The CIV3 FAQ: COMMON QUESTIONS/COMPLAINTS/ARGUMENTS and their ANSWERS - Page 2

adaMada · November 22, 2001, 11:44

Q: Once you've started trading a resource, can you stop the trade or does it go for all time. AI renegotiates after 20 years. I'd like to be able to do that as well. Not sure if this is happening for me behind the scenes or not. Also it would be nice to negotiate the number of years in the agreement as part of the terms of contract. -- Vercingettyrex
A: At the bottom of the diplomacy screen, there is a button labeled "Active", next to a grayed-out button labeled new. By clicking on the Active button, you can see what agreements are active between you and that nation, and renegotiate them (or cancel them) by clicking on an agreement. The number in parentheses next to the agreement is how many more turns it lasts (before it can be canceled peacefully). Note that, as part of this, you can renegotiate peace, which can be very useful if you want something from an enemy who's scared to the death of you

. From the active screen, you can click the "new" button to get back to the original diplomacy screen.

Lord Chambers · November 23, 2001, 07:23

Q. Where can I find a manual online?
A: The manual is available on the CD in PDF format.

bahoo · November 23, 2001, 12:12

I'll add a question to the FAQ I don't have an answer to, hopefully someone does.

Q. Is there a way to "Wake All" units of a certain type much the way you can upgrade all? Or is there a way to wake them all from the military advisor screen without it automatically closing the screen and focusing you on the unit each time you try to wake one.

(it's very annoying having to individually activate every tank each time you go to war)

Dominous · November 23, 2001, 13:31

Q. How do you establish an embassy with another civ?
A. After you have discovered writing….right click on your capital city and choose conduct espionage.
read page 199 of the manual (Keystrokes: Game Stuff: Establish an Embassy). Planting a Spy, and Using an Embassy or Spy are also on the page.

Skanky Burns · November 24, 2001, 01:30

Q: How do you check embassies after you build them?
A: Double click on the star icon in their capital city. See picture below.

Q: How do I contact Civs which I can't see on the map, but I have been introduced to by other Civs?
A: Double click on the leader's face in the F4 screen.

Q: How change what faces are displayed on my foreign advisors screen when I am playing with more Civs than the screen allows?
A: Hold down Shift and right click on the leaders face you want to replace, again in the F4 screen.

Jaybe · November 24, 2001, 16:13

Q. Once you've started trading a resource, can you stop the trade or does it go for all time. AI renegotiates after 20 years. I'd like to be able to do that as well. Not sure if this is happening for me behind the scenes or not. Also it would be nice to negotiate the number of years in the agreement as part of the terms of contract.

A. [Discussed elsewhere, but here it is again]. AI may renegotiate after 20 years (especially if they want a better deal). In Negotiations screen, click "Active" on the bottom (near the "New"). If a trade has an number in parentheses by it, that is how much of the 20 years remains. If it doesn't have the number, then renegotiate without diplomatic penalty.

Q. Bombardment by air, land or sea has limited effectiveness. I accept the logic of this because at the end of the day, in history, to take any land you've got to put boots on the ground. Still I'd like bombardment to have more tactical worth than it has just now. Wonder if its possible to give some other options like interdiction, suppression etc which would then help other units ?

A. Bombardment interdiction etc. is only represented by destroying improvements on a square. If you have destroyed an improvement, subsequent bombardment may destroy all remaining improvements (assuming it works similar to pillaging).

GodSpawn · November 24, 2001, 21:19

Q: How do you place a spy into an embassy?
A1: Ctrl-Shift-E will plant a spy in an embassy.
A2: Double click on the shield icon in the city that built the Intelligence Agency wonder (same position as the Embassy Icon in the Bejiing picture previously). This will also allow you to place spies in other civilizations.

(Thanks to Wal35 and Shankey Burns for the information)

Jaybe · November 25, 2001, 16:42

Q. What good are the cruise missles if they are an air unit and you can't put them on ships?

A. Cruise Missles do NOT function as air units -- they are like artillery units except they can DESTROY units (take out the last hit point). They move like ground units, so they can go most anywhere (on land, and on transports I hear).

They have a 'Rate of Fire' of 3, which is as high as bombers, but their bombardment strength is 16 instead of a bomber's 8, so they are almost effective at taking out mech infantry. They are the best bombardment unit until Radar Artillery, with the advantage of being able to destroy units and the disadvantage of being a one-shot deal (at least they're cheap).

TopHat · November 26, 2001, 22:13

See the image earlier in this thread.

The game starts without that little yellow dot. Even before I have met other players, it shows up for some reason. My original guess is that it is related to embassies but I don't see how that can be with no diplomatic contacts whatsoever.

Q: What does the coin on the capitol star signify?

