Stupid Civ Tricks

[Ayani]

I found out last night that you dont have to finish prerequisite buildings to build wonders, etc.

For instance, the Hanging Gardens requires that you have an aqueduct in that city. I had a city producing mad hammers, but it only had a 5 population, so I wanted to build the Hanging Gardens there but I didn't need an aqueduct in that city yet. I found out that if you start the aqueduct, then let it build for 1 turn, the next turn you can change production to the Hanging Gardens, and put the aqueduct on hold.

I assume this would work for other things as well, such as forge/Eiffel Tower, etc. However I dont think it would work for Oxford or religious cathedrals, as they require x amount of finished prereq. buildings.

LAnkou, I very much enjoyed your "nuclear-diplomacy"

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I found out last night that you dont have to finish prerequisite buildings to build wonders, etc.

For instance, the Hanging Gardens requires that you have an aqueduct in that city. I had a city producing mad hammers, but it only had a 5 population, so I wanted to build the Hanging Gardens there but I didn't need an aqueduct in that city yet. I found out that if you start the aqueduct, then let it build for 1 turn, the next turn you can change production to the Hanging Gardens, and put the aqueduct on hold.

One note, the Aqueduct Doesn't mean you can go over 6 population instead it only adds 2 health (so you only need the Aqueduct if your city is unhealthy or about to become that way (which could be at 3 pop or 10 pop depending on circumstances)

 

[Mannu]

I found out last night that you dont have to finish prerequisite buildings to build wonders, etc.

For instance, the Hanging Gardens requires that you have an aqueduct in that city. I had a city producing mad hammers, but it only had a 5 population, so I wanted to build the Hanging Gardens there but I didn't need an aqueduct in that city yet. I found out that if you start the aqueduct, then let it build for 1 turn, the next turn you can change production to the Hanging Gardens, and put the aqueduct on hold.

I assume this would work for other things as well, such as forge/Eiffel Tower, etc. However I dont think it would work for Oxford or religious cathedrals, as they require x amount of finished prereq. buildings.

LAnkou, I very much enjoyed your "nuclear-diplomacy"

I experienced something a little different. I queued up a Library and then the Great Library in one of my cities. I wasn't paying attention or something and I must have switched production from the Library to the Great Library and I used a Great Engineer to rush it. It went to 1 turn to completion and automatically switched back to the Library. I couldn't finish the Great Library until I finished the Library in that city...

 

[KAuss]

Instead of trading tech for tech, I just do 10 gold for 10 gold... As long as they don't leave empty handed...

Also, sometime the AI will offer you up a trade you can't request for... Whether it be tech they're not willing to trade, or a tech at a lower price... Once you negotiate, you'll lose the trade even if you don't change anything...

So there are down sides to clicking this all the time...

 

[Danmed]

A trick I have used is after an unsuccessful invasion or at least in a stalled one I will gift a captured enemy city to a friend with open borders with me but not my enemy to gain a safe haven for my injured units. That way you can strike from a position of strength any counter attacks without your enemy being able to attack you.

PS Is there any particular reason I find myself friends with the Egyptians in any game I play with them in it (I usually play as Eng\Eliz)?

 

[snepp]

I found out last night that you dont have to finish prerequisite buildings to build wonders, etc.

For instance, the Hanging Gardens requires that you have an aqueduct in that city. I had a city producing mad hammers, but it only had a 5 population, so I wanted to build the Hanging Gardens there but I didn't need an aqueduct in that city yet. I found out that if you start the aqueduct, then let it build for 1 turn, the next turn you can change production to the Hanging Gardens, and put the aqueduct on hold.

I have seen this posted before and discounted it. Do you have any proof that this actually works? I've tried this in every combination I can think of, and every time I go to the next turn the Hanging Gardens is removed from the build queue.

 

[sekong]

Another bug..

Post your stupid Civ tricks here: legal exploits, neat effects, head-scratching quirks, or the like.

I'll start it off:

I NEVER LOST SIGHT OF THE LAND
A pretty impressive feat, to be sure...almost too impressive...

The first player to circumnavigate the globe gets a +1 movement bonus for naval units. But did you know that you can do this without building a single naval unit? I found this out in a rather surprising manner. I was playing an isolationist game on a standard map and hadn't bothered to go outside of my own territory, let alone sea exploration. Then all of a sudden, the event pops up telling me I've been the first to navigate the globe! Turns out that I had traded maps enough times with so many AI players that I could trace an unbroken path in the ocean across the globe. Even though I hadn't built a single ship, I pieced enough of the other civ's maps to make the whole connection.

I guess the world is flat.

 

[Lord Chambers]

To gain the +1 movement bonus for rounding the globe with one of your units, you DO NOT have to connect the "trenches" in the fog of war with each other- you can accomplish it by moving on a tile on the same vertical line on the map, regardless of how much fog of war is in between vertically.

Could you say this another way? I don't understand.

 

[Danmed]

Could you say this another way? I don't understand.

What he is saying that if you send a boat halfway around the world along the north pole and another boat around the other half along the south pole you get the bonus even though everything in between is black.

 

[k-a-bob]

Could you say this another way? I don't understand.

If you uncover a piece of terrain in every column on your map, the it counts as going around the world. You don't have to have a path all the way around.

(Like in Excel, you could see A1, B10, C3, etc)

 

[huang di]

Could you say this another way? I don't understand.

In other words, imagine you sent out a boat above the equator sailing east, and another below the equator sailing west. Once those two boats reach the same longitude (on the other side of the world), no matter how far apart they are in latitude, you get credit for going around the world--even if there is uncharted territory between the two. It happened to me once and took me a while to figure out how I'd sailed around the world.

