future tech

[Jim0322]

I have played 3-4 games to victory at warlord level, all space victories. I played on a large map, continents, 7 other civs. My basic strategy was to expand as rapidly as possible, place cities to strategically block neighbors and fill in the the places in between. I spend as much as possible on research and become a democracy.

Course of the game -
1. Rapid expansion
2. Internal building
3. After an extended period of no conflict, a neighbor declares war on me.
4. I usually do fine because of tech advantage, I even take a few cities. My demographics are mostly the best in the world.
5. 2000+ I build a spaceship and win.

At this low a level (warlord), I am surprised that I don't easily get all the techs earlier without ever taking an enemy city.

Is it possible to win a cultural or diplomatic victory by just expanding rapidly and then holding your own? I don't think so. It seems that you have to take out other civs in order to get a significant advantage. My experience has been that even though I might have the most land, population, and GNP I have yet to see future tech even at warlord.

Maybe I don't do enough tech trading? Also, how do you keep the other civs happy? I trade as much as possible, never declare war on them and they all hate me by the modern era. Is it jealousy?

I am giving up on tyring to win peacefully. Next game I am going to try to eliminate one of my neighbors completely. Also, what is the best strategy to take out a neighbor early?

Lastly, I always build Hoover Dam. I also build almost every improvement in every city over 10-12 pop including recycling/mass trans but there is still pollution. Is it possible to eliminate it? I have had global warming every game, even without building manufacturing plants.

Thanks,
Jim

[petey]

I'm a warmonger, so I can't answer your question about winning culturally/diplomatically without taking out other civs. Theoretically, it should be possible, especially at low levels because you have a science/production advantage. It'd probably help if you were on an island so that it was tougher for the AIs to start attacking you.

If you're stronger than the AIs, they're not going to like you - think of how most of the world feels towards the USA. Give them gifts instead of trading for stuff and it makes them happier.

The best startegy for taking over an enemy early si to build a large army before you attack. Position them close to multiple cities and take as many as possible as quickly as possible. Throw some workers or injured units in the middle of his territory away from your main forces - the AI will send his units to kill that one and your attacking forces will meet lighter resistance.

You can't eliminate pollution entirely, only reduce it. Also, global warming is based on teh total number of polluted squares, including those in the AI's territory, so even if you clean up all of yours, global warming can still occur.

Hope some of these responses helped you