Civ 5, just one more turn...

[Vigilance]

I think they got rid of tech-looting for a good reason.

I miss it too, but tech-looting makes war really attractive. You mean, I get their land, some of their gold, and a free tech too? Sign me up.

I agree with everyone else that espionage as a concept is nice, but the implementation SUCKED, and I'm pretty sure Firaxis knew it.

Sid Meier said the #1 request they got after Beyond the Sword, which they granted in a later patch, was an option in the game menu to turn Espionage off entirely.

It usually seemed like an unstoppable hurricane to me. Like, oh, Hurricane espionage just destroyed my mine, guess I'll rebuild it.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Again, this piques my curiosity as it doesn't jibe with my experiences. It takes long enough to get all the spaceship parts constructed that a science juggernaut can have many rounds of future tech research, even if I've switched everyone into production and gold mode.

There are quite a few techs that you don't need to research if you're going for science. I do have a confession though - I've only ever done Scientific Victory once.

Well, if you define a bloodless victory as "boring", then building a techno-utopia is definitely ho-hum. I do miss the tech-looting. In Civ V it certainly feels as if you are expected to acquire all technologies on your own eventually, rather than acquire them from other Civs.

Personally, I feel that combat is the main thrust of the game. Even if you're not out to conquer everyone, you still need to defend yourself. I don't really feel the AI is aggressive enough in that area. In particular, the AI seems to place a large emphasis on tech levels. If you have high tech units, the AI will avoid attacking them altogether. So in the case of a Scientific Victory, you end up sitting around. It's compounded by the fact that you don't have much incentive to attack other players.

I think they got rid of tech-looting for a good reason. I miss it too, but tech-looting makes war really attractive. You mean, I get their land, some of their gold, and a free tech too? Sign me up.

I agree with everyone else that espionage as a concept is nice, but the implementation SUCKED, and I'm pretty sure Firaxis knew it.

I don't claim to be an expert on game design, but why not make it a choice? Right now, you basically get the choice between gold (razing) or a free city. In the latter case, capturing cities is usually more trouble than it's worth - between unhappiness and inefficiency, I've often found it better to raze and rebuild a city. Personally, I'd love to see a player get the following options:

1) Raze - get gold/science/culture based on city size (destroy city, lower happiness and relations)
2) Liberate - become a city-state (with all that entails, but no control)
3) Annex - acquire city (control city, lowered happiness)

This way, you have three options of dealing with a conquered city that each victory choice can take advantage of.

 

[Felon]

Personally, I feel that combat is the main thrust of the game. Even if you're not out to conquer everyone, you still need to defend yourself. I don't really feel the AI is aggressive enough in that area. In particular, the AI seems to place a large emphasis on tech levels. If you have high tech units, the AI will avoid attacking them altogether. So in the case of a Scientific Victory, you end up sitting around. It's compounded by the fact that you don't have much incentive to attack other players.

I don't claim to be an expert on game design, but why not make it a choice? Right now, you basically get the choice between gold (razing) or a free city. In the latter case, capturing cities is usually more trouble than it's worth - between unhappiness and inefficiency, I've often found it better to raze and rebuild a city. Personally, I'd love to see a player get the following options:

1) Raze - get gold/science/culture based on city size (destroy city, lower happiness and relations)
2) Liberate - become a city-state (with all that entails, but no control)
3) Annex - acquire city (control city, lowered happiness)

This way, you have three options of dealing with a conquered city that each victory choice can take advantage of.

With regards to tech-looting, my ideal compromise is that instead of outright gaining the tech, you gain insight into some of their tech that reduces the number of beakers needed to complete it. Helpful, but not overpowering.

My experience with the AI is certainly not telling me that it's timd or unopportunistic. If I leave a city looking vulnerable, and it's near a border, then it's a target. And they will persist in attacking in a lemming-like fashion until their forces are all but annihlated. However, for all of this to happen it seems the AI needs to take a good look at the city in question and determine that it has a superior attacking force. That's a major culprit for all of those open oborders requests. Line-of-sight is only 2 hexes, so while denying open borders requests might make the AI hostile and unwilling to make deals, but it also keeps a civilization enshrouded in a big cloud. The AI does not want to attack a cloud.

Not sure what to say when you comment that the AI places a high emphasis on tech levels. I think most human players would be hesitant to declare war if it meant attacking tanks with pikemen. Technological superiority outght to be a serious deterrent, to my mind. Maybe I'm reading you wrong? Anyway, this hearkens back to what I was saying about espionage helping the science underdogs. It also does underscore something I hadn't noticed before: the AI has ganged up on me.

There are a lot of reason I find to attack, but the most basic is competition for space and luxury resources. If I have room to grow and good access to luxuries, then I'm fortunate and can have a nice, blissful game until I win or get bored.

Also, if another civ's score is beating mine, that's something I tend to resovle through a well-planned attack. Once spanked--and a few cities razed--a civ has a tendency to grant beathing room.

I'll raze and resettle a city if its only purpose is to access a resource, but if I want a prodcution or gold hub, I certainly don't want to build that up from scratch if I don't have to.