AI Wonder build cheating

I've noticed that when you beat the AI to a wonder it simply puts all that production into another wonder, so if it's 50% of the way to a wonder an you get it first it simply switches to the next available wonder complete with all that production meaning it's half way there

A human player on the other hand, looses all his production an has to start again, my main gripe with this is A, broken sword made great play of the new AI needing less bonus's etc & B the AI did not in my experiance cheat like this before, either all players should be able to switch wonder production or none should an the AI should be no exception

hmm, any proof? this reminds me of the civ3 days of stockpiling shields... ;)

How have you noticed this? Espionage? Some evidence would be appreciated :)

Yeah, give us a save game or something. I have a hard time believing this.

With the pre-BTS game, I got beaten to Great Library by 4 turns. So I cheated and rolled back. Just for grins, I played that old save out again 3 time and each time the other Civ beat me exactly at the same turn. Which is what I would expect. On the 4th try, he built a completely different wonder that turn. On the 5th try, where I completed the library first, he built another wonder on the turn he would have completed the library originally.

I do not remember if I had the option turned on that has the computer reseed on restarts.

The AI in civ4 doesn't cheat. I repeat, it doesn't cheat. (It gets some bonuses though, but nothing compared to our human ability to actually SEE the map or adapt to this AI)

If you lose, just... improve.

With the pre-BTS game, I got beaten to Great Library by 4 turns. So I cheated and rolled back. Just for grins, I played that old save out again 3 time and each time the other Civ beat me exactly at the same turn. Which is what I would expect. On the 4th try, he built a completely different wonder that turn. On the 5th try, where I completed the library first, he built another wonder on the turn he would have completed the library originally.

I do not remember if I had the option turned on that has the computer reseed on restarts.

Now that is really interesting. Can you replicate that in save games, it would be fascinating to understand how that works.

Any proof would be nice, i did play a game where we where all in the ancient era and similar techs and when i completed the pyrimids within 2 turns, an AI built the parthenon, then a turn later, temple of artemis was build and then another few turns later another wonder was constructed by another AI.

I didn't think much of it at the time and i thought that the separate civs where in different wonder endevors at the same time, but this explantion seems a bit more plausable......

It would be nice if during the game, if someone reaches 75% contruction of a wonder, then everyone gets a message saying "<leader> has almost completed the <wonder>" that way, players can make an informed decision on weither to continue on with the wonder (or use a great engineer :P)

The AI in civ4 doesn't cheat. I repeat, it doesn't cheat. (It gets some bonuses though, but nothing compared to our human ability to actually SEE the map or adapt to this AI)

If you lose, just... improve.

were not saying it cheats, were saying if its possible that a glitch in the code may allow the computer to move shields across to another wonder.

A possible way of tracking this can also be to check AI in diplomacy after a wonder contruction to see if any AI's get a sharp increase in gold

I played a game an was building the notre damn wonder, i had 3 great engineers stockpiled, i was going to rush it but completely forgot, anyway first i realised of my mistake was when someone else built it!.

I was peeved to say the least (mainly at my own lack lack of attention) so i went back in time, via the auto save to a turn before an got my Great engineer to rush it, an yo an behold that same civ instead of building the notre Damn wonder instead got the spiral minarete.

The best possible way of observing the situation where this bug would occur is by giving a save game to the developers so they can debug it with their tools. They can see everything in a game and cause anything to happen, making it easy for them to replicate bugs of this nature. The original poster ought to post the game where this happened.

Maybe the AI is using an Engineer to build these Wonders himself? And thus, if you build the Wonder you want the turn before the AI would get it, said AI expends his Engineer on another Wonder instead.

That seems to be the most sensible explanation.

Its a good habite to check logs if you see a great engineer appears in a civ and that civ has the tech to build a wonder you are building. I suggest you to finish it right away by any means possible, if not he will build it next turn. If you do finish your wonder, AI will simply use great engineer for another wonder he can build. hence, you will see him build a wonder right after. Its not because he is cheating, its because he is rushing with great engineer.

Yeah, that's possible,Xiahou Mao. But again, I'd like to see a savegame one turn before you finish the wonder and where the AI currently builds a different one (and preferably where you can actually see what the AI is doing, i.e. you have their cities revealed). Your autosave might be enough, peter450, do you still have it?

Not just to satisfy my curiosity but also because Firaxis probably won't even start looking for the potential bug unless they have proof that it exists.

My other favorite times are when the AI beelines for a goody hut or a barb city when you know they have no clue it's there. I guess it's hard for the computer to hide stuff from itself. :D

My other favorite times are when the AI beelines for a goody hut or a barb city when you know they have no clue it's there. I guess it's hard for the computer to hide stuff from itself. :D
I'd like to see some proof for this. I have never seen it happend but I have seen the opposite happend, the AI missing huts (both that it can and can't see). If the AI actually does what you say then it's a bug.

Mao is prob right. I mean, any1 chinese enough to have a name of MAO and smart enough to like the three kingdom era has to be right. :D

I have heard that they changed that in CivIV. I think I remember reading some very extensive testing done that proved that the AI doesn't know where everything is from the beginning. (Things like putting a city next to an undiscovered resource)

I am also very skeptical about the OP's conclussion to his experiences. I don't think there have been anything to indicate that this occurs yet.

If this did happen, I would think someone would have discovered over a year ago, IMHO.

I'd like to see some proof for this. I have never seen it happend but I have seen the opposite happend, the AI missing huts (both that it can and can't see). If the AI actually does what you say then it's a bug.

Last night I had the experience of ending a turn with the AI and my units next to a hut. I thought, "Oh, well, missed it by a turn," but the AI unit moved away and left it for me. Never seen that before...

Ok time for me to eat lashings of humble pie..... i loaded the game saved it as a scenario an choose the greeks (ones who beat me too it first time around) an yo an behold a great engineer is lurking in there, i should have checked that before posting.....

So i guess thats me looking like plum of the day :sad:

lol.

So it was just their GP being saved for a different wonder, then.

As far as the goody huts thing - there are times they do that and times they don't, which is exactly what you would expect if they're using a little randomization in explore code or if their exploration priorities are complex enough that a human can't just glance at it and say "they were supposed to go *there* instead."

Now leaving a goody hut you know they can *already* see - that sounds like an issue.

goody huts can also be hostile! Maybe the AI health was low and didnt wanna take the chance?

I don't think this is true. Yeah, the AI gets some handicaps, but I don't think they to cheat on wonders.

What probably happened is they used a great engineer. And since you built that one wonder, they probably used their great engineer for something else.