I have a few questions

[Belanos]

First of all, is there a Cancel Orders button somewhere? I can't seem to find one. I consider this crucial for Formers. I've lost several of them now to aliens because I couldn't get them to stop what they were doing and head for the nearest city. Better yet would be for them to automatically stop working when an enemy was nearby.

Am I correct in assuming that the most ranks a unit can have is 10? I see the icon changes colour at that point which kind of indicates to me that's the best that they can get.

Are there any plans to add some water based resources at some point? The oceans seem rather bare, and it would really help alleviate some of the crappy starts I've been getting if I could build something like a Fishing Boat to take advantage of a sea-based food resource.

I actually have a bunch more questiosn, but that seems to be all I can come up with at the moment.

[jdmillard]

First of all, is there a Cancel Orders button somewhere? I can't seem to find one. I consider this crucial for Formers. I've lost several of them now to aliens because I couldn't get them to stop what they were doing and head for the nearest city. Better yet would be for them to automatically stop working when an enemy was nearby.

There are two ways. You can select the unit, then click somewhere else (so as to tell it to move). This will "override" the current order. Or, when the unit is selected look for the icon that displays the current order. If you click that icon, it will cancel all orders and it will officially be a unit without an order at all.

Am I correct in assuming that the most ranks a unit can have is 10? I see the icon changes colour at that point which kind of indicates to me that's the best that they can get.

Yes.

Are there any plans to add some water based resources at some point? The oceans seem rather bare, and it would really help alleviate some of the crappy starts I've been getting if I could build something like a Fishing Boat to take advantage of a sea-based food resource.

This is among the most asked questions. There are some clues that developers have thought about it. Some of the players here who have tried to mod game features have discovered that in the game files there are some references to water resources. But they are obviously not implemented at the time. We'll see.

I actually have a bunch more questiosn, but that seems to be all I can come up with at the moment.

We got your back.

[Belanos]

There are two ways. You can select the unit, then click somewhere else (so as to tell it to move).

Well that definitely doesn't work with Formers, they won't move until they're finished with their current job.

Or, when the unit is selected look for the icon that displays the current order. If you click that icon, it will cancel all orders and it will officially be a unit without an order at all.

I never thought of trying that, I'll see if it works. Thanks.

There are some clues that developers have thought about it. Some of the players here who have tried to mod game features have discovered that in the game files there are some references to water resources. But they are obviously not implemented at the time. We'll see.

One thing I'm finding with this game is that there are a lot of crappy starts, particularly when I end up in the tundra regions. Which seems to happen quite a bit. Having some water based resources would go a long way to making them less crappy.

Now why can't I ever remember the questions I wanted to ask when I come here?

[Belanos]

Oh yeah, I just thought of one looking at that morale thread. What's a good level of Morale to strive for, before you start taking penalties? I seem to be getting that warning message when I've reached 5, but I'm not sure what I should be lowering it to through the tax rate. BTW, it's looking like that lost city was because of me accidentally hitting the Raze button. I've had no problems since then.

[jdmillard]

This is actually a complicated question because there's and answer for the early, mid, and late game. At the same time, there isn't a right or wrong answer. More like a good answer, a better answer, and a best answer. Before I try to shed some light on it, I'll say that you shouldn't worry about it too much as you will most definitely gain a stronger intuition about it as you continue to play. That being said, here we go:

Early Game: Some people detest micromanaging the tax rate in each city, so they leave it alone. They play just as competitively and there is no problem with that. However, I typically have a target morale for each city based on the conditions there. You may have noticed that it is more strategic to have cities specialize in a resource or service because is prevents you from needing to build every special building in every city. Why do I mention that now? Because in the early game I might want my new research city (placed next to a natural observatory) to grow quickly and surpass the growth of my other cities... so I keep morale high there. Or say I have a large city that's focused on production and my mineral-focused city is really small. This may cause imbalance to my minerals. So I might allow my large city to go to -3 morale with my mining city at +3 morale so that it can catch up. So typically my cities find themselves between -3 and +3 morale depending on what I have in mind for them. One thing to remember about manipulating migration is that the algorithm that controls the movement of people considers both habitation and morale. Another thing to remember is that two factions have inherent morale differences so this rule of thumb is not to be taken strictly. Don't let poor morale scare you, view it as a short-term problem because it really is fixable.

