The Golden Age of other civs

[gunkulator]

Does anyone know how to tell if another civ has had their golden age?

I'm on a peninsula bordering one other civ: the Dutch. It is the early medieval age and my only way to expand is through them. However, the Dutch have that accursed 4 defense Swiss Mercenary which has kept me from attacking them. Although they've been in a couple wars with other civs, I don't want to be the fool to trigger their GA, especially since they are the strongest civ right now.

[Arrian]

Not w/o some trickery. You could retire and watch the replay - that shows when GAs are triggered.

If they've fought other civs post-feudalism, I'd bet they've had it already.

-Arrian

[vmxa1]

I have npt tried this, but if you are far enough along to have a spy, you should be able to investigate a city. This will give you level set to use to see if they double production.

You will have to factor in the level cost.

Before that you may be able to use the F11 screen to judge it.

If it is very early you could try to build an embassy to see the production of the capitol.

There may be other way via the trade screen. The pace of their research. The cost of a tech dropping can tip of the pace.

These are just some off the top of my head idea and may be bogus.

[punkbass2000]

Check the F7 screen to see if they have the wonders to trigger a GA, too.

Oh, and BTW most/all of vmxa's suggestions can work, but they will only tell you if they are in their GA, not if they've had it, which is generally far more difficult to determine.

[Dry]

If they have at least one elite UU...

[gunkulator]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to try them.

With most civs you can usually guess that they've had their GA shortly after their first war with their UU. But with a defensive UU like the Swiss Mercenary, it's not always so clear, especially in my game since the civ in question seems to be winning most of its wars, i.e. they are on offense most of the time.

As an aside, does anyone else think the Swiss Mercenary is an amazing bargain? You get the practical equivalent of a Musketman at the beginning of the Middle Ages for half the price and no need for Saltpeter. Not to mention a perfectly timed GA for grabbing those very desirable early Middle Ages wonders.

[punkbass2000]

Plus two amazing traits. One of the best civs, IMO (probably 2nd only to Iroq.)

[Ljube]

I think militaristic is the most important trait at higher levels.

Jeff, is that your picture in your avatar?

[punkbass2000]

Yeah, it is.
I think Militaristic is the most useless trait generally, though I can see its value at the highest level.

[asleepathewheel]

Love the dutch. just an awesome combo of traits and a decent uu, though defensive in nature.

[joncnunn]

Re: The Golden Age of other civs

Without cheating:

Establish an embassy as soon as possible with every player.

Note when they first have the ability to build their UU and also the wonder combos.

If they have just built a wonder and now have both traights, they are now in the GA unless they had it previously. Using the embassy on their cheapest city will tell you which in the case.

If they declare war or are declared war upon and have the ability to build their UU, it can safely be assumed that if they haven't had their GA already ready, they will start one shortly.

So, if you've had an embassy with the Dutch since the late ancient era, you'll know if they could possibly have done something that trigured it by now.

Originally posted by gunkulator
Does anyone know how to tell if another civ has had their golden age?

I'm on a peninsula bordering one other civ: the Dutch. It is the early medieval age and my only way to expand is through them. However, the Dutch have that accursed 4 defense Swiss Mercenary which has kept me from attacking them. Although they've been in a couple wars with other civs, I don't want to be the fool to trigger their GA, especially since they are the strongest civ right now.

[Datajack Franit]

Why don´t you ally with them against someone else and let them waste their GA? Then you will be able to attack

[gunkulator]

That's what I ended up doing. I fortified the entrance to my peninsula and bribed their neighbor, the Celts into an alliance. The Celts had iron and horses for knights and pikemen. The Dutch only had iron for medieval infantry and their swiss mercenaries. Neither side could gain any ground. Quite the bloody slugfest.

Meanwhile, I found saltpeter on an island but unfortunately it had to go through the Dutch to get it home. I bided my time building knights and trebuchets and Leo's workshop. After 20 turns I got peace with the Dutch and slowly embarked on a massive trebuchet to cannon upgrade plus a few pikes to muskets. I didn't have military tradition yet so cavalry. Once I upgraded 30 or so cannon, I vanquished the Dutch with the help of the Celts again.

Still not done with the game and now it is the Industrial Age. The Celts are now the strongest although we are equal in tech. They got Infantry right when I did. I'll have to wait it out for Tanks.

[Solomwi]

You really don't even have to investigate their city, if memory serves. Right-click a tile on which you know what the production should be, for instance a mined hill or mined grassland, and check the shield count. If it's grass and giving one shield, you know they aren't currently in their GA, and so forth. It's not, as said above, going to tell you if they've already finished it, but do it periodically and you should catch them in it.

[joncnunn]

The tile inspecting on the big map will tell you if YOUR in a GA, not the AI owning the tile. It's always how much you would get for it.