dithering camel strategy

geofelt · July 8, 2002, 12:03

In a recent game, the chinese sent some camels to my island. This island was long and narrow, and included a narrow neck with a city. The chinese camel kept blocking my road through this pass. It kept moving out of the way, then back again. It was a pain. I had hoped that it would establish a trade route, but it never happened. What to do? At this point in the game, I did not want to attack. I eventually bribed the camel for 127 gold. I could get value out of it by delivering it or using it for a wonder. There was a second camel which I neutralized by blocking it's movement with a warrior.
Is there some way to peacefully get these guys to deliver their trade, or to leave?

Marquis de Sodaq · July 8, 2002, 12:41

I take it that there was no way past the city? If there was a way, letting it pass is the only way. If the city occupies the only tile across which the camel could walk, the goto will never figure out that it can't get past. This is presuming that it was being sent to a city behind your bottleneck city.

I suppose you could guess which city is its destination, starve it down, and disband it with a settler. Then the AI camel will choose a new destination...

bellisaurius · July 8, 2002, 13:33

Ouch, Marquis! Painful advice. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!

rah · July 8, 2002, 13:47

starve the destination city

Rush a settler down the road next to the caravan, build a city, then demand that they remove all their units from near your cities. If they go to war with you over that, they were going to be a war with you soon anyway.

You can disband the city then if you want.

RAH

geofelt · July 8, 2002, 17:21

If I am not mistaken, the AI will not remove caravans if you demand they withdraw their troops.

rah · July 8, 2002, 17:32

Yea, fuzzy there, I remember (it's been awhile since i played sp) that settlers and diplos withdrew, so I assumed caravans would also. I guess it needs to be tested.

RAH

Bloody Monk · July 9, 2002, 12:34

Bribe the camels, then deliver them to the offending Civ. You get the route you wanted plus the bonus. Revenge is best delivered with perks....

geofelt · July 9, 2002, 14:13

rah; dips don't go either, but you can expel them if they are alone(and they usually are). Also, the ai will remove their settlers if you ask, but the ai will not ask you to remove your settlers.

rah · July 9, 2002, 17:16

Yes, getting old sucks, the memory is the first thing to go. I knew it did settlers, thought it did dips, so wasn't sure about caravans. The only reason I ever have settlers near their cities is for building the Railroads to attack on, or using them as bait for them to declare war on me.

RAH