Perma-war with Runaway AI?

[fmlizard2]

So I currently have possibly my most interesting Civ game ever going. It is around 1400 AD and Alexander is crushing everyone. I am Spain. He has a game score lead of about 1500 to 700 on me but I am beating him in tech. Going for a science win because I have 4 cities, all with great production and all next to mountains (observatories). I'm holding down the fort on just enough CS allies to keep him out of a potential UN win. This includes Rio, who is key to my defense.

I'm on a little roundish peninsula (not geographically unlike the real Spain) and there are only about 3 tiles wide leading into my lands. I populated this isthmus with a Citadel (they do have a use!) and a Kremlin in my city there, along with a CS-gifted Khan and fortified troops up the wazoo.

Alexander sends waves and waves of troops at me and can't even budge me a tile or two. This has been going on for probably 50+ turns and he will not discuss peace. Only keeps asking for a huge peace concession from me. Weird, since even though he is much stronger I have him totally blocked out. Units killed is probably 50-2 in my favor.

Will the war ever end? Should the AI be tweaked to consider the results of the ongoing war more than just raw resources and numbers?

 

[Fabiano79]

No, the AI should be tweaked to learn how to use naval units...

You probably are going to lose as soon Alex gets nukes (if you are playing on king or above). I think the best option for you is a surprise attack on his coastal cities or capital as soon you have cavalry or tanks.

 

[insaneweasel]

... a CS-gifted Khan and fortified troops up the wazoo.

Totally off-topic: do CS actually give you khans? As spain? That's crazy. I've never had that happen.

Will the war ever end? Should the AI be tweaked to consider the results of the ongoing war more than just raw resources and numbers?

The AI MUST be tweaked. The other day I was playing as Spain on Diety. I was just playing to lose (was looking for a natural wonder to settle next to) on duel with Alex. I didn't find a wonder, so I settled in a mountainous range with only 3 potential tiles that Alex could strike from, built an archer, and waited for doom...

Alex sent wave after wave of units after me. I had no improvements, but that 1 brave archer kept knocking him back. Soon he had barrage 3, then logistics...then extra range and indirect fire...I upgraded him...and alex still kept losing vast amounts of units.

He had no chance until artillery, and even then, it wasn't a good chance because my unit had 3 range.

 

[fmlizard2]

Totally off-topic: do CS actually give you khans? As spain? That's crazy. I've never had that happen.

Not only does it happen as Spain, it happens as any Civ. A lot. I've seen it at least 10 times - I always do the full patronage tree, and early. That was actually the second Khan of the game I had gifted to me. The first one got picked off trying to wander back to my lands alone from Sydney. I occasionally get UUs from militaristic civs (Spanish Janissaries, anyone?) but the Khan thing is downright common it seems.

And yes, the first reply was right...I hadn't thought about being nuked by him. I'm on Emperor, so it stands to reason that I better expect that. Time to strategize again...beating Alex here will be a real challenge!

 

[Fabiano79]

Yep, it seems a great game you are in. Good luck!

 

[insaneweasel]

And yes, the first reply was right...I hadn't thought about being nuked by him. I'm on Emperor, so it stands to reason that I better expect that. Time to strategize again...beating Alex here will be a real challenge!

If you have a tech lead, get artillery and blast him from afar. When his units retreat, start a sortie and grab some of his cities that are located at choke points. If you do that, then he won't have the range to nuke you.

 

[Fabiano79]

Its hard to have a big tech lead on emperor.

I think the best way to avoid nuclear bombing in this scenario is a sneak attack (probably by sea if its possible) and rush to his capital. If you can make another civ DoW Alex at the same time, that would be perfect.

After you conquer Athens, make peace as fast as you can. Later you can keep him busy with a war around Athens meanwhile you are rushing your cities to produce the spaceship.

 

[fmlizard2]

Yes, thinking about trying to bribe a war between him and Denmark. They have a huge army and are doing little with it. I'm nervous that Alex is such a beast that he will run over Bluetooth as well. I paid for a war between Alex and Monty earlier and all it did was feed the Greek monster.

His capital is massively landlocked and not easy to get at without taking several cities. I like the idea of spamming artillery - which I can get soon, before he does. I have a sparse navy but I have 3 strong coastal production cities so going naval could be viable.

This is one of those games I might play out from 1400 on a couple different times just to see the ways it could go. Big underdog, but competitive enough that there is a path to victory.

 

[fmlizard2]

As an update on this game, I totally beelined for Electronics (Mech Infantry) and got them on the field by around 1600 AD. I also beelined Plastics too for Research Labs. It took bulbing 2 techs from GSes, Oxford, and the two free Rationalism techs, but I got out there when Alex only had infantry and cavalry. And I made a surge into his lands and took Athens and Sparta - when he had 2x my troop numbers overall.

Unfortunately I didn't have enough forces or $ resources to hold the cities. Good AI - he came back and reclaimed his cities. Now my empire sits pretty weak in troops but we did bust up Alex's major cities...lets see if that has an effect.

 

[Drawmeus]

Adding an AI consideration that they should consider a truce when fighting a war that stalemates would be cool.