Have you ever NOT founded the World Congress?

comatosedragon

Emperor
Joined
May 5, 2008
Messages
1,171
Location
Rockingham VA {616}
This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately. Since the release of BNW, I have never not founded the WC. Even when I am not specifically trying to. I play emperor/immortal, (60/40), small/normal map sizes (70/30), standard speed, and a variety of different map types (communitas is my personal favorite lately, but that's another story).

I feel I go with a fairly 'standard' tech order and opening:
3 or 4 city tradition, Pot>Edu>Astro>Scientific Theory (of which PP is on the way).

And like I said, Every game, Every single one, I found the WC first. So of course I propose Worlds Fair (good for any VC).

How many of you have similar experiences? I am sure it is less common on Deity, (and probably larger map sizes) but I feel the AI should prioritize it more on Emp+, or maybe they just suck at scouting? It's getting to the point where I pray for a nerf of some kind (to worlds fair most likely).
 
Several times, actually. I'm a King player so I'm not even facing the toughest opposition, but sometimes circumstances just mean that I cannot go out and explore the world like I want to. If Polynesia is in, I can forget about it alltogether. Then there are some civs that prioritize Astronomy and the techs around that (Mostly those with UU's there, like England, Portugal and Netherlands), so they might beat me to it as well.
I do play Huge maps though, so that might not help.
 
I normally like to put Polynesia into the game manually so that I have a challenger for the World Congress, and I'd say 9 times out of 10, Kamehameha beats me to it, mainly because I prioritise getting Printing Press to Astronomy and then try to build LToP and rush towards Public Schools instead of sending Caravels out exploring
 
Quite often. I normally play Pangaea which is part of the reason because if you're in the middle of the continent it makes it hard to scout beyond your neighbours unless you have open border treaties - and I usually cant be bothered by the midgame to send one unit to go and explore to find the remaining 1 or 2 civs/cs's at this point just to found the WC.
 
Maybe it's just my play-style. I do put a large emphasis on exploration, because of all the benefits it provides -- Meeting new Civs, City-States, finding Natural Wonders, Goody Huts, good land to settle, barb encampments...
Even with Polynesia in the game, I have never had him found the WC. Even if he finds everyone first, he still needs PP. And he usually spams way too many cities to have a good tech rate.

I usually cant be bothered by the midgame to send one unit to go and explore to find the remaining 1 or 2 civs/cs's at this point just to found the WC.
I'm not sure if I understand this -- sending one unit to explore in the mid game to find the remaining civs/CS should be a priority, right? It's not like it's MM intense or anything, and was something I was doing (and thought everybody did) even before BNW. Even if you are not worried about founding the WC, meeting AI civs will give a tech boost, and meeting new CS is always good, for many reasons.
 
I'm not sure if I understand this -- sending one unit to explore in the mid game to find the remaining civs/CS should be a priority, right?

It's pretty essential if you're going for a Dom victory; and always useful if you're not. Once I get Astronomy I'm straight out there exploring...

But Tat said he plays Pangea, so that might change his priorities.
 
On Emperor and above, playing the Small Continents Plus maps (from Scrambled Continents DLC), I rarely found it. I probably could if I put a lot more prioritization into it, but there always seems to be another civ that gets lucky. Meeting Polynesia means it's a total no-go and in those games I don't even try.
 
I think "being congress founder" is just not an AI priority. If you make it your priority, you should be able to get it.

However...
I personally believe there's too much defensive value in composite bows, crossbows and trebuchets, because they lend a disproportionate window to the tech strategy OP discussed. What I'm saying is, because if AI techs cannons and riflemen he probably cannot kill you anyway, and there's no reason not to tech EDU/ASTRO/SCIEN, because, well, then your science is running on 4 cylinders and he's paying for an expensive, stationary army he's blown money to upgrade, and falling behind in science.

This is something of a "soft spot" in the game's overall AI gameplay, which I feel should be remedied somehow. I know if you were playing me, unless separated by water, pissing about with caravels would be "curtains". AI should be equally aggressive on important cues.
 
