Sid Meier's Civilization 4

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:36:22 GMT

If starting from the Future society, what are the hot tips?

1) if Terra type is NOT islands - you need to explore (build new cities and widespread your borders) as fast as possible - so leader with Creativity + Free speech are critically important
2) since you need to build Wonders VERY fast, apply Pacifism as religion + turn specialists to Engineers (+ leader with Philosophy possible) at the early stage of the game
3) Space victory become more easy: build labs, fight for aluminium
4) ...

any more tips?

Multi-player games

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:17:54 GMT

A friend of mine recently caved in to my pressure and bought Civ 4 (original- no expansions). He seems interested in doing a multi-player game. I've only played one or two MP games so far with one of my other friends. It turned out not all that exciting. I think part of it was that we were using a tiny map with three total civs (two of us + one AI), plus we were on a team. I'd like to try another MP game with one or both of my friends, but want to make sure it's interesting. I think because my friends aren't all that experienced at Civ, we'll end up being on a team. I was thinking having a larger world with the number of AI players outnumbering us, things could get interesting. Any tips for making this work- keeping in mind the new players?

strategic games and real economy

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:15:17 GMT

Hello. Sorry for my English

My friends and me are interested in everything about cybernetics in real
economy.
May be you heard about Cybersyn -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn. Stafford Beer -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford_Beer and his
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viable_System_Model

Cybersyn uses cybernetic algorithms to compress dataflows, show them on
displays in simple graphic way and to predict evolving of Chily economy.
But all solutions were taken by people-operators in control rooms.

We want to stay a questions like
1) what informations do you have about systems like Cybersyn?
2) May be you heard about systems which control country economy fully
automatically.
3) Do you know science works about automatic analyzing and controlling
of country or big enterprises (communities) economies?
4) What opensource strategic games economy engines do you know?
5) Do you know strategic games developers and architectors whom we can ask our questions about cybernetics in real ecnomy?

BtS crashing to black.

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:02:42 GMT

Hey, I just got Beyond the Sword and I'm in a game (standard map) and it's in the 2000s and at that point in my save file, right when I click the end turn button, the screen freezes for a while, then goes to black, I get one of those "send error report" messages and then I'm at the desktop.
I'm playing this on a laptop with no internet access, so I can't download patches or anything like that. I was just wondering if there were any tricks to make this not happen, such as messing with my computer's settings to get things to run more smoothly (I already have the graphics on 'low' on the Civ4 options and I've run defrag.)
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:43:12 GMT

So I have been on this kick to play the earlier games. Right now I am playing Civ. III. I have realized that a nice change from Civ. III to IV is the civil disorder. Having no production sucks. One thing I wish the IV did keep was the the armies. That was kinda cool to have.

What would you pick?

Seeing the army of another civilization

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:34:36 GMT

In Beyond the Sword, is there some way to use espionage to determine the strength of a foes army? in previous Civ, you could get a detailed count of their army units.

Quick Question

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:56:39 GMT

I have Civ4 installed, and I want to get Beyond the Sword, but I no longer have the original Civ4 CDs with me. Could I install and play Beyond the Sword just with the Beyond the Sword CD as long as Civ4 is installed?

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 09:12:55 GMT

View Poll: religions in Civ4

It will be cool if you'll explain how do you do it and why it is better in comments...

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 04:27:41 GMT

Recently I was cleaning out my desk and I found my CIV II game. Try playing that game with CIV IV mentality, very hard at first.

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 02:03:57 GMT

I gifted myself Civ IV yesterday and, not to put to fine a point on it, I really have no idea what I'm doing. I'm well into the 2000s and have bombers. There's only one other civ to deal with, the Indians, as I started this scenario from the tutorial, and there's no land left to conquest. I thought I'd try out bombing a nearby city in order to take it over (Merry Christmas!) only...I can't figure out how.

I've got the bomber hovering over the city, press B, get a little bomb icon and...nothing.

Is the game outsmarting me because it knows I'm actually friendly with this civ?

Patch 313

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 02:19:53 GMT

Just patched to 313 for Beyond the Sword and now I am getting game crashes related to video hardware errors. Game will run fine for awhile (anywhere from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours) and then without warning, error message. Does not seem to be any kind of specific trigger.
I know my laptop is older but it ran just fine all the time before this patch.

anyone else having troubles?

Beyond the Sword

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:12:11 GMT

Beyond the Sword: A Quick Review

I've been in a bit of a downturn in my Civ playing for the past month or so. Each game seemed to play out similarly to the last. The Warlords expansion didn't bring all that much new to the game, really. The unique buildings are neat, but they didn't really change the nature of the game -- and the Great Generals left me really unimpressed.

Beyond the Sword is nothing like Warlords. Even if you ignore the "big" new features (corporations, espionage, Apostolic Palace, random events) it feels like a brand new game.

