Highest difficulty where AI doesn't win

[blitzkrieg1980]

LoL. Well, in a permanent alliance, you can tell the AI what to research and they can't tell you. Also, when at war alongside another civ, you can tell them who to attack and they can't tell you. So if they provided this human vassal option, I think that the whole "research this" option will be removed from the AI. However, the AI demanding resources from you is a reasonable feature. After all, if you chose to become his vassal, you should be able to pay up when asked!

Also, the warfare aspect of a human-vassal hasn't been discussed very often. That actually could balance it out. If the AI has a human vassal, it should be more willing to declare war on a worst enemy or encroaching neighbor. If the human vassal doesn't continue to build some kind of defense, they could find themselves losing cities in an unplanned war!

 

[Pindrus]

You would also lose control of some aspects of diplo and could find yourself declaring war on someone you are trying to please!

p.s. Sorry to hijack the thread!

 

[capnvonbaron]

I've had HC steal a culture win in the late 1900s on Prince. He was even someone's vassal at the time That game was very very strange in many regards though.

Beyond that, I can usually nab space victories without too much problem. Usually I end it via domination or AP/UN out of boredom first however.

 

[Spectator20]

I've seen Mansa Musa go for a culture win when I vassaled him on Monarch. He almost managed to get there before I got the domination victory.

 

[Helghallen]

Current game on noble, archipelago. Stuck on a landmass with Sitting Bull. I block him off just fine and do my thing for a LONG time. Finally meet other civs. And I'm in the tech lead. I can only think it was the SE was running. I am going to replay this game though. If I had taken SB out sooner, I would have had an even better GP farm then I did.

 

[Antilogic]

I've fought several long "final wars" against a Monarch-level AI who had conquered half the world (and not suprisingly, I conquered the other half). I've seen Justinian with almost 45% of the world. They do go for Domination, even if its "unintentional" in the sense that they just got lucky early on and won a few wars.

 

[dannythefool]

They do go for Domination, even if its "unintentional" in the sense that they just got lucky early on and won a few wars.

I think the whole thing could be summed up by seeing the AI as opportunistic. Without some early wins there usually is no opportunity for domination or conquest. In general the opportunity for a space win is almost always there if you can survive long enough and don't fall back completely.

The AI doesn't actually have to be coded like that by the way (although that is commonly how game AIs are implemented, looking at possibilities and picking the best one). An AI that picked domination as a goal from the start but didn't have the necessary early wins and ends up as a smallish backwards nation or a vassal wouldn't be an obvious dominiation attempt. You tend to look at the AIs that come close to a victory. I guess it is easier to come close to a space or culture win than to domination or conquest...

 

[MorteEterna]

I have won 1v4 games on Monarch and 1v5 on Prince and it's not really hard. The trick is still to out expand the AI and mass units. After killing the first one the job is easier because they would just start producing many units while you can expand more or send more units. The AI won't mass units everywhere then let's say I attack with 20 swordsmen, they wouldn't have enough units to stop all this and they would lose many of their cities. And the AI is too slow to win unless it's on high difficulties

 

[IronCrown]

On Emperor some AI will always win Space between 1950 and 1990 if I don't stop them or win first (which I usually do ). Recently I lost by 7 turns to an AI that finished space in 1934, but that was a rare exception.

Culture wins happen even earlier. Most of the time I still win first or destroy one of their culture cities, but some time ago I actually lost to an AI that pulled an unexpected culture victory. That was the only time so far, though.

I've never played to year 2000 in four years of Civ4 and many dozens of completed games. My latest ever finish was 1988. I wouldn't know how to get a time victory unless I intentionally stopped the AIs from winning while purposely not winning myself. But why would I do that? Time is not a real victory after all.

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

I've never played to year 2000 in four years of Civ4 and many dozens of completed games. My latest ever finish was 1988. I wouldn't know how to get a time victory unless I intentionally stopped the AIs from winning while purposely not winning myself. But why would I do that? Time is not a real victory after all.

Why not? You said you'd have to work strategically and beat the others to be able to achieve it. Isn't that what defines a victory?

 

[Antilogic]

I have won 1v4 games on Monarch and 1v5 on Prince and it's not really hard. The trick is still to out expand the AI and mass units. After killing the first one the job is easier because they would just start producing many units while you can expand more or send more units. The AI won't mass units everywhere then let's say I attack with 20 swordsmen, they wouldn't have enough units to stop all this and they would lose many of their cities. And the AI is too slow to win unless it's on high difficulties

Depends. I'm playing a Monarch fractal map right now, and its basically two continents (although you can access the other one with galleys/triremes, so we have early contact).

Although I've taken out one AI, I'm falling far behind in research because on the other side Cyrus, Hammy, and the English (I think Liz) are trading it up and leaving me out of the party. Distance is also a major factor, especially because a decent naval invasion is hard to pull off with early ships.

 

[IronCrown]

Why not? You said you'd have to work strategically and beat the others to be able to achieve it. Isn't that what defines a victory?

I'd have to work strategically to not achieve another victory before 2050 AD. Not exactly an achievement

IF I win, I get culture win in the 1870-1930 range, space 1930-1960, diplo 1500-1950, domination/conquest 1900-1970 (earlier of course on small maps, but I don't usually play smaller than standard). If I do not win it is because another civ wins first. I couldn't avoid winning one way or the other before the year 2000 except by playing intentionally bad.

 

[Antilogic]

Take a century to a century and a half off the Conquest/Domination time and you have my ranges. I tend to play Small and Standard-sized maps, though, which is why I can finish the warring victories quicker.

I think my earliest Domination, excluding the Duel rush that everybody tries once in their lives, was around 1000 CE. But that was an exception to my normal pattern.