I don't sit at 4-5 cities for most of the antiquity age in anticipation of getting more treasure fleets out, especially if I have several resource abundant areas nearby.
AI tougher since last update?
- Thread starter chazzycat
- Start date
Taefin
King
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2020
- Messages
- 825
Is this true for everyone!? I still have only seen AI get one point! game Himiko created several treasure fleets (I even stole one) but never cashed them in.
Boris Gudenuf
Deity
My experience is only based on two games since the patch, but I'd say definitely the AI is - more unpredictable.
- and therefore can be more dangerous.
1. In both games, I've had 1 - 2 AI Civs that got mad at me in Antiquity and stayed mad until the bitter end of the Modern Age. I suspect this is because the initial conditions that started them getting angry did not change that much throughout the game (I still held some of their cities from the initial conflict with them and we were sharing borders, so the 'settled too close' figured in)
2. In both games, I've had the AI show better Diplomatic maneuvering - declarations of war tend to be answered by Alliances so that I am almost always fighting at least two Civs at once, and many of those Alliances were 'negotiated' or initiated After the declaration of war.
3. The AI Civs are aggressively going after Wonders: I now expect to have to really concentrate to get as many as I want for any Legacy or just their Bonuses, and can expect to miss out on at least 20 to 33% of the ones I try for.
4. As posted, the Distant Lands Civs are filling up their continent much more than they used to: Treasure Ship resources and locations that have them are much harder to find and exploit without having to take them away from someone else first.
5. The AI does not seem to be Forward Settling quite as much, but as stated, this is from only two games, so might just be Luck of the Map. On the other hand, they are building solidly contiguous 'states' by the beginning of Exploration with only their new Exploration Island cities being separate from the 'homeland'. The other side of this is that they are very slow to put cities on the Distant Lands continent/mainland, in one game not building any until the Modern Age.
6. One thing that has not changed, though: the AI is still a tactical Idiot. Enemy units still come forward in ones and twos, they build far more units than they have Commanders for (and rarely build more than 1 Fleet Commander in Exploration at all) so that even when they have a large force they have trouble moving into position to strike or defend. - And, of course, this also means that they lose a large part of their army/fleet when the Age changes, because they don't have enough Commanders to maintain their unit count.
If you have the extra Settlement Limit, beginning of Exploration or beginning of Modern Age are still two good times to go to war with an annoying neighbor: even allied, two AI Civs will not have the combined forces larger than what one well-prepared Human player can mass early in the Age from the carry over from the previous Age.
So, definitely not up to even dull human standard, but at times almost worthy opposition. A few more patches and the AI might be good enough to give a beginning Human player a real challenge - but the AI still shows no sign of being able to plan ahead, as in preparing for the Age change or building armies with both enough Units (they've largely got that part now) and enough Commanders for those Units to be able to move, mass, and use them adequately.
- and therefore can be more dangerous.
1. In both games, I've had 1 - 2 AI Civs that got mad at me in Antiquity and stayed mad until the bitter end of the Modern Age. I suspect this is because the initial conditions that started them getting angry did not change that much throughout the game (I still held some of their cities from the initial conflict with them and we were sharing borders, so the 'settled too close' figured in)
2. In both games, I've had the AI show better Diplomatic maneuvering - declarations of war tend to be answered by Alliances so that I am almost always fighting at least two Civs at once, and many of those Alliances were 'negotiated' or initiated After the declaration of war.
3. The AI Civs are aggressively going after Wonders: I now expect to have to really concentrate to get as many as I want for any Legacy or just their Bonuses, and can expect to miss out on at least 20 to 33% of the ones I try for.
4. As posted, the Distant Lands Civs are filling up their continent much more than they used to: Treasure Ship resources and locations that have them are much harder to find and exploit without having to take them away from someone else first.
