Archipelago Maps and AI

[Theruss]

Greetings all!

As you can probably tell, I am a newcomer here. So, greetings to the long time vets, the inbetweens, and my fellow newcomers!


Finally decided to stop lurking and join up and get right into these topics and create my own. So, my first topic shall be about the maps and game settings.


I searched the forum before I joined up and didn't find a topic about what maps and settings people play on.


I find myself cycling through the maps. When I start up the game, I enter the worldbuilder and check out each map. Some are good, some don't seem that impressive. I used to play my games on Terra maps, as I did enjoy settling the "New World." But at the same time, after playing that a few times, you pretty much know the map and all your opponents will be with you on the "Old World."


I really do enjoy the exploration and settling on new lands aspect of this installment. I liked granting independence to my New World colonies, whom turned out to be the Babylonians, and Hammurabi was my best friend till the rest of the game.


I am looking at the maps and I think I want to try Archipelago. But my question is, how effective are the AI opponents in such a map? I have played CIVIII more than CIVIV and in CIVIII... The AI was quite bad at naval warfare and invading other continents and Islands. I just don't want to start up a Large Archipelago map with epic speed, only to be disappointed later.


Also, with the 3 games I've played so far. The AI doesn't seem too aggressive. When the whole world is a cuddle fest, it just doesn't seem right to me. I think I will turn on raging barbs and aggressive AI. Just how intense will that be?


I know this is a long first post, but I am eager to get into these topics. So, to sum it up. I want to hear some other experiences based on Archipelago maps and aggressive AI and Raging Barbs. Oh, and I plan on playing on either Noble or Prince difficulty depending on the effect of Aggressive AI and Raging barbs will have.

 

[peppe1]

BTS AI is ok, but nothing to fear in naval warfare/invasion. Most i recall is a transport or two worth of units arriving haphazardly.

The Better AI mod adds a focused naval invasion that will drop a lot of units at your doorstep. I played some island maps to test it and a full stack landed on my shores all on the same turn (a coordinated invasion).

There is a better AI sub form in the mods section or you can just grab one of the best mod packs, Fuyu's Better Bug AI, which combines the best UI mod (BUG) + BUG's UI helper mod (BULL) + Better AI: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=354019.

BUG+Bull do not change game-play they just add a bunch of UI (user interface) and unit command/control enhancements. Better AI makes the AI better, which affects game-play for the better

Barbs upgrade faster and spawn more on the higher difficulty levels, so you might go to ~monarch if you want trouble from the barbs.

If i recall aggressive AI mainly increases the likelihood of them producing units. So more AI's will field a strong army. This can slow down their tech rate. I don't recall the diplomacy impact, but if they detect their power is far superior to you they will be more likely to select you as a war target unless you play diplomacy game well.

 

[s.bernbaum]

What level are you playing at? The AI becomes more aggressive at higher levels. Those who are familiar with the code may say it is not increased aggression but increased bonuses instead (I don't know one way or the other at that level) but the effect in game play is that they are much more aggressive.

As to maps, my favorite is Fractal because the map constantly changes from one game to another. You never know if you will have mostly one continent, a lot of small continents, lots of islands or not, archipelagos, or some mix of these.

Regarding the actual Archipelago map, it is my second favorite because I like a naval game. The AIs don't do a good job of invasions but if the land masses are all small, the AIs don't do that badly. If you are playing for peaceful victory conditions, rather than military ones, the Archipelago map works just as well for the AIs as for you. It also has the advantage, like Fractal of always producing a different map.

I never enter WB. I don't want to have any idea what the map is like until my exploring units discover things.

 

[Theruss]

Thanks for the link to the Better AI MOD + BUG, peppe1. I already like the new interface, much more detailed. I always wondered why when people posted screen shots of their starting location for example, why they had a bunch of useful info on their screen, like the great person bar below the tech bar. Now I know.


Yeah, I should stop entering the WB... let it be a surprise. And yeah, it seems like the most popular map is the Fractal map since it's very random.


So, aggressive AI just makes them build more units, which thus increases their odds of declaring. Hmm... maybe that option isn't that great then. It'll make the warmongers like Monty and Shaka build even more units, and make the peace loving India somewhat war like by building more units than India normally would. I do enjoy the leader's different personalities. What's up with Hammurabi though? He has the aggressive trait, yet so far, I have rarely seen him DOW on anyone.


As for a peaceful and military victories. I tend to get peaceful ones more than military. Because I tend to leave other Civs alone unless they provoke me in some way. Or they have a resource I need. Or if their cultural borders are starting to overlap my own. Or if I am around any of the jerks... like Shaka.


I just want to see other AI's war more often with each other. It's always interesting to hear the war horn of two civs going at each other. Preferably if they are aren't all DOW on me.

 

[need my speed]

You could of course edit a .XML. Civ4LeaderHeadInfo.xml? I don't really know how it's called, but if you use common sense, and compare, say, Shaka (probably the best warmongerer, but that could also be because of his unique building), to for example Gandhi, and see what is different and why Gandhi loves peace and Shaka loves war, you could edit each AI to be more like Shaka. Or just copy Shaka's tags and stuff over the others, to make them all Shaka clones. However, then you could better start a game with only Shaka's as enemies.

 

[peppe1]

Thanks for the link to the Better AI MOD + BUG, peppe1. I already like the new interface, much more detailed. I always wondered why when people posted screen shots of their starting location for example, why they had a bunch of useful info on their screen, like the great person bar below the tech bar. Now I know.

If you like to plan your city sites, with bug installed hit alt + x

You can also instigate wars if you like. A high priced tech or two given to the side you like in a tense situation will usually get the ball rolling. AI vs AI wars will happen naturally as well usually around state religions and close borders. Also peace-monger vs war-monger adds instant tension for AIs.