Distilled Civ Tips and Notes

[inca911]

As a relatively new Civ player, I have found countless gems of information hiding in all these message board threads that I wish to distill and share with other Civ addicts. As such, the goal of this thread will be to compile a concise HTML document that can be saved, printed, and shared to help the Intermediate Civ player evolve into the Advanced Civ player. I will be searching the message threads and posting some of the many tips that have greatly helped my play. Please feel free to do the same!

[Steve Clark]

There really is an overwhelming amount of CivII strategies out there. In my more ever-growing log book, I have a section of printouts from this site, as well as from those that are mentioned in this forum - like the link Sten provided in 'SS Statistics' thread. I found to sort all of this out is to focus on a current strategy: if you are playing a bloodlust game, concentrate only on those strategies that talks about warfare and such. Same goes for OCC, ICS, AC and other alphabet soups.

[Sten Sture]

I wonder if Markos could zip up the whole list of threads/posts and make them available for download... Then it would be a lot easier to condense them down into a strategy faq/guide.

------------------
I wonder if jpk drives a Dodge Caravan...

[Ming]

A worthy goal! Promised by many, delivered by none
Good Luck on your difficult task. Even if you don't finish the project, you will be a better civ player just by doing the research.

But to get you started, this might help some.
http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum28/H...tml?date=20:35

It is a list of many of the known cheats and strange things in CivII. It was compiled to help the development of CivIII.

Happy Hunting!

[MyOlde]

Think that's a great idea. I have already made a fairly extensive collection for my own purposes. I have it in Microsoft Word form and will e-mail it to you if you will post your e-mail or e-mail it to me at bushbell@sympatico.ca

I will now be adding all the material from my question from yesterday regarding Einsteins & Taxmen. The collection covers the topics that are of interest/concern to me so you will probably want to continue your own search.

You're right: there's an incredible amount of great insights, facts, and advice in these threads.

[inca911]

Please feel free to email any information to:
fjohnson@diametrics.com

Thanks!

[SandMonkey]

Here inca911, i found a couple more links you may be able to use:
http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum3/HTML/000096.html
This is that Two Continent trading strategy.
http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum3/HT...tml?date=11:56
This is the topic "The whole caravan thing" i thought it had some good points on caravans and trading.
http://www1.linkonline.net/8th_house_ent/ntciv2/OCC.zip
This is a link to Nakin Tames Civilization page, and this particular link has a bunch of the old OCC topics in .zip form.

Hope this helps some.

[inca911]

The next basic item is a list of the various wonders, the advance that makes them expire, and their functions:

Wonder (Advance that expires it): Function

Adam Smith's Trading Co: Pays all 1 cost city improvements

Apollo Space Program: Allows construction of spaceship parts

Colossus (Flight): City gets one extra trade arrow in each trade producing square

Copernicus' Observatory: City Science Output Increased 50%

Cure for Cancer: One extra happy citizen in each city

Darwin's Voyage: 2 free civ advances

Eiffel Tower: Foreign civs like you more, and attitudes improve with time

Great Library (Electricity): Get any advance 2 other civs have

Great Wall (Metallurgy): Civs must offer peace/cease-fire: Acts as City Walls in every city (but no maintenance costs): x2 strength vs. Barbarians

Hanging Gardens (Railroad): 1 extra happy citizen in each city

Hoover Dam: Acts as a Hydro Plant in every city (but no maintenance costs)

Isaac Newton's College: City science output x2

J.S. Bach Cathedral: -2 unhappy citizens in each city on continent

King Richard's Crusade (Industrialization): Every city square produces one more shield

Leonardo's Workshop (Automobile): Automatically upgrades old units

Lighthouse (Magnetism): Triemes don't sink: All ships movement increased by 1: New ships are Vets

Magellan's Expedition: All ships movement increased by 2

Manhattan Project: Allows nukes

Marco Polo's Embassy (Communism): Acts as an Embassy with every civ

Michaelangelo's Chapel: Acts as a Cathedral in every city (but no maintenance costs)