5. The AI does not seem to be Forward Settling quite as much, but as stated, this is from only two games, so might just be Luck of the Map. On the other hand, they are building solidly contiguous 'states' by the beginning of Exploration with only their new Exploration Island cities being separate from the 'homeland'. The other side of this is that they are very slow to put cities on the Distant Lands continent/mainland, in one game not building any until the Modern Age.
6. One thing that has not changed, though: the AI is still a tactical Idiot. Enemy units still come forward in ones and twos, they build far more units than they have Commanders for (and rarely build more than 1 Fleet Commander in Exploration at all) so that even when they have a large force they have trouble moving into position to strike or defend. - And, of course, this also means that they lose a large part of their army/fleet when the Age changes, because they don't have enough Commanders to maintain their unit count.
If you have the extra Settlement Limit, beginning of Exploration or beginning of Modern Age are still two good times to go to war with an annoying neighbor: even allied, two AI Civs will not have the combined forces larger than what one well-prepared Human player can mass early in the Age from the carry over from the previous Age.
So, definitely not up to even dull human standard, but at times almost worthy opposition. A few more patches and the AI might be good enough to give a beginning Human player a real challenge - but the AI still shows no sign of being able to plan ahead, as in preparing for the Age change or building armies with both enough Units (they've largely got that part now) and enough Commanders for those Units to be able to move, mass, and use them adequately.
Last edited:
StargazingDog
Prince
I can't tell if my latest game is a fluke, or if your claim is true. I certainly seem to have significantly fewer wonders available for me to build this time around.
I haven't looked too closely, but is there a menu somewhere that lists all wonders that have been built? Guess I can just look at my city production menu with the "display hidden" option enabled.
queenpea
Emperor
Nope, hearts all game. He never stopped begging for an alliance throughout the three ages.
Nigel_Tufnel2
King
MutilationWave
IDDQD
This mod is exactly what you want, and it's very well done.
EDIT: SNIPED! Nice going Nigel.
Taefin
King
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2020
- Messages
- 825
Nigel must have had a slight lead in culture, here’s an 80 production refund in consolation.This mod is exactly what you want, and it's very well done.
EDIT: SNIPED! Nice going Nigel.
DingusEgg
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2025
- Messages
- 5
I've noticed what feels like stronger macro play from the AI opponents, but I think it might be an consequence of the new 'Standard' start position option. It seems to me that in addition to the removal some of the island chains (sometimes, or whatever), the continents have been made bigger to occupy the negative space. I wonder if the AI have benefitted well from the additional space?
I haven't stumbled across a goofy AI with one settled city on turn 60 since the patch, and neither have I had a spawn in which I was sandwiched tightly between two AI capitals, for example.
Does that match what y'all are finding? There doesn't seem to be a consensus coming out about what exactly was improved. I wonder if they seem stronger in many different ways because they are landing more cities and building stronger yield totals?
I haven't stumbled across a goofy AI with one settled city on turn 60 since the patch, and neither have I had a spawn in which I was sandwiched tightly between two AI capitals, for example.
Does that match what y'all are finding? There doesn't seem to be a consensus coming out about what exactly was improved. I wonder if they seem stronger in many different ways because they are landing more cities and building stronger yield totals?
Morgawr
Civ Fanatic
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2007
- Messages
- 1,233
I follow AI behavior extremely closely in all my games but cannot tell what’s improved in patch as I’ve been on the RHQ AI mod since release. (improves AI behavior by tweaking xml values etc and looking for AI performance improvements in autoplays.)
With last patch I’ve heard the vanilla game did catch up somewhat as far as settling behavior.
AI fights well in particular defensive wars - but that’s been the case with the mod for quite a while now.
I like the standard map much better too, similar to Civ 6 style maps, snakier and less cookie-cutter continents.
Re: AI ‘winning’ in modern I haven’t seen a difference yet. Depending on the game (deity) I get one or two AIs going for artifact victory , they do make an effort but can’t come close. I choose CV because it’s the fastest way to seal the game - consistently by T50-55 as I have it down to a science by now after doing it three times already.
