mickmca

The problem only occurs during Very Large and Giant maps, and both often crash while setting up. Looks like I have libsdl 2.2.0

Running Linuz 20.04 with 32 Gigs of RAM. I can't scroll up or left with the mouse. Keys work. I thought this had something to do with Windows Mode, but that doesn't matter. This has to be something simple. Oddly enough, the tutorial scrolls fine. Using Extra Large and Giant maps. Incidentally, Giant maps crash while loading.

As I said, the problem isn't that it's gone (but you need to select "All" maps to find it). It's that the new map (by which I mean everything, not just the display) is not very playable. For one thing, it does the freaky "Ambush" thing, where if you have an AI ally, he parks in your back yard.

Is there a way to get old versions of updated maps? English Channel was my favorite game, and the new version in v23 isn't.

My map is dotted with Gaia settlements: three houses, a pyramid, a grain shed and two fields. No one is working the fields, but the freehold is guarded by 4-5 formidable spearmen. I can kill them and convert the properties, but I can't use the properties. Likewise random isolated small pyramids across the map; in that case, no defenders, no buildings. They can be seized but not used. What am I missing?

Playing Kush on the Elephantine map. The entire west side of the Nile won't allow building of docks -- invalid terrain.

For some reason, the new version is displaying meat, metal, and stones with orange dots. Some stone is grey, but most is orange. I realize the number of distinguishable colors is limited, but I hope this can be remedied in the next version.

I'm having a problem I think is similar. The "new maps" are listed, but if there is an "old map," such as Corinthiian Isthmus, it's still displayed in the preview, and when selected, the old map is what I get.

Ok. That suggests a question/comment. It would be nice if the tool tips or something would indicate how various things have been boosted. Even something as simple as a "+5" after the improved function. For example, fishing with an additional crewman is supposed to double the "gather rate" [sic?], but I can't see any statistical change for a boat with a crewman. With soldiers, the green plus sign indicates improved skills, but I can't find a way to see how they are boosted. Presumably, Blacksmith research boosts everybody but again, the adds can't be viewed on individual units. Uh... what?

What is the purpose of the female citizen aura?

In the latest version, "finding the last unit" is a royal PIA. I generally end up surrendering, after annihilating my (AI) opponents except for a trader my cavalry sweeps don't stumble on.

In my experience, the biggest Trade gain is from building a dock as far away as possible and trading with yourself. I thought you needed a market to begin trading. Not true. Merchant ships can trade as soon as they are built.

Uh... "Don't use formations"?? Aside from the fact that they get stuck in hedges, why not?

I keep seeing references to "walk speed." Is there a way to make units, especially cav, run? There is something very frustrating about watching a couple of slingers march after your cavalry scouts who walk stolidly away. Reminds me of Stephen King's great gag in "IT": Two boys are coming home from a horror movie and one looks back and says, "Oh no! The mummy is following us! Let's walk faster!!!"

Elephants can't do the passes in the Sierra map either. Too bad for Hannibal....

I love the game; play solitaire 5-6 times a week. There are lots of minor tweaks I'd like to see. Wayfinding is the only serious problem I've encountered. The "cheats" for the AI player are irritating but understandable.

I wonder if the AI is set up to punish players for using cheats. First off, the AI has some very suspicious advantages. I realized that opponents across the map were finding me suspiciously quickly, and usually attacking with overwhelming force -- as many as 20 cav and 50 infantry -- in the time it took me to assemble 20-30 soldiers. So I started using the resource cheats to see if I could outrun them. In fact, in one game at the conclusion, even though I had pulled up 12,000 extra of all four resources, one AI opponent outscored me at a rate of 2:1. He also had twice as many infantry and three times as many cavalry. The only place I had outrun him was in mapping, which I always emphasize. i don't mind a few boosts to strengthen the AI players, but when I get creamed by AI set to Easy, in spite of piling on resources and rushing every advantage in Research, something is not right.

I can't duplicate this, but it's pervasive. If you put together 5+ units, their usual fate is to get tangled in trees and stuck to the point that the only way to extricate them is to select each one (while they are scrambling around in the trees) and try to find them a destination that will work. A few minutes ago, I lost an entire army -- 5 seige engines and more than 20 champions -- in a stand of trees while the rest of my forces -- 10 champions and Leonidas -- were slaughtered at the intended target. The same thing happens with more than 5 boats working from a dock. They start careening around the dock. With elephants, they will get stuck in trees so badly that one or more simply can't be rescued at all. Same thing with triremes in close quarters.

If you can't find your ally's trading post, assign a cav to guard HIS trader. You can also "guard" your AI ally's soldiers to find out where they are going. Can be handy.

In the Sierra scenario, elephants can't cross or go around the mountains. I see the logic here, but it's extremely frustrating to build the one (Persian) elephant hatchery allowed, spend 10 million metal (it seems) to get five elephants, only to have them wander aimlessly along the massif.

Not sure if this is a bug or a feature. 1. Building a wall at a shoreline is futile; the enemy just wades around it. 2. Building walls in the Lion's Den, some odd things happened. First, I built a wall that didn't end with an arrow tower (not sure why). This was impossible to fix, and the enemy just squeezed through where the tower should have been. Second, I built a wall across a canyon about six units wide. When it was done, I couldn't add a gate. Third, we really need some sort of error message about why the wall we are proposing just won't do, like the one you get for building locations. I spend more than half of my build time sweeping the wall proposal around the anchor piece and getting red here, red there. Fourth, and this is probably a feature, if you build a gate, you can put defenders ON the gate. Cool. 3. The Persian Gate is not a gate, and it can't be converted to a gate. Again, I found this out by walling myself in....

Sigh. That would be the bug that says five cavalry have to (and will) chase a single giraffe all the way across the map....

Is there a place that explains the various icons that appear above the symbols for people or buildings? I assume the plus sign over military people mean they are "advanced." But what is the new "heart with a green plus" over enemy buildings, and what is the "hammer and tongs" that pops up over one's own buildings?

Haven't been able to hunt whales, even with manned ships.

I'll try the Shift-Right click. Didn't think of that!