the AI is NOT my friend and other gripes and thoughts

[Barker]

Irrigating in Despotism does give a bonus, but only to specific resources. Despotism does NOT give a max of 2 resources per square, but reduces any square that gives 3 or more of a resourece 1 LESS. This means that:

flood plains = 4 food (non-despot) 3 in Despot
irrigated flood plains = 5 food (non-despot) 4 in despot
grassland cattle = 3 food (non-despot) 2 in despot
irrigated grassland cattle = 4 food (non-despot) 3 in despot.

It is only useless to irrigate when the terrain only gives 2 food in non-despot (grassland). All other terrain types will gain benefit of irrigation in despotism.

 

[nullspace]

CivIIfenthusiast, if you've got the military to do it, you can go and take those strategic resources from your enemies. Just capture the city nearest to the resource, and hook its roads to yours. It sounds like you have a big military advantage, so go ahead. Any trade deals in effect between you and the civ you declare war on will be broken off when you declare war, so make sure you do get what you want. If the resource is right near your border, you could do it more peacefully: Build culture improvements your city near the resources, and get your borders to expand to include the resources. Connect them with roads and you're set.

To answer some of your other questions:

Fortresses are nice if you intend to defend a particular vulnerable spot for a long time, but I don't usually build them.

Having wokers captured shouldn't be much of a problem. The AI loves to do it, just don't give them the opportunity. Workers near the front lines have to be defended with a unit or two. If an enemy sneaks into your interior, some fast units moving on your rails and roads should be able to kill the enemy and recapture your workers on the next turn. Keep a response team like this where they can reach any of your cities quickly.

 

[Mad Bomber]

CivIIenthusiast:

City improvements you need depend a lot on what level you play on. On all levels happiness improvements are needed. On low levels you will need to build some scientific research improvements (libraries, universities) And on the highest levels you need monetary improvements the most (market places, banks) Just remember to keep a balance of military units, settlers, and city improvements.

When a city is founded I usually build in this order:
1) Defensive unit
2) Settler
3) City Improvement
4) Worker
5) Offensive unit

I try to follow this as much as possible, but it does depend on terrain features of the city being worked, if its on a flood plains with a river it will produce more settler/defense combos. If it isn't growing but has good production it builds more military units. However, following this general pattern ensures that you cover all of the basics.

Nothing wrong with putting troops on the border, just make sure that when your opponets borders expand that you move your units back to your territory. Fortresses are good for defending those troops on the border or in other places they may be there for a while, but are of secondary importance unless you are expecting an attack.

Workers can only be captured during war (or killed by barbarians) if they are in lands not explored or inhabited, have a couple of fast moving units nearby (chariot, horse, knight) if they are near a border of a civ you are at war with send them to a city that is adequatly defended (2 or more defensive units)

Finally, It sounds like you have the advantage over the Aztecs. With all the crap you have put up with you may want to end their miserable existance. If you want to attack them just make sure their are no agreements between you, you have no troops in their territory, & renegotiate the peace treaty.

 

[ThePrankMonkey]

well amazingly enough i cant culture flip this city or any aztec city for that matter. i've had no problems getting the iriqouis cities to flip for me (and they have been my friends through out the entire game and havent done a sneaky thing to me). my cities are larger (like upper 20s while the aztec cities are no more than a 15 at best) and i have EVERY last cultural improvement i can build or buy and they jsut wont budge. most of the civs are jealous of my culture but i jsut cant get this one city to flip....its probably because there are THREE sources of aluminum in its radius. and good ole montezuma is doing all he cane to keep those people happy, cant say i blame him either.


this is all a moot point now, i have my own aluminum in my territory so i dont need them. i still have a hard time getting coal from anywhere but from the aztecs. i HATE relying on these SOBs so i build more railroads (i'm building new cities and i need roads that connect them to the rest of the civ). i try to avoid doing deals with civs i dont like and dont like me (because i get GOUGED on the deal) but i have to. i have 2 sources of oil that are my own but i need plutonium for my ICBM/tactical nuke stockpile (and boy is it a stockpile!) and i'm HAVE to deal with the persians for it. that wont last long hopefully i have a new city in their neck of the woods and its actually TAKING some of their squares with my cultural influence making a huge difference (i'm also making like 100-300 gold per turn so i could afford to get them fast). i almost have one of persia's cities isolated and i expect it to flip soon.

i'm still top dog in the game (as far as military might goes, refuse my demands and BOOM and an ICBM-a-gram is sent to your door as a "sorry we couldnt come to an agreement" card) but everyone else has some resource i need and i know why the game is set up that way but still, i dont like it.