Maybe it's just my play-style. I do put a large emphasis on exploration, because of all the benefits it provides -- Meeting new Civs, City-States, finding Natural Wonders, Goody Huts, good land to settle, barb encampments...
Even with Polynesia in the game, I have never had him found the WC. Even if he finds everyone first, he still needs PP. And he usually spams way too many cities to have a good tech rate.


I'm not sure if I understand this -- sending one unit to explore in the mid game to find the remaining civs/CS should be a priority, right? It's not like it's MM intense or anything, and was something I was doing (and thought everybody did) even before BNW. Even if you are not worried about founding the WC, meeting AI civs will give a tech boost, and meeting new CS is always good, for many reasons.

I play on Emperor/Immortal btw.

I just don't think the benefits of it are great enough for me to bother. I can usually dominate the WC through other means and I usually have other priorities at that point - Im concentrating on teching to Printing Press asap or something. If I get it great - but I don't usually bother.

If im playing continents it might be a bit different - I usually build a couple of Caravels as soon as I can - Navigation is an important tech on continents. I send one round the world and the other to try and discover all civs.

The reason I play it differently on Continents is that I have been stung too many times by a runaway on another continent so I try to discover them ASAP so that I can;
a) cripple them early as possible
b) generate tourism with them as quickly as possible.

I don't search them out to found the WC as a priority - its a bonus if I get it. Perhaps if I played an "optimal" game then I would do as the OP says.
 
I sometimes don't found it, especially on Continents or Small Continents. I often like to monger some war early game, especially if I have a potential runaway or wonder spamming neighbor. I like to do my killing early, before I meet any more witnesses.

Case in point, I'm playing a continents game as Egypt right now. I share a continent with Rome, Babylon, and the Iroquois right now. At least I used to: my buddy Augustus and I have misplaced Babylon and are currently cutting Hiawatha down to size...
 
I usually do but I remember once I didn't. Then again that was a TSL of Europe with as many civs as the game could handle and I ws Egypt. I think there was just the Celts and Denmark left to discover when Napoleon beat me to it.
 
In my games it happens tipically when someone early conquer a capital.
 
I`ve not done it yet, someone always gets there before me. Yes, i`m not an uber player and I`m not ashamed to say it!

And I only play King!
 
I prefer focusing on science and infrastructure and if Forbidden Palace is still around and I'm lucky enough to snag it then I do that instead. I find it difficult to found it first unless I'm Polynesia

You still get to propose something because you'll have 3 votes (though it does require Patronage)
 
I NEVER found it and ALWAYS dominate it. ;)
 
I generally don't found world congress. I play on emperor but not very competitively with science (I just love going wide too much) which means I'll generally be way behind in science up until at least Industrial era and sometimes even later if one civ has pulled away in science. So normally someone will research PP before me and/or Astronomy before me and explore before me (if I play on continents).
 
If I'm doing some early warmongering I do kind of avoid meeting new civs. They'll at leastbe neutral when you do meet them that way and you can sell excess luxuries you can't get a good price for with known civs. It's nice to have a new customer before they realize what a menace I am.

AI Polynesia is usually pretty good at founding. Portugal rushes astronomy too. Actually Portugal's tendancy to rush astronomy makes them super weak in the medieval. She'll be defending with swordsmen and comp bows long after other AIs have longswords and crossbows. I think that might be a reason why AIs aren't scripted to go for astronomy sooner. It leaves them too weak.
 
I didn't found it in my last game. Map was some very big Europe scenario and I finded 1st Russian city like two turns after Alexander founded World Congress. I was playing England.
 
I play on King, and I rarely found the world congress. Usually, Printing Press just isn't very high on my priority list. Also, Polynesia shows up in a lot of my games...

In some of my culture-focused games, I've gone all the way to Archaeology before I've even researched Metal Casting, so ...
 
Top Bottom