Buffed AI for BNW

[glider1]

Hi ya Me99909, I have already built an earlier version with various mod components in it, but to do it officially would need the ok with WHoward. Some people want it, others do not, so I would have to release two versions (which isn't too much work).

Hey Keldath. What, we were talking before and you had just bought Civ5 and are already wanting to move onto this mod! Yeah, the way the base game does the handicapping, no wonder. Installing this mod is back to basics until I finally finish it and release on steam. You grab the zip file, and put "Buffed AI for skilled players" into your civ5 MODS folder which should be in your documents folder. In the zip file, there is another folder for the code, just ignore that.

Hey gggbbb, the community patch people were around at one stage and took the code from an earlier version of this mod while it was still being improved. I haven't heard anything since.

I think the problem is, that the changes in this mod don't suit some peoples taste. Firstly, it is harder to steal workers in the current beta we are testing, and the AI can be more competitive with games ending suddenly (I don't mind loosing and this mod beats me too). It requires concentration and effort to win and therefore might not be relaxing. That is why I called it "for skilled players". However, if we suck in our ego and play at a lower difficulty, I think this mod should still be a lot of fun.

I haven't tried playing it on difficulties below king yet, and I need help with players who can try the latest beta (v18 beta 7) on low difficulties, in case I have made it too hard!!

Enjoy. Now, back to my own game where Attila is raging through the modern era and the Romans look to be a serious problem for a space VC.

 

[joncnunn]

If I hadn't had Venice in my last test game of V18 beta 6, I would be worried that we have found a bug. But in that test game, Venice had gotten to four cities, not as competitive as other civs but doing well enough.

In your game, it looks like Egypt is locked in to your science pace now because they are within +/- 3 techs, and they are into the renaissance as well. Unless you or somebody else starts reducing their productive capacity, Egypt looks to be your only rival.

Turn 204 update (Beta 6) beginning of Industrial Era, seeking Science Victory

Turn 183 An "unknown civ" stole Printing Press, since nobody advanced an era and Egypt was the only AI in the new era, it had to be Egypt.
Same turn notice that Egypt has met all civs and is hosting the first world council.

Indonesia was the unmet civ.
I propose Worlds Fair.

Turn 184 Egypt had proposed Islam as Worlds Religion, that's going to be really unpopular with the AIs, but it might actually pass with Egypt having 4 votes between being the host and having built FP.
Egypt also completed Notre Dame

Turn 185 I completed Leaning Tower -> GE, used for the Globe.
Venice finally bought a city state.

Turn 191 The Huns declare war on Poland

Turn 196 I meet the last city state. (The last 2 were as expected near Indonesia)

Turn 198 Poland and Huns sign a peace treaty. No cities changed hands.

Turn 204, I was first to the world to Industrial Era (entered via Scientific Theory)
Numbers obviously don't include the tech I just got.

Egypt has 1 tech I don't have and isn't missing any others. They are #1 in a lot of demographic categories.

Poland is missing 4 techs.

Huns have 1 tech I don't have and are missing 6 techs. They are last in land area and happiness.

Polynesia is missing 6 techs.

Venice is missing 6 techs. They are last in food and income. They have only bought one city state. Their tourism though is much higher than the other AIs.

Netherlands have 1 tech I don't have and are missing 9 techs. They are worst in population, troops, and manufacturing goods.

Indonesia is missing 9 techs. They are worst in science.

My social policies: Full Tradition, Patronage Opener & Consulates, and Rationalism Opener & Secularism.

Screenshot attached that's zoomed into my empire. The bottom right shows global placement if you've memorized the background colors of these civs.

 

[glider1]

Thanks, yep, Egypt looks to be locked into your tech rate now. You may have to physically take them out of the game, or get another AI to do it for you (but that is harder because in this mod, only some civs are willing to join you in a third party war). If you were playing beta 7, Poland would now start getting sucked into the science funnel as well, because they are 4 techs behind you and it is the industrial era where the tech funnel for the adaptive buff widens to 4 techs. Because you are on immortal difficulty, that would mean that Poland would really start to surge back in tech rate quickly and would be likely to start exceeding you in tech come the atomic/information age. In beta 6, they are too far behind in tech and will not.

EDIT: the way the extra adaptive science funnel works in beta 7, it is always turned on from ancient age, but it's width in that era is 0. It increases by one for every new era the AI reaches. What this means in practice, is that most AI's won't even get the adaptive science buff applied because the funnel is too narrow and they will be teching too well to engage it. However, if we take the medieval age, the funnel width is now +/-2 techs, and the AI's that are 2 techs behind you are going to rapidly catch up and possibly start exceeding you come renaissance (if they have the productive capacity to do so) . However, if they start out-teching you near the limit of the funnel size, the adaptive science buff also starts turning off too. Once they are teching outside of the funnel width, they only get the normal adaptive buffs, as per previous versions.

In beta 6, it only turns on at renaissance and stays fixed at a funnel size of +/- 3 techs. It also means that in beta 6, the strength of how quickly AI's adjust to you is slower. Beta 6 and 7 are save game compatible.

 

[joncnunn]

If you were playing beta 7, Poland would now start getting sucked into the science funnel as well, because they are 4 techs behind you and it is the industrial era where the tech funnel for the adaptive buff equals a width of 4 techs.

Except that the tech stats from trade routes are obviously one turn old, so between just getting a tech this past turn and being able to get a very cheap new tech the very next turn due to where overflow was, Poland would also have had to be picking cheap techs to avoid falling out.

