Ok, I'm not a programmer so there may be some true brilliance at work here that I fail to appreciate, but let me suggest some feasible improvements to the AI which atm I must decline giving a grade. I hope the programmers can appreciate the fact that the civ series must be at the forefront of AI developement if it wants to maintain it's fanbase.
1) as other programs often do, as seen in many rts games, unit production should be based on a rock-paper-scissors mentality. It would be nice to include the fog of war into AI estimation but even allowing it to cheat would be better than an AI that spams Anti-aircraft units when there are only a few operating enemy aircraft.
2) the AI should be able to count enemy naval units and try to at least match that ammount, enemy naval units should work in groups of 3 or more if there are large ammounts of naval units. Spamming cruisers is OK if it cannot utilise other types effectively. Naval units should not attack unless it can concentrate enough attack on one unit to destroy it, otherwise they should seek safety in ports or gather together for protection. AI is not intelligent enough to use ships as pickets so they should mass together in 1-3 fleets. Giving AI FOW cheat may be needed.
3) the computer's hatred of the human player, especially at higher difficulty levels, should not completely distract the AI from seeking it's own victory condition. I've seen civilisations with much higher science become obcessed with making units. In fact after many emporer games, the computer has never built a spaceship component. Merely declaring war on that civ seems to disrupt it's space program.
4) Wounded military should seek the rear lines to repair/heal if possible.
5) Defensive units should dig in in preffered terrain instead of always seeking to attack. Attacks that cannot be co-ordinated should be low priority. This may be very difficult to program. Each unit seems to think as if it is alone, and not part of a overall force. The AI should use it's units as arms, intead of merely cranking out units where they then behave as automatons. If the AI cannot find a coordinated attack, at least defensive units should seek to protect front lines and valuable resources.
6) units designed for offensive action should seek to pillage if a co-ordinated attack cannot produce a causulty.
Gee, I guess the list can go on and on, and these are not revolutionary AI behavior expectations. I've seen AI's do these things either in previose Civ games or in other strategy games, even RTS games. I'll refrain from giving grade because I have no idea how many man-hours are still availabe for these much needed tweeks. I'm not suprised that alot of civ fans have felt let down, even though AI has taken a back seat to graphics in computer games for the last 20 years.
Did they simply write a dumb A.I. from scratch ? If so, why?
and 
! Giant Death Robots!
