Civ IV

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Regarding tech trading, I've read that every leader has a limit for trading techs so that once you've traded too many techs it might not want to trade techs with you anymore. I guess Mansa Musa's threshold must be quite high but does that mean that one should reserve tech trading for more valuable techs and not squandering it for cheaper techs?

 

Yes.

If you trade too many techs to the same leader you get WFYABTA and they won't trade any more. So don't go around trading for things like Archery or Horseback Riding.

Usually a good time to get some good techs at Monarch level is just after you've reached something first from bulbing a Great Person. Alphabet is often a good one to trade away, as are Liberalism and Paper.

 

Hmmm... maybe it's an issue of sample size. I rarely get the Zulu against me, but I do find that I run into both Wang Kon and Hannibal a lot.

I did not know this, but WTF does WFYABTA mean?

Especially since I usually get those as a throw-in. If I'm trading Code of Laws for some things a lot futher down on the tech tree, I usually ask for as many as I can get, and if I skipped Archery, I can usually get in thrown in with the other techs I really want. My thinking was always, "What the heck - I should get as much as I can." Maybe something I should avoid in the future.

Code of Laws is another one that you can trade, and also one that I usually get first, meaning it's prime trade-bait. I also find that Civil Service is highly sought-after. There are other ones that it seems like the AI always gets to before you. For example, the AI almost always seems to get Constuction before me. It seems a waste to tech for Constuction, as I can usually get it from someone else rather easily.

 

I may be thinking about this completely wrong, but it seems quite hard to play as Isabella. She looks like quite the Medieval warmonger on paper - her UB Citadel gives +5 XP to Siege Units; her UU Conquistadore (Cuirassier) gets a +50% to Melee and also terrain defence, meaning they can survive much better against pikes. But to properly set her up it seems that you need to run down multiple tech paths from the very early game, since you need Iron (Bronze Working -> Iron Working - she does't even start with mining) and Horses for the Conquisatodre. Am I thinking about this wrong?

Random note about Charlemagne: it seems like he can afford to ignore the rather costly Civil Service/Macemen for a while because of his Landsknecht - they are as good as Macemen against Melee (6 + 100% vs 8 + 50%).

On Sumeria: isn't the main advantage of the Ziggurat that you can build them with Priesthood, meaning you can rapidly expand in the early game like madmen? Gilgamesh is even Creative to allow you to really block off those vital territory.


EDIT: Isabella's trebuchets are indeed mighty. Starting with City Raider 3 is nothing to sneeze at.

 

That's correct, Ziggurats only require Priesthood so they can be built earlier to compensate for a rapid expansion.

Vultures are not too shabby either.

 

To me, the Ziggurats are not a huge advantage. If you get Priesthood early, then logically you should try to build the Oracle. That means you would only need Writing before you get CoL, which you could get via the Oracle. If it was some other tech besides Priesthood, it would be a bigger advantage, but simply because the tech it requires allows you to build the Oracle, it makes it not quite as good.

I do agree that Vultures are not bad at all though. With a 25% bonus against melee, they are identical to axemen in that regard, but they are 20% stronger than axemen against everything else. They are very useful if used in an early rush, as that strength increase is a big help when going up against archers. (Although you still need a City Raider promotion to really make them useful for that, but that's true of any axe rush.)

I haven't played for a while, but I was thinking about going for a Cultural victory, and I was considering taking whichever leader was Philosophical and Industrious, to pump out wonders and GA quickly. However, I cannot think of any leader with that combination. Is there actually a combination out there that does not exist?

 

Why are there limitations on tech trades and other stuff?

I noticed you can only give so many units to a different faction until the computer automatically says they don't take anymore (this is different from the AI for that faction deciding they have too many units at a given time, even if they faction you are giving to has no army or workers to speak of and are being invaded they still don't take units you may give them-which strikes me as odd. In real life various European powers took whatever help they were offered around WWII.

 

You make a good point regarding the Oracle only (and only if) you're going for Code of Laws. If you use it to get Metal Casting instead it's still an advantage.

There are combinations of traits that are not included in the game. I don't know them by heart though. Iirc there are three combinations that are not included (presumably because they are unbalanced) including the Philosophical/Industrious one (I can't think of any leader that fits either in vanilla or BTS).

 

There are no Phi/Ind leaders. Presumably it would be too overpowered.

Qin Shi Huang looks like he'd be a rather good Cultural leader, btw, mainly because of the Chinese Pavillion and the fact he's Industrious.

 

WFYABTA stands for "We Fear you Are Becoming Too Advanced". which is the excuse the AI leaders wheel out if they've reached their tech trading limit with you.

On a related note, I see that Civilisation V is due out within the year. The initial screenshots look awesome. It's going to be based on hexagons rather than squares.