Irritating Settler Expansion

[Zachriel]

How many times has a neighboring Civ planted a town in what you believe to be your native lands? Irritating isn't it?

Click here:

http://www.crowncity.net/civ3/culturesqueeze.htm

[Flight]

nice, as long as the civ in place of the french/indians doesnt have the power to kill you. Taking away space for the enemy to build is my first priority

You know you're doing well when they send settler/spearmen through your borders.

[Willem]

Re: Irritating Settler Expansion

Originally posted by Zachriel
How many times has a neighboring Civ planted a town in what you believe to be your native lands? Irritating isn't it?

Click here:
http://www.crowncity.net/civ3/culturesqueeze.htm

Maybe I'm dense, but I fail to see your point.

[Zachriel]

Re: Re: Irritating Settler Expansion

Originally posted by Willem
Maybe I'm dense, but I fail to see your point.

Many people have posted they do not like it when the AI plants settlers in the cracks of their cultural control, land they believe rightfully belongs to them, even though they do not have cultural boundaries around it yet. Of course, if it irritates your enemy, it must be good.

Basically, you can dominate the cultural situation and not be a victim of it. Make them defend their culture.

[vmxa1]

My solution is to kill wandering settlers.

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Flight
You know you're doing well when they send settler/spearmen through your borders.

To my NE were the Egyptians pressed against the sea. In order to settle Satsuma in the River basin to start my cultural attack, I had to delay settling another crucial spot near the Egyptians at the top of this map.

There are three spots I would like, but if I go for the river basin, I could lose one of the other more "natural" locations for my towns. The northern most spot I was willing to forego, as the Egyptians would probably found it on the sea, far enough from my capital to not cause a problem.

When it came time to grab the northern most spot, I had a couple Spearman and the Settler close behind, dancing with three other civ's settlers. It was like the Oklahoma land rush. Everyone was making a grab.

I got there just a turn ahead, so got all three spots.

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by vmxa1
My solution is to kill wandering settlers.

That is a legitimate strategy, but many of us won't normally do that.

[Willem]

Ok, I understand your point and thanks for sharing that. I'm still getting used to the whole cultural boundary thing, but I definitly see some strategic possibilities for city placement that we didn't have before. In previous Civs, it didn't matter much where you built them, except for the odd chokepoint, but now there's a few more options available.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Zachriel


That is a legitimate strategy, but many of us won't normally do that.

Myself I've created some colorless units that allow me to attack Units/Cities without having to have an all out war. I like it actually, though it's not quite as effective as I thought it would be. As soon as another civ's troops come across one they immediately attack, so they don't have much of a "shelf life". And I've also noticed that the other civ gets furious whenever I use one. But they've helped me get rid of a couple of pesky cities so far.

[vmxa1]

When you say created, I presume you mean using the editor. Using the editor is a form of cheating to me. Anyway I want them to go to war with me at any level above regent. It allows me to thin out the troops that they have and forces them to spend wealth on building more. I get to promote units and get a few leaders to rush with. Once I get knights, I start to take or raze cities and take over the tech lead soon after (game over). I love it when I look out and see 9 or 10 stacks of the various civs coming my way. BY the time I go on the attack they are short on troops and are using conscripts (sad movies for them).

[Willem]

Originally posted by vmxa1
When you say created, I presume you mean using the editor. Using the editor is a form of cheating to me. Anyway I want them to go to war with me at any level above regent. It allows me to thin out the troops that they have and forces them to spend wealth on building more. I get to promote units and get a few leaders to rush with. Once I get knights, I start to take or raze cities and take over the tech lead soon after (game over). I love it when I look out and see 9 or 10 stacks of the various civs coming my way. BY the time I go on the attack they are short on troops and are using conscripts (sad movies for them).

The editor doesn't work when creating units, I have to use the Civ3CopyTool for that. And why is it cheating when the units are available to the AI as well? With those colorless units in particular, there have been a couple of times in my current game that I thought I'd created a monster. The AI uses them very well, in the same way I do, and seems to make quite a few of them. It especially likes to capture my Workers/Settlers. I think adding them has created an interesting challenge to my game frankly, it's really keeping me on my toes.

[vmxa1]

Great. If you are happy with it then fine, I just do not see talking about apples, if you have oranges. When the game is modified, I can not use the the data. That is not to say it is not fun, just not germain.

[Purple]

blocking AI expansion

I find that it's necessary to build a number of warriors to use as blockers. If the AI can't find a way to sneak through your lines for reconnaissance purposes (or find out what's available from a map trade), it won't send settlers.

But when the settler/spearman pair come to found a city, they pick the weak points, places where your cultural boundaries are only a few tiles apart. You just have to line up a couple of units, even workers, to block them. After a few turns, they get discouraged and try someplace else.

Of course, settlers can arrive by sea, but this doesn't usually happen until later in the game.

[vmxa1]

I have tried to block, but it is rarely possible. Too many places to go, it takes 6 or more units and I do not have them. If I have enough units to block, I have more than enough to whack them.
Anyway, it needs to be a declaration of war to come into anyones terrain, cross a culture border, without permission. This would make the AI be more careful as you must be. You can not send a spearmen and a settler into their land and not pay. The AI does not grasp the fact that I am willing to go to war over incursion, no matter how many times I do. They do not understand that when you say leave and they say ok and do not that they run a grave risk.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by vmxa1
My solution is to kill wandering settlers.

Sorry for responding late to this one, but that would explain why you are in war with everybody even during the ancient era, as we discussed in another thread.

My solution is sending settlers myself as fast as I can (2-3 settler factories, all other cities produce military), no wonder building, avoiding holes and weak spots and using workers and military units to block intruders. In this phase of the game, the last thing I need is a war (or let's say more than one at a time).

And if the AI sneaks in 1-2 cities, oh well, they are scheduled for getting assimilated either by a culture bomb or by military force later in the game.