Oracle (Theology): Temple effect is doubled

Pyramids: Acts as a Granary in every city (but no maintenance costs)

SETI Program: Acts as a Research Lab in every city (but no maintenance costs)

Shakespeare's Theater: All unhappy citizens in city are content: Can assign units to Shakes city to wage war in Democracy, or put in SSC (Super Science City--see other messages for more on SSC) for fast population growth

Statue of Liberty: No unrest for government changes: Can pick all government types, even if tech isn't discovered (usually Fundamentalism)

Sun Tzu's War Academy (Mobile Warfare): All new ground units are Vets: Win means Vet promotion for other units

United Nations: Embassy with every civ: Other civs must accept treaties: Can delcare war while democracy 50% of the time

Woman's Suffrage: Acts as a Police Station in every city (but no maintenance costs)

[This message has been edited by inca911 (edited January 11, 2000).]

[inca911]

The Super Science City (SSC) Concept:

One of the ideas that most improved my play is the use of the Super Science City (SSC). The goal is to crank up the Science output of a single city, so you are way ahead of the AI civs throughout the latter stages of the game.

If you have a city on some river squares, with ocean squares, and with some special resources for trade (Gold is 6: Gems, Ivory, Spice, Wine are 4), then you have an incredible site for a SSC.

By building all the science and trade boosting wonders in this one city you can create a Science monster, churning out 500+ beakers/turn. Colossus will increase your trade greatly so you have a nice base to start enhancing, but remember to prolong Flight until you are ready to obsolete the Collosus. Add Copernicus' Observatory to get another 50% science. Build Isaac Newton's College to double your science after that.

Build caravans like crazy to transport shields to your SSC to build these wonders!

If this city is your capital, you don't have to worry about loss to corruption. But if the city is far away and you are losing some trade to corruption, consider building a palace in your city to relocate you capital.

Now add to that the Library, University, and Research Lab city improvements, for another 150% boost.

Terraform all non trade-producing squares to trade producing terrain with roads (remember, roads = trade = science = bombers vs. knights). When you build superhighways later on, the roads will increase your trade even more (river + road + superhighway = 3 trade--same as ocean)!

Get three solid trade routes to pump those arrows into the city, preferably with the best AI cities you can find (big AI cities on different continents far away are nice). Get three trade routes going ASAP with whoever you can (even your own cities), but don't forget to update these early routes with better ones as the game evolves.

I personally like to add Shakespeare's Theater to my SSC, because then I can crank up the population by using We Love the __ Day (WLT*D)--more on use of that tactic in future messages. Then I can convert a huge number of citizens to Einsteins once the population is maxed out. If I have Shakespeare's Theater, I also assign military units to my SSC before they go to war, until my shield support is getting close to my production (but be careful, or a few fortified units on your shield squares will decimate your army!).

In the end, you have a city that guarantees a technology edge to your civ. When I choose to use a SSC in a game, I often forgo building many wonders that expire since I discover the advance way too quickly to make the cost worthwhile (King Richard's Crusade, Leonardo's Workshop in particular).

I hope this helps!

[inca911]

The One City Challenge (OCC):

OK, I admit I had to look around for a while before I knew what "OCC" meant. OCC is civ addiction taken to extremes, which as Martha Stewart would say "is a good thing."

OCC is the quest to win the Space Race to Alpha Centauri (AC) WITH ONLY ONE CITY!!!!

Typically, one the the major civ addicts provides a map with a settler poised at a good city site (4 whales, 2 whales--2 gold, etc). Then there are a set of rules for what cheats are allowed or disallowed and then everyone competes for the best AC (Alpha Centauri) date on a level playing field. There are a lot of OCC threads on this board that can provide you with maps and rules. Give it a try and I guarantee you will use the Foreign Minister a lot more (and your F3 key will get dirty a little faster!).

One important item to note, Civ versions 2.42 and the Civ MultiPlayer Gold Edition (MGE) are not the same. The AI tends to be a bit friendlier in version 2.42, and this difference in diplomacy is critical in the OCC. Buy both editions to see the difference for yourself. Perhaps someone with more experience than I will post a better description of the differences between the versions. As with any software product, there are definitely bugs that get fixed in later versions so figure out what platform you are using so you can compare apples to apples in an OCC.

