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What do the symbols above the city mean?

Virtual Alex

Virtual Alex

King
Joined
Jul 1, 2006
Messages
964
Location
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Above the city name, on the world map there appear a bunch of symbols. Like the religion symbol and corporations, and defense. I understand most of them. Well actually I understand what they all mean, but I don't get how or why they appear.

Some cities have a hammer, a beaker, or a pile of gold. I guess this means that city makes alot of beakers/gold/hammers? But what is alot? Does this symbol do anything other than tell you this city has met some threshhold and now makes "alot"?

Also the trade symbol, what does that mean when a city shows it? Simply that a city is making money from trade routes? or has trade routes? Seems a little pointless since every city has trade routes.
 
:science:/:hammers:/:gold: = The city is producing the most :science:/:hammers:/:gold: in your empire.
:traderoute: = The city is connected to your capitals trade route network
Religion = If a religion is present in the city, the corresponding symbol will appear. If the symbol also have a yellow star, then it's the holy city of that religion
% = Defense bonus. Note, if a city have walls the city may show a higher number when you select a maceman rather than a cannon, since gunpowder ignores walls and castles.
 
Yeah the trade one is as stupid as I thought.

But I had no idea about the others! So that only appears on a single city each and tells me the MOST of my empire. Thats helpful actually.
 
Cities don't automatically have a trade route to your capital. You do require roads, river or coastal connections (with sailing), or oceanic connections (with astronomy) in order to get that trade route. The symbol is useful early on in the game when you need to figure out where to build roads, and which cities need trade routes, especially when it's not obvious (next to a river which leads to the coast leading to another coastal city connecting borders which has a road to the capital?)
 
Wow I am sorry I struck such a nerve calling the trade symbol stupid. Who do I owe an apology too? I guess I will start with you Obsolete who seems to be the most offended.

Dear Obsolete,

Sometimes I speak without thinking, and sometimes I think out loud. Often this inability to properly censor what I am saying causes some unintended hurt feelings, as the case appears to be here. I am DREADFULLY sorry for hurting your feelings by calling the trade route symbol stupid. It was wrong of me. It wont happen again. I promise to love everything about CIV 4 no matter what.

Insincerely, Virtual Alex

Anyway, the reason I think that symbol is stupid is by the time you have astronomy, and probably much sooner than that, all of your cities will carry that symbol. It's needles clutter on the main screen and it sits there for the majority of the game. That space could be much better utilized with a useful icon like explaining how far above or below the happy cap that city is. Or which city currently has the most GPP points.

Moderator Action: trolling - warned
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889
 
it means you are connected to that leader's trade network. So you can have trade routes, automatic religions spread, and can trade resources.
 
Here's another one, (BTW I'm running BUFFY mod) and next to the AI's names sometimes there's a fist. Whats that?
 
It means that they are busy, i.e. they have their hands full.
 
Virtual Alex said:
I didn't realize there is such a symbol next to leader names.

I assume it means you have trade deals currently active with that leader?
Click to expand...

It means that you have a trade route connecting to their capital, much like the ones in you city's mean they connect to your capital. It does not necessarily mean that you actually have an active trade route (meaning you earn commerce) to them. The main purpose of this symbol is that it lets you know if you can trade resources with them.

I agree that :traderoute: symbol is usually pointless in the later parts of the game, but in the early and even mid-game it is useful and you can't just take it out in the middle of the game. Best to just leave it in as it doesn't take up much space anyway.;)
 
none said:
It means that they are busy, i.e. they have their hands full.
Click to expand...

Actually, it means that they are mobilizing for war. If you're their nearest neighbour and you see it appear, it might be a good idea to work on your defences.
 
Tibur753 said:
The main purpose of this symbol is that it lets you know if you can trade resources with them.
Click to expand...

You don't need to have that symbol appear in order to trade resources. All it means is that you are able to establish trade routes with each other.
 
Willem said:
You don't need to have that symbol appear in order to trade resources. All it means is that you are able to establish trade routes with each other.
Click to expand...

I would say it's the other way around.

If you are connected by river/coast to an AI who have sailing while you don't, the :traderoute: symbol will appear and you will be able to trade resources, however, only the AI will be able to have trade routes with your cities. If both of you have sailing, but you have not explored the coast, you will not get trade routes.
 
Well, this thread helped me a lot, and I did a lot of research for the meanings of symbols on the AI's names.

The ones I know or think I know:
The religion icon shows the civ's current religions(starred indicates the origin).
Three arrow circle papyrus is the open borders deal.
:traderoute: indicates a connection between your capital and theirs.

Now, what about the :espionage: icon? And the other icons? I would be really gladfull knowing this stuff. Thanks since now.

And sorry for the Brazilian English and all the mistakes on it, haha.
 
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