Well how did this happen. (AI 20 techs ahead of everyone else)
- Thread starter dexters
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Feyd Rautha
King
Island starts were only bad in Civ IV because tech trading was rampant and because you received a sizable benefit from international trade routes. In Civ V, Island starts are preferable because you can't be rushed and a lack of trading partners is not a death sentence.
I understand the tech mechanics. Teching is a function of gold income and contacts via research agreements and population. No sliders. Obviously no trading.
The setup with 4 civs one continent, 3 one another. Haiwatha alone on his smaller island. It's just amazing how fast he's zoomed ahead. While Napoleon and me were at 55 techsm he was at 77.
Must have been some super lucky early ruins/engineers/wonder rushes. I've never seen AI achieve this, and outstrip everyone else including other AI. It's like this AI was playing on a different difficulty level.
The setup with 4 civs one continent, 3 one another. Haiwatha alone on his smaller island. It's just amazing how fast he's zoomed ahead. While Napoleon and me were at 55 techsm he was at 77.
Must have been some super lucky early ruins/engineers/wonder rushes. I've never seen AI achieve this, and outstrip everyone else including other AI. It's like this AI was playing on a different difficulty level.
Maybe he also got out and made contact by the third age and could then get research deals. Did you see any research agreement popups for him?
Very possible, but that begs the question why no one on the other continent has kept pace.
I didnt meet him until much later on. And I believe GUI won't show deals if you haven't met the civs.
Johan de Witt
Prince
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2005
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- 415
Perhaps he was just a fair bit richer than the rest. When he makes research agreements with a couple of people, they all get one research and he gets a lot.
H4run
Deity
My best guess is that being on his own island means no war for him really which means no wasted funds going into dead soldiers meaning more money for research agreement spamming and with that he could easily shoot ahead. If you had met him and known about it sooner you could pepper him with some naval bombardment and get him to focus on you a bit more.
Spatzimaus
Mad Scientist
Here's the thing. In Civ5, if you start on a remote island, then by the time you make contact with everyone else you'll have a huge amount of money, as has been discussed before. But basically, this means that it doesn't really matter WHEN you make the research agreements; as soon as you make contact you'll make five or six agreements at once, and a few turns later get a massive influx of techs (while your research partners only get one each). Sure, the cost goes up a bit based on the era of the tech leader, but it's not a large enough jump to change much. I had this happen in my last game; I'd started on a continent with three other civs (on a 10-civ map), wiped out all three with War Chariots, and then nothing happened until I got Astronomy. As soon as I met the other civs, some of whom were ahead of me technologically, I had enough cash to sigh research agreements with five of them at once. The result put me well ahead of the pack.
And if you were alone on that island, you'll probably be in better shape to begin with. No need to waste money rushing a unit, no lost turns of production creating a unit you didn't need. So unlike in Civ4, this is really the BEST possible start.
Zhahz
PC Gamer
I didn't load up the save but I'd imagine the Iroquois have a decent sized landmass spammed with cities, a nice population, and are cranking research at a good clip. Probably has some maritime allies for food/pop boost.
Iroquios are fun to play - I like to TP forests or build LMs and with longhouses both get to be ridiculous for production if you have a lot of forests around (which also makes for less road building for them so you build up more gold too).
Iroquois also often seem to be like france as AIs roll - they often end up with huge empires via conquest. Kinda funny, they both act all friendly and cooperative but both tend to shred other AIs to expand. Usually if I'm early and seeing other unmet civs/CS fall a lot, it's the french or iroquois who are responsible.
The AI sucks at tactical combat, but a lot of other aspects of the AI are very good.
For ex, the AI seems to be very smart about knowing it has an isolated start and takes advantage of it like a player would.
I've seen an isolated babylon with 7 acadamies (posted an SS here about it a while back).
I've also seen runaway AIs with 25+ tech leads on me when I'm doing pretty well, so it's not really surprising.
Iroquios are fun to play - I like to TP forests or build LMs and with longhouses both get to be ridiculous for production if you have a lot of forests around (which also makes for less road building for them so you build up more gold too).
Iroquois also often seem to be like france as AIs roll - they often end up with huge empires via conquest. Kinda funny, they both act all friendly and cooperative but both tend to shred other AIs to expand. Usually if I'm early and seeing other unmet civs/CS fall a lot, it's the french or iroquois who are responsible.
The AI sucks at tactical combat, but a lot of other aspects of the AI are very good.
For ex, the AI seems to be very smart about knowing it has an isolated start and takes advantage of it like a player would.
I've seen an isolated babylon with 7 acadamies (posted an SS here about it a while back).
I've also seen runaway AIs with 25+ tech leads on me when I'm doing pretty well, so it's not really surprising.
Jharii
King
Simple, he had multiple research agreements while the civs he had agreements with only had the agreement with him. He gets 4 techs while they all get 1.
shinkicker
Warlord
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2010
- Messages
- 130
Maybe it's not luck. The AI does use specialists quite a bit, and if he pumped Great Scientists for the free tech and Great Engineers to rush the Wonder builds, he could do it -- at least that's how I do it, anyway.
Cincinnatus C.
Chieftain
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2010
- Messages
- 47
Personally, I usually either tech the bottom half of the tree or the top half depending, respectively, on whether or not I think I'm going to need longswordsmen/rifles.
Hiawatha hasn't been very aggressive in any of my games; it's possible that he simply grabbed education and similar techs early because he didn't need iron working et al.
Hiawatha hasn't been very aggressive in any of my games; it's possible that he simply grabbed education and similar techs early because he didn't need iron working et al.
DuseCutter
Chieftain
I just had an island start on continents. Completely ignored the bottom half of the tree and beelined Navigation using a couple Great Scientists. It was kind of ridiculous as I revealed Coal before I revealed Iron.
Isolated starts are so nice it's game changing. I no longer have problems with Civs on my borders mad that I'm in the way of their expanding. And for whatever reason, no one cares that I only have a warrior, a spearman (which I got from a ruins before I revealed iron), a trireme, a caravel and 2 archers in 1100 AD. No one says I'm puny, or that I'm going to be taken over by barbarians or any insults in general. It's a refreshing experience.
Isolated starts are so nice it's game changing. I no longer have problems with Civs on my borders mad that I'm in the way of their expanding. And for whatever reason, no one cares that I only have a warrior, a spearman (which I got from a ruins before I revealed iron), a trireme, a caravel and 2 archers in 1100 AD. No one says I'm puny, or that I'm going to be taken over by barbarians or any insults in general. It's a refreshing experience.
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