Good luck!

[Paul]

Some comments/clarifications on your posts:

Barracks: maintenance cost rises by one after each obsolescence.

Cathedral: makes 3 citizens content, +1 for Theology, -1 for Communism

Offshore Platform: all ocean squares produce one MORE shield than they already do.

Superhighways: all roads produce one more trade (I think; I'm not 100% sure about that one)

Temple: one unhappy becomes content; two with Mysticism

Copernicus: Science +100% (manual has this wrong)

Hanging Gardens: +1 happy in all cities; +3 happy in city that builds it.

Isaac Newton: +50% Science (manual has this and Cop. switched)

Bach: manual is wrong again. This works for all your cities, also those on other continents

Statue of Liberty: only one turn of anarchy between government switch; can pick all govs, even if you don't have the technology for it.

[Smash]

SETI-you need universities to get the benefit

Alot of work.I applaud your efforts
[This message has been edited by Smash (edited January 11, 2000).]

[DaveV]

Paul - superhighways increase trade by 50% in any square with a road or railroad. So they're not very helpful unless you are in Democracy or Republic.

[geofelt]

Superhighways also increase the value of trade routes and roaded trade specials, so they are still some good.

And airports in both source and end(?) of trade routes increase value of trade routes. I don't remember if this is mentioned in the manual.
Hope that we've not hijacked this thread from inca911.
Good work!

[inca911]

OK, starting with the basics. Here are the various city improvements, their maintenance costs, and their functions.

Improvement(Maintenance Cost): Function

Airport(3): Allows one Airlift per turn to and from another Airport: City produces Vet Air Units: 1 turn repair for damaged units: Increases trade route potency

Aqueduct(2): Allows city to increase beyond size 8: Can sell it when city is maxed out in size

Bank(3): Tax/Luxury Output Increased 50% (*** with MarketPlace): Don't build if city has less than 6 coin output

Barracks(1): City produces Vet Ground Units: 1 turn repair for damaged units: These are made obsolete and must be rebuilt

Capitalization(0): Converts Production into Trade

Cathedral(3): Makes 4 unhappy citizens content (3 after Communism)

City Walls(0): 3x Defense for Ground Attacks

Coastal Fortress(1): 2x Defense vs. Shore Bombardments

Colosseum(4): Makes 3 unhappy citizens content (4 after Electronics)

Courthouse(1): Corruption decreased 50%. More bribery resistance. Under democracy, makes 1 content citizen happy

Factory(4): Resource Production Increased 50%

Granary(1): Only 50% decrease in food supply after a population increase

Harbor(1): All ocean squares produce 1 more food

Hydro Plant(4): Factory Output Increased 50%, cleaner than power plant, safer than nuclear plant

Library(1): Science Output Increased 50%

Manufacturing Plant(6): Factory Output Increased 50% (*** with Factory)

MarketPlace(1): Tax/Luxury Output Increased 50% (*** with Bank): Don't build if city has less than 2 coin output

Mass Transit(4): Eliminates population based pollution

Nuclear Plant(2): Factory Output Increased 50%, cleaner than power plant, same as hydro plant, but there is meltdown risk

Offshore Platform(3): All ocean squares produce 1 shield

Palace(0): Eliminate corruption and waste, reduces it in neighboring cities: Immune to bribery

Police Station(2): Decreases unhappiness from troops away from city by 1

Port Facility(3): City produces Vet Naval Units: 1 turn repair for damaged units

Power Plant(4): Factory Output Increased 50%: Wait for Hydro or Nuclear (if you can) to avoid pollution problems

Recycling Center(2): Decreases pollution caused by factories

Research Lab(3): Science Output Increased 50%

SAM Missle Battery(2): 2x defense vs. Air units and non-nuke missle units

SDI Defense(4): Nuke protection for everything 3 spaces from city

Sewer System(2): Allows city to increase beyond 12: Can sell when city is maxed out in size

Solar Plant(4): Factory Output Increased 50%, cleanest form of power

Stock Exchange(4): Tax/Luxury Output Increased 50%: Don't build if city has less than 8 coin output

Superhighways(5): All roads produce 50% more trade

Supermarket(3): Farmland squares produce 50% more food: Don't build unless you have farmland (double irrigated squares)

Temple(1): 2 unhappy citizens made content

University(3): Science Output Increased 50%

[inca911]

Hijacked? Absolutely not! This is exactly the type of information I'm looking to compile, and I look forward to your continued input! Thanks!

