothingness at the sides, but I'm not sure which exactly they are. Typically Pangaea, Continents, Fractal, or anything with Islands will wrap left to right. Nothing wraps top to bottom AFAIK.

 

[rover6695]

1) Specialists

I'm still not sharp on the concept.
I thought you could only have specialist if the city was on "science" or "gold" focus and had to be a certain size.

However, is it instead one where you have to build certain buildings (University, Public School, Bank) in order to have specialists AND your city must be X size?

Just would like to know the guidelines on how this works.


2) Railroads.

Is it worth it upgrade from roads?

Also, for roads, I take just so long as every city is connected to the capital, that is all you need? You do not need to build a road to a "cotton" luxury resource?



3) ZOC/Turns

I'm getting messed up sometimes.
Say I have a CB with 2 moves pt.
I go from grassland to forest...do I lose 1M PT?
What about forest to grassland?

Also, what about crossing rivers, crossing into CS or AI territory (if friends or war), passing by a barb/CS/AI unit?

I keep having issues where, say I have a unit with 5 moves PT, I think I can go through an AI/CS territory for tiles and be out in that turn, and instead I get stuck and bombed.

 

[joncnunn]

1) Specialists

I'm still not sharp on the concept.
I thought you could only have specialist if the city was on "science" or "gold" focus and had to be a certain size.

However, is it instead one where you have to build certain buildings (University, Public School, Bank) in order to have specialists AND your city must be X size?

Just would like to know the guidelines on how this works.


2) Railroads.

Is it worth it upgrade from roads?

Also, for roads, I take just so long as every city is connected to the capital, that is all you need? You do not need to build a road to a "cotton" luxury resource?



3) ZOC/Turns

I'm getting messed up sometimes.
Say I have a CB with 2 moves pt.
I go from grassland to forest...do I lose 1M PT?
What about forest to grassland?

Also, what about crossing rivers, crossing into CS or AI territory (if friends or war), passing by a barb/CS/AI unit?

I keep having issues where, say I have a unit with 5 moves PT, I think I can go through an AI/CS territory for tiles and be out in that turn, and instead I get stuck and bombed.

#1 I'm not aware of a minimum city size required for a specialist in Civ V, but you do want the city to be more than pop 5 (Civ IV min size limit) before adding them so it will still grow. Pop 8+ is much better.

#2 For military purposes yes. It also provides a small hammer boost to the non capital cities.
Yes, you don't need roads to luxuries in Civ V.

#3 MP cost is for the tile you are entering, NOT the one you are existing.
No extra penalty for movement into CS or AI territory other than if you are at war, the roads/rail won't work for you. (That was first removed in Civ III after the massive Civ II exploit of conquer a big empire in a single turn with the AIs existing rail network.)

It says pillaging trade route gives small diplomatic penalty with the Civ that is receiving trade route. I have never seen indication of this on diplomacy screen eventhough I have pillaged tons of trade routes. So is that text correct or did they forgot to actually put that modification there?

I've never seen a penalty for that either. I don't know if it's correct or not, and am only responding to this since no one else has.
I do know that I as the human get notified if an AI cuts another AIs route that was going to me.

 

[corranhorn01]

Quick question about diplo, etc.

I was playing a Prince game (practicing 3/4 city trad starts for faster SVs and better early games) and I got backstabbed twice by The Iroquois (over about 100 turns), through DoFs. The first one was a combined him and Ghandi, 2nd one was just him. while I did buy a couple of tiles near one of his cities about T80, he was still going on about 'recent tile buying' at T200...

My question,
How does he still have better diplo with all the other civs after breaking 2 DoFs than I do?

I was managing diplo all game, forgiving spying, sharing intrigue, etc. I did denounce him after his 2nd DoW, and that caused a few people to get annoyed with me as 'I denounced someone they liked more than me'.

Also, random side note - Darius was offering 8gpt for OBs

 

[joncnunn]

Quick question about diplo, etc.

I was playing a Prince game (practicing 3/4 city trad starts for faster SVs and better early games) and I got backstabbed twice by The Iroquois (over about 100 turns), through DoFs. The first one was a combined him and Ghandi, 2nd one was just him. while I did buy a couple of tiles near one of his cities about T80, he was still going on about 'recent tile buying' at T200...

My question,
How does he still have better diplo with all the other civs after breaking 2 DoFs than I do?

