Getting Wonders at Emperor level

[vmxa1]

I would agree with Dom as long as you are unsure that you are first to SciMeth.

At emperor, if I am going to be first to it, I will not prebuild the ToE. The reason is that I am greedy. I will use the build time to either research or trade for as many of the skipped or cheaper techs as I can and pick a tech to research that will be done on or just before the wonder is finished. Maybe even two researched cheap techs.

At this level I will have a strong enough city to build the wonder faster than the AI, at least with a turn or more head start. Above emperor, that is not a given. I know you say they could get an SGL and rush it, but at this point they will not be first to any tech or at least it will be unlikely.

Otherwise I do it just about like he said.

[joncnunn]

On Emperor level,when I have a good sized tech lead coming into the Industrail era, I'm usually needing to reserach Nationalism first because a nieghboring AI is about to attack me.

When behind coming in on Demigod, I've never had the AI beat me to the ToE tech. Their always beelining for Tanks instead. In fact I traded the ToE tech to them right after building ToE in exchange for techs, and did so again with the free techs leading to Hoovers after building it.

Originally posted by Dominae

Always prebuild the Theory of Evolution. Ideally, you complete it the same turn you discover Scientific Method.

A Factory and a Hospital means that you either discovered or traded for both Industrialization and Sanitation before proceeding to Scientific method. If you discovered them yourself, you would have been better off just beelining for the ToE and while prebuilding it (sometimes you need to start in the Medieveal era). If you traded for the techs with the AI, there is a chance you could lose the race to the ToE, so you did not prebuild enough. In this last case I suggest you rush the Factory, forget the Hospital, and hope/pray.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by vmxa1
At emperor, if I am going to be first to it, I will not prebuild the ToE. The reason is that I am greedy. I will use the build time to either research or trade for as many of the skipped or cheaper techs as I can and pick a tech to research that will be done on or just before the wonder is finished. Maybe even two researched cheap techs.

I assume you're going for the SS win or something, right? Otherwise I think earlier Hoover-enabled Factories are simply better. Being thrifty with techs becomes less relevant when you can sell techs to the AIs for most their gpt, and you're not trying for a quick SS or UN win. Although I suppose getting to Tanks that much faster might speed up a Conquest/Domination win by a few turns, I've had good results with Artillery, Cavalry and Infantry (and Railroads!).

[Arrian]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
One thing that will just cripple the AI. Watch every turn after you meet them. Sooner or later there will be workers for sell. Buy them. Earlier the better. (I seem to see them in 2's allot for some reason. )

They get two to start on Emperor, don't they?

I've long been a proponent of worker buying (though it's a good thing that Firaxis upped the price in a patch). And stealing, of course

-Arrian

[vmxa1]

Yes they start with 2 workers on emperor. The AI will criss cross the capitol early and you can find worker(s) in the capitol in transition to some tile (buy any you can).

[Shaka II]

Originally posted by Commy
Personally, after monarch, the AI is so powerful and demented that the only successful strategies are just that, game strategies. It kind of takes the realisticness out of the game. If only they could make the AI smarter instead of just giving it boosts, Civ 3 could probably be a good game 20 years from now...

Yes, I wish they would play on a level playing field, but we're not quite there. I think it will be sooner than 20 years though. 5 maybe?

But, it is still incredibly fun to try and win with the huge advantages the AI has.

[Theseus]

Ah, I knew I had a different response when Commy first posted that...

Yes, I agree, I can't wait for the AI to get to where we want it to be. And yes, in the interim, there is still fun to be had when there are KAIs about (which is better, I think, than just overcoming the high-difficulty-level AI advantages).

But there is, I am hoping, something better: PBEMs. The experiment is still ongoing... see the 'Crisis' thread in the PBEM forum. But there have been at least a few outstanding PBEMs thus far, and many more in the hopeful stage. The level of play in at least one 'DGPBEM', the PTWDG, has been the most intense of anything I have ever seen in gaming of any kind, from modern videogames back through everything from Risk to Monopoly to Chess to Backgammon (that's the oldest complex game I can readily think of). Comparable, I would guess, to the USA's and Russia's various Blue/Red wargames... well, maybe not quite that, but still.

Anyway, there's still QUITE a lot here in the Civ3 world... and Commy, trust me, you can take on a heckuva a lot more than Monarch, you just need to learn some more of the ins and outs of the game.