You Are An Evil Tribe... Who Me? What???

[Licentia]

Well, despite owning Civ 3 Complete, I have found myself addicted again to Civ 1 for the SNES.

"You are an evil tribe that must be exterminated." I hear that quote quite often playing the SNES version of Civ 1. What I would like to know is why does the AI tell me this so often? I also get sneak-attacked often by tribes that aren't very advanced. Other times the AI will say that they can easily destroy me and therefore I should give them gold. Then they say that my rejection of their attempts at conciliation mean that I am nothing but warmongering vermin. I tell them to stuff it and eventually get mad enough to wipe that weaker foe off the map.

Is it normal for the AI to attack a human player if the human player is way ahead or behind? Are my city defenses not adequate perhaps, resulting in the AI thinking they can beat me?

I've noticed that the AI will want war if I only have Militia guarding some of my cities, so I avoid doing that. The barbarians tend to appear often under those circumstances as well. Is there a minimum requirement for defenses that I am missing? Perhaps two Phalanx minimum?

Right now I tend to have a Militia, a Phalanx and a Chariot guarding each town early on. Then later I replace them with veteran units.

I would just like to play a peaceful game for once, from start to finish. Is that not possible?

[spod]

Originally Posted by Licentia

I would just like to play a peaceful game for once, from start to finish.

Good luck with that!

[Tristan_C]

In negotiations, the AI assesses relative military strength for the landmass in which the negotiation is taking place. They "cheat" in a sense by knowing your total attack points, defense points, and number of cities, and comparing it to theirs. The number of cities counts against you (more land and innocent people to defend) whereas something like a nuke will send your attack strength off the charts and they'll offer peace.

One thing I'm not sure about is if they keep these military ratings in mind when their units are wandering around looking for openings. I'm guessing that they do not, though, and attack regardless. Gives Shaka the chance to trollface (again) when his legion vaporizes your MechInf.

[Gundus]

Having a perfect peaceful game from start to finish in Civ1
is something a lot of players have attempted,
but very, very few have succeeded.

It requires deep, Yoda-like knowledge and some luck also,
especially when you are in a precarious starting position.


I sometimes try this peaceful approach, and most of the
time I have to settle for (or choose to allow) one or two or three short-term wars
(I very seldom retrace my steps and go back to an old savegame even
when I make obvious mistakes so it's especially hard getting everything
right the first time when you don't know what is hiding behind
the next turn).


I find the challenge (and discussing it) interesting though, and after
a lot of practice (and listening to the experience of other gamers)
you start understanding some of the mechanics involved
on how the computer thinks.
Also you understand a bit about what preventive measures
it's smart to take.

I'll try to gather some of my thoughts on this based on
my personal experience and post again in a little while.

I'm assuming the SNES version is very close to the
DOS version I'm usually playing (ver.474.01).

I also assume you are playing with all seven Civs
as I myself do 90 % of the time.

[InnateGamer]

I used to pay tribute to Stalin in this one game I played, but he would always sneak attack, even if I always payed him. Whenever I want a peaceful game I usually either play on Earth as the Aztecs or Americans and restart if the Aztecs appear, or I replay an old save file where I know I'm starting in an isolated position. Starting alone in the Americas on Earth and changing the difficulty level to Emperor +2 is so fun. The happiness problem becomes quite interesting.

[Atreju]

If you would always pay the money for peace and dont let other units reach places next to your units, they cant make sneak attacks and declare war.

[Ronito60]

Play the game like you are a cancer. Spread hard and fast then prosper!