Anyone seen real late game combat?

[TurboJ]

I very rarely see AI building an effective military force in the late game. I've played 100+ hours now and I play only on deity. Here are my notions of late game warfare so far:

-I have never seen AI build one single aircraft.
-I have never seen AI build anti-air units.
-I have never seen AI attack with late game naval units
-I have never seen AI use a nuclear device.
-I have ONCE seen AI build a tank unit (in this case it was actually a modern armor)

What the AI does is simply just spam mech infantry (which are strong of course) but nothing else. Air and sea are pretty much for the human player to exploit however much they like. And those who say air and sea are not that useful in Civ VI, well I guess you haven't used stealth bombers and 4-range missile cruisers then.. Or nuclear subs which in fact are able to shoot land targets as well as sea targets.

Do you share my experience? Have you seen AI actually building a credible military in the late game? I find it strange how AI plays the late game because early in the game they are very much up to date militarily.

 

[MrRadar]

I very rarely see AI building an effective military force in the late game. I've played 100+ hours now and I play only on deity. Here are my notions of late game warfare so far:

-I have never seen AI build one single aircraft.
-I have never seen AI build anti-air units.
-I have never seen AI attack with late game naval units
-I have never seen AI use a nuclear device.
-I have ONCE seen AI build a tank unit (in this case it was actually a modern armor)

What the AI does is simply just spam mech infantry (which are strong of course) but nothing else. Air and sea are pretty much for the human player to exploit however much they like. And those who say air and sea are not that useful in Civ VI, well I guess you haven't used stealth bombers and 4-range missile cruisers then.. Or nuclear subs which in fact are able to shoot land targets as well as sea targets.

Do you share my experience? Have you seen AI actually building a credible military in the late game? I find it strange how AI plays the late game because early in the game they are very much up to date militarily.

I'm in the middle of my 4th game, experience based on Emperor-Immortal difficulties
- yes, no AI aircraft spotted so far
- yes, no AI anti-air observed
- so far I was only harassed by one AI privateer and one frigate. Although in my first game (emperor) I think I've spotted some AI subs.
- yes, no AI nukes so far
- in my third game (immortal) a very much advanced AI Arabia has built a few modern armour units, I've seen corps and armies. Did not engage them though. Although I was kinda aiming for domination, after rolling over the entire fractal pangaea and taking out four AIs, I was at the end of my stamina and besides, my culture victory came faster. I celebrated with nuke fireworks all over Arabia and its tanks.

 

[dwarfling]

- in my third game (immortal) a very much advanced AI Arabia has built a few modern armour units, I've seen corps and armies. Did not engage them though. Although I was kinda aiming for domination, after rolling over the entire fractal pangaea and taking out four AIs, I was at the end of my stamina and besides, my culture victory came faster. I celebrated with nuke fireworks all over Arabia and its tanks.

Heh, that seems to be the story of every single game where I try to go for Domination. Both in Civ6 and Civ5. I'm always pondering at keeping it up for 50+ turns (and they are long-ass turns usually), or just pushing the button on the Science Victory and being done with it.

But to add to the OP: I don't think I've ever seen an Airport. Maybe that's the problem? I think the AI just struggles to grow their cities up and when they do, they have different district priorities to what's usually optimal.

 

[TurboJ]

I've done a fair bit of conquering on my last two playthroughs and I've noticed every AI city I've taken so far have been really production poor. Hardly any mines anywhere. Basically they just farm everything up if it's not a luxury resource. I don't remember seeing an airport either, and industrial zones AI does build but very rarely considering how important they are.

Compared to Civ V, AI on VI seems not to be able to replenish their military much. Usually they build enough units to cover most of their land but when you actually attack, it's just a matter of killing those units the AI had built previous to your attack. They do build extra units once you're assaulting but they take a long time to do so. Maybe they are in fact starved of production even with all the deity bonuses?

I believe lack of production is a problem also when it comes to AI not succeeding to launch the Mars project. They always are reasonably quick to research the necessary techs but then the rockets just don't get built even with them having space ports in 5+ cities.

 

[TwistedMinds]

I usually find a wall of Modern Armor and Mechanized Infantry late game. Mostly Modern Armor, AI seems to have a fetish for them. But yeah, all game long is warrior and low level unit then boom, one AI has all the tank and mechanized infantry.