Has anyone noticed this....

[The Capo]

There is a way to remove some of the AIs ability to defeat you in a long term war. If you would not that in later ages the AI tries to become Democracy, but is frustrated to the point that when they want war they will always change governments so they may attack you, always going back to democracy in the end.

I find that it actually works to keep talking to them, under a Democracy they usually accept the talks, and slip into anarchy so they can declare war on you. Eventually you notice their money dwindle, their science staying the same, and when you invade their cities, they are creating happy wonders like Cathedrals instead of soldiers.

I only play on Diety now, so I don't know if this works on the other modes that people usually play. But does anyone integrate this into their gameplan?

[debeest]

As far as I can tell, the AI pays no price at all for changing governments. No period of anarchy at all. Am I wrong?

[Smash]

I've seen an entire ai civ in anarchy after a government change but only for "1" turn.It does this when it wants to attack in representative governments(you can too ).It has a built in Statue.

[Mercantile]

i would tend to agree with Smash on this one. I too have seen ai civs (many times) go into complete disorder but again only for one turn. It appears to me that the ai only ever has disorder for one turn regardless of the event.

Although i do think that if you sabotage a temple one turn and the market or colloseum the next, you can continue disorder in that city.

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Do you shovel snow in your birkenstocks?

[Smokey tha nuke man]

da ai only ever suffers one solitary turn of anarchy (da one it declares revolution) before it goes to a new gov. da smokes remebers one game where da french changed their government every chance they got. if da ai's can be anarchists, da french were it. here is one sequence i remeber: anarchy(1 turn), monarchy (2 turns) anarchy, Despotism, (2 turns) anarchy, Communism (3 turns0 anarchy, despotism (2 turns), anarchy, democracy (2 turns), fundamentalism (5 turns, thier all time high for this period), anrchy, Despotism (2 turns)., etc. at the end of the game, they were in a despotism they had had for 6 whole turns.

[BlackJack]

But Capo's point is still well taken. While I haven't been able to force a democracy to collapse, blowing up their coliseums and cathedrals and temples will either force a city into disorder or force a lot of entertainers rather than workers - either way it inhibits their production. And if the city is in disorder, it's a lot cheaper to buy.

I'm remembering that somebody pointed out that regardless of you plaing at diety, the AI is playing with King level happiness. Seems to me that's the case.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

quote: Originally posted by BlackJack on 11-02-2000 01:33 PM While I haven't been able to force a democracy to collapse, blowing up their coliseums and cathedrals and temples will either force a city into disorder or force a lot of entertainers rather than workers - either way it inhibits their production. And if the city is in disorder, it's a lot cheaper to buy.

But a city in disorder in democracy is still a city in a democracy -- you can't buy it. It does slow down production, though.

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Dig trenches, with our men being killed off like flies? There isn't time to dig trenches. We'll have to buy them ready made. Here, run out and get some trenches.
-- Rufus T. Firefly, the original rush-builder

[East Street Trader]

I think you are missing the Capo's point.

This tactic isn't about creating anarchy, whether in order to bribe a city or at all. It is about denying AI civs that hate you the ability to maintain the higher forms of government.

Especially after 1750, they are programmed to hate a human player who is supreme. They want to say mean and nasty things to you at every opportunity. But their senates - just like ours - don't like such behaviour. So if you see from the diplomacy screen that Attilla is a Consul - and you don't want him to have the income which comes with that government, just ask to talk to him. You'll get a message saying that the Huns have changed gov.t followed immediately by a message saying "*^*^ off". It costs nothing and keeps them backward.

I particularly like this because it's like judo, it uses the blind hatred built in to help "balance" the game to the human player's further advantage.

The feature doesn't last forever though. Not sure when it runs out. About when it stops being possible to demand tribute I think. And I doesn't work every single time. I suspect one or two of the less warlike civs can't ever bring themselves to hate enough.