Compiled Firaxian Comments on Undocumented Game Features

Catt · July 3, 2002, 16:02

And now a public service announcement . . . . .

Several Firaxians seem to be making very frequent appearances of late, and have shared several previously undocumented details on game features. I thought I’d consolidate them for those of you who, unlike me, haven’t been spending an ungodly amount of what should be productive work time here at Apoylton and other forum sites. Most of the following are direct quotes from Firaxis employee posts – I have occasionally taken a liberty so that the meaning / intent is clear.

Read further at your own peril as the notes below may take a tiny bit of the mystery out of the game.

On Unit Promotion Probabilities

Odds of promotion are based on whether the civ has the Militaristic trait or not and whether the victory was against barbarians or not. Basically, chances of promotion are halved for victories over Barbarians and doubled for Militaristic civs.

non-militaristic civ vs. non-barbarians:
conscript to regular: 1 in 2
regular to veteran: 1 in 4
veteran to elite: 1 in 8

non-militaristic civ vs. barbarians:
conscript to regular: 1 in 4
regular to veteran: 1 in 8
veteran to elite: 1 in 16

militaristic civ vs. non-barbarians:
conscript to regular: 1 in 1
regular to veteran: 1 in 2
veteran to elite: 1 in 4

militaristic civ vs. barbarians:
conscript to regular: 1 in 2
regular to veteran: 1 in 4
veteran to elite: 1 in 8

Also, if a victorious unit fails to get promoted, it will always be promoted upon surviving any other battle in the same turn. This gives an obvious advantage to defenders as well as an incentive to use the same offensive units for additional battles whenever possible.

On Modding the Game to Create More Than One Heroic Epic Wonder

A second Heroic Epic will not increase your odds [of leader generation]. [The game] just checks to see if you have the [heroic epic wonder effects] or not [when calculating odds of a great leader appearance].

On Goody Hut Discoveries
Here are the conditions:

Gold:
--The tile must not have any type of resource or luxury on it.

Maps:
--always available

Nothing:
--always available

Settler:
--Player must not have a settler (active or in production) or any unit with the Settle AI strategy.
--Player must have less cities than (TotalCities / NumActivePlayers).

Mercenaries (skilled warrior):
--There must be a unit available to the Barbarians as well as the player and that unit must be able to be built (or have been built) by some player in the game.

Tech:
--Player must still be in Ancient Times.

Barbarians:
--Player must not have Expansionist trait.
--There must not be a city within a 1-tile radius.
--The player must have at least 1 city.
--The player must have at least 1 military unit.
--The unit popping the hut must not have the "All Terrain As Roads" ability.

On How to Generate a Random Map Size or Random # of Civs

[At the map size selection:]

*Tiny
*Small
*Standard
*Large
*Huge
*???

[By clicking below the “huge” selection the player actually “de-selects” all map sizes and a random size is chosen by the game.]

There is no way to do a random number of civs though...

On City Resistance and Defense Bonuses

[Units do not get the city or metropolis defense bonus if the city / metropolis in which they are garrisoned is in resistance.]

Theseus · July 3, 2002, 16:10

"any unit with the Settle AI strategy."

What does that mean?

I didn;t know the last part, about resistance.

Good job, thanks.

Catt · July 3, 2002, 16:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Theseus
"any unit with the Settle AI strategy."

What does that mean?

If you mod units in the editor, you can set "AI Strategies" which essentially tell the AI how to use the unit. For example, a standard submarine is flagged "Naval Power," a modded submarine that can also carry foot units behind enemy lines would also need to be flagged as "Naval Transport" -- otherwise the AI won't "know" to use it as a transport.

I assume the comment is directed at modded units that can function as a settler (i.e., some modders have turned the Explorer into a combination settler-worker-explorer).

zulu9812 · July 3, 2002, 16:38

very handy indeed

Lucilla · July 3, 2002, 17:55

Catt,

It's astonishing how you gather all this really useful information. And that does not only mean this thread. Thanks!

Alex · July 3, 2002, 18:49

Good job, Catt... Interesting bits of info here.

Carver · July 3, 2002, 19:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Catt
Nothing:
--always available

Naturally.

Quote:

Settler:
--Player must not have a settler (active or in production) or any unit with the Settle AI strategy.

Well that explains me hardly ever getting one - as in the early game how often does one not have a settler on the move or in production?

phunny_pharmer · July 3, 2002, 22:21

Quote:

...it will always be promoted upon surviving any other battle in the same turn...

So, if I have a conscript rifleman defending against a hoard of barbarians (somewhat common in my games), it will be promoted to regular after the next horseman dies. Then, will it immediately be promoted to veteran after the next engagement? My experience is to the contrary, if I remember correctly.

But definitely

Tuberski · July 3, 2002, 23:29

Quote:

Originally posted by phunny_pharmer

So, if I have a conscript rifleman defending against a hoard of barbarians (somewhat common in my games), it will be promoted to regular after the next horseman dies. Then, will it immediately be promoted to veteran after the next engagement? My experience is to the contrary, if I remember correctly.

But definitely

No, it will be promoted to regular, and then the chance of going to veteran resets. If it is attacked enough times it will gain veteran status, you could also get lucky and get veteran status right after regular.

Theseus · July 3, 2002, 23:34

Hmmm....

If GL generation is a subset of promotion, doesn't this mean that units with blitz capability have a higher chance?

