Newbie Alert

smegged · January 20, 2002, 04:02

A few newb questions.

1) What does a WLTP day actually do?

2) Why do some people say that white is the best colour to play as?

3) Has anyone found any use for fanatics?

4) Why does a chopper beat a vet fortified mech inf?

shade · January 20, 2002, 06:21

Quote:

1) What does a WLTP day actually do?

It makes that one city produce at a higher level
Despotism->Monarchy production
Monarchy/Communism/fundi->Republik/democracy tradebonus
Democracy/Republik-> adds one pop each turn it is in WLT day and there is food left

(not sure about rep)

Quote:

3) Has anyone found any use for fanatics?

they are cheap->trow them at your enemy to weaken him
(or if you only need low defence over a huge empire then you can build that defence very quickly)

Quote:

4) Why does a chopper beat a vet fortified mech inf?

There was a thread about battlecalculations here somewhere.

Shade
(welcome)

Ecthy · January 20, 2002, 08:42

Yes, it also applies for republic

what is a chopper?

White might be a good color because you tend to get more free techs at start when playing as a white civ.

A purple civ gets less free techs but has some other advantage I think...

Mercator · January 20, 2002, 10:01

A chopper is a helicopter, silly.

There's only one reason I can think of that would make the white civ the best choice... The civs are placed on the map in order (first the white then the green, blue etc.), because of that, the white civ may get the best starting spot. I think this would only or mainly apply on maps with little fertile land, though, where later placed civs sometimes even end up on one of the poles.

Marquis de Sodaq · January 20, 2002, 11:02

A helicopter has high hp/fp (3/2, iirc), and ignores city walls and fortresses. That with an attack of 10 (15 if veteran!) makes a very powerful attack unit. If the helicopter is a veteran, you should expect it to beat the mech.inf.

Fanatics are the best deal of any unit with regard to shield cost. A 4/4 unit for just 20 shields! Cheap.

The white civ has the disadvantage of the coastal fortress not working in the capitol, which is a bug. Some might argue that it is best because it goes first - any ties in wonder building or such will be won by white. Rather small factor, in my opinion.

SandMonkey · January 20, 2002, 13:53

re: playing as white civs

The only reason i have ever heard to play as them is that you go first in the order, just marquis de sodaq said. In the grand scheme of things this might seem insignificant, but it can be slightly advantageuos. It follows in wonder building order, and in landing the spaceship, so you can plan on landing the same year as someone else, and you'll beat them!

And in real world terms, a group of helicopters (i'm thinking apache/ something with decent firepower) that attacks mechanized infantry will no doubtedly win, seeing as they will have rockets etc, that the infantry's armor can't stop.

Ecthy · January 20, 2002, 14:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Marquis de Sodaq
The white civ has the disadvantage of the coastal fortress not working in the capitol, which is a bug.

Now who's the geek who figured that out...

Case · January 21, 2002, 01:02

Why hasn't anyone said this yet?

DL!

now that that formality is out of the way, welcome aboard

(BTW, DL = Double Log-in and it used to be something of a tradition to accuse each and every newbie of being one

)

Marquis de Sodaq · January 21, 2002, 10:25

Yes, a DL accusation was very useful. One could quickly alienate a newcomer and up his post count at the same time. Two birds with one stone!

Ecthelion, it seems the geeks around here have discovered too much, sometimes...

DaveV · January 21, 2002, 12:07

Another nice thing about fanatics: they are a very useful first step in incremental rushbuilding. With one shield in the production box, you save 20 gold by buying a fanatic, then a diplomat, as opposed to buying the diplomat first. With an empty box, the savings are 65 gold.

The ANZAC · January 21, 2002, 13:19

Quote:

A chopper is a helicopter, silly.

Well, in the US it can also mean motorcycle.

Mercator · January 21, 2002, 16:45

Interesting information here... You can still learn something new about Civ2, even after 5 years!
But then again, I don't really care about all the details of the Civ2 game engine.

Quote:

Originally posted by The ANZAC
Well, in the US it can also mean motorcycle.

Ah yes... It's the "classic" Harley Davidson kind of things, right? (the kinds of motorcycles that make "chopping" sounds presumably?)
But motorcycles aren't Civ2 units to the best of my knowledge.

Quote:

Originally posted by Case
Why hasn't anyone said this yet?

