Strategic Aid Needed ...

[Desert Journeyman]

I'm an avid yet by no means expert player of the Civilization series. Although I could not beat Civilization II on diety, I did enjoy the game thoroughly and was usually able to survive on King or Prince level without much difficulty - albiet sans three or four cities I'd otherwise have liked to keep.

My problem on Chieftan level in Civilization III is similar, but slightly more profound. I began a game on a huge world map, wet, and with archapelagos. I began - and I'm apparantly the only one in this boat - on a jungle continent with only dye, gold, and saltpeter to its name. Meanwhile, all other continents offer temperate territory and a variety of resource. The problem? At this time, I can no longer "force" my hand there. Furthermore, it has taken so long - it is now 1999 - to reach even the level of cavalry and economics -, that I lag behind other civilizations.

This would not really be an issue if they weren't so agressive, however. Even if I want to avoid war, they consistently build right on the verge of my territory, forcing a response and threatening my few resource squares. What's worse is that there is a civilization-wide alliance against me, and often, even those nations I sue for peace then stab me in the back. Why?! This is at Chieftan level! I can no longer fight all of them off, especially in this state.

Comments? Tips?

[David Floyd]

Yup. It's called the ARSE strategy

[vmxa1]

Indeed, abandon and start a new game. It is deadly to not have any early resources (horse/iron). If you do not get those and no saltpepper, its turn out the lights on a huge map. You will not be able to make Calvary without horses and saltpetter.

[Desert Journeyman]

Oh; I do have horses. I can make cavalry, but anything requiring iron is beyond me. Don't resources like that sometimes just "appear" once you have cities with mountain squares?

Does anyone else notice computer "quirks"?

• All computer caravels are "grouped" with a frigate for protection, which shadow their movements exactly.

• The computer will never trade world or territory maps with you.

• Even if you are technological advanced, the computer will first set at you with warriors, spearmen, or swordsmen before moving on to Knights and pikemen.

• Where one computer force lands, others are drawn to do the same like flies.

• The computer is consistently beligerent, even after losing a string of cities, units, or, at worst, campaigns.

• The computer will build on the rim of your territory so as to slowly diminish it. This will "force" confrentation.

• There is apparantly no "get the heck out of my territory" demand.

[Thoth]

Originally posted by Desert Journeyman
Oh; I do have horses. I can make cavalry, but anything requiring iron is beyond me. Don't resources like that sometimes just "appear" once you have cities with mountain squares?

Does anyone else notice computer "quirks"?

• All computer caravels are "grouped" with a frigate for protection, which shadow their movements exactly.

The AI will always protect it's merchant ships with the best military ship it has. This is one of the brighter things I've seen it do. It means you need a *minimum* of two ships to even get a shot at his transport, and 3-4 are often required in order to make sure of the kill.

• The computer will never trade world or territory maps with you.

It will. If you are willing to spend enough cash, or you have a better map (ie: one that shows more of the world than it's current map.) I've raked in quite a few coins selling maps to the AI after doing some exploring with ships.

• Where one computer force lands, others are drawn to do the same like flies.

The AI will quite happily trade maps with each other. If one AI thinks that a given spot is good for a city, the odds are pretty good that it's neighbours have had the same idea. The same idea applies to military forces landed on your shores if you are at war with multiple opponents.

• The computer is consistently belligerent, even after losing a string of cities, units, or, at worst, campaigns.

It will stay Furious with you for some time after the cessation of hostilities. This doesn't prevent it from coughing up large sums of gold, per turn payments, technologies, maps, and even cities if you've given it a good, solid thumping.

• The computer will build on the rim of your territory so as to slowly diminish it. This will "force" confrontation.

This is very annoying, I agree. However, this can be made to work in your favour. Build lots of culture generating improvements (the earlier the better). Most of these rim cities will see the wisdom of joining you without any further coercion on your part.

• There is apparently no "get the heck out of my territory" demand.

When the AI trespasses, get in touch with them (either by right clicking on the unit and selecting "Contact Roman spearman" (or whatever), or by pressing F4 and double clicking on the appropriate leader icon.) There will be a list of options: We wish to propose a deal", "Your units have violated our territory, get them out" (or words to that effect), a declaration of war, and "Never mind". If there have been repeated military violations, or tensions are high (I'm not sure what the trigger(s) are), you have the option of telling the AI to either get it's troops out now or declare war. If you're stronger than the AI, it will likely pull the troops out (this happens instantly), if you are weaker, good luck.

[Desert Journeyman]

I have many, many times more gold than any of the AI players - up to 10 x their sums easily. While they deal in the hundreds, I deal in the several thousands (3000+ w/ +15 growth on avg.), actually.

This does not stop them from utterly stomping me in terms of research and resources, though. Their rapid development is rather disconcerting, especially since my claimed 'territory' w/ resource is often out of 'direct city radius', meaning I've got to deploy extra troops to the area because the roads won't get them there quickly enough. This was okay early on with my horsemen, but now, cavalry are so expensive, and enemy musketeers, longbowmen, and knights so numerous, it isn't worth the difficulty to send out 'fortified sentries'. Meanwhile, being that my continent is covered in jungle, I've only one move per turn for any unit I chose.

The AI is beligerent not only one-on-one, but on a mass scale. I am at war with all the other powes - some of whom I have never even come into contact with - simply due to alliances and other embargo agreements. I've had to enter wars with five powers directly so far, and the rest (two) joined alliances against me. These other nations simply place their cities so close to my territory. What's more, when one of my cities is captured, they loose population like flies and all the improvements are sold off for cash which seems to immediately dissapear. By any standard, the AI are impoverished 99% of the time. Usually, their having upwards of 200 gold makes them rich even in comparison to my empire.

I have no iron. Can I edit this in with the map editor? Even just one mountain or hill will do. I've got to have railroad, cannon, and knights or infantry. Something - anything - to even the awful odds.

[vmxa1]

The constant beligerence is annoying. They declare war and you can whack unit after unit and even take a city and when they ask for peace it seems they offer peace for your peace and a tech or something. Why would I agree to that, I am not losing troops? I mean understand why, they think that if they have more troops they are top dog. I currently have killed 11 of their warriors and archers and they killed none of my hoplite/swordsmen or horsemen. They still want extra for peace and they are the ones asking?

[War4ever]

if the ai feels your weak....... then you probably are....

big change in combat is the fact that many little units can take your two or three per city.....even with superior technology.....

the ai will send alot of units..... the ais will gang up on any civ they feel is weak.....you or another ai....

if you take war to the ai first....odds are you can get someone else to side with you for a price of course and after that, you may get more ais to declare war.

If you see one ai sign a pact make sure you can an alliance too otherwise it will soon be four five six against one

if your on an island , make contact with another island quickly to establish more contacts.......

if your sharing an island , u must eradicate the other civ or at the very least take his strategic resources away from him...and pin him into a corner where he is of no concern....

its been stated once before in this thread so i will say it again, if you thump the ai and take 3-4 cities he will give in and never be a bother again. Odds are that taking even one city from a civ will be enough for it to never be a serious threat.

i recommend the horse and/or sword sword rush...or both en masse..... an ancient ai cannot withstand attacks of this nature

jungle is a pain in the ass..... clearing takes forever but can be done..at least the tile you build on is cleared..in civ2 you were stuck with what you built on........

build cities close together...just because the radius increases to larger than civ2 proportions, doesn't mean you need to space cities wider....remember corruption is a ***** so space them close..... i like the 8city donut around my civ...... 9 early temples and barracks make my war machine and culture huge in the early game....

the only starting location that sucks in tihs game is one in the jungle...... but even that is winable....