When do you throw the towel in?

[ackoman]

Usually, at this point:

Spoiler :

As for your game, you can try and buy a few friendly AI's votes; you mentioned being on good terms with them. Just send your diplomats to their capitals (as diplomats, not spies! And well before the UN voting - it takes 6 or 7 turns of for them to settle in). If an AI agrees to accept the trade, it gives you 4 votes. The price may be arm and leg, but if those votes give you victory, it is not too much. It is better to bribe the AIs first and only then ally the few lacking CSs, otherwise the AI may 'sense' the danger and just refuse any bribe from you, however friendly it is - I've had such an experience. Also, get Globalization, if it is within reach.

Yes, I think I may have approached it the wrong way around - I've almost got all of the City States on board, yet the AIs are refusing to budge - even the ones who share my religion will not give me their votes. I think I may just get Globalisation and that should be enough to swing it.

 

[beetle]

I've almost got all of the City States on board, yet the AIs are refusing to budge - even the ones who share my religion will not give me their votes.

That is very typical. The AIs will not sell their vote, at any price, if they think you are “close” (I am not sure of the threshold for “close”). OTOH, if the vote is not “close”, each AI that likes you might sell their vote for some pretty high price. So, with sufficient bankroll, you can line those up, then ally all the CS you need on balance for the win. The nice thing about AI votes is that they will sell for lux/resources/gpt. CS, of course, pretty much take only gold in specific lump sums.

I have only rarely been able to make that work out because, in my experience, CS allies seem to usually be more of a steady-state rather than one-time-bribe. The Freedom trade routes and spy-in-CS are reliable, but slow acting. So mostly I end waiting on Globalization and the second or third WL vote. Those votes start coming every ten turns, but it can be nail-biting!

 

[ackoman]

Well, I lost. Two votes short at the World Leader vote, and then on the next turn Rome got his Culture Victory


In hindsight, I perhaps should not have abandoned research and concentrated solely on gold - if I'd kept the research up I might have got globalisation and that might have just got me over the line.

I might go back to an earlier save and see if I can do it. I was wondering, what could I do to try and put off Rome's tourism? If I get an Embargo through the Congress, could that dent it?

 

[Ninakoru]

There are constraints to when the AI is allowed to spend, thank goodness. It is part of play balance that looks clumsy, but works out okay.

Uh, to me is bad player simulation.

Any player would spend that gold on buildings/units/CS to press the game towards his goals.

AI will only buy units for emergencies and military operations, and spend 500 gold in ONE City State.

 

[beetle]

Starting with bad player simulation as a given, the AI needs serious advantages to be competitive. Given the serious advantages, there are race conditions that snowball. So then there needs to a firebreak for the snowball resulting from the race conditions. It only looks clumsy, but it makes sense. The other obvious alternative is the AI winning every game!

 

[ackoman]

So, on replaying the last 50 turns or so I won - concentrating on science rather than gold swung it. I got Globalisation on the same turn as the World Leader vote, and had already moved my spies into the AI capitals, and won the vote with 4 votes to spare.

For some reason the target vote dropped from 36 to 35 a few turns before the vote - what event might explain that?



Ackoman

 

[beetle]

Well, I lost. Two votes short at the World Leader vote, and then on the next turn Rome got his Culture Victory

So, on replaying the last 50 turns or so I won - concentrating on science rather than gold swung it.

Congrats! (I have no idea why the count decreased. Usually that is a civ or CS being eliminated.)