The AI makes this game unplayable

[Aldhissla]

I'm a big advocator of Civ5s gameplay changes in comparison to its predecessors and I enjoy playing in PBEM games against other people a lot.

In single player, however, the AI sucks every little bit of fun out of the game. The AI is incredibly irrational in whatever it does to such an extent that it would be futile to list everything thats wrong with it. In contrast I'm struggling to find anything the AI does reasonably well (maybe improving tiles?).
I'm sure everyone here has noticed this to some extent. From unit control to diplomacy to overall strategy its obvious the thought put into the AI by the devs was minimal at best. This strikes me as odd as single player supposedly is this games selling point. Am I missing something here?

 

[angkor t. wat]

On prince and lower the AI seems to roll over and wait for you to win. King and up they are much more wiley. They will even spy on your capital and try to steal the wonders you are building.

The two things I have found lacking in the AI are military tactics (duh) and exploitation of comparative advantage. It's sad to see the AI failing to take advantage of their UA such as Rome only founding two cities on a large map.

Some irrational actions I think are a good thing because otherwise it would be too easy to predict the AI. In my last game I had a friend backstabbing me ~10 turns after we signed a RA which seems like a waste of money on their part but needless to say I had zero units on that boarder and I lost two cities (and double the RA cost in gold buying walls) before I was able to bring units in.

 

[Aldhissla]

On prince and lower the AI seems to roll over and wait for you to win. King and up they are much more wiley. They will even spy on your capital and try to steal the wonders you are building.

The two things I have found lacking in the AI are military tactics (duh) and exploitation of comparative advantage. It's sad to see the AI failing to take advantage of their UA such as Rome only founding two cities on a large map.

Some irrational actions I think are a good thing because otherwise it would be too easy to predict the AI. In my last game I had a friend backstabbing me ~10 turns after we signed a RA which seems like a waste of money on their part but needless to say I had zero units on that boarder and I lost two cities (and double the RA cost in gold buying walls) before I was able to bring units in.

I play on immortal.
The AI just displays a complete disability of assessing their situation. They will declare war on you and refuse to make peace unless you give them your closest city even though there is no chance they would ever be able to conquer it themselves. They will drive their economy into the ground and keep attacking you even if you swat their attack waves like flies (which is a problem in itself).
The AI will choose ridiculous strategies and will completely falter if they fail to reach their goals. Build a city in a place the AI coveted and they will spend the next 100 turns blindly flailing at you even if theyre behind everyone else. In most cases the rational reaction would be to shrug it off and continue to expand elsewhere.
If youre getting close to a alternative victory condition the AI will gladly ignore you when it should declare war.
I could go on, but as I already pointed out its just more of the same. I challenge anyone to show me one aspect in which the AI even comes close to simulating human player.

 

[angkor t. wat]

Sorry, If you just don't like it than you wont like it.

The computer is a long way off from being as flexible in strategy as a person. They have set personalities and tendencies (check out the diplomacy by numbers thread) that don't work for every situation & start. Where as we can be pragmatic and learn "how to win the game every time", they are only programmed to play the game and can't learn about us as we can learn about them. You might try "random personalities" but it will only make it more interesting not harder.

So yes that's a poor match up. The game designers tried to compensate and provide a better experience for non-casual players by giving AI civs free gold & whatever at king and above but the challenge becomes "how do I game the game" not "how do I outsmart my opponents". For me, that's still fairly satisfying. I like trying new ways to beat the curve and I like winning.

I do think the game has a nice real world feel as much as actual civilizational conflict can be reduced to a game of symbols and numbers. Actual civilizations rise and fall mostly by chance and respond exclusively to their present needs and desires. The actual great library of Alexandra was not built because classical Egyptian rulers thought it might help them win a space victory in a few millennia. I think the game should make you feel that you are inhabiting some alternate world history in which you alone possess the clarity of historical hindsight.

 

[angkor t. wat]

To that end it would be fun to have a mod that would not let you see what a technology does until after you research it and not let you see the what a social policy does until you have bought the prerequisites.

