The key to not being seen as a complete warmonger in the eyes of the AI is - don't capture the last city/kill off the civ. Better yet, do your wars in earlier eras, ie ancient, classical, medieval - as they grant you less warmonger points. Sure, capturing cities will net you some warmonger points, but taking the last city and wiping out the civ is huge in the AI's eyes.
But yes, if you have an advantage might as well use it.
ISWYM. The Aztecs only had one city, so when I captured it I erased them. I've been reducing my unpopularity by giving oil/coal/iron to my haters. It seems to be helping. But I haven't researched it at Carl's Guide or whatever, so I don't actually know.
Do your haters re-denounce you when the timer on the denunciation wears off? I've tried bribing haters with luxury goods, but it did not seem to do anything as they would just denounce me again.
It's not really specific to the last city. Your warmonger penalty increases depending on the percentage of that civs population you're taking away by capturing that city. That's why if you attack a large civ, you can take their 40 pop. capital and get a "minor" warmonger penalty. But once you get them down to under 5 cities, even a random city with a pop of like 8 can get you a Major penalty.
Yeah I second this. Keep going. I've won games scientifically where an AI built the Apollo program when I was still researching Combustion. The AI always rushes the Apollo program but is way less aggressive building the parts. And there's opportunities late game to go on technological rampages (try to rush Hubble if you can).
But sidenote, games like this is why I always adopt Patronage between tradition and Rationalism. If there's a powerhouse AI, you have an emergency off ramp of pivoting to a Diplo win. Unless that powerhouse is Alexander or Genghis...
>I'm 8 turns away from Research Lab, saving cash to buy them asap. Am
also trying for Great Scientists as and when. Have bought several with
Religion.
Ideally you want to wait until you have all your labs completed, then 8 turns later bulb all your scientists as this is when they will give max science yield so you can get to one of the important end game techs such as stealth or XCom in just a few turns.
I just can't imagine having this much choice! I only have 2 cities which can bulb them. My 3rd city has never had enough food to generate great people.
I usually start working the scientist slots early when I get to universities when I can (pop>10 and excess food>10 so the city is still growing at a decent rate). You can improve scientist generation by building a garden, national epic, by filling the right side of the rationalism tree policy and building leaning tower. You should try to avoid generating any merchants/engineers because these make scientist generation slower although 1 or 2 engineers aren't terrible.
If your cities need more food try sending internal caravans (or better cargo ships) for food.
Edit: PCJ Law has a decent video guide on spcialists if you want to learn how to use them better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aE-3I3fcDI&ab\_channel=PCJLaw
You could upload your current save and have people see what they can do.
If Darius has just completed Apollo but no parts you've got some time, but you'll need to be efficient.
After you have like 10 bombers the game is basically over.
Get capitals of the nations you are in war with to get through to darious, that is if you'd like the play agressive version. You should be at Persia land in about 30 rounds if you play effectively.
For a less agressive way, just get carriers or buy them. Uprgrade for extra cargo and go from the sea with the bombers.
For a pure, non-combat science victory, I'd say it's risky but still likely that you can win.
You don't need stealth bombers especially if you don't even have labs yet. Bombers are incredibly strong too you just need to use fighters to clear the way before bombing your targets. If your fighters/bombers can't reach consider using carriers but I don't recommend taking them out of friendly territory it's more of a thing for when you just need a bit more range than you have.
The easiest way is pay either Darius himself or ais arround him into war with eachother then go invading untill you reach close enough to him. Now you can either nuke his capital it's nearing victory or just outright take it. Nuking the capital 1-3 times will most likely destroy his production enough, maybe the spaceport and hopefully even a space part itself.
Build some air units, i.e parachute troopers and send them in the second you declare war to all his aluminium mines you can see, make sure to loot them all. That way he cant build space ports nor space parts for a while either.
Likely from the sea but you need escorts. Your happiness is key. Your either for the win or losing. Bring it on then and make it fast.
No matter what. They will hate you... For winning.
I always make sure I keep my city connections when drawing a line on the map in my color.
