Average Turn AI's Get Musketmen

Just curious how soon the AI can research and build musketmen (i.e., average time)

I'm playing as Venice, turn 154 (Emperor level) (standard speed) (no mods) and the Aztecs already have musketmen. I'm not sure when they built them but I noticed the one musket man on turn 154 when they were advancing on me.

Is that right? I'm still at regular swordsmen and comp bowmen.

Note: I was 2nd in science, and first to Renaissance.

On Deity, they get them pretty early, maybe turn 130? I never pay attention.
It's because the AI techs heavily towards gunpowder and navigation in my experience. Watch how fast they build Himeji castle lol.

I've noticed they also tech to banking and industrialization, and not acoustics or scientific theory. Who knows why. Just a thing the AI does, like never picking rationalism.

But they do go straight to metallurgy usually so they get Red Fort and Lancers very early, but then they get confused because the techs get weird to get to riflemen and great war infantry and they seem to start to spread their science around so they get jammed with canons and muskets for along time before they get infantry and planes.

I see planes around turn 190-200 at the earliest on Deity. I imagine on King it might take basically forever, like turn 250+ because the longer the game goes, the worse the AI gets at science to they slug through those late techs very slowly whereas they just get all the early ones basically for free from the difficulty bonuses.

^^Wow--I only play on Emperor--and I've never seen mustetmen that early. Nor see planes around turn 200.

Thank God I don't play on Deity.

What's most scary on deity is how fast the AI gets horsemen and longswordsmen, and for shaka, impis.
He techs straight for those and he has a swarm of them usually around turn 60-70, all with 4 promotions lol.
Luckily he's insanely easy to bribe and if shaka is in the game, you basically should never ever have to be at war with him, he will always accept a small bribe to DoW any AI.

Try it on Montezuma if you think he'll attack you, he's usually also very easy to bribe away for almost nothing even if he hates you.

I think the earliest I have had an AI enter Renaissance on Deity was around T90 but T100-120 is more likely. If they entered Renaissance through Gunpowder you have to expect Muskets from there on and you usually end up fighting them with XBs anyway, which is not a problem if you have enough and well promoted ones. Muskets aren't very good units, especially when handled by the AI which will just suicide them into your defences.

T150 on Emperor sounds early but at that point you should probably already be far ahead in tech and if you have Machinery and Civil Service you really have nothing to worry about

I had no luck bribing Montezuma. But I did bribe Alex to DOW him (Alex had also been dancing on my borders).

@Maxattack--I was ahead on some techs, but I had been going for the science ones.

they tend to get them a little after I do as they seem to lag behind alot.

^^Apologies but that really didn't help.

That is like asking someone at what age did they first kiss a member of the opposite sex and someone answers, "when I was a kid." It's too vague.

That's why I gave my turn number, game speed, who I was playing as, etc.

Can you clarify?

docbud said:

^^Apologies but that really didn't help.

That is like asking someone at what age did they first kiss a member of the opposite sex and someone answers, "when I was a kid." It's too vague.

That's why I gave my turn number, game speed, who I was playing as, etc.

Can you clarify?

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Well I like to rush to get Musketmen and the Ai doesnt