how to totally dominate AI

[Bloody Ben]

Is there any way to make sure that only YOU and NOT the AI gets nukes??? can I somehow sabotage their research?

 

[Weird_bug]

And that's you're definition of totally dominate? Well, here's how: Destroy them before they get to nukes.
Bah.

 

[Nylan]

^Pretty much all you can do if you desperately want to keep them from getting nukes.

nukes never bother me. I'd worry about my 40 billion Mobile Armor

 

[Magic_gorter]

I guess that if the AI-civ don't have rocketry researched they won't be able to build nukes.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

If you actually plan on keeping the AIs around in the nuclear age, the answer would be: Don't build Manhattan and use an army of spies to sabotage production of anyone who tries to build it.

You could also let them have it but make sure all your cities are protected by SDI, especially if you have nuclear sponge cities (cities without SDI protected by nearby cities with it) - then they waste their resources building them but you incur no damage.

The other option is, of course, win the game before they become an option.

 

[Jerrymander]

Yeah, there is a way.
Rush early. Crusaders are very potent.

 

[Bloody Ben]

thats not my point. I don't want to conquer the Ai's cities. I just want to nuke them without them nuking me back.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

thats not my point. I don't want to conquer the Ai's cities. I just want to nuke them without them nuking me back.

Then I think you have to either
* keep them from acquiring rocketry (which is almost impossible because they could eventually research it, or steal it beyond your control).
* Have a swarm of spies in position to investigate all cities' production every turn and sabotage any nuke production.
* Build a comprehensive SDI network to protect every city.

Even with those measures in place, I'm not sure if the AI ever uses suitcase nukes in which case you would also have to keep them from getting espionage. None of those measures, including SDI, will protect against suitcase nukes.

Basically what you're asking for is almost impossible within the game and I think this is by design, mimicking the real life concept that once the nuclear genie is out of the bottle, you can not indefinitely keep others from possessing it as well.

 

[Ace]

I don't think the AI uses suitcase nukes, either. Last millineum, I played several long games where the AI got nukes, and I never saw it use a spy to plant one (althrough it threw nuke missiles at everything in sight that was not protected by SDIs). Never saw a spy poison one of my cities' water supply either.

 

[ecuwins]

Yep, good advice here. Make sure you get SDI(laser tech) before the AI get nukes <<<--- as stated above: delaying your build of Manhattan Project can help you do this.

 

[#1 Person]

You can have as many spies as the enemy has cities (or slightly less), and sabatoge production every turn (or investigate the city, see if there nearly done with the nuke, and sabatoge it then). I have never done it as it sounds like a pain, as well as impractical, as I would be suprised if you were able to keep all of the spies around.

 

[KnightTemp]

I'm a 'newbie' to the forum (so Hi, everyone), but have played civ2 for some time. I also like to keep the AI civs where they belong! My fav idea is to keep them limited to as few cities as possible - preferably one. This seems to keep their technology down, so should mean that you can get to nuke capability decades before they can. I've also used Map Editor to place AI civs in disadvantageous situations to keep them down. Hope this helps.

 

[neutrino]

If you actually plan on keeping the AIs around in the nuclear age, the answer would be: Don't build Manhattan and use an army of spies to sabotage production of anyone who tries to build it.

You could also let them have it but make sure all your cities are protected by SDI, especially if you have nuclear sponge cities (cities without SDI protected by nearby cities with it) - then they waste their resources building them but you incur no damage.

The other option is, of course, win the game before they become an option.

Indeed, it is usually not a good idea to build Manhattan Project, since as soon as anyone completes this wonder, everyone else with sufficient tech (Rocketry) can build nukes.

Be wary of AI: Once it has sufficient tech to build Manhattan Project, it may do so. (It depends ... sometimes it holds off, but it may not! I think it is more likely to build one, if the human player is significantly more powerful than itself.) Furthermore, once it has nukes, it will build and use them just like an ordinary conventional unit.

In addition to SDI, the human player also need to guard his own cities against AI spies running suicide missions. (Usually frontier/coastal cities which are easily exposed; posting 2 spy units should be sufficient.)