Does the AI finish the Space Race earlier on Monarch level?

Hello, I just finished a Civ IV BtS game on Monarch level. I sent my Spaceship before anyone else and, when there was just one more turn left for it to arrive, another player arrived in Alpha Centauri before me. The matter is that this specifc player launched his SS about 3 or 4 turns after I did (if not more). Does the AI gets some sort of advantage on this difficulty level regarding Space Race?

PS: both SSs were identical, so it couldn't be because of wight or smth. And I also had the complete tech tree, so it couldn't be because of Nuclear Fusion (dunno if it applies to Civ IV, tho).

Your spaceship travels faster with more engines and thrusters. Perhaps they were not actually identical, and they had more engines or thrusters than you? The AI's ships do not travel faster than the players on any difficulty given the exact same number of engines and thrusters.

On the latter levels ais can get that extra technology production and overall resources so take it easy and lower the difficulty if you really want to win...

I seriously never reach that stage of the game unless I try, but I believe the correct response is to raze the AI's capital after launch. If I were me and saw parts being built I'd try to prepare by swapping every non-SS city prod to units. Part sabotage missions are sexpensive and probably require even earlier preparation. But I don't have any experience with neck-and-neck future era, so grain of salt.

You can sabotage ss parts but you need so much eps that you probably spend more on the ep building set than the ss itself. ...

Tristan_C said:

Part sabotage missions are sexpensive and probably require even earlier preparation.

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I don't understand the bold word in this context. Was there another process active in the background?

Well, I actually built all thrusters and engines, as well as every other part, including casings. Both ships had the maximum of all parts built, being identical, i.e., 5 thrusters, 2 engines, 5 casings, 1 life support, 1 stasis chamber, 1 cockpit and so on...

I also had the scientific edge. Actually every other civ was begging me for techs, and I always took the isolationist approach and didn't give them to any of those civs since at least late industrial era... and I only signed open borders with some of the most trustworthy ones who had the highest scores, and who also had good relations among each other. I also had defensive pacts with them (dunno if it was a good idea, the demographics constantly shown my army as one of the smallest during the entire game, even though I've never lost a war, albeit they were far and inbetween).

I guess this strategy works when playing in an archipelago type map and you manage to get isolated in an albeit big island. Call me cheater if you so wish, but I played the Incas this time.

So no, they didn't get any scientific advance in the modern/future era (because I then refused to trade techs and decided to enjoy my high scientific output alone).

But it seems so much like a glitch! The interface said "1 turn to space race victory!" and then I pressed "next turn" and it said "Churchill had a Space Race Victory!" when he clearly launched his ship much after I launched mine!

!

And he clearly was technologically and industrially behind me! It seems so much like a glitch that I can't even describe it! He didn't even have life support when I launched my ship!

P.S.: I also had space elevator!

The AI doesn't get any space flight time advantage, you must have missed something.

MonarkAstronaut said:

P.S.: I also had space elevator!

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In BTS that wonder is trash. It actually slows space race attempts down due to the and cost!

Check the logs, they should say when both of you launched your ships. My guess is that you launched the same turn, but you got notified of his launch the next turn.

I just checked the log and even though it doesn't state exactly when the SSs were launched, it states when the last part of them were built. Mine was built on January, 1957, and my SS was promptly launched on that same turn (a bit late, I reccon, but I was playing just for fun and the last part was being built in a low production city that didn't have a lab ); that of theirs, on the other hand, was built on July, 1957, so definitely not on the same turn.

But still, the log suggests that the time between both launches was shorter than I first envisioned.

:/

You saw the launch of the English spaceship at July 1957, right?
Well, actually Churchill launched his spaceship at the same turn as you.
And only one person can win. So, you lost the coin toss.
(It happened to me once and the AI spaceship had also less SS casings.)

I saw this coming, but I had to wait 29 turns for confirmation.
A simultaneous spaceship launch and Frederick's spaceship has only 4 casings.

Yeah. This happened to me once. The dreaded coin toss to decide the tie.. After all those years (turns!).
*Groan*

The turn you see get the warning that the AI has launched is actually the turn after it has happened. This happens due to turn ordering, the player goes before the AIs, the AIs go during the end turn load and if the ship is launched during this time the warning is given the next turn.

IIRC there isn't any coin toss outside of simultaneous turns as a tie cannot exist. Even if they are launched on the same turn, the turn ordering would decide the winner.
Unfortunately actually finding the threads this was brought up in isn't easy with the forums search function....

Casings have no effect on the speed of the ship by the way, not having casings causes a chance of failure of the mission. IIRC There is a 20% chance of failing per missing casing.

Ghpstage said:

The turn you see get the warning that the AI has launched is actually the turn after it has happened. This happens due to turn ordering, the player goes before the AIs, the AIs go during the end turn load and if the ship is launched during this time the warning is given the next turn.

IIRC there isn't any coin toss outside of simultaneous turns as a tie cannot exist. Even if they are launched on the same turn, the turn ordering would decide the winner.
Unfortunately actually finding the threads this was brought up in isn't easy with the forums search function....

Casings have no effect on the speed of the ship by the way, not having casings causes a chance of failure of the mission. IIRC There is a 20% chance of failing per missing casing.

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IF the turn ordering effect were true, which I thought for a long time it was, like with wonders, than the human could never lose a simultaneous launch with the AI, as the human is first in the order. But clearly, the human can lose...

traius said:

IF the turn ordering effect were true, which I thought for a long time it was, like with wonders, than the human could never lose a simultaneous launch with the AI, as the human is first in the order. But clearly, the human can lose...

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The trouble probably lies in identifying when the launch was carried out, as I posted the text doesn't come up until the following turn so launching at the same time the text comes up will cause you to lose. If your playing turns fast the message delay can occasionally make it appear to have been launched 2 turns after it was.

I had developed a spreadsheet which helps to plan the spaceship production more efficiently and beat the AI by several turns.