Useful way to get things built quicker?

[Kokuei]

Hey all,

I've been away for a looooooooong time, so apologies if this one's been discussed already. I had a look through the forums but couldn't find anything on it... Been playing again since PTW came out.

As I recall this has always worked for me (in vanilla civ3 too), just never thought to mention it before now - too busy playing with the research slider (for those that remember)

In between turns when you see the other civ's moving, the first info box you get to action (if applicable) is the tech dialogue. If you click on the option to display the tech tree, you gain access to all the advisor screens.

(thinking about it, I think you can also get to the advisor screens when you get a rival civ dialogue during the 'in-between' time)

Being a builder, and when there's nothing left to build, I often use wealth. If you change a city producing wealth to a new item availble from the technology you just discovered, you can actually get the previous turns production capacity towards that item (even though you'd already designated it for wealth). I haven't gone as far as checking whether you still get your money or not.

What this means is that if you have enough production capacity, it is actually possible to finish building the item on the same turn you finished the research for it on the tech tree! In any event, when it says 'x' turns to build whilst in the advisor screen, as soon as control is restored to you, the build time will be 'x-1'

In practice I think most of us pre-build anyway, but doing the switch during this 'in-between' time, guarantees you get it the moment the tech advance is discovered and not the turn after if you waited and switched during your real turn.

I'd certainly be interested to know if this one is common knowledge, or if anyone can explain how it works... seems a bit cheesy somehow for it to be there on purpose.

K

[pedrojedi]

NO, wealth does not give extra shields... in fact, choosing it while constructing other things will waste preciously built shields...

[Kokuei]

Hey Pedrojedi,

I wasn't saying wealth gets you shields... (and I know changing to wealth is bad)

Let me give an example... In my last game, I'm going for spaceship win. My cities are building ICBM's so that I can switch... I'm researching 'Laser'.

When the 'tech discovered' dialogue appears, I go to the advisor screen (via the what's the story option) and change production of one of the cities from ICBM to SS Lounge. It will say, there is one turn to build. BUT when I close the advisor screen & you then get your messages to say that units/structures have been built (just before your unit movement) , one of them will be the SS Lounge!

So I can build an item ON the turn I discover the tech, rather than the turn afterwards, which is what would happen if you closed the tech dialogue without accessing the advisors first...

Surely this is turn advantage a la Velocyrix?

[Hurricane]

I have seen this reported before, and in fact, I don't even think it should be called an exploit. When you discover a tech that upgrades a unit (for example Military tradition), all cities building Knights will immediately switch to Cavalry, and if they happen to have enough shileds, the cavalry will be completed that same turn.

Anyway, this is only possible on turns when you yourself discover a new tech, so it's not a very big deal, but sure it can be useful every once in a while.

[Daz]

Been there, done that.

I ussually plan large invasions upon getting a good tech. Either cavalry or armor. What I do is watch in how many turns I get the tech and fill the building queues with something that has building time +1. When I get the tech I switch to cavalry or armor and next turn i have 20 brand new units....

[Alex]

Yes, I don't think it is necessarily an exploit. It's just how the game works. It surely gives you that turn advantage you so badly need in hardest difficulty levels.

[petermarkab]

This phenomenon of switching from Wealth to a shield item is one i use frequently, especially when I've reached the stage where my major cities are producing upwards of 50 shields per turn.

I set the first city in my build queue - i.e. the first city I found, or my oldest city - to produce a unit that completes in one turn. I ensure that the pop-up notification for units is activated.

While in the city screen, i can cycle between all my cities, changing the Wealth i had set them to (previous turn) to some other unit. I gain the Wealth, plus the shields towards the new unit, and often this new unit is produced in one turn.

So in one turn, i collect the wealth and the shield production - very significant in a city with shield production ~ 50. Thats an extra 12 gpt plus a bomber per turn (if playing accelerated mode).

But by far the most exploitative aspect of this is, while in the city screen, i can redistribute my workers to produce shields, food whatever, and take them off, THE SAME TURN, to allow other nearby cities to work the same land.

The turn cycle goes something like this:

At the end of my turn, i set all my cities bar the first one - say my capital - to produce wealth. I ensure there is no worker overlap in my capital, and i set all the other cities' workers to produce maximum trade, EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF FOOD PRODUCTION, i.e. a food shortfall. This doesn't matter as trade is converted to gold, science, lux, before the food stage.

I then finish the turn and wait until my capital produces the unit next turn, where I zoom to the city screen.

In the capital city screen, i then remove ALL the workers (there will be a food shortage but don't worry - its a psuedo-food shortage!) and cycle to my next city.

In city 2, i maximise the production there by clearing all the overlap in that, and ensuring that city 2 will produce something this turn.

The cycle repeats - city 2 produces, i clear the workers off, i move to city 3 etc.

I always remember to reset my capital at the end of turn.

The effect is the same as having all your cities spaced so there is no overlap, but with much decreased corruption.

On the Emperor/Deity difficulty levels when I average around 12 decent city postions using infinite city sprawl, the spatial advantage is enormous. Where my cities would normally be size 12, with this extra micromanagement, they acheive size 20 or greater cities with huge shield production.

There are many refinements, tricks and things to catch you out with this, which i'll leave for discussion...

Has anyone else tried this, and are there any comments, additions, oversights?

This is my first post - sorry about the length but i got carried away!

[Hurricane]

Well, petermarkab, that is definitely cheating, since you use the same tiles several times. I have sometimes used it, just to try it out, but I can't understand how you cope with the micromanagement. Your turns must take hours.

[petermarkab]

Yeah, turns take forever - i thought i wouldn't mention that part as it takes the gloss off!

It is cheating, although one could argue that you're transferring resources a la the trade caravan or supply crawler.

[Spiffor]

I often use the tech popup to change my taxation and upgrade my units between turns. Very convenient, because your upgraded units will be able to move at the beginning of next turn.