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I just finished my 3rd game under 1.29f. Emperor, small map, 6 civs (including me), all random. I ended up playing as Gandhi against Hiawatha, Montezuma, Tokugawa (all three direct neighbors), Mao and Abraham. Map ended up a pangea, maximum water. For a variety of reasons, I could not make war early and free up some building room - I started very close to both the Japanese and the Aztecs. The game ended up being a pure builder game, with a total of +/- 12 turns of war for me the entire time.
Long after Mao and Tokugawa had been eliminated, both Montezuma and Hiawatha were dismembering Abe's rapidly diminsihing empire. I had just discovered Refining, and, surprise - surprise, discovered that I had no source of oil (I was far and away the smallest empire in the game). I was quite pleasantly surprised that I could buy one of Montezuma's 2 excess oils for 1 gpt and thought to myself "no oil, no problem; the AI obviously understands that the excess oil does nothing for it and is willing to take anything for it."
Not long after, the combined American (as in continental) tribes wiped out Abe. Some turns later, with a very large Iroquois empire, a very large Aztec empire, and a small Indian empire the only remaining civs, Montezuma asked to renegotiate our oil deal. No problem. Only this time, my foreign advisor informed me that Monty would view 75 gpt as an insult. I didn't bother determining his minimum price, because I figured I'd trade for one of Hiawatha's excess oils. I also gave up on Hiawatha when 75 gpt rendered my foreign advisor to a quivering mass warning of insults. I was just about to discover Motorized Transportation, and could not secure a source of oil!
I later concluded that the AI Montezuma had been very shrewd with his initial trade at 1 gpt. I had played an honorable game to that point, and by giving me oil at 1 gpt, Monty may have "felt" that I was essentially agreeing to a no-attack deal for a minimum of 20 turns, so he needn't woory about our common border as he conquered Abe. With Abe gone and the world down to 3 empires, Monty saw no reason to supply a foe with oil.
I have never seen this sort of behavior from the AI before, and was very pleasantly surprised. I certainly won't argue that the AI algorithm worked in the manner I suggest (i.e., buying a "onfident" peace now in order to screw the trading partner later - a very shrewd strategic decision), but in choosing to look at the behavior through such rose-colored glasses made my desire to win the game all the more intense -- by feeling a certain "respect" for the decision-making (and undoubtedly superimposing my own preferred view of the happenings), I got a great deal more entertainment from this particular game.
Anyone else see AI behavior which you might describe as "devilishly smart enough to approximate a human decision" (even if you're not convinced it was a "smart decision" so much as an intersting coincidence)?
Catt
Long after Mao and Tokugawa had been eliminated, both Montezuma and Hiawatha were dismembering Abe's rapidly diminsihing empire. I had just discovered Refining, and, surprise - surprise, discovered that I had no source of oil (I was far and away the smallest empire in the game). I was quite pleasantly surprised that I could buy one of Montezuma's 2 excess oils for 1 gpt and thought to myself "no oil, no problem; the AI obviously understands that the excess oil does nothing for it and is willing to take anything for it."
Not long after, the combined American (as in continental) tribes wiped out Abe. Some turns later, with a very large Iroquois empire, a very large Aztec empire, and a small Indian empire the only remaining civs, Montezuma asked to renegotiate our oil deal. No problem. Only this time, my foreign advisor informed me that Monty would view 75 gpt as an insult. I didn't bother determining his minimum price, because I figured I'd trade for one of Hiawatha's excess oils. I also gave up on Hiawatha when 75 gpt rendered my foreign advisor to a quivering mass warning of insults. I was just about to discover Motorized Transportation, and could not secure a source of oil!
I later concluded that the AI Montezuma had been very shrewd with his initial trade at 1 gpt. I had played an honorable game to that point, and by giving me oil at 1 gpt, Monty may have "felt" that I was essentially agreeing to a no-attack deal for a minimum of 20 turns, so he needn't woory about our common border as he conquered Abe. With Abe gone and the world down to 3 empires, Monty saw no reason to supply a foe with oil.
I have never seen this sort of behavior from the AI before, and was very pleasantly surprised. I certainly won't argue that the AI algorithm worked in the manner I suggest (i.e., buying a "onfident" peace now in order to screw the trading partner later - a very shrewd strategic decision), but in choosing to look at the behavior through such rose-colored glasses made my desire to win the game all the more intense -- by feeling a certain "respect" for the decision-making (and undoubtedly superimposing my own preferred view of the happenings), I got a great deal more entertainment from this particular game.
Anyone else see AI behavior which you might describe as "devilishly smart enough to approximate a human decision" (even if you're not convinced it was a "smart decision" so much as an intersting coincidence)?
Catt
I had enough defenders and arty, and was so culturally rich a nation (well-expanded borders) that I was pretty sure I could fight any invasion to a stalemate if it ever came (offensive war would have been difficult, if not impossible). I saved up gold for upgrades, finally bit the bullet and traded for oil, and rapidly upgraded my infantry to mech infantry and built a corps of 16 tanks. I eventually had a source of oil appear in my territory (after the original oil deal expired) which allowed me to upgrade tanks to MA.
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