 

[glider1]

Yeah, good point. Here is way to work out how many total techs ahead or behind the other civ is, not by using trade routes, but hovering over the civs score. The mouse-over gives a text breakdown of the score which includes a tech score. I think that score calculates the same as this mod, that is the number of techs known by that civ. I can't remember how many points each tech is worth, but I think it is four score points, so you divide the total tech score by 4 to work out how many techs they know, and then you do the same for your own score breakdown. This technique works from the ancient age onwards. The only difference between that information in the base game and infoaddict, is that infoaddict graphs it and automates the tech count so you don't have to hack through it.

EDIT: I do think that infoaddict reveals too much other information though which spoils the fun. It should just graph the info that is available in that score breakdown I was talking about.

Here, India has three techs:

 

[joncnunn]

The Industrial Era flew by for me in this game. (Only lasted between turns 204 & 223)

Turn 223 Beginning of Modern Era update (again Beta 6)

Turn 213: I vote against Egypt's proposal to make Islam the world religion.

Turn 214: World's Fair passes 3 - 0. The proposal to make Islam the world religion fails 5 - 3. (All 3 Yes votes coming from Egypt, which had also used 1 vote for Worlds Fair)
I propose Natural Heritage as a "do nothing" proposal. (If it actually passes I'd gain 5 culture)

Turn 215: Egypt proposes Arts Funding. It looks like that will pass.

Turn 218: I complete PT.

Turn 220: I halt all progress towards Worlds Fair at 360 hammers (10 more than needed for Silver)

Turn 221: Egypt & Huns declare war on Venice. I don't think you had in mind a war in which Egypt is likely to gain cities. (If Egypt conquers Venice they'd be a serious threat to tourism victory as Venice is 2nd and Egypt is 3rd in Tourism; I'm #1 even without seeking that victory type.)
Egypt enters the Industrial Era

Turn 223: I complete Oxford, entering the Modern era via the usual Radio.
I used the faith based GE on Eiffel Tower. (tourism denial for Egypt / Venice)

This is from the trade route screen and I had also completed an Industrial era tech so it's one or two techs off. I didn't see your post until after I had saved and existed. (The trade route has one advantage over the score in telling you if an AI with similar tech progress is researching different techs than you or the same exact ones.)

Egypt: Has 1 tech I don't have and is missing 3 techs. (I might have just pushed them out of the funnel in this version; they would clearly still be within it in the next version)

Poland: Is missing 4 techs. (Yeah, in the next version they'd be going in and out of the funnel)

Huns: Are missing 7 techs

Polynesia: Is missing 8 techs

Netherlands: Is missing 9 techs

Indonesia: Is missing 12 techs

No damage seen to any cities in the ongoing Egypt & Huns vs Venice war. Venice is still running a 2 city empire, having only bought one city state.

The World's Fair is 88% complete.

Demographics screen info was highly similar to what it was last time.

During the Industrial era, I added Humanism and was one turn away from naturally getting another policy.

 

[glider1]

Thanks for the update. Egypt would still be getting the extra science buff in beta 7. I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't track better with you (keeping a tech or two ahead) but am relieved that this problem is fixed in beta 7, because there is more science buff that kicks in for the AI as the era's go by. So if Egypt were equal tech with you, they would be bang in the middle of the funnel and in the late eras would be getting a lot of science buff to pull them up past you in tech (it depends on their capacity to do so though - enough food for a large population).

Question: The AI's science is tracking much better now with the player in beta 7, I think it is time to delete the AI to AI buff for research agreements agree? It isn't needed any more and I think it wasn't a good idea (we were desperate for ways to buff the AI). The problem is that it favours peaceful tall strategies more because going wide makes it too difficult to make allies and lock up RA's with AI's before they sign them with each other.

To give you an idea of the changes in beta 7, Atilla had blown out to 8 cities in my game and was 6 techs behind me in late renaissance. In two era's he has clawed back to only 2 behind despite that he has a lower population than I. Rome was 2 techs ahead back then, but now in the post modern, has stabilised at 4-5 techs ahead and holding with a large population base. I'm playing emperor. On immortal or deity, the AI would surge back and hold the tech even more.

EDIT:
In my beta 7 game, Rome has a population of 33 million, and I'm next at 18 million. It is a big difference and is just barely manageable. It is surprising how much of a difference there is in population, considering the AI gets no handicaps for population at all, other than an improved worker rate. I'm also surprised how well the AI is managing happiness. It seems that when they have the tech, they can manage happiness better too.

 

[joncnunn]

Question: The AI's science is tracking much better now with the player in beta 7, I think it is time to delete the AI to AI buff for research agreements agree?

Actually, in my game, Egypt shut themselves out of friendships entirely (so no AI to AI RA agreements) due to them proposing Islam as a world religion and so that is not a factor.

Poland though has some AI to AI RA agreements and the boost to science from that is the only thing keeping them just outside of the Beta 6 funnel and not falling further back.

Printing Press is a very key tech for happiness for a wide empire (weather it was self founded or attached to a tall empire via conquest). Also some of the AIs may randomly go Exploration, which on the right side gives happiness bonuses from sea buildings, which also makes techs a factor.
Later on the most popular AI choice (Order) has yet more happiness sources from buildings, while some of these are from early techs, other buildings require a later tech.

 

[norwalkvirus]

I'm looking forward to a version that is