/obsession with GLs goes into higher state

Tuberski · July 3, 2002, 23:47

I would assume so, just based on the chance of more attacks.

Theseus · July 4, 2002, 00:03

Not just more attacks, but the thing about promotions on the same turn.

Palleon · July 4, 2002, 01:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Catt
And now a public service announcement . . . . .

Barbarians:
--Player must not have Expansionist trait.
--There must not be a city within a 1-tile radius.
--The player must have at least 1 city.
--The player must have at least 1 military unit.
--The unit popping the hut must not have the "All Terrain As Roads" ability.

I'm not quite sure if this is accurate. I've had my worker step on a goodie hut the same turn my settler founds a city, and I've had barbarians come out and kill the worker, then all sack the city.

Zanzin · July 4, 2002, 02:57

thanks Catt, very informative!!

Btw, a question, hopefully someone can answer - if i put workers (both mind and captured ones) in my capital cit, I should be able to trade them with other civs, right? Because when I tried to in my last game, I couldn't!

(Keep in mind, this was in the modern age, so there's plenty of trade routs (land, sea and air) happening between the capitals.

alva · July 4, 2002, 03:42

Quote:

Originally posted by Zanzin
thanks Catt, very informative!!

Btw, a question, hopefully someone can answer - if i put workers (both mind and captured ones) in my capital cit, I should be able to trade them with other civs, right? Because when I tried to in my last game, I couldn't!

(Keep in mind, this was in the modern age, so there's plenty of trade routs (land, sea and air) happening between the capitals.

Strange, because this how it is supossed to work

( Very handy this little arrow (go to first new post), how come i diddn't spot that one before

)

notyoueither · July 4, 2002, 03:46

alva,

You mean that his result is unusual and that something is going wrong, right?

alva · July 4, 2002, 04:44

AFAIK yes

player1 · July 4, 2002, 06:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Zanzin
thanks Catt, very informative!!

Btw, a question, hopefully someone can answer - if i put workers (both mind and captured ones) in my capital cit, I should be able to trade them with other civs, right? Because when I tried to in my last game, I couldn't!

(Keep in mind, this was in the modern age, so there's plenty of trade routs (land, sea and air) happening between the capitals.

I don't know.
Maybe you need an embassy?

Nym · July 4, 2002, 07:52

Interesting

Firebird · July 4, 2002, 09:09

Quote:

Originally posted by Zanzin
thanks Catt, very informative!!

Btw, a question, hopefully someone can answer - if i put workers (both mind and captured ones) in my capital cit, I should be able to trade them with other civs, right? Because when I tried to in my last game, I couldn't!

(Keep in mind, this was in the modern age, so there's plenty of trade routs (land, sea and air) happening between the capitals.

I think I have seen something like this. I could only trade away captured workers from the civ I was trying to trade with. But I have also seen civs beg for peace offering me workers of their own, and still I couldn't give away/trade away my own workers.

Not exactly an answer to your question...

GeneralTacticus · July 5, 2002, 02:26

Quote:

I don't know.
Maybe you need an embassy?

No, I can trade workers w/o an embassy.

Adm.Naismith · July 5, 2002, 09:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Catt
And now a public service announcement . . . . .

A great service indeed!

Thanks Catt.

Amadan · July 5, 2002, 11:05

Quote:

Originally posted by Catt
And now a public service announcement . . . . .

On Modding the Game to Create More Than One Heroic Epic Wonder

A second Heroic Epic will not increase your odds [of leader generation]. [The game] just checks to see if you have the [heroic epic wonder effects] or not [when calculating odds of a great leader appearance].

I think this is true for all wonder flags. I know that it is possible to have both the Great Lighthouse and Magellins Voyage (though not for long), and ship movement is still only increased by one.

ALPHA WOLF 64 · July 5, 2002, 11:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Palleon

I'm not quite sure if this is accurate. I've had my worker step on a goodie hut the same turn my settler founds a city, and I've had barbarians come out and kill the worker, then all sack the city.

From my experiences, the game is controlled by how the game looks at the start of a turn. Therefore a city founded that turn would not be recognized as a city until next turn.

Zanzin · July 5, 2002, 22:57

hmm, thanks for the answers guys. Maybe its just a weird quirk in this particular game.

MidKnight Lament · July 6, 2002, 08:46

Nice thread. I'd be happy to see some more things along these lines if you can ferret some out.

Phil_de_geezer · July 7, 2002, 07:24

Quote:

I'm not quite sure if this is accurate. I've had my worker step on a goodie hut the same turn my settler founds a city, and I've had barbarians come out and kill the worker, then all sack the city.

If workers are counted as military units then your situation satisfies the requirements for barbarians to appear.

OPD · July 7, 2002, 17:13

Any chance of some info on the requirements for culture flipping.

I had a quick scan through the forums but couldn't find anything.

Adm.Naismith · July 8, 2002, 04:55

Quote:

Originally posted by OPD
Any chance of some info on the requirements for culture flipping.

I had a quick scan through the forums but couldn't find anything.

OPD, you should search more

. I remember some info revealed, IIRC associated to a patch release that changed the rule a bit, tuning down the probability.

I remember into the equation are:
- how the city is near current owner's Capitol versus owner after flipping's Capitol.
- the number of city square that are overlapped by neighbour cities border
- number of military units garrisoned inside the city

Sorry if I can't help more.

Ignorance · July 8, 2002, 05:41

Culture-Flipping Exposed - Dan Magaha FIRAXIS