Recent content by stravaig

I dunno, Eyrei... In my current game (monarch, huge, Americans, 16 civs) the pesky Indians charged into my territory with over a dozen War Elephants and declared war, taking Buffalo with ease. I reloaded the previous turn and tried to disuade them by getting into a complex deal with them. I'm...

I absolutely love the idea of a Great (Suez/Panama) Canal wonder, as well as a Great Bridge/Tunnel (Chunnel) wonder. They'd probably have to be Great wonders, since a) you wouldn't really want the map to be dotted with them and b) the advantage to being the only builder is having it in your...

I give the patch a thumbs up, at least so far. I was a bit annoyed when I took a big Chinese city with plans to trade it away to India for some nice cash. No one wanted it. For any price. I'd made quite a bit of money in a pre-patch game by capturing big cities on a far away patch of land...

In a pre-patch game I had some very similar problems with large cities reverting after peace was established. My solution? Now, I /always/ starve the native populace down to no more than 3 pop. I still rush buy Temple/Library/Etc of course. This has worked well for me post-patch, too. -...

Bakunin - Communism is one option for those far away cities. That, or just spend /tons/ of cash buying up their infrastructure. Keep in mind that things like libraries and universities are only good for culture ... what with the corruption, you're not likely to get any research out of them...

I think the AI also knows when they have a monopoly on a luxury. Seems to me that an AI with a monopoly wants a lot more than one without. And if they get too selfish with it, well, that to me is justification for WAR! Mwa-hahahahahahahahaha! - Stravaig

Chick - It's early in the game. As much as you'd love to go squash the French, I might delay those plans. Instead, focus on getting mapmaking & etc, and get out and about with some settlers. You might find another civ that is willing to trade you iron, or you might find a place with iron...

And now they're actually useful! (post patch). I've never seen the AI use privateers... Has anyone? - Stravaig

Without question, the resources. All of them, but most particularly the strategic ones. I absolutely love the fact that you (and the AI) now have viable, strategic, compelling reasons to go to war. That, and the fact that the AI is smarter. Oh, and the trade table. Oh, and borders...

Big Step Forward. When I compare it to CivII, I won't ever go back (same with CivI to CivII). Resources and borders and canny AI are all a huge thumbs up. The combat issues (spearman defeats tank) are, for me, minor. The Corruption issue is a /feature/ that is a tad annoying at times, but...

Silly writers, always needing constant encouragement... Touchy lot, they are. Unless the masses clamor for more, they sulk and pout. I'd know, I am one. Fine, then. More, please!! - Stravaig

This is silly, but I felt like sharing it. I'm sure there's others out there who do the same or similar things. Whenever there's a square in my territory that can't be worked by one of my cities (you know, those odd little ones that crop up here and there just outside your myriad overlapping...

The customizability of units and social engineering in SMAC was fantastic. Those features would be cool in CivIII, but they'd add a ton of complexity ... I'm okay with CivIII as is, in this respect. SMAC had some really cool diplomatic options, and the planetary council was a kick. CivIII...

I've seen a few. My very first game, in fact, the Damnable Frenchies declared war on me and brought an army of cavalry into my territory. I had a similar experience to Eyrei at that point - I kept bombarding it with arty and it never even moved or attacked. Eventually I brought in a few...

I think this happened to me, too. I'm pretty darn sure that the AI disbanded the worker in question, though. Perhaps it's just a case of the game not bothering to update the graphics between player turns? IE, the unit is flagged as disbanded, but the game is too lazy to actually graphically...