taking over an AI civ

[reds4ever]

i won't usually take over from the AI, but there were no other games starting on the zone, this is what i got lumbered with,

300 bc, i was one turn away from building copes in a city with no library and researching warrior code, each size 5 or 6 city was supporting 2 or 3 settlers that were GOTOing around to nowhere in particular, roads and irregation slapped down where there were no cities, the AI had been using catapults to explore the terrain and had 4 or 5 non vet phalanxs' defending each city, i was third out of 3 in all the demograhics except military service and pollution and there were no free techs handed out to get me up to speed.

but i ICSed indiscriminatly and managed to make a fight of it(though missing out on Leo's by two turns was a blow) and now i'm hooked on the challenge, and hopefully i'll be continuing the game tonight (thou you never know on the zone!)

anyone else got any nightmare AI takeovers?

[General Maximus]

they're all nightmares.

cities in the wrong place, researching bs, the other humans have picked all the good techs off their bones, they're building colosus in a city with 1 trade hex. the AI makes no damn sence, that's why i can't wait for civ3. the AI is actually supposed to be intelligent.

i like to play NeedForSpeed III sometimes, i race by myself, then save that race as a "ghost", then race the AI with that ghost. it's much more competitive

[ColdWizard]

i've always viewed taking over an ai civ as a challenge. some of my favorite zone games are ones where i took over for the ai and became the second or third most powerful civ (then of course the guy with the most powerful civ would start a war)

[cavebear]

Reds - Congratulations on taking up that challenge and doing so well with it. I *like* taking AI's in an existing MP game for just that reason. "Fixing" the problems has a much more immediate reward than the slow progress of the regular game, that it is a nice change of pace once in a while.

[SlowwHand]

I took over an AI civ the other night early in game.
To my utter amazement, the AI had placed 2 cities, both directly on a river.
I can't brag on the science path they were taking, but the fact they placed cities with a grain of good sense shocked me.

I've taken over Romans before, and they seem to be a smarter AI than most.

[rah]

If I'm bored and desperate for a game, I'll do it.

The last time was a 2x2x game that was well along. I started with just one city, poorly placed, and no real exploring had been done. I won't discuss the tech situation

So I quickly layed down a second city and started exploring for a few more potential city sites. (needless to say, I was not just last in every stat but buried last)

I did notice that I was at war with someone, but had no idea where they were.

8 turns (about 20 minutes) into my attempt to build a little respectablility, 6 elephants came out of the blue and destroyed my capital.

I promptly thanked them for wasting my time and retired.
Needless to say I was a little pissed

I have not taken over for an AI since.

RAH

[reds4ever]

yeah, you do need a little understanding off the other players early on, if not actual help then a period of truce, it was quite satisfying to take the civ from nowhere to vyiny for second place. the fact it was 2x1x (my favorite!) helped give me some time to patch things up. on 2x2x those elephants etc can just come out of nowhere, at the end of the day thou it's you doing them a favour making their game more balanced, so a couple of techs and a 20 move truce isn't too much to ask.

[rah]

The only tech I've ever asked for is Monarchy

Yes, you're right, since they wanted me to balance the game, I thought they'd cut me a little slack. (silly me)

RAH
10 more turns and I would have been ready for it