Observations and Questions after playing a while...

[Himalia]

8. Whenever I take out enemy cities, I NEVER get any tech improvements (yes, I'm attacking civs w/ tech I don't have). Is this relative to the "value" (size, improvements, etc...) of the city I took over?

Ive noticed that on a game well some time ago i took an enemy city thinking o well i dont have horse riding its something still and didt get it. I guess thats been removed form Civ III. I am right in saying you could get techs by conquest in Civ II ? I hope they put that back into Civ IV or at least as an option that you can turn on or off.

 

[Turner]

Yes, you could get techs from the taking of cities in Civ2. No, you cannot in Civ3.

 

[float]

8. Whenever I take out enemy cities, I NEVER get any tech improvements (yes, I'm attacking civs w/ tech I don't have). Is this relative to the "value" (size, improvements, etc...) of the city I took over?

9. Also, when taking enemy cities w/ Wonders, they very often are destroyed (most of the time it seems). Is this another probability based event?

8.>>>yes u dont get those city improvements after u capture the city coz they r destroyed as soon as u capture it and u hav to rescearch the technolocgy and like units (ie. artillery and workers) u cant capture/get those city improvements.

9.>>>in PTW the wonders r not destroyed when the cities in which they are, are captured but u own them. They r destroyed when u raze the city to grounds and as u know once wonders are destroyed u cant create them
again. and once u capture the wonder from other civ u dont enjoy the culture benefit.(i.e the cultural point of that wonder is not added to the cities culture points.)but u will enjoy the benefit of the wonder.

 

[Gato Loco]

2. I have two theories about this. First, mutual protection pacts, just like in WW1. Second, as the game progresses, AI civs accumulate a long list of broken deals, making trade extremely hard due to trashed rep. Less trade = more wars. On the other hand, I can usually stay at peace near the end by keeping trades going, as long as I've been peaceful through most of the game. The trick is to do everything thoroughly. If they're your friend, always trade, never attack. If they're an enemy, wipe them from the face of the earth.

 

[SJ Frank]

1. Is it just me or is the AI naval power filled w/ AI cheats? I'd say I lose a battleship to a destroyer about 50% of the time, if not more.

Bombard them first before attacking them.

AI ships will always return to port to heal once injured. So bombard them, hurt them a little bit on the first engagement. Then chase them down and bombard them some more. Don't attack until they're redlined or are about to make port.

2. As you approach the end game, all the AI opponents will turn against you, no matter how peaceful or generous you've been with them in the past.

My theory is, late in the game, after rails, factories and power plants, everybody gets a lot of production with nothing left to build but units, units, and more units. So every AI starts accumulating a lot of units.

Every turn, each AI makes a check: Do I have enough units to kill somebody? Most of the times, they don't, so they stay put. But with every AI accumulating units like this, eventually someone will decide to pick on somebody. And unforunately, that somebody is more likely to be the human player, because we think we're smarter than the AI's , so we don't garrison 4 infantries in each and every city like the AI's do

The solution: ask them to pick on someone their own size . Turn them against each other, then wash your hands clean after the 20 turn alliances are up.

3. Fascism is the best war-time government. So, now when I approach end-game, I switch to fascism.

I guess you haven't seen the power of the C3C Communism

Republic = a utility government that can handle everything that the game throws at you. Once factoring in the cost of anarchy, it becomes the best government in the game.

Communism = With courthouse and police station, every single city can become as productive as a core city. It takes a while to build up the previously corrupt cities and the newly conquered cities, but once they do... Good for The War that Ends All Wars.

Fascism = the government that replaces the old Communism in C3C, whos only purpose is for the AI to commit suicide in.

Democracy = a government that has advantages over Republic, but not enough to make a difference between winning and losing, but does have one nasty drawback that can lose otherwise winnable games.

5. When in anarchy, since you accrue money, but not research, should you put all emphasis into tax collection?

Neither tax nor research is accumulated during Anarchy. The gpt that you see during anarchy comes from taxmen, and the research that you see comes from scientists. Since C3C scientist produces 3 beakers to taxmen's 2 gold, I usually go with scientists.

 

[Oryctolagus]

9. AFAIK, wonders can only be destroyed in C3C via bombardment or razing.

I saw wonders destroyed via bombardment only when they were owned by a civ that controlled the Great Wall. In one of my games I had a war with the Incans. When I used my Trebuchets, they woud hit city improvements first, then units. In Cuzco I destroyed the GW and the Palace(!) and it ended. Now I try not to bombard cities with wonders if the enemy has the GW.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

It is important to stack your sea units.
If you have one ship who loses the battle, you lost 1 and killed nothing. If your first ship loses and your second kills the damaged enemy, it is 1-1. This makes it very important to move your ships in stacks.

 

[Himalia]

I think its fair to say its important to stack units fullstop. I dont find it as important at sea simply beacause the naval part of the game is pretty insignificant. At least in my game anyway i certainly wish it played a greater part.