[BTS] How to setup and watch an AI only game?

[guermantes]

I am getting too lazy to play the game myself (waste too much time), but something keeps dragging me back to it. So I figure I'll watch the AI battle it out amongst themselves, like e.g. sullla did in his youtube series.

But how do you set such a game up?

I have tried going into world builder and walling myself off with mountains, or deleting my settler and putting a submarine at sea, and then infiltrating all the AI cities with plenty of great spies. But this does not reveal the map
so I can watch what they do, neither does it reveal their entire territory, just a 9-tile square around their capital that was infiltrated. Subsequent cities or border pops remains out of sight.

Ideally, I would like to start a game without my settler taking up space and thus creating a vaccuum when I delete it, which will favour my closest neighbours.

I have googled for solutions and mods and AIAutoplay comes up, but that seems to be only to let the AI take over my civilization, without giving me the possibility to reveal the map and see what the others do.

 

[Kaitzilla]

I am getting too lazy to play the game myself (waste too much time), but something keeps dragging me back to it. So I figure I'll watch the AI battle it out amongst themselves, like e.g. sullla did in his youtube series.

But how do you set such a game up?

I have tried going into world builder and walling myself off with mountains, or deleting my settler and putting a submarine at sea, and then infiltrating all the AI cities with plenty of great spies. But this does not reveal the map
so I can watch what they do, neither does it reveal their entire territory, just a 9-tile square around their capital that was infiltrated. Subsequent cities or border pops remains out of sight.

Ideally, I would like to start a game without my settler taking up space and thus creating a vaccuum when I delete it, which will favour my closest neighbours.

I have googled for solutions and mods and AIAutoplay comes up, but that seems to be only to let the AI take over my civilization, without giving me the possibility to reveal the map and see what the others do.

You could world builder your island mountain civ at the start to have the Technology Satellites which reveals the entire map.

Infiltrating all civs will let you view everything they do, but it will cause the AI to tech slower than normal as they try overcome your massive espionage advantage instead of using the science slider fully.

 

[guermantes]

Giving myself Satellites only removes the fog of war, I still can't see what happens on ground.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Giving myself Satellites only removes the fog of war, I still can't see what happens on ground.

Hmm, maybe go to options and turn on "show enemy movements" and "show friendly movements.

Then set down 100 Great Spies in a grid pattern since they are invisible to the AI and can't be killed like normal spies.

That way you could watch all the movement of the AI at least.

World builder in some Great Merchants and settle them in your city to pay for everything.

 

[guermantes]

I think I just found the solution (no thanks to Google but to sullla's writeup and linking to kossin's threads here on the forum).
Basically, set cheatcode=chipotle in INI and then activate in-game with ctrl-z to reveal the AI.

 

[Kaitzilla]

There might be a mod called AIAutoPlay that does what you want.

Oh ya, the cheat code, that's great thinking.

 

[guermantes]

I think the mod AI autoplay allows the AI to take over and play the human's civ, but not for the human to watch the other civs.

 

[guermantes]

Darn it... I don't get any messages about declared wars, conquered cities or peace treaties... only wonders built...

 

[Major Tom]

You eventually will, after optics. Their caravels will discover you and things will be alerted to you as it works in a normal game. Or even, you could worldbuild in a destroyer or two yourself 4000BC and "discover" them.

Remember to edit in apo religion to yourself (by the mean of a missionary), or they cant get a religious victory.