[My Wife Hates CIV]

supermarkets, just building the improvement gets you +1 food for the city.

[Sieve Too]

SETI and Research Labs work even without Libraries or Universities. You can't build Research Labs unless you have a University, though.

Supermarkets only provide +1 food to the city if the city square is on a terrain type that could benefit from farmland, i.e. grass, plains and hills.

Great Library only confers an advance on the turn when some other civ gets that advance (via research, trading, plunder, diplo, etc.) and if they are not the first civ to get the advance.

Leo's Shop works similar to GL. It will upgrade units on the turn it is built, but after that it will only upgrade units on turns when the owner acquires a new tech.

Factories only increase shield output by 50%. No other resources are affected.

CFC and HG turn one unhappy citizen to content if there are no content citizens.

Darwin grants the current tech being researched and then one additional tech.

[DaveV]

One point that would fall under "etc." in Sieve Too's GL description: if an eliminated civ is restarted, it has a chance of starting with any of the techs which have already been discovered (50% for every tech in Civ1, probably the same in Civ2). When this happens, the GL holder receives any of these starting techs he doesn't already have.

Also worth noting: CFC and HG will turn a very unhappy citizen to happy (not unhappy, nor even content!). This appears to work even if the very unhappy citizen is not the leftmost icon in the city happiness window.

[inca911]

Governments and Max Number of Cities

Here is another great bit of info I found hidden in a caravan discussion thread....

Depending on the difficulty level (Emperor, Deity, etc.) you are playing there is a number of cities you can build under each government type in which the first citizen is content. When you exceed this maximum city number, in any additional cities you found the first citizen begins unhappy (note that this unhappy citizen may appear in a different city than the one you just founded).

There has been a formula proposed for this phenomenon (although my experiments suggest that it is a bit off):

Max Cities = Riot Factor - (Difficulty Factor*2) + (INT ( Government Factor/2) *2)

Where Riot Factor = 14
Difficulty Factor = 0 to 5 (0 for Chieftain, 4 for Emperor, 5 for Deity, etc.)
Government Factor = 0 to 6 (Anarchy=0, Despotism=1, Monarchy=2, Communism=3, Fundamentalism=4, Republic=5, Democracy=6)

To prove/disprove this, I started a Deity game, and toggeled on the cheat mode. I created a bunch of settlers, and founded cities one at a time, forcing all governments and checking the attitude advisor before building another city (note that the attitude advisor is not always accurately updated, so you must go into each city to verify happiness). Here is a matrix of my Deity level results, with the # of happy cities per government type based on total number of cities:

# Cities Anarchy Despotism Monarchy Communism Fundy Republic Democracy
1_______All_________All__________All__________All_ ________All_______All_________All
2_______All_________All__________All__________All_ ________All_______All_________All
3_______All_________All__________All__________All_ ________All_______All_________All
4_______All_________All__________All__________All_ ________All_______All_________All
5________4__________4___________All__________All__ _______All_______All_________All
6________4__________3___________All__________All__ _______All_______All_________All
7________2__________2____________6__________All___ ______All_______All_________All
8________0__________0____________6__________All___ ______All_______All_________All
9________0__________0____________6__________All___ ______All________8__________All
10_______0__________0____________4__________All___ ______All________8__________All
11_______0__________0____________2__________All___ ______All________8__________10
12_______0__________0____________0__________All___ ______All________8__________10
13_______0__________0____________0__________All___ ______All________8__________10
14_______0__________0____________0__________All___ ______All________8__________10


(I can't get the table to post correctly, but you should be able to decipher it!)

