[BTS] AI World Cup

:)

Hmm..early bets.
1. Qin (protective seems more useful for AIs)
2. Boudi..!
3. Justi (seems unlikely that Gandhi can sneak in a culture victory before getting invaded)
4. Joao Bighat (rex, rex and more rex)
 
Quarterfinals Game 1&2 Starting positions for the Industrialists and Triggerhappy

Civ4ScreenShot0229.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0228.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0227.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0226.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0225.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0224.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0223.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0222.JPG
 
Quarterfinal predictions:

Qin vs Bismark: I think this will be close and we may need a third game. Basepeaceweight 2 vs 6. Qin protective but Bismark like to build units. Perhaps wars will not be issue at all as they are too busy building wonders. No one cares too much about different religion. Slight edge to Bismark for espionage spending and Nationhood.

Napoleon vs Boudica: Surprise that Nappy made it to the quarterfinals but he had soft neighbours during qualifiers. Now the opposition will be real hard for him. Boudica have a sensible and versatile approach and may benefit from early religions. Nappys lunatic personality will not help. 2-0 for Boudica.

Justinian vs Gandhi: Theocracy vs Universal suffrage. Justinian will not allow Gandhi to achieve 3 legendary cities. Besides, his espionage will control the games. Easy 2-0 for Justinian.

Willem vs Joao: Willem with tech advantage throughout both games. I also find him strong and focused in the endgames if any other AI is approaching victory. He simply destroys them. Easy 2-0 for Willem.
 
Justinian is a beast of an AI. Not sure exactly how he does it, but he's always a powerhouse. He should make short work of Gandhi.

In the other matches, I like Bismarck, Boudica, and Joao. But the only one I feel strongly about is Bismarck over Qin.
 
I surprised how fun was these games with 3-4 AIs. So, if you would do another shot, what do you think of making quarterfinals consisting of 2 groups with 4 AIs? After that 1A can duel with 2B, and 1B can duel with 2A. Anyway, so far we didnt see duels between AIs, so they can be more fun :)
 
Is there any consensus as to why some AIs seem way stronger than others? It sort of makes sense why guys like Toku or Shaka fall behind with their military delusions. But then again, Boudica makes for a very competent warmonger.

I can also see that Imp and Cre are quite helpful traits for the AI. Some guys like Mansa suffer from their peaceweight and decision making.

But apart from that, there still seem to be gaps, as if some AI are better coded than others. For example, why do the American leaders suck so much?

Take a look at this expansion for example, Zara vs Roosevelt ... the former considered as one of the best AI, occasionally falling victim to his peaceweight though.

Spoiler :


13 vs 6 cities, Zara captured Atlanta now, but the point remains... there is absolutely no excuse for Roosevelt to do THIS badly.





Another example, Zara vs Sury vs Pericles, 3 creative leaders.

Spoiler :


11 vs 9 vs 6 cities. Zara had no right to settle where he did.





And expansion is just one example.
 
Predictions:

Qin in 3, fairly evenly matched. I don't expect much fighting. Will be quite boring I would think.

Boudica
in 2 ... top-tier warmonger. Backing her to win the tournament actually.

Justi in 3 ... almost want to back Gandhi for a upset though. He is not bad at all, but with Justi grabbing enough land it's hard to see past him I guess.

Willem in 2 ... he will literally get about every wonder in the game and Joao is too much of a wuss to interfere in any way. By the time he can leverage his land advantage Willem wins culture. I don't rate Joao at all. Willem to reach the final against Boudi eventually.
 
Hmm i know coastal starts can slow them down, when they start Moai they will not stop even if it's totally stupid ;)
That can remove one of their first cities from early expansion.
Coastal also adds lighthouse and workboats, for fast expansion they need archer escorts.

For Roosy it's most likely also other wonders.
+ he has no traits that benefit expansion, and no SPI against random Anarchy times (Justi imo does well cos he has no pauses + Imp).

Not sure about Zara, i think that's just random vs. Sury who often gets big as well.
 
I surprised how fun was these games with 3-4 AIs. So, if you would do another shot, what do you think of making quarterfinals consisting of 2 groups with 4 AIs? After that 1A can duel with 2B, and 1B can duel with 2A. Anyway, so far we didnt see duels between AIs, so they can be more fun :)
Sure, this is a good idea. Dont know when it will be. Busy RL schedule approching.
 
Good discussion, guys. Cool if a few more gets involved. I am away from computer until Sunday so delayed results.
 
