It is the scenario creation forum that you want.
Tips & Tricks for New Players
- Thread starter ElephantU
- Start date
Robin Hood said:
Bed after SpaceFlight? From SpaceFlight to landing is usually the most exciting part of the game - building as fast as possible, launch and fortify, "clean house" a bit before landing (or, for OCC games, butter them up and try to sabotage attempts at overtaking), and then the glorious arrival movie! I've hit SpaceFlight at midnight and landing at 5am...
Wow, very informative hint guide, even for a non-newbie player.
One additional trick of Leo's that haven't seen mentioned is the production boost. If you set your cities to warriors, and learn gunpowder, but not feudalism, you'll keep on building warriors, but get musketeers out of them. Then you can move the musketeer to another city, disband them and gain 5 shields in the process (build for 10, disband for 15).
The trick is to avoid learning feudalism and don't touch the production queue after gunpowder--otherwise the computer automatically upgrades all of your production (or prevents you from reselecting the warriors.)
The variant on this trick is to make one city a permanent warrior producer. A decent-sized city with net production of 10-14 shields, pumping out a warrior a turn, then distributing them to new cities in need of a production boost. If the city has all the improvements it needs (aqueduct/sewer, and happiness control--this is the one place where Shakespeare excels), and if you can jump over feudalism (learn Chivalry from another civ), you can continue producing the cheap warriors indefinitely (or at least until you're forced into researching feudalism).
Qwerty
One additional trick of Leo's that haven't seen mentioned is the production boost. If you set your cities to warriors, and learn gunpowder, but not feudalism, you'll keep on building warriors, but get musketeers out of them. Then you can move the musketeer to another city, disband them and gain 5 shields in the process (build for 10, disband for 15).
The trick is to avoid learning feudalism and don't touch the production queue after gunpowder--otherwise the computer automatically upgrades all of your production (or prevents you from reselecting the warriors.)
The variant on this trick is to make one city a permanent warrior producer. A decent-sized city with net production of 10-14 shields, pumping out a warrior a turn, then distributing them to new cities in need of a production boost. If the city has all the improvements it needs (aqueduct/sewer, and happiness control--this is the one place where Shakespeare excels), and if you can jump over feudalism (learn Chivalry from another civ), you can continue producing the cheap warriors indefinitely (or at least until you're forced into researching feudalism).
Qwerty
You can avoid the change to musketeers by selecting a building or wonder. It will ask if you want to take the 50% cut and you can select "No".
Wow! Never thought of Leo that way. This makes Leo useful in a peaceful strategy as well.
NaiveFairy
Chieftain
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2005
- Messages
- 11
a quick question about ship chaining, after rereading how to do it, it makes total sense, and i understand that you need two chains to do simul transports.
when using triremes, i assume LH is a must, b/c i tried this without it, and i must say, that i was unimpressed when my ships and their cargo sank to the bottom of the sea.
It was a very expensive lesson to learn on my part
when using triremes, i assume LH is a must, b/c i tried this without it, and i must say, that i was unimpressed when my ships and their cargo sank to the bottom of the sea.
It was a very expensive lesson to learn on my part
Sorry about that. Trireme ship chains need to run along the coast, or build LightHouse but that is the cost of 5 ships which might be a better purchase. If you can bend the route to follow land rather than going direct, or choose a nearer destination, you will lower the bonus payment a bit but may be able to make more deliveries with less ships. I prefer to do a map exchange before setting out so I have some sense of distance, and if lucky the land in between. A larger group of cities closer to your empire is sometimes a better destination than a smaller group further away.
Another thing to warn you about is replacing Triremes and Caravels with Galleons or Transports before switching from Republic to Democracy. The extra unhappiness will seriously disrupt your cities.
BTW, welcome to CFC!
Another thing to warn you about is replacing Triremes and Caravels with Galleons or Transports before switching from Republic to Democracy. The extra unhappiness will seriously disrupt your cities.
BTW, welcome to CFC!
NaiveFairy
Chieftain
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2005
- Messages
- 11
ElephantU said:
Elephant4U ,
Thanks for the reply, you can imagine my dismay when not once but twice i lost fully loaded ships
i had no idea you had to keep them on the coast, which of course for triremes makes total sense, i guess i thought with this exploit they wouldn't sink
I tend to play on large maps, and i find crossing large bodies of water a real hassle unless you have LH and/or Sails.
Trying to improve my game somewhat, (i always win but never really try for low times, as i like to grind it out) but if i have like 11 cities or so, and i start the caravan churn, how many of them should i use for wonders, and how many should i use for trade routes, that is my biggest issue, how early is early for trade routes? I use alot of caravans for wonders and maybe i need to trim my wonders down some, but i find less chance to trade and wonders always pressing.
Delscottio
Chieftain
I am so happy yet so gutted!! After 2+ years of playing this game i just couldn't get above king level on a consistant basis - but after using the ship chain "tactic" (still cant decide if its a cheat or a mere exploitation of the game).
After using the chain my research just rocketed and in the end got bored so wnet on a bloodlust route in emporer - slaughted the little buggers by the 1800's - not a huge achievement by some of the peeps standards on here but for me was a major success.
