AI settler herding

[Col. Carnage]

A little while ago I played a game where as the Egyptians I had the Americans and Greece as neighbouring civs agt the start. Huge map with continents, so there wasn't much in the way of war, right at start.

It was getting to the point where nearly all of the available land had been settled and Alex had been quickly hemmed by myself and Abe. He didn't have many cities so understandably he went looking for patch of unclaimed land to call his own with a settler and a warrior in escort.

He was heading for a spot with some nearby spice on the other side of my borders, which I had been planning to claim for a while but forgotten about. Somewhat stupidly I wasn't cooking up a settler so I switched production in one of my cities, but it was still going to take a few turns.

Meanwhile There were four Egyptian warriors on the way back from exploration duties to be upgraded, with the intention of unleashing the sword on Abe while I waited for Chivalry to have a crack at the Greeks. The Egyptian military was at this point "underdeveloped", so I didn't feel quite up to a war. Their paths crossed with the Greek settler just between him and his destination.

To buy some time for my settler to finish I blocked his path to the spice, making him back off. The next seven or eight turns allowed me the finish my settler, get him to that spot and gradually force the Greeks to a useless patch of jungle nicely out of my way, where they eventually built a city.

This tactic of war without war is new to me and I was wondering what other tactics people use in the early game to delay the progress of other civs without actually beating up on them?

[Mellian]

I have done that several times during my limited experience in playing the game... especially when they go through my territory :P

anyway, when multiplayer comes... people coulkd use that as an excuse to declare war i think, lol

-Mellian

[Barchan]

If I've got a fairly narrow border with the AI, and especially if there's lots of unsettled land behind me, I'll build several warriors to serve as my INS Border Patrol Guards. If an AI settler/spearman combo slips across my border, I'll politely ask them to leave. If they don't, I'll have the guards simply block their progress and "escort" them back to the border. The AI hates to sit still and will almost always move its settlers, so you just have to make sure the only moves available to the unit are away from where you want them to go.

“Welcome to Rome, Sir. May I see your entry visa?”
“Ah, yes! Visa. Uh, well, I, um, think I left it in my other backpack in Persia.”
“Then I’m afraid you’ll have to leave, Sir.”
“Huh? But there’s some spice just across the hills, there. Really, I’m just passing through.”
“Not today, Sir. Please follow me.”
“But, but, but . . . the spice!”
*reaches for stone ax* “You’ll have to turn back now, Sir.”
“Oh. Oh, I see. Uh, well, it was nice to, errr, to visit, umm, Rome, or whatever. See ya later!”
*strokes axe and dreams of trading it in for an iron sword and flashy red tunic* “Oh, don’t worry. You will….”

[Theseus]

LOL!!!

Please see the Cro-Maginot Line below. I was herding a Greek Settler/Spearman pair around, and decided to go a step further and wall off my peninsula.

And, yes, my Warriors dream of swords too.

[Marquis de Sodaq]

Herding them is great! They try to go back or go past, but turn around if the way is blocked. It's fun to open a gap two moves away. They head for it; close it, and they turn around again; repeat until you decide to kill them.

[Objectivist]

Well done

Nice job with the line blocking off the settler horde, what supries me is that you didnt build your city upon that hill. Doing so would have ensured no one could put spearmen or hoplites on it and cut off your iron. Even if you didnt know the iron was there Im suprised you didnt build on the just for the defensive bonus you would gain from doing so. Or am I completly missing why you built to the right of the hill?

[Theseus]

I probably should have... it was a city spacing issue. See the Spearman at the top? That's becomes the site of my final forward city.

If I had been next to a tougher early civ, I probably would have anyway... BUT:
- it is Cleo after all, on a heavily forested map, which is great for Legionaries
- this is really early... I traded for Bronze Working and beelined for Iron Working (which I obviously just got)
- that's not all my Warriors (evil grin)

[Lord Merciless]

If you are the Egyptian and Americans are annoying you, you should start building War Chariots after founding 4 to 5 cities, then beat the crap of the Americans. It should be a quick and painless campagn, and may even get you a great leader.

[Col. Carnage]

Seems to me like Theseus has built his own version of the Great Wall

[Chemical Ollie]

Looks like the L337 I>317y map, Theseus. Have you won it yet?

I use this tactic quite often if I have the units to spare or if the bottlenecks are narrow enough. Currently I am using it on the same map as Theseus, but against the Greek.

[Theseus]

Yeah, but not giving out details until 1337 posts. BTW, I from another thread I realized that I screwed up... make sure to trigger the Greek GA.

[Objectivist]

GA

Who cares if the Greeks have a Golden age if you have all of their cities .

[Theseus]

True, it didn't matter in the long run... it's just a good technique to remember to use. Same for all the very early UUs.

[Objectivist]

End Run around forcing early GA

Thats a good point, however in MP I dont plan on having an early GA and there is no way you will be able to force me to. I will simply keep the UUs deep within my empire forcing you to start an all out war to force my GA instead of doing a mere hit and run to force it. (Anytime a human units enters my territory I will tell them to leave or declare war). And if im in GA and your not in an all out war, you can be pretty sure you'll lose. I can also keep you from forcing GA by simply not making the UU until Im ready to have GA. (though I admit Greece would be the worst early civ to not make UU early with, simply because you have nothing else really decent to defend with.)

[Chemical Ollie]

Theseus- I have only played the 1337 map until about 500 AD. I don't dare to attack the Greek with my pretty useless Legions. A 12-pop city with 8 veteran Hoplite defenders needs some really good luck with the dize rolls to conquer. Egypt was - well, not easy, but did eventually fall into my hands. By the way, the town you posted on the screenshot held the Colossus in my game. I razed it! Culture flipping sucks more than a few extra gold rocks, especially on deity. Did I do wrong?