 

[Maxym]

I don't think AI completely misjudges the situation, they keep warring you on higher diff, mostly because they outnumber you and consider it an advantage. If you were any less adept at tactical combat it would be. Once your army marches in and takes their cities and wipes their armies out they sign very generous peace deals, lol.

I noticed the AI is very sensitive to sudden increase in your military strength particularly fearing your UU, upgrade your CBs to CKN as China and watch your opponents rush to offer peace.

I have seen some very component tactical moves by AI and it uses it's flanking bonuses very well, but as an exeption rather then rule. Mostly it is very inept. I wish AI could learn to play better it would be very interesting to see it learn to beat the human player.

 

[adsin15]

Iplay on immortal. The AI just displays a complete disability of assessingtheir situation.They will declare waron you and refuse to make peace unless you givethem your closest city even thoughthere is no chancethey would ever be able to conquer itthemselves.They will drivetheir economy intothe ground and keep attacking you even if you swattheir attack waves like flies (which is a problem in itself).The AI will choose ridiculous strategies and will completely falter ifthey fail to reachtheir goals. Build a city in a placethe AI coveted andthey will spendthe next 100 turns blindly flailing at you even iftheyre behind everyone else. In most casesthe rational reaction would be to shrug it off and continue to expand elsewhere. If youre getting close to a alternative victory condition the AI will gladly ignore you when it should declare war. I could goon, but as I already pointed out itsjust more ofthe same. I challenge anyone to show meone aspect in whichthe AI even comes close to simulating humanplayer.

Yup. You are 100% on the money with your points and they all piss me off immensely.

 

[Tachii]

AI inadequacies usually only appear when you're experienced with the game and come to know all what the AI is capable of. I've been on Immortal for a while now, and although I notice these problems, I still play fairly well. I wouldn't call them "unplayable". If you do however, I suggest moving on to mods or to a new game (I by no means offend you with this comment.) Just that if I see a game unplayable, I'd just move on from it.

To my understanding of an AI, they should behave in a way I can manipulate instead of what a human is capable of. Each patch seem to try to improve AI to simulate human actions but, for instance, I would not want AI civs to all start tackling my backside just because I've come close to a culture victory. If they've been friends with me for AGES, and would DoW just because I'm now close to a victory is almost equivalent to playing with humans. At the end of the day, if that did happen, I'd consider that more unplayable as a single player than whatever the state is now.

 

[BrotherInJah]

To that end it would be fun to have a mod that would not let you see what a technology does until after you research it and not let you see the what a social policy does until you have bought the prerequisites.

Pointless and one time stuff. After a game i will know what is next so hiding it in next game have no sense.

 

[Browd]

Agree. And if research was truly random (the computer decides what tech you are researching and you only learn what it is when you are done with the research), this would cease to be a strategy game. If you have no choices, you aren't making decisions, and if you aren't making decisions, what's the point?

 

[wannabewarlord]

I recall vaguely that there's a rants thread for topics like these. Care to post there? You will find hundreds of like-minded people that depise Civ5 yet keep playing and posting in these forums ad absurdum.

 

[curwen]

play at deity level... you do not really care that AI is incompetent because he has so much more units... it is much more challenging are you are always the underdog... and you play a lot with your reputation (i nearly never declare war or break agrement) and all military campaigns are at least challenging
i agree at every other difficulty level you just roll over them, build nearly all the wonders and generally win any way you choose ... play at deity and from time to time go back to a lesser difficulty for the pure pleasure of rolling over every AI civs

 

[Kwami]

Now that the DLL source is available, I'm sure that someone with the expertise and free time will make an improved AI mod. So, if you have specific complaints about the AI, then please describe them. A general "the AI sucks" thread is redundant and helps nobody.

 

[grandad1982]

So in what way does this have anything to to do with strategy and tips?

 

[Soulzityr]

To that end it would be fun to have a mod that would not let you see what a technology does until after you research it and not let you see the what a social policy does until you have bought the prerequisites.

What would this accomplish? You play a game, learn what each one does, then in future games you already know even MORE than the AI.