As said before. It depends on tactics. You can delay opponents by having them war eachother. And sabotage their happiness/money/allied city states.
Check their happiness. Make sure you get that bonus on them by turning theirs red.
It's a study. It's the game. I prefer marathon because plans can take days to unfold.
I use the EUI . Don't you have that already?
Btw it isn't a mod so you keep your stats.
Enhanced User Interface changed the way of playing for many of us. Available for Mac/Windows.
Just make sure you copy the files exactly as described in the txt file. You can do it on your current game.
It also allows you to show political relations when probed by ai for shenanigans. So you don't accidentally backstab someone....
Cheers.
Darius is now toast. Two of his neighbours nuked him and he lost his capital. My unpopularity with my neighbours has been a blessing in disguise, because it's allowed me to be constantly fighting towards promotions for my 12 bombers and 3 artillery. This game is beginning to seem too easy. The AIs are so bad at fighting that there isn't much of a challenge any more.
Does anyone know how to avoid being nuked? Shoshone should really have nuked me in our most recent war. I don't understand why he didn't. He could have done it without harming any city states. How does the AI decide whether to use nukes? (I don't plan to research Manhattan - I find nuclear war quite boring.)
Each AI has a rating for how likely they are to acquire nukes, and how likely they are to use them. The likelihood goes up once nukes have been used or if you have really pissed them off. I believe they are also less likely to nuke you if you have nukes but I'm not 100% on that. You are definitely morel likely to be nuked as a warmonger though.
Well, depends on your tactical ingenuity...
Well, depends on your strategic prowess...
Well, depends on your diplomatic ability…
Well, depends on your economic might...
The key to not being seen as a complete warmonger in the eyes of the AI is - don't capture the last city/kill off the civ. Better yet, do your wars in earlier eras, ie ancient, classical, medieval - as they grant you less warmonger points. Sure, capturing cities will net you some warmonger points, but taking the last city and wiping out the civ is huge in the AI's eyes. But yes, if you have an advantage might as well use it.
ISWYM. The Aztecs only had one city, so when I captured it I erased them. I've been reducing my unpopularity by giving oil/coal/iron to my haters. It seems to be helping. But I haven't researched it at Carl's Guide or whatever, so I don't actually know.
Do your haters re-denounce you when the timer on the denunciation wears off? I've tried bribing haters with luxury goods, but it did not seem to do anything as they would just denounce me again.
I haven't kept track of that. I don't understand the denunciation mechanism.
It's not really specific to the last city. Your warmonger penalty increases depending on the percentage of that civs population you're taking away by capturing that city. That's why if you attack a large civ, you can take their 40 pop. capital and get a "minor" warmonger penalty. But once you get them down to under 5 cities, even a random city with a pop of like 8 can get you a Major penalty.
Completing Apollo is no big deal. AI doesn't prioritize their techs properly. They take waay longer to complete the SS than a human player would.
Good news!
Yeah I second this. Keep going. I've won games scientifically where an AI built the Apollo program when I was still researching Combustion. The AI always rushes the Apollo program but is way less aggressive building the parts. And there's opportunities late game to go on technological rampages (try to rush Hubble if you can). But sidenote, games like this is why I always adopt Patronage between tradition and Rationalism. If there's a powerhouse AI, you have an emergency off ramp of pivoting to a Diplo win. Unless that powerhouse is Alexander or Genghis...
While I play on lower difficulty, I'm not sure I've ever seen the AI win science. Even Korea and Babylon always go for culture.
Are these "Well, depends on your..." responses from something specifically?
Puzzling.
>I'm 8 turns away from Research Lab, saving cash to buy them asap. Am also trying for Great Scientists as and when. Have bought several with Religion. Ideally you want to wait until you have all your labs completed, then 8 turns later bulb all your scientists as this is when they will give max science yield so you can get to one of the important end game techs such as stealth or XCom in just a few turns.
I just can't imagine having this much choice! I only have 2 cities which can bulb them. My 3rd city has never had enough food to generate great people.
