Thought I'd seen everything

[al_thor]

AI Trading happens DURING "your" turn......

Situation: You are 1 turn away from learning a tech. You check with everyone and everything looks cool (you will be the first). You hit the button for "next turn".
When it comes around to "your" turn, the VERY FIRST thing that happens is that a pop-up window tells you that you have completed the Tech. Guess what? If you don't say "What's the big picture?" and proceed to trade that tech by switching to Foreign Advisor screen, one of the AI's CAN learn it and trade it BEFORE you get through all of the other pop-ups (production completion, civil disorder, etc).
I have seen this happen TWICE in my current game at Demigod level. It's insane. You HAVE to wheel and deal immediately from the Tech Completion pop-up window or lose out on your advantage (and thousands of dollars!).
I hope that I explained this in a way that is understandable. If not, let me know an I will elaborate.

Don't get mad - get even!

 

[Admiral_Tarton]

Kill them all!!
Fwahahaha!!

 

[ybbor]

oh, wow! that's interesting! i din't know that


@Admiral_Tarton: no spaming

 

[Greyhawk1]

Originally posted by al_thor
AI Trading happens DURING "your" turn......

Situation: You are 1 turn away from learning a tech. You check with everyone and everything looks cool (you will be the first). You hit the button for "next turn".
When it comes around to "your" turn, the VERY FIRST thing that happens is that a pop-up window tells you that you have completed the Tech. Guess what? If you don't say "What's the big picture?" and proceed to trade that tech by switching to Foreign Advisor screen, one of the AI's CAN learn it and trade it BEFORE you get through all of the other pop-ups (production completion, civil disorder, etc).
I have seen this happen TWICE in my current game at Demigod level. It's insane. You HAVE to wheel and deal immediately from the Tech Completion pop-up window or lose out on your advantage (and thousands of dollars!).
I hope that I explained this in a way that is understandable. If not, let me know an I will elaborate.

Don't get mad - get even!

Now THAT is something I didnt know . Is there no end to AI cheesiness?

 

[The Last Conformist]

I don't think that's so much of an AI "cheat" as a piece of poor implementation.

 

[Greyhawk1]

hehe...I used "cheesiness" as a holdover from my days on the Interplay boards. Basically it isnt cheating per se but the use of alternative rules for the AI to bolster either bad AI programming or to stop the AI programming from being so long it'd slow the game down a lot.

I dont class it specifically as cheating since its an integral part of Civ's difficulty levels.

This term was applied liberally to the use of the D&D rules in the Baldur's Gate series being more like a guideline than a rule for computer controlled enemies and non-player characters, whereas the rules were strictly adhered to for player characters.

It was filed under the heading "annoying" rather than "cheating"

 

[The Last Conformist]

My point was that I doubt it was done on purpose, to help the AI. I suspect it's an accidental consequence of how the turn sequence is ordered.

 

[kb2tvl]

What al_thor said. I do this all the time.

 

[al_thor]

I agree. It's most likely all in the ordering of the logic. We think of it as the start of "our" turn because of the pop-up. Instead, this is probably the point in the program when all Civs are awarded the research points. As the human, you "go" first.
When you think about it, it's kind of an exploit. The AI will still give you a ton for that Tech, even though he is only half a turn away from finishing it. I for one will continue to use this tactic, as it is still kind of a crap-shoot as to the timing - the AI finishing the same tech on the same turn as you. Usually, you are either ahead or behind. But, if you are neck-and-neck and suspect that he is researching the same thing, it would be wise to use the sequence mentioned above to maximize your gain.

 

[Commander Bello]

Nevertheless, if we put the fact aside that we still love to play Civ3, it would constitute another evidence that the programming after all is done in just a "sub-optimale" way.

 

[Cedrick]

But that is why we have these boards 8) So the programmers can see where they need to improve for the next time.

 

[Commander Bello]

That is, what we have to hope for.
Plenty of time for Civ4... I hope, they will do a total rework on the game engine.