Most game changing concept/tip

[Aabraxan]

With my usual caveat that I haven't played C3C in ages and can't currently get it to run:

I rarely get involved in most forms of diplomatic agreements beyond basic peace treaties and RoPs. In a typical game I will have 6–8 resources and sometimes hundreds of gpt flying back and forth between me and the other civs, and war is just bad for business.

I never agreed to RoPs. I just can't stand having foreign troops on my soil. And the pointy stick works pretty well for both research and banking.

....Basically, pulling out of that alliance early is how I lost the game, because my reputation never recovered.....

I'm not convinced that the player's reputation ever recovers from anything. Break an alliance or a long-term deal (for resources or gpt), and you just can't get the AI to agree to it ever again.

....Anyway, question: what are the mechanics of what make, say, Monarch more difficult than Regent? I have 2 wins, 3 losses so far (going for the Mayans next - much more fun than Rome anyway).

Might I suggest a trip down into the Succession Games forum. Years ago, I put together an Archive of Training Day Games. I haven't updated it in years, but the TDGs are full of good discussions about what we were doing and why. There may even be some saves you could download to look at.

 

[md4]

I never agreed to RoPs. I just can't stand having foreign troops on my soil. And the pointy stick works pretty well for both research and banking.

I mainly use them in the early game so I can scout coastlines without annoying them too much. Those civilisations tend to be on a different landmass, or far enough away that they are unlikely to ever put land units on my territory.

 

[vmxa]

@WeirdoJoker

"Anyway, question: what are the mechanics of what make, say, Monarch more difficult than Regent?"

The main thing is the change to getting a boost. Below Regent the AI take a penalty to cost, at Regent they have the same cost as the player. At monarch they get cost reduction and each level up they get a larger reduction. They also get increased starting units. So at Regent cost factor is 10, at Monarch it is 9. That is for units and structures. They now start with 2 extra defensive units and 1 extra offensive unit.

They get 4 extra free units support and 1 extra per city. This lets them have larger armies. They use the same lame AI logic at all levels.

 

[vmxa]

@Aabraxan

Steam c3c works fine and is current selling for less than 2 dollars, hard to beat.

 

[Aabraxan]

I mainly use them in the early game so I can scout coastlines without annoying them too much. Those civilisations tend to be on a different landmass, or far enough away that they are unlikely to ever put land units on my territory.

I guess I just never cared if I annoyed them.

@Aabraxan

Steam c3c works fine and is current selling for less than 2 dollars, hard to beat.

I actually bought it not long ago, but couldn't get it to run. I'll re-download and try again.

 

[Aabraxan]

@Aabraxan

Steam c3c works fine and is current selling for less than 2 dollars, hard to beat.

Thanks, @vmxa . A fresh download did it. Now I just have to adjust the terrain mods, get CivAssist 2 and the citizen mood badges, and barbfixer .... I'm back in C3C business!

 

[md4]

barbfixer

Barbarian fixer, you say? I don't suppose it fixes the silly NW/SE thing?

 

[vmxa]

iirc NoAiPatrol=0 will fix that. They made the patrol disabled by default as it was a big drag on the game at times. The AI would just march units around to no useful purpose. The fix caused the barbs to ignore the one axis. If you tend to play on larger maps, the patrol can be an issue.

 

[Aabraxan]

Barbarian fixer, you say? I don't suppose it fixes the silly NW/SE thing?

If memory serves, yes. See vmxa's post below, but at one time, I had downloaded a file called "barbfixer" from CFC that fixed that.

iirc NoAiPatrol=0 will fix that. They made the patrol disabled by default as it was a big drag on the game at times. The AI would just march units around to no useful purpose. The fix caused the barbs to ignore the one axis. If you tend to play on larger maps, the patrol can be an issue.

Cool. I'll look into that. I seem to remember that from years ago.

 

[tjs282]

Barbarian fixer, you say? I don't suppose it fixes the silly NW/SE thing?

Well, yeah, kinda sorta.

The line to add in the conquests.ini is "NoAIPatrol=0"

This causes AI-controlled units (including Barbs) to move around until all MP have been consumed, so that Barbs are more likely to spot a 'civilized' tribe-unit on that NW/SE axis. And once they see it, they can chase it. Without the .ini line, AI-controlled units just fortify in place.

Ah, cross-posted with @vmxa

If you add this line, you might also want/need to turn off the 4 options "Show/Animate Friend/Enemy Moves" (but not "Animate Battles"!) in the game Preferences.

 

[Aabraxan]

....The line to add in the conquests.ini is "NoAIPatrol=0" ....
If you add this line, you might also want/need to turn off the 4 options "Show/Animate Friend/Enemy Moves" (but not "Animate Battles"!) in the game Preferences.

Ah, there we go. Thank you. I'm not a programmer by any stretch and would likely have spent some time looking for a "NoAIPatrol" file, rather than just additng a line.

 

[vmxa]

I am very bad at writing down what I am thinking completely. I should have made it clear that the patrol is an ini line. I still remember playing and watching a large stack of cavs go back and forth on two tiles their town had. Things like that is why we clamored to get them to fix it and as you would expect they implemented a fix that was not the greatest.

 

[Aabraxan]

Not a problem, @vmxa

I appreciate your help. I remembered something about the NoAIPatrol line from years ago, but like I said, I'm not a programmer. Not by a long shot.

 

[Takhisis]

If you add this line, you might also want/need to turn off the 4 options "Show/Animate Friend/Enemy Moves" (but not "Animate Battles"!) in the game Preferences.

Wait, why?

 

[tjs282]

Wait, why?

How long do you want to sit idle over the interturn, watching all visible AI-units run about randomly...?

But Animate Battles should be on, otherwise you can't see who attacked your units.

 

[Captain_Jack]

And now I've learned not to make military alliances and then make peace with the opposition. Japan DOW me, and I got everyone else to join in. And then I made peace before 20 turns had passed and they're all still furious with me.

I wasn't aware that was an issue. I have frequently done the same thing: get allies then make peace leaving my allies to finish up the war. I wasn't aware the Ai was onto that tactic. Is 20 turns the cutoff for peace with honor?

 

[tjs282]

I wasn't aware that was an issue. I have frequently done the same thing: get allies then make peace leaving my allies to finish up the war. I wasn't aware the Ai was onto that tactic. Is 20 turns the cutoff for peace with honor?

Yes. If you make peace after bribing someone else into your war (by paying them) before the full 20T is up, then you are breaking that MA (that you were paying for). So it counts as breaking a 20T deal and hence your trade-rep, which means you will never be able to sign straight per-turn deals for "hard goods" again in that game.

Let your allies sign peace before you do.

 

[Takhisis]

How long do you want to sit idle over the interturn, watching all visible AI-units run about randomly...?

But Animate Battles should be on, otherwise you can't see who attacked your units.

LShift.

 

[WeirdoJoker]

Yes. If you make peace after bribing someone else into your war (by paying them) before the full 20T is up, then you are breaking that MA (that you were paying for). So it counts as breaking a 20T deal and hence your trade-rep, which means you will never be able to sign straight per-turn deals for "hard goods" again in that game.

I had bribed them with tech (all of them, IIRC), so really I had already paid them and they got to keep the tech even though I ducked out of the war early. Apparently, it doesn't matter what they're paid with, whether something per-turn or whatever.

 

[Aabraxan]

No, I don't think it does. If you make a 20T deal, the AI expects you to stick to it.