AI suggestions

[The Great Apple]

Recently started is a project to enhance the Civ 4 AI (here), among other things, without altering the gameplay. I thought I'd post here to see if we can get some opinions on the major flaws in the game AI as it stands.

Feel free to pick on anything you feel is currently bad - specifics are OK, as they can be converted into generalisations quite easily.

[MrCynical]

Well in no particular order a few specific problems I think the AI has:

1)Failure to recognise it's a bad move to found a city that is not on the coast, but has several sea tiles in its radius.

2)Even allowing for chopping being toned down in 1.61 the AI still keeps far too many forests.

3)All AIs refuse outright to trade techs only they own, even when this is detrimental to them (e.g. when they could trade it to two other civs for a tech from each).

4)AIs leave far too many units simply sitting in cities while relatively small numbers of enemy troops are in their land. This is particularly bad with navies, where the AI will leave a dozen ships sitting in a city while a couple of mine they could easily destroy pillage their improvements. Similarly the AI does not remove ships or great people from cities in imminent danger of being captured.

5)After the initial attack the AI tends to just send units into enemy territory as they are built rather than building up a powerful force, making it much easier to wipe them out since they can be picked off one at a time.

6)AI builds far too many workshops, especially given they rarely run State Property.

7)General poor usage of Great People, particularly in the early stages where the AI tends to use them for golden ages. They would be far better used as super specialists, academies, for discovering techs etc at that stage.

8)AI fails to recognise that coastal cities which are icebound do not have access to the ocean, and will then build ships which can never leave the city.

There are also a few specific leaders which play badly as part of their personality. Tokuwaga for instance invariably cripples himself due to his isolationist approach and objection to open borders.

[johnny42strom]

I find the AI's trading ideas to be poorly done. I do not mind the redded out items so much, but I hate their incessant begging for techs and such when they have things to trade. I understand if you're a good friend of a Civ that has been cornered and now the world is settled and they are far behind. But when my equal in size, power, and points begs me for techs when he has more than enough to trade seems annoying, and since it hurts our relations, stupid.
Additionally, I think the AI's obsessive need to fill the whole world is damaging. When they will settle a city on all frozen ground near the poles to be near one resource (like elk or beavers) far from their capital, it is just a bad move. The city will barely grow because the nearby enemy city has such strong Cultural boundaries that it has no hope of expanding into better land. Thus, this new city will always be a drain on their money, useless for production or culture, and stupid, wasteful to defend.

[Zombie69]

Originally Posted by johnny42strom

I find the AI's trading ideas to be poorly done. I do not mind the redded out items so much, but I hate their incessant begging for techs and such when they have things to trade. I understand if you're a good friend of a Civ that has been cornered and now the world is settled and they are far behind. But when my equal in size, power, and points begs me for techs when he has more than enough to trade seems annoying, and since it hurts our relations, stupid.

Actually, asking for techs is a good move. You'd probably do the same if you could. And it only hurts relationship if YOU refuse. And it makes sense for the AI to be more cautious towards you if you can't even spare a lowly tech for them.

Originally Posted by johnny42strom

Additionally, I think the AI's obsessive need to fill the whole world is damaging. When they will settle a city on all frozen ground near the poles to be near one resource (like elk or beavers) far from their capital, it is just a bad move. The city will barely grow because the nearby enemy city has such strong Cultural boundaries that it has no hope of expanding into better land. Thus, this new city will always be a drain on their money, useless for production or culture, and stupid, wasteful to defend.

Actually, i find that if anything, the AI doesn't expand enough! More land almost always equals more power. They should on the contrary try to colonize more land than they do now, particularly water tiles which they don't give enough value to, especially when financial.

[The Great Apple]

Originally Posted by MrCynical

Well in no particular order a few specific problems I think the AI has:

1)Failure to recognise it's a bad move to found a city that is not on the coast, but has several sea tiles in its radius.

2)Even allowing for chopping being toned down in 1.61 the AI still keeps far too many forests.

3)All AIs refuse outright to trade techs only they own, even when this is detrimental to them (e.g. when they could trade it to two other civs for a tech from each).

4)AIs leave far too many units simply sitting in cities while relatively small numbers of enemy troops are in their land. This is particularly bad with navies, where the AI will leave a dozen ships sitting in a city while a couple of mine they could easily destroy pillage their improvements. Similarly the AI does not remove ships or great people from cities in imminent danger of being captured.

5)After the initial attack the AI tends to just send units into enemy territory as they are built rather than building up a powerful force, making it much easier to wipe them out since they can be picked off one at a time.

6)AI builds far too many workshops, especially given they rarely run State Property.

7)General poor usage of Great People, particularly in the early stages where the AI tends to use them for golden ages. They would be far better used as super specialists, academies, for discovering techs etc at that stage.

8)AI fails to recognise that coastal cities which are icebound do not have access to the ocean, and will then build ships which can never leave the city.

There are also a few specific leaders which play badly as part of their personality. Tokuwaga for instance invariably cripples himself due to his isolationist approach and objection to open borders.

Thanks for these. Most seem to be quite simple changes which won't take too long, although some might get a bit complicated.

Personally, I think the AI's should be left with a bit of personalitly - it's one of the main features of the game.