The Fate of the World Hinges on One Decision

[DrJambo]

What difficulty levels are all you guys playing at?

I think that plays a major role in the way the AI perceives the human player...

So far i have done relatively well at Warlord and Regent levels, never tried any higher..

 

[Arrian]

Ouch. I've yet to have the whole world gang up on me, but I have DEFINITELY experienced the irritation of starting near the Mean, Nasty, Demanding, Warmongering Bismarck man. I hate that guy. Since my strategy usually includes a build-up phase where my army is small and totally defensive, while I'm pumping out city improvements, it's the Germans that mess me up most often. You can almost count on getting a demand from Bismarck early in the game.

-Arrian

 

[ripcord_tx]

This was on the Warlord level.

Yes, I may have been Persion, but remember - I played the same scenario twice, still Persian. The first scenario was WW1 and I was overrun by all my neighbors. I repeated, but offered 30 gold to turn the Germans away before their first attack. I'm now up to year 1500, 2nd only behind the Americans, and I haven't been in a war since. Not that the Zulu and Germans haven't tried to get my help against the Americans. 8)

 

[Cantankerous]

My most common adversary seems to be the Zulu. I usually play the Romans or Aztecs (occasionally the Germans), but I don't typically have problems with the Germans (when I'm not them).

The Persians, though... They seem to love to go to war. Anytime. Anyone. Anywhere.

But if I share a border with the Zulu, I might as well forget about city improvements and culture because rest assured that war is on the horizon...

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Here is a tip. After you do your initial expansion and have encountered your first 2-4 civs, check which one is militant. That is the one that is going to demand the most, the most often. And that's the one you need to gear up to handle. I think I played 15 games or so before the Germans or the Romans let me get through the middle ages. And even then, it was only because the Japanese or Zulus were jumping on me sooner.

If there is only one militant civ on your continent, and you ally with the other local civs to take them out early, then you can play a very peaceful game from then on.

 

[LeroyJr]

The Germans lulled me in my first handfull of games. They always got really crappy starting locations and seem a little bit more civil when you seriously out gun them early on. I woke up when early in one game as I was peacefully building my little Civ 18 German horsemen showed up on my doorstep and said lets go. Doohh. Will not get lulled by them again.

The Zulu's were the first Civ to really teach me that lesson. They are relentless but dumb as posts. I now just bide my time with them. They may kick my but early but eventually I will roll cavalry and tanks over their mighty Impi's or whatever they are.

I have never had Persia as my next door neighbor. Rarely are they ever a player though after the effectiveness of the Immortals is eliminated.

Be very aware of the militaristic nutcases though.

 

[Moulton]

Persia has always been an also ran in my games. I chose them this time for their strength... industrious and scientific. I wanted to claim a corner, and make it grow strong but not big... looking for a cultural win with out war. Boy was I surprised. War most of the time, and a donimation win...
Germany has never given me trouble, he is just assinine and arrogant.
I don't know who to take next. Mayby I'll do the GOTM.

 

[rodgersmc]

Originally posted by simon.hurst
The question is, Is it worth giving in to the AI demands to avoid a war? I'm pretty stuborn in that it really bugs me to give them something for nothing but the war can really screw you as well. If i do give in to someone it is then my mission for the rest of the game to totally and utterly f**k their empire regardless of all other objectives. Perhaps I'd win more if i was less stubborn but what the hell!

Absolutely worth it. #1 rule in Civ3 is get over your pride. Case in point: current game I'm ranked around 4th or 5th. I'm playing on emperor level. (side note... on the harder levels I find that while the AI is more aggressive, he is less randomly so. That is, they rarely attack with only 1 or 2 men for a quicky fight as you find at lower levels. Its almost as if the programers programmed the AI to not only want to hurt you, but want to stay alive. As such, at higher levels, they know that you are competent and will kill them quickly if they declare war on you when unprepared). Anyhoo, Persia (of course) is the powerhouse and every 5 to 10 turns asks me for 10 gold and a territory map; they are at polite standing. I'm a french democracy making 50 gold a turn... why not give them the gold? I don't need that havoc right now. I just cleaned up the Russians (they were messing with my buddies) and am turning on the Germans and Iroquios.

