The Altera Centauri collection has been brought up to date by Darsnan. It comprises every decent scenario he's been able to find anywhere on the web, going back over 20 years.
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Call To Power 2 Cradle 3+ mod in progress: https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/call-to-power-2/ctp2-creation/9437883-making-cradle-3-fully-compatible-with-the-apolyton-edition
Build roads, increase taxation (lower science research and luxury rates), build markets, be a Republic or Democracy, build banks, extort gold from other players, build Wall Street, build Adam Smith's, build any wonder that gives you free buildings, just to name a few.
I don't use espionnage missions very often (maybe investigate city I plan to attack), their price is too much for what they yield. That's just my opinion...
---Be wary of over-building in a small city. If you have a size <7 city way off in the boonies, there's no reason to have a University there. Adding 50% research to a city that only produces 8 toward science means you're spending about 3 gold per turn for a measly 4 science.
---If the population of a city is farming ANY piece of land, put a road under it. Make sure you make roads from city to city and then IMMEDIATELY check the city to see what is farmed, change the farming areas to maximize food/produce/money levels. In the early game, I don't like my cities to grow fast because they get unhappy.
(Almost) always have a positive cash flow by adjusting your science & luxury sliders. Don't hurry production unless you NEED to or have plenty in the bank. (note: I play at Regent).
Own multiples of luxuries and strategic resources and sell them to your competitors. Same with Techs; and when you sell a tech to one civ, you may be able to make a bundle by selling it also to the others. Some techs are more valuable than others (nudge, nudge). (Another note: successful warfare may be required to obtain some of this stuff).
Originally posted by the letter c
every time i play im -500 in the gold department
and i found out u need gold to run espieonoge (bad spelling) missions
Just set both of your science and luxury sliders to zero and you should be making money. If you still don't make any money, post a savegame and some of us here will show you.
PS: It's a lot cheaper to buy techs from the AIs than to research it yourself (just in case you didn't know). I have always set both science and luxury sliders to zero since I found my first city around 4000BC. I usually do all my research with 1 scientist.
One tip. Don't just set your sliders at a certain position and leave them. Quite often, you can lower your science spending a notch, sometimes more, without affecting the amount of time it takes to finish your research. So all that extra gold will end up in your treasury.
And don't listen when someone says turn off your research. There's usually an advantage to getting a tech first. If it involves a unit, that will mean you can start producing them sooner than everyone else, and get them out in the field quicker, giving you a tactical advantage.
And the tech will be worth more money if you decide to sell it. The more civs that have a tech, the less value it has. So if you get something first you can make money from it, sometimes a lot, instead of spending in order to get it.
---I really micromanage the sliders to an unneccessary level. Once I get a few turns away from finishing a tech, I slide my "science" bar as far down as I can without adding to the turns it takes to learn. For example, if it takes me 12 turns to learn Metallurgy and make a net gain of 2 gold per turn, I'll set it to 12 turns and wait a while. Once it gets down to 3 turns, I'll slide the bar down a notch. If I can still learn it in 12 turns, I might make 15 gold per turn because the tax slider went up.
---The exact same applies to tech when you get 1 turn away. You might be able to slide the tech bar down to 10% and STILL learn in 1 turn, giving you quite a bit of free money in that turn. The most I ever made in 1 turn this way was over 1k.
Originally posted by Willem
And don't listen when someone says turn off your research.
Well, it really defends on the level of difculty. The tougher the level, the longer and hard it takes to research it yourself. For example, if you play with 16 civs on a hug map at deity level, even if you allocate 100% to research, you would still be age away from catching up. That's the reason why you need to stockpile your golds for the rainy day.
PS: I'm not saying that you can't catch up or even take the lead in research at the toughest level; all I am saying is that you will never catch up if you try to research it yourself by setting the science rate at 100% and draining away all your treasury.
Well, it really defends on the level of difculty. The tougher the level, the longer and hard it takes to research it yourself. For example, if you play with 16 civs on a hug map at deity level, even if you allocate 100% to research, you would still be age away from catching up. That's the reason why you need to stockpile your golds for the rainy day.
There's a time and a place for anything, so offering a blanket statement about turning off research doesn't make any sense. First of all, if he's running a -500 deficit and still able to keep his improvements, it probably means that he's playing Chieftain level, so your comments about Diety tactics wouldn't apply.
Even if he was, there would be certain occasions where it would be beneficial to be first with a tech and to acquire a particular technology before everyone else. For instance, if I could get Replaceable Parts and start getting Infantry out in the field before anyone else, I'd have a defensive advantage for awhile, one that might be crucial.
