AI won't buy techs!

[Steffo]

In my current game on emperor level i'm behind in the tech race (what else is new...)
Normally I just buy the techs from the AI, but now everyone refuses to sell to me! I don't really know why, my rep with everyone is good, most of them are polite, and some even gracious. But even the gracious won't buy from me...

Am I doing something wrong? Or doesn't the AI like the smell of my money??

 

[farting bob]

ask for a tech then say 'what may i trade for this?' see what they say. unless youve got no lux trade possibel or n money, they'll sugegst somethign rediculously unfair to you, but at least thats a start.

 

[wilbill]

It's a little hard to tell, but I think you mean the AI won't sell techs to you.

I don't really know why, my rep with everyone is good, most of them are polite, and some even gracious.

What you're referring to is their attitude toward you, not your reputation. If you've done something to louse up your reputation (like breaking a trade deal) you'll have trouble trading with them, but their attitude may still be friendly.
Try offering them straight cash-for-tech deals instead of gpt. Even with a bad rep, they'll take your money, they just won't trust you to pay for a 20 turn deal.

 

[JustBen]

A good test is to try to take out a loan. Offer them 5 gold per turn in exchange for 1 gold out of their treasury. If your advisor says "They would never accept such a deal," then you've blackened your reputation somehow and your credit is no good for this game.

If you can figure out exactly whom you have offended, then wait until a civ has gone to war with the offended party and you may still be able to do some credit purchases. Otherwise you'll just have to stockpile cash.

Check out this article on the War Academy -- absolutely required reading if you want to succeed at the higher levels:

http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3acad_ai_attitude.shtml

 

[Trev]

The best test is offer them all your gold for their tech and read the response. Then add 1gold/turn to the offer. If their response now becomes 'We could never accept such a deal' then your reputation is most definitely shot. Only cash deals for techs will now be acceptable probably for remainder of the game, gold/turns can usually still be done for MA's though.

 

[Steffo]

Originally posted by JustBen
A good test is to try to take out a loan. Offer them 5 gold per turn in exchange for 1 gold out of their treasury. If your advisor says "They would never accept such a deal," then you've blackened your reputation somehow and your credit is no good for this game.

I don't think I've blackened my rep. The only "bad" things I can remember is when asking for a tech and the AI replies, then turning him down because I couldn't afford the tech at that time.

Does that causes them to refuse any further tech selling?

 

[kb2tvl]

if you get really far behind in techs, the ai will sometimes not trade cash for techs. You should have good infrastructure and maybe your the higest score but have no tech. Just tech some and get 1 or 2 techs. At that point(or plan ahead!), check around and see if you can get a tech for tech trade with an ai. THEN you should be able to do minimum teching and buy the rest.

 

[kb2tvl]

PS the title should be changed from buy to sell.

 

[Steffo]

Originally posted by kb2tvl
PS the title should be changed from buy to sell.

Yes of course, you are right, must be all that Civing late at nights that's getting to my head...

Anyway, your post was interesting, could it be so that the AI just doesn't think it's worth it when you are really way behind in the tech race?
I am actually way behind...the AI just got infantry while i'm stuck on riflemen...when he gets tanks I'll just leave and quit the game...

 

[kb2tvl]

Industrial age techs are in the range of 1,000g + 100 ~ 200 gpt. I don't think your that far behind. You should be able to trade something.

 

[JustBen]

Originally posted by Steffo
I don't think I've blackened my rep. The only "bad" things I can remember is when asking for a tech and the AI replies, then turning him down because I couldn't afford the tech at that time.

Does that causes them to refuse any further tech selling?

Negotiating with the AI is done in a vacuum -- only the the trades you complete count.

If you've bought something on credit (either gpt or resources) and renegged on the deal through a broken trade route or an untimely declaration of war, that could sour relations.

I think kb2tvl has a point -- you may just not have enough cash. If you are in the Industrial Age, the techs really are getting up to exorbitant prices.

Try stealing "Safely" through your embassy or (preferably) your spy. On a Standard sized map, it'll run you 2000-3000 gold a pop. It might fail, it might cause a diplomatic incident (you spell that W-A-R), it might get you your choice of enemy techs, but in any event you won't be giving money to an enemy civ. I know you originally asked about trades and not just getting the tech, but it's something you may not have experimented with yet.

Could you post the save? That might help us to figure out what the problem is.