what the hell?!?!?!

[britishnemesis]

I am playing on warlord level and am wasting the AI primarily because they only build like 2 or 3 cities each!!! What the heck is going on here. I'm playing a world map, against all the civ's except the Irroquios. Does the AI act dumb when there are too many civ's in the game? What the hell is going on here. I played for 3 hours yesterday for nothing now cause its not a challenge.. some civ's don't even have more than one city yet they are at the exact same spot on the tech tree as I am.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I think I've had it up to here with this game. I can't take no more there are just too many issues with it. Even the patch does not seem to solve problems. My question is who was the AI programmer and what the hell did they do to the AI to make it so stupid. I thought the AI in Civ2 was decent but this is just plain rediculous in comparison... one moment the AI is making 50 million cities... and the next it doesn't build more than 3 or 4 and is still at the same tech spot as I am with NO libraries or universities in the city!!! How the hell does it do that!!!

I think the good name of civilization has been ruined by this. Its no longer all gameplay and strategy. Now its just calculations done by the computer and all you can do is pray that you can expand large enough to compete. I had at least 20 cities with libraries / universities... and all.... although some were not large city sizes, I should still be far ahead of any AI with only one city which contains no scientific developments. Can anybody else see the frustration here?

so after blowing all that steam here are a few questions/problems

1. why does the AI do that?
2. how can they keep pace with no research development
3. how come I can only talk to a maximum of 8/15 of the civ's in the game? The foreign advisors window only supports 8 of them. So are you trying to tell me that every time I want to talk to that civ I have to send a unit to contact them??!!?

SOMEONE EXPLAIN PLEASE!!!!!

[Kc7mxo]

First of all, there's this thing called diplomacy. The ai is quite willing to sell its techs to each other, often to civs that obviously can't pay much. heck, i do it too. so thats probably how they're staying close in tech. plus, techs are easier to research the more civs that have them. so if 7 civs have music theory, and the indians don't, the indians will figure out the tech pretty dang quick.

secondly, i've not noticed the ai do this. in one game i was playing at regent level, the zulus got way behind in city construction, it confused the heck out of me.

and finnally, if you find WARLORD too easy, go play on emperor or something.

[Xentropy]

Originally posted by britishnemesis

3. how come I can only talk to a maximum of 8/15 of the civ's in the game? The foreign advisors window only supports 8 of them. So are you trying to tell me that every time I want to talk to that civ I have to send a unit to contact them??!!?

SOMEONE EXPLAIN PLEASE!!!!!

Shift-click or shift-right-click, forget which, one of the portraits, and you can change the civ that takes one of the positions in the circle. That way you can see relationships between all 16, but only 8 at a time.

Also, to TALK to them, use Shift-D, or the little D at the bottom right of the main map, it's even easier.

[kc1000]

Also if you have embassies established in other civs, they can steal techs right out from under you and if you don,t catch them, they can keep doing it and then trade with other civs. This is one of the espionage things that can be done before you study the espionage tech or have the intelligence agency.

[Boney]

Also if you have embassies established in other civs, they can steal techs right out from under you and if you don,t catch them, they can keep doing it and then trade with other civs. This is one of the espionage things that can be done before you study the espionage tech or have the intelligence agency.

Just trade your own techs before they have the chance.''

[E_T]

Stealing someone elses Tech requires a LARGE sum of cash, esp. if you want to have a really good chance of not getting caught. For just a few cities to have generated that kind fo income it downright unreasonable.

[Ferdi]

I think that it is cheaper to buy techs than stealing them.

[Stryfe]

Originally posted by Kc7mxo
and finally, if you find WARLORD too easy, go play on emperor or something.

No kidding...

[Nexus VI]

It's a little bit hard for me to believe that story about AI building so few cities.

When I play at "Chieftain" level, the AI starts building cities really fast and I can't really think to do the same.

I begin expanding in this way:
A) After the first city built I build a couple of warriors and send them to explore.
B) I eventually put the city to build a settler
C) When the settlers is ready I build another city and I start to build another settler with the new city keeping the capitol building settlers.
D) I repeat these two last points endlessly.
E) Now and then I build some workers to improve the area surrounding my cities.

I assure you... the AI is much faster than me and I get surrounded pretty too soon (and I hate it). Remember I'm speaking of Chieftain level, so try to figure what Deity level can do...

I'm not dumb, simply the AI is a caterpillar and I found myself playing up to Warlord just for being able to enjoy myself because at higher levels the AI crush me too easily.

I've tried to read some post in the Strategy forum, but they didn't help me at all.

I must accept the fact my score and my territorial expansion will always be modest. That's all.

Civ3 is much more difficult IMHO. In the last two chapters I used to do what I wanted without many problems; now I can't.

Maybe the AI don't behave the same way on different PCs (though it may sound silly it's possible).

ByeZ

[neilr]

Originally posted by Nexus VI
It's a little bit hard for me to believe that story about AI building so few cities.

