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Killing ICS: Food + Shields = Settler

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  • Killing ICS: Food + Shields = Settler

    Hey all,

    In Solver's fantastic preview (thanks Solver!), he mentions two ways that ICS is prevented:

    1) More cities = Higher maintenance costs for all cities

    2) Settlers now are built using both shields and food from the city.

    Now the first of these obviously and effectively reduces ICS. But I was still a bit confused on the second - thinking "Surely, if I can now add food production to the settler, that makes it quicker to produce, thus helping ICS!" So I decided to work it out a bit.

    Let's take for example my Civ 3 Settler pump, with +5 food and +6/+8/+10 shields.

    Turn 1: Produces +5 food, +6 shields, (settler now 6/30)
    Turn 2: Produces +5 food, +8 shields (grows 1 size, settler now 14/30)
    Turn 3: Produces +5 food, +8 shields (settler now 22/30)
    Turn 4: Produces +5 food, +10 shelds (grows 1 size, settler finished, drops back to start size)

    This obviously produces new settler every four turns ad infinitum. But how does it cope under the new rules? Well, it should be obvious that we need to grow the city before starting on our settler production, building something else before we begin our settler (item X)

    Turn 1: Produces +5 food, +6 shields, (item X now 6/XX)
    Turn 2: Produces +5 food, +8 shields (grows 1 size, item X now 14/XX)
    Turn 3: Produces +5 food, +8 shields (item X now 22/XX)
    Turn 4: Produces +5 food, +10 shelds (grows 1 size, item X now 32/XX)
    *switch to settler production*
    Turn 5: Produces +15 food/shields to Settler (settler now 15/30)
    Turn 6: Produces +15 food/shields to Settler (settler finished, drops back to start size).

    So for this sample city, the time to produce a settler is increased by 50% (but you get production on something else in the meantime). Don't forget that we can now switch between Item X and settler production without losing our progress.

    I guess the only other case to examine would be the really high food-low shield city (thinking of course about those floodplain cities!) If you could get one of these cities to +10 food (and a granary) even if there was no shield output from the city you'd be able to produce in 5:

    Turn 1: Produces +10 food, +0 shields, (grows 1 size)
    Turn 2: Produces +10 food, +0 shields (grows 1 size)
    *switch to settler production*
    Turn 3: Produces +10 food/shields to Settler (settler now 10/30)
    Turn 4: Produces +10 food/shields to Settler (settler now 20/30)
    Turn 5: Produces +10 food/shields to Settler (settler finished, drops back to start size).

    [Of course, have made a lot of Civ-3 based assumptions here about granaries/cost of settlers/terrain production.]

    In conclusion:
    1) Though it wasn't initially obvious to me, the "food+shields=settler" rule does slightly slow down production of settlers (largely by forcing you to build something else in between).
    2) I wish I was a beta tester...
    3) Yin, not looking good for you mate

    -Mudhut.

  • #2
    You also missed the fact that settlers cost 100 now, not 30.

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    • #3
      Don't forget that we can now switch between Item X and settler production without losing our progress.
      you cant keep that progress forever though. it gets lost if you dont return to it soon (dont ask me how soon)
      Co-Founder, Apolyton Civilization Site
      Co-Owner/Webmaster, Top40-Charts.com | CTO, Apogee Information Systems
      giannopoulos.info: my non-mobile non-photo news & articles blog

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      • #4
        Settlers cost 100?!?

        Whoa... how can you ever afford that in the ancient ages? That's like 1/2 of a great wonder!

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        • #5
          But that's 100 shields + food, in fact. So it's not that horrible.
          Solver, WePlayCiv Co-Administrator
          Contact: solver-at-weplayciv-dot-com
          I can kill you whenever I please... but not today. - The Cigarette Smoking Man

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Mudhut
            Settlers cost 100?!?

            Whoa... how can you ever afford that in the ancient ages? That's like 1/2 of a great wonder!
            How do you know, do you know the cost of everything else? And what kind of bonuses you can get?
            Administrator of WePlayCiv -- Civ5 Info Centre | Forum | Gallery

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            • #7
              Food counts as shields too. In your example, the city would build 11 settler-shields per turn, which however would not increase as the city does not grow. It would be at 99 shields after 9 turns - either micromanage to squeeze out the 100th shield, or bite the bullet and wait one more turn.

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              • #8
                Another good thing: if you have 99 shields towards something and produce 5 shields the next turn, you don't lose the 4 shields - they carry over to whatever you build next.
                Solver, WePlayCiv Co-Administrator
                Contact: solver-at-weplayciv-dot-com
                I can kill you whenever I please... but not today. - The Cigarette Smoking Man

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                • #9
                  Another micromanagement nightmare gone.

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                  • #10
                    That's the beauty of Civ4. A lot of neccessary micromanagament is gone. You can still micromanage many things, if that is what you enjoy, but the game no longer forces you to do so.

                    Another reason why I left Civ3 was that I didn't like that, on the higher difficulties, I was forced to micromanage a number of things like that.
                    Solver, WePlayCiv Co-Administrator
                    Contact: solver-at-weplayciv-dot-com
                    I can kill you whenever I please... but not today. - The Cigarette Smoking Man

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Locutus


                      How do you know, do you know the cost of everything else? And what kind of bonuses you can get?
                      While we're at it, will alms66/Solver/MarkG/anyone else be able to tell us the cost of a worker? If a settler is 100, is a worker 50?!?

                      And are our early wonders dramatically more than 200 shields?

                      PS. Beta testers, please don't think I am ungrateful - just that every time I get an answer, I end up with more questions!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        A Worker's 60. And I'm not going you to tell the cost of any Wonders or such .
                        Solver, WePlayCiv Co-Administrator
                        Contact: solver-at-weplayciv-dot-com
                        I can kill you whenever I please... but not today. - The Cigarette Smoking Man

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Solver
                          A Worker's 60. And I'm not going you to tell the cost of any Wonders or such .
                          Not even if I beg? Pleeeeeeease?

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                          • #14
                            The Internet, a late game wonder, is 2000. Half costs with copper, if I remember correctly...

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                            • #15
                              Also, (very sorry that I keep troubling the beta crew with questions):

                              -Does the pop of a city still drop by 1/2 after producing a worker/settler (only just occurred to me that they might have changed this!)

                              -Do you get a free worker at the start of the game (a worker who for some civs can't do anything until you research some tech)?

                              Very grateful for any info, much appreciated.

                              -Mudhut

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