Loans anyone?

[wear146]

I was wondering has anyone ever received, made or seen evidence of the AI making loans to each other or to the player in c3c. If their is is their some trick to it because it seems like it could be a great way to make money.

 

[Moosezilla]

Yes but it seems rare... If you ask constantly they will eventually give you a loan.

 

[Spoonwood]

I haven't seen it between AIs, but I've done it with the AIs LOTS of times... it's not rare. First trick lies in having a clean reputation. If you break your reputation, then loans won't really work. So, if you use that cash to buy armies, make sure you've bought your 20 (more on a huge map, of course) or so armies before you soil your reputation. Second trick lies in loaning out the maximum amount of gold for gpt. The rate comes as 18 gold for 1 gpt. So, if an AI has 56 gold, you can loan out 54 gold for 3 gpt.

 

[KevinRuddPM]

Loans never work for me, even on gracious.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

If you are talking about the - give it a name - 'button' that says something about loans, forget that. Forget all the other 'button' such as "Care to trade maps" and "We have overextended ..." as well. Just always use "We would like to propose a deal."

It won't be a problem getting loans then.

 

[Rodrig0]

Like this?

In this game I have an impecable reputation. I haven't broken treaties, no deals cut, and though I did raze some cities, I guess those civs didn't live enough to tell the tale of my savagery. Or maybe they did and Cleopatra doesn't care, or it doesn't affect reputation.

 

[KevinRuddPM]

Does gold really matter in this game? I really only use gold to build embassies, thats it.

 

[Spoonwood]

Perhaps it's not strictly necessary, but in general having more gold can make things much easier and/or better for your game. You can use gold to rush units, armies, libraries, universities, marketplaces, or other improvements or units (but not small or great wonders). You can also use it to purchase techs or run the science slider up beyond your current turn's budget. Or you can upgrade units with it. One strategy consists of disconnect iron and/or saltpeter with say a warrior, changing all builds to horseman, then reconnecting it before the turn finishes, then zooming to your cities and upgrading horseman to knights or cavalry. Rushing buildings like libraries or universities can speed up research or increase culture faster (and perhaps eventually more via the 1000 year bonus). I'm pretty sure all 4 Huge Histographic games in the HoF significantly relies on cash-rushing also. Both of these make for interesting reads even if you never will or want to play a game like this: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=88786
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=81424

 

[EvilConqueror]

Looks like your losing money when you make these kinds of trades. I can understand if you want the gold to rush a unit immediately or something but in the long-term it doesn't seem very useful.

 

[Rodrig0]

Rushing cultural buildings also helps prevent flipping in recently conquered cities, and expands your city limits so you have more room for your workers. More terrain = better score too. Rushing a worker out of a conquered city will give you a slave, which in the long term save you a lot more than you'd pay to have him finished. You can also send more cash to entertainment and make more citizens happy. Unhappy citizens don't count for your score, and happy ones count double. And later, when I build the Int Agency, it gives me one of the most fun uses for gold: propaganda. I've flipped many cities to my side this way. It costs a lot, but by that time, I'll have more gold than I know what to do with it. So although gold doesn't count for score as itself, it has many uses that will improve your score.

 

[Spoonwood]

Looks like your losing money when you make these kinds of trades. I can understand if you want the gold to rush a unit immediately or something but in the long-term it doesn't seem very useful.

It depends. If you can get the AIs to declare war on you (declaring war on them will spoil your reputation in this sort of situation) when say you've loan 1800 gold for 100 gpt, after say 1 turn, then you've made 1700 gold on that deal. Also, speed can matter. It's far easier to fight an AI earlier than later, since they'll have less units. So, if you use the cash to upgrade units or buy armies, then it can prove to your benefit, since you get quality units out sooner... making it easier to kill the AIs earlier/take more territory earlier for a higher score earlier (which raises your score overall at your finish date). Loans can also help prevent the AIs from choking on unit support, and thus indirectly help with a faster overall tech pace. Chamnix has done this to good effect in games like the one described here

 

[Argetnyx]

The AIs do trade together constantly, that is the only way that they don't disband all of their units due to debt. For each difficulty level, the AI's get trade bonuses, that means the gold being traded gets that percentage of change.
Chieftain= 110%
Warlord= 120%
Regent= 130%
Monarch= 140%
Emporer= 150%
Demigod= 160%
Deity= 170%
Sid= 200%

 

[I. Larkin]

I think question is will AI reply positively to question "Offer Loan"? Sometime "yes", but very rear.
But you may negotiate this offer for a bit better.

In general loan very useful, on Deity it is about 15 for 1 gpt. and normally it pays back.