"Bright" AIs and Cultural Victory

Turn off cultural conquest then?

~SDC~

Also, "Bright" AIs are still impaired. The break-even level is Intelligent. Try that, and you'll start getting demands for you to turn over Cultural palaces that you place in enemy territory, etc.

That said, others HAVE commented that the AI doesn't defend well against cultural assimilation, something I've noticed as well, especially on smaller maps.

- Ash

~SDC~

Funny that as I always play on gigantic maps with rare habitable worlds and with opponents set to normal - and I always end up being swallowed bu the AI. I meet them, I'm ahead financially, industrially and technologically; a *few* turns later - and without them having colonized more worlds - they outproduce me and leave me behind in the technological race... I'm above my ears in debt and still I cant seem to maintain myself. My last game I was fortunate enough to have 7 colonies - 12 of which were 15+ - without me having an advantage... I'm slowly getting frustrated


MG

MG: You might be placing too much priority on the number of colonies. Colonies on worlds less than Class 15 don't bring in income, for the most part.

Also, are you establishing trade routes? Trade routes are critical to a functioning economy in this game.

"without them having colonized more worlds - they outproduce me and leave me behind in the technological race"

Planet quality is much more important than number of worlds. Too many low-level colonies can actually drag down your economy. Because you can't set spending amounts on a per planet basis, the game will divide up your spending among your worlds evenly -- and if you have lots of 14-16 quality worlds, which are, in terms of production, relatively useless, they are going to end diverting funds away from your 18-20 quality worlds, which are much more important. If you can't set your spending rate to 100%, you aren't maximizing your productive abilities on your core worlds -- at that point, consider disbanding some of your smaller colonies, as they are just dead weight.

- Ash

PS> For the record, credit for clueing me in to that concept goes to Iskabis.

~SDC~

Setting my production to 100% !!! I've never done that - I seem to recall reading that it wasn't good to over-utilize government spending..?! I sincerely hope we get system spending implemented soon - I think the MOO3 had a pretty good idea with their 'development plans' idea - couple that with system spending and you'd get a decent production system. Also I'd suggest, with regards to the production waste problem, that a 3rd slider be included - whenever you're not using social and/or military production - you could spend on 'cultural' slider - increasing your influence that way.


MG

"Also I'd suggest, with regards to the production waste problem, that a 3rd slider be included - whenever you're not using social and/or military production - you could spend on 'cultural' slider - increasing your influence that way."

Nifty idea. Post that in the thread for suggestions about the problem, if you haven't already.

"Setting my production to 100% !!! I've never done that - I seem to recall reading that it wasn't good to over-utilize government spending..?!"

Gu-wha??? Umm... if you don't spend, you don't produce anything. I'd REALLY like to hear the logic that says that spending less than the most your economy can sustain is a good idea. Certainly, don't spend yourself into unmanageable debt, but as long as you have the income to support it, why wouldn't you set your spending to 100%? That's how you increase planetary production/research...

No offence, MG, but I think whoever told you that is cuckoo... unless, as is always very possible, I'm missing something obvious.

- Ash

~SDC~

I still haven't figured out the "Optimal" level for government spending
but I think it's somewhere around 70-80%. I think it's always nice to have
some cash in the bank so I can do deficit spending for a few turns when it's
important to get some ships out quickly.

If I'm spending regularly at 100% then I don't have the option of cranking up
spending when speed is crucial. Therefore, if I'm in a situation where I'm
spending at 100% and I'm not losing money, I try to build more power plants or
starbase factory modules to increase my industrial capacity.

- Matt Lepinski :->

I spend regularly at 100% and STILL accumulate cash. In fact I make 100% spending a goal as early as I can then think of ways to be able to maintain it if at all possible.

~SDC~

The closer I spend to 100% the better I do. Many posts in other forums are devoted to how to get and stay at 100%. And, yes, you can still have a cash flow going into an "emergency fund" and still be at 1oo%.

"I spend regularly at 100% and STILL accumulate cash. In fact I make 100% spending a goal as early as I can then think of ways to be able to maintain it if at all possible."

Ditto. Tech whoring may have been toned down, but it still works. In the game I finished earlier tonight, on a huge map, I had 1000BCs/turn coming in from tech tribute (later in the game; the numbers were obviously smaller earlier). Between decent trade routes and tech whoring, I can run an economy at 100% spending without ever raising my tax rate from it's starting position of 33%. This against Intelligent AIs, just for the record.

- Ash

~SDC~

"Tech whoring may have been toned down, but it still works."

Before someone gets upset, I should clarify: I was playing for a Tech victory, so I had some strong tech bonuses... tech whoring only really still works if you're putting a lot of effort into research, giving you a lot of techs to whore. As such, it's not really an exploit any more, since I have to work hard to be able to do it.

- Ash

~SDC~