Trade Tech for Peace if you're going for Tech victory?

[Ericone]

In general, when playing on King, is it worth giving up techs to keep peace if you're going for a tech victory? My gut reaction is no, but maybe the turns of peace are a better use of resources than building defensive units to hold my cities.

Specifically, I'm playing my first game on King. I'm the Americans. I'm racing up the tech tree as fast as I can, trying to get to factories. The Japanese and I keep trading the lead in tech. Meanwhile the Zulus and French keep taking turns pounding on me. So far they keep attacking across the river and I'm holding them off, but legion armies are starting to show up and I just started researching gunpowder.

Thoughts? Opinions? Cold, hard statistical analysis? Thanks in advance for any and all,

Eric

 

[Double Barrel]

If I'm playing for any victory other than domination, I always trade tech for peace. War is costly, and when you have enemy armies in your terrority, those tiles do nothing for you, IIRC. Plus all the resources you need to fight a war - lost defensive units, building offensive units, etc. - seem to distract you away from building science, culture, or financial buildings.

 

[adventurerisme]

in my experience, having one army of the highest current defensive unit is enough to stave off invasions on King, provided you've done everything right (and gotten a bit lucky) up to that point.

sounds like you're in a bit of a tight spot, though...if I were you, I guess I'd go ahead and buy the ten turns with tech. Depending on how close you are to finishing Gunpowder (and how your gold reserves are looking), make sure you either get a rifleman stack or an archer stack and a strong offensive unit (catapult army if possible) within those ten turns. You'll be able to defend your city and keep production squares free while getting your vet/elite units for conquerage.

It's going to be a long slog to that tech victory if you turtle, but it ought to be manageable.

 

[Reed]

Yeah, even on diety, they can pry those techs or great people from my cold dead hands.
(I may give them cash though, if it is reasonable).

War is good for you if you can turtle up and defend. The AI's will switch governments to Fundamentalism or Communism which either kills their science or their culture. They will also focus on units and ignore developing their cities or building wonders. At least it seems that way.

 

[Ericone]

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.

Double = This made a lot of sense, but when I got a chance to play this morning, the other civs were done asking for tech and instead kept asking for my great people. It wasn't worth 4 turns of peace to lose one of those. But I'm going to be more open to tech bribery in my next game. Or later in this one.

Adventure = One of my cities is on a gold mine, so I'm doing okay. I rushed pike armies in my cities and they've been holding off the other civs just fine. In fact, eventually the other civs stopped attacking. They're still at war, but apparently my veteran mods finally got high enough that the AI won't attack. Good to know. And cheaper (if less certain) than the Great Wall.

Reed = Good point about the governments although the Zulu have still managed to build two wonders despite being fundamental and throwing waves of legions at me. But when I look at the victory condition summary, only Japanese are out of the first "zone" in anything.

As of this morning when I had to leave for work [Grrrrrr] I was ~ten turns from combustion and tanks. So if my pikemen can just hold out that long, I should be in good shape.

I should probably load up the first tank army and sail it to Kyoto, but I really want to give the Zulus some pay back first.

Thanks again for the help,

Eric

 

[Killer Moogle]

Early in the game I will trade techs for peace, but only the "you'll have to settle for ______ tech" and not actually the one they ask for. Even on deity they will usually take it, and for 9-10 turns of peace early in the game it is certainly worth it (especially with a close neighbor).

It sounds like you are past that point though. I had a similar experience where the AI gave up attacking because my defense was so good.

 

[AznWarlord]

On Economic Victory it's worth it, since according to what I've seen, the AI's don't go towards anything BUT Domination. I think for Tech victory you want to give gold.

 

[randomsarcastic]

I had Lincoln about 2 turns away from building the world bank when my ship reached Alpha Centauri. I've also been in games where another civ started launching stuff into space. Normally they usually seem interested in only attacking me, but not always.

 

[OmerK]

I strongly believe that peace is not the way to go in Deity level. You may believe that peace will allow you to develop your cities faster...sure does, but meanwhile the AIs develop too, and probably much faster than you are, especially tech-wise. My strategy is to declare war as soon as I meet another civ. Their cities start pouring out units every turn instead of building wonders or other city improvments. And I could verify that AI's technology progress is slowed down when at war.

 

[Ericone]

The big change I found between King and the two levels before it were how aggressive the other civs were. Only the Japanese seemed to be going for a non domination victory, and even they would declare war if someone else settled for peace. The AI seemed to be focused and having two civs at war with me on every turn.

From a play stand point, the downside of this was that once I rolled over Tokyo with my tanks (which was a much harder fight than I was expecting because he had riflemen), the game was basically over. With Washington and Tokyo both pumping out science, my ship was off to AC while the other Civs were still beating on my walls with knights.

Just started another King game playing the Spanish. I'm hoping to win a culture victory. Romans, Greeks, and Mongols so far. I suppose it is too much to hope the 4th one is Russia.

 

[Soon Forget]

I hope they make a patch to address the crazy demands the AI makes. I never thought that I would be the peace-monger in a Civ game.

 

[Nocterminus]

It depends on how wants to trade/demand tech and what tech they want. Be mindful of the Who's Winning screen. If you are in a tech race going for a tech victory and they civ racing you wants some of your tech, do not make the trade. I spend most of my games at war with a least two or more civs. I just play defensively most of the time unless going for domination.

As mentioned before have the best defensive armies for the era ready to go. One in each city is decent enough. The other thing is roads. They are worth the money spent. it allows you to shuffle defensive units quickly between cities (which is why I always keep my cities close). I like to get three cities up early (free settlers from getting 100 gold and taking an enemy group of settlers or if I am lucky free settlers fro barb village). I set an archer army in each with one floating archer. I get roads up as soon as possible between them. WHen I get attacked. I simply move all three archer units to make a second army in the city under seige. Then i keep moving them from city to city that is under threat. All the while I am producing building and working tech.

Works well but not with all civs. But I like to ensure my defense so I rather start a little slow and build pops before I start going on the offensive.