I've played hundreds of Civ4 games and about 20 BtS ones, and this is the first time I've seen this so I thought I'd share the experience. 
A custom game: Standard size, Marathon speed, 8 opponents (1 more than default), Hemispheres, Prince difficulty. I chose unrestricted leaders, including Asoka of Ethiopia, Brennus of France and I was Elizabeth of Babylon. Thinking I'd probably need a bit more of a problem to deal with, I also added Genghis Khan of the Maya.
My capital seemed to be in a decent spot. Not the best I've had recently, but seemingly good enough. A brief scout south and I found a very long river through a desert, and a gob-smackingly gorgeous excess of flood plains. Any doubts I had about my initial starting point quickly vanished.
So I planned ahead, with at least 4 if not 5 cities that I could build along this great river. Soon though, my scouting warrior stumbled across another civilization. I was glad we weren't alone on this great continent, so we could trade techs and share religions. But my brief moment of pleasure was soon over, when I was confronted by the face of Genghis Khan.
I was mortified. I knew that unless I made a considerable effort on building up an early defence force, I would easily fall to his vast horde -- irrespective of how many great cities I built on the long and fertile river.
Soon we signed an Open Borders agreement. I wasn't sure it was the best idea, but figured I'd better go along with it and not give him any reason to be mad at me. I quickly regretted it -- he sent at least a couple of scouts and Holkans into my territory and just ran about madly. Reminded me a bit of vultures circling a carcass. I was very worried, as not all my cities had decent defence in them yet. A good half of them had only one warrior!
So I specialised two cities as military production cities, and pumped out loads of Babylonian Bowmen, Spearmen and other early units. Soon I felt my cities were looking pretty good. I sent a scout out, who soon showed me that Genghis had covered the entire southern half of our continent, and had even planted one city on my great river -- thus denying me the spot! I was livid, but still rather worried...
It took a while to build up the Espionage points. Was about 1300 AD or so when I realised why I hadn't seen the expected invasion...
...from what I can see, he suffered a Unit Strike. None of his cities have more than 1 defender. Everytime he makes a unit, it dies the next turn from, I'm pretty sure, the effects of a Unit Strike.
So he's a sitting duck. I've made contact with Asoka and Brennus now, and they're both at least double my score. As I've been so intent on keeping defended, I've been somewhat left behind in my race to victory.
He's Friendly with me. I sent a Taoist Missionary to his capital and so he's a brother of the faith. He's really not causing me any harm, but in his Unit Strike state, he's a sleeping giant. Give him Courthouses and Markets...etc and he'd wake up, posing the threat I'd been expecting.
So all I can think of now is invading him. My army is mobilised and at his border, ready to pounce. The only thing I fear is expanding too fast, and getting Unit Strike myself!
I had no idea the AI could get Unit Strike and grind to a halt. Has this been seen before? It is completely new to me, and like I said I've played hundreds of Civ4 games and already about 20 BtS ones.
A custom game: Standard size, Marathon speed, 8 opponents (1 more than default), Hemispheres, Prince difficulty. I chose unrestricted leaders, including Asoka of Ethiopia, Brennus of France and I was Elizabeth of Babylon. Thinking I'd probably need a bit more of a problem to deal with, I also added Genghis Khan of the Maya.
My capital seemed to be in a decent spot. Not the best I've had recently, but seemingly good enough. A brief scout south and I found a very long river through a desert, and a gob-smackingly gorgeous excess of flood plains. Any doubts I had about my initial starting point quickly vanished.
So I planned ahead, with at least 4 if not 5 cities that I could build along this great river. Soon though, my scouting warrior stumbled across another civilization. I was glad we weren't alone on this great continent, so we could trade techs and share religions. But my brief moment of pleasure was soon over, when I was confronted by the face of Genghis Khan.
I was mortified. I knew that unless I made a considerable effort on building up an early defence force, I would easily fall to his vast horde -- irrespective of how many great cities I built on the long and fertile river.
Soon we signed an Open Borders agreement. I wasn't sure it was the best idea, but figured I'd better go along with it and not give him any reason to be mad at me. I quickly regretted it -- he sent at least a couple of scouts and Holkans into my territory and just ran about madly. Reminded me a bit of vultures circling a carcass. I was very worried, as not all my cities had decent defence in them yet. A good half of them had only one warrior!
So I specialised two cities as military production cities, and pumped out loads of Babylonian Bowmen, Spearmen and other early units. Soon I felt my cities were looking pretty good. I sent a scout out, who soon showed me that Genghis had covered the entire southern half of our continent, and had even planted one city on my great river -- thus denying me the spot! I was livid, but still rather worried...
It took a while to build up the Espionage points. Was about 1300 AD or so when I realised why I hadn't seen the expected invasion...
...from what I can see, he suffered a Unit Strike. None of his cities have more than 1 defender. Everytime he makes a unit, it dies the next turn from, I'm pretty sure, the effects of a Unit Strike.
So he's a sitting duck. I've made contact with Asoka and Brennus now, and they're both at least double my score. As I've been so intent on keeping defended, I've been somewhat left behind in my race to victory.
He's Friendly with me. I sent a Taoist Missionary to his capital and so he's a brother of the faith. He's really not causing me any harm, but in his Unit Strike state, he's a sleeping giant. Give him Courthouses and Markets...etc and he'd wake up, posing the threat I'd been expecting.
So all I can think of now is invading him. My army is mobilised and at his border, ready to pounce. The only thing I fear is expanding too fast, and getting Unit Strike myself!
I had no idea the AI could get Unit Strike and grind to a halt. Has this been seen before? It is completely new to me, and like I said I've played hundreds of Civ4 games and already about 20 BtS ones.