A:

TopHat · November 27, 2001, 02:29

Quote:

Originally posted by adaMada
Q: Once you've started trading a resource, can you stop the trade or does it go for all time. AI renegotiates after 20 years. I'd like to be able to do that as well. Not sure if this is happening for me behind the scenes or not. Also it would be nice to negotiate the number of years in the agreement as part of the terms of contract. -- Vercingettyrex
A: At the bottom of the diplomacy screen, there is a button labeled "Active", next to a grayed-out button labeled new. By clicking on the Active button, you can see what agreements are active between you and that nation, and renegotiate them (or cancel them) by clicking on an agreement. The number in parentheses next to the agreement is how many more turns it lasts (before it can be canceled peacefully). Note that, as part of this, you can renegotiate peace, which can be very useful if you want something from an enemy who's scared to the death of you

. From the active screen, you can click the "new" button to get back to the original diplomacy screen.

Do I have the same version as you? (1.07f)
By diplomacy screen, I am infering you mean the Foreign Advisor screen.

My diplomacy screen only has an "active" check box to the right side and it just toggles lines to the pictures of leaders with whom I have routes.

I'd like to have access to this information you describe here.

Kenjura · November 27, 2001, 03:19

Quote:

Originally posted by TopHat

Do I have the same version as you? (1.07f)
By diplomacy screen, I am infering you mean the Foreign Advisor screen.

My diplomacy screen only has an "active" check box to the right side and it just toggles lines to the pictures of leaders with whom I have routes.

I'd like to have access to this information you describe here.

No. The foreign advisor is the foreign advisor. The diplomacy screen is when you can see another leader's head. You know...the head screen with two boxes for making deals. Below the place that lists options and such, there is another box that says "new" and "active". Usually you are making a "new" deal. "Active" deals are what you already have going on, like trading gems for oil, or trading 9999999999 gold for nothing (heh). If you aren't at war, there will be a "peace treaty". If it's been 20 turns or more, you can re-nogotiate any deal. You can't re-negotiate if it hasn't been 20 turns. You can tell how many turns it's been for each deal, because there is a number in parentheses, such as (18) Gems.

Wraa.

Wyrmo · November 27, 2001, 05:45

Q: Ok, I made an army of three knights, but now I want to replace my units. How do I remove units from my army? I see no "unload"-button available.
A1: Either it can't be done, because noone ever thought that you would remove units from an army to replace them. I mean, EVERYONE has groups of knights riding around with their tanks nowdays... OR, it is some bug assiciated with the fact that silly you never have played without changing this and that in the editor first... such as the research-bug when playing scenarios without default rules.

Hurry · November 27, 2001, 11:55

Quote:

Ok, I made an army of three knights, but now I want to replace my units. How do I remove units from my army? I see no "unload"-button available.

Wyrno: This is a last-minute gameplay decision. It´s in the Readme file on the CD. I guess they thought armies would be too powerful else. But still, its silly that you can´t upgrade the units in the army.

Skanky Burns · November 27, 2001, 19:10

Q: How do I make Great Leaders come about?

A: A Great Leader occurs approximately 1 in 16 times when an Elite unit wins a battle. So to increase your chances of aquiring a GL, increase the number of times you attack with elite units. Building barracks helps, so your units dont need two promotions before becoming elite. Having a militiristic civ helps, but is not essential.

Pythagoras · November 27, 2001, 19:23

Q Can I play say 16 civs on a small sized map? Or for that matter any amount (up to 16) on any size map?

Q If this is posible, how would I go about doing this?

Q How do I play on earth with historic locations?

WorkerOverload · November 28, 2001, 20:27

This may have already been answered, but I thought I'd try anyway. Is there a way to "hide" or not display the automated moves that workers are doing? It's gotten to the point that in between turns, I have to wait like 3 minutes..just watching my stupid workers running around. I checked the manual but couldn't come up with anything.

The obvious solution I suppose is to disband all of them...but that doesn't seem like a sensible thing to do.

Canaris · November 29, 2001, 10:25

Q: Why does my espionage missions never ever work, regardless of how much money I spend

marct · November 29, 2001, 16:03

Q: Why are my marines and tanks getting their butts kicked by guys with sharp sticks???

adaMada · November 29, 2001, 17:00

Q: Can I play say 16 civs on a small sized map? Or for that matter any amount (up to 16) on any size map? -- Pythagoras
A: Yes, it's possible, but...

Q: If this is possible, how would I go about doing this? -- Pythagoras
A: To the best of my understanding, to play with sixteen civs on anything less than the largest map, you have to make some minor changes in the Editor. Unfortunately, I'm not sure exactly what changes you need to make to do this.

Q: How do I play on earth with historic locations? -- Pythagoras
A: You can't as of now -- hopefully, this will be patched in sooner or later, but until that time...

-- adaMada

Saint Marcus · November 29, 2001, 19:13

Q1a. why does the AI always moves it's forces through my land to reach another location, regardless of my strenght.
Q1b. why does the AI always moves it's forces through other AI land to reach another location, regardless of it's strenght, and the second AI allows this.
Q1c. why does the AI declares war on me when I move in within their borders with 3 knights, while they have 19 swordsmen and 9 spearmen within my borders, and my military is bigger than theirs?
Q1d. will this be fixed in the next patch?