 

[ducki]

Another trick with diplomacy that I used is to bribe the AI. If I see an enemy army marching towards my borders, I know the war is upon me because I was "culture bombing" the AI. I only have 1-2 defenders, whichis not enough to deflect the enemy. So what I do is offer some worthless resource to the enemy as a gift. Most of the time it makes the enemy rethink the war and turn back. That gives me 20 turns to build up defenses, or build my own army to crush him.

Two quick notes on this.
1)IIRC, trade deals are 10 turns in Civ4
2)"Most of the time" is a very important part of that statement. I have yet to use this trick to avoid a war. I've tried, oh, how I've tried. Multiple resources, free techs, etc. No dice. Apparently, my military was so weak that no matter what I offered in weakness, the AI was going to take in strength. This method seems much weakened from C3.

 

[TheBarnacle]

PS Is there any particular reason I find myself friends with the Egyptians in any game I play with them in it (I usually play as Eng\Eliz)?

heh, interesting observation. i notice the same thing. egypt often (usually) universally despised. maybe that's what we have in common.

i also notice that some agg nations have serious anger issues. they'll continue to come at you regardless of their relative strength. that is, i remember in civ 3 i could keep aztecs in check w/o ever wiping them out by razing several of their cities. they would basically limp along the rest of the game until a time i needed/wanted their land. now, they won't just sit there awaiting their doom. they'll come at you kamikaze style. makes it harder i guess.

 

[Danmed]

I have noticed the Kamikaze effect too. On Monarch I was ranked #2 and out of the blue Isabel (ranked 8 of 8) attacked my Island nation with a single Galleon of Cats and Crossbows (I had Musketmen). I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but a further attack never came.

 

[Vizzini]

When in diplomacy, if a civ you have good relations with wants a tech or resource but you don't want to give it to them, and at the same time, you don't want to have a '-1' put against your name, then do the following:

1. Demand appears on your screen.
2. Select to negotiate the deal
3. Once the screen has changed, choose to EXIT the negotiations with no hit on your reputation.

That isn't a demand. That's a request from a "friend". If you decline it the -1 is strictly temporary, how long it lasts depends on the Civ and whether they're at war with anyone else.

A tribute demand however is a different thing entirely and has no option to negotiate - you get to say Yes or No and that's it.

If they're asking out of friendship there are very very few times you'll want to say No. (Space Race techs are about all I say no to) Saying Yes instead gives you a nice fat juicy diplomacy bonus... which can save yer arse later if you need allies. (And they won't ask out of friendship unless relations are already Cautious or better so it's unlikely that the civ who's asking is someone you'll be fighting any time soon anyway)

You can flat out refuse the deal with no rep hit.

Uh, not. A -1 "You refused to help us" or -1 "You refused to help us in time of war" (or both) are certain to show up if they ask out of friendship and you refuse. If you're NOT seeing that show up you're hitting the "let's negotiate" button and using the exploit.

 

[Zhahz]

What do we consider this? An exploit? I dont do this all the time in single player however there have been times where a close friend wants iron (or another critical resource) and I dont want to give it to them. I use this to get out of the negotiations.

I consider it an exploit however I feel that the AI cheats in a different way. AIs will often as you for your very latest tech (or resources, or whatever) no matter what your relations are, sometimes friends asking for "help" or others making demands, and they'll be the kind of techs the AIs would never trade under any circumstances.

If the AIs weren't allowed to ask for things they'd never give up themselves folks would be less inclined to use this exploit (I don't know if I've intentionally used this or not but I'm sure I've negotiated and cancelled out of demands before).

 

[Ruffin]

heh, interesting observation. i notice the same thing. egypt often (usually) universally despised. maybe that's what we have in common.

I always end up friends with the Egyptians, regardless of which civ I play. We have mutual friends too, so it's not that they're isolated (current game I have a Jewish bloc of Greek me, Germany, Egypt, England, and Rome - all pleased or friendly to each other, but annoyed at the other three civs). Dunno what it is about Egypt.

 

[oopsy poopsy]

I like that there is a no tech trading option available, but I would much prefer a no "asking for something for nothing" button. The AI coming and asking for something for free has always been something I don't quite understand. It should require very good relations before this is even possible. I find too often I'm a plus two or three with somebody and they start asking for techs. It mostly seems like a way to make the game harder. Choose your friends now or make them enemies. I know I'm not mentioning any exploits but this was being talked about and it's a feature of the game that I've never liked and it seems to be way too prevalent in civ 4.

 

[mactenchi]

The AI weakness I've used a couple of times now is to get the space race leader involved in a war with somebody else, just by asking them. Their production switches to military units, giving me time to catch up.

 

[ares1980]

EDIT: Just found out that it is also in the Civ4 bug section of this forum: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=138058. It would be strange if I was the first one to find out.....

Is this an expliot?

I'm playing Bismark (German), and I'm at war with Cathrine (Russian). I have the advantage, but I propose that we can make peace if she will make peace with Roosevelt (American). She declines, then I'm asking her what she wants for making peace. A textbox pops up informing me that during peace negotiations only one nation can give something in exchange, and no trade can occur. OK, so far so good. But when I close the text box she has given me an offer, and it is the same that I suggested! I did the same thing to Qin too.

I haven't testet this but what if:
I could demand that she gives me all her cities, she will of course decline. Then I could ask her what she wanted for peace, the textbox pops up, I close it, and then she offers me all her cities!! I could do this even if she is overwhelmingly powerful!

I will test this some more, but has anybody else had the same experience? This could be a pretty big exploit..

Ares