Unwritten Laws

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by Ming
That's why I said "attacking" units... meaning units that could kill.

That's "killers" or "assault" units.

[rah]

If i wait till I think i have enough, it's usually too many and I could have gone much earlier.

If I have a good tech lead, 1 to 1 isn't even necessary.

unwritten law
The longer you wait, the better the defense. (Unless another civ is trashing them already. )

[pedrojedi]

Originally posted by rah
unwritten law
The longer you wait, the better the defense. (Unless another civ is trashing them already. )

Which leads to

Another Unwritten Law of Civ4
Make rival civilizations trash each other (but choose wisely them, since conspiring usually gives you a bad name on the street )

[Blaupanzer]

Especially valuable if you can get your "next" civ to attack the one you'll take on when "next" is done. BTW, Monty is great for this. Sic him on a current opponent, then back out (make peace) in about 10 turns. Pull your troops out, align on Monty, and go! When Monty's gone, go back to beating on the first opponent. TRUST ME, Monty will do this to you for a big enough bribe. Getting bribed ends up being Monty's whole research program as he always has too many cities.

[rah]

I like eliminating Monty early because his cities aren't going to have any buildings in them anyway. Ok, maybe a grannery. Last week in the early midgame, I captured his capital, nada. ANd it was his best city

But I do like to scavenge. Let monty or another ai pummel the other AI's capital while your stack just sits there and waits for Monty to take the defenses down and waste most of his troops until there's just a few injured defenders left and then take the city myself without lossing a single troop. Then follow his next sod and do the same thing.
All you have to do is count attackers to defenders to see how long to wait. If the count is favorable, I'll even help him take the defenses down before he gets reinforcement into his sod.

And then to add insult to injury, his attitude towards you is improving while you're pimping him on every city, and they when he's thrown his last SOD against a city, turn on them and clear him out.

I used to hate when monty or any other pyscho started nexted to me, but know I just roll with it. Prepare a stack, because you know he's coming for someone. He'll declare without enough troops, Sit back in your territory and kill them all on open ground. then gut him like a stuck pig.

Which leads to the unwritten law.
If you start next to pyscho, build troops because it's just a matter of time, no matter how much he likes you.

[Blaupanzer]

Even though Rah is right on how to deal with them, I still feel a chill when I start up next to a known mass murderer. Even as the MM builds cities I'll be able to suck up without settlers, I know he is coming. He/she will try to kill me. In the end, it's all right, but it is easy to get impatient. And, as a builder, I must think, "Focus ... " Otherwise I'll start a major building effort or an expensive wonder in my most productive city about five turns before the attack.

Incidentally, if you start next to Isabella AND you are not the same religion, she is also a stone-cold killer. She usually sends at least one missionary and then invites you to convert. The decision you are actually making is do I want to war with her sooner or later. For later, accept the offer. For sooner, say "No."

[Theben]

Originally posted by Supr49er
Unwritten Law Three

Build few, if any Wonders.

Only build those wonders that specifically fit into your strategy.

Problem is I usually play PHIL leaders and anything that gives GP points fits into my strategy.

Not good for MP, but in SP works just fine.

[rah]

There are games where based on everyones location you think it would be beneficial to have Monty be you bud. So you figure you need to be the same religion. You have the +1 for your years of open borders and peace. You slide in that missionary and now your +3 but the bastard is still cautious. You need to get to +4 for him to be pleased so you send more missionaries. You get to +5 and you're thinking maybe I can trust him.
The next turn he asks you to attack your other neighbor (who he's not even at war with but just doesn't like being +5 with you) The next turn he builds a worthless city up against your cultural border so now you're back to +3, he's cautious and he just got iron. We all know what's happening in 10 turns or sometimes less

unwritten rule
Don't waste that missionary on Monty. (or any of the other psychos)

[Fleme]

I personally don't mind being next to Montezuma, Genghis, Tokugawa, Shaka, Brennus or Ragnar. Why? Because you will ALWAYS know what they are planning. They loathe you and it's just a matter of time before they snap.

So, I prepare for the inevitable, build a decent stack and take it when he comes at me and then strike back. Montezuma for one ends up with a religion every now and then and I've had more than a few games where he's done what he does and then I've ended up fighting against him, getting the Crusade quest and eventually ending up with a shrine and a dead/vassalized Montezuma.

I'll choose an enemy I know over an enemy I don't know every day of the week.

I suppose what I'm saying here is that it pays off to be prepared.

[Unimatrix11]

keep your friends close, but your enemy closer

[Blaupanzer]

Be careful what you wish for. You can end up with two of these people on your border! One nice thing -- you don't have to worry about annoying these people, they are permanently annoyed. So jump a border position or pump up culture to take over a resource at will. They will get "furious" anyway, so provoke away, as long as you are prepared. I have seen 50-unit stacks (more than one) from Shaka, Monty, and Ragnar so be sure you are ready for that.

[rah]

Yeah, how much more annoyed can they get.

But it leads to one thing that irritates me. A civ that is already annoyed with me comes to ask if i'll join their fight against one of my friends. If you try the same, their buds are listed in red so you can't even ask. It should be the same for us. Now I realize that this is there to help the ai's get those negatives to make it harder on the human player but come on. If they want those negatives, fine. Just have them demand money or whatever. Don't ask for stuff that you can't ask them for.

[Blaupanzer]

Rah, agreed. Seems silly to let them ask for that when the programming obviously blocks them from asking for your only instance of a resource. Clearly if you are + some number (5 maybe) or more their request should not even be available. Maybe warmongers like this. Both sides will ask. They can choose sides ahead f time, then say yes to the right requestor.

Have you noticed that when one AI has a couple of vassals, the most friendly of the three will be the one to ask you to join in? That type of programming could be used to exclude the mquestion altogether.

[rah]

But even if you agree with the warmonger and turn on your friend, the +1 or 2 when you're already -7 really doesn't matter. It would be fun if in the larger games it would keep track of all the requests, even those that want you to give them iron for fish. (yeah, like that's going to happen) and put a small head shot of the leader in the corner of the screen with the description of "dick that needs to be eliminated from the game NOW". In small games you wouldn't need it but in larger games, as the demands got more an more absurd (please trade me your ivory for corn, which you already have 4 of, so I can build elephants for the attack I'm planing against you)

It would be fun to watch it change throughout the game. Even better would be if the ai currently displayed would be limited in what it could whine for.
Kind of like a popup blocker.

[Blaupanzer]

Whiney popup blocker. Turn this on and the only time the AIs initiate contact is to announce they are attacking you. Do you ever get reasonable requests from the AI for anything other than techs? Even these are lopsided, but some are worth it just to keep up in lines that I intend to pursue "later."