Don't be impatient, lay low...

[Quentin]

Recently I started a new game and did not explore a lot. All I found were three civs and I was playing with 15 civs. Very much later, when I notice all the civs I know have communications I don't have, I started searching for the other civs. Here's the interesting part. I find the Germans above me and contact them and the foreign advisor keeps saying, "We know that the Germans have betrayed our friends the Persians blah blah blah...". Soon, I notice the Americans marching swordsmen through my territory and I got nervous. Then, the Germans came from the other side of my border. They fought!

I later found out that the Persians, the Iroquis and the Egyptians have also been in the war. Many, many civs have been pulled into the war (okay, not many, but all the civs on my continent) and now all of them are concentrating on producing military units and I'm ahead in the tech race.
:rocket:
:scout: :rocket2:
:shottie: :ripper:
[plasma] :rocket3:

This is the first time am playing Regent successfully because in my previous Regent games, people always declared war on me but now that everyone is busy, I don't have to worry.

I think that the less you explore in the beginning, the less civs you will meet (duh) and the less possible it will be for people to declare war on you. The idea is if you lay low at the beginning, you can enter a world that is torn apart by war rather than a world united by the desire to destroy the human player. But really, though I'm quite sure it will work most of the time, I have yet to try it out more, so can the people who are reading this please help me test this out? PLEASSE................

 

[Quentin]

strange... no reply, someone could at least say this is bad or something

 

[The_Newbie]

That sucks! j/k It sounds interesting I should try it sometime.

 

[BillChin]

On competitive difficulty levels (Regent and above) this is a good plan. Civs that you meet will make demands because the human player is weak. If you goto war there may be little damage, but that Civ may be furious for the longest time afterwards. The big advantage of exploring is additional goody huts. However, if a player is non-expansionist, goody huts are often hostile warriors.

Overall, I think it is a good idea to lay low. Again, on Regent difficulty and above. On the sea, it is a good idea to take chances and send galleys across the ocean. A few will sink, but the first player to discover another continent has a big advantage.

 

[Quentin]

I didn't really do this intentionally, it just so happens that I could not find many other civs, but it turned out great. Yes, goody huts really do seem to produce mostly "angry warriors". I think I should try totally not exploring the next time...

 

[Bruinesian]

Even if you try to lay low inevitably civs will contact you. I have tried that technique b/c in higher difficulty levels, other civs declare will war on me in the beginning and that is very frustrating

Though I belive that putting up cities quickly and thinly across the land makes war hard to fight in the beginning. Defenses and mobilization suffer when one follows a greedy sprawl in the beginning.

 

[Quentin]

What I mean is to avoid as much contact as possible until a war is going on among some of the civs, which usually seem to be quite early on.

 

[The_Newbie]

One problem with that is you will miss all the tech trades so the AI might get several techs ahead of you.

 

[BillChin]

Originally posted by The_Newbie
One problem with that is you will miss all the tech trades so the AI might get several techs ahead of you.

This is a problem in version 1.16, not as much in the new patch. The AI prices tech very high to the human and gives it away to other AI players. Besides, after the first war, the player can demand all the techs in the peace treaty and get it.

Overall, I think modest exploration to look for iron and horses and luxuries is a good idea. Roaming far and wide usually brings more trouble than benefit. So lay low, build an army then go take on the world. (Again for Regent and above.)

 

[chiefpaco]

Originally posted by BillChin


This is a problem in version 1.16, not as much in the new patch. The AI prices tech very high to the human and gives it away to other AI players.

BillChin: I'm not sure that's right, but anyone, please jump in & correct me if I'm wrong. I thought that tech value decreases for each civ that you know has it. With the new patch, 1.17f, knowing more civs makes tech cheaper to buy for the player since they all instantly share it. In fact, by the time everyone has it, tech is really cheap to buy. Again, if I'm mistaken, please, someone jump in. If that's right, can someone confirm this? That Tech Trading System thread in the Gen Disc is too long to read through...

To address Quentin's q, I do lay low a little, but sometimes I try to find those other civs too because selling communications can be quite profitable. Usually, my best trading partner is not my neighbour. Furthermore, when I do want to find the other civs, trading for communications is more expensive than building a galley or something & just finding them myself.

However, your point is well taken. All of this comes at the expense of sometimes being dragged into a war.

 

[BillChin]

Originally posted by chiefpaco


BillChin: I'm not sure that's right, but anyone, please jump in & correct me if I'm wrong. I thought that tech value decreases for each civ that you know has it. With the new patch, 1.17f, knowing more civs makes tech cheaper to buy for the player since they all instantly share it. In fact, by the time everyone has it, tech is really cheap to buy.

You sir are correct! I made a test game and did not move. The techs did not get any cheaper as the AI players discovered them. A player has to know the other Civs to get this benefit. So some kind of exploration is a good idea, but meeting everyone when a player is militarily weak may be taking it too far. This is something that seems pretty well balanced, kudos to Firaxis. Isolationists and explorers have their advantages and disadvantages. Having neighbors nearby creates problems, but makes research cheaper.

 

[MummyMan]

In my current game the opposite thing has happened. While I did not activiely seek out my opponents too much (just a bit of exploring), I am the big head honcho in the industrial age. I am about 1000 points ahead of everybody. I'm making 500+ gold and discovering techs every 4 turns. I own 2 continents, and am about 25-50% bigger than everybody territory wise. So naturally people randomly declare war on me. :crazyeyes . First, the Germans declare war on me for no reason at all and I have good trading relations with everybody. So i wait it out with no consequence and gain a city on the English continent, (now that's what i call interest!). This city is undefended as i am trying to build its culture up, so in a few turns i see the whole English military at its front door. They declare war. Now i'm pissed because these people are just stupid. I get 4 reg cav. and send em over to a city with some incense. They get slaughtered by the entire English army that waits for me just beyond the view of my galley . So then i send over a galleon load of infantry and raze the city. I sue for peace and get a tech that i ignored. After that the Iroqois declare war and send 2 mounted warriors from their little city/colony on my 2nd continent to my infantry ! I take the city and a long war ensues with me taking my new and only oil supply! It's good to be the King!