Stingy AI?

[Larwin]

Ok I was playing a map offline and had bismark as my only neighbor. But I waited and waited and he never wanted to trade any techs. Seems I would've been better off axe or chariot rushing him than waiting for a trade?

Something i might try is getting him to friendly by adopting the religion he has.

 

[ahcos]

In Semi Isolation, AIs will only trade

a) certain techs that have no value in their eyes, determinated by the gamecode (like Monarchy)
b) if you're friendly with that AI

Generally, it usually is better to either vassal the AI in such situations or to kill it off. Ofc that's not true when your neighbour is an AI that is easy to please (shared religion + fav. civic). But rather aggressive AIs with a high unitbuildprob are more useful when dead

 

[coanda]

Ok I was playing a map offline and had bismark as my only neighbor. But I waited and waited and he never wanted to trade any techs. Seems I would've been better off axe or chariot rushing him than waiting for a trade?

An AI in semi-isolation with you will generally not be willing to trade techs unless and until you get them to Friendly status, because AIs try to protect tech monopolies (even when it's stupid to be doing so, like in semi-isolation).

 

[Seraiel]

Bismarck is a special Case, he has a Techtrade value of 70 which is one of the highest of all leaders, meaning, he trades only when lots of people know that tech already.

 

[Larwin]

thanks guys.

 

[Archon_Wing]

Semi-Isolation sucks. :/ It seems like you'd have to work on killing them.

Except Mansa, he is smart and trades anyways.

 

[Larwin]

I think I'm going to divert to catapults in this game already to late to do anything else. Like most AI he will probably spam 50 archers before I can finish him. I got a couple pillage stacks ready so might hold off a few turns tech construction and declare at same time then finish him off with cats.

Mansa is like trade every tech possible as long as he get's every single one then he gets a culture victory if you don't wipe em out before you start space race or vassal him. I think he's about the friendliest AI there is ever.

 

[capnvonbaron]

You can also direct a spy/espionage campaign at him and steal all his techs too, assuming you can out-EP him (larger empire + strong economy + courts/spy specialists = thanks for all your beakers!). But yeah Bizzy is probably better off dead. He'll spend a lot of hammers on wonders. I've never had him be a unit-spammer unless he's got some awesome situation with a huge empire and a bunch of wonders... put the hammer on him, prioritize optics and send caravels out to meet the rest of the world.

 

[Larwin]

I captured his capitol. Temple of Artemis and Pyramids. His first stack I encountered was an Axeman and 5 workers. hehe. Now I have enough workers for the whole island. I see why it's better to wait to attack the AI sometimes.