AI overhaul

So i can understand why the AI received its boost. I welcome it and actually enjoy being bumped down a couple difficulties. Although, it almost seems unrealistic in the case of tech.

I was playing a pangea - prince game last night and I had a nice start. I turtled up and got the GL and a good deal of wonders, only missed the hanging gardens. Then i saw that napolean had entered the midevil era. It was still BC...

I mean, i get it. Human players are able to use advantages given to us so well that one of the ways to make the AI better was to make them tech better. I was probably either in midevil as well or just behind it, but it just kind of broke the immersion.

In my eyes, the only way to improve this would be to reduce the advantages (wonders, religious, UA, ect) given to the player. This would in turn make the game more predictable and dependent on the starting location... aaaand make it more of a combat simulator.

In the end, i'm not suggesting any changes. Just kind of explaining why it feels weird to be in the midevil era at 350BC...

May feel weird, but it's only 6 techs to Medieval in G&K: either Pottery => Theology or AH+Archery => Guilds. The first beeline is perhaps a bit more sensible, depending on the map and the civ, but both are achievable before you pass 1 BC -- for the AI and the human player.

Whether that makes sense as a matter of game design and/or "immersion" is another matter....

JimboThrasher said:

In the end, i'm not suggesting any changes. Just kind of explaining why it feels weird to be in the midevil era at 350BC...

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Its a game. Its civilization, not a simulation. Civilization is anything BUT a sim game. Paradox games is where its at for them, and even then they seem to be also going in the game direction with their "Aztec Invasion of Europe" DLC for CK2.

smallfish said:

Its a game. Its civilization, not a simulation. Civilization is anything BUT a sim game. Paradox games is where its at for them, and even then they seem to be also going in the game direction with their "Aztec Invasion of Europe" DLC for CK2.

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You're correct, its not a simulation. Thats why i don't want to act like I want a change or anything. I think that i might enjoy marathon or epic more to allow more turns within eras. I used to play them but haven't recently.

Browd said:

May feel weird, but it's only 6 techs to Medieval in G&K: either Pottery => Theology or AH+Archery => Guilds. The first beeline is perhaps a bit more sensible, depending on the map and the civ, but both are achievable before you pass 1 BC -- for the AI and the human player.

Whether that makes sense as a matter of game design and/or "immersion" is another matter....

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Yea only 6 techs, I think in the end I appreciate the ancient era more and want to stay in it longer. After starting the post I think i'm going to go back to marathon games.

I think there are some "extended research time" mods out there that stretch out research times, but not playing time, as well as mods that truncate the tech tree at particular eras. Might allow you to enjoy longer ancient/classical eras without having to invest weeks in a single marathon game.

Browd said:

May feel weird, but it's only 6 techs to Medieval in G&K: either Pottery => Theology or AH+Archery => Guilds. The first beeline is perhaps a bit more sensible, depending on the map and the civ, but both are achievable before you pass 1 BC -- for the AI and the human player.

Whether that makes sense as a matter of game design and/or "immersion" is another matter....

Click to expand...

Yeah. I don't think the AI is receiving a massive science boost, as much as it prefers crazy beelines.

As an example, it's not uncommon to see civilizations in the Renaissance era who still haven't researched some of Calendar, Writing or Masonry (and end up stealing it with Spies instead).

Most AI's seem to like beelining techs. So that means on higher levels if you choose to beeline, you will likely lose out on a few wonders in the other path. For example, heavy tech beelines in the upper path may lose Great Wall, Notre Dame, Himeji Castle, and Kremlin.

In the Medieval era, there are many civs which will beeline Theology, Civil Service, Guilds, or Chivalry. I've found that France has a tendency to go for the militaristic lower technology branch and often end up with Notre Dame. But that makes sense since it's along the path for Gunpowder (Musketeers).

Once, Moctezuma was in the Renaissance... had muskets and cannonae.

Then some turns later, an Aztec spy stole Education from me and my table flipped