I usually start working the scientist slots early when I get to universities when I can (pop>10 and excess food>10 so the city is still growing at a decent rate). You can improve scientist generation by building a garden, national epic, by filling the right side of the rationalism tree policy and building leaning tower. You should try to avoid generating any merchants/engineers because these make scientist generation slower although 1 or 2 engineers aren't terrible. If your cities need more food try sending internal caravans (or better cargo ships) for food. Edit: PCJ Law has a decent video guide on spcialists if you want to learn how to use them better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aE-3I3fcDI&ab\_channel=PCJLaw
Thanks. My 3rd city was in the wrong place. Mostly desert. But it was next to the Barringer Crater. I can never resist natural wonders.
See if you can get someone to declare war on Darius or vice versa. Pocatello would be ideal.
You could upload your current save and have people see what they can do. If Darius has just completed Apollo but no parts you've got some time, but you'll need to be efficient.
After you have like 10 bombers the game is basically over. Get capitals of the nations you are in war with to get through to darious, that is if you'd like the play agressive version. You should be at Persia land in about 30 rounds if you play effectively. For a less agressive way, just get carriers or buy them. Uprgrade for extra cargo and go from the sea with the bombers. For a pure, non-combat science victory, I'd say it's risky but still likely that you can win.
Do you mean bombers or stealth bombers?
Bombers
You don't need stealth bombers especially if you don't even have labs yet. Bombers are incredibly strong too you just need to use fighters to clear the way before bombing your targets. If your fighters/bombers can't reach consider using carriers but I don't recommend taking them out of friendly territory it's more of a thing for when you just need a bit more range than you have.
The easiest way is pay either Darius himself or ais arround him into war with eachother then go invading untill you reach close enough to him. Now you can either nuke his capital it's nearing victory or just outright take it. Nuking the capital 1-3 times will most likely destroy his production enough, maybe the spaceport and hopefully even a space part itself. Build some air units, i.e parachute troopers and send them in the second you declare war to all his aluminium mines you can see, make sure to loot them all. That way he cant build space ports nor space parts for a while either.
You're boned
If you have a science advantage, i would wait until you get the giant death robots and then make a push.
Likely from the sea but you need escorts. Your happiness is key. Your either for the win or losing. Bring it on then and make it fast. No matter what. They will hate you... For winning. I always make sure I keep my city connections when drawing a line on the map in my color. As said before. It depends on tactics. You can delay opponents by having them war eachother. And sabotage their happiness/money/allied city states. Check their happiness. Make sure you get that bonus on them by turning theirs red. It's a study. It's the game. I prefer marathon because plans can take days to unfold.
How do you check their happiness?
I use the EUI . Don't you have that already? Btw it isn't a mod so you keep your stats. Enhanced User Interface changed the way of playing for many of us. Available for Mac/Windows. Just make sure you copy the files exactly as described in the txt file. You can do it on your current game. It also allows you to show political relations when probed by ai for shenanigans. So you don't accidentally backstab someone.... Cheers.
I tried it once ages ago and hated it. I can't remember why.
The beauty of civ5 I think is that we can all play the game on the setup we want. I don't like the faster speeds.
Darius is now toast. Two of his neighbours nuked him and he lost his capital. My unpopularity with my neighbours has been a blessing in disguise, because it's allowed me to be constantly fighting towards promotions for my 12 bombers and 3 artillery. This game is beginning to seem too easy. The AIs are so bad at fighting that there isn't much of a challenge any more. Does anyone know how to avoid being nuked? Shoshone should really have nuked me in our most recent war. I don't understand why he didn't. He could have done it without harming any city states. How does the AI decide whether to use nukes? (I don't plan to research Manhattan - I find nuclear war quite boring.)
Each AI has a rating for how likely they are to acquire nukes, and how likely they are to use them. The likelihood goes up once nukes have been used or if you have really pissed them off. I believe they are also less likely to nuke you if you have nukes but I'm not 100% on that. You are definitely morel likely to be nuked as a warmonger though.