the 'show enemy moves' option

[rah]

You can always see barb attacks in the section of the map you happen to have centered regardless of whether you've uncovered the map. A good way to see where your opponents are. If you're paying attention, you can see what unit is attacked.

You sometimes see movement a few turns after a share map if the unit didn't move the turn you shared.

RAH

[SlowThinker]

Originally posted by SGtwo
In the same turn as the map exchange you can right click on any of the cities of the civ concerned and see the garrison's strongest defender.

I think this works not only in the same turn but until that unit moves. And also the changes of the damage of that defender is shown.
It corresponds with the following rah's text...

You sometimes see movement a few turns after a share map if the unit didn't move the turn you shared.

...so the rule might be the opponent's unit is registered until it moves. (?)

...and see the garrison's strongest defender.

Are you sure the strongest unit and not the last unit that entered the city tile?

Originally posted by rah
You can always see barb attacks in the section of the map you happen to have centered regardless of whether you've uncovered the map.

Barb attacks only or any movement of barbs? On centered map only or on centered map + on uncovered map?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by SlowThinker

Do you mean moves of all civs or just moves in the area uncovered by map sharing?
Also I saw moves longer than 2 turns in the Mongol scenario.
Do you mean that if an opponent builds a city out of zone of my sight then I will see an irrigated square? And that if an opponent irrigate a square then I will see no change (until I will move there my unit)?

You can see the moves of civs with whom you've shared maps. But now, I'm uncertain as to how many turns this works for.

As for the irrigated squares... yes and yes. You won't see irrigation, or any other activity, in areas which have long been 'mapped' - but you will see new cities showing as lone irrigated squares.

rah, do you mean you can see barbs moving in black space? That could be very handy.

[SlowThinker]

6000 Year Old Man,

>You can see the moves of civs with whom you've shared maps. But now, I'm uncertain as to how many turns this works for.

Rah says that this works for the first movement of a unit...

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Thanks ST... I should have read more carefully.

[rah]

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
rah, do you mean you can see barbs moving in black space? That could be very handy.

You can only see their attacks in the black space (not moves). And yes, it is very handy in MP games because it also shows the unit the barb is attacking. If you're paying attention you can see if the attacked unit is fortified or not. (and it's type) Generally if the unit is fortified, it's a city. It gives you a idea where you opponent is.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

More and more, it seems to me that setting barb activity on 'Raging Hordes' is more an advantage than a disadvantage:

1. barb kings @150 - free cash
2. cruising along islands in a transport with a spy aboard - cheap NONs
3. abandoning a city and stationing a diplo or spy nearby - cheap NONs

and now 4... barb attacks reveal the location of enemy cities and defender types (tech level)!

Thanks rah

[Elephant]

I think it has been theorized elsewhere that the game keeps a flag for each tile of "last civ visited" and displays any Barb or other activity in that square. Of course, if it is not Barb the flag is reset and you only see the first enemy unit moving into it. If that unit is a settler/engineer and it founds a city, that would explain the "irrigated tile" phenomenon. This could be exploited in choke points by "refreshing the flag" with frequent visits just to keep an eye on who is moving through. There may be a variation on this effect based on what Difficulty Level you are playing (anybody remember playing at Chieftain level?).

The "exchange map" situation is more of a snap-shot kind of thing, but since units are revealed you also get to see when they next move and in what direction (but only the first move). The AI seems to be very sensitive to map exchanges and will try to move all units that are not working settlers/engineers or occupying fortresses or cities right after an exchange. I think that if a unit stays put, like fort or city defender, you get to see any combat that happens, including the attacker. All these benefits are big endorsements of getting Marco Polo as early as possible, even for early conquest. With wise tech trading you can get everyones maps and find them much easier - to kill or to trade... And you can manipulate their research...

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Marco Polo is a wonder I only started to build after coming here and learning about trade. It's great for finding enemies, saving research time, picking up the odd handy tech, and extracting tribute. I build it right after HG, trying to get HG/MP/Colossus. And, even if playing an insular perfectionist type game, knowing where the AI is situated is crucial... less chance of an ugly surprise for my newly founded outlying cities.

Plus - and I can't prove this - but I'd swear that the AI sends fewer 'explorers' (i.e triremes full of elephants) to my shores once maps have been exchanged.

[rah]

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
and now 4... barb attacks reveal the location of enemy cities and defender types (tech level)!

Thanks rah

Actually I never noticed this until we started playing MP games on smaller rocks. Everyone is compressed and you're more likely to see something in the map area that you're centered on. The larger the map, the more spread out everything is, hence it's not as useful. But real early in an MP game when the barb attacks your neighbor and you see a phalanx defending. (since you can't get them from huts) you know they have at least researched bronz.

RAH
Sometimes I will center my map on a totally black area when the year changes, just to see if I can see something useful. (but you may miss something closer to home)

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by rah

Sometimes I will center my map on a totally black area when the year changes, just to see if I can see something useful. (but you may miss something closer to home)

I may start doing that, or at least 'zooming out' the view to see if anything is happening in the black lands...

[SlowThinker]

Originally posted by Elephant
I think it has been theorized elsewhere that the game keeps a flag for each tile of "last civ visited" and displays any Barb or other activity in that square.

Do you want to say the activity is showed only for the 'owner' of the tile (i.e. for the last civ that entered the tile)? But barb activities are shown for everybody...

Do you know where elsewhere?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I gather that there must be some sort of 'last civ visited' flag for each tile. The sum total of these flags (per civ) is what determines the 'land area' statistic on the demographics screen.

[rah]

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
I may start doing that, or at least 'zooming out' the view to see if anything is happening in the black lands...

Never thought of that. DOH
Sometimes it's the simple thing. But i wouldn't want to zoom out so far that i'd miss out on the detail. And it's a lot harder to know the exact location when it's zoomed out. When you're zoomed in, it's easy to remember the exact hex to black click on to verify that it was a city.

RAH

[War4ever]

actually Graag and i were playing a duel the other night and i saw a barb attack one of his cities in the black, i mean i guessed he was already there, but the barb attack confirmed it for me.....

IMO i believe you need a unit or city within a certain distance of their unit/city attacked to catch it.....

but perhaps its a simple as clicking on the black and getting lucky like rah said.

its very usefull in blocking people if they havne't met you yet

we use to comment to each other about hearing barb attacks...i imagine this is the same thing, its close by, but b/c you weren't set up to see the "right" black area you missed the attack but heard the sound effects, which lets you know you are or someone else is close by....also a handly little tip.

Graag was surprised when i told him i knew where he was and we hadn't met yet, made the fighting over ground to his territory that much more fierce