Making Contact

[Angmar]

There is always a point in continent based games were someone from one continent makes contact with someone on the other side. How about some chatting about what you do if you are that person to brigde the gap?

I usually start out trading my world map, in hope I get their world map and of course contact with the other island residents. I have however noticed that if I trade contact with one civ on that new island ( even during my turn ) that I will not have the opportunity to trade the other ones.

My basic game plan is to trade my World Map and in turn hopefully get world maps and contact with atleast one other civ. From there I go to the new civ, again trade world maps and repeat until I have made contact and traded maps with everyone on the new island. Once this has been done I make a judgement call on who is the more wealthy side of the ocean and go to everyone on that continent and trade contact.

This initial contact can be VERY profitable. I just made contact and was able to trade maps and contact ( screwed up once .. doh! ) with most of the new island and now I have my tech rate at 90% and still making money! I know this will last for 20 turn .. but that should get be 4 new techs!

How do you play this situation?

[Smash]

I try to trade for communications with those i haven't met.I do not trade communications for the civs I know.Nor do I trade world maps.I want to exploit this middle man situation for as long as possible.

[jb1964]

I just discovered the potential value of first contact.

If you manage to become the middle man I agree that you should milk this for as long as possible.

Ways to become middle man...
- Suicide galleys
- Constantly look for that one shallow passage by venturing out to sea but ending in coastal waters.
- Great Lighthouse lets you venture out two sea squares

Benefits
- New friends don't know you RoP raped your neighbor. Keep it that way.
- Buy techs from AI continent and sell it around the other
- Fewer competitors to sell excess luxuries

Tricks
- Sell contacts once one AI is close to finishing Magnetism before your information loses all value.
- Sell world map at same time when value is high

[JMK]

It will depend how our Continent stands (technicaly) compare to the new encountered continent.
AA) New encountered Continent is backward, then i will trade Tech for Contacts and world maps.
BB) Our continent is backward, i may wait a couple of turns to get more contact by my own. Then I will purchase tech from one side (using my Map and GPT) and re-sell them to the other side.
In all cases I try to NOT sell contact from one Continent to the other one. I will try to be the ONLY link between continent.
This will ollow me to sell Tech full price.

[scoutsout]

Map trading is a little different in C3C than in vanilla CivIII...

Generally, I never do that first map trade on the AI's turn, and I never trade maps until I have contact with all civs.

Being the first to make contact can definitely give you an edge ... especially at Monarch level and up when tech trading is so much more important.

I suspect a seafaring civ would have an edge here... the extra movement point might make otherwise "suicide galley" tactics less suicidal.

I know when I was playing a lot of vanilla CivIII there was a time I'd try to build the Great Library and the Great Lighthouse...the latter to help maximize the benefit of the former.

[jaafit]

Originally posted by jb1964
Tricks
- Sell contacts once one AI is close to finishing Magnetism before your information loses all value.
-

How do you know when one AI is close to finishing a tech?

[JMK]

Originally posted by jaafit


How do you know when one AI is close to finishing a tech?

That's a good question.
In fact you have a way if you know the tech yourself, by checking the selling price every turn, if the price goes down, then you know the AI is researching it and close to get it.
If you do not have that tech yourself, you will be aware as soon as the tech has been discovered, because you will start to see Galleon, Frigate or privateer, but also by checking the F4 screen (if you have Physics).
Note: Magnetism but also Navigation will allow to travel safely on Ocean.