Naval Gazing

[ahenobarb]

I'm playing Civ IV and noticed two strange things about my navy.

First, I have two work boats, but neither of them can turn into fishing boats over a fish resource at sea. The fish resource is within my territorial waters although right at the edge. What's going on?

Second, I have several Caravels that I want to upgrade, but I cannot upgrade any of them. I moved some to port, thinking you couldn't upgrade them at sea, but even in port they can't be upgraded. I could do this upgrade in other games. Is this because they have acquired some experience as caravels (i.e. first strike capability) that cannot transfer to another form of naval unit?

Appreciate the help.

[DrSpike]

Nice title.

For fishing boats you need fishing and the fish resource needs to be within your cultural borders.

On the upgrade point you need the tech(s) for the unit you want to upgrade to, sufficient money, and to be within your cultural borders.

For caravels the upgrade path is through Frigates, so you need Astronomy and Chemistry, and iron as well.

[ahenobarb]

Ah, thanks. I'm still waiting for Chemistry.

Regarding the fish, this particular school meets those criteria, but neither of my work boats could exploit it. I looked more closely after posting and noticed that one of the small "automatic boats", if you will, had settled over the resource. The tile reads "Fish" then "fishing boats". I suppose this means the game can exploit the resource on it's own, which makes me wonder why then build work boats unless you need a resource right away. Like off-shore oil for instance.

[Kuciwalker]

Odd. I assume you mean the little boats that represent a citizen working the tile - you should still be able to build a fishery. Screenshot?

[Nacht]

I'm guessing the fishing boats are already in place. You said it was at the edge of your territory, was it previous someone elses terrain?

[Kuciwalker]

Ah, yes. Check that a citizen is actually working it. If a citizen is, you get the circle thing, if not, just the boat.

[ahenobarb]

Here's a screenshot. As luck would have it, the fish weren't jumping in the screen shot, but you can see the tile info in the bottom left. The square in question is due South of the Work Boat. Usually the work boats create a net graphic around their territory when they work a sea tile.

As you can see, no one owned it before me either. Can't figure it out.

[snoopy369]

It's already got fishing boats, so someone else already settled them. (Notice how it has 5 food.)

[Blake]

It has already been improved.

A seafood tile which is being worked OR is improved but not being worked, shows as a single boat on the tile.

A seafood tile which is being worked AND has been improved, shows as nets around the tile.

[Kuciwalker]

Which can be fairly irritating, as this example shows.

[ahenobarb]

I see. Thanks for the info, it would have taken forever to figure the icons interpretation out on my own (i.e. nets vs. boats).

Yes, irritating/confusing.

[couerdelion]

This isn't a problem I've noticed before. When capturing cities, I tend to see what resources they have and which ones have been improved so can't imagine even thinking of building a workboat.

If in doubt, hover over the tile and you should get the stats to tell you there is a fishing boat

[Croup]

Just so you know, it says "Fishing Boats" in your rollover information box in white because it has been improved. If they hadn't been improved yet, that same text would be in red.

[Lord Avalon]

Caravels can also be upgraded to subs.

[DrSpike]

That's even later than frigates so is irrelevant.