Q2a. why does Civ3 seems to crash at the weirdest times? (like when you build a city in a certain spot it crashes, even after reloading. or when you make contact with a certain civ, or try to strike a deal. or even something that happends during the AIs turn. reloading doesn't help, you have to start all over.)
Q2b. Will this be fixed in the next patch?

Saint Marcus · November 29, 2001, 19:15

Quote:

Q: If this is possible, how would I go about doing this? -- Pythagoras
A: To the best of my understanding, to play with sixteen civs on anything less than the largest map, you have to make some minor changes in the Editor. Unfortunately, I'm not sure exactly what changes you need to make to do this.

Go to the editor, open the bic, and then go to the edit world size screen (or whatever it's called). select one of the sizes you wish to edit, and change the number of civs to 16. Great fun, 16 civs on a tiny map

AustralianJeremy · December 2, 2001, 22:05

Q: How do you steal tech from other civs? I've built the CIA wonder and sent a spy... but there doesn't seem to be any way to steal tech from the damn zulus! Is that true? Is it impossible now in Civ3?

Libertarian · December 3, 2001, 07:06

Q. Is there any way to build an improvement while a city is in revolt or disorder?

A. Yes! You can rush build any improvement in any city — including one that you've just captured with hordes of resistors — with a leader.

(2nd answer by Phoxtrot) There is also the much easier solution : Disband some troops.
It works in all cities, including resisting and unhappy ones.

Disband efficiency is at 25%, way better that the 8:1 wealth production ration (and then you need to pay at least 2 gold for each shield and it doesn't work in resisting/unhappy cities.)

Another way to hurry production is to clear forests (and recreate them), this is however no longer valid in 1.16 as the patych readme say that you can now get the clearing bonus only once per game.

HalfLotus · December 4, 2001, 22:53

Q1: Next to my city name, there is the population number. It is sometimes red, sometimes yellow, and sometimes red. What does this mean?
Follow up: Also, there is sometimes a white rectangle surrounding said number. What does IT mean?

Q2: How cool is HalfLotus?

A1: A red pop. number means there is a food shortage, yellow means food balance, and a white number means food surplus for that city.
If there is a white rectangle around the number, then that city's citizen mood is being controlled by your governor. If there is no rectangle, then you are controlling citizen mood. This can be changed in the city governor screen.

A2: Very.

adaMada · December 4, 2001, 23:52

Q: How can one get to said city governor screen?
A: While in the city screen, press the 'G' key.

BigBopper · December 5, 2001, 11:37

Q. I can’t ever seem to trade for an important resource like oil. Why? Is this a bug?

A. Probably not, (Theory) a computer that has two of a resource is likely to trade the second resource to another computer quickly. Some computer players will trade for a second source of a resource, so with oil, which is supposed to spawn only one per civ, some players are going to be out of luck. That player is usually you.

You can go into the editor and edit (I think civ3.bic, I’m not at home) to change requirements for strategic resources, or make them spawn more frequently.

To test my theory, some one would have to bribe a computer with two resources to go to war with every one but you, and then see if that second resource pops up as an available trade. (999999999 bug would help you test this) I’ll try and see if I can grab an unmodified civ3.bic and try it tonight.

Of course this will likely be addressed in the patch

Pythagoras · December 5, 2001, 16:16

Q Im investing all into Tech, how the heck is the AI keeping up with me so well?

A (by ShakyBums in another thread) Say no-one has discovered economics yet. Anyone researching it has to pay the full 'research price' to discover it. Now imagine that only one civ has discovered economics. Anyone researching it has to pay a lower 'research price' to also discover it. If every civ except one has discovered economics, that last civ has to pay only 1/16th the full 'research price' (assuming 16 civs), so its harder for a civ to stay behind in the tech race.

diegoami · December 6, 2001, 09:42

Quote:

Q. How do you establish an embassy with another civ?

You can also click on the star sign which is above your capital in the map to open the diplomacy screen.

diegoami · December 6, 2001, 09:44

Q: How do I create a building queue in a town
A: When choosing an improvement / unit to build, keep the SHIFT key pressed and click on the improvement. It will be added to the building queue.

Jaybe · December 6, 2001, 13:29

Quote:

Question originally posted by diegoami

Q: Is there a way to "wake" all units of a kind. Say, I am at peace, I fortify my tanks. War breaks out, I want to wake them. Do I have to wake each one of them?

A. Yes, you have to wake each one of them. If there are several in one square, right-click to show a list of all the units, then SHIFT-Click on the ones you want to activate.

Personally, for this reason I will build "military reservations" (stacks of units) out in the open country (or in fortresses) so I don't have to dig into all my cities to search for them.