Things you thought when you were a noob

[Stewie0416]

The minute i had some kind of army ( usually 2-3 axes ) i DoW. And i was so confused. Why cant i take that 1 city, its just defended by a few longbowmen with some strange triangle next to them!!!! ( i had taken all of Hannibals other cities) So then i just made him into a 1 city vassal. Later in the same game i DoW Toku with 3 tanks....it didnt go well...

 

[Crime Doesn't Pay]

I thought that pacifism give you extra 1 gold per soldier. Doh!

 

[Flegmatica]

What i tought when i was noob you say? Well i tought that WTH i am doing?

 

[Bowsling]

As a former Civ III player, I would guard cities with spearmen solely. when they would get demolished by axemen, I thought there was a problem with the engine.
I also thought cottages and specialists where for losers. that changed when I started losing gold a 100% taxes.

 

[MkLh]

That the IGN guide was written by an expert.

http://guides.ign.com/guides/896712/page_27.html

 

[Gorey]

thinking that gold multiplying buildings were good to build everywhere.. even when the science slider is at 100%. more money is always a good thing right? right? lol

took me awhile to realize there was a difference between the commerce and gold icons. and that 100% science meant all those buildings were useless unless the town had other sources of gold generation besides commerce.

 

[Churchill's Hat]

That the IGN guide was written by an expert.

http://guides.ign.com/guides/896712/page_27.html

Clearly, the Incas, with their horrible Quechas and a leader who is Ind/Fin are the worst civ in the history of Civilization.

 

[mechaerik]

That the IGN guide was written by an expert.

http://guides.ign.com/guides/896712/page_27.html

Several fails:
On Mercantilism

Spoiler :

The opposite of decentralization, mercantilism has the government controlling every aspect of the economy. Citizens are told what they produce, and the government strikes a balance, meaning they deny any foreign trade routes. In game terms, you get free specialists at the cost of additional money. Unless you're on islands and unable to visit other civilizations until late, even Decentralization is better.

On Slavery

Spoiler :

Certain people are judged, for whatever reason, to be inferior to others. The inferiors are treated as possessions or tools, and work or perform other jobs as their masters require. The only real benefit is the ability to sacrifice your people to finish a building, which is not a recommended strategy. It feels strange to me that this wouldn't have some sort of negative on your population's morale; in strict game terms, this is better than Tribalism because the former at least gives you an added option for the same price.

On Caste System:

Spoiler :

Castes are where your parents' place in society is your place as well. Whatever your parents' job is, from artists to nobles, is what you are. Advancement in anything but your own job is forbidden, and marrying outside your class is forbidden as well. In game terms, I despise the Caste System, because as I've said in other sections, specialist citizens are overrated. Stick with Serfdom, it will pay off bigger in the end.

 

[Bowsling]

Several fails:
On Mercantilism

Spoiler :

The opposite of decentralization, mercantilism has the government controlling every aspect of the economy. Citizens are told what they produce, and the government strikes a balance, meaning they deny any foreign trade routes. In game terms, you get free specialists at the cost of additional money. Unless you're on islands and unable to visit other civilizations until late, even Decentralization is better.

On Slavery

Spoiler :

Certain people are judged, for whatever reason, to be inferior to others. The inferiors are treated as possessions or tools, and work or perform other jobs as their masters require. The only real benefit is the ability to sacrifice your people to finish a building, which is not a recommended strategy. It feels strange to me that this wouldn't have some sort of negative on your population's morale; in strict game terms, this is better than Tribalism because the former at least gives you an added option for the same price.

On Caste System:

Spoiler :

Castes are where your parents' place in society is your place as well. Whatever your parents' job is, from artists to nobles, is what you are. Advancement in anything but your own job is forbidden, and marrying outside your class is forbidden as well. In game terms, I despise the Caste System, because as I've said in other sections, specialist citizens are overrated. Stick with Serfdom, it will pay off bigger in the end.

exactly what i was thinking

 

[Joecoolyo]

I thought that any tile in your empire could be worked, and wondered why my cottages didn't grow.
I looked at civics from a moral basis.
I didn't know about attacking odds.

I thought the same thing when I was a noob!

 

[Matthew5117]

I thought that pacifism give you extra 1 gold per soldier. Doh!

Same.

Also, I didn't know how you changed what tiles to work, and I probably didn't figure out until 20 games or so.

 

[Gorey]

I, for example, thought that the barb repulsing effect of the Great Wall was limited to the area which is actually inside the wall.

what?

i didn't know that.

*bangs head on desk*

so if i build the great wall, no barbs can enter my cultural borders even if it's outside of the actual great wall?

many times i opted not to build it because most of my cities would have been outside the wall.

how does that work with Great General emergance? is it increased only on when fighting on the inside of the walls or anywhere inside my cultural borderes?