A big part of it is the new AI -- I'm starting to feel more and more like I'm really fighting against Caesar and less like an algorithm. The reactions of the AI seem more understandable (well, Monty is still @#^@@#$ crazy), and they are *brutally* good at deploying their military. When a war begins, you will see very large coordinated stacks crossing your border and stealing what would have previously been a well-defended city. Firaxis actually reduced the production/research bonus that the AI gets at higher difficulties, and yet nearly every reviewer said they had to drop to an easier difficulty than they were used to.

Of the new features, I enjoy the Random Events the most, though their overall impact on gameplay is debatable. They aren't truly random -- they are based on your geography, civics, religion, relations, and war status. They tend to make sense, and they are another piece of the puzzle required to make Civ:BtS feel convincingly "real".

For me, the next most notable feature is the Apostolic Palace. I can't say that I love, because I have HATED it in several games -- but in a good way. Depending on the founder and how religions have spread in your game, it could have very little impact on you, or it could be a powerful tool for or against you. Still, in most game it is something you need to consider because in the right (wrong?) circumstances, it will dictate a large part of the mid-game until it is neutralized by the United Nations.

Espionage is something I've used very little of. Luckily, it's been implemented in such a way that if you ignore it, all the EP (Espionage Points) that accumulate will simply be used for defense, which is wonderful! I really feel that Espionage is going to be a powerful tool that I need to learn to use more. Hopefully I'll practice with it soon.

Corporations are the most disappointing to me, personally. They certainly sounded cool on the game box, but they've failed to come up in any game I've played. By that stage of the game I just don't seem to need them. I only play on Normal speed though -- it's possible that epic/marathon players will appreciate them more. It's also likely that I'm a total n00b.

Beyond the Sword also includes new civs/leaders, which is damn spiffy. The Native Americans can produce some INSANE archers between Sitting Bull's Protective trait and the powers of the Totem Pole (monument replacement).

BtS also includes a slew of new Scenarios. Now, these have never interested me before. I'm a "random map, default settings" kind of guy. However, the quality and diversity of the ones that shipped with BtS are stunning. Specifically, I'm in love with Rhye's and Fall of Civilization, which is a fan-made mod that was packaged with the game. In this historical scenario, Civilizations rise up at the appropriate time, will become less stable as time goes by, and (likely) eventually fall. If your civ falls (or you get bored), you can permanently swap to a new civilization when, for example, the English start to appear. In this Scenario the various civs also have new "Historical Victory" conditions. For example, Egypt can win the game by building the Pyramids, the Great Library, and the Great Lighthouse and also achieving certain cultural benchmarks. The Vikings, on the other hand, would win by being the first to colonize North America, by sinking 25 enemy ships, and by having 1500 gold in the treasury -- probably from plundering enemy cities.

Conclusion: Seriously, you need this expansion. The new civs/leaders alone are pretty damn spiffy. The new AI is thrilling. The sense of immersion is far deeper, and the dozen-or-so new Scenarios are all wild departures from your everyday Civ.

A Strategy: The Super-Specialist Economy

This has nothing to do with Beyond the Sword -- I just happen to be reading the CivFanatics.com forums, looking for BtS stuff, when I ran into a set of threads by a user named "Obsolete" who argued that Cottages were pointless, that Lightbulbing great persons (or rushing wonders) was a waste.

Now, I'm not THAT great at Civ 4, but I read a lot on the forums and the top-difficulty players put a lot of emphasis on Lightbulbing free techs using Great People and also on using cottages to build a robust economy.

Obsolete went on to prove his case by wining a Monarch (I think) game with no cottages or lightbulbing. He then did the same on Immortal -- twice, I think, because people argued that him using an Industrious leader the first time made things too easy.

The basic idea is this: Use your workers to maximize food and hammer output at your capital. Since you aren't wasting any citizens on cottages, you should be able to get an early wonder or two -- ideally the Pyramids so you can swap to Representation immediately. Try to run some specialists as soon as you can (you should have plenty of food). Between your specialists and your wonder(s), you should pop a great person soon. (Libraries are a great way to get two specialists early on.)

Except for using one scientist to found an Academy, everyone else should settle into your capital as a Super-Specialist. Engineers (best), Priests, and Scientists will all contribute more hammers to your capital, enabling you to produce more wonders (easily beating the AI) and get more GPP. Also, if you're running Representation (and you should), you'll be getting three extra beakers from each one.

My capital alone was able to easily sustain my scientific research while cranking out units/buildings/wonders in record time. My other cities also focused on food/hammers and I was able to easily outproduce the other civs and field much larger armies -- which were almost always technologically superior despite my lack of conventional scientific research. (I often ran with near 0% allocation to science.)

In my latest games I avoided building any National Wonders in my capital so I could eventually build the Ironworks and Oxford. I also avoided a lot of Great Artist producing wonders (or built them in other cities). A GA doesn't really help my production/research engine. I'd often use them to fuel Golden Ages, since I avoided wasting my "better" Great People on this.

