I just had another game, that proves my point ONCE AGAIN.
I settled 4 cities. There are mines in each city. I had each city produce a library, then a Swordsman. BEFORE I EVEN HAVE TIME TO MAKE UNITS the Aztecs declare war for no reason with 3 Warriors.
This game is all luck based. You better hope you don't get spawned by a warmonger AI because then you're done with. They'll hit you with units before you have time to make an army. And if you try to have as many units as them? You fall behind in Science. Heck, screw that, you could focus all your cities on units and STILL not have as many units as the warmonger AI by that time. And ofcourse no other Civ labels him a warmonger, because he's an AI.
I get tired of this "OMG! YOU'RE DOING BETTER THAN ME! I'M GOING TO DECLARE WAR" crap. Seriously, a preschooler could program better AI.
I understand your frustration.
I started playing the original Civ, pre-ordered V, and played it about 600 hours before I lost interest. I recall it as an unfinished game.
But the way I remember it, just like the other games in the series, you can choose which civs you play against. I detest Sitting Bull, so he doesn't get to play IV with me. He's annoying and no fun. So if Alex and Monty won't play fair and are no fun, don't include them when you start. It's a game. It should be fun ( unless it's called golf
) Monty has always been a nut-job with bloodthirsty gods to appease. Alex has always wanted it all. I suspect you don't much like Genghis, either.
Okay. Now that I think about it,I don't believe you had the same freedom of choice in the original Civ. You chose who you played as. So if you chose Babylon ( conveniently located near the convergence of 3 continents, for lower costs with a large intercontinental ) empire, you wouldn't face Babylon or the Aztecs, because they both used the light green color. Rome and Russia were both white. Only one could be in a given game. So there was strategy involved in selection of a civ.
But there have always been aggressive A.I.s or belligerent barbarians in the game.
Speaking of Civ I, I was playing as Egypt, building Pyramids and other wonders when Napoleon attacked me by surprise! He captured my coastal core city, Memphis, and I sued for peace on his terms. Next turn he declared war again! He nuked my capital before I could redeploy. I abandoned that game in shock. I didn't know any civ would break a treaty the next turn. But afterwards, the more I thought about it, the more I believed that the behavior was perfectly Napoleonesque, and that the game had modeled him very well.
I like to play for 6,000 years of peace sometimes myself. To do that I have to prepare to defend myself . I need as may or more men than my potential enemy. I need to have more or bigger and friends than my potential enemy. Otherwise, they'll declare war.
Be forewarned that winning a game that way won't score as high as a global domination win.
Just because I have won IV on Diety a few times doesn't make that fun. I would much rather play at a near neutral bonus level and build my favorite wonders. It's okay to do whatever you like in single player.
If what you would like to do is win, I suggest you post a save game and allow these gentlemen to help you with it.
