Unless it is a race to space, I hope none of our games last long enough that we would need to sabotage space ship parts... 
SGOTM 06 - Xteam
- Thread starter AlanH
- Start date
ShannonCT
Deity
I linked to the updated GP tech preferences on page two of this thread.
There are a few articles out there about Espionage, but I am going to write up an espionage primer as it pertains to the typical SGOTM and make it available to Xteamers when it's finished.
Jimmy Thunder
King
One major thing I've noticed in my limited BTS games is a change in the AI tactics around war. The war-like AI's build massive stacks of units and the peace-like AI's have pitiful defence. Especially at the start of the game the city garrisons are particularly weak.
However, now the AI will whip right down to pop1 if you have your units sitting next to their city. So there is big incentive to move in and take a city quickly to avoid all the extra whipped units.
However, now the AI will whip right down to pop1 if you have your units sitting next to their city. So there is big incentive to move in and take a city quickly to avoid all the extra whipped units.
JT, do you have a breakdown of which civs stack, which neglect defense, and which (if any) take a middle-of-the-road approach?
Thanks SCT, I look forward to it. I have noticed that without sufficient espionage points, you cannot see the AI graphs nor know what their empire's stats are. So it is important to maintain some level of espionage points and to manage them fairly wisely.
This is absolutely true, and combined with the new bombard rules, has made me use Open Borders more to scout out AI territory and check on their unit defense levels. It also has made me plan more attack efficient routes to their cities and plan more precisely the contents of the attack stack. The faster you can get there with the right units, the easier it seems to be.
Jimmy Thunder
King
Nope.
I'd guess it would be related to the built in aggressive attitude of some civs. For example, looking at the BTSleaderAI spreadsheet (downloadable from CFC) it may be related to:
AI leader's "Flavor 1" = Military
Or leaders with high values for "iBuildUnitProb"
I never really get into the xml ...but the spreadsheet can tell you interesting things, like how long different leaders will wait before they are able to make a peace treaty after a DOW.
DJMGator13
Still breathing
Does everybody have this BTS reference file? It is a pdf and I use it constantly. The "Leader Traits" area describes what JT is talking about above. It tells you which AI are more peaceful, which tend to build wonders over techs, etc...
Thanks, Gator. I was unaware of this. What features do you find most useful?
Harbourboy
Deity
You eliminated Mansa Musa in turn 56!? Holy moley! We eliminated him in about 1500AD when he had a stack of Grenadiers in Timbuktu. You guys were on a different planet to us in this game...................
ShannonCT
Deity
Well, in 99% of Civ4 games, you should be looking to capture a neighboring capital ASAP. Geezers might have been able to do this if there had been horses near the starting position. Xteam sort of lucked out that not only was there copper in our BFC, but it was next to a river so that we didn't even need to research the Wheel to use it.
In hindsight, your choice of capital location was unfortunate because the copper was not in the BFC. But this was just bad luck. The one decision I would question though is going for Hunting and Archery after you got Animal Husbandry. Archers are very passive units. Axemen are better than archers for actively defending against the AI, and obviously better for taking cities. If your team asks itself, "How can we win this game faster than all of the other teams?" instead of, "How can we survive and eventually win this game?" you'd actually make decisions that made you more likely to acheive victory. You should be actively seeking to make some game breaking play, or as Murky Waters calls it, a "power move". For us and MW, that was taking Timbuktu early. For Short Straw, that was Oracling Machinery. There's really no way to make a power move with archers.
LowtherCastle
Deity
- Joined
- May 18, 2005
- Messages
- 23,756
I think I've researched archery myself once in all my CIV games. That was that GOTM where we didn't have copper, horses or iron.... If barbs are a threat, fogbust with warriors.
ShannonCT
Deity
I just PMed all XTeamers a BTS Espionage primer. If you didn't get it, let me know.
and
Seems that the update for 
will be a while. AlanH is proposing a vanilla SGOTM. Anyone up for, what Alan called, a quickie? 
You can find it in this thread.
will be a while. AlanH is proposing a vanilla SGOTM. Anyone up for, what Alan called, a quickie? You can find it in this thread.
Mistfit
Deity
good lord.. is the idea to achieve the quickest loss?
If so you could sign me up.
If so you could sign me up.
ShannonCT
Deity
I just PMed all team members a Deity OCC practice map that matches the opening screenshot. Let me know if I missed you.
ShannonCT
Deity
Practice game resent:
SGOTM 07 game threads are supposed to be opened up tomorrow, April 17th.
I am thinking about indexing this thread so we can better find things as we move through the game. If you think this is a good idea, please allow me the first two posts in that thread so I can place the index there.
See you tomorrow. 
I am thinking about indexing this thread so we can better find things as we move through the game. If you think this is a good idea, please allow me the first two posts in that thread so I can place the index there.
See you tomorrow.
ShannonCT
Deity
I've patched together all of our PMs into a single document that I'll put up on our SGOTM7 page after Leif's posts.
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