Beyond the Sword!

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:10:23 GMT

It's finally been shipped out for those in North America. Many Europeans and Australians reported last week of getting it. I'm not sure when I'll get my copy. I pre-ordered it from Amazon, with the scheduled shipping date of today (and arriving Wednesday), but the main website says they won't have more in stock until the 28th. I'm not sure what that does to my order.

In the first game, I'll probably be Gilgamesh (the Sumerian leader)- although I'm not sure what civ I'll be. I could be Gilgamesh of the Vikings, as a Daoist [Taoist] state. Is anyone else already planning their first game with Beyond the Sword? Or for those who already do have it, what was your first game and how would you rate the expansion?

Edit: There's a demo of the Final Frontier (space) scenario at File Planet for those who need something to do while they wait.

No limit to Airlifts to one City?

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 20:22:16 GMT

I've been playing Civ 4 a long time. But just today, I discovered I can airlift from all my other cities to one city of 25. I had always thought there was a limit on how many units you could airlift into one city.
Is it dependent on the size? Maybe at some point, all cities can receive multiple airlifts if they are bigger than a set size? It does not work the other way. I can only airlift one unit from a city to another per turn.

Thanks!

You might be addicted to Civilization...

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:15:49 GMT

- If you start having dreams about the game
- Multiple times
- And can strategize your next move

That's right. Last night, I had a dream involving Civilization. This is the second time it's happened. The last time, it involved Civ IV. Last night, it was about Civ I or II (or some strange combination of the two).

Sort of a political commentary

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 03:23:42 GMT

So, once you realize that you didn't have enough military to accomplish your goal; how many of us try to declare peace? because that is the smart thing to do unless we want a protracted stalemate where we waste resources and continue to see increasing unhappiness?

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:21:39 GMT

Does anyone know if the features of Warlords will be contained in Beyond the Sword? As in, if we play BtS, will we still have the leaders and game concepts etc that Warlord does, or will they be replaced?

Newest expansion pack

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 05:22:27 GMT

Does anyone know of an official release date for Beyond the Sword, the next expansion pack for Civ IV?

Also, wikipedia has a nice little summary of what to expect from it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_IV:_Beyond_the_Sword

Is there a way to remove a city?

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:38:38 GMT

In other civ versions you could remove a city you didn't want by building a settler at a size of 1. Is there anything equivalent to that in Civ 4?

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 09:39:12 GMT

Hey I need help with Warlords for civ4, anyone have it?

Crossroads

Mon, 07 May 2007 06:10:17 GMT

My skill level is monarch as I have said before. I am not at the point where it's not a complete disaster and can start winning. The game I am playing now as the Arabians I am doing awesome, but have come to the realization that the A.I. still has me beat. The Germans has two components left on the spaceship, and the only way I can win is to discover mass media quickly build the United Nations and hope that I get enough votes. The only plan I have right now to slow down the German's is to send a spy over and make havoc of their resources and production.

Anyone else with any ideas let me know. By the way it's about 1800, domination/conquest is out of the question. All the major A.I's in this game would gang up on me at once and hit me from different sides.

Saving Before an attack

Fri, 04 May 2007 18:49:35 GMT

If I had a paid account I would make this into a poll, but I don't. So, who saves before declaring war, go back an auto save a few turns before getting attacked, or any other reason to go back to a saved game?

Irritation

Wed, 02 May 2007 03:37:41 GMT

So I was thinking about this a couple days ago and decided to post it. What are things that irritate you in the game?

For me it's that I can move my bombers and fighters in allied cities, but I can't deploy them to attack or I will lose them. Also if an A.I. decided to attack you. Their only route to you is through water or an allied A.I. So you ask your allied to cancel deals with the enemy. Well, when they do that the enemy units wind up in your territory.

On a different topic. I am in monarch level and right now I am just trying to stay in the game as long as I can. I can fairly keep up in the tech and cultural race, but I am weak in building my military. No matter what I do it's always weaker then most. I have countered the problem early/mid-game by attacking A.I.'s that are going to attack me anyway. But no matter what I still get my ass kicked. Any ideas?

Least favorite civic?

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 06:06:08 GMT

I enjoy joy seeing what people think and staying with the same theme I am wondering what is people's least favorite civic?

Mine is mercantilism because every time I decide I want to try it I lose money and science. If anyone has any ideas how to make better for me to use let me know.

Leaders

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:52:58 GMT

So I noticed not a lot of people post on here. Probably because your playing Civ. I think what is the point in having a community if no one posts anything, so I will.

Question: Who is your favorite leader and hardest leader? Mine favorite is Catherine. You have creativity and financial which makes things easy. My hardest is either Indian leaders, every time I get my ass kicked and I just don't know why.