Cheers - now moving on to a large map to see if i can replicate my success.
After using the chain my research just rocketed and in the end got bored so wnet on a bloodlust route in emporer - slaughted the little buggers by the 1800's - not a huge achievement by some of the peeps standards on here but for me was a major success.
Cheers - now moving on to a large map to see if i can replicate my success.
I just learned a new trick playing GOTM57. The amazing thing is that I learned this from the AI!
I was playing a peaceful strategy and Carthaginians were determined to steal my techs. They kept sending diplomats my way and I kept ejecting them. Then they sent two of them stacked together! I could not eject them and being in democracy and peace I could not attack them either. They went ahead and stole the tech. It cost them two diplomats instead of one (I declared war and killed the other one) but they got what they wanted.
I was playing a peaceful strategy and Carthaginians were determined to steal my techs. They kept sending diplomats my way and I kept ejecting them. Then they sent two of them stacked together! I could not eject them and being in democracy and peace I could not attack them either. They went ahead and stole the tech. It cost them two diplomats instead of one (I declared war and killed the other one) but they got what they wanted.
-Tomasz-
Explorer
I have two questions conecerning caravans.
1. When I establish a trade route and get the gold bonus, do I still get some gold per turn out of it? How many beakers can I get from one route? ( are they for ever? )
2. Does having only one caravan building city make any difference if I send my caravans to one AI city constantly?
cheers
Tomasz
1. When I establish a trade route and get the gold bonus, do I still get some gold per turn out of it? How many beakers can I get from one route? ( are they for ever? )
2. Does having only one caravan building city make any difference if I send my caravans to one AI city constantly?
cheers
Tomasz
1. When a delivery is made you get a one time payment in gold and an equal payment in science beakers. Then a trade route is established. The size of the trade route depends on a number of factors, but it ends up giving the city additional trade arrows. These arrows are then added to the cities total just like the one the city gets for having roads and such. Depending on your tax rate these arrows can generate gold or science or luxuries for you.
2. Each city can have only three active trade routes, so if one city is building all your caravans after the third delivery it will not get a fourth one for any deliveries after that. newer routes may replace older ones, but you will never have more than three. At some point, the cargos a city can produce may disappear and then the city would only be able to produce food caravans until a commidity is unblocked in the future. One short term benefit to having one city sending out all of your caravans is if it is a large trade producer and will give you larger one-time payments when the cargo is delivered.
2. Each city can have only three active trade routes, so if one city is building all your caravans after the third delivery it will not get a fourth one for any deliveries after that. newer routes may replace older ones, but you will never have more than three. At some point, the cargos a city can produce may disappear and then the city would only be able to produce food caravans until a commidity is unblocked in the future. One short term benefit to having one city sending out all of your caravans is if it is a large trade producer and will give you larger one-time payments when the cargo is delivered.
Sharkbait
Warlord
One question re the AI tech - I remember reading somewhere that the AI tends to follow what you set your own science % level to. Is this the case for all AI civs you face? Have people made much active use of this if so? e.g. set own science to zero, had one scientist and used caravans for research, while at the same time stopping AI research. Is that how it works?
Andu Indorin
Retired Druid
Offhand, I've never noticed a correlation between my civ's science research level, and the science research levels of other civs. And I've don't believe I've ever seen another an AI science rate set at 0% of the budget when mine has been so set (and so relying on caravan/freight deliveries).
I'm curious as to the source of this observation regarding human vs. AI science research rates.
I'm curious as to the source of this observation regarding human vs. AI science research rates.
I'd heard it several years ago over on Apolyton, but I don't think it was an absolute or exact observation. Just generally, if the human player's science is set low the AI will follow suit, whereas if the human player's is high the AI will try to elevate theirs. Variations in AI "natures" (Militarist/Civilized, Aggressive/Rational, etc) may affect how closely they try to track, but several comparison games seemed to validate the general pattern. Games where we set Science very low, most AI civs took a long time to each discovery. I too have never seen them set it to 0, though.
Sharkbait
Warlord
I'm playing a game at the moment where tech progress by the AI was v ordinary and I had my sci rate set low and using freights for discoveries, then decided to bump up the rate to 60% or so, and suddenly the civs all started making some real progress. I restarted from the same place and kept the rate low and sure enough the AI just kept plodding along and the game progressed much easier. Think I had my rate at 10% not zero though.
In theory having a rule of keeping your science rate above 50% would make for a more difficult game e.g. in a succession game...
In theory having a rule of keeping your science rate above 50% would make for a more difficult game e.g. in a succession game...
Andu Indorin
Retired Druid
It's possible that the AI's programming precludes any computer civ carrying a 0% in science; otherwise, perhaps there is a correlation. But again, I haven't seen a positive correlation evident in my Classic 2.42 version.
Tabadi
Chieftain
#35 - Unsupported units
If you have a HUGE civ (~120 cities +), new cities will produce NONE support units. Move supported units into these cities, click the unit then "Support From This City" - the unit will then become "NONE" and its home city will no longer need to provide support.
If you have a HUGE civ (~120 cities +), new cities will produce NONE support units. Move supported units into these cities, click the unit then "Support From This City" - the unit will then become "NONE" and its home city will no longer need to provide support.
