AI using armies, artillery, and more

[ZergMazter]

I removed the requirement to build the building that makes armies only leaving the tech requirement, and it was a success. The AI now builds armies.

I've seen them go in with a couple armies and trash their enemies. Im on my guard more than ever now lol. Definitely the fun factor has been upped by a lot. The AI can now do more with less units and really cause some damage without using nukes.

The scariest thing u can see is the AI devastating your armies and border cities, but instead of withdrawing to heal they fortify in ur territory to heal to then attack you again in a couple turns while your military lies in ruins.

For the first time im having to use the draft tool. They also stack it well. They put defenders in there along with offensive units. You cant imagine how hard it is to harm an army equipped with a Mech Infantry fortified on a hill.

My own personal mod is turning out to be quite something. The AI is becoming brutal in their tactics even on lower difficulty levels because of the minor changes i've made. The first thing on my list was to lower tank speed to 2 tiles as it is not fair for anyone when you can hit, run and heal. It really kills the game. The AI can actually fight back and use my new anti-tank units to pick off 1 by 1 the damaged tanks before attempting to wipe my stack.

Artillery will always be pathetic tho. The only thing i can do is turn them into auto produced units instead comming from 2-3 small wonders, changing them to strong offensive units with weak defense and collateral damage. Being auto-produced helps, so that the AI doesnt stop making for example Modern Armor, to go ahead and make only Artillery since its no longer in the que. As a result they get a mixed military of Tanks and Artillery. This type of 'offensive' artillery the AI will send to its front lines. It basically works like the howtizer in civ 2. To simulate unit collateral damage i just give them 2 moves and blitz. Multiple deaths per bombing mission

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

One thing that most experienced modders here have discovered is that while the AI does tend to build armies if given the ability, they tend to poorly choose units to load into said army, due to the +1 movement bug (causing the AI to add units that match the current army movement rather than the movement of the first unit added).

The general consensus is that this can be worked around by limiting armies to 1 unit each, but giving them a pretty hefty HP bonus (over the standard Army HP bonus, that is), and in my own case, giving the armies a bombardment value.

 

[ZergMazter]

That hadnt happened to me yet since they quickly filled their armies with infantries. I discovered that in my mod the AI was building infantry over tanks and began fixing it, so i wouldnt have known till i fixed it. Thx for saving me from another headache. Sheesh can we get a break?! Every thing you do in this game the AI flips it upside down. This AI was created to piss people off i think

Im about to call the quits. The amount of wrong with civ 3 when it comes to modding is absurd. We gotta play inside the 4x4 box created for us by firaxis or everything goes haywire. Its too much effort to work around something. I could use a really good hacker right now :/