Early AI Run In?

[Brad]

Being farily new to Civ2 I face a delemma everytime I start a game and run into a Civ fairly early on. I don't know weather to try and mount an attack right away to wipe them off the planet and thus shorten the game a little.. or to let them develope a bit by allying w\them right away... usually I restart because I don't much care for that decision; they usually take a city of mine right away because I have a bit of a slow start usually... So i am formally asking the experts and others. Any input would be read and reviewed. Thank you for your help and opinions.

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[This message has been edited by Brad (edited June 05, 2001).]

 

[Mongol Horde]

All depends on the situation really. The first thing that you should do in every case is keep swapping techs with him until there are no more to swap, you may think that this is giving him a bonus but it is generally accepted that you get the real advantage as the AI is too stupid to utilise his/her technology effectively.

With regard to whether or not to attack then I would say attack 10% of the time and in the rest of the cases just keep an eye on him and make peace. You also want to try and stop him expanding by fortifying troops in tactical positions to stop his settlers getting past. This way you can have the land all to yourself

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There are a couple of situations where you would want to attack: One is where you stumble across a city that is unguarded or you have enough power to definitely take the city, this is just too good a opportunity to miss. The other situation that springs to mind is if the other civ is completely preventing your expansion, in this case knock the b$%tard out of the way so you can continue with your expansion.

War in the early game is not generally a good idea low movement and low production mean that you get well behind with your expansion/economy and science.

Hope this helps.

 

[CornMaster]

If they are on the same conitient/island and are crowding your living space....I say KILL THEM. If they aren't a direct threat of expansion or tech conquest...then leave them.

In the Fast MGE succession #2 I met the Mongols on my 1st turn....they had a city about 5 turns away (on horseback = 10 squares). To me this was too close and I took them out. Turned ot to be their only city and they had no room behind them....so they would of had to expand toward me!!!

So it turned out to be a really good choice. But someone in that game met the Russians. They are way up north but there is a choke point between us. So we will leave them....since they are no direct threat to our expansion. Anyway......I hope my random babbling helped.

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[Andu Indorin]

As a rule of thumb, I have to agree with CornMaster. In the "opening" game, if you come across another civilization that will prevent you from expanding to a healthy 12-16 cities: Take'em down, and take'em down fast.

An exception to this rule of thumb is geography: If you can expand sufficiently in an another direction; and, if you can "contain" the civilization that you've run into early on and bleed'em white; then, you are in position of exploiting that civ's weakness to your advantage. If contained, they will not be a threat to you, and leverage options (research, espionage, alliances, etc.) can be worthwhile. And geography is a key in determining this opening game ploy; the classic is -- as pointed out elsewhere -- establishing fortified positions in intervening "rough" terrain, supported by a diplomat or two (as soon as Writing is available). 'Cause, an enemy that you know is far less dangerous than an enemy that you do not know ...

But, this is an exception to the rule of thumb:

Take'em down, and take'em down fast.