Great Human Failures

whyidie

whyidie

Emperor
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
1,187
Yes, I got beat by the AI on King. I'll start posting relevant screenshots of my failures for all to revel in. Snarky comments welcome.

Random settings. Rolled Maya for the first time. Unfortunately didn't really feel like playing tall. Then I found Japan and Greece close fairly early.

Past couple of games had me feeling good about my diplomacy skills, so I built a wall and mentally prepared to tame the waremongerers. Then I found the Aztecs as well.

Maybe this will work to my advantage and the Japanese/Aztecs/Greeks will fight it out amongst themselves.

How'd that turn out ? Poorly. See image, Japan then Greece DOW'd and I was done by turn 120.

Feel free to post any of your more shameful defeats, the better for us all to learn from...and laugh at each others misfortunes.
 

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Wow, I play on King all the time, and I've never seen the AI have that many units that early. Of course, I've never been dog-piled early, either.
 
whyidie said:
Rolled Maya for the first time. Unfortunately didn't really feel like playing tall. Then I found Japan and Greece close fairly early.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why you would want to play the Mayans tall, their UB favors wide more than anything.
 
You think that's so bad? I've lost on Prince because I played France as a REx civ and got attacked on either side by Attila (which makes sense) and Gandhi (which makes less sense) at once. I even had 7 archers or so by the time of the attack, and still managed to lose. Nothing like losing on Prince at turn 60 or 70!!!

Then the next game, I played Emperor and dominated all game long as China.

Long story short: since GnK, I'm not sure if it's been the AI changes or what, but I occasionally will get wiped out early on Prince (which almost never, ever happened after my first few months of vanilla), while I occasionally won't even be challenged on Emperor (which is usually a sufficient challenge, although I've beaten Immortal and even Deity before).
 
Well sometimes I wonderspam like crazy only to find myself lacking any kind of ranged units.
The Pyramids, Oracle, Temple of Artemis, Mausaulom of Halicarnasus, Hanging Gardens, and Stonehenge don't matter as much as 2 archers do in certain situations.
 
I got beat on king recently by Korea! I was China and was rolling the civs to my south and southwest. Had a rather large army and great campaign going to clear the continent (which was very large). Korea denounced me, but I had favorable terrain (rough and a choke point) and a couple of city states between us, so I thought "meh, it's Korea, he's too busy turtling to DoW me".

15 turns later, as I was deep into enemy territory south of me, I found out he squeezed an army through the mess. He DoW'd me and I had zero troops at home. GG Korea...

Protect your rear!
 
Carnifaux said:
I'm not sure why you would want to play the Mayans tall, their UB favors wide more than anything.
Click to expand...

True, should have said wide. Was hoping to get a tall Civ as I didn't want to manage too many cities.
 
dac050 said:
Wow, I play on King all the time, and I've never seen the AI have that many units that early. Of course, I've never been dog-piled early, either.
Click to expand...

I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the Japanese force. The screenshot was their 3rd wave. I had 3 Atlatlist and 2 warriors. Rush bought 3 spears before they were wiped out so I did some damage.

Initially when they showed up on my border I wasn't too impressed, but they kept coming and I got a little worried. Then when Greece showed up I knew the end was near.
 
ahawk said:
You think that's so bad? I've lost on Prince because I played France as a REx civ and got attacked on either side by Attila (which makes sense) and Gandhi (which makes less sense) at once. I even had 7 archers or so by the time of the attack, and still managed to lose. Nothing like losing on Prince at turn 60 or 70!!!

Then the next game, I played Emperor and dominated all game long as China.

Long story short: since GnK, I'm not sure if it's been the AI changes or what, but I occasionally will get wiped out early on Prince (which almost never, ever happened after my first few months of vanilla), while I occasionally won't even be challenged on Emperor (which is usually a sufficient challenge, although I've beaten Immortal and even Deity before).
Click to expand...

That makes me feel better. 1 because a deity level player can lose at prince. 2 because I've seen the same thing in G&K, makes me think the instances where the AI has played well aren't as rare as I thought.
 
Well sometimes I wonderspam like crazy only to find myself lacking any kind of ranged units.
The Pyramids, Oracle, Temple of Artemis, Mausaulom of Halicarnasus, Hanging Gardens, and Stonehenge don't matter as much as 2 archers do in certain situations.
Click to expand...

I've found this out the hard way as well. Most of my early losses can be attributed to Wonderlust.


I got beat on king recently by Korea! I was China and was rolling the civs to my south and southwest. Had a rather large army and great campaign going to clear the continent (which was very large). Korea denounced me, but I had favorable terrain (rough and a choke point) and a couple of city states between us, so I thought "meh, it's Korea, he's too busy turtling to DoW me".

15 turns later, as I was deep into enemy territory south of me, I found out he squeezed an army through the mess. He DoW'd me and I had zero troops at home. GG Korea...

Protect your rear!
Click to expand...

Had Rome do this to me with a sizable naval force. Got me to play more prince level games to see if it would happen again.

Rome I should have seen coming....Korea on the other hand, thats ambitious play from the AI!
 
Why do the AI declare war on each other endlessly but rarely take a city? I play whichever difficulty is hard. I can never remember what the official terms are.

Are they all programmed to have such similar troop amounts that they can't do significant damage to each other? They do it to me often enough so I know they're capable.

I like having 4 villages at first but rarely get past 3 if I have a feisty neighbour who I've offended. I survive the opening wave but it always seems to be an endless war. If someone could tell me what to do beyond killing all their troops to end a war I'd be eternally grateful.
 
Ragneur said:
Why do the AI declare war on each other endlessly but rarely take a city? I play whichever difficulty is hard. I can never remember what the official terms are.
Click to expand...

Terrain, tech level, politics, defensive wonders, UU/UAs... they all tell how well the AI be able to take cities.
 
In my earlier days i got steamrolled several times playing on prince before realizing that ranged units are a top priority. I've also been beaten to a space victory a few times playing on king. That usually happens if I'm involved in war and get to caught up in it.
 
Ragneur said:
Why do the AI declare war on each other endlessly but rarely take a city? I play whichever difficulty is hard. I can never remember what the official terms are.

Are they all programmed to have such similar troop amounts that they can't do significant damage to each other? They do it to me often enough so I know they're capable.

I like having 4 villages at first but rarely get past 3 if I have a feisty neighbour who I've offended. I survive the opening wave but it always seems to be an endless war. If someone could tell me what to do beyond killing all their troops to end a war I'd be eternally grateful.
Click to expand...

King perhaps? The difficulty levels are

Settler Chieftain Warlord Prince King Emperor Immortal Deity
 
smallfish said:
Terrain, tech level, politics, defensive wonders, UU/UAs... they all tell how well the AI be able to take cities.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply but none of those explain why they start a war despite gaining no long lasting tangible benefit from it. Are they as fickle with each other as they are with me?
 
gunslinger6792 said:
In my earlier days i got steamrolled several times playing on prince before realizing that ranged units are a top priority. I've also been beaten to a space victory a few times playing on king. That usually happens if I'm involved in war and get to caught up in it.
Click to expand...

I do. I read a guide on these forums by Tabarnak on how to best start get to four villages. I followed it word for word and still failed. I never got above three. I started on a comedically small continent with Rome and The Aztecs. I was yet again involved in war with them both until the 1900's.
 
Ragneur said:
Thanks for the reply but none of those explain why they start a war despite gaining no long lasting tangible benefit from it. Are they as fickle with each other as they are with me?
Click to expand...

Sure, they are there to stop you. If they have plenty of CS allies, that will double up their military demographics. And yes, they will gobble up each other if they see the need to.
 
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