how to counter absurd AI tech advancement?

[_Shawz_]

I consider myself pretty decent at Civ III, I can have a good game on emperor or deity, but how on earth do you keep up with the riduclous way the AI advances on these high levels? I'm alt tabbed from a game now, and I'm half way through the middle ages while all the AI players are competeing to build the manhatten project. I even picked persians, a scientific civ, no avail. The rest of the game is well balanced and I was having an enjoyable game until the gap got horrendous, the rest of the game is balanced how come the tech advancement is like this. I'm forced to abandon all wars and play ultra peaceful literally until i have completed the entire tech tree, so catching up by default. its such a shame, grRR!!! how do you get round it so you can have a better game on higher levels?
TIA

 

[mauiduck]

IMHO I usually buy techs like crazy from the other civs. I usually try and secure as many luxuries as I can and then sell that to the AI for tech and some dough. I usually pump out workers like crazy to get the roads, colonies and mines built but I find that the AI treats them like military and so they actually help disuade agression against me. Anyway I am sure others have better strats than this but it seems to work for me so that is my two cents.

 

[Allemand]

Try an expansionist civ. It will find tech faster than the scientific civ can learn it. You'll still have to buy some at higher levels.

 

[akinkhoo]

i usually just start a war before they are impossiblely forward....
if your civ is pretty strong, even if it is tech backward....
they will agree to peace before major bloodshed...

if not, I will just use the infamous killer spearmen!
the AI is less corrupted than us so if I do a full invasion
I will still keep them alive so I can milk them of money!

there is no way to win a deity game without warfare.....
"kill them, kill them all!" - house harkonnen

=

 

[Lawrence]

I would suggest you use Pope strategy until modern age or mid-industrial. That means, setting your tech rate to 0%. Only use one scientist to get 1 tech every 40 turns.

AI develops early techs at a blitzering speed. But you can always buy them with a little money if ALL other civs in the world owns the tech. As I remember, the price for Map Making would be around 100 gold pieces in a standard map with full house AIs. It would be only about 70 in a small map. You can even use the buy-from-one, sell to others strategy, though you would have to pay more.

Next, when you decided that you are powerful enough to do your own research, you pray the AI to be dragged in warfare. AI in warfare is SO dumb, especially after the godsend Artillery is available, they don't know how to use firepower! And if in war their tech rate would be slowed down greatly, giving you a chance to catch up.

If they stay peace with each other, try drag them in war. For example, you can sign a MPP with some one civ and go war with another civ. The AI civs are always eager to find alliances so the war will soon become a world level one. Then you can use those tactics like 'smoke n mirror', or the name 'puppet strings' which came from Sirian to get them off your land. This way they will war forever and you can develop your techs meanwhile.

While developing your own techs, try to look at the more backward AI's status, it might possess some tech you want, but some techs you can discover may not be in their possession. So you just study and trade your tech to them. In this way you can save much development time.

Much of this strategy came from the GOTM 7 Spoiler thread, I would suggest you to read that one if you want to learn more about deity.

 

[Daaraa]

I just get around the AI's tech race by playing a resource hog. In my current game I owned Iron and the Japanese did not. I took them over with swordsmen and they defended with spearmen and attacked with archers.
I am getting ready to attack the Americans who have no Saltpeter. I have cavalry and they have spearmen (no iron either).
After gobbling up all that territory I'll be able to keep up with the other civs as I'll own a third of the world.
I'll then just target another weakened civ with a lack of a resource and jump on them.
The Ai although being equal to me in science cannot keep up in other aspects and so I crush them. I do think that witht he AI trading like they do it makes it more difficult to avoid war. It can however be done.

 

[MiDEvIL]

i just finished a game with the japanese and a small map, (Emperor Difficulty) i found that putting science at 0%, at least for the "ancient era", pays off... then you pick small weak civs w/ no esential resources (like iron or saltpeper) and either:

a. try to renigotiate peace for techs or
b. go to war with them, then as soon as they "acknowledge your envoy" ask for peace with all of the techs that they can give you
and then redeclare war if necessary... and repeat

although option b usually causes all the other civs to get furious with you... it works. And to actually catch up to the AI in tech research i found it was necessary for me to have at least 2 times the land area and production than all of them (therefore 2 times more commerce and science) , thereby making up for the absurd tech lead that the AI gets at higher levels


and although i have only used this "strategy" to great extent in one game i believe it works for any situation.

 

[Creepster]

I like to keep up by forcing the AI's into doing things that take away their advantage of quick research. The best way is to force them into a war with each other. When theay are at war then they tend not to research as fast. In my current game (diety level) I am about 12 techs behind and trying evrything I can to catch up. Going to war with several of the AI's also produces a few techs.

Another thought is to take away their GPT either by trading resources/luxaries or a few techs that they may not reserch.

 

[Zouave]

Originally posted by Lawrence
. . .you pray the AI to be dragged in warfare. AI in warfare is SO dumb, especially after the godsend Artillery is available, they don't know how to use firepower! And if in war their tech rate would be slowed down greatly, giving you a chance to catch up. . .

Dumb indeed. This is why with 1.21 riflemen and infantry were checked by Firaxis as both defensive AND offensive.

How successful do you think infantry will be attacking fortified infanty? About as successful as the French were attacking the Germans in the World War One trenches.

So, I clicked in Editor "build more artillery" - which should be a big help offensively. An AI civ attacked. . . but left all its cannons in their cities.

Is it so hard, Firaxis, to program a civ to use bombardment units offensively? Guess so.

BTW, invading armies definitely SHOULD be able to use roads in enemy territory. There is no reason not to, historically.

 

[Sullla]

There are a lot of things that can help, but the most important thing to do is turn off your own research and buy into techs that are known by all other civs. Controlling all world trade as much as possible by brokering all contact, world maps, techs known only by some civs, etc. it crucial as well. For a detailed example of this, I recommend reading my writeup of GOTM7 on Deity difficulty, avaiable at http://www.geocities.com/lcsullla/GOTM7.

 

[bradbowen]

I suggest getting horsemen or swordsmen as soon as possible and then going to war. It doesn't matter if you opponent is way ahead in tech because you will have just as good of units. Take a few cities and then offer peace in exchange for all of his technology. Wait a few turns and then attack again if you are still behind. This tactic will work until they have pikemen.

A similiar opportunity will arise when you discover knights.

 

[Sodak]

Originally posted by Zouave
BTW, invading armies definitely SHOULD be able to use roads in enemy territory. There is no reason not to, historically.

I agree with your reasoning, but not for game purposes. For example, this would allow a horde of Riders to waltz past your entire military and then attack some weakly defended city at your core. Strategically, you would never want to leave anything less than a strong force in any city fewer than 9 squares from the border. Not only tiring to do, but unrealistic - those invaders would have their movement checked by your forces. Just a side effect of turn based strategy, methinks. The lack of road use may just be a way to account for the actual necessity of invading forces to take care where they step.