Quarterfinal Qin vs Bismark - 1AD update Game 1&2 simultaneously

Game 1: A peaceful affair. Qin have free religion (from Shewdon Paya). Also Qin have the Mids and TGL. However, Bismark have 10 cities vs Qins 6.
Stones in the west and marble in the east. However, that does not seems to affect which wonder to pursue for them :crazyeye:
Civ4ScreenShot0238.JPG

Game 2 (switched positions):
Not so peaceful. Different religion. Qin got most of the wonders but Bismarks builds units. Bismark DoW 300BC and captures 1 city.
Civ4ScreenShot0241.JPG

Civ4ScreenShot0242.JPG
 
Quarterfinal Napoleon vs Boudica - 1AD update Game 1&2 simultaneously

Game 1: Different religion. Nappy DoW 500BC but gains nothing. Powergraph is even. Nappy 10 cities Boudica 9.
Civ4ScreenShot0238.JPG


Game 2: Also different religion. This time Nappy DoW 300BC. Gain 1 city but Boudica seems ready to counter with triple hillpromos (nice for attack on that narrow hillarea at the frontline). 8 vs 8 cities.
Civ4ScreenShot0242.JPG


By the way: :newyear:
 
Quarterfinal Justinian vs Gandhi - 1AD update Game 1&2 simultaneously

Game 1: Different religion. Justinian DoW 500BC and take Calcutta (for its iron?). Also takes Paliputra. 10 vs 5 cities.Things looks grim for Gandhi. He better beeline nuclear weapons :eek:
Civ4ScreenShot0244.JPG


Game 2: Also different religion, but no early DoWs. A barb city (just taken) seems to have occupied Justins focus. 8 vs 8 cities.

Civ4ScreenShot0247.JPG
 
Quarterfinal Willem vs Joao - 1AD update Game 1&2 simultaneously

Game 1: Peaceful game so far. 9 vs 9 cities. Portugal Free religion.
Civ4ScreenShot0252.JPG


Game 2: Also peaceful. This time Willem in free religion. Joao 11 cities vs Willems 8.

Civ4ScreenShot0253.JPG


Civ4ScreenShot0254.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0255.JPG
 
Quarterfinals Results Game 1&2

Qin vs Bismarck - Game 1:
As we saw 1 AD, Bismarck outnumbered Qin i cities and got a healthy tech advantage. Qin pursuing culture and Bismarck space. When Qins culture pressure got annoying Bismarck declared Blitzkrieg with his Panzers. After that it was a one way affair. Bismarck won domination 1824. Qin with his bad peaceweight (2) has a remarkable low unit build probability (2/10).
Qin vs Bismarck - Game 2:
Here the citycount was more even after Bismarck captured 1 city by 1AD. 300 AD he captures Nanjing too but suffered heavy losses to protective longbows. Qin with his Cho-ko-Nus recaptures Nanjing and also the first city. Bismarck never really recovered power lead. Qin won lib and had somewhat tech lead. Qin went for culture and had no problems winning it 1878 with Nanjing as the 3rd legendary city. Morale: attack at the right time.
Qin vs Bismarck: 1-1 after 2 games.

Napoleon vs Boudica:

This map had some islands in the west. That meant in both games colonies came into play. In both games the western inhabitant made colonies. That seems to be a gamebreaker (tech trade, trade, warfare etc). Napoleon won game 1 (culture 1901) since Boudica never really could fight several AI's. Boudica had no problems in game 2 and won domination 1550 AD.
Napoleon vs Boudica: 1-1 after 2 games.

Justinian vs Gandhi:
In game 1 Gandhi was suffering by 1 AD. Justinian made the suffering short. Domination victory 425 AD. In game 2 Justinian declared early AD and rallied on, with cataphracts all over the shop, for a domination victory 1460 AD. Impressive performance by Justinian in both games.
Justinian wins 2-0 and is the first semifinalist.

Willem vs Joao:
Game 1 was peaceful until 800AD. After that there were mutual dows without any sustained captures. But the last DoW by Willem 1870 with tanks, proved too much for Joao and he capitulateted 1917. Willem takes Game 1. Game 2 was peaceful until the final stages. Here mutual "you have wisely chosen civic" made them rather friendly. Around 1600 AD Willem was approaching a culture win fast (30 turns). Joao could read the writing on the wall an launched a massive attack. With 5 turns left Willem lost his 3rd candidate culture city and soon after capitulated. Joao takes game 2.
Willem vs Joao: 1-1 after 2 games.

Civ4ScreenShot0276.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0273.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0270.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0267.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0265.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0261.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0258.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0257.JPG

Three quarterfinals to be decided with a single game. The simulations would be carried out in the next couple of days.
 
Last edited:
The last 3 quarterfinals have been simulated. No writeups as we advance to semifinals now. It was 3 domination victories. Boudica beats Nappy, Joao beats Willem and Qin beats Bismarck. The quickest was Boudica 1220 AD (the others around 1600).

Civ4ScreenShot0283.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0279.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0278.JPG

Hmm..early bets.
1. Qin (protective seems more useful for AIs)
2. Boudi..!
3. Justi (seems unlikely that Gandhi can sneak in a culture victory before getting invaded)
4. Joao Bighat

4 outta 4 aint bad, Fippy. :bowdown:
 
SEMIFINALS:

1. Justinian vs Qin
2. Boudica vs Joao

Best of 3 games. The first two games with same map but switched positions.

Justinian/Qin-map with starting postions:
Civ4ScreenShot0282.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0281.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0280.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0277.JPG

Boudica/Joao map:
Civ4ScreenShot0284.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0285.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0286.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0287.JPG

Predictions are welcome.
 
Justinian has been impressive so far. Cataphracts vs protective longbows. I guess Justinian captures every wonder Qin has, and win rather easy 2-0. Qin has too low unitbuild probability (2/10).

Boudica controls religions and early warfare with cheap generals. 2-0 for her.
 
Back
Top Bottom