I then note AI win points performance. (Usually not much by that time - a few get 2-3 artifact points by the time I have 15 and already built the worlds fair)
I will keep tracking this and see if it moves with future patches or RHQ mod updates.
With last patch I’ve heard the vanilla game did catch up somewhat as far as settling behavior.
AI fights well in particular defensive wars - but that’s been the case with the mod for quite a while now.
I like the standard map much better too, similar to Civ 6 style maps, snakier and less cookie-cutter continents.
Re: AI ‘winning’ in modern I haven’t seen a difference yet. Depending on the game (deity) I get one or two AIs going for artifact victory , they do make an effort but can’t come close. I choose CV because it’s the fastest way to seal the game - consistently by T50-55 as I have it down to a science by now after doing it three times already.
I then note AI win points performance. (Usually not much by that time - a few get 2-3 artifact points by the time I have 15 and already built the worlds fair)
I will keep tracking this and see if it moves with future patches or RHQ mod updates.
chazzycat
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
- Messages
- 3,085
in my 2nd deity attempt post-update, I was stuck between three aggressive AI capitals and was surrounded before I could even get a settler out. Feels like a lack of immediately workable production tiles in your cap is a death sentence. I strongly suspect anyone bragging about deity being easy, are hitting restart a lot.
MutilationWave
IDDQD
I've never restarted a spawn and I've never lost. The enemies just don't go for the win at the end in my experience. Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe playing civ for nearly thirty years has done something to me.
Navelgazer
Emperor
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2012
- Messages
- 1,098
Oh I have. Latest game (Sovereign, Archipelago, playing Augustus as Carthage) had Isabella (Egypt), Machiavelli (Rome) and Lafayette (Greece) as my neighbors. Machiavelli and Lafayette started right next to each other and settled 3 and 2 cities in Antiquity, respectively. Isabella had a lot of room to expand, but stayed at one single city throughout Antiquity. Everybody spread out a little more in Exploration, but nobody to their cap. Also, since nobody was building fishing quays, I had almost no possible trade routes throughout the first age, meaning I missed out on Silk Roads by one slottable resource in the end.
chazzycat
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
- Messages
- 3,085
Agree with this, I've never lost in modern age. But they can still mess you up earlier in a bad start.
Menocchio
Warlord
I've also noticed the AI being much more aggressive with wonder building, which brings back a bit of the classic Civ energy—though they still seem to give/take random cities in peace deals. In my latest game Jose Rizal is to my north, and my ally Machiavelli (super reliable, I promise) is to my south; after one random war of mine with Rizal Machiavelli had given one of his core cities away, meaning any future war with him would be on two fronts for me... annoying stuff.
Yeah, I just finished an antiquity era and I had a couple wonders sniped from me, and despite having pretty solid production and solid (although not top) culture, the AI just went nuts building wonders. Even into the Exploration, I don't know how close I came to getting even my civ's wonder sniped from me, honestly I think the only reason I finished is getting some production from a ruin to give it a boost.
Disgustipated
Deity
I'm definitely seeing more units go my way in wars with neighbors. I've had to cancel two invasion plans after encountering more troops than I was anticipating. At least with regards to adjacent neighbors. Ones far away don't tend to send too many troops. But I'm encountering huge waves entering my territory that are tough to deal with, and it means I can't go on the offensive.
And yeah the wonders. It's not easy to get the cultural legacy path in antiquity sometimes. Perhaps it's the leader I'm playing is kind of weak (Friederick), but I'm struggling my current game to outpace the AI where it was so easy my last game with Charlemagne.
And yeah the wonders. It's not easy to get the cultural legacy path in antiquity sometimes. Perhaps it's the leader I'm playing is kind of weak (Friederick), but I'm struggling my current game to outpace the AI where it was so easy my last game with Charlemagne.
