some rules questions

[d474ang3l]

Hello all. I just started playing Civ 4 this weekend. I've been playing versions 1-3 since they came out in 1992, but I'm new to this one. This is definately the worst rulebook and civilpedia in the series. There's no mention of roads or railroads in the civilpedia at all. It seems that they no longer improve land are are used only for transport. Why does the computer keep telling me to build them then? And how do you activate the Shrine function so you can look into enemy cities that share your holy city's religion? And what exactly is 'power' (the lightning bolts) and how does it work? Do the railroads still provide unlimted movement? Because even though I have all of my cities connected, it's still taking some units 2 or 3 turns (with go command) to get to the other end of the continent. This version is very difficult. I'm really suprised how much trouble the computer is giving me on Warlord level even if it is my first game. I love the challenge, but I think anyone who buys the game deserves to have all of the rules laid out for them. Does anyone else agree that this game is very confusing at first even for an experienced Civ player?

[rjmatsleepers]

Why build roads? In some cases you need a road to your capital to establish trade routes. They are also useful in spreading religion.

Why build railroads? In some cases they will give you an extra shield from the tile (mines for example).

Do railroads provide unlimited movement? No - I think they use one tenth of a movement point.

The game is certainly complex; possibly complicated; but stick with it, it's not as confusing as it at first appears. There are a number of aspects where this version is different from previous ones, so some habits have to be unlearned. Also, there have been rule changes with the patches, so in some respects the printed documentation is not accurate.

RJM

[d474ang3l]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. But what about the Holy City thing? That's the one that really bothers me. It says in the rulebook that you should be able to see into other cities but doesn't mention how. It's not automatic because it's never happened in my game even though I control 3 Holy Cities. Any ideas?

[Cort Haus]

You can see into other civ's cities if your state religion is present in those cities. So it must be spread, and you must have adopted it. The Shrine is something else - you get 1 gold in the shrine city for every city in the world with that religion, regardless of whether that religion is state religion or not.

I didn't have a particular problem with the manual, but the Civilopedia did get a few handy improvements in the patches, so you might want to upgrade your version if you're using an early one.

Expect far more subtlety and depth (and difficulty) in this game compared to Civs 1-3. Even on modest levels, the AI can beat humans who have not got to grips with the game.

Welcome to Apolyton, d474ang3l, though I worry about that name you've chosen. If it's l33t-speak, that sort of thing doesn't always go down too well around here. In fact, we tend to mock it.

Finally, I recommend the Civ 3 General forum in future for questions like yours here (how does the game work?). This forum is oriented towards strategy discussion-learning rather than game mechanics learning.

[SebP]

I don't know. Since the name refers to the "hacker"-faction of SMAX, l33t is probably even clever in this particular case...

[Cort Haus]

Ah, please excuse my SMAX ignorance.

[Snotty]

once you have the holy city you can look in other cities that have that religion by adopting that religion using the religious advisor ( button up the top right like praying hands, f8 or f9 or there abouts)

Power just indicates that city has a power plant, so it gets +50% production ( i think only if it has a factory)

[Ka Plewy]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Ah, please excuse my SMAX ignorance.

I'm sorry, that' cannot be excused!

[Will9]

Roads are in the civilpedia. Check movement. Railroads provide ten movement. (All units, no matter what speed, will get ten moves.)

[d474ang3l]

Ok. I mixed up the Shrine/State religion thing. So are air units just as useless in this game as the others? I put together my first invasion force last night and landed in Atlanta (take that yankee bastards!) But my jet fighters kept getting shot apart by friggin WWII planes (mustangs?) and couldn't attack them directly. Now they're just sitting in Atlanta providing cover. Also, I control my own continent so there's nowhere to rebase any bombers within range. Carriers don't carry them now, correct?

[d474ang3l]

p.s. the yankee bastards comment was just a joke BTW. I'm a yankee bastard myself and I don't want any of my fellow bastards to take that the wrong way

[SebP]

I rarely play into the modern age but i seem to recall that the range doesn't apply to rebasing. Try rebasing your bombers in a city that's well out of their range, i think it works in a single turn.

[Quillan]

Rebasing has no range limit. You can rebase your aircraft into other civ's cities if you have an Open Borders agreement with them. Air combat is very abstract. If you try an offensive mission, every unit within range has a chance of intercepting it. The type of unit doesn't matter. The better the unit, the better the interception chance. You can have stealth bombers shot down by prop-driven fighters in Civ 4. The jet fighters have a better chance of it, but the chance exists for all the fighters.

Air units aren't totally useless. Capture a city, and rebase your bombers there. Bombers cause massive collateral damage on stacks of enemy troops. They can't drop them below 50% strength, but they also automatically win the fight. The only thing that can stop bombers is interception by an anti-air unit. With about 10 bombers based in a front line city, you can destroy the defense rating of a target city and drop every unit defending the city down to 50% strength by the time your land units can march to it.

[rah]

Yes, they can be fun. After dominating a continent you have to be careful of those junk artic outposts the AI will settle. If you don't take them out, you may glance up there and find a stack of 30 bombers.

[]LoL[Harm]

Some other notes:

Railroads will increase the amount of hammers on a worked tile that already produces hammers (I believe that’s the only qualifier) .

Once you found a religion it will spread slowly through trade routes (you will have to have a little trade icon next to the AI's name on the score board in the lower right hand corner, it's three arrows making a triangle). You can forcefully spread the religion by building missionaries (which either require a monastery or a civic, I believe Organized Religion, to build) and then send those missionaries to non-converted cities. You will need open borders with the civ you want to infiltrate. As mentioned before, you will have to convert to a religion that you found in order to be able to see into other cities. You'll know it's working when the fog of war around a foreign city goes away.

Power plants are part of a two staged approach at increasing hammer production, the other stage is the factory. A factory will not work without power. There are a few types of ways you can generate power, coal, nuclear and hydroelectric for example. Coal requires the coal resource, nuclear requires uranium and hydro requires a river that runs through your cities tiles. As a note the Three Gorges Dam is a nice wonder to aid in getting power to all your cities, especially if you find yourself without coal or uranium. Coal has a health drawback, as it will impact (negatively) the health of the city it's built in.