Point being, 10 gold every now and then is well worth the effort. I've been at peace with everyone in the world the entire game by constantly trading and retrading furs and by paying stupid little demands. I guarantee I would have died long ago w/out it. My only war was with Russia who was polite with me before I started it, only because my favorite ally is rather week and needed help (ally used liberally... no MPP's yet).

 

[Huanie]

I think the aspects of having a "world war" is absolutely the best part of this game. In the current game that I play, Emperor on huge pangea, there used to be 6 civs on the same continent with me. Using the despot-rush I rushed out the Babs, later on took out Russia and almost completely killed off the Americans. But hey, I am an American so I showed my respect to Mr. Lincoln, and told him to stay put on that little backyard garden that I leave him to tend for me.

Over the years as I move on to conquer more land, and eventually even move to different continent, I think having an ally on the home continent helps...of course let's hope he doesn't backstab me. But when I move onto a different continent, Americans served a purpose to defend my land since we have ROP and we have railroads everywhere. When my forces are thin on the home continent, he can at least hinder the enemy movements while I regroup my defensive forces to hold off the enemies. Doesn't hurt to have a friend close by...of course I have also been eyeing on his wine patches for some time now...*grin*

Huanie!

 

[Moulton]

10 gold now and then is no problem. 700 gold, or a tech or two is. I have not played higher than regent, except once. Every body declared war on me in monarch, almost as soon as the game started, and it lost very quickly. I will go back when my skills increase.
Good luck on getting an ally out of an enemy. the ones I beat down to a few cities stay furious with me forever. They dont even appreciate the generosity with which I give them a reservation.
I even gave Aztec a city, last game , and a few turns later he found an undefended city and declared war on me to take it. It used to be an aztec city, so maybe he thought it was fair game.

 

[Ironikinit]

If you take a big chunk of somebody, it's best to finish the job. They'll usually just hate you forever.

 

[Magnus]

Well my last game, as the Indians, I had an explorer way up North (its a long N-S continent, I am at the bottom). My explorer was doing intellligence work on the Zulu-Persian War. Well the war ended and a few turns later the Babalonians (furthest North) sent a MASSIVE force into Zulu territory, but did not declare war on them, as I thought they might cuz the Zulu's were weakened by their struggle with the Persians, then the Babs moved into Persian lands (further south) and I thought - ahhhh of course, they had warred a while back and now is the payback. Wrong Again. Now they move into Russian territory so I think maybe THIS is the target? after that point tehre is Germany and then ME. Well, while the Babs are smack in the middle of Russian territory, suddenly a Bab trireme pops up next to Bombay and drops off two warriors, and then - THEY ATTACK BOMBAY!!!! and immediately die against my fortified musketeer. Well I simply go to Russia, Germany and Persia (the countries that surround the Babylonian force) and for remarkably few gold (I have excellent dip relations), they all declare war on the Babs - not a single soldier ever made it to my border. I was lucky I had the advanced knowledge by the explorer!

 

[Agentdenton]

I managed to get 2/3 of a conintent(Rest Iriquois and Chinese) then i discover that India is attacking the Iraquois and Chinese,Huge mistake. The Babyloians had a MP with the Chinese. Later on i joined the fight(I managed to wipe out the indians and later the Iraquois). It was funny as there were random patches of land that other civs took(I saw the same thing happen to germany. I allied with Babylon aginst the Zulu and Japanese. The Babylons manage to drag the French, Rome in the conflict. I managed to launch. Eariler i took some chinese cities, funny as they became some of my most valuable cities. War is the best part as everyone is a Bastard in the game.
12 civs starting
8 civs surviving
Civs that were Elimnated
Russia
Indians
Iraquois
Germany

 

[Mozenwrath]

I also enjoy the way that in a few turns, the whole world can be dragged into a war that was started over some demand for a technology. I never give into demands, dunno why, I'm usually a militaristic civ and I build up an offensive military early on. I am also quite partial to revenge;

I am on a large continenet on a standard map with 6 civs in total. I, the americans managed to close down the Romans early on and wipe them out. later on, the Iroqouis, also on my continent began to annoy me by colonizing lots of little bits here and there. I decided to take the territory nearest to me to shock them into laying off. I built up an absolutely HUGE (even by my standards) force of Cavalry, about 8 units for each of the 9 or so cities.

