AI Fix In Expansions?

[Wunderschlung]

Hiya guys, sorry that something similar has undoubtedly been posted before...

Civ is a fave game, top 5 ever, been playing avidly since Civ2.

I'll cut to the chase, i found the AI in Civ6 to be diabolical, non-existent, id be two thirds through the game and find a civ on its own continent that hasn't bothered to build cities.
That isn't a a game with other players, that is a single player sandbox. What infuriates me more than seeing a fave game spoiled, is that it takes several hours of gameplay before I realise the game is ruined. I tried again after it was patched, several hours down the line I realise i'm playing alone. So I don't play the damn thing anymore, I don't want yet another evening wasted.

I asked around on fora looking for an explanation and people said, yeah, you have to play multiplay, its just the way it is. So this is a well known issue right?

I find it hard to believe, as surely they could patch the AI? The AI in Civ4 was fantastic.

I am bombarded with adverts for the expansions, surely if they are bringing out more paid for content they have fixed the AI , right?

I will happily buy an expansion if I am guaranteed a game with working AI.

Can anyone tell me what the score is with the AI these days?

Thanks in advance....

 

[Kwami]

There are about 8,000 topics on the AI already. We don't need another one.

And for what it's worth, the AI in IV was horrible until they borrowed some community mods to make it better. Plus, IV was a much less complex game.

 

[bbbt]

It's significantly better than when it launched, but still not competitive.

However I'm pretty sure all AI improvements were in free patches, not expansions. So if you haven't played since launch, just try playing vanilla now and see how it goes.

 

[Wunderschlung]

I last played in January, it was pitiful, broken in my opinion.

I've just downloaded the latest bit, is it worth me playing, or is it several hours of early game play, only to discover there is nothing out there?

I mean, surely there is a 3rd party mod or something for the AI? I cannot imagine the community is continuing to play Civ6 single player in the state I have experienced.

 

[Haig]

The patch that came with expansion had some AI improvements too like they will use more air units in operations.

AI definately needs continuing updates but in my experience its not that awful like you describe, for example it settles cities nicely all over the place.

 

[AriochIV]

Ask again in a week or so after people have had time to play the New Frontier DLC to see if the AI has improved significantly.

 

[comatosedragon]

The "AI" (hah!) is perfectly acceptable for the overwhelming majority of players.
The overwhelming majoring of players are not civfanatics.

"grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference"

 

[Tech Osen]

I last played in January, it was pitiful, broken in my opinion.

I've just downloaded the latest bit, is it worth me playing, or is it several hours of early game play, only to discover there is nothing out there?

We can't decide that for you. Most people here are enjoying the game, despite it's shortcomings. Else we wouldn't be here in the first place.

But if you considered it unplayable in January then I wouldn't get your hopes up now.

 

[Cedbird77]

Yes the AI is pretty much the same for the past 9 months I would guess. No problem for me. I love the game. The AI for me can still be competitive and tough on Emperor. So I am happy

 

[Rajendran_P]

Although the AI is not very challenging in the original game, with mods like "Civilization Expanded", I noticed significant changes to AI behaviour and developments. The AIs (abt 4) were far ahead in science and development. And of course the game is still very interesting to play and with more DLC and content added, the game will be more exciting. Only downside is that the developer are reluctant to release the DLL source code, which would have enabled modders to develop more mod to improve the AIs.

 

[Lord Lakely]

the AI surprised me yesterday. I rolled a casual game as Germany and Russia invaded me... and then they managed to rope in the Netherlands who had a large army and were the suzerains of two nearby City States. The AI still makes a couple of wonky decisions (such as NOT building walls in every city immediately? - Walls are OP in Civ 6), but they can occasionally pose a challenge on moderate difficulty levels, a start contrast with the vanilla game.

I don't have the New Frontier Pass yet - this is just post-patch GS.

I doubt whether the AI will ever become fully competitive. Civ 6 is a complex game, with many variables and it doesn't take long for a human player to figure out the AI player's weaknesses and exploit them But we're getting there.

Slowly.

 

[Casworon]

If only there was a DLL release modders could improve the AI themselves to a significant degree like what happened with civ v and civ iv.

Every patch the AI is getting better slowly but I don't think its ever going to be the level of vox populi or other fantastic AI mods. If you want challenge in civ vi you need to set it yourself. Try to achieve victory in under 200 turns on diety. Try your own victory conditions like having double the score of the diety player in second place in under 150 turns etc etc. Saw some people had the challenge of not building a single district.

Modders are finding ways to improve the challenge without DLL access though. There are mods that change the difficulty bonuses the AI get to encourage their late game snowballing. Others such as FortifAI and Adaptive difficulty use scripts to give them free units and resources when they need them etc etc. Real Strategy is using a Lua method to get some control of the AI behaviour to make them more focused on victory conditions in the late game. So there are things you can do as a player to make the experience more engaging and challenging.