DL!

now that that formality is out of the way, welcome aboard

(BTW, DL = Double Log-in and it used to be something of a tradition to accuse each and every newbie of being one

)

I thought the DL-dance was usually restricted to the OT dance floor?

Care to dance?

shade · January 21, 2002, 18:01

Quote:

2) Why do some people say that white is the best colour to play as?

read something about the purple civ in connection to science beakers + penalties...but I forgot what it was-> best/worst

Quote:

Care to dance?

May I have this dance?

....
Naaah...I'll ask the Foreign Advisor for that dance...

Shade

Scouse Gits · January 22, 2002, 20:35

The white civ goes first, a small advantage, but chess players prefer it! In most games the white civ has "better" terrain around the starting location. Better land to the AI is grassland and does not always mean trade specials. On avarage white civs receive less starting techs because of this "advantage" However, somewhere I still have an 8 tech start for the Romans on a Medium Map!

The importance of the purple civ is as follows:

Assuming you are not the purple civ...and are "Supreme"...
you must give techs to the purple civ to prevent the science handicap. (This is imposed by the game if you are the most advanced nation)
If you are only Mighty then make gifts to the Orange civ
Strong to Cyan
Moderate to Yellow
Inadequate to Blue
Weak to Green
and if you are pathetic give advances to the White civ!

----------

SG(2)

smegged · January 22, 2002, 22:35

Thanks for all the info guys

. It's very useful to a newb like myself.

I only just beat my first game on emperor difficulty the other day.

Jeremy Buloch · January 23, 2002, 21:13

I would recommend the purple (Sioux) because when ever I'm them I usually Get the best outcome. I'm rarely lower than a supreme power, but I've had a vicious reputation once when I had to take revenge on the english when they stole my technology. I totally destroyed them.

Oh and Welcome to the Forums

-J.B.-

cavebear · January 24, 2002, 22:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Scouse Gits

The importance of the purple civ is as follows:

Assuming you are not the purple civ...and are "Supreme"...
you must give techs to the purple civ to prevent the science handicap. (This is imposed by the game if you are the most advanced nation)
If you are only Mighty then make gifts to the Orange civ
Strong to Cyan
Moderate to Yellow
Inadequate to Blue
Weak to Green
and if you are pathetic give advances to the White civ!

----------

SG(2)

Oh c'mon! The programming isn't *that* detailed, is it?

Oh heck, I don't even know what the "science handicap" is. Or is that only in SP (which I seldom bother with).

La Fayette · January 25, 2002, 06:51

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveV
Another nice thing about fanatics: they are a very useful first step in incremental rushbuilding. With one shield in the production box, you save 20 gold by buying a fanatic, then a diplomat, as opposed to buying the diplomat first. With an empty box, the savings are 65 gold.

...and many of us (for example myself) know that dave is VERY keen on buying diplomats for cheap and then buying anything else (including vet ironclads) for cheap with those diplomats.

Hello dave! I salute you.

Scouse Gits · January 25, 2002, 13:02

Quote:

Originally posted by cavebear

Oh c'mon! The programming isn't *that* detailed, is it?

Oh heck, I don't even know what the "science handicap" is. Or is that only in SP (which I seldom bother with).

Civ 2 is a complex game! The science handicap cuts in when you are about 2 or 3 techs ahead of your nearest rival. During the spring/summer of last year, when samson and Solo were breaking records for early landings, there was a detailed discussion on the subject. My MP experience is mainly PBEM - but I can't see why it should not apply in multiplayer games.

---------------

SG(2)

Marquis de Sodaq · January 25, 2002, 13:05

Quote:

Originally posted by cavebear
Oh c'mon! The programming isn't *that* detailed, is it?

Oh heck, I don't even know what the "science handicap" is. Or is that only in SP (which I seldom bother with).

Also in MP! Research costs you fewer beakers if you follow the tech gifting guide briefly summarized above. Samson, iirc, discovered that your power rating related to one of the civ colors. If you gift techs to the civ whose color corresponds to your power rating, you speed up your research.

Maybe other MPers don't know this either. Find the thread and arm yourself with some powerful strategy! It was titled "The Key to Tech Gifting" or something similar.

DaveV · January 25, 2002, 14:21

Yes, the "key civ" concept adds a whole new wrinkle to selection of colors in MP. Since some colors may not even be in the game (and therefore will have no techs), changing your position on the powergraph can make a huge difference in your tech cost.

Hi, La Fayette! Vet ironclads are expensive, but worth the cost in the right circumstances.