[BTS] How in the world does Pacal II tech so fast?!

[CGQ]

I've played this game for years and one thing that baffles me like crazy is every time Pacal II is an AI, if I don't kill him early in the game, he will tech so fast it's insane. How is that possible? What does he do differently (as an AI) that the others don't? Can someone who's more experienced explain that? It's just utterly baffled me for so long now. Mansa Musa is another insane Techer. Guess it makes sense, Mayans were very intelligent so it may be historically accurate right?

And most importantly, what do you do about it?

Take this game, for instance. I was playing a semi-isolated continent on immortal and I'll admit my gameplay was a bit sloppy. I initially went for a cuir rush by getting music first, use GA for gold age, with the intention to bulb EDU, Lib and unlock MT, you know, the usual. I usually get to paper through CoL and Civil Service. Thing is though, halfway through civil service I realized "duh" I should go for Astro. Instead of reloading I just went back and went the Astro route. Ended up bulbing optics and then Astro in 500 AD and saw the other AI's in the other continent, our man Pacal II already running away. As to whether this game is winnable, that's up to you guys.

I attached my current save (screenshots of current turn in spoiler) and the starting 4000 BC save for those interested.

Spoiler Turn 191 :

 

[jnebbe]

Looks completely fine. Looks like he's only a few techs ahead of you which isn't a big deal. You have double his cities and more unsettled land to the south. You'll likely be able to catch up in tech, and even if you're still falling behind you should be able to out produce him. A lot of modern era techs aren't really that important anyway.
AGG and PRO are also great late-game traits

 

[sampsa]

And most importantly, what do you do about it?

In general, kill him/her/it.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

What does he do differently (as an AI) that the others don't?

He's Financial and Expansive which are 2 of the best traits, especially for an AI. He also has reasonable flavours - Culture (Medium) + Growth (Low).

Mansa has two great AI traits (Financial and Spiritual) as well as really good flavours - Gold (Medium) + Religion (Low).

Know your enemy.

 

[johnfloyd27]

You can also give techs to other AI in exchange for them declaring war on Pacal.

The war will force Pacal to divert resources to military units, slowing down his tech, and the two AI will now not like each other and might fight further wars down the line.

 

[ArchGhost]

You can also give techs to other AI in exchange for them declaring war on Pacal.

The war will force Pacal to divert resources to military units, slowing down his tech, and the two AI will now not like each other and might fight further wars down the line.

No, he can't.

Pacal is ahead of him in tech so he has nothing to trade to bait him onto his neighbors, and Pacal's neighbors almost certainly like him more than they hate Sitting Bull.

Pacal also does (and has in this game) a lot to convert his neighbors to his religion, which fosters love-fest where Pacal's neighbors will refuse to attack him, especially if those neighbors are less warmonger-type and more peacenik-type. In OP's game, Pacal has converted another great techer in Gandhi, and peaceniks help each other tech by freely trading. Pacal even converted Toku who is closer in peaceweight to him than Gandhi or Sitting Bull and smaller, so the chances are very low Toku will attack anybody other than Gandhi or Sitting Bull over there...

Pacal is basically diplomatically bulletproof here.


As to answer OP's request for a solution:
-You will soon have more land than anybody by killing off Justinian, and can purpose that into reaching higher war tech or toward Space
-the other continent has 3 garbage caveman AIs, and even then, Gandhi is notoriously weak though he techs well
-the weak targets will be vulnerable to modern warfare attacks for the rest of the game, at least until the point you or Pacal can win it.

Two general routes to victory:
1.) go for a modern war play. Keep good relations with Pacal as much as you can and snipe away the other AIs under your own capitulation banner. When it's just Pacal or Pacal + Gandhi, they will fold under your combined power and no other allies

2.) tech toward space and just use nukes or amphibious tank+spy/artillery+infantry assaults to burn down Pacal's capitol or Legendary cities if he tries to win before you launch.