AI cheats in tactical combat

[lollibast]

For once, not a rant but a real problem that needs to be adressed. I play in strategic view.

My city was under attack by an AI opponent. Directly adjacent was an enemy warrior and behind that, at a distance of 2 tiles was an enemy landsknecht. Now in order for the landsknecht to attack, the warrior would have needed to get out of the way first.
but what happened was the following sequence:
1. City attacked by landsknecht
2. city taken by warrior

now that is some serious flaw and i'd really like to know what you guys think or have seen anything similar

 

[NwabudikeMorgan]

1-Are you sure that was the only landsknecht around?
2-Could you post screenshots?
3-if you have an autosave from the turn before, can you check if it happens out of strategic view?

 

[Grendeldef]

Annoying certainly, cheating surely, a bug hardly, will it be fixed - not likely. It's just a built-in mechanic to help out AI occasionally. The AI can

- stack units (2)
- attack stacked as desciribed by the OP
- buy & use a unit on the same turn
- attack 1st & move afterwards without proper promotions
- spawn units on suitable locations

All of these seem to be working as intended but the invisible unit might actually be a bug since it appears after reloading (at least in cases I tried it out). Invisible units are usually found after a WTH moment, a weird movement limitation due to ZoC or rarely by a woken up unit without a visible target.
How to react on these is a discretionary call. Occasionally a reload might help a lot but in general it's too much hassle or there's no save from a previous turn.

G

 

[nokmirt]

If that AI can do anything that can set you back, you should be smiling!

 

[lollibast]

1-Are you sure that was the only landsknecht around?
2-Could you post screenshots?
3-if you have an autosave from the turn before, can you check if it happens out of strategic view?

yes, pretty sure as he was at the spot the warrior had been the turn before, but then I could've been attacked from another position (i had an invisble nuke dropped on my entire airforce instakilling it once) and moved after that, as Grendelf suggests

will see if i have some savegames to take screenies

Annoying certainly, cheating surely, a bug hardly, will it be fixed - not likely. It's just a built-in mechanic to help out AI occasionally. The AI can

- stack units (2)
- attack stacked as desciribed by the OP
- buy & use a unit on the same turn
- attack 1st & move afterwards without proper promotions
- spawn units on suitable locations

All of these seem to be working as intended but the invisible unit might actually be a bug since it appears after reloading (at least in cases I tried it out). Invisible units are usually found after a WTH moment, a weird movement limitation due to ZoC or rarely by a woken up unit without a visible target.
How to react on these is a discretionary call. Occasionally a reload might help a lot but in general it's too much hassle or there's no save from a previous turn.

G

thanks, that explains a lot and helps to minimize braindamage from those WTH moments "yeah, you do that again and I'll not only conquer you but kick your grandpa N64 in the balls"

 

[H4run]

Annoying certainly, cheating surely, a bug hardly, will it be fixed - not likely. It's just a built-in mechanic to help out AI occasionally. The AI can

- stack units (2)
- attack stacked as desciribed by the OP
- buy & use a unit on the same turn
- attack 1st & move afterwards without proper promotions
- spawn units on suitable locations

All of these seem to be working as intended but the invisible unit might actually be a bug since it appears after reloading (at least in cases I tried it out). Invisible units are usually found after a WTH moment, a weird movement limitation due to ZoC or rarely by a woken up unit without a visible target.
How to react on these is a discretionary call. Occasionally a reload might help a lot but in general it's too much hassle or there's no save from a previous turn.

G

This is happen to me, when I see there two unit in one AI city and start to tripple attack me with city arrow, archer unit, and siege weapon. I was like try to look it more closely "am I dreaming? is it 1upt or what?" in the next turn, I see the siege weapon already behind the city and I thought "ah yea it just minor bugs". While reading this forum, its a common not something anomali.

The spawn really can be so funny sometime, remind me of mages guild teleportation in Morrowind where peoples can coming out of nowhere in the middle of everybody. I was fortify my unit near barbarian camp, in next turn, there another barbarian unit next to me, it not even in suitable location, like they being drop from the sky. Well it will be nicer if they spawning when my unit is not around, not to break the flow of the game, but yea thats not so much problem for me. But the stack, really thats annoying and ruin the calculation.

