more newbie questions...

[guermantes]

please excuse if I am asking stupid questions (and tell me to stop if you think I litter the forum with newbie atmosphere).

Question: Is the following scenario as it ought to be?
I start out my 2nd Civ-game ever playing Warlord as Inca (don't ask me why, Inca just appealed to me...). I start with a settler and a Quecha Warrior.

Turn 1- I start exploring with the warrior. I build a city in the square I am in (recommended), also start to build another Quecha for protecting city.

Turn 2- I am presented with tech research choice as in screenshot below.

I choose Meditation for 3 turns but could also have chosen e.g. hunting or fishing for 1 turn.

Turns 3,4- I continue exploring with warrior.

Turn 5- Meditation comes through, I found Buddhism and start the incantations with 1 turn of anarchy. Then I am presented with a new tech research choice and this is what startles me (as in screenshot). Now the AI wants 20 turns for fishing or hunting and everything else is ridiculously slow as well.

In any case I choose hunting for 20 turns.

Turn 6- I get gold from a tribal village and to my surprise I notice the research bar saying I have only 2 turns left to have hunting researched.


Pardon my French but what the heck is going on? Is this normal? Is it due to the anarchy? If yes, should I just accept this or are there gaming strategies for avoiding to spend more than the 1 turn offered at first for hunting or fishing etc.?

I'd be very greatful for comments on this.

Thanks!

/p
(future member of CivAnon.com)

[krytonix]

Yes, it was due to anarchy. Build times in cities as well as research times look very high during anarchy because the citizens in the town aren't putting out $ or production. When your civ stabilizes (after anarchy) the times are adjusted to normal rates.

[guermantes]

but is it not a bit strange that I even had 2 turns left after the 1 turn of anarchy had finished seen as how I was offered the hunting tech for 1 turn a bit earlier on? Or is this because I was consuming resources on the 2nd warrior that was building all the while during these turns and was worse off now than before even without anarchy...?

[krytonix]

I'm not quite sure why hunting first appeared as taking 1 turn, then after switching to buddhism 2 turns... There are a number of things that can affect your research rate (science %, amount of commerce, civics, buildings, etc.). Perhaps your town citizen switched the square he was working? I would rest assured that the game is consistently keeping track of how many science beakers you aquire for research per turn.

[xxFlukexx]

The reason why it costs 2 turns now is because your citizen in the city moved to a different tile. I dunno if you did this or the AI did it(AI auto moves workers in a city if it's obviously better so you don't have to micro) So your citizen most likely moved to a tile with less gold and so you are getting less science and thus it takes longer to research a tech.

[guermantes]

Ok, that must be it. I admit I am so new to the game that the city screen is just frightening to me. I lose 15 minutes just figuring out my possibilities. I think I will play a few times not caring about it and see if it's easier to make good use of in later games....

In the meantime I have a new newbie-puzzle for you helpful civ:ers....:-)

There are cows next to my city. I have built a pasture to 'access' them, but the screenshot tells me I need a route as well for something on this tile. For what? Page 72 in the manual clearly states that resources within my city radius do not need routes.

And this tile is definitely wintin reach since in the cityscreen it has a white circle. This is my only city so it can't be for trade/shipping to other cities.

I don't understand even the simplest things this early in the game. How can I ever win anything higher than Settler? [sigh]

[Byelotsar]

Originally posted by guermantes There are cows next to my city. I have built a pasture to 'access' them, but the screenshot tells me I need a route as well for something on this tile. For what? Page 72 in the manual clearly states that resources within my city radius do not need routes.

Page 72 LIES!

Well, maybe not. But I just assumed that you'd need a road connecting the resource (as in Civ 3), and haven't run into any problems. Perhaps it's telling you that you need the road there to share it with the rest of your empire (once you have an empire, that is), and your capital is already gaining the +1 health benefit from it. It's a good idea to connect all your resources via roads anyway, frankly.

Originally posted by guermantes I don't understand even the simplest things this early in the game. How can I ever win anything higher than Settler? [sigh]

Asking questions about things you don't understand is a good start.

[guermantes]

Thanks for your replies!

As I went on playing I did eventually did build a road on that tile, and while I now have two cities, the only road I have is on this tile which goes to the capital city and now the screenshot tells me I no longer need a road.


So I guess the road was meant for the capital, and that means that page 72 does indeed lie or else there is a bug in the game???

Or?

[Byelotsar]

Originally posted by guermantes
So I guess the road was meant for the capital, and that means that page 72 does indeed lie or else there is a bug in the game???

Or?

I'm not sure about this, but I'd guess that page 72 is simply incorrect. There are often little differences between the manual and the finished game (as manuals often have to be written while the game is in development, rather than once it's finished).

Your civ's looking pretty good. The Oracle's a terrific wonder to get if you can (and on Settler you shouldn't have any problem). The bonus tech is extremely useful at higher difficulties.

[krytonix]

Yes, i can confirm that resources DO need a route to your city one way or another (it's not good enough to be within the city radius). For a good discussion of the numerous ways to connect resources to cities, check out this thread

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141650

On the plus side, this means you can get resources that are outside of your city radius as long as they're within your cultural borders.

[Didymus]

Page 72 is somewhat misleading, but not totally incorrect. What I mean is this: If you have a Pasture on your cow tile, you will get the full food production benefit, but not the +1 (or more) health benefit. One has to do with the resource's bonus to production (extra food in this case), the other has to do with the resource's strategic bonus (a health bonus to your cities in this case).
Does that help?

[guermantes]

yes that helps, thanks!

why can't they spell this out in the manual?