In ICS, if no HG, then GW?

[George Garrett]

Being an Inifinite City Strategy-type player, I forsook my beloved Chieftain mode, to try out DavyV's rightly-lauded Deity strategy...I got off to a good start in a couple of experimental games (chiefly to see how my early Republic stacked up against his recommended Monarchy)I quit these games once I achieved Fundy-more quickly, I confess, his way than mine - then started a game for real, then whaddya know, the Persians beat me to Hanging Gardens!...I was fair flummoxed...what to do? I opted for the Great Wall, with all those caravans that I'd saved.
It seemed to me that I did the right thing for the wrong reasons...I'd gotten HG in the earlier games, and had the usual problems with Happiness and the AI that you regular Deity players experience, but with the Great Wall, instead, I found the AI much more respectful...they huffed and puffed a bit, but never did blow my wall down ...indeed, they didn't even breathe of war, til I started taking liberties with their techs, always their "Hands were tied, by that accursed Wall!"
Which leads me to wonder(no pun intended!), is GW better than HG in the early Deity ICS ? After all, I feel that I can always muddle thro against my unhappy ain folk - I usually starve'em down to size one, turning all them blackheads into scientists, once in Fundy - but against the AI I need
the outside clout of the Great Wall. What say the strategists?

[DaveV]

I have little use for the GW against the AI; the best reason to build it is so I don't have to face an AI with walled cities (and in that case, I really only need to take one walled city - the city containing GW). I'd build the Pyramids before GW, since that would help my cities spit out more settlers. As far as military wonders, I'd much rather have STWA, a wonder which is useful both offensively and defensively.

With regard to the enforced peace aspect: the AIs respect power and will usually rush to make peace once you're Supreme.

[George Garrett]

Well, Dave, in the event, I must admit that my GW didn't work out very well
in the game I referred to...behind it my fortified musketeer often fell to a crusader! This never happened to me back in Chieftain! After the AI's initial hands-off 'cos of the GW, they got very sassy, and very smart, and
though by the mid-1800s I did, in fact, become the biggest kid on the block, it did me no good.
I found myself at war with four civs, and no way would they make peace (mind you, I'd broken every treaty, and pact that I ever made), and in the
end my powerful civ was being nickel-and-dimed-city by city, by the French and Spanish military, and the Indians'and Persians' bribery.
So, Dave, while I'll follow your strategy as closely as I can, I'll have to make provision for Wonders that I can't get - and learn, in Deity, anyway, to take the AI more seriously, and behave more "honourably" :-)

[La Fayette]

quote: Originally posted by George Garrett on 03-20-2001 03:04 PM and behave more "honourably" :-)

Please, tell us what happens to you when trying to be 'nice'.

[George Garrett]

Bon jour, Monsieur!
I usually get away with it...but, then, I usually play at the Chieftain level - where the civs are a lot more...civil :-)
[This message has been edited by George Garrett (edited March 21, 2001).]