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OS Neutral Civilization 5 (a couple noob questions)

Solomani

Solomani

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 25, 2012
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Slapfish, North Carolina
Hi all, I'm really getting into Civ 5 at this time (thanks Aspyr!) and just splurged on buying the whole kit (all DLCs and expansions) since Aspyr had it on sale recently.

I have a couple of quick questions, and my Google-fu is weak, I could not find the appropriate answers on the internet.

#1. In Strategic Map View, I see the city banners (the ones with the city names). There are 2 tiny numbers BELOW the city's name. What the hell are they?? Sometimes one of the numbers is a dash (-) rather than a number.

I know what the other symbols mean. I get it that the number by the shield means city defense rating. I also know that the larger number to the LEFT of the city name is the city size.

#2. In Espionage system (I think this is starting with expansion G&K), just why would I opt to move my spy to a "Hideout"? There is a button that lets me move my Spy to a hideout. Is there actually an advantage to doing that? I don't see any advantage as to why you would put your spy on a sabbatical/vacation. A spy that is not actively spying is worthless to my empire. So I'm puzzled as to why this function is in the game.

thnx for answers!
 

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1. The small number on the left is how many turns the city will grow. So in your example, Mecca will be size 3 in 32 turns. If it's a dash growth is stagnant. The number on the right is how many turns until something is built. If it's a dash nothing is being built.

2. The hideout is almost worthless. It doesn't do anything itself, it's just a slot to store a spy. Only needed when you are moving spies around occasionally.
 
One more noob question for Civ 5, so I appreciate any answer from the local experts!

I am currently in the middle of a game (late Medieval Age) playing as Austria with a Diplomatic Victory end goal. That means I am trying to avoid wars with the major civs and spend plenty of time killing Barbarians, which makes everyone happy especially the city-states.

I have butchered gazillions of Barbarians with my crack troops. Why they hell are they not "gaining" experience towards the spawning of a Great General??
 
You're limited to 30 experience points per unit while fighting barbarians. In order to progress further you need to fight real battles against regular troops.
 
It looks like roads which appear to be 1 gold per square maintenance (I think) are not worth it due to expense unless for unit movement in an emergency... which really does not seem to make them worth it. Thoughts? Thanks! :)

PS- This seems different than it used to be in older versions of the game. I don't remember this expense.
 
Huntn said:
It looks like roads which appear to be 1 gold per square maintenance (I think) are not worth it due to expense unless for unit movement in an emergency... which really does not seem to make them worth it. Thoughts? Thanks! :)

PS- This seems different than it used to be in older versions of the game. I don't remember this expense.
Click to expand...

You still need roads linking up all your cities for the internal trade bonus, that is key. BUT you shouldn't build roads on every square in your empire, which used to be a viable strategy for quick troop movement in the older games.
So, pick the shortest route between each city and build a road, so that everything connects to your capital (Harbors for coastal cities also work). Then just build additional roads if really needed for more efficient unit movement.
Hope that helps!
 
ZolakJHS said:
You still need roads linking up all your cities for the internal trade bonus, that is key. BUT you shouldn't build roads on every square in your empire, which used to be a viable strategy for quick troop movement in the older games.
So, pick the shortest route between each city and build a road, so that everything connects to your capital (Harbors for coastal cities also work). Then just build additional roads if really needed for more efficient unit movement.
Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

For anyone thinking about buying this on Steam it is $30, however at Panda Gaming you can buy it for $6.59 as a digital download activated and downloaded through Steam or Origin.
 
