AI Handicaps re-evaluation

[to_xp]Gekko

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Currently high level AIs get some pretty huge crutches that were put there when it was completely braindead, like tons of free XP and almost free unit upgrades for example.

Now that thanks to Tholal its performance has improved by leaps and bounds, I think it's time to reduce some of those values to more reasonable levels so that high level AIs can be challenging without making the cheating too obvious and warping the gameplay too much because they play by completely different rules.

Off the top of my head, I'd raise their upgrade costs for units a lot so they don't just upgrade their entire army to the next tier as soon as they get a new technology, and make their free XP scale better, like 1-2-3-4-5 instead of 1-2-4-6-8.

Anyone has ideas about this?
 
A great approach to this issue is found in the excellent Communitas mod for civ5: it's similar to ffh2 increasing difficulty, without the drawback of going up all the way to crazy deity handicaps.

In Communitas, AI handicaps get higher as the game progresses to later eras, as we know that huge bonuses early on create snowballs and small bonuses later on are essentially useless. this system allows to finetune AI performance for each difficulty level, and it definitely plays much smoother than FFH2 style increasing difficulty.
 
Where could this have come from :p
I only have problems with the xp bonus, as mentioned elsewhere I prefer the AI to have bonus in the economy rather then directly on the battlefield. And if you're not ready for a improved economy then there's no point in raising the difficulty.
 
The xp is a crutch, which the ai may well have needed, but it completely changes the face of warfare. Suddenly high promo units are a necessity not something that is a advantage to farm. That’s ok in the mid-late game, or basically as soon as you have collateral and decent units, but for the first 150 odd turns it’s crippling, as the enemy is getting a flat 40% strength increase on every unit, as well as getting way more. We could play a game where the AI economy gets little-no help and each unit start with 15xp, but you can’t do both.

I'm copypasting this here since it's relevant to the thread ;)
 
We could play a game where the AI economy gets little-no help and each unit start with 15xp, but you can’t do both.

Totally agree. I've been changing the handicap levels in my games because of this exact point.
 
Sounds like a very good idea. A side effect is that Orthus should become a bit more durable, relatively speaking, and no longer die less than 10 turns after appearing.
 
Why?
If Orthus dies 10 turns after spawning, that means he spawns near an AI...would you rather he was left to raze cities?
Besides, I don't think he gets any free xp anyway...
 
Orthus doesn't get the free XP, that's what I was trying to say. As a result, even just one or two AI warriors with shock out of the gate have a decent chance to kill him.

I don't think he should be able to run around and kill everything he chooses, but he should be more than just a free "get +1 fire and blitz for one of your units". I don't see him act suicidal usually; if he doesn't have a decent chance to win he'd pillage rather than attack. However, since he starts out weak in comparison, AIs can just take him down by attacking.
 
Oh sorry, I thought you were saying removing the free xp (which would buff Orthus versus the AI) was a good idea, not giving them 15xp (which I wasnt being serious about, though I do want tho try a game like that).
Fake-edit: oh so by should you mean would because of this change, I thought you meant that was a change that would need to be made as a result. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Something's that's been annoying me a bit in my recent games is the rate of AI expansion. There's almost no point in making settlers as the AI, even on lower difficulty levels, will make so many cities you're better off rushing for the early game win condition. Trying to compete on settler production only puts you behind army-wise, frequently leading to an early demise.
I think this negatively impacts the pace of the game. It gives the player too big of an economic base early on (after the first Civ crush) allowing for swift research of most technologies you'll need. I enjoy the early game struggle where an exact research path is required to gain an advantage. The game almost always dwindles into a long slog afterwards. A slog made even longer by the shear number of cities tucked into every nook and corner that must be conquered.
 
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