civsempai
Chieftain
Another way to exploit AI trends is to take advantage of one of the AI's greatest strength: expansion.
The AI is going to outexpand you early in the game. Live with it. But also take advantage of it. The AI is so consumed with new cities that it often over extends it's capabilities. This is particularly true of AI civs that place those annoying new settlements either right on your border or even behind your border by sneaking a settler through or paddling one behind your front line in a galley.
While annoying, yes, those cities are essentially wasted for the AI, as long as you deal with them properly. Don't go nuts and rush a bunch of settlers to keep up, that's playing the AI's game and you'll lose. Depending on your strategy, either culture rush around the satellite AI cities, or start building up the military (or both).
When the time comes, simply take the cities. I prefer by force. That way, the AI has done quite a bit of expansion work for you. In some cases, you even get some leftover city improvements.
This will work only for AI cities far removed from the AI's main territory. They're usually in some crappy spot like a desert or jungle that you didn't want to settle right away in any event. They'll hardly ever flip back, especially if you do it early enough in the game where culture is still being grown. It also allows you to sue for peace pretty quickly and gain an additional tech or gold out of it.
The AI is going to outexpand you early in the game. Live with it. But also take advantage of it. The AI is so consumed with new cities that it often over extends it's capabilities. This is particularly true of AI civs that place those annoying new settlements either right on your border or even behind your border by sneaking a settler through or paddling one behind your front line in a galley.
While annoying, yes, those cities are essentially wasted for the AI, as long as you deal with them properly. Don't go nuts and rush a bunch of settlers to keep up, that's playing the AI's game and you'll lose. Depending on your strategy, either culture rush around the satellite AI cities, or start building up the military (or both).
When the time comes, simply take the cities. I prefer by force. That way, the AI has done quite a bit of expansion work for you. In some cases, you even get some leftover city improvements.
This will work only for AI cities far removed from the AI's main territory. They're usually in some crappy spot like a desert or jungle that you didn't want to settle right away in any event. They'll hardly ever flip back, especially if you do it early enough in the game where culture is still being grown. It also allows you to sue for peace pretty quickly and gain an additional tech or gold out of it.
