Cultural Insanity

[fmlizard]

I have noticed that while I tend to stay within a reasonable distance of the AI technically, production, and power wise on Noble and Prince, I get absolutely preposterous cultural gaps on them all. We are talking like 10 or 20 to 1 edges on any other civilization. I tend to research a lot of cultural techs, always build theatres and libraries and often introduce 3-5 religions to all of my cities with free religion. Then, I make temples and cathedrals in them all. I grab whatever wonders I can.

Doesn't the AI ever do any of these things? When I take cities, they never have theatres, libraries, or universities. I just played a game on Prince on an island with Catherine (cultural leader no less) where I swallowed up 5 of her 8 cities without firing a single shot. I sucked up most of her strategic resources, leaving her with nothing but tundra and some lame horse archers. I always eat up 3-4 AI cities a game. I typically use a leader who has industrious, and I like Roosevelt or Qin Shi Huang because they give me a financial boost on top.

Does the AI just ignore culture...or do I just obsess over it?

 

[Palantir30]

When I take cities, they never have theatres, libraries, or universities.

Buildings which produce Culture never come along when a city is conquered peacefully or militarily. So you'll never inherit a theater, library, university or religious building of any kind from an enemy. The only exception is World Wonders.

But other than that, yes, I've noticed also that the AI doesnt manage the Culture war very well at all.

 

[emills]

I do not think the AI uses the cultural slider unless going for a culteral win. I use the cultural slider all the time for city size happiness or war weariness. The 10-20% I use really jacks up the culture total for the civ as a whole.

 

[nilsmo]

Once I built a city right next to the capital of a human neighbor (in an online game) before his borders expanded. The neighbor was going for a cultural victory and his capital had over 50% of his civ's culture. It was getting about 200 culture per turn. I ignored everything else and just pumped out culture. Great Artists, entertainment specialists, 100% culture spending, hermitage, cathedrals, temples, culture... I got 100 culture per turn. By then the neighbor had 200. Then I got 200, the neighbor got 300. I got 300, the neighbor got 400. In a last effort I got the city pumping 500 culture per turn, and the neighbor 450! I win! This city became the #1 city on the globe and started punching out 500 culture per turn. It was insane.

There was the city capital of an AI neighbor far away from my city, and by the time I got legendary culture the AI capital was swallowed up! It was insane. Just insane. Just for that rice resource The capital city of my human neighbor was swallowing up major cities of the AI, too. And the AI couldn't keep up.

 

[B1sh0p]

I usually have the opposite effect. I'm usually quite high in game score, and commerce/technology/power, but my culture rating is usually quite low. I never touch the culture slider, it scares me.

Might be something I need to work on.

 

[Canadian Bacon]

Any one played a one city challenge? If you play it at low enough a level (like noble), it is really easy to grab a lot of wonders. Your city becomes a GP factory, and most of them can go back into the city as superspecialists. The city becomes quite insanely good, plus you can build all of the national wonders in it. I think my current OCC city is producing like 650+ culture, 500+ science, 250+ hammers, and like +200 gold (100% research slider). As a result, you can control a huge amount of territory with your one city. Its fun to see all the cities that dared to settle near you early in the game get razed one by one through cultural destruction.

 

[Fragment]

One thing I watched the AI doing several times was to use a great artist "culture bomb" against encroaching borders.

Regards.

 

[TheNiceOne]

Any one played a one city challenge? If you play it at low enough a level (like noble), it is really easy to grab a lot of wonders. Your city becomes a GP factory, and most of them can go back into the city as superspecialists. The city becomes quite insanely good, plus you can build all of the national wonders in it.

I have just finished a OCC on noble, with a spaceship win. In the end, my city pumped out around 1800 culture per turn, and had a total culture of more than 250,000. A pity that the last border expansion came at 50,000.

And yes, this culture came without ever using the culture slider or any entertainer specialists - it was all done through buildings and other specialists

 

[fmlizard]

Ya I never used the culture slider unless I was getting very close to a cultural victory and wanted to make sure I got it...then I spent 30 or so turns with 90% culture and 0% tech.

 

[KHSOLO]

I do not think the AI uses the cultural slider unless going for a culteral win. I use the cultural slider all the time for city size happiness or war weariness. The 10-20% I use really jacks up the culture total for the civ as a whole.

U can actually check that by moving a spy into their cities and look for the cultural slider.

I have done it some 3 or 4 times and never noticed the slider past 0% in the cultural level.

I always watch the AI at 70% or 80% science level even after it has learned all the techs already...heh.

 

[Yehbo]

I do not think the AI uses the cultural slider unless going for a culteral win.

Wow, does the AI actually go for cultural victory? Never noticed it even being close (up to Monarch level).

Actually come to think of it, the AI is really only any good at Spaceship and Time victories...

 

[Toshiro126]

I've never seen the AI come near anything close to a cultural victory. I've won a few of them, and when I saw the end game statistics, the AIs weren't anywhere even near close to me. I've seen spaceship, time, and one very oddball diplomatic victory by the computer, but never any cultural, conquest or domination victories before....

 

[Craziivan]

in my current game i switched off space ship and time victory
starting with 18 Civs there are only 9 left and i am going for cultural victory
but i am afraid that it takes to long to get those 75000 culture because Kublai Khan just got the UN leadership

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Buildings which produce Culture never come along when a city is conquered peacefully or militarily. So you'll never inherit a theater, library, university or religious building of any kind from an enemy. The only exception is World Wonders.

Are you sure? I seem to remember getting a city once as a part of a peace settlement and having it still contain some culture-producing buildings.