how do all these jerk civs get the same tech in 1 round but won't give it to me ??

[nihil8r]

i just can't stand it anymore. i knew it was happening for a while but i have never seen it so blatant this time. i swear the damn computer civs cheat with each other and sometimes just give each other things for nothing. yet they won't give it to me for hundreds and hundreds of gold (for a medieval tech that now i'm the only guy who doesn't have).

i just can't accept this crap anymore. babylon got feudalism somehow INSTANTLY (only took 3 rounds for them to get it, goody hut? maybe) but then no one else had it at all. then about 10 turns later, literally ten civs started work on Sun Tzu at the same time. WTH?????????? i had been milking all these civs for all their cash and stuff all this time. now suddenly i'm the only guy who doesn't have feudalism AS WELL as republic. yet two turns ago NONE of them had either except babylon.

how does this crap work? the AI cheating in this game is seriously starting to piss me off. i can't get techs from these bastards unless i take over half of their country, yet they give the stuff to each other for practically free.

can anyone give me any help or advice? playing on monarch/huge with 16 civs and as japan or rome. and i keep getting stomped(well, compared to how i usually do with a pacifist country)

grumble grumble kill argh die die die

 

[Sirp]

Which level are you playing on? Perhaps you're simply not developing your lands as well as the AI and they have a stronger economy than you, giving them a stronger research base?

The Babylonians are Scientific, meaning they get a free technology at the beginning of each era, could this be where they got Feudalism from perhaps? Once they get it, everyone else (including you) gets a discount on researching it, and as more civilizations get it, it gets cheaper and cheaper - as long as you have contact with those civilizations who get it. If you don't have contacts, then that'll also make it cost more.

-Sirp.

 

[Mariusz]

Babylon probably received Feudalism instantly, because they are scientific, so they get a free tech at the begining of new era.

Edit: Damn, Sirp you were faster.

 

[jeffelammar]

Another truth is that the AI does cheat. (Though I'm not sure it should be called cheating, since it is part of the game design)

The AI trades at better rates than you do. At warlord the ai views trades at 110% of what the ai would value your trade. This ration gets higher as the difficulty increases. I think that at monarch the number is 140%.

Another thing that affects price of tech is progress toward that tech. If all the AI's are more than halfway to Feudalism and then one gets it. It will not charge as much to the others as it would to the one who is researching Engineering.

The fact is that you are infinitely more intelligent and adaptable than the computer. This means that it has to cheat to keep up.

 

[Greyhawk1]

Its likely AI civs of similar size will research techs pretty much within turns of each other since they all seem to follow the same rules as to what to research.

Thats probably why Wonders seem to get started by everyone within a very small span of turns.

 

[nihil8r]

thanks for your responses guys.

while babylon is scientific, they learned engineering for free in that game (i checked).

in these military games you are right sirp, i have less land than other civs and that does affect research after literature is learned. but it shouldn't be that much of a factor for ancient and early middle techs.

oh well. i guess i just need to revise the strategies i use with military civs.

thanks

 

[Sirp]

you may not be managing your land as well. The speed with which you can research depends on your beaker output. You may not have as big cities, or be using the land around your cities effectively. Try going to the demographics screen and see how you rank in GNP. That's the best way to determine what your science output should be compared to other civilizations.

-Sirp.

 

[TheNiceOne]

Originally posted by jeffelammar
Another truth is that the AI does cheat. (Though I'm not sure it should be called cheating, since it is part of the game design)

Aside from the "know everything on the map" cheat, this is very far from any "fact", and IMO closer to players not understanding what's going on.

The AI trades at better rates than you do. At warlord the ai views trades at 110% of what the ai would value your trade. This ration gets higher as the difficulty increases. I think that at monarch the number is 140%.

But when one AI gives the other a 10% discount, it means that the first AI loses 10% of what it normally would've got.
This is similar to when the human player sells a tech to a backwards civ for all that civ's money, although this money is less than the tech's atual worth. Do you consider yourself a cheater when doing this?

Note that the 110% or 140% trade bonus only applies to AI-AI trade, and has absolutely no effect on AI-human trades, so it doesn't mean that the human player must pay 40% more.

 

[nihilistic]

Originally posted by nihil8r
WTH?????????? i had been milking all these civs for all their cash and stuff all this time. now suddenly i'm the only guy who doesn't have feudalism AS WELL as republic. yet two turns ago NONE of them had either except babylon.

I fail to see how that is so unfavorable. You can probably buy both techs really cheap now. Or, see if there are any techs that do not have tech A. If there is, trade for tech A first, and then use tech A to get an additional advantage in negotiating for tech B.

Originally posted by nihil8r
how does this crap work? the AI cheating in this game is seriously starting to piss me off. i can't get techs from these bastards unless i take over half of their country, yet they give the stuff to each other for practically free.

The key is $$$ and lux (if you have good rep) if you don't have the ability to just eliminate them.

Originally posted by nihil8r
can anyone give me any help or advice? playing on monarch/huge with 16 civs and as japan or rome. and i keep getting stomped(well, compared to how i usually do with a pacifist country)

Research is waaay overrated. Start teching for GL and start selling them. BTW, if you have a choice, sell monarchy before you sell republic. If the world is peaceful, you will get them to change goverment twice in early game.

 

[jeffelammar]

TheNiceOne:

I think you missed the point of my post. The AI does cheat if you expect it to follow the exact rules that you have. The AI follows different rules for research/trade/happiness and some other key concepts.

This is part of the game design to make up for the fact that the AI does not have the advantage of human intelligence. It is not technichally "cheating", but my point is that it can be seen as "cheating" if you aren't aware of the game design.

 

[Shillen]

Omg Nihilistic I thought you were responding to your own post. It took me a minute to realize you were two different people.