4 swordsmen on turn 25 - AI cheating?

I guess it’s really no more asymmetric either way (applied before or after CM, LR). If it all converted to science, then the AI would just have more science, and optimal code would be not to use it in all cities if production/gold were still needed. This way, they can run it more freely, without as powerful an effect, but less risk the AI hampers its own growth. This sidesteps what would be a pretty difficult AI judgement call to make, while mostly achieving the same effects.

 

this one is perhaps more aggravating



i entered her attached territories and when i was greeted, i got the news that babylon was a size 11 city

for reference, she jumped to ancient on the next turn i did (10). memphis on a great location is only a size 5 city having received no disbanding units. it's the same size harappa has but on a poor location though aided by canals and 3 farms. this i checked with the tool "remove fog" once i decided to give up on the run and try to understand how she got here. the screencap was taken using FPcamera mod

now, you also see a swordy guy on the city. he wasn't there on the actual run untill i went surprise war to have a closer look at the disproportionately large city. this is a screenshot from a reload. clearly she is able to see that other "timeline" and got ready earlier this time around

anyway, a size 11 city with just an astronomy house, and the money to buyout a sword on turn 23. that construction going on right next to it? not a farm, it's her holy site. any infrastructure helping on the yields? noup, palisades and watchtower, the same idiotic stuff AI always "builds". she has 3 scouts, one set to deforestation duties and that she lost when it attacked me 1v2, and a couple of warriors stacked that i asume she got from curiosities. copper, horses, iron

her traits? discount on outposts and defensive bonuses

i understand that she is getting -70 food consumption but seeing how every other major faction capital is bellow 5 and except for a hittite archer-warrior team, everyone else is on scouts. one has to wonder is there isn't anything else going on here

 

build 549 eliminated the iron requirement for swordsmen... now babylonian AI is able to pull the trick even faster which would be cool if it weren't for the over reliance on silly bonuses that allows it to train multiple stacks with only a couple of poorly placed astronomy houses

terrific job

 

I thought about this when I first heard of that change some weeks ago. I'm not sold on the benefits of the change overall, but I had to agree that since this rush is no longer so reliant on luck, the change is a welcome buff to the Babylonians.

 

i was being sarcastic, sry for that. swordsmen having no strategic requirement is just... i don't know. it's a given of the genre. i really can't make sense of this and other choices they recently made

babs have always had a great EU

to me, this is another giant loophole

it seems they are aiming blindly hoping to hit a solution to problems that were never there to begin with

/rant

 

Last few games I've started at humankind difficulty with the new patch, I always seem to get swamped by swordsmen. It appears to be a confluence of early entry to the Classical and the lack of resource requirement.

Not the worst problem, but something encouraging me to turtle more if I want to linger in the Ancient Era at all.