When all the units were in position, I demanded the cities just in case. Obviously, they refused so I declared war. All but one city had been won by the end of that turn so I tried to negotiate peace. However to my amazement, they refused to acknowledge my emmisary! Then, shockingly, they took a few knoghts to one of my native border cities and managed to defeat my three riflemen and razed the city!

I decided to make them pay... 200 years and a whole lot of civil disorder later, I had destroyed them and was top dog by miles with my huge continent. A few turns ago though, the weak Egyptians demanded a tech, naturally I told them to F**k off, when they declared war. It was only then that I realised they had MPPs with my "friends" the only other two remaining civs, the Japs and Greeks. So now, it's me versus the rest of the world and things are going well so far, I kept my Cavalry from the Iroquois war and have taken a few cities, while my defenses have held out... so far. Only a few turns have passed though and the #2 Japs are beginning to look a little scary...

P.S. Sorry about the longevity of this but it has been my best game to date and I wanted to tell everyone about it.

 

[hzm]

If you don't want the other civ to get mad at you if you say no ask if they would listen to a counter proposal then say never mind. It's a bug I guess .

 

[sd5]

Originally posted by Cantankerous
I think the AI acts a little more like sharks in a frenzy. (OK, semantics here.)

But it never fails in my games (Regent level) with 15 or 16 civs that around the late middle ages, the sharks start to swim.

Most, if not all, civs make through the middle of Middle Ages, but then seemingly without fail one civ declares war on another. Then within 5 or 6 turns, virtually the whole world is at war against that one weaker civ. Rinse, and repeat. Soon there are maybe 10 civs left for the modern age. The trick is making sure you're one of the civs that make into modern times.

If the AI thinks you're weak, they WILL declare war. And they will bring friends to the party.

This always happens to me, and right now Im embrioled in the middle of it. As the Persian's playing on Deity on Marla Singer's Huge World Map with correct starting locations, I had been planning to invade the Babylonians, my closest neighbor) as soon as I had built enough immortals to do it quickly. It was still like 700bc and, after engaging in techbrokering for the early part of the game, I had built up a lot of money. Well, I still didnt have iron working yet so I decided to steal it from the Indians (who had just sold writing to me and were pretty far away and a little weaker than me. Well, after stealing Iron working, relations with me and India soured and i knew war was on the horizon so I had been pumping out Immortals as fast as I could and moving them to my borders with both Babylon and India.

Well, as expected, India declared war on me, but to my suprise, within 1 turn, the Babylonians, Chinese, Russians, Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and English (most suprising of all), had all joined India in their war against me. So, I thought I was totally screwed, but luckily, I got the Zulus to attack Egypt from the south and France to attack Rome and Greece, and the Japanese (even though they were weak as hell and didnt even have map making until I gave it to them) to attack China.
The Frech ended up getting conquered pretty quick and so did the Japanese, but I was able to totally thrash India and Babylon while the French were occupying the Greeks and Romans and the Egyptians had to deal with the Zulus. Then I negotiated peace with Greece, and they actually ended up attacking Rome. With help from the Zulus I conquered Egypt, and I was able to conquer all of China except for the islands that they took from the Japanese. So now Im still at war with Russia (who is stilla formidable power) and England, though Im not really worried about the English. I also am a little concerned about the greeks because even though Im at peace with them, they are getting too powerful because theyve all but conquered Rome. I guess all and all the war has really turned out good for me, but I cant help laughing about the fact that it all started from me stealing a tech from the Indians.

