Newbie Questions

[666'srevenge]

Hello everyone, I posted here a few months back saying I would be getting civ2, Well I have it

That said, I'm playing a game as the romans , world map, Cheiftain, and I have some questions for those of you who will bother to answer them

1) I found Trade to be fun and very complicated in Civ2 what with all the rembering where Wine goes where coal goes who needs beads and whatnot any suggestions

2) Earlier in the Game when the Roman Republic was still in place I began a long Campaing overseas to whipe out the Spainish but I happened on coulpe civ's that did not declare war on me but because I needed a millitery base in the Americas and the pacific I attacked them any way these were 2 single city civs the Japanese and the Zulu even though the attacks were morally unjustifiable my Senate did not protest why?

[Marquis de Sodaq]

1) I find remembering the trade routes to be not overwhelming - just check F5 from time to time. Even if you remember who wanted wine when your camel left town, that demand might change before you get there. (roads and ships are very handy to get there more quickly!)

Some people don't care if a commodity is demanded at all. Tho you get a bonus if it is, a foreign city on another continent brings a good return anyway. Especially one with many trade arrows - look for larger cities with roads and rivers, trade specials, and ocean tiles. The more trade arrows produced in the source and destination cities, the bigger your return for delivering a caravan.

2) If you just met them, the senate is neutral until you make a peace treaty. Without first making peace, the senate does not interpret your hostility as breaking a treaty. Quite convenient, in that case.

[-Jrabbit]

Welcome 666'srevenge!

When I get into heavy trade mode, I keep a notepad next to my keyboard to track destinations of commodities. And once your camel/frieght is on the right continent, you can use "GoTo" from the command menu to auto-move. This is only recommended in friendly territory. (You'll still get burned on occasion when demand changes while en route, but that's beyond easy control.)

Right before entering destination city, change worker distribution to maximize arrow production in source city (both if desto city is yours too). Once trade is complete (same turn), change workers back as appropriate.

[Xin Yu]

After pressing the F5 key you can see at the lower-left corner of the pop-up window a button for commodities. click on that and you'll find the supply and demand for each commodity (for cities you know of, of course).

If you don't have contact with a civ and you happen to attack from sea, then the other civ does not have a chance to contact you. Under such a situation your senators won't step in. Even if you land your troops first before the city is emptied, you'll probably still be able to avoid the senators since the first contact is treated differently. A funny thing is, under usual conditions the AI would not be able to talk to your bombers, but if you haven't contacted the AI before, then the AI could talk to the bomber!

[Mr. President]

I often "trade and forget". It's bad, I know, but I usually only do that for routes within my empire.

[666'srevenge]

Thanks

Well now back to getting those freights to Rome

Rome: The hungriest little city in Europe

[MrWhereItsAt]

One more thing about Trade that I learned in the Civ2 Demo game (while President AAMOF) - when you get a caravan to a city, it tells you that you get an instant amount of gold as well as the longterm increase in trade arrows at both cities. You also get the same amount of research beakers as the gold you get instantly. Thus for large "delivery fees" you can also boost your science tremendously. I have seen firsthand this can be very useful in harder difficulty games.

[-Jrabbit]

That means that timing the arrival of a freight so the science bonus is not wasted becomes increasingly important as the game progresses. (A hidden danger in relying on the GoTo function.)

Something I usually forget...

[rah]

As long as the basic are being mentioned, Don't forget to max out those trade arrows right before you deliver. I've seen it make over a hundred gold difference.

[debeest]

Another possible answer for your second question is that in a republic, you have a 50% chance of your Senate allowing you to go to war, unlike in democracy where the Senate supposedly always objects.

What I don't understand is why sometimes my democratic Senate doesn't object (even when I don't have UN).

[JCP]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
That means that timing the arrival of a freight so the science bonus is not wasted becomes increasingly important as the game progresses. (A hidden danger in relying on the GoTo function.)

Indeed, timing the arrival of goods is particularly important in OCC as moves involves after city allocations of beackers in the turn.
Generally, I use GoTo to the tile at the door of the destination city, so I may control if the goods are always demanded and if the beackers will not be wasted.

[-Jrabbit]

JCP, how do you break the GoTo command? Do you just click on the camel prior to its move in the current turn, or what?

(sorry for the newbie question)

[Smash]

Just click the unit anytime to cancel "go to".Better to do it before it moves but anytime will work.


For trade you want to try and find a "repeat commodity" city.

This is a city that will demand a certain cargo over and over again.Lets say Rome demands hides.You deliver a hides caravan to it but it still demands hides.This is the kind of city you want.There will be others and it won't neccessarily be hides.
You can then see if you have cities that can produce hides.Often one of these cities will be able to build hides over and over again.

for larger bonus take it a step further and re-support caravans from your highest trade arrow producing cities.

Also try to enter the city from the square that is furthest from the origin city.

[debeest]

Smash, all indications are that for trade, it doesn't matter what square you enter from. That only matters for a dip bribing a city.

Regarding go-to, if you don't want to have to remember to interrupt the camel before it arrives, you can just use the other form of go-to, which is to click and hold on a specific square for a second. The unit (caravan) will go to that square. That way you don't have to have it go-to a city.

[JCP]

Originally posted by debeest
Regarding go-to, if you don't want to have to remember to interrupt the camel before it arrives, you can just use the other form of go-to, which is to click and hold on a specific square for a second. The unit (caravan) will go to that square. That way you don't have to have it go-to a city.

It's the way I use ! It needs sometimes to proceed by stages, as the Goto function is not very performant for long roads ! But micromanagment is not click and forget.
I avoid the Goto menu with the destination city.

[-Jrabbit]

New and useful mechanics for unit management. Thanks, JCP, debeest and Smash!!

Is there method of predicting repeat commodity cities (city size, special resources present...)?? Is this game-long, or perhaps tied to a specific age or advance (eg pre-Industrial)?

[Marquis de Sodaq]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Is there method of predicting repeat commodity cities (city size, special resources present...)?? Is this game-long, or perhaps tied to a specific age or advance (eg pre-Industrial)?

Yes - after you deliver your caravan, click on the destination city. If it lists the commodity you just delivered, it is a repeat commodity. Usually hides or some such.

Predictability is one thing nobody has bothered to try to figure out.

However, some have discovered how to control which commodity is demanded in some circumstances. For example, a city with 2 of its 3 commodities already delivered (in ()s ) You can deliver the third. This takes up the third demand, but a fourth caravan (one of the first two? I don't recall the details) will free up that previous commodity again.

[JCP]

Originally posted by Marquis de Sodaq
a repeat commodity. Usually hides or some such.

Hides ? In french version, the most repeated demand is "cuir", in english, Leather

[Marquis de Sodaq]

Originally posted by JCP
Hides ? In french version, the most repeated demand is "cuir", in english, Leather

We english speakers first strip the hair and tan the skin, then send the resulting product to France.