About the AI unit handicaps

[Bobv2]

I do have one last question: Why do my destroyers/cruisers/battleships (atk 12) keep getting damaged, if not sunk, by frigates (def 2)? This happens often and is not letting up. Why are my destroyers even DAMAGED? I mean, it's like 6 times stronger than these frigates on offense. Is naval combat simply always in extreme advantage to the defender? What happens when they get cruisers/destroyers/battleships? Are they going to be unbeatable? How come I don't get this whopping defensive bonus if it exists (My battleships/cruisers/destroyers get damaged by frigates on defense too, if not destroyed)

EDIT: I also have a question about bombing. What's the lowest city population that you can start really hurting units in? I'm finding that bombing runs either kill improvements or population 90% of the time when attacking cities, and a little bit better when attacking towns. How much does a planes rank affect it's ability to bomb? I notice that regulars almost never harm units in cities, veterans have a small chance, and elites have about a 1/3 of a chance. What can I do to make my bombers better hit units?

 

[vmxa]

Ships seem to do better than expected on defense at all types. I try to make the battles very lop sided. I use bombardment from ships, planes or artillery to make it safer.

Bombers do quite well on ships, not so well on cities. I prefer to not use them for attacking cities as it is too tedious. I tend not to make very many and use them mainly to deter ships from bombarding towns.

Just use armies to take down the cities.

 

[ace_3399]

I think Regent is where the human player and AI are equal. I usually have to micromanage my cities and workers to make things work out. I normally just automate my workers. The AI doesn't get any unit bonus in Regent.

 

[againsttheflow]

No unit bonus' but just to clarify the AI doesn't do better on higher levels it just gets more and cheaper units.

 

[capnvonbaron]

No unit bonus' but just to clarify the AI doesn't do better on higher levels it just gets more and cheaper units.

Thank you. Some people here just don't understand RNG and strength comparisons.

For everyone else: you are mostly imagining that the AI is doing better because you are getting the occasional run of bad luck. As vxma was saying, make sure you are fighting uneven battles wherever you can. Bombard stong units to 1hp before attacking and your own losses will decrease incredibly.

Concerning naval battles, my personal rule is I never let naval units travel outside packs of three or more. When on the attack, bombard with as many ships in your stack as you can, and when the enemy unit is down to 1 hp, go in and clean up. Don't be afraid to withdraw from large groups of enemy ships. If your attacking ship gets damaged, demote it to bombardeer and use a fresh ship to attack anything else that comes your way. Once all the ships in your stack show damage, time to go to port. You can do the most damage to enemy fleets right from the comfort of home port with arty and air power.

 

[Spoonwood]

Production rates for the AI go something like (I might have Warlord wrong)
200%-Cheiftain (20 shield workers for the AI, 40 food instead of 20 to grow from size 1 to 6)
120%-Warlord
100%-Regent
90%-Monarch
80%-Emperor
70%-Demigod
60%-Deity
40%-Sid

The AI starts getting extra offensive and defensive units at Monarch to start with and gets more of them as you progress up the levels. At Demi-god and Deity the AIs each have an extra settler. At Sid they have two extra settlers. The AIs also have different trade ratios between each other (meaning they trade more often the higher level you go), and huts work out less favorably as you move up the levels. There's a thread around somewhere which explains this in more detail.