Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. How to keep ai from building wonders?

[wvfoos]

I used some powerbar editor to edit the game. Yeah, I cheated. I'm trying to figure some stuff out.

Anyway, I had been researching the great library. Only 3 turns from getting it. Anyway, egyptians beat me to it. Sooooooo, i used the powerbar editor thing and went back a couple of turns and ruined all their production, but they continue to complete it anyway, as if the production was never ruined.

Is this some sort of ai cheat? Does the ai not have to "build" wonders, they just get them based on some sort of equation? I think it was that way in civ1, iirc. In my case, there were actually THREE wonders built by the ai, all on the same turn. The GL, the HG, and GW. I don't care about the other two, but the GL kinda ticked me off. Especially if its because the ai doesn't have to "build" them. Is that the case?

[Ethelred]

You might want to try learning how to play the game instead of how to cheat. If the AI is beating you to Wonders either you started them to late or you haven't developed your cities.

Or you could just be trying to play on too high a level for your present skills. Of course if you feel the need to cheat then you definitely are on too high a difficulty setting.

Start a new game. Go down one level at least and then learn how to develop your civ in the early game.

[vulture]

Re: Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. How to keep ai from building wonders?

Originally posted by wvfoos
I used some powerbar editor to edit the game. Yeah, I cheated. I'm trying to figure some stuff out.

Anyway, I had been researching the great library. Only 3 turns from getting it. Anyway, egyptians beat me to it. Sooooooo, i used the powerbar editor thing and went back a couple of turns and ruined all their production, but they continue to complete it anyway, as if the production was never ruined.

Is this some sort of ai cheat? Does the ai not have to "build" wonders, they just get them based on some sort of equation? I think it was that way in civ1, iirc. In my case, there were actually THREE wonders built by the ai, all on the same turn. The GL, the HG, and GW. I don't care about the other two, but the GL kinda ticked me off. Especially if its because the ai doesn't have to "build" them. Is that the case?

How sure are you that Egypt doesn't finish the production by using a great leader? The AI are allowed to have them too, y'know... The HG and GW are probably built by wonder cascade - they switch from building the GL (which they are close to finishing) to a wonder with a lower shield cost (HG, GW) and finish it immediately.

BTW have you looked at the possibility that the cheat editor you are using may not work, rather than it being the fault of the game?

[Todd Hawks]

The AI has to build wonders normally.
I often managed to e.g. sabotage them.

I guess your cheat program is just not working correctly.

What is a powerbar editor anyway?

[TheStinger]

Build then first, or whack the city thats building it.

[Tiberius]

Reload an older saved game and try to maximize your city's production (don't let the governor to do it for you, at least not until the wonder is built). 3 turns should be a recoverable handicap.

[WarpStorm]

I usually use the diplomats to scout the cities building the Wonders to see if the race is a foregone conclusion. Sometimes the race can't be won. In additon, like Tiberius said don't use the governor in critical situations like this. I can usually squeeze 25% more shields out of a city over the governor (even when they are set to emphasize productivity).

[Tiberius]

Yes, the governor is so annoying sometimes. When the city is size 6 or 12, he still emphasizes food, despite the fact that the city has no aqueduct or hospital and you are building a wonder (with the aqueduct/hospital being the next in the building queue) !

I think it shouldn't be very hard for Firaxis to tweak the governor for such situations.

[miccofl]

If you want to keep the AI from building wonders open the map you are playing in the editor and edit the civs you are not playing to build no wonders. It's not cheating if you are trying to make a do-it-yourself tutorial.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Tiberius
Reload an older saved game and try to maximize your city's production (don't let the governor to do it for you, at least not until the wonder is built). 3 turns should be a recoverable handicap.

I tried that cheat with a 1.17 game after being beaten to an early wonder by 1 turn. It was once too often so I went back 20 (boring) turns and upped my production. I should have built the wonder 3 turns before the AI but it STILL beat me by 1 turn. It spawned a few of my more irate threads. BTW I havent noticed the same 1 turn before the human crap with 1.21 or 1.29 so the AI seems to be on the same playing field wrt wonder building now (or else I've mellowed out ).

[wvfoos]

ahhhhhh

Is it just me, or is ethelred a jackass?

[Tiberius]

No, he's not. He's just probably annoyed that you are trying to cheat instead of learning to play properly.

Or maybe he's just upset from some unknown reason

[wvfoos]

Well, seeing as how I WASN'T cheating (until i saw the WOW go up 3 turns before mine finished), I still think he's a jackass.

I only used the editor to go BACK before that, and disrupt their production. Then discovered the disruptions essentially no effect. That was the gist of my question, as to how the AI builds wonders. Never thought about the great leader rush build though, that could be it. I just fell back on the old civ1 deal where the ai didn't build wonders as much as get "awarded" them.

BTW, the powerbar editor thingy is here.......

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12501

[cracker]

I don't think Ethelred was being a Jackass since you began this topic with the cheat bar discussion. You actual do more harm to yourself than you realize because it does not help you learn the game in any sort of functional way.

The fact that you ar using the powerbar may indicate that you have not patched the game up to the current release version of V1.29f and that means you have all sorts of build in bugs and anomolies that need to be fixed.

Learn to play the game and all this discussion will be trivial.

If you are playing on the Warlord or Cheiftain level you should almost never be loosing a wonder race to any of the AI players (they get a cost mutlipier penalty of 120% or 200% that makes them just be victims of your choices).

On these two lower difficulty levels the primary reason to build the Great Library might be to keep one of your enemies from getting it because usually it will yield little tech value since your enemies should be behind you on the tech research tree.

There are numerous strategy articles on building your empire and building wonders. Every one of these articles will reveal something new and informative to you.

The first article you should read is:

Imrpoving Your Opening Play Sequences

becasue everything you do or decide to do depends on how well you play the first 80 to 100 turns (up to the 1000 BC time frame.)

[Cidifer]

Cracker people don't just use cheats to win games, and they don't just use it because they are new or not very good. Certain cheats can HELP you learn things about the game you never knew, for example if you always play a certain way and because of that strategy you never build any early wonders you may want to know if it wuold help you more to build certain wonders instead of say building massive armies. In which case why should you have to play an entire game when you just want to find out how something works?

Especially later in games, say you want to see what it would take to get a space race victory, or domination and you decide to use a cheat to do it quickly instead of playing the game over the course of days or weeks. Also some people have very little free time especially now that school is back in full swing, so maybe they want to learn which of the units in the modern era are the best for their style and only have a weekend to do it, why not cheat? not everyone can play the game 7 days a week, and if they ever hope to compete in MP they really should learn some alternative ways to play.