AI bonsuses

[Spoonwood]

I know that in civ II happiness varies with difficulty level. But, does the AI get starting bonuses or build at a faster rate? If so, how does that work for each level?

 

[CharlieChuck]

The shield box and food box on the city screens are "adjusted". i.e. the higher the level the less food is needed to grow compared to the player character, and the less shield are needed to fill the box to make a unit/improvement etc.

The easiest way to see this effect is to play a high or low level and look at an AI's city with a spy, then compare against your own food/shield boxes.

 

[civiijkw]

At Deity level I've seen the AI get a 50% bonus on building (2 shields of production generate 3 production per turn on a unit) but no extra food bonus for city growth.

 

[Prof. Garfield]

That's not the way it is supposed to work in Civ 2. The "cost" of production is determined by rows of shields. For the Human player, that cost is always 10 shields. It will be more or less for the computer depending on the level. The food box also gets larger or smaller for the computer depending on the level. In the case of Happiness, the player is the one that is penalized.

 

[civiijkw]

I'd have to load up some old saves to see how much food it takes an AI city to grow. I know quite well that it takes 12 to go from size 1 to size 2 (same as me) and the food box fills by two food per turn (the AI cities are producing four food at size 1).

As far as shields go, the AI cities are currently showing two shields (1 for the city and one for a grassland with a shield) and are building 3 shields per turn on a legion. When the AI city grows to size 2 (before being knocked back down) the city's three shields put 4 on a legion in one turn.

For the larger cost items that I build, the rows can extend to 12, 16 or 20 shields per row.

I haven't checked on the exact version of the game that I have, but two years ago my wife picked up a number of new copies at the store for $5 each (they made some nice gifts for the birthday parties our son went to).