Why can't I build any boats?

[SuperJuiceMaster]

I feel like I'm at the risk of asking for a really obvious answer here, but as far as I can see I have tried everything.

I cannot build or buy any boats even though I've researched both Sailing and Navigation, which is supposed to unlock tier 2 and tier 3 dhows respectively (as Axum). I can't do it on navigable rivers or on the coast. Can't do it in cities or towns. The option just never showed up.

Can I not see the answer even though it's right in front of me or is this actually a bug?

 

[Leyrann]

You need to have certain buildings. I'm not familiar enough with the game yet to be able to name everything by heart, but if I'm not mistaken a Fishing Quay should suffice. Not sure about a Lighthouse, and I don't even remember for sure whether the Wharf is Antiquity or Exploration... If it's Antiquity it probably qualifies.

 

[SuperJuiceMaster]

You're exactly right. Thank you.

It's an interesting design choice to indicate nowhere, neither in the tech tree nor in the description of the fishing boat, that you need this building to build boats.

 

[StargazingDog]

You made me curious, so I checked the civilopedia.

Galleys require Sailing.
Quadrireme require Navigation.
Dhows require Sailing.

Are you saying that you couldn't build any boats unless you built a Fishing Quay in that city? I seem to recall being puzzled as to why I couldn't build ships for a long time despite bee-lining for these technologies. I didn't give it too much thought since it was my first play. I'll have to check it out next time.

 

[SuperJuiceMaster]

You made me curious, so I checked the civilopedia.

Galleys require Sailing.
Quadrireme require Navigation.
Dhows require Sailing.

Are you saying that you couldn't build any boats unless you built a Fishing Quay in that city? I seem to recall being puzzled as to why I couldn't build ships for a long time despite bee-lining for these technologies. I didn't give it too much thought since it was my first play. I'll have to check it out next time.

That's exactly what I'm saying. The Fishing Quay unlocked the tier 1 Dhow and the Lighthouse the tier 2 Dhow. My guess is this correponds to Galley and Quadrireme.

 

[shaglio]

I don’t know about boats, but I struggled to figure out how to build Settlers. The Civilopedia gave a short blurb about what a settler is, its strength, and its movement, but nothing else. It wasn’t until I was in the city build queue that I noticed a checkbox that said “show hidden” which, when checked, showed me that my city needed to be size 5. The next time I play, I’ll have to look and see if it mentions how to unlock building ships (aside from the appropriate tech, of course).

 

[AriochIV]

I don’t know about boats, I struggled to figure out how to build Settlers. The Civilopedia gave a short blurb about what a settler is, its strength, and its movement, but nothing else. It wasn’t until I was in the city build queue that noticed a checkbox that said “show hidden” which, when checked, showed me that my city needed to be size 5. The next time I play, I’ll have to look and see if it mentions how to unlock building ships (aside from the appropriate tech, of course).

There's a lot of hidden criteria. Things just suddenly appear in the build menu with no clear reason why. Sometimes the "Show Hidden" entry tells you, but most of the time it doesn't.

I was unable to build a Dhow as Aksum until I had built a Quay, even though my city center was directly adjacent to a navigable river. I don't recall having seen anywhere that this was a requirement.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I learned of it from watching one of the streamers. I don't think I've seen it mentioned otherwise

 

[UWHabs]

I don’t know about boats, I struggled to figure out how to build Settlers. The Civilopedia gave a short blurb about what a settler is, its strength, and its movement, but nothing else. It wasn’t until I was in the city build queue that noticed a checkbox that said “show hidden” which, when checked, showed me that my city needed to be size 5. The next time I play, I’ll have to look and see if it mentions how to unlock building ships (aside from the appropriate tech, of course).

I didn't notice the show hidden button until my 2nd session today. I did think it was cool that it was hiding the wonders that I wasn't eligible to build in my cities, but definitely more than once I've had to check and uncheck that box to remind myself how much it costs to buy some items.

 

[Mahi]

It's one of those things that prove UI implementation wasn't really prioritised. It still really annoys me they are slacking so much on this area since information is key to a fun Civ game in my opinion. I'm not sure if this is some kind of poorly way to make the game "difficult". Something for the players to find out for themselves.. but these things are so basic so it's probably just lasiness.

 

[Lazy sweeper]

Civilopedia entry doesn't indicate all the pre-requisite for each unit-buildings and pre-requisite for upgrading said unit-building?
Sometime is beneficial to not gobble up too much the UI during gameplay, Civilopedia should be the preferred choice for learning how stuff works.

 

[Bösewicht]

Had the same issue today. Thank you for the explanation and solution.

 

[mrspank]

I'm playing as the Aksumite and have researched sailing. My main city directly borders 2 navigable rivers and has a total of 4 within its borders. I'm unable to build a Fishing Quay or a Dhow. This is super frustrating. Here's a screenshot. Does anyone know why I can't build a Fishing Quay?

 

[StargazingDog]

I'm playing as the Aksumite and have researched sailing. My main city directly borders 2 navigable rivers and has a total of 4 within its borders. I'm unable to build a Fishing Quay or a Dhow. This is super frustrating. Here's a screenshot. Does anyone know why I can't build a Fishing Quay?

View attachment 721748

Do you have an unfinished/empty urban district somewhere in the city? We can't see what is off to the right side.

 

[mrspank]

Do you have an unfinished/empty urban district somewhere in the city? We can't see what is off to the right side.

I have a library that I started (see screenshot) but didn't spend a single turn of production on (I changed my mind after I selected it). Does that block building other districts or something? I can build other buildings like the altar, garden and saw pit. So why not the fishing quay?

UPDATE: The unfinished library was indeed the problem. I loaded an autosave 1 turn prior and the fishing quay is a build option. Lesson learned: be careful choosing a building even if you don't spend any production on it!

 

[StargazingDog]

Lesson learned: be careful choosing a building even if you don't spend any production on it!

The game does not allow multiple unfinished urban districts. Allowing them would enable players to create a chain of districts to fill the entire city radius immediately.

 

[Vincent_lacruz]

The game does not allow multiple unfinished urban districts. Allowing them would enable players to create a chain of districts to fill the entire city radius immediately.

But, on the other side, you can purchase a building even if you are currently constructing another one.

So in this case you could buy the fishing quai (it's rather cheap, in fact) immediately if you wanted so.

 

[mrspank]

The game does not allow multiple unfinished urban districts. Allowing them would enable players to create a chain of districts to fill the entire city radius immediately.

That makes perfect sense. However, I think the game should allow you to delete unfinished districts that have no buildings.

 

[StargazingDog]

That makes perfect sense. However, I think the game should allow you to delete unfinished districts that have no buildings.

When you replace a rural district with urban, you move the district, which can have sweeping consequences based on what yields you gathered or resources you gained.

There would have to be large changes to how the entire process is handled. There are more important things to work on and the current implementation is a trivial inconvenience at worst.