Stupid, back door wins!

[PimpyMicPimp]

I've lost my last two games because of the AI pulling some backdoor victories! It's so frustrating. My last game on Noble, I was going to go out with a bank as Ragnar with some intense naval action aiming for a Domination/Conquest victory. Things were going very well and I was oh so close to winning when a surprise AP win for Suryava loses me the game. Rawr, smash head into wall.
My next game, which was my first attempt at Prince, I was doing better than I expected. I had a 'meh' early expansion war but recovered quickly and eventually became a slight tech leader, going for Space Race. I had about 2/3 of the parts done when I noticed how close Pericles was to a cultural victory. I sent a rag-tag attack force to burn Sparta, his almost third legendary city to the ground, but he won as they were in transit.

How does this relate to strategy? Basically, keep an eye on what's going on. I should have noticed Pericles earlier on and made an army with the sole intent of crushing Sparta, and for the Ragnar game I should have been aware of the religious victory possiblitly and burned the AP city. Blah, I'm just frustrated Oh well, time to go take over another world, this time as JC...

 

[The Flame]

Yes, I agree, it's imporant to know what's happening around you. If something special happens in another civ (they create a powerful wonder, for example, or one of their cities achieves legendary culture), then it's important to restrain them. This is where spies seem to come in handy. If you have gatehred enough spy points then you can "delay" enemy cities (by causing a revolt, or causing unhappiness, etc.), and can then take out the cities if necessary.

 

[Refar]

The Culture wins are usually predictable enougth to prevent them - just take a look at the Victory Screen and/or Top 5 cities from time to time.

The AP thing is a bit harder - it can sometimes actually strike out of nothingg - the religion spreads to you a couple of turns later the elections... BOOM!!!. Still you can work against it - prevent spontaneous spread of the AP religion to your cities (no city already having a Religion, will get a new one at random). The Missionaries you can block of with close boarders, if needed. If can not prevent the religion from spreading to you, spread it to more cities, so you get more votes for yourself.

 

[PimpyMicPimp]

You're right, Refar. It's totally my fault I lost that last game, I usually do pay attention to these things (I've stopped that kind of loss before, noticing the French coming close and than obliterating the cities, I guess I'm still not 100% used to the AI even going for culture wins). The AP thing, I guess I could have seen the possibility of it coming, but religion was the last thing on my mind as my Modern Age ships and infantry were pwning the backward bhuddists.

 

[Refar]

There Should be a option to Defy diplomatic Victory.

It's kind of stupid, that Backward nations just vote themself to World Leaders.

I think maybe the way it was in Moo2: You can defy the Diplo Victory Vote, but then everyone who voted for the Winner dogpiles on you in kind of 'Holy War'

 

[Iranon]

This could easily be handled by the existent system: the usual happiness hit for those who defy the resolution, everyone else becomes a vassal of the winner if successful.

On the other hand, the risk of such unwanted backdoor action enhances the game in my opinion; you can't just grow mindlessly until victory is inevitable.
If the world is ready to unite under government for the betterment of mankind and you brutally overthrow the elected leader... you would, as Machiavelli put it, win power but not glory.

 

[kazapp]

I think this should be attacked from another angle.

If many players are surprised by AI AP victories, then the game does a poor job of giving hints that make you aware of any AI that tries to pull of that kind of stunt.

Just saying "continuously check this or that screen" is unambitious.

Most people don't find it fun to have to remember manual checks, and if the game makes it necessary, then it is the game that needs to be improved.

 

[Florian]

I think maybe the way it was in Moo2: You can defy the Diplo Victory Vote, but then everyone who voted for the Winner dogpiles on you in kind of 'Holy War'

In MOO1 too. The first time I ever pulled an all-nighter playing a computer game, it was a game of MOO1 in which the Bulrathi won the election and I thought I'd lost, but I defied the election to see what would happen. The whole galaxy united against me, all sharing their techs so that even the guys who had been weak suddenly had better tech than I did. They didn't attack in a coordinated fashion, though, and I managed to take Orion and get the uber-techs there, which gave me a slight tech lead again. I was the Darloks, so I got a lot of tech by stealing it too, and went on to win the game by destroying every other race in the galaxy. That was quite the rush.

 

[Sarek]

I can relate.
In a just completed LOSS I was going for a space race and was concentrating on the competing Civ in that race when I noticed (oddly enough) Pericles getting close to a culture win.
I was just checking the victories screen...my error!

I too sent a small army to crush one of his cities, but by the time they arrived at his border another Civ (Brennus) beat him to the culture win!
Didn't see that coming...my fault of course!