When I play at "Chieftain" level, the AI starts building cities really fast and I can't really think to do the same.

I begin expanding in this way:
A) After the first city built I build a couple of warriors and send them to explore.
B) I eventually put the city to build a settler
C) When the settlers is ready I build another city and I start to build another settler with the new city keeping the capitol building settlers.
D) I repeat these two last points endlessly.
E) Now and then I build some workers to improve the area surrounding my cities.

I assure you... the AI is much faster than me and I get surrounded pretty too soon (and I hate it). Remember I'm speaking of Chieftain level, so try to figure what Deity level can do...

I'm not dumb, simply the AI is a caterpillar and I found myself playing up to Warlord just for being able to enjoy myself because at higher levels the AI crush me too easily.

I've tried to read some post in the Strategy forum, but they didn't help me at all.

I must accept the fact my score and my territorial expansion will always be modest. That's all.

Civ3 is much more difficult IMHO. In the last two chapters I used to do what I wanted without many problems; now I can't.

Maybe the AI don't behave the same way on different PCs (though it may sound silly it's possible).

ByeZ

Nexus - I agree with you. Civ3 is way harder, and the AI really does expand at great speed. To keep up (and expand even faster), just remember one thing, pop-rushing ! That means, in despotism, immediately rushing your improvements/units and taking the hit in population it gives you.

Personally, I build settlers immediately from ALL cities as soon as its sensible, the only improvements worth buying early are temples, so as to increase those culture boundaries and fill gaps.

Finally, sometimes it's worth attacking those early cities your first warrior finds. If you approach an enemy city defended only with a warrior, then you have a 50% chance of taking it out and claiming it for yourself. Better chance still if you can attack from a hill or a mountain

If you're still finding it difficult, pick an Expansionist civ like the English or Iroquois and make use of that free scout it gives you.

Good luck !

[Nexus VI]

Originally posted by neilr
Nexus - I agree with you. Civ3 is way harder, and the AI really does expand at great speed. To keep up (and expand even faster), just remember one thing, pop-rushing ! That means, in despotism, immediately rushing your improvements/units and taking the hit in population it gives you.

Personally, I build settlers immediately from ALL cities as soon as its sensible, the only improvements worth buying early are temples, so as to increase those culture boundaries and fill gaps.

Finally, sometimes it's worth attacking those early cities your first warrior finds. If you approach an enemy city defended only with a warrior, then you have a 50% chance of taking it out and claiming it for yourself. Better chance still if you can attack from a hill or a mountain

If you're still finding it difficult, pick an Expansionist civ like the English or Iroquois and make use of that free scout it gives you.
Good luck !

Thanks for your suggestions. Though sadly sometimes isn't possible to implement them.

I mean, rushing settlers can be done with big towns while it's impossible with smaller ones and, in the beginning, cities are too small to rush settlers; by the time they reach level 3 of population the settler had already reached the "delay" status caused by lack of population.

I also attack enemy nations, when possible, but keeping an efficient expansion and an efficient army (early in the game) is often impossible, so I must be very careful not to initiate a conflict I can't control.

Maybe the problem is I'm unlucky ( ). I played about eight sessions by now and I always started surrounded by other civs, not matter the map size.

However I'll keep it up. I hope I will be able to score high in the chart sooner or later...

[Ferdi]

Even if you have available land for your expansion you need to limit it because of high corruption levels.
Don't expand to much in the beginning! Research monarchy and then fight! AI is quite easy to crush in the first age even if you have no iron.

Also, don't try to make a tech race, it is impossible to surpass other civs like in civ2.

[Nexus VI]

Originally posted by Ferdi
Also, don't try to make a tech race, it is impossible to surpass other civs like in civ2.

Actually, this is the only thing I can win with a hand down. I've managed to win a tech race up to Regent level with no probs at all.

When you manage to raise a compact empire lowering corruption to accetable levels you can speed up research massively.

Usually I never lower Science tax under 60%. If your government form is Democracy the level of corruption permits you to keep Science rate high and to support a few units. You can't start a war in the beginning, but when you're in modern age, the other civs are in awe of your scientific progresses.

You need to build all the necessary facilities in your cities and to optimize the square surrounding your cities, so that roads can bring commerce and shield (to build wonders and facilities).

At Regent level the AI build Wonders really fast, so one must choose what to build (Pyramid, Sun Tzu Academy and the other one which pays the support for economic buildings are the most important). Then, when you've got sufficient Banks you can build Wall Street (this one can be build by every civ being a small wonder) which boosts the gold received each turn.

However, even if you beat the AI on scientific field, your scoring never goes up. It seems the most important thing in Civ is the territorial supremacy. Civs with many units and many cities are the ones that score most.

For this reason I try to get aggressive toward the end, even if I hate wars 'cause are really annoying (especially when you've got to build up the units).

For now I'm still learning how to become a "super-nation-with-a-great-score" since I don't like to be remembered as the "worthless" in the annals

We shall see...