Tweet
Nevordan, I'm having my own problems making a transition from Civ III/SMAC mindets to Civ IV. Still, I see a few point of simple advice I can pass on that could help you a lot.
First, diplomacy. Your posts seem to indicate you are being diplomacy reactive instead of diplomacy proactive. You really can't aford to be passive about diplomacy with the AIs. Personally, I check the diplomacy screen at the beginning of every single turn as a matter of course. You probably don't have to be that OCD about it, but frequent interactions with your AI opponents is a must.
From your comments about wanting to be 'left alone' upthread, I'll assume that your the type who doesn't go for ancient era warfare. If that's the case, you should be securing open border agreements with AI civs at the earliest possible opportunity. Upthread, you talked about AI leaders approaching you with demands for open border agreements. It shouldn't come to that. You want them and should make them as soon as you can.
One reason is that the open border agreements will give you positive relationship bonuses with the AI and act as a safeguard against war. At least they'll be a warning about war, because they have to be cancelled first before war can begin. All of this will help you with your goal of wanting to be left alone. Another reason is that open border agreements will let you explore the enemy civ territory at will (just as they will do the same). The reason why you want to do this is the same reason they do: apart from the intel, it has commerce value as an updated map. Every tile you uncover/update every turn adds value to your map, no matter how apparently useless (which is why you see so many AI Scott of the Antarctics running around). Trading maps for value is a big part of being successful in diplomacy with the AI.
You want to be on top of diplomacy at all times, because you want to make every trade that you possibly can (within reason). Trading adds positive bonuses to AI relationships. Even trades that have no value, such as, say, trading your only fish for a crab. You don't get anything more by having one crab, instead of one fish, but you do get a relationship bonus for it. That's valuable.
Buttering up the AI in early diplomacy is necessary work to get to the real value of AI diplomacy, which is tech trading. The biggest AI cheese built into the game is the fact that the AI will trade tech so freely among themselves that, effectively, they are stacking the power of their six research economies against your one. Suddenly, Noble level doesn't seem so even a match, does it? You have to counter that by being chummy enough with enough AI opponents that you can consistently trade tech with them, so you're not entirely frozen out of their science and technology club. This is especially important if, as a matter of play style, you're going to accept the natural results of the early land grab as the limit of your empire without going to war.
Like everything else in Civ, good diplomacy tends to have a snowball effect, as better relations lead to more trading, which leads to better trade opportunities, which leads to friendlier relations, etc.
On a related note, I'm beginning to realize just what a powerful force getting religion and being the center of one can be in the game, provided you send out those missionaries to convert your neighbors. This is another area you said you prefer to avoid. But neglecting it can snowball against you as powerfully as nurturing it can snowball to your advantage.
Diplomacy, exploration and religion have enormous power to swing the fortunes of the game. You may not like them, but you can't afford to neglect them.
First, diplomacy. Your posts seem to indicate you are being diplomacy reactive instead of diplomacy proactive. You really can't aford to be passive about diplomacy with the AIs. Personally, I check the diplomacy screen at the beginning of every single turn as a matter of course. You probably don't have to be that OCD about it, but frequent interactions with your AI opponents is a must.
From your comments about wanting to be 'left alone' upthread, I'll assume that your the type who doesn't go for ancient era warfare. If that's the case, you should be securing open border agreements with AI civs at the earliest possible opportunity. Upthread, you talked about AI leaders approaching you with demands for open border agreements. It shouldn't come to that. You want them and should make them as soon as you can.
One reason is that the open border agreements will give you positive relationship bonuses with the AI and act as a safeguard against war. At least they'll be a warning about war, because they have to be cancelled first before war can begin. All of this will help you with your goal of wanting to be left alone. Another reason is that open border agreements will let you explore the enemy civ territory at will (just as they will do the same). The reason why you want to do this is the same reason they do: apart from the intel, it has commerce value as an updated map. Every tile you uncover/update every turn adds value to your map, no matter how apparently useless (which is why you see so many AI Scott of the Antarctics running around). Trading maps for value is a big part of being successful in diplomacy with the AI.
You want to be on top of diplomacy at all times, because you want to make every trade that you possibly can (within reason). Trading adds positive bonuses to AI relationships. Even trades that have no value, such as, say, trading your only fish for a crab. You don't get anything more by having one crab, instead of one fish, but you do get a relationship bonus for it. That's valuable.
Buttering up the AI in early diplomacy is necessary work to get to the real value of AI diplomacy, which is tech trading. The biggest AI cheese built into the game is the fact that the AI will trade tech so freely among themselves that, effectively, they are stacking the power of their six research economies against your one. Suddenly, Noble level doesn't seem so even a match, does it? You have to counter that by being chummy enough with enough AI opponents that you can consistently trade tech with them, so you're not entirely frozen out of their science and technology club. This is especially important if, as a matter of play style, you're going to accept the natural results of the early land grab as the limit of your empire without going to war.
Like everything else in Civ, good diplomacy tends to have a snowball effect, as better relations lead to more trading, which leads to better trade opportunities, which leads to friendlier relations, etc.
On a related note, I'm beginning to realize just what a powerful force getting religion and being the center of one can be in the game, provided you send out those missionaries to convert your neighbors. This is another area you said you prefer to avoid. But neglecting it can snowball against you as powerfully as nurturing it can snowball to your advantage.
Diplomacy, exploration and religion have enormous power to swing the fortunes of the game. You may not like them, but you can't afford to neglect them.
Comment