I've been trying to analyze this game by
@Kaitzilla:
http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?show=general&dsply=0&entryID=29748. I'm curious about the mechanics being used here. As best as I can tell, they go something like this: if an AI does not have a city on a continent, and you gift it four cities on a continent, it will create a Vassal/Colonial Overseer to run those "colony" cities.
I'm interested to hear from anyone who can elucidate exactly what's going on here.
Right, that was the technological pinnacle of winning a culture victory using espionage
So many game mechanics, that most peoples' eyes glaze over!
It combined two big strategies. (Step 2 won't work if the map is a single continent with no islands
)
1) Using spies to spread culture and win a fast culture victory (now known as Espionage Victory in Hall of Fame)
Everyone doesn't get why WastinTime is so upset yet. Yea, they're not getting it, and I'm with shulec on avoiding :wallbash: But again, I'm not upset. I would love to join you in refining this strategy. It would be fun. However, I don't want to waste time on it if (since) it's just...
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This: ...is a silly argument. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope You haven't even attempted to explain why my argument is a "slippery slope". Simply saying it is, doesn't make it so. If the Cultural Victory Condition can be upset by a superior strategy, there is no reason to...
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2) Forcing the AI to create a colony over and over and over again to CLONE
points that can be used to keep spreading culture.
Here is how to force an AI to create a colony:
Thank you for the explanation, Damerell. :)
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Confirmed and tested. it is 3 cities.
AI creating vassals:
The important number is colonyMaint.
colonyMaint = numcities on continent * ((numcities on continent-1) * modifier) ^2
If you use all size 1 cities, modifier is simply 0.45 for standard
ColonyMaint is:
2.43 for 3 cities
All you have to do to get the AI to make a colony is have those cities: gold + hammers + science < 3* colonyMaint.
- It's best not to use a FIN civ.
- We should be in cease fire. But I think the rule is just: Don't threaten the cities.
So total gold+hammers+science has to be < 7.29
Tricks: one way to keep under the 7.29 is to blockade the cities with Privateers and/or destroy roads so they don't have any trade rts. Since we won't have privateers, we should try cut roads. We can also block trade to the mainland with our culture if we have closed borders.
#1 trick: Forget all that. Just give them 3 cities in revolt.
There are a lot of details here.
If I remember right, it was conquer the weakest neighbor (hopefully DeGaulle) down to a few cities. (Between 1 to 3 cities)
Then found a city on a 1-tile island somewhere.
Gift that 1 city island to the weakest civ, then DOW and wipe them off the continent leaving them 1 capital city on an island.
Put all
points on the 1 city civ as early as possible.
Next step!
Make 3 awful cities that have no roads, coastal tiles, river tiles, or anything. (I tend to use 4 cities so there are no surprises and the colony forms for sure)
Grow them to Size 2 so they won't raze when conquered, then whip them back down to Size 1.
Gift them to the 1-city AI.
Since the 3 cities are on another continent and they produce so little, the AI will make a colony. (Again, 4 is more reliable)
If there are 2000
points on the 1-city AI, their colony will also have 2000
points.
If the 1-city AI is not too far down the tech tree, the colony will spawn 2 Warriors to guard each city and not muskets.
Now gift the 3-city colony 1 city you want to make legendary.
Hopefully it has dozens of spies in it with 50% wait bonus and tons of other spy bonuses.
Next turn, spread
until all the
points are gone.
Hopefully the 3 legendary cities are close to the capital so the spies won't have to walk far.
Once the colony has formed, gift the master 1-city civ 3 or 4 more empty crap cities, then declare war. (Again the cities must have been Size 2 at some point or they will raze automatically. I use no-city razing setting when making games so I don't have to grow Size 1 cities at all)
Conquer the 3 or 4 gift cities so the master civ will be ready to talk peace in 1 or 2 turns.
2 move units like Knights or even chariots are good for this.
Conquer the Legendary Gift City after the spies are done and wipe out the 3 city colony guarded by warriors.
The master AI won't talk about peace on the same turn as the DOW, so 1-move units have enough time to take the colony on the next turn.
About every 2 or 3 turns of careful city gifting, colony formation, city gifting, and war, the AI should generate a new colony with enough points to keep pumping a city up to 50,000
fast.
Keep pumping 100%
slider into the master (or even +3000
Great Spy infiltrations) and each new colony will have more and more
points for the spies to make the Legendary City even faster!
About city gifting:
AI will take any gift city in the game if they have 3 cities or less, but if an AI has 4 cities they will only take cities within 10 tiles of their city (diagonal counts as 1.5 tiles) and the gift city has to be on the same landmass as one of their cities.
Plus the AI can't be in financial trouble or they need
per turn gifts to take a gift city.
Also, a colony will not form if the AI city that wants to form a colony is on the same landmass as the enemy cities, so let the AI colony form first before declaring war.
Complications? Sure!
As always in war, if you have a handy vassal helping, they might capture the 1-city AI master civ or one of the colony cities.
That's bad
Or one of the other games' AI might try to wipe out the master civ if they are on the mainland and the colony was placed on a big island.
Try not to let that happen.
If some AI demands you stop trading with the master-AI, don't accidently click yes or they won't talk to you for dozens of turns and that means no city gifting or continuous colony creation.
All the war declarations will make any AI that are Pleased or Friendly with the Master Civ Furious and much more likely to declare war on you.
If that will be a HUGE problem, I tend to wipe out the original master civ once the colony forms.
Then give the colony the island city and use war with make them a 1-city island civ that
nobody has met and won't get angry if I DOW them over and over.
I try to avoid doing this because it slows down my win by a turn and the new master civ might not be ready to talk peace as quickly as the original master civ.
If war weariness gets out of hand by capturing the same 4 cities from the master civ too many times, I also might recycle and get a new master civ from a colony.
To get the fastest possible win, spies are made and not military units.
points and not
technologies.
Dangerous.
