A little cheat/exploit/trick/whatever you wanna call it.

[LLXerxes]

I have found a cheat to dicoverong your allies early in the game.
Waiting for Greatbooks take too long. I'd rather learn it in 4000BC than 3000!
On the second turn, you could press F-11 to look at the top 5 cities. But that only shows you 4.
Press f-10, the space race button. Veiw the space race. It says, "We need a spy in:
Civ X
Civ Y
ect..."

Waddya think?

 

[Zeekater]

What's "Greatbooks"?

 

[LLXerxes]

You don't know what a Great book? is?
The cultural advisor comes up every 1000 years (1000 in the middle and ancient, 500 in the ind/modern) with a message.
"Sir ___ has come up with his The ____ nations in the world

THe Glorious ___
The Great ____
ect..."

 

[homeyg]

Yeah, you can look at the spacerace screen to find out the other Civs... That's not new. I guess it is an expl-, well not exploit, but it's a problem in the game that should be fixed.

 

[Zeekater]

Ah, that's what it's called
Seems like a silly thing to do, then you only know WHICH civs you're up against. Although in an allrandom game, it could get in handy.

 

[t3h_m013]

would tell you if you have any civs that often become v. big etc. (e.g. maya)

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Why is it an exploit? The AI knows as well who's in the game , and the Books or F7/F11 show you cities of Civs you haven't met yet as well.

The real power is in knowing how valuable your starting techs are...if all other Civs but your neighbor start with a tech you have as well, you should trade it to him ASAP; if you have a monopoly (say, you're the only IND Civ, and no EXP Civs who often mess up the calculation are in the game), keep that Tech until the offers are high enough and you met several Civs.

 

[sealman]

I don't see it as an exploit either. You either choose what civs you are going to play against in the begining so you know, or you go random. If you go Random, why would you want to know anyway?

An expolit gives some advantage over the AI civs, and I really can't see a great atvantage knowing who you are playing against. Now, if you know who and WHERE they are, that is a little different.