why does ai drive such a hard bargain?

[numidian]

ive played civ2 before but civ3 seems to me to be more stacked up against the human player. when i offer to buy techs from the AI, i have to pay through the nose. i pay 300, 400, 500 gold for these little techs early in the game. when i have to pay so much for these stupid techs i expect to get a little kindness in return when i sell to the AI. but noooo. when i offer the AI republic what does he offer me?? 1 gold. if im lucky i'll get 25 gold and maybe 2 gold a turn in addition to that. and keep in mind i play on regent because i can't seem to get past this level.

 

[Scuffer]

Presumably, the AI never offers you much, because it doesn't have any spare cash hanging around. On higher levels, the AI has lots of cash to buy things, the downside being you don't have anything to sell them!

If you have 300 spare cash in early in the game, and beating the AI to republic, you should be in a position to win easily.

 

[Turner]

It could be that the 1 gold the AI is offering you is all of it's gold. Or it's close to discovering the tech itself, so it won't pay as much for it as if it was researching something else.

 

[thetrooper]

Wait for middle/late game, when the whole map is well developed and the AI have marketplaces, banks and stock exchange. If you are still in the tech lead or you have monopoly on lux or strategic rescources - then you will see some "good" deals.

And, Welcome to CFC numidian!

 

[bingen]

Tech prices depend on the the number of other civilizations owning the tech, among other things. Buying from a civ that has a monopoly can be very expensive. As for selling, the AIs will pay good price if they can afford too. I recommend selling, even if they cannot pay top dollar, to fuel your own research

 

[AA-battery]

What I've noticed is that the more gold you have the more the AIs try to swindle you when you try to buy stuff. They usually would ask or more if I had 2000 gold than if I had 500 gold.

 

[Scuffer]

What I've noticed is that the more gold you have the more the AIs try to swindle you when you try to buy stuff. They usually would ask or more if I had 2000 gold than if I had 500 gold.

That's not swindling, that's common sense. You'd take every penny you could from them if they had 2000 gold. Well, I would anyway.

 

[AA-battery]

That's not swindling, that's common sense. You'd take every penny you could from them if they had 2000 gold. Well, I would anyway.

Yes, good point there. If I find myself being pushed around like that with an AI, then I just rediscuss peace terms and suddenly I get co-operation.

 

[Scuffer]

Gun boat diplomacy - can't beat it

 

[Mista]

Usually the AI will put all its available commerce into research, leavng little cash. I have had AI offer all their cash for a tech -- sometime 1 gold, sometimes 800 gold. It's rare that they have that much, but if they do, they will offer it.