[BTS] Another Stupid AI Thread

[Lennier]

My current game (Emperor, huge, marathon, hemispheres (2)), my continent founded every religion except Buddhism which was founded by Izzy on the other continent. Hinduism became the dominant religion on my continent but not before Cyrus built the AP in Judaism. But in the Renaissance, the "other" continent caught up to us tech-wise and even got ahead.

In my quest to unify my continent, I managed to seize control of the AP and decided my best chance at victory would be AP cheese (with space a backup). But Izzy stubbornly refused to open borders with me for me to send a Jewish missionary to her. There was a one-tile island off her coast that I plopped down a settler with a missionary on, but it was one or two tiles too far away from her for her to accept it as a gift.

So I set in for a grind to Alpha Centuri, when Izzy and Julius decided to form a permanent alliance. Which forced Izzy to accept Julius' OB with me. AP cheese, here we come.

 

[AcaMetis]

I tried to figure out a genius plan to this issue, but couldn't - a Caravel can enter rival borders without OB, but cannot actually enter a city (or Fort). And knowing Izzy she was probably running Theocracy the entire time anyway, so no spreading non-state directly. You also cannot gift units on a transport while they're outside port...but what you can do is gift the transport itself, missionary included. Unfortunately the AI doesn't seem to realize this, because it'll happily send the gifted caravel (and missionary) off to explore the wide open seas. So close, and yet so far .

 

[TheBirdMan]

Somehow I think the AI-engine isn't that stupid at all :big-grin:

 

[Major Tom]

I tried to figure out a genius plan to this issue, but couldn't - a Caravel can enter rival borders without OB, but cannot actually enter a city (or Fort). And knowing Izzy she was probably running Theocracy the entire time anyway, so no spreading non-state directly. You also cannot gift units on a transport while they're outside port...but what you can do is gift the transport itself, missionary included. Unfortunately the AI doesn't seem to realize this, because it'll happily send the gifted caravel (and missionary) off to explore the wide open seas. So close, and yet so far .

How about bribing her out of theocracy? Offering a cheap tech can do other interesting things too..

 

[AcaMetis]

AIs cannot be bribed out of their favorite civic, or Emancipation, unless they're your vassal. They'll refuse because "that we go against everything we stand for!" (or some variation of that) and "we don't want to deal with the unhappiness", respectively.

 

[need my speed]

Can spies change civics and religions in vanilla Beyond the Sword?

 

[AcaMetis]

Civics, yes, but only to a civic that you're running. Religion also yes, but only if you're running that religion and that religion is present in the city the spy is undertaking the Change Religion mission in, IIRC.

 

[need my speed]

Civics, yes, but only to a civic that you're running. Religion also yes, but only if you're running that religion and that religion is present in the city the spy is undertaking the Change Religion mission in, IIRC.

Right, so you can change Isabella away from Theocracy, befriend her enough for open borders, and spread your religion to her, or gift her missionaries so that she can spread your religion by herself. Or gift a city to her (or, if she is waging a war against someone, build a city near to her borders and gift it to her enemy). And then use another spy to convert her.

 

[Qactus]

...but what you can do is gift the transport itself, missionary included. Unfortunately the AI doesn't seem to realize this, because it'll happily send the gifted caravel (and missionary) off to explore the wide open seas. So close, and yet so far .

The caravel has to be injured for this to work. It'll sail to the next port to heal where the missionary will spread his faith.

 

[AcaMetis]

The caravel has to be injured for this to work. It'll sail to the next port to heal where the missionary will spread his faith.

Genius . So there's the roundabout way to spread a religion to an AI that refuses to OB - damaged caravel with a missionary inside, gift the caravel, and the missionary is off to the races.

 

[Lennier]

I tried to figure out a genius plan to this issue, but couldn't - a Caravel can enter rival borders without OB, but cannot actually enter a city (or Fort). And knowing Izzy she was probably running Theocracy the entire time anyway, so no spreading non-state directly. You also cannot gift units on a transport while they're outside port...but what you can do is gift the transport itself, missionary included. Unfortunately the AI doesn't seem to realize this, because it'll happily send the gifted caravel (and missionary) off to explore the wide open seas. So close, and yet so far .

That may be why I've never gotten the "gift a caravel with a missionary to an AI to spread religion" trick to work.

How about bribing her out of theocracy? Offering a cheap tech can do other interesting things too..

The problem wasn't civics--I was in theocracy as well. If I could get a Jewish missionary into her borders, I could gift it to her and let her choose the city. (Did that with a couple of other civs running theocracy.)

Right, so you can change Isabella away from Theocracy, befriend her enough for open borders, and spread your religion to her, or gift her missionaries so that she can spread your religion by herself. Or gift a city to her (or, if she is waging a war against someone, build a city near to her borders and gift it to her enemy). And then use another spy to convert her.

In order to get Izzy to OB, I'd have to convert to Buddhism. I tried the gift city trick, but the closest I could build a city was too far away for her to accept it as a gift. All the land tiles on the continent near her were in someone's culture. And they were all in one happy Buddhist-fest so I couldn't bribe anyone to declare.

The caravel has to be injured for this to work. It'll sail to the next port to heal where the missionary will spread his faith.

Hmmm...maybe I'll try that next ime.