I was managing diplo all game, forgiving spying, sharing intrigue, etc. I did denounce him after his 2nd DoW, and that caused a few people to get annoyed with me as 'I denounced someone they liked more than me'.

Also, random side note - Darius was offering 8gpt for OBs

Well, Iroquois and Gandhi would have gotten positive modifiers with each other for fighting a common enemy (namely you.)

It's normal for them to think recent was a long time ago, the only sure way to get "tile buying" to go away is to first promise not to do so and indeed not by any tiles until you get a notice about having kept your promise.

Ideologies and World Council resolutions are also factors.

On Darius offering that much, if the World Council hasn't been founded yet, it means that there's a major AI that Darius thinks he can't meet without going thru your lands.

If the world council has been founded though, then there are multiple city states he can't reach without going thru your lands.

 

[corranhorn01]

It wasn't just Ghandi that liked him more than me, which is why I'm so confused (however, I did forget about that modifier, so thanks ).

How long does it usually take to get such a message? I promised not to, and then it never popped up (and there was ~200 turns of play after I promised).

I was the only player with an Ideology until the last 5-10 turns of the game, so that wasn't a factor.

World Congress had been founded for some time when I was being offered 8gpt for OB, so must've been the CS.

Thanks for the answer

 

[10000hours]

It wasn't just Ghandi that liked him more than me, which is why I'm so confused (however, I did forget about that modifier, so thanks ).

How long does it usually take to get such a message? I promised not to, and then it never popped up (and there was ~200 turns of play after I promised).

I was the only player with an Ideology until the last 5-10 turns of the game, so that wasn't a factor.

World Congress had been founded for some time when I was being offered 8gpt for OB, so must've been the CS.

Thanks for the answer

I don't know the exact number of turns it takes to get the "you kept your expansion promise," but it seems like around 30 on standard and 45 on epic, like most agreements. However, I've heard that Civs can get mad when your culture border naturally expands in these situations, not just from you purchasing tiles for gold. That could have been what happened in your situation to make them angry. Kind of a bummer since it's out of your control, but I don't think it's a huge diplo hit anyway.

 

[Sarin]

A few quickies again

What terrain type are wonders, especially for the purposes of cities? I mean...can a wonder count as mountain/lake/atoll for the purposes of various buildings and powers (like Observatory, Neuschwanstein, Floating Gardens...)

No XP limit from barbarians (or raised to at least level 6 or so) for BnW. Is it somewhere around? Can't find it. I'm just annoyed how the early troops fall behind late game recruits because they don't have access to free morale promotion and potentially others. Or is it possible to get them those later?

Shoshone...they can choose their bonus from ruins. I'm wondering what's best? Should I just pick culture when available, or population, or faith? Or spread it? I though of taking culture all the time, to get the policies early...or is something else better? I know I have to pick unit upgrade one to get the pathfinders into regular upgrade tree...

 

[BlackWizard]

A few quickies again

What terrain type are wonders, especially for the purposes of cities? I mean...can a wonder count as mountain/lake/atoll for the purposes of various buildings and powers (like Observatory, Neuschwanstein, Floating Gardens...)

No XP limit from barbarians (or raised to at least level 6 or so) for BnW. Is it somewhere around? Can't find it. I'm just annoyed how the early troops fall behind late game recruits because they don't have access to free morale promotion and potentially others. Or is it possible to get them those later?

Shoshone...they can choose their bonus from ruins. I'm wondering what's best? Should I just pick culture when available, or population, or faith? Or spread it? I though of taking culture all the time, to get the policies early...or is something else better? I know I have to pick unit upgrade one to get the pathfinders into regular upgrade tree...

They count as mountains for observatories but I think they dont count as mountains for wonders (neu... or machu pichu)

Dont know if lake victoria counts as lake for floating gardens but you can build observatory if next to lake victoria

 

[liv]

As for your third question Sarin about Shoshone when you play them you will see that you cannot always pick what you want. If you picked culture one ruin that option may not be possible the next one.
I usually pick culture or faith first. You want to get your choice of pantheon as early as you can. That can be a huge advantage for you. And then also open tradition to get your culture going. Then technology for me. It really depends on what level you play too. On higher levels the AI starts with more units and ruins will go fast on lower ones you can usually get to a few more before that rush ends.

