Anything above Prince is ruined by the cheating AI.

[CivAddict2013]

Anything above Prince is just not fun for me. The AI blatantly cheats on techs and it's just no fun putting up with the AI BS.

I was playing on King trying to get a Scientific victory. I've got 8 cities all with specialists on universities and I've got a public school in almost every city.

Yet somehow Ghandi is magically getting more science. I say magically because there's nothing that warrants him having that much science.

It's straight up cheating and is just proof you can't keep up with the AI. I have 8 cities all with atleast 2 science specialists! But somehow cheating AI is getting more techs. Bull crap.

I'm just gonna go back to playing Prince. Anything above it is BS.

Seriously. If I have 8 cities all with universities and public schools, the Rationalism policy and research agreements and I'm STILL not getting more Science than Ghandi, what can I do?

 

[Krakoa]

I'm new to Civ 5 myself and I don't have this problem. I recently one 2 different science victories on King difficulty. What was your science per turn?

 

[CornPlanter]

and is just proof you can't keep up with the AI

I hope you do understand how ridiculously you sound. If not, try and remember people beat AI in science on immortal+ which is miles and leagues above the silly easy king level.

 

[tyrael233]

You're doing something very wrong if you can't out-science the AI on king. I can't say more without seeing screenshots of one of your games.

 

[joncnunn]

The only thing I note is this is taged as Vanilla. And a lot of science in Vanilla was actually RA abuse.
(Don't DOF anyone but sign RAs with every one other than immediate neighbors.)
Also in Vanilla, academies were very weak.

Both of these were greatly changed in G&K.

But on the actual handicaps; science (other than free starting techs) is not one of them in Vanilla (or G&K). It's instead massive Cheiftain happiness bonuses.
(BNW though actually did introduce an ongoing AI handicap to science; too offset the AI not building libraries in their new cities.)

 

[MantaRevan]

I hope you do understand how ridiculously you sound. If not, try and remember people beat AI in science on immortal+ which is miles and leagues above the silly easy king level.

You're doing something very wrong if you can't out-science the AI on king. I can't say more without seeing screenshots of one of your games.

 

[Matthew.]

You are likely doing something very wrong if you cannot out-tech the AI on King. It isn't until Immortal where you are forced to alter your game to compensate for AI cheats. On king and Emperor, you should be able to more or less play the game as normal and still have a chance at winning.

My guess is Gandhi is running a ton of RA's. He is naturally flavored to sign declarations of friendship and typically signs a large number of RA's in my games.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

AI starts getting handicaps on what, cheiftain? Maybe one after that.

I never agreed with the design choice of "make the AI not try to play the game as presented, but then heap bonuses on it so that it's still threatening to people who know what they're doing", not in civ I, II, III, IV, or V. That's how they go it though. When you enter into a game of civ, understand that if you're in single player you're playing a different game from every other player in the game, sort of like playing against mario kart racers who swerve back and forth or randomly decide to go backwards, but have a much higher speed than you, so the one who kind of sort of goes straight will be a major threat.

There are only two viable options to play the game with that design choice: accept that it's a reality and learn to simply outperform the AI anyway (which has been clearly demonstrated to be possible, but may or may not be enjoyable depending on the person), or to wander into the realm of multiplayer and fight actual human beings who carry no such bonuses.

 

[CivAddict2013]

Well, I played again and although I won, I'm still not convinced the AI is not cheating on Science.

For the first half of te game, I was ahead in Science and way ahead of everyone else in techs.

Then all of a sudden near the end of the game, out of nowhere, Ghandi and Darius start catching up on Science, then eventually got more Science than me.

I looked at the graphs for "Known Techs" and for the majority of the game I'm ahead in techs. But then somehow Ghandi and Darius magically catch up.

I still won; but I'm convinced the AI cheats to catch up.

 

[VainoValkea]

Yet somehow Ghandi is magically getting more science.

Clarke's Third Law.


Seriously, stop whining and play better. I just recently moved up to Emperor and Immortal and am having no trouble staying along the AI's science pace - in fact, I'm leading the science race by a huge margin on Emperor right now. With only three cities, even.

 

[VainoValkea]

Well, I played again and although I won, I'm still not convinced the AI is not cheating on Science.

News flash: the AI does cheat on science. Many other aspects, too.

Unlike you, it's not a sentient supercomputer, and is forced to role-play in addition to seeking a victory (although thankfully, less than in earlier Civs) so it's very disadvantaged compared to you. The bonuses given to the AI are supposed to make it competitive on lower difficulty levels, and genuinely unfair towards the human as a challenge on the higher difficulty levels.

 

[Matthew.]

I looked at the graphs for "Known Techs" and for the majority of the game I'm ahead in techs. But then somehow Ghandi and Darius magically catch up.

What was science like? Low science but high tech acquisition is a good sign of RA abuse. You can easily knock off 30-40+ turns off your game by signing multiple RA's, and like I said, Gandhi usually does so.

There is nothing in the code that makes the AI "catch up" in science if they fall behind. Well, other than the same mechanics that you have access too, as well. Like spies, trade route science (BNW), slight tech cost reduction if others have already researched the tech, etc.

 

[Falconiano]

You are technically "cheating" as well since the AI can't use a brain.
Seriously though, this is a L2P issue. King/Emperor are a joke.
The real game starts from Immortal, before that it's not Civ 5 it's a tutorial.