Mid Game: I really try to avoid negative morale and I try to keep it positive in order to hedge to the lead of the AI who has a natural morale bonus depending on the difficulty. This is also when most cities are reaching higher size numbers and you have to consider habitation as well.

Late Game: There are some really powerful buildings at the end of the Mechanization Era and throughout the Transcendence Era that essentially eliminate habitation problems, pollution problems, and give enormous morale boosts. Those problems will eventually return, but it will be after a very, very long time. You want these buildings in every city (with the exception of the pollution buildings because some cities create less pollution and don't require such attention). You will have crazy high morale - easily higher than +10 even after 100% taxes. Yeah, we know the tax thing is pretty unrealistic, but just ignore it for now. Having amazing morale really will make a huge difference in your faction, so don't overlook it.

[Belanos]

OK, another question. Are there defensive bonuses depending on the terrain type? And if so what are they? OK that's two questions so sue me. I'm getting the impression that there are but unless I've missed something, I don't see them mentioned anywhere. I don't recall seeing any indicators of that in the combat odd window, all I see is my combat efficiency. And there's nothing mentioned about it in the terrain entry for the Compendium. That information should really be clearly stated.

[kidpython]

The gorilla warfare tech gives you a bonus in forest and mountains. All bonuses, if any, are listed in the chance of victory window when you ponder an attack.

[Belanos]

. All bonuses, if any, are listed in the chance of victory window when you ponder an attack.

Well that's the point I'm trying to make. All you see is a broad Accuracy value, you don't see enough of a breakdown of where that number comes from. It would be good to know whether being on a Hill gives you an advantage while defending, or a disadvantage if attacking. Same with Forest or any other terrain. It's not mentioned anywhere that this is the case, though it does seem that way. Even just having some mention of it in the Compendium would be nice. Just before I asked the question, I was wondering if it might be a good idea to place my first couple of cities on top of a Hill so I'd get some sort of defensive bonus. But I couldn't find any indication that this was the case or not.

[boulugre]

. All bonuses, if any, are listed in the chance of victory window when you ponder an attack.

Well that's the point I'm trying to make. All you see is a broad Accuracy value, you don't see enough of a breakdown of where that number comes from. It would be good to know whether being on a Hill gives you an advantage while defending, or a disadvantage if attacking. Same with Forest or any other terrain. It's not mentioned anywhere that this is the case, though it does seem that way. Even just having some mention of it in the Compendium would be nice. Just before I asked the question, I was wondering if it might be a good idea to place my first couple of cities on top of a Hill so I'd get some sort of defensive bonus. But I couldn't find any indication that this was the case or not.

Tanks get + 25% when they are on plain, - 25% on forests and mountains
Infantry gets + 25% on forests and mountains
Hills doesn't give any bonus or malus.

Those modifiers are applied to both attacking and defending units, based on the tile they are standing on(and not . SO if you have a tank standing on a plain attacks and infantry in a mountain, they will both get +25% power.

[Belanos]

Tanks get + 25% when they are on plain, - 25% on forests and mountains
Infantry gets + 25% on forests and mountains
Hills doesn't give any bonus or malus.

I see. I guess I can forget about putting my early cities on Hills then. I kind of assumed I would get some sort of defensive bonus for that, but I guess not. Thanks for the info.

[Belanos]

OK, a couple more. How much food does each citizen need and how much money does each soldier cost?

[BlueTemplar]

All this information, as well as the terrain modifier one, is actually displayed in the game.

[Belanos]

All this information, as well as the terrain modifier one, is actually displayed in the game.

I found the military costs but where do I find the food required value?

[jdmillard]

Hover cursor over you food bank and the tooltip will break down all the contributors. This will tell you how much food you need for your whole faction. I don't know if it breaks down to 1 food per population point but I think it something like that.