Stopping the threat of nuclear war

[jrefford]

You make the call (any advice?)
I'm playing king and finally doing okay against the AI. It's 1991 and I've been on a military campaign for about 300 years. So recently I've become the largest civ with 2 major AI competitors and 2 crappy AIs. The 2 AI competitors just started building the Manhatten Project and I'm afraid if they get it, I will lose any military advantage I might have. I think I can interrupt production of the MP with a spy, but both of the cities creating MP aren't very close and I'm at war with both civs - so getting someone in there to knock out production will be tough anyway

I think my strategy will be to reduce the 2 threatening civs through war and then go for the space race. I don't have enough time to conquer all...

Any thoughts???

 

[Dark Ascendant]

Do they have rocketry yet? Do you? That is important. If you can build nukes before they can, that gives you a greater advantade on the battlefield and the bargaining table.

 

[jrefford]

Yes we all have Rocketry. My hope is to avoid MP creation because I don't want any loss of population. I want the best score possible at the end!

 

[GaryNemo]

SDI Defense may be helpful. Try to search on something called Nuclear Sponge or some such. An SDI defends for 3 squares in every direction. So you can build a teeny city between several large ones, buy an SDI in it, and the AI will then waste many nukes on your large cities. It saves effort, in that you do not need an SDI Defense in each of your cities, just 20% to 45% of them. Also, you can build an SDI within 3 squares of an AI city you are about to capture, and get the last laugh

 

[TheViking]

Originally posted by jrefford
I don't have enough time to conquer all...

Any thoughts???

Assuming you can build howitzers (other parts of your message imply you can) and you have a few high-production cities 29 years should be plenty of time to conquer the world unless the geography is unusual. Simply build lots of howitzers, spies, engineers and ships. Switching to fundy is the easiest way. Important: Don't start attacking until you have several dozens (at least 30) howitzers. Set taxes to maximum and rush buy howies if producing them takes too much time.

Also it's often a good idea to soften the enemy defenses by killing everything inside several cities for a few consecutive turns before taking any cities. That way a possible counterattack becomes much less dangerous and you can capture many cities in one turn once you start capturing something. If possible, all cities to get rid of partisans. Do this by using one of a howitzer's movement point to attack and the other one to retreat to a fortress or city. A fortress might be better since it can't be bribed, particularly if the enemey is on a different continent.

The only thing you'll need to build in addition to the above (military units) is a few SDI defences in carefully selected locations and barracks if you don't have them.

 

[Old n Slow]

I’ve only had a few games where the nukes were in play -- so my ideas may not be as helpful as the other’s. In general, though, the anti-nuke activity should be highly correlated with the other war strategies. Cases to consider:

Escort transports with Aegis Cruisers until reaching land. Bring a few spies for these adventures (Rush build NOW). Sabotage the wonder efforts.

Go Fundy for cash & support freedoms.

Take cites away from your opponents -- Vet howies are A-one for this. Even with sloppy war activity, you should be able to get a few cities per turn (sell some of the ai infrastructure when you get there for a few extra bucks -- the cities may be at risk of being retaken.

Smack the capital (if feasible) Why? It’ll cost the ai $1K to relocate, else suffer the consequences of:

Buy buy, buy. If the ai is not in democracy, then very large important cities near the capital will cost a few $K; if there’s no capital, many of these can be purchased for under $1K.

Once the ai feels a severe pressure regarding a war, the wonder effort may be abandoned. Sabotaging a few of the wonder producing cities can also help -- even general sabotage (temples, etc. in a democracy) may cause the city to switch its production. Also, a war effort may cause the ai to switch out of democracy -- allowing the buy, buy, buy activity noted above.

If the opponent is truly fearsome, start the above activity by nibbling at the edges (the cities are cheaper to buy, and the associated defenses are less.) Grab the islands (the ai doesn’t invade well) and other sites far from the central core of the enemy empire.

1991? Need to make a choice -- another option is to be quiet for a few turns & opt for a peace (set up a few SDI tri city sites -- plop down a eng onto a square, move in a rifle, disband & RB the SDI. The size one city will not otherwise materially do much for your score). Have a few Aegis Cruisers & subs of your own ready for “fun”. Crank through Apollo & head for the stars. You may want to have an SDI in/near a couple of expected “Target” sites -- best is the coverage near but not in those sites -- the ai will continue to attack those same places (but may also attack others, too) so some of the nuke problems may be forestalled.

Just an idle question. How big is your war advantage? If you have 30 cities & your two major opponents have 25 each (and the other two civs have 12 each), then all out war with the intent to conquer IS a challenge. Similarly, if you’re getting tech advances every four turns, and only have a dozen cities to your opponents’ ten each, then the space race doesn’t look too good. On the other hand, if you have an empire of 80 cities, have all the necessary techs or are getting them a one per turn or so, facing major ai’s of 10-15 cities, then you have a chance of winning either way. You may want to save the game at this point & try to win one way then restart at the save to see if you can win the other way.

 

[jrefford]

Thanks for your advice. It's now 2002 (11 years have passed, and here's how things are going. In short nuclear war did not (or has not yet) come to pass. After reading TheViking's post I decided to punch AI in the mouth to see if I could get them in a defensive mode. Of the 2 major AI civs, I was able to take so many of their cities away that I guess they decided against going nuclear. One city did have a nuke, but now it's mine!

A totally aggressive strategy has been working for me (thanks Old n Slow!), which is not much different from my previous strategy, except I really pushed to take over the other civs as quickly as possible. Even if I was leaving important cities nearly undefended. I've been using spys to take cities when it was warranted, and using bombers and howitzers to take everything else.

One of the 2 major AIs is now in shambles, it has maybe 6 smallish cities left. I've just started to knock out the other major AI which is strong, but only has 8 cities, so it won't take long there.

Now that I have a dominating position on the map, I'm starting to build a space ship. I think that I can still squeek in some spaceship points before the game ends.

So thanks everyone. I'm very happy to finally be having a good go at the King level. I've had many miserable failures previously! Such a great game, and this a wonderful strategy forum....so many creative gamers!

 

[Dark Ascendant]

Originally posted by jrefford
Thanks for your advice. It's now 2002 (11 years have passed, and here's how things are going. In short nuclear war did not (or has not yet) come to pass. After reading TheViking's post I decided to punch AI in the mouth to see if I could get them in a defensive mode. Of the 2 major AI civs, I was able to take so many of their cities away that I guess they decided against going nuclear. One city did have a nuke, but now it's mine!

A totally aggressive strategy has been working for me (thanks Old n Slow!), which is not much different from my previous strategy, except I really pushed to take over the other civs as quickly as possible. Even if I was leaving important cities nearly undefended. I've been using spys to take cities when it was warranted, and using bombers and howitzers to take everything else.

One of the 2 major AIs is now in shambles, it has maybe 6 smallish cities left. I've just started to knock out the other major AI which is strong, but only has 8 cities, so it won't take long there.

Now that I have a dominating position on the map, I'm starting to build a space ship. I think that I can still squeek in some spaceship points before the game ends.

So thanks everyone. I'm very happy to finally be having a good go at the King level. I've had many miserable failures previously! Such a great game, and this a wonderful strategy forum....so many creative gamers!

Careful, if I were one of the invaded AI civs, I'd drop paratroopers behind your lines into cities that does not have a serious garrison. This forces you to recapture the city and deal with partisans. Then, I'd launch a counterattack while your supply lines are cut in half. Watch your flank, and don't leave large cities undefended or you'll have to face many partisans.