 

[Aggie]

I suppose that it is not useful to mine a square with 0 or 1 shields. Am I correct?

 

[Volstag]

Aye... sometimes the AI comes up with some pretty insane trades/demands. However, there are many times when I've come out smelling like roses from a trade (i.e. heavily in my favor). In my mind I've damn near crippled Civs just from my heavy trades -- like a certain Civ paying me +300 gold/turn for a tech, luxuries, etc. The bottom line is this: if the price is too high, don't do it. If it's something you _really_ need... well, that's the name of the game. You're going to have to make sacrifices from time to time.

The AI will only respect your borders if they know you can kick their ass. And by that I mean you have a huge military advantage. Even then they'll still try and move across your territory. If the AI has a huge military advantage over you, they'll come and go as they wish -- and generally I'll let them do it (especially if they're in a position to obliterate me).

The AI, IIRC, only "cheats" at Monarch level and higher.

As for workers: DO NOT AUTOMATE THEM. Well, don't automate them until well into the "late game". Actually, there are times when I have so many workers (from conquest, trades or just outright building them), that I will put a couple of them on automate.

Keeping your people happy: It took me many games to finally realize what was going on here. It comes down to four things: luxuries, luxury tax, garrisons and "happy improvements" (temples, cathedrals, etc). Generally I never have to take my luxury tax up over 0%. And if I do, it's never above 10% for more than a handful of turns. I'm obsessed with obtaining luxuries and/or trading for them. In conjunction with a marketplace, you can keep a lot of folks pleased. Also, if you're running under Despotism, Monarch or Communism, you can use garrisoned troops to keep your people happy.

Tech Race: The AI civs generally get ahead in tech quicker because they trade techs like mad with each other. One word of advice: as soon as you research a new tech, shop it around to the other civs and see what you can get for it. You might as well do it, since they're, most likely, going to get it sooner or later anyway. In some regent level games, the only way I can stay abreast of the tech race is by the heavy trading/purchusing of techs. If you want to just flat-out "win" the tech race (or be the forerunner) you're going to need the infrastructure to support it. Personally I don't creating scientists does jack squat. What helps the most is Libraries, Universities, Research Labs (and lots of them). Don't forget your science boosting great wonders, and a generous helping of funds being spent into your science rate (ideally 60%+).

Just keep playing around with it... you'll figure it out (I did). What might help is if you read the Succession Game forum.

Out,
Volstag

 

[ThePrankMonkey]

The AI will only respect your borders if they know you can kick their ass. And by that I mean you have a huge military advantage. Even then they'll still try and move across your territory.

very true! i have started a second game and i am the romans, my neighbors happen to be the indians and they were not exactly obeying the rule of "do NOT trespass!" even though i had a much larger and more technologically advanced military force. they kept trying to cross my borders trying to create new cities on the other sides of my borders that would not be connected with the rest of their citiesand i told mr ghandi several times withdraw or declare war, he backed down and left my territory every time. i have out powered them, out cultured them and out scored them by a country mile. they have stopped now that i have settled the rest of the land to the south of me and my culture has pushed my border into the sea on the west side of my territory (where they kept trying to settle on one little square here and there). ive culture flipped a couple of there cities and expect this to happen a couple more times before this game is over. my cities are much larger than theirs and i'm about ready to invade them and assimilate them into my civ (i need coal and they have it except they have no use for it, they dont have steam engine tech and i do).




in this game i am playing against 5 other civs and i have more tech than them (by a long shot), more military might and more culture. this game is going my way so far but i must remember that i can be the low man on the totem pole in a big hurry if i dont watch myself so i have to use caution. even a cornered mouse will come out and strike like a tiger if you provoke him enough.