 

[SirDrake]

Bank on this:

I rather thought those little thingies looked like gold, found a building that gave +50% (a whole stack of em!), and beelined Banking. Needless to say, I was rather disappointed when my research rate (with the slider at ~80%) didn't improve after building Banks.



They're all out to get me!:

In my first game, the AI settled a spot which I was eyeing for my 5th or 6th city. Interpreting this as an act of aggression, for my second game I attacked any and all rival scouts who were in "my" territory planning to settle "my" land, declaring war as early as the third game turn.

Then again, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.



Corporations = GPS?:

I had a non-coastal city with coastal tiles in its BFC. Tried to build a lighthouse. Where's the option? What's going on? I checked the Civopedia and saw that some kind of Lighthouse went obsolete with Corporation. Ah! That's it! But the existing Lighthouses still worked, so "obsolete" just means you can't build any new ones.

So for the next 2 or 3 games, I made a point of rushing to settle new cities and build lighthouses everywhere just before researching Corporation.



Tally me Bananas:

After researching Calendar, I built a banana plantation three tiles away from my capital (well within cultural borders). I went into the city screen and realized I couldn't work that tile.

Well... it stands to reason that if no one is working the bananas, then there are no bananas being harvested and thus no health benefit. So I built another city in a lousy spot nearby.


Along that same line of thought, I razed an AI city because it was right on top of an ivory tile and then built a new city right next to it. 'Cause I needed the ivory. No camp, no elephants, right?



Vassals, come forth!:

I was right excited the first time I switched to Vassalage. After the anarchy ended, I sat back and waited for a special screen to pop up where I would pick out my "+12 free units" and (presumably) place them in my various cities as desired.



Cheers.

 

[Matthew5117]

Last one, hilarious!

 

[Crime Doesn't Pay]

I had no clue that gold was converted into research... I would always try to fix my economy by planting more cottages....

At the very first try (before I used the tutorial) I thought you had to use workers the same way you did in AoE... So I kept spamming workers.... Truly a worker's paradise....

 

[Gorey]

I had no clue that gold was converted into research... I would always try to fix my economy by planting more cottages....

not entirely correct

= commerce
= gold

is converted into / / /
how much (if any) depeds on your slider percentages.

running 70% :
70% of your is converted to
30% of your is converted to

running 70% & 30%
70% of your is converted to
30% of your is converted to
0% of your is converted to


so as you can see.. "gold" is not converted into research. commercee is converted to research. gold is only used to pay for units, city maintance, and civics.

in otherwords any gold you acquire is sent straight to your treasurary.

therefore... any buildings or specialists (and shrines/corporations etc.) that generate or multiply dont go through the slider at all and go straight to your treasuray. which is why pooling all those sources of gold (merchants, corporations, religious shrines etc.) into 'one' city that has multiplying buildings can pay for all your empires expenses.. leaving you free to run the slider at 100% or some ratio that equals 100%. so if you have no sources of gold other than the slider.. you will never have a postive cash flow with the slider at or near 100%, making all those banks you built in your cottage cities next to useless.

understanding this facet alone is what allowed me to jump up to noble level, and when i had my city specialization down to take full advantage of the aforementioned info.. i was able to move up to prince.

 

[Airefuego]

what?

i didn't know that.

*bangs head on desk*

so if i build the great wall, no barbs can enter my cultural borders even if it's outside of the actual great wall?

many times i opted not to build it because most of my cities would have been outside the wall.

how does that work with Great General emergance? is it increased only on when fighting on the inside of the walls or anywhere inside my cultural borderes?

anywhere inside cultural borders

 

[Turquoiside]

Ah, I remember I found out about cities and how they work tiles. AH, those were the days, making it to 1600 A.D. with two size 7 cities. Ah......

 

[Supr49er]

what?

i didn't know that.

*bangs head on desk*

so if i build the great wall, no barbs can enter my cultural borders even if it's outside of the actual great wall?

many times i opted not to build it because most of my cities would have been outside the wall.

how does that work with Great General emergance? is it increased only on when fighting on the inside of the walls or anywhere inside my cultural borderes?

anywhere inside cultural borders

As long as it's on the same continent.

I once made the mistake of building the Great Wall on a small island. Later most of my cities were on a larger landmass, and the barbs kept coming.

 

[Mungo_84]

My very first game, a settler always peace huge marathon as Catherine in Vanilla, in my second city St Petersberg I saw these cool little people in the city screen and assigned about 4 of each kind of specialist and then wondered why my city starved....

I still won a diplomatic victory though.