 

[jtoeg]

Okay so I have this problem with Brave New Worlds tourism thing. I adopted the Autocracy Ideology before anybody else adopted any ideology. Some turns after that, Marrocco adopted the Order ideology and to start with they had more tourism points than I had and I noticed that my public opinions sank so I ended up with about -35 happiness from it. Now, however, I have 75 tourism while he's got 30 but my public opinion is still sinking. Now I'm wondering if it takes time or if theres something I'm missing.
Any replies appreciated.

 

[liv]

I have not looked at the actual numbers for this but I know from playing that it takes time for the people to favour my ideology again. Both your culture and your tourism are "weapons" against their tourism. You also need to make sure that you are careful with things like trade routes and open borders and common religion till you have turned it around.
If possible and I have to I try force some things through the world congress to help me out. Like preferred religion or preferred ideology.

 

[10000hours]

Okay so I have this problem with Brave New Worlds tourism thing. I adopted the Autocracy Ideology before anybody else adopted any ideology. Some turns after that, Marrocco adopted the Order ideology and to start with they had more tourism points than I had and I noticed that my public opinions sank so I ended up with about -35 happiness from it. Now, however, I have 75 tourism while he's got 30 but my public opinion is still sinking. Now I'm wondering if it takes time or if theres something I'm missing.
Any replies appreciated.

Tourism and Ideology pressure, to me, is one of the more complex facets to wrap my head around in the game. The basic explanation is that your tourism number at a certain point in time isn't what determines pressure, but the accumulation of your tourism vs the AI culture, put against the accumulation of the AI tourism vs your culture that adds up throughout the game. The reason it seems instant is that it only becomes relevant when you pick ideologies.

If you go into the tourism screen (by clicking the tourism number at the top) you can see the ideological pressure you're under, and also see the tourism count vs culture count for each civ.

Another factor is that someone may have passed a world congress resolution to make one ideology the world ideology, which adds additional pressure to everyone for that ideology.

I suggest checking out this guide that explains it all in depth: http://www.carlsguides.com/strategy/civilization5/culturalvictory.php

 

[jtoeg]

Read through the guide but i'm still pretty stupid on this, I've added 2 pictures of the tourism menu
and if someone could take a look at them and tell me SOMETHING that might help me, I'd be ever gratefull. I'm Austria by the way.

 

[Browd]

Pretty simple to diagnose. Morocco is Exotic towards you while you are unknown to them. That one tick of ideological difference can have a substantial impact.

You need to spend some quality time studying every tooltip on this screen and the culture victory screen. For starters, figure out why he has a tourism multiplier of 71% versus you while you have just 41% versus him. The tooltip will itemize every element of those numbers. Some of his modifiers may be things you can do something about (e.g., have you given him open borders?, have you put a diplomat in his capital?, have you taken Cultural Exchange?), while others are less in your control (e.g., no shared religion, he got Order adopted as World Ideology, he's out of trade route range for you, he's taken Cultural Exchange and/or Dictatorship of the Proletariat).

And more Great Works will have a substantial impact, as will capitalizing on theming bonuses. Shift around some Great Works to find more theming bonuses and/or trade Great Works with other civs. Also, if you took Autocracy, you must be planning on domination -- go kill Morocco and take his stuff, including his Great Works.

 

[59saintdane]

As for your third question Sarin about Shoshone when you play them you will see that you cannot always pick what you want. If you picked culture one ruin that option may not be possible the next one.
I usually pick culture or faith first. You want to get your choice of pantheon as early as you can. That can be a huge advantage for you. And then also open tradition to get your culture going. Then technology for me. It really depends on what level you play too. On higher levels the AI starts with more units and ruins will go fast on lower ones you can usually get to a few more before that rush ends.

Why not free population?

 

[joncnunn]

Why not free population?

On Deity, the AI actually does in the form of an extra settler.

Note however that as the human difficulty level increases, the basket the AI needs to fill for cities to grow becomes smaller compared to the human's. This has actually based the case since way back in Civ I.

 

[apparatus]

Is it possible (or does a mod exist) to prioritize military unit moves first when at war, and ranged units over melee? Often I'm halfway through attacking a city when the game interrupts me to choose production half a continent away or adopt a policy.

 

[59saintdane]

On Deity, the AI actually does in the form of an extra settler.

Note however that as the human difficulty level increases, the basket the AI needs to fill for cities to grow becomes smaller compared to the human's. This has actually based the case since way back in Civ I.

Sorry for being unclear, I was referring to the earlier bit about the ruins, asking why he didn't mention picking free population from a ruin.