Civ III Feature that I Hate

[I'mNowCivilized]

I played a game as Cleo today. I lost because Scandanavia got the UN wonder before me. So, I lost the election and I lost the game. Not the over all winner, that's fine. But what really got me going was Cleo's pic was the only one that looked like she got pummeled by Mike Tyson. What made me maddest about this, was that I lead the entire game until the Rognar (sp?) got United Nations. Except for him getting the diplomatic victory, he nor anyone else would have caught me. Plus that dude at the end with the sledgehammer, only gets me as high as the second light. I know I didn't win, but I sure as heck don't think I lost either.

[anti patriot]

ahh yes, the bashing screen, how taunting it is, its as if they want you to throw your computer out the window

[vmxa1]

Now you know that if you have the diplo enabled, you better build the UN yourself.

[Dis]

I don't know why I never disable that option. I never use it to win.

Has anyone won that way? How easy is it to convince the others to vote for you?

I should try to win that way more often. I find much of the modern age to be tedius. I just do it because space ship wins seem to give the most points etc. (this may also be due to increased population and secret projects like longevity, cure for cancer etc.)

[I'mNowCivilized]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Now you know that if you have the diplo enabled, you better build the UN yourself.

Yeah, guess I might have too. I dunno though, I tend to enjoy games the more options they have. I guess another solution would be to just go to war against everyone and not give any of them a chance to get anything going. One thing though that I will say, CIv III is a fun game even when you lose.

[notyoueither]

You don't have to use the UN to win if you build it yourself. The game asks the builder if he/she wants to hold a vote. You can say no. It will ask again every so many turns (5 or 10).

I never disable it. If I can't build it first I deserve to lose.

You can use it to win. If you haven't screwed over the other civs it's easier. Even if you have done some dark deeds you can gain great favour by the giving of gifts. Someone worked it out sometime. Given time the AI attitude of you drops a point or so per turn. Break deals and it plummets. But give the AI trades where it gets the better end of the bargain, or outright gifts, and the attitude towards you improves greatly.

[Harovan]

I think 11 turns is the cycle.

I often used the UN to bail out of games I got bored of.

And it's ridiculously easy. Just declare war on [insert your favorite rogue state here] and pay all other nations into an alliance against the villain one turn before the next vote goes. Voilà, you won.

[vondrack]

Yep, nye & Sir Ralph are correct... first, you simply HAVE to build the UN - if for nothing else, then to PREVENT the vote from taking place. The downside (the most painful one) is that it's too easy to manipulate AIs into voting for you... if you wish to feel some satisfaction achieving the UN victory, you need to impose some sort of a self-constraint, not bribing excessively or at least not using alliances.

I have won via UN only once in a game I still remember. I was the Germans and had a fairly small continent for myself (actually, it was a fairly large island only). I was playing the game as a "peacenik", so I was not allowed to attack anyone, unless being attacked myself. That game turned out interesting, as I was never attacked - my only chance to win over the other, much larger civs was to get the UN and win votes enough... which I did.

That was the only game I haven't fired a single shot against any rival civ.

[gunkulator]

I always turn off UN victory. It seems so anti-climatic to me for some reason. The AI still tries to build it though.

[spy14]

Originally posted by Dissident
I don't know why I never disable that option. I never use it to win.

Has anyone won that way? How easy is it to convince the others to vote for you?

I've won that way on the lower levels (I think monarch)... you basically need to have a dull game of keep-yourself-to-yourself, and hope no-one perceives any weakness in you.

Needless to say I now turn diplo off.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by vondrack
Yep, nye & Sir Ralph are correct... first, you simply HAVE to build the UN - if for nothing else, then to PREVENT the vote from taking place. The downside (the most painful one) is that it's too easy to manipulate AIs into voting for you... if you wish to feel some satisfaction achieving the UN victory, you need to impose some sort of a self-constraint, not bribing excessively or at least not using alliances.

I have won via UN only once in a game I still remember. I was the Germans and had a fairly small continent for myself (actually, it was a fairly large island only). I was playing the game as a "peacenik", so I was not allowed to attack anyone, unless being attacked myself. That game turned out interesting, as I was never attacked - my only chance to win over the other, much larger civs was to get the UN and win votes enough... which I did.

That was the only game I haven't fired a single shot against any rival civ.

What vondrack describes is how I end most of my SP games on Monarch, and when possible on Emperor.

Bribing everyone or whipping up a Grand Alliance at the last minute is cheesy, and is what gives the UN win a bad rep. Playing hardcore peacenik builder all game and taking the UN win is rewarding though. It allows a new game to start without first slogging through the Modern Era (with the AIs all stuck in Fascism and researching zilch) to get the SS or get the 66% for domination.

[Last Conformist]

I leave the diplo vic turned on, so that I have to watch out that no AI builds it.

[Dis]

given the above comments, I think it is better to leave it on.

It gives the pathetic AI a chance to win. Usually by the modern age they have no chance to win. Why take away their only chance?

[gunkulator]

I probably should turn it back on, although the AI typically has no chance of building the UN. I was hoping that if I turned off diplomatic victory, the AI would not waste the shields building the UN. No such luck,

[Solomwi]

Gunk, you sure? I've only played one full game with it off, but I swear I remembert the UN being unavailable to build and not even showing up grayed out in the queue.