Each situation has to be considered in context. Telling the guy just to shut those sliders off and forget about them isn't necessarily the best advice.
It's already been said but I will second it. It is cheaper to buy than to research tech. I play at Diety level and I turn off my research as soon as I get either bronze working or horseriding depending on my mood.
If you want to make money you need to be active on the diplmatic screen. Buy your tech from others and shop around when you do. Put embassies in every civ and if you get in a bind and need a tech then steal it. If you worry about a civ getting a wonder then start building a Palace in your best city and wait until they will sell you a tech for less gold. Then switch the palace to the wonder. The longer you wait to buy a tech the cheaper it gets. Sometimes you CAN steal a tech for less that others are willing to sell it for. This is especially so if it is a military advance and only your worst enemy has it.
Try to make per turn payment deals. The more money they make per turn the more money you are liable to make from them. Also if you buy a luxury from them and pay up front and they go to war with you the next turn you lose that investment.
Build marketplaces and banks BEFORE you build libraries.
Unless you plan on making war build the minimum army to make a defense of your territory. You can build more later if you have to, but until then there is no sense in paying for them if you are a Republic or Democracy.
Trade, Trade, Trade!
If you make a war get something out of it. Take the cities that have resources on them and then trade them when the area is secure or when you make peace.
Remember your reputation is GOLD. If you are a cheat and a rat people wont trade with you unless you pay up front. Being incompetent is just as bad! Trading gems from a newly acquired city that flips or gets its road cut will ruin your reputation and make it harder to buy techs or sell luxuries or resources.
If you have Wall Street (you should have Wall Street) then don't spend your reserve below 1000 gpt. You can only make a 5% return on up to 1000 gpt so if you go below that you lose money.
Disband your swordwmen and archers when they become obsolete. Don't keep them around "just in case." They cost 1 gold per turn and will drain your income. Disband these units in a city to help its production of facilities.
By the time you reach the Industrial Age (at Diety level) you should have sufficient libraries and Univerisities to start researching tech. Get the ones you need first like RR, Industrialism, Sanitation. These techs will make your civs production explode and more people means more taxes.
Try to research a tech thread that is different from the AI. You can buy what they research or trade with them your techs. (I don't recommend this unless you know they are close to getting the tech anyway)
Finally be careful when you make alliances or MPP. If you are trading with a civ and make an alliance against them it hurts your reputation. If you are a trading with a civ and they go to war with your MPP partner then it hurts your repurtation. If there is a war going on and you buy a tech from someone try to do it in cash. If you do it per turn that civ may not be around in 20 turns and that WILL hurt your reputation, and as I said before your reputation is GOLD!
Even if he was, there would be certain occasions where it would be beneficial to be first with a tech and to acquire a particular technology before everyone else. For instance, if I could get Replaceable Parts and start getting Infantry out in the field before anyone else, I'd have a defensive advantage for awhile, one that might be crucial.
The difference between defensive values of Riflemen and Infantry are moot until Motorized transportation is discovered. The enemy will still be using Cavalry which is even with the defensive value of Riflemen. 6attack vs 6 defense. If you aren't in a war then you don't need Infantry and can wait until that tech gets cheaper and then buy it.
At any difficulty level I believe buying tech is more efficient than researching it. You can specialize in the building of marketplaces and banks more easily than libraries and universities and get immediate returns for doing so. Remember there is a limit to the tech you can research (4 turns), but not to the money you can make. Also, while 7 civs are researching 4 different techs you can be making enough cash to buy every tech they make and then sell the tech to someone else. (another money maker buy tech/sell same tech before the original researcher) You talk about "tactical advantage" if you are stuck with a research rate minimum of 4 turns and the AI is constantly making deals for techs and you have no cash pool to buy their techs you are at a "Disadvantage!"
Originally posted by Willem
There's a time and a place for anything, so offering a blanket statement about turning off research doesn't make any sense.
Why not? Whatever methods you use to beat the AIs at Deity level will also work to all other levels. In fact, it would work much better at the easier level. Moreover, I have played at Regent and Monarch with zero research and it works even better than what would have been at the Deity level. The reason some people like to get ahead of the AIs in technology because they want to send their modern armors at against a helpless archer. If they want to do that, it's cool with me; however, victory seems so hollow if you ask me.
Originally posted by Willem
Telling the guy just to shut those sliders off and forget about them isn't necessarily the best advice.
Actually in this context, I think it's the best advice. Since he is running a negative 500 balance, turnning off research may be a good place to start.
Last edited by Moonsinger; September 12, 2002, 13:54.
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