Everybody hates me

[SLUGFly]

I played random civ with all random opponents without being culturally linked. I ended up being Zulu with France right beside me and Persia across a straight. After refusing to give in to extortion from Persia for several rounds I had them riding me constantly, then they signed a trade embargo against me with France. Following this the Chinese and Iroquois turned on me, I didn't even know where they were on the map.

Eventually, I ended up being constantly tormented by WorldWar 1 circa vehicles while still discovering the secrets of swordmaking.

Every single country was against me, nobody would be my friend.

 

[Serpico]

Build a strong military so they don't conceive you as weak and bully you... here you can read how to improve their attitude to you.

 

[superslug]

Much as I want to tell a bullying AI to smeg off when they make demands, I learned a long time ago not to. My games go much easier when I swallow my pride and give into their demands. I don't fight them until I'm ready (and my version of readiness usually leaves half a map of steaming piles of rubble...).

 

[HamaticBabylon]

Yeah follow the humble superslug advice; his attitude will get you in a dog pile. Be careful now watch your step.

Never be weak...never give into an A.I civilizations demands.

 

[A_Turkish_Guy]

good advice

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by HamaticBabylon
Yeah follow the humble superslug advice; his attitude will get you in a dog pile. Be careful now watch your step.

Never be weak...never give into an A.I civilizations demands.

The idea behind my advice is exactly the opposite of how you so vividly portray it. By giving in the AI demands I can avoid dogpiles and buy myself time to create dogpiles for the AI.

Example:
I'm playing as late ancient age China in C3C and my neighbor France has constructed the Temple of Artemis. Their culture is significantly higher than mine, and they have a tech lead over me as well. They demand some gold.

Choice A:
I refuse and risk going to war. Let's say the war happens. They kill some of my border units and suddenly I have less unit suppression in perimeter towns and they start flipping...

Choice B:
I give them some gold and keep the peace. A number of turns later, I've hit Chivalry and upgrade my horsemen to Riders. They hit Education and makes ToA obsolete. They demand gold. This time I refuse, start a war, consequently my Golden Age. I take ToA for myself and let it ramp up culture for my for a while by bypassing Education in favor of the Cavalry track in the lower bracket of the tech tree...

Success at this game requires more brains than pride.

 

[wilbill]

Originally posted by HamaticBabylon
Never be weak...never give into an A.I civilizations demands.

I'll give you half credit on this one - you're right about "never be weak". Problem is he already was weak and look at what "never give in" got him. He's about to be dogpiled by technically advanced, stronger civs if it hasn't happened already.
There's a time to be macho and tell the AI's to kiss off. And there's a time to suck it up and wait for your chance to get even. Knowing the time for each is a big step toward playing the game well (especially at higher levels than Regent).

 

[Illusion13]

Before, I was always more technologically advanced than the CPUs, like, much more... When I didnt know much bout expanding, lets just say that it didnt hurt me to just suck it up and give them what they wanted...

 

[superslug]

Originally posted by wilbill
There's a time to be macho and tell the AI's to kiss off. And there's a time to suck it up and wait for your chance to get even. Knowing the time for each is a big step toward playing the game well (especially at higher levels than Regent).

Amen to that!