 

[lollibast]

ok, now you just keep going...
Ai city, tribok already in it. AI's turn:
1. spawns canon in city
2. shoots my troop in the face with canon
3. shoots my troop in whats left of face with tribok
4. ... with city attack
5. moves canon out of city

how are you supposed to stand against that?

 

[Tachii]

This is happen to me, when I see there two unit in one AI city and start to tripple attack me with city arrow, archer unit, and siege weapon. I was like try to look it more closely "am I dreaming? is it 1upt or what?" in the next turn, I see the siege weapon already behind the city and I thought "ah yea it just minor bugs".

Actually the player can do this as well. If you hardproduce the ranged unit that turn, it can stay in the city so the city have 2 ranged units, attack, and then it will be moved by the start of your next turn. It doesn't work if there's a melee unit in the city.

 

[Grendeldef]

I assume with tribok you mean trebuchet so what you need is a lucky, preferably with suitable promotions, meatshields for the initial shots. On the next turns AI _should_ one of the stacked units - anyway, it sounds like mandatory one unit sacrifice per a city conquered.

Maybe a paranoia or just a coincidence but back in days when I started CiV5 & got fed up with the AI cheating I tested this by replaying same battles for several times over with slight alternations the main purpose being not to lose a single unit. The AI seemed far more willing to cheat until the 1st lost unit which seemed a bit weird but after that I gave up to be pissed by the AI's actions & kept on playing with my new zen-like attitude. I don't like the AI cheats but I can't prevent it either so it's easier just to bring an extra suicide candidate when attacking a city.

G

 

[TyBoy]

This isn't so much cheating as a bug. As Tachii said, the player can do this as well, it just takes a particular set of circumstances that because of its ineptitude at war and production bonuses come up more often for the AI.

 

[nokmirt]

I just began a game testing my Northman mod. The AI early rushed me back to back. It was rather amusing, and it never happened to me before, even in vanilla. The Mongols came on first with 5 warriors and 2 archers. After a hard fight I sent them packing. Then I take my scout north with my first settler, and wouldn't you know the Ottomans are coming south towards my capital as the Mongols run away. I thought for sure when they DoWed me, they would kill my scout and capture my settler. For some odd reason the AI ignored me and allowed me to build a city in it's rear. They had 6 warriors and 2 archers. At one point I had 1 warrior left and a half strength archer. My workers were in the water, otherwise I would have lost them. I almost got pushed backed into the sea.

Now let me tell you. I don't know if the AI cheats, but it must have heard me talking crap behind it's back, and it showed me what it was made of today. AI!

 

[Nukes R Us]

AI cheating? Never heard of it or experienced it. Having bonuses like +30 happiness for diety, +100 Gold/turn for Diety and +50% growth (all values estimated)

But cheating has never happened to me. I have personally had an invisible bug though. I switch in and out of strategic and normal view, and sometimes a unit of mine or the enemy doesn't appear in strategic view, but does in normal view.

Okay, now the questioned that burned inside me since I finished reading your initial post.
An Ai took a city of yours with a warrior and landsknecht?

An Ai never takes a city of mine. If by some chance I take a city of an AI, and while the health is low their flag happens to be atop one of the buildings again, I nuke it out of existance. I have a REALLY irrational stubburness of keeping cities. I will knowingly lose my entire army and most of my gold buying more troops, to keep a 2 population city newly founded, on another continent, with only 1 luxery resource I am gaining, surrounded by enemy cities, when I have many hostile civs around me on my continent.

It really is irrational. I love it though because I love my cities.

 

[Socratatus]

You should`ve seen when my bomber got knocked down by AI medieval Knights! I was like `WTH!`

Granted the bomber was really low in hit points, but it still should not have happened. Oh yea then there was the period when Crossbow men defeated my tank.

I really have to work hard on my imagination to work out hw these guys managed to achieve these things!

Hmmm...

1.Bomber drops bombs and misses Knights, then bomber wings fall off cos it`s so damaged from previous missions. Knights claim win!

2. crossbow men make daring night raid while tankers are asleep outside their tank. Kill al the tank men and make tank unusable.

That`s better.

 

[Nukes R Us]

All units cause at least 1 damage. This is not impossible to do :b

 

[tommynt]

lollibast:
post

how are you supposed to stand against that?

sig__________________

If the AI seems smart to you, you seem dumb to me.

hilarious



ai can sometimes have "fly" units, it proly made to speed up their turns and avoid their units hanging up