ai does something smart

Captain · May 17, 2002, 11:27

So I'm Roman and I'm at war with the Zulu (yes, same game as I mentioned before).

I'm on a U shaped continent, I own the east, Zulus own the west. egypt at the top blocking us off from each other. originally I went to war to save the egyptians, so they gave me an RoP. great! the Zulus marching through are going slow, while I'm zipping along the roads pounding their forces. great, since they outnumbered me. after a while, egypt makes peace with the zulus (fair enough, I can't defend all their cities).

So my big stack of troops is near Zulu territory (having autorazed a 3 size 1 cities) in no-man's land, guarding their only source of iron. I had cut it off and pillaged the surrounding roads for good measure a few turns before, spending half a dozen units against a surge of Zulu defenders (ai's smart enough to defend it's supply vigorously, but I'm better

)

But now, I am getting weary of war (still a despot in 1300 AD and I want to switch to Republic to fix this corruption). bad to be in war in anarchy, so I arrange peace and the Zulus agree. they replant their cities, rebuild their iron supply, and my stack of swords are slowly expelled from the growing border. the point here is that this big stack of troops is being squeezed between the egyptian and zulu border.

oops, the zulus declare war, no prob I think. I'll pull back my forces and cut them off. then I see them moving fast, they've got an RoP with Egypt! (smart move!) big stack of 12 swordsmen approaching. can't pull my expeditionary army back in time. I scramble and rush buy pikemen and knights (newly discovered, also in a golden age) and funnel them to the front, stacking them on egyptian mountains. I barely deflect the attack, but I do.
With my excess of units still moving up from my core citie in the south, I'm piling across the egyptian border to strike back. poised on the frontier and ready to pound the Zulu, Cleo calls me up and says "RoPs cancelled. no chance for renegotiating. get out." what? after I saved your sorry hide and kept you safe these past 1500 years? after sacrificing my troops to defend your cities? after gifting you with free ivory, spices, horses, and tech? I have 25 cities, you have 4! are you insane?

I wonder whether Cleo will be so pleased to end the RoP if my armies are a bit closer. Out of curiosity, I reload, shift my 6 knights, 12 swords, and 5 pike away from the Egpt Zulu border and right up to striking distance of a size 8 city and the capital (size 14). they've only got spearmen. Cleo doesn't dare cancel the RoP this time! (another smart move!)

but this raises a question too:
How do we find out what deals we've got and how many turns are left?

zulu9812 · May 17, 2002, 11:33

I can't believe you don't know this - the "active" link in the 'propose a deal' screen. The link is at the bottom of the central box and tells you all the deals and pacts currently between your two nations, and how long until they expire.

Captain · May 17, 2002, 11:40

Quote:

Originally posted by zulu9812
I can't believe you don't know this - the "active" link in the 'propose a deal' screen. The link is at the bottom of the central box and tells you all the deals and pacts currently between your two nations, and how long until they expire.

ok, so I have to go and talk to them. then click. doesn't this annoy them if you keep contacting them? it seems to but i have no hard evidence.

I thought there was something on the trade advisor screen and was stumped that there was none (since it shows exports/imports but not turns left)

Stuie · May 17, 2002, 13:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Captain
I thought there was something on the trade advisor screen and was stumped that there was none (since it shows exports/imports but not turns left)

If the deal is still showing without "turns remaining" displaying, that means the deal has gone past 20 turns and you can cancel it without penalty. The AI will always cancel a deal if they think renegotiation is in order, but if they feel they are getting better than they are giving, they will let a deal go on indefinitely. That means it's time for you to renegotiate.

I wish there was some sort of summary/warning/whatever for active deals - especially when a treaty is about to be broken. I inadvertantly break treaties a lot. But I'm being very careful not to in my current game, since I'm surrounded by eight civs.

ACooper · May 17, 2002, 14:21

There is no penalty from just contacting civs. If you just want to check, go ahead and when your done click on 'never mind' and you will incur no penalty. This was confirmed by Soren in the first chat around the time of the first patch.

Jaybe · May 17, 2002, 15:30

... click on 'never mind' ...
or just press the 'esc' key

KrazyHorse · May 18, 2002, 03:51

Quote:

Originally posted by ACooper
There is no penalty from just contacting civs. If you just want to check, go ahead and when your done click on 'never mind' and you will incur no penalty. This was confirmed by Soren in the first chat around the time of the first patch.

Did civ2 ai get pissed with you? I seem to remember that...

KrazyHorse · May 18, 2002, 03:52

Especially if you kept turning down its requests for bribes, even if it was the same turn.

Captain · May 20, 2002, 20:38

Quote:

Originally posted by ACooper
There is no penalty from just contacting civs. If you just want to check, go ahead and when your done click on 'never mind' and you will incur no penalty. This was confirmed by Soren in the first chat around the time of the first patch.

thanks! I knew in civ 2 they got pissed off and refused to meet with you if you contacted them too much. i did not know that this had no effect in civ 3.

Zylka · May 20, 2002, 23:40