AIs and Giga Maps: Is It Just Me Or ...

[-Jrabbit]

Stu sighting!!!

Just come back to us when RL permits, man.
You know you want it...

[Bloody Monk]

Hey Stu!! Happy Father's Day to you and, as well, hope we see more of you soon.

Gatekeeper,

I think the main thing from all this is that you seem to really enjoy your games and that is the most important consideration.

Monk

[Tar-Plantir]

Sometimes i get camels sometimes i dont.

when i tried building a SSC i got blitzed by camels and freights, when i go for conquest i dont, but then my cities have a poor base trade (trade calulated from terrain, colossus and superhighways), so the caravan revenue is poor. I wonder if the AI evaluates the value of a trade route, using base trade, before sending camels?

[Bloody Monk]

Anything is possible with the AI. It can set units to GOTO cities it has no right to know even the exisitence of, much less the location. All you can do is laugh.

Monk

[Gatekeeper]

Bloody Monk:

It's true about unique gaming conditions. IMO, that's one of the enduring qualities about Civ II is the ability to tweak its rules file, city text file and so on (plus playing it "your" own way).

Gatekeeper

***

-Jrabbit:

The MGE version never worked properly on my machine; a Macsoft programmer and I spent hours and many beta patches trying to figure out what was wrong, but short of ripping out the MP part, it was unfixable. The error was apparently a rare one, but my machine was one of the "lucky ones" to be affected.

So I just play the non-MGE version of Mac Civ II. The AI is better on that version than MGE — at least in terms of not always being aggressive and/or bitter toward the human player from the get-go.

Gatekeeper

***

General observation: Tar-Plantir suggested that, perhaps, having a SSC city or a heavily trade-oriented civilization might play a role in the number of caravans/freights that come your way. He might very well have a significant point, IMO, because I *do* play my games that way, for the most part. Research-oriented the first two-thirds of the game, then warfare at the end during the space race or world conquest (depending on which option I took when setting up game parameters). I always get caravans/freights coming in, and they always go to my largest and most trade intense cities. I bet the AI *does* factor in variables such as city size, trade potential, etc., when figuring out whether to trade with you or not.

One other thing: Am I the only one to notice that the AI basically "cancels" peace treaties the turn after they're signed anytime one is near or participating in a space race? I do, and it's annoying. Well, except that it does give the player an excuse to surprise attack the AI before it does the same to the player (w/o any damage to one's reputation). Heck, not even being the only nuclear power on the planet makes one's nation immune to these "sunset clause" peace treaties. The AI nation(s) can be "enthusiastic" or "worshipful" toward you, yet only officially be in "contact" with you, not at a formal peace.

Basically, I figure anytime I play a space race game, this is what's going to happen, and plan accordingly (this never really pops up in Earth-conquest games). But it still drives me nuts how a Middle Ages AI can rip off space-age technology almost at will, no matter how many diplomats or spies you have in your cities.

Gatekeeper

[Elephant]

One other question about lots of AI camels: do you play primarily on "one large island" with all the other AI civs? That can be a large factor in seeing more AI camels.

[Gatekeeper]

I generally play on Earth maps, with historic starting locations.

[Old n Slow]

I'll see a few camels while the AI is still on my rock, then maybe only one or two later on after the AI "leaves". If you're playing in Eurasia, then it makes sense that you'll see a number of them.

But the AI getting two techs a turn? Maybe via spying & huts, but I doubt that the AI has research cranked up that high.

[-Jrabbit]

I have trouble getting to 2/turn when it's my entire focus. I've never seen ANY ai civ do better than every other turn (and that was only once, in the Lazy Summer succession).

[Gatekeeper]

It happens to me. Really. Mostly when I'm playing in North America, focused on my own science (and not warfare) and a nation in Eurasia conquers (or decimates) the others early on.

Gatekeeper

P.S. And I *never* get two advances per turn. Every other turn is the best I can do as well.

[duke o' york]

In that case Dr duke prescribes caravans. Lots of caravans. I presume that you're aware of the bonus payments on caravan delivery being matched by an equal number of beakers that turn. Now you cannot just buy techs like this, because the game sets a cap of (I think) 2/3 of the beakers required for the next tech for each delivery. This way you have to deliver enough caravans to ensure that your final one only delivers 2 of the three remaining beakers. Now you only need a single beaker and when you get to the next turn, the science required for the tech will be produced by your newest, most rubbish city, leaving all of the others to concentrate their research on the next tech. If you have enough decent-sized cities with all the requisite trade/science improvements then this tech will also arrive that turn. Then it's back to the caravans to generate almost all of the beakers for the next tech. Voila, two techs a turn. You need to ensure that your deliveries are optimised, and be aware of all the bonuses affecting trade arrows, well documented in the Great Library.

[Gatekeeper]

The prescription is appreciated, Dr. Duke.

[duke o' york]

Excellent. Use the caravans each turn as needed, keep an eye on the research slider and come back and see me in a month.

And if any of your cities supplies Uranium, then just (rush)buy the freight outright. You will get so much cash from Uranium deliveries that it'll just be silly.
While the freight is in transit (whether you're shipchaining or using airports) then buy as many trade improvements for the home city as possible and maximise the trade output of that city's squares just before delivery to the science city to ensure the largest pay-off possible. Note that Uranium is very rarely supplied in large cities, more often in newer, smaller cities so you have to spend some money to get the huge reward. I've never seen a Uranium repeater, and I'd be surprised if it were indeed possible, but exploit it when it appears.

[Bloody Monk]

Engineering a Ur Repeater

In some situations it is possible to have continuous Uranium supplied.

When you deliver the Uranium one of two things will happen. The supply list will change (no Ur any longer) or the Ur slot wll be blocked. In the second case, note the city you delivered to and change all its citizens to elvis while delivering a demanded commodity to the city with blocked Ur supply. The trade route to the Ur delivery city will be replaced by the new delivery, thus, freeing the Ur slot again. Rush, rinse, repeat, for as long as it lasts. I've seen 6-7 turns of continuous Ur supply from one city doing this.

Monk

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
I generally play on Earth maps, with historic starting locations.

So much water... and so predictable!! I never play with that setting!