How to Dominate with Democracy

[Theseus]

Arrian's right about the rep thing... I never think about that.

If that's an issue, then plan on waiting 20 turns for peace... the plan still works, expecially if you're building factories.

Arrian, my warmonger buddy, I'm trying to give advice as a "builder!"

On the other hand, I like Arrian's plan too.

Anyway, the high notes are: get the other civs in on it, and (my new passion) mobilize. a

[Theseus]

Also, don't forget to trade embargo the Zulus with as many civs as you can.

[Rust]

What's so great about reputation. If you have a poor one it dosn't cost you more to make deals with the ai does it

[Catt]

Originally posted by Theseus

3. Mobilize.

Originally posted by Theseus

Anyway, the high notes are: get the other civs in on it, and (my new passion) mobilize.

Theseus, how does mobilization help you in the scenario you describe (i.e., war for only 5 - 10 turns while cities working on high cost improvements)? Unless I'm mistaken, only cities building military units / improvements get the extra shield benefit of a mobilization.

jshelr, a somewhat riskier strategy re: the Zulus is to do nothing but concentrate on building your own science improvements and maxing your science output. They will almost certainly declare war on you (by demanding a tech as tribute which you will refuse ) or on another AI civ in the next 30 or so turns. The seemingly perpetually warring Zulus never seem to catch up in tech once they get behind, no matter the size of their empire -- but don't let them achieve a sizeable military advantage on you .

Theseus and Arrian offer excellent advice if you choose to take action.

Catt

[Catt]

Originally posted by Rust
What's so great about reputation. If you have a poor one it dosn't cost you more to make deals with the ai does it

Rust, was about to respond as follows: "It has been said many times by experienced players that reputation does affect trading relationships and terms demanded, and my own anecdotal experience confirms it for me, but can't recall anything definitive (like a repeatable experiment posted by someone or a comment from a Firaxian)."

Realized one simple (though not definitive) experiment could be done quickly. So, I broke one of my own rules and snuck out my laptop here at work and booted Civ 3. Loaded a random saved game. Negotiated with a "Polite" civ to determine exactly how much he'd pay for my map. Didn't close the deal. Demanded a major city from him multiple times until he was "Furious." Went back to my map trade -- his price was the same!

So I'm going to post a query as to this in the general discussions thread!

Catt

[LotC]

jsheir:

Pump out a buttload of privateers. In one game I was in a situation where Germany and France shared a continent and were quite behind in the tech race. With 30 or so privateers I was able to stop any ships passing between the two land masses. Of course, once the Age of Sails ends this becomes unfeasible.

Edit: I wasn't clear on whether the other civs had contact with the Zulus. My strat was for preventing contact.

[jshelr]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've saved the game at the early point discussed and will try to investigate what would have worked. What I actually did was less fun than the suggestions. I got the ToE wonder as per the suggestion and I am a builder at heart so every city got nearly everything possible. Even so, the tech lead started to evaporate, despite the fact that my GDP was #1. So, I figured if they were going to buy tech, why not buy it from me. Gold mounted to nearly 20,000. What made the outcome not much fun was that the AI civs fell to squabbling with each other, virtually ending the tech race. Arrian's right -- this is a coast to the spaceship.

[dunk]

Originally posted by Giovanni Wine
Uhmm
Seems very strange to me... anyway, I will try to see if it works with my game too...
Any way... this is a big exploit, and I don't think it shoul be allowed

Saluti

I hope they don't code this type of thing out.

[Nakar Gabab]

The AI can't get mad about your screwing them over with ROP if you end the game by simultaneously attacking every AI city in one turn...