Unclear about...

[DLuke]

OK, I've been playing for a few days, and for the most part am loving CTP2.

However, there are a few things that I'm confused about, and haven't been able to clear up by reading the manual, readme file, the message boards here, etc.

First, what are "Crossover Technologies" as they are listed in the Tech Tree? For example, Geometry is listed with a +3 Ballistics. Does this mean that learning geometry will give a head start on learning ballistics? Usually ballistics will be learned before geometry, so I'm not sure if that makes sense.

Second, several questions about piracy. When an opponent pirates one of my trade routes, is the piracy only occurring while the enemy unit is parked on the trade route? Several times my trade route is marked as pirated, but the offending unit has already returned back to it's own territory.

Even more confusing, how do I tell when I've successfully pirated somebody elses trade route? There is no indication in any of the summary screens (that I could find) of extra income due to piracy. And again, is piracy done every turn, or do I only have to do it once and then it continues? The manual is very unclear about this.

Thanks!

--Doug--

[Cyrius]

quote: Originally posted by DLuke on 11-19-2000 02:53 PM First, what are "Crossover Technologies" as they are listed in the Tech Tree? For example, Geometry is listed with a +3 Ballistics. Does this mean that learning geometry will give a head start on learning ballistics? Usually ballistics will be learned before geometry, so I'm not sure if that makes sense.

These are requirements for a tech. The number is merely an abstract "tech level" or "era" of the required tech. In you example, Ballistics is a tier 3 technology which is required to research Geometry. They are called "Crossover Technologies" because they are are found in completely different areas of the tech tree. For example, Geometry is probably in the physics or applied sciences group, whereas ballistics is probably a military technology.

Sorry, but I'm not real sure on the piracy issues.

[DLuke]

**Bump**

So can anybody help me with my Piracy questions?

--Doug--

[DarkOrder]

You have to pirate every turn. You will receive a pirate flag and animation on the trade route tile that you pirate. The amount of money gained is the amount that the trade route would normally give (the empire that owns the route) for that turn. You may have a difficult time finding this gold though. If you are losing money in any of your cities, it will be diverted there first.

Are you sure your route is not still being pirated? Another AI unit might be pirating it at a different spot.

Smooshies