I think they do.
In my current game I was pissed because on a number of occasions the AI was beating me by a few turns to techs. For most techs this is not a big deal, but for founding religions and techs like Writing, Drama, Military Strategy, Engineering, etc. that give a bonus GP for the first to discover, it is annoying.
I was thinking, maybe, just maybe the AI knew what tech I was researching and maybe even how many turns I was taking to research the tech.
Conspiracy Theory? Perhaps, but consider this:
You are kicking the butt of Alexis in a war. You offer a peace treaty but ask for Alteration, a 'minor' tech, to seal the deal. Alexis insults you and says no. However, you are just 2 turns away from discovering Animal Mastery, a 'major' tech. You ask for this instead with the peace treaty. Alexis accepts. Why?
Maybe Alexis knows you are researching Animal Mastery and are only a few turns away from discovering it. This has happened enough to me in my games to not write it off to coincidence.
Or, how about this:
Don't you often get requests during a game to trade for techs you are just a few turns away from discovering anyway? I do.
Again, does the AI know what you are researching and that you are only a few turns away?
If the AI has this capability, surely this is a game (civ vanilla) design flaw or at least a balance problem AI vs. Human player.
I don't think there is any way (including cheating ) the human player could identify the techs the AI is researching with the number of turns needed.
Comments are welcome.
In my current game I was pissed because on a number of occasions the AI was beating me by a few turns to techs. For most techs this is not a big deal, but for founding religions and techs like Writing, Drama, Military Strategy, Engineering, etc. that give a bonus GP for the first to discover, it is annoying.
I was thinking, maybe, just maybe the AI knew what tech I was researching and maybe even how many turns I was taking to research the tech.
Conspiracy Theory? Perhaps, but consider this:
You are kicking the butt of Alexis in a war. You offer a peace treaty but ask for Alteration, a 'minor' tech, to seal the deal. Alexis insults you and says no. However, you are just 2 turns away from discovering Animal Mastery, a 'major' tech. You ask for this instead with the peace treaty. Alexis accepts. Why?
Maybe Alexis knows you are researching Animal Mastery and are only a few turns away from discovering it. This has happened enough to me in my games to not write it off to coincidence.
Or, how about this:
Don't you often get requests during a game to trade for techs you are just a few turns away from discovering anyway? I do.
Again, does the AI know what you are researching and that you are only a few turns away?
If the AI has this capability, surely this is a game (civ vanilla) design flaw or at least a balance problem AI vs. Human player.
I don't think there is any way (including cheating ) the human player could identify the techs the AI is researching with the number of turns needed.
Comments are welcome.