Computer military AI is abysmal even on Diety

it's not that hard to write a decent AI for a civ-style game on modern hardware
it's only hard to write a really good one

most developers cry about AI being hard because they don't prioritize it.

it is unfortunate that the type of problem-solvers who would be skilled at designing AI usually don't work in the game industry, but it's to be expected when the game developers don't care at all about shipping a game with an AI that can play it

gamemaster3000 said:

Evaluating how to move ground units in front and archers in the back in ways they can shoot but not get killed by enemy ranged, etc. is all really easy for humans but difficult to write an algorithm for.

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Difficult but should not be impossible. A game like Heroes of Might and Magic 3 did remarkable well at this back in 1999, in a combat system that works remarkably similar to what's in civ 5 (hex grid, different unit movement and properties, obstacles, etc.). And for all the fancy stuff that's happened to graphics since 1999, it's not like computer logic has changed, and the increase in calculation capacity should not work against them either.

kaspergm said:

Difficult but should not be impossible. A game like Heroes of Might and Magic 3 did remarkable well at this back in 1999, in a combat system that works remarkably similar to what's in civ 5 (hex grid, different unit movement and properties, obstacles, etc.). And for all the fancy stuff that's happened to graphics since 1999, it's not like computer logic has changed, and the increase in calculation capacity should not work against them either.

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If Civ V had been delayed one year I think they would have been able to fix it.
It's actually pretty tough with one unit per tile rules just to keep AI from blocking itself.

One of the main reasons the AI in many SSI games seems decent (at least when defending) was it has a 2 unit per hex rule instead of a 1 unit per hex rule so the AI could be told to always keep its artillery units stacked in the same tile as a melee unit.
(Another reason is that since these were based on historic wars / battles, the AIs forces would start in their historic starting positions which baring a too dumb to live real life commander was at least decent)

The upcoming Civ: Beyond Earth will tell us if they've learned anything about keeping artillery type units safely behind melee ones under 1 hex per tile rules or not. (That is if ranged units are included at all)

I avoid war at all costs when playing Civ, mostly because the instant a war starts my suspension of disbelief goes out the window and I no longer feel like I'm playing the most engrossing strategy game of all time, but rather some sort of whack-a-mole simulator where the AI level never moves beyond settler.

Malachi256 said:

I avoid war at all costs when playing Civ, mostly because the instant a war starts my suspension of disbelief goes out the window and I no longer feel like I'm playing the most engrossing strategy game of all time, but rather some sort of whack-a-mole simulator where the AI level never moves beyond settler.

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I agree. It is why I consider civ5 good instead of great.

Why would you call it abysmal? It even gets involved in navy combat now!

When I first played Civ V right after release I was amazed how ridiculous the AI was. It sounds like nothing has improved much since then.

At least in Civ IV, the ability to stack units meant the AI would send fairly strong stacks against you with a bunch of catapults/melees and pikeman units. It was not easy to attack these stacks and they could take down a city or two.

Now forget it. The AI just moves unguarded units around which can be picked off one-by-one with a few melee units. Will Civ ever be a challenge again???

ThunderLizard2 said:

When I first played Civ V right after release I was amazed how ridiculous the AI was. It sounds like nothing has improved much since then.

At least in Civ IV, the ability to stack units meant the AI would send fairly strong stacks against you with a bunch of catapults/melees and pikeman units. It was not easy to attack these stacks and they could take down a city or two.

Now forget it. The AI just moves unguarded units around which can be picked off one-by-one with a few melee units. Will Civ ever be a challenge again???

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It is better than release, by a bit. So abysmal is probably too strong of a adjective since it was abysmal and now it is simply bad (wrt combat ai). Mods can get it a state of being 'poorly'

I agree that even if the stacks were overly simplistic, they posed an actual threat. A militarily mighty ai civ that demanded something from might get it, just to keep em appeased until I make the next tech and can setup a proper defense. As is, eh, its been re-hashed enough.

Acrobatc101 said:

On Diety

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Maybe if you gave them an adequate diet they would be stronger.