questions and issues at monarch level

[civ2003]

Hi,
Currently I am at 300 AD on a large continental map with 8 rival civs. I am playing as persian. I found the following rather disturbing,

1) The AIs are always broke or just have about 30-50 gold and i can't sell my tech for a profit. What do you guys do?

2) Why does the AI refuse to accept gold/turn deal? In one case, i was selling them a tech, they agreed for lump sum of 100 gold but refuse 1gold/turn ( only 20 gold ). I have flawlessly reputation and they were all polite to me.

3) Is it better to not research and just buy tech since its quite impossible to catch up with the AIs in research?

4) How do i beat the AIs to completing great wonders? They are always ahead of me. My most productive city produces 19 shields/turn at around 300AD ( we are all at starting of the 2nd science age )?


Thanks for help

 

[Adam0217]

Coming from someone who recently started beating Monarch consistantly and is now attempting gotm19 as my first emperor game....

#1 & 3 kind of go together. If the AI has little gold and no techs to trade you that is a good thing! It means you are ahead. If you are behind and have techs to trade by all means do that.

For #2, this statement is by no means backed up by any intimate knowledge of the trading systems, but I've noticed that generally the AI will not take gpt if you have the right amount of cash available now. It seems to only want gpt if your treasury isn't enough to cover what they consider to be the cost of the tech they are selling you.

If you find yourself getting further behind in tech (and that will probably happen alot) a little "pointy stick" research is always good. I almost always try to do this in the late ancient ages, generally trying to hit a civ with Swordsmen or even better Knights before they have a chance to get alot of Pikemen. Playing the Persians is perfect for this strategy. The immortal with an attack of 4 going against 2 def Spearmen is great pointy stick research. A bonus is that it will trigger a golden age, allowing to get hoards of cash to be able to afford an early mass upgrade to pikemen and knights. This early in the game I usually don't have the resources to completely wipe out a civ but taking 3 or 4 cities is usually good to get a couple of techs when you sue for peace. The great leader you might get in the ensuing bloodbath is also great for getting a head start on a wonder.

With brick by brick wonder building, the only way I have beaten the AI in the early stages of the game is to be committed to building a wonder right from the beginning, usually the Pyramids. Maybe build just a warrior or two, one settler, and then off to the Pyramids. I was lurking in a diety training game in the succession games board here and one strategy used was that they joined workers to the city building the wonder. I have found this to be an effective strategy if you think you are at least close and maybe need just another citizen or two to get more shields per turn.

If this isn't the case, the only other way is to start building the Palace in a non-capital city as a pre-build before you obtain the tech enabling the wonder. Pointy stick wonders are fun too but you don't get the culture.

Hope this all helps!
Adam

 

[wilbill]

Re: #2, Adam0217, I believe he was referring to selling tech for gpt, not buying.
The AI won't make a gpt deal if it has no gpt surplus. AI will not go into a gpt deficit fo make a trade. Sounds like the civ you were trading with had cash on hand but zero gpt coming in. If they have positive gpt they certainly will use it to trade with you, if all other factors (like your rep) are okay.