 

[Moulton]

Aztecs have been a pain this game (regent). The discovered my land, and moved settlers in faster than I could respond, taking some of the best remaining spots.
then they agreed to join my war with the Zulu (which the Zulu started) Havent seen a Zulu yet, they are far away. Then they started moving hordes of units through my land. So I geve them an ROP. assuming they are going to war with Zulu. I think they actually did. After 20 turns, the did not renew the ROP, but left hordes of troops moving all through my land. I am not ready for war--I could be, but i am in the middle of two wonders, and dont need that ruined.
So they demanded my world map... and I dont want them to see the newly discovered plains/grassland sub-continent I discovered. I blocked access to it, so they declared war. I have pleanty of defense, but not enough mobile units (knights), so they could not win cities, so they just wrecked my road system. (Of course, I have to admit, it i go to war, I do the same thing to them...)
Guess I should have given him my map.
Aztecs have a great dialogue system, though--when I made the ROP, he said "thanks, uh, whatever your cultures name is..."

 

[Marzipan]

hehe these are good stories. No doubt that the AI leaders have no trouble making deals with each other, etc. I've been on the receiving end of all the other civs too, and it's not fun. Tried to make peace with the Zulus and they asked for Rome. Not gonna happen!

In my latest game I've had some success pitting them against each other. I've always played as Roman so far, and it seems Greece always ends up being a power to contend with. In this game Iriquois were on the northwestern side of the continent, Egyptians on the northeastern side, Greeks tucked in sout of them, and me south and east of the Greeks. I claimed a good chunk of territory, but it was a race against the others to fill in the southen end of the continent. The southern end was a patchwork of Greek, Iriqois, and Roman settlements. Since the Iriquois were the farthest away, I figured I'd try capturing or destroying their settlements first, but I didn't have any horses and they did. I bought horses from them, and for 20 turns built all the horsemen I could. Then when the deal expired, I attacked them with the horses I bought from them when some of their forces finally got down (through Greece) to attack me, I got Greece to ally with me. After a while that little war ended, and I had succeeded in capturing the southern Iriquois settlements. Several turns of peace go by, and I build up my forces, getting ready to take on the Greeks. When I finally launch my attack against the Greeks, I get the Iriquois to ally with me ! By the time that little spat was over, both the Iriquois and Greeks were beaten back to just the areas around their starting locations and not very powerful, so then the Egyptians come in and wipe them both out and we split up the territory (although they got most of it). How satisfying to see Alexander's empire wiped out.

 

[Moulton]

You shouldnt talk about me like that. I am Greece, and my arch enemy is Rome...
The war started when I first met them... they left their capitol undefended, and I thought, why not? Time I got forces there == it was about 12 turns away == they had defenses. they sent everything they could against me, spearmen and warriors, against hoplites and archers. Neither of us had any iron, but they had horses, and developed horsemen... who fell back from the hoplites, only to be pinned by archers
I have only just now got iron and horses, and its 1100ad. Rome has only just found his iron.
They were both --rome and aztec--after my land. And both had land available on the other side.... but they wanted MINE. If Rome had expanded the other way, with no opposition, she would have found her iron and horses. And if I had moved away, instead of sparring with her, I would have fournd my horses and iron.... IronIc, no?

 

[sd5]

yet again, one fateful decision has turned the tide of the game. after spending hours rebuilding the delicate balance of power that would let my persian empire live in peace, i upset it with one move. since i was starting to worry about the greeks and they were about to take over the romans final city, rome, i decided to beat them to it because it had the sun tzus art of war and i didnt want the greeks to get it. well, i took over rome with horsemen, but the greeks broke our peace and attacked me. i guess they wanted the wonder too. well, they re-allied with the russians and brought the germans in also against me. what makes things worse is that after conquering all of babylon, india, china, and most of egypt in fairly short time, my resources are streched really thin on the outer parts of my empire (my cities in china that happen to be on the border with russia) and corruption is so bad that i cant build much of anything in those areas. plus, i had diverted some troops away from my border with greece to take over the last remaining french cities (even though they were my ally), because they were in north africa and i figured if i didnt get them, the greeks would. so now the zulus, my other ally, is pissed because i broke my alliance with france.

so it looks like i might have brought the wrath of the whole world against me again. i guess that what i get for pushing my luck. it isnt easy being a total warmonger, but it sure is a lot of fun.