AI clueless on World Congress

I write this reluctantly because I don't really want the developers to fix this, but has anyone else noticed how passive the AI is at the WC. I've had a few games where my civ was dominating, but no one tries to stop me via the WC. the most they'll do is try and ban a resource. No one's ever tried to embargo me. In one game, someone tried to repeal my religion as world religion, but that was at like the sixth WC. By then I had enough city states to and gold to block the repeal.
Also, when I embargo other civs, they don't like it and all, but I don't seem to get the insanely harsh diplo hit as I would expect. They were still relatively nice to me...I mean, if someone tried to embargo me, that would be a life offense. It'd be grounds for war, or at least bribing another civ to go to war for me. I just don't think the AI grasps the power of the WC.

Also, the AI, at least on Emperor and below, doesn't seem to beeline to printing press to host the WC. I just think it's strange how the AI doesn't let you get Great Library, but lets you host the WC every single time.

Anyway, not asking Firaxis to Firix this, just wondered what everyone else's experience has been. I've only played six or seven games of BNW, not a great sampling size, so am curious.

They need to fix hosting, as the human is the only player who will vote for other players with similar goals if they don't have enough votes to make themselves host. I did find that it is impossible to pass Natural Heritage Sites. Even Spain voted against that...

And yes, AI love banning luxuries.

Ya what is up with the ban luxury resoures? They love to ban them!! Anyways, I always voted for Dido for WC host, she seemed to love me after that.

I bet it will get fall patched. I bet they will make it so if one player doesnt have enough votes to make themselves host they will vote for their best friend.

crawf0rd said:

I bet it will get fall patched. I bet they will make it so if one player doesnt have enough votes to make themselves host they will vote for their best friend.

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I don't think

2 Iroquois votes for Babylon
2 Babylon votes for Russia
2 Russia votes for America
2 America votes for Poland
2 Poland votes for Polynesia
2 Polynesia votes for Zulu
2 Zulu votes for Aztec
2 You vote for Aztec
1000000000002 Greece votes for Greece

would be much better than what we have now.

I've managed to totally flub the WC. The AI hate me because of early warmongering and passed an embargo of me and city states. I've managed to stay solvent in spite of this. In fact, what almost broke me was bribing Civs that hated me to keep the CS embargo from passing. After that fiasco, I just let them do it since it seemed less bad to let them. The final straw would be for them to tax a standing army and I'd be in tough shape. I think they use it well when they ALL hate you as they'll gang up on you.

My choices now are to turn straight to gold and buy up enough delegates to outbid every AI and repeal the embargoes. Gear up my military and burn the world, or buckle down and try to win a SV. This is Prince level so they are all doable. I just have to decide...

Edit: Oh, and I tried even voting the AI that hated me the least as leader of the WC and that failed miserably. It feels like the only way to do it is to buy up CS allies and force your will that way. Which I don't like... It's also why I don't like Diplo. Vics. It doesn't make sense to me. I had a game where each Civ had 3 or 4 bright green modifiers and 2 or 3 dark green ones and not a SINGLE one voted for me for World Leader. What is the point of a Diplomatic victory if it's just a bribing contest either through votes or CS allies?

I suspect the AI uses luxury bans as a form of abstaining from proposing a resolution, feeling any other proposal will either be bad for them or draw too many negative reactions.
In my experience, having the Forbidden Palace ready when you found the Congress gives you an insurmountable grasp on it through the Renaissance, which you can further compound by bribing one or two non-religious civs to get the World Religion. If you have actually converted a civ or two to your religion, you can use your lead in Congress to curry favor with them, building a political friendship that can take you places when Congress gets more advanced.

Ummm.. they do split their votes.

AFAIK, the only times they don't is for UN victory and for Host position. This can be fixed with additional interactions.

That said, if you share the same ideology as an AI civ, plus you have a diplomat in their capital, you get double bonuses and can see exactly how they think.

For any given proposal, the AI's preference will be indicated, showing strong or weak preference for voting yes/no to something.

As for banning luxuries, they ban luxuries of Civs they are plotting against. This is in-part wars and diplomacy breaks down in BNW, not some random or at least opaque RNG mechanism. If you can't defend your interests in the WC,don't annoy someone with a lot of votes or you'll find your luxury on the ban list.

kajillion said:

1000000000002 Greece votes for Greece

would be much better than what we have now.

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Add Siam into the list when Greece is absent. I did that without patronage

dexters said:

Ummm.. they do split their votes.

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Havent seen that seven games in a row myself. Just saying.

I've seen them split between the two different proposals. But I've never seen them vote for anyone other than themselves when it comes to Diplomacy Victory or leader of the WC.

kajillion said:

I don't think

2 Iroquois votes for Babylon
2 Babylon votes for Russia
2 Russia votes for America
2 America votes for Poland
2 Poland votes for Polynesia
2 Polynesia votes for Zulu
2 Zulu votes for Aztec
2 You vote for Aztec
1000000000002 Greece votes for Greece

would be much better than what we have now.

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Didnt think about that; you're right.

Randall_Flagg said:

Ya what is up with the ban luxury resoures? They love to ban them!!

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I see the same thing. Poor Gajah.