How much to pay the AI for a luxury?

[Cartouche Bee]

I have to admit that I'm usually pretty put off by how much the AI wants for luxuries. So I tried to figure out a way to justify some of the requests they make, turns out that my impressions are frequently wrong. In my last game I wanted to buy a luxury from one of the AI, they wanted 30 gold per turn, I balked at the request as being absurd. However, I went to my domestic advisor screen (F1) and moved my luxury slider down a notch to see how much more gold I would get per turn. My per turn gold went up 124. Needless to say I went back and purchased that luxury, turned my luxury slider down a notch and was in effect, 94 gold per turn ahead (For the next 20 turns anyway).

Hope this tip helps some one.

 

[Ronald]

Hi Cartouche Bee

You are absolutely right. I always found that the AI is willing to give luxuries at a price which is much less than the benefit you get from this luxury (this is only true when you have marketplaces in your cities because they multiply the effect of luxuries especially the 5th and 7th luxury).

It only seems that they are asking an outrageous sum when you have a big empire compared to them.
For instance when you are playing an OCC, you think you can get luxuries very cheap. In fact this is not the case. The price they ask are always directly conected to the effect it has for you and the positive effect for you (with marketplaces) is always better than the price you pay.

Ronald

 

[Michael York]

I've noticed a variety of similar things. My favorite is trade tech cost vs. researching it.

 

[Quillan]

Originally posted by Ronald

It only seems that they are asking an outrageous sum when you have a big empire compared to them.
For instance when you are playing an OCC, you think you can get luxuries very cheap. In fact this is not the case. The price they ask are always directly conected to the effect it has for you and the positive effect for you (with marketplaces) is always better than the price you pay.

Ronald [/B]

In my two OCC games the luxuries have literally cost 2 to 3 GPT from the AI. I am fairly sure the price they set is based upon:
a. relationship
b. empire size (effect of one more lux)

 

[Sim_One]

I would actually consider 30 gpt a pretty decent deal, especially if I have markets in many of my cities and I already own 3 or 4 of my own luxuries. If you are actually getting more happiness from the luxury than from keeping the luxury tax higher than I'd say you had a very good deal.

The AI is terribly paranoid about charging you the "righteous" price for the amount of benefit you receive from a luxury, that he ignores how much the deal would benefit himself, to the extent that a completely bankrupt civ would refuse 100 gpt for a luxury if it knows that you have markets in most of your towns and you already own 5 or more luxuries.

 

[Gothmog]

I believe the price set by the AI is based on the relative number of happy faces each of you will produce. So it depends primarily on # of cities, # of markets, and # of other luxuries (if you have markets).

Cartouche Bee has a good point about simply checking to see how much you would save with your luxury slider.

 

[DagorFunk]

I find the AI asks for a rediculous amount for a luxury. In the game I've got going now Greece has been demanding spices, horses and saltpeter for dyes. Now, I don't mind because I have excess of all of those but it still seems absurd that I have to give up so much for one luxury.

 

[anarres]

Tip: If you are a weaker civ (e.g. OCC game), you can trade your own lux, even if you only have 1.

With the money you get you can buy back a lux much cheaper as you are the weaker civ.

In my last OCC game I did this constantly, with the net effect of lots of gpt for free

 

[Cartouche Bee]

Originally posted by anarres
Tip: If you are a weaker civ (e.g. OCC game), you can trade your own lux, even if you only have 1.

With the money you get you can buy back a lux much cheaper as you are the weaker civ.

In my last OCC game I did this constantly, with the net effect of lots of gpt for free

That sounds like a good deity level, even when you are not playing OCC, tip too.

 

[anarres]

Originally posted by Cartouche Bee
That sounds like a good deity level, even when you are not playing OCC, tip too.

Yeah, it is, as long as you can sell for more than you can buy.

The only hard part is knowing when an AI has the same lux as you, as it doesn't show up in the diplomacy or trade screens. The added complication is that you can't find out what they want for it, so you don't know if the deal would make you money.

Still, a minor inconvenience