ZolakJHS said:
You still need roads linking up all your cities for the internal trade bonus, that is key. BUT you shouldn't build roads on every square in your empire, which used to be a viable strategy for quick troop movement in the older games.
So, pick the shortest route between each city and build a road, so that everything connects to your capital (Harbors for coastal cities also work). Then just build additional roads if really needed for more efficient unit movement.
Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

Yup. The internal "trade bonus" for cities that are road-linked to your Capital becomes even larger when you have the Wonder called Machu Picchu. Easy to acquire (since it's not a favorite wonder for the AI to go after) whenever you have a mountainside city.

http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Machu_Picchu_(Civ5)


Question: If I built roads outside of my empire's borders…. do I still get taxed for them? I didn't think so, but I never really counted. There are some cases when I might want to build roads that enter into the territory of my allied vassals (my client-state allies). Technically, it's their territory not mine.
 
Last edited:
I've got a Great Artist and Great Writer floating around and don't see how to utilize them. Help! ;) A quick online search did not reveal the answer...
 
Huntn said:
I've got a Great Artist and Great Writer floating around and don't see how to utilize them. Help! ;) A quick online search did not reveal the answer...
Click to expand...

http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Great_artist_(Civ5)
http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Great_writer_(Civ5)

Great Artist you can "expend" him (he goes away) to start a Golden Age. Or you can expend him to create a Great Work of Art (it's an "item" like a Picasso Painting, and it goes into an inventory slot in one of your buildings, like a Museum in your capital city, etc. Every such item in your empire raises your total Culture and Tourism strength).

If you are going for a (BNW) Cultural Victory then you definitely need to spawn lots of Great Artists, Great Writers, and Great Musicians.

But however, IF you don't plan to win by Cultural Victory, then you can use them in the alternative uses, for example you "expend" the Great Artist by having him initiate an instant Golden Age.

One of my favorite tactics is… whenever I see a rival AI Civ has a large prosperous and "art-heavy" city (with several Wonders, or even several Works of Art), I will conquer that city just to "insta-loot" several of the Works of Art. This is analogous to Hitler capturing WW2 Paris so that he could loot tons of cultural artifacts from Parisian museums. They are wonderful spoils of war that propel you towards a Cultural Victory. And then if I don't really want to keep that captured city, I just raze it to the ground (unless it's the enemy Capital, which cannot be razed).
 
Solomani said:
Question: If I built roads outside of my empire's borders…. do I still get taxed for them? I didn't think so, but I never really counted. There are some cases when I might want to build roads that enter into the territory of my allied vassals (my client-state allies). Technically, it's their territory not mine.
Click to expand...

You are taxed for roads outside your borders. I usually build roads to facilitate siege operations of neighboring enemies I'm trying to conquer. Siege units need every advantage they can get!
 
Solomani said:
http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Great_artist_(Civ5)
http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Great_writer_(Civ5)

Great Artist you can "expend" him (he goes away) to start a Golden Age. Or you can expend him to create a Great Work of Art (it's an "item" like a Picasso Painting, and it goes into an inventory slot in one of your buildings, like a Museum in your capital city, etc. Every such item in your empire raises your total Culture and Tourism strength).

If you are going for a (BNW) Cultural Victory then you definitely need to spawn lots of Great Artists, Great Writers, and Great Musicians.

But however, IF you don't plan to win by Cultural Victory, then you can use them in the alternative uses, for example you "expend" the Great Artist by having him initiate an instant Golden Age.

One of my favorite tactics is… whenever I see a rival AI Civ has a large prosperous and "art-heavy" city (with several Wonders, or even several Works of Art), I will conquer that city just to "insta-loot" several of the Works of Art. This is analogous to Hitler capturing WW2 Paris so that he could loot tons of cultural artifacts from Parisian museums. They are wonderful spoils of war that propel you towards a Cultural Victory. And then if I don't really want to keep that captured city, I just raze it to the ground (unless it's the enemy Capital, which cannot be razed).
Click to expand...

Thanks! :) I think it's something I've overlooked, ie looking in the wrong place for a choice. I'll report back.
 
Huntn said:
I asked because I currently don't have it installed on my Mac and updating 2 of my guides. Do you have this or was that an intelligent guess? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

I have it from Steam. (Thinking I am approaching 200 hours on it. ;) )
 
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