Keeping Computer in Peace

[Xineoph]

As much as I like playing with others, another passion of mines is watching computer duel with eachother. Just set whatever civ I picked to no human player in Cheats and let'em rip.

I've always had a few problems with this and just wanted to know if there are any tips to fixing.

1. Keeping them at peace and never fighting. I've tried turning off negotiation between Human/Computer and setting it to anybody and then going through each King to edit their treaties so they all have made contact, peace and have an embassy. But at some point the contact and embassy disappears and they'll fight...of course in late games (when it doesn't matter) they constanty have contact, but I want them to make peace and not fight for all the X turns I establish. What can I do to fix that?

2. They stop building units at some point...their navy seems to cap at around 20 battleships, destroyers, aegis cruisers and submarines. Also 2 transports. and 0 carriers. Not to mention the dozens of other units. How can I get them to stop using capitalization so often and make slightly larger armies, and start building slightly more carriers and transports? Should I just build them random units in events every X turns? I'd rather not turn every random game into my own personal scenario. =/

I believe those were my only two complaints for my comp games that I can remember offhand...so does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

You will probably find better answers in the scenario forum. The advice givers around here don't usually let AI civs get that large.

If you disable contact and set the AIs to allied, then they shouldn't fight at all.

I don't think the AI uses aircraft carriers. With regard to the other units, I'm guessing there is a point where the program says that there is no point in building more units.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

AI don't build carriers, but you can act God and give it to them if you wish. But I don't know if it is smart enough to make use of carriers if they get it.

If you disable contact and set the AIs to allied, then they shouldn't fight at all.

They will break a treaty and go to war, but I guess war is less likely between allies. They don't get the reputation damaged when they do it.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

If negotiations between civs are disabled, then the AI's will be unable to break the alliance, and thus can't go to war. I once played a Seven Years War Scenario that used this mechanic to prevent the factions from changing.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

AI don't build carriers, ... But I don't know if it is smart enough to make use of carriers if they get it.

Carrier is not a very useful unit to begin with, so perhaps the AI is smart by not trying to build it. I have played a multitude of Civ2 games and I am hard pressed to remember if I have ever used a carrier.

 

[elmenhorster]

ignore AIs
be first in tech
never give them nothing they ask

and the next thing i found, they sign alliances/pacts to contain my aggression...
they all were allied, because of me, exchanging techs all the time and attacking me...
once they reach your level they might go back to normal game and eventually attack each other.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

If negotiations between civs are disabled,

Do you have to do that before the game starts, or can you use the cheat option to disable it?

Carrier is not a very useful unit to begin with, so perhaps the AI is smart by not trying to build it. I have played a multitude of Civ2 games and I am hard pressed to remember if I have ever used a carrier.

I guess that depends on the world. If your enemy is far away then carriers may be useful. But I build a few if I can afford it, regardless if I need them or not. If I can afford them I build them because I can.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

Do you have to do that before the game starts, or can you use the cheat option to disable it?

It can only be done via event in a Scenario in Fantastic Worlds or above. Since he mentioned turning off negotiations, I assumed he had at least an FW scenario capability.

I guess that depends on the world. If your enemy is far away then carriers may be useful. But I build a few if I can afford it, regardless if I need them or not. If I can afford them I build them because I can.

Carriers and Stealth Fighters are very powerful together and thus quite fun to use. Unfortunately, they come late and are very expensive and time consuming to amass (and to relocate), so their value is actually rather limited. I discuss the drawbacks of naval units (in general) in a little more detail here.

The only other practical option is using Carriers and Bombers, but unfortunately the bombers cause too much unhappiness in a democracy to be useful in such a strategy most of the time (not to mention they are quite expensive).

Even attacking over long distances, you will probably get the biggest bang for your shield by stacking your transport(s) with whatever you would have used to defend your Carrier.

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

After thinking twice, I think I know why the AI don't bother building carriers. Their aircrafts don't run out of fuel! They're almost like ground units with incredible range. With such aircrafts, carriers are not needed, maybe except for transporting missiles.

As for their Stealth Fighters, I have seen them disappear after a long flights, so they might perhaps run out of fuel. But I have also seen AI stealth fighters parked in the air like a bomber! Maybe it is a bit random if they lose the plane? Like it is random for human players if a trireme is lost at sea?

 

[Ali Ardavan]

I play regular games and GOTMs. I have played few scenarios and have never played against a human. I suppose in those settings a carrier would be useful as the common techniques against rivals that are usually far behind me by the time units such as carriers become available would not work.