The lack of a DLL is still a real kick though. With that over time the modding community could make the AI amazing. Now we are just left with bandaids, but bandaids work to a degree. The question is if they work to a degree enough to make the experience worth it for you

 

[oSiyeza]

The AI now is competent in many tasks, and I think is the best of any Civ AIs when defending its territory. It is however not very good at empire building, or being aggressive. And not very consistent with its goals, and likes too much spaming religious units, which feels especially bad since most players hate religious combat. Also does not use well late military units, and does nor care about late game wars.

Anyway, in its current state I don’t think it is a bad AI, is good in some tasks, mediocre in others and ignores others. Some of the late probably by design, since they all seem to role-play into a late game pacifist.

In the end, I would rate current AI as among the best ever done for a Civ game. Unfortunately, as this is also the most complex Civ game ever made for an AI, its performance is rather disappointing.

The good thing: The AI has been patched and tuned more than 20 times with every single game addition since 2016, the current AI is much better than the original one, and if FXs keeps improving it little by little during the hole New Frontier pass, there is definitely room for hope.

 

[Civrinn]

As an honest answer, the AI will never be fixed. The only people who could would be modders but they aren't releasing the DLL so that won't happen.

The only good closer to current Civ is Civ 5 VP. Check it out if you haven't.

I'm confident at this point the audience here at the fanatics simply want a "SIMs Empire with pretty buildings!".

Best to give up on the Civ series at this point. Unless modders can finally do their thing with 6.

 

[AntSou]

Hiya guys, sorry that something similar has undoubtedly been posted before...

Civ is a fave game, top 5 ever, been playing avidly since Civ2.

I'll cut to the chase, i found the AI in Civ6 to be diabolical, non-existent, id be two thirds through the game and find a civ on its own continent that hasn't bothered to build cities.

I have no idea what you're referring to when you speak of AI not expanding or settling new cities. This never happens in my games.

I agree the AI could do with improvements, but it was never fantastic in CIV IV, it's just Stacks of doom and Stacks of buildings are much simpler for the AI to handle.

As an honest answer, the AI will never be fixed. The only people who could would be modders but they aren't releasing the DLL so that won't happen.

The only good closer to current Civ is Civ 5 VP. Check it out if you haven't.

I'm confident at this point the audience here at the fanatics simply want a "SIMs Empire with pretty buildings!".

Best to give up on the Civ series at this point. Unless modders can finally do their thing with 6.

The audience here at civfanatics includes the modders you speak of, so not only is your comment unhelpful moaning, it contradicts itself.

 

[Civrinn]

Well you enjoy your sims Empire with pretty buildings then. My comment was to the OP actually giving him an answer. The majority of you can still hang on to this fairy tale that AI changes will be made, it's pretty obvious that they won't be.

Moderator Action: Please do not troll the forums. leif
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Fampat]

but they aren't releasing the DLL so that won't happen.

Noone ever said that, its plain and simple false.
Right now there are "no plans" to release it, just because some peoples dont want to wait any longer, which is totaly fine and understandable, it doesnt mean it will not be released.

As long as there is hope i will believe Firaxis will release it at latest at the "end" of the life-cycle they have planned for the game, which _IS_NOT_ the end by the community IF they release the DLL then.
This game has systems and visuals and already is in an overal high-quality-state that it would easily entertain for many years to come after the official end of life.

Firaxis, you are our last hope! Dont disapoint your loyal fanbase!
You make the DLL, we make the AI!

 

[NukeAJS]

I'm in my first game since Frontiers and I can definitely say the AI has stepped up its religious game.

 

[Casworon]

Noone ever said that, its plain and simple false.
Right now there are "no plans" to release it, just because some peoples dont want to wait any longer, which is totaly fine and understandable, it doesnt mean it will not be released.

As long as there is hope i will believe Firaxis will release it at latest at the "end" of the life-cycle they have planned for the game, which _IS_NOT_ the end by the community IF they release the DLL then.
This game has systems and visuals and already is in an overal high-quality-state that it would easily entertain for many years to come after the official end of life.

Firaxis, you are our last hope! Dont disapoint your loyal fanbase!
You make the DLL, we make the AI!

I am massively less hopeful than you. I don't think the DLL is going to come. I remember in a presentation Soren Johnson, the lead designer of Civ IV, who was one of the main champion's behind releasing that game's DLL, mentioned that there was internal and publisher push-back to releasing the DLL even then. When the series was no where near as popular and worth as much money as it is now.

The game's industry is now much larger, worth much more money, and is increasingly moving towards publisher friendly anti-consumer practices.

All these things and the fact they used the words 'have no current plans', which in my mind is PR talk for not going to happen, make me think that as the Civ series has gotten much more popular and successful, that DLL releases for it are simply a thing of the past. Either due to internal or publisher pressure.

It's very sad for a small subset of fanatical players like us. But we still have Civ IV and Civ V to fall back on, which i think at this point will remain my favorite games of all time because of the simply amazing mods available for them which turn them into masterpieces (Honorable mention being the Endless Legend community patch, which turns that into another 4x masterpiece in my mind). A level Civ VI will simply never reach due to the realities of modern game development.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

The AI still doesn't really win games. It has been improved in other regards.