So the actual test results show that the formula does not predict the behavior of Communism very well, which makes sense since Communism is good for sprawling empires with large numbers of cities, but I do not have a proposed correction. Most importantly, note the non-linear unhappiness effect of additional city building! Build 7 cities in Monarchy and only one is unhappy, build 10 and now 6 are unhappy! The determination of a all-encompassing formula is not necessary, understanding the guiding force behind number of cities and happiness is! I hope this helps!

[This message has been edited by inca911 (edited January 12, 2000).]

[DaveV]

inca - try using underscores instead of spaces/tabs to separate your columns - they'll line up a lot better. Also, you can cut out all of the old "this message has been edited" strings to remove the funky HTML at the end of your post.

Nice experiment. It would be even better if you kept track of cities whose first citizen is content (blue shirt/hat), unhappy (red shirt/hat), or very unhappy (black shirt/hat), and extended it beyond 20 cities. Notice how easy it is to volunteer someone else to do the grunt work?

[inca911]

Thanks Dave! Those are good tips! At first, I did have lofty goals for my experiment, but once I realized the attitude advisor isn't always up-to-date, and also did not differentiate very unhappy from unhappy citizens, I gave up. I also did not look into what happens with size 2 cities, only size 1 cities. I was most surprised by the non-linearity even in Monarchy. Build too fast and your empire crumbles even faster!

[Genghis Al]

You are doing great work inca, keep it up!

[inca911]

Manipulation of Special Terrain Squares

You can terraform these special terrain squares into different special terrains as follows:

Buffalo: Mine to Pheasant
Coal: Transform to Buffalo
Fruit: Transform to Wheat
Furs: Transform to Oil(in Desert)
Pheasant: Irrigate to Buffalo
Musk Ox: Transform to Oasis
Gems: Mine to Pheasant, Transform to Buffalo
Gold: Transform to Coal
Iron: Transform to Wine--very useful!
Ivory: Transform to Musk Ox
Oasis: Transform to Buffalo
Oil(in Desert): Transform to Wheat
Oil(in Glacier): Transform to Furs
Peat: Mine to Pheasant, Transform to Buffalo
Silk: Irrigate to Wheat
Spice: Tranform to Wheat
Wheat: Mine to Silk--very useful!
Wine: Transform to Wheat

Note that you can also terraform a special into a non-special terrain, but the "potential" of the square remains the same, which means you can then terraform it again and create a special. There is a distribution pattern to the placement of special resources, so once you see the pattern, you can find grassland squares that will change into special terrains upon terraforming.

[poppawoppa]

Great info. You should also look at the post AI personalities started by Ghengis Al...it has a great treatment of the aggressive, perfectionist, militaristic, etc characteristics of the Civ tribes, which I think would go very well in your analysis. Good work.

[Sten Sture]

Another way to look at the specials is:

X->Plains__Forest___Hills__Mtn___Swamp_Jungle_Tundra _Glacier_Desert

A->Buffalo_Pheasant_Coal_Gold__Peat____Gems___MuskOx _Ivory_Oasis
B->Wheat_Silk_____Wine___Iron__Spice___Fruit___Oil(g )___Furs__Oil(d)

Also, in many of the cases noted above simply irrigating would suffice, transformation in not necessary. Swamp, and Jungle become grassland when irrigated which turns into Woods when mined, which becomes plains when irrigated. You cannot go back to a mountain, swamp, or jungle so if you are changing one of those specials, make sure you are not going to want it back.
[This message has been edited by Sten Sture (edited January 13, 2000).]

[Kuma no Tsume]

(Lost my orignal copy once, so I have two versions of CivII)
In one of them there is a poster with all the things to know about the tech-tree, terrain and units.
Don't you have it?

[inca911]

Yes I do have the poster, but I am posting info here so others can benefit. It's easy to just look at the tech tree at the top of the poster and miss the information about manipulation of terrain specials. Thanks for double-checking!

[Sten Sture]

Bump

Per current question, and to revive a great idea.