My First "AI Sucks" Post

GamerDad

Chieftain
Joined
Aug 31, 2008
Messages
61
Location
Pennsylvania
Well, it was bound to happen. 30+ hours of playtime under my belt and up until this point I haven't experienced anything that I would consider a major glitch or problem. That was until tonight, when I attempted the One City Challenge with the Aztecs on Deity.

Now to be fair, I made a couple of crucial mistakes that could have cost me the game. I waited WAY too long to switch to Democracy after I got it (the reason being I thought it would be cool to get the one religion achievement too; bad idea) and I failed to build a powerful naval defense to protect my gold-producing sea regions. Had I done those two things differently I believe I would have had a great shot at the win, seeing as how I only lost out by a handful of turns, left 500 gold shy of building the World Bank.

What gets my goat, though, is that the ENTIRE game I was pounded on by the Americans from afar (who were in the race and building the United Nations as the game ended) and my neighbors the Arabs (who never were in the race to win at all). Next door to myself and the Arabs was the Spanish, who led from start to finish in tech and eventually won with a successful space trip.

Now I ask, why on God's earth would these two civilizations continue to sit here and pound on me the entire game, never once attacking the Spanish, not even when their spaceship was in flight? I wasn't close to a win until the very end. It was utter ******ation. And it was frustrating... and irritating... and all things that make you angry & liable to throw a controller through the television.

Seriously, though, does anyone know why this happens? I'm really turned off right now and am going to have to take a break. I feel like I sort of got robbed. It's not fair if the AI doesn't fight itself. No one can beat 3/4/5-1 odds.

/rant
 
The AI is more likely to attack humans on higher difficulties... in Diety you should take an "us versus the world" approach.
 
It's silly, I agree. But not much can be done. You need to be prepared for everything on Deity, no matter how ridiculous or unfair it is. After all, it is the hardest difficulty.
 
It's too bad. Everything else about the game is wonderful. I'll probably just have to get my Deity achievements in scenarios and then play on Deity only here and there for a really intense challenge. I don't mind competition, but when it's that unfair it makes the strategy less fun because so many options get taken away. Ah well, can't be perfect...
 
But it can at least try to be perfect. I cannot understand how someone thought it would be a good idea to have incredibly harsh and unforgiving AI.
 
I wouldn't mind it as long as it was fair. If I'm in the lead, by all means declare war on me and "bring it on." But if I'm lagging behind quietly waiting to make a move and two other Civs are nearing the end of a victory, they should be warring with each other and bribing ME to help, not wasting time, resources and armies on me. Just doesn't make any sense. I certainly hope that is addressed in a sequel.

P.S. I do understand that I am referring to the hardest difficulty level, and that plays in somewhat. They can be better, faster, but keep it realistic.
 
Sure generally the AI is quite simple-minded, but I've also seen them give away tech for free when I was behind. Mostly though, they need all the capitals for domination victory, and yours seem to be the easiest to conquer, all things considered--low tech, few defenders, etc. Still, they're not that tough once you get used to it.

In OCC you should expect to be more alert and be on top of your game. One, I wonder if you chose Aztecs because my OCC strategy nominated them as best for OCC. If you have trouble with Aztecs, I also highly recommend Romans for OCC. Try to build as many Wonders as possible even though you're still aiming for an economic victory. Second, is that pandering and giving in to the AI once in a while wouldn't hurt and even give you time to focus on victory. Third, you really need to stay ahead in tech so that your defensive units remain more advanced than the attackers. Also advanced techs go with the second point--if you have techs they want, they will leave you alone (for a few turns, at least). Fourth, you need to protect your sea tiles as long as possible, until your pop is high enough and get more trade from off-tile workers. And naval support makes it easier to protect your only city under siege.
 
This is the reason why I do play multiplayer.
 
Did you give into the demands the AI had, or were they declaring war on you unconditionally and refusing to negotiate?

On Deity level, you'll generally have to give a lot of concessions to the AI if you want to stay peaceful. This includes giving away great people whenever they ask for them.

Usually on Deity, I try to use up great people as soon as I get them early on, and then when I'm powerful enough to resist the AI, I'll start keeping them and refusing the AI's demands.

The AI does seem to go to war with each other reasonably often in my games. However, I think it may do it a little less because the AI's are likely "in-sync" with each other negotiation wise. i.e. if one AI is more powerful than another AI, and demands something, the less powerful AI will know that it is less powerful and should pander to the demands of the more powerful AI.

This is assuming that AI's even demand things off each other, which I'm not sure they do. If they don't, that'd be another explanation as to why they don't go to war quite as much. :)
 
Am I the one who finds the demands for great people hilarious? :p I mean, just imagining how that would work in real life... if you're an ordinary citizen and dare to accomplish something in life, other governments might demand that your government turns you in to their civilization as tribute! Not quite that same as money or techs. :crazyeye:
 
Give us Steven Hawkins or we will invade!

I never give in to the demands of such a puny Ai. At least in Civ4, the Ai's would role in with stacks of terror, adding some bite to that bark. In CivRev, my reply is, "want some cheese with that whine?"
Never give in to demands.
I think when advancing levels, the Ai's the same, it's only the bonus that give the new trouble. Set you frontline defensives away from your cities, towards the Ai's. When at war, which you should always be, feed it to them. Ignore those beginning wonders, build military, choke, block, or attack. Peace is just not the way. Be brutal. Even if defensive, move those units out and claim the field.
 
It's perhaps not very realistic how they can demand a great person, but I like it from a gameplay perspective. In many games in the civ series, other civilizations demand concessions that you can easily give (especially prevalent in Civ3).

In Civ Rev it's truly costly for you to give up a great person! This means that you can't always just play a "farmer's gambit" and avoid building any military. If you do you'll have to either give away great people or find yourself in all sorts of wars.

-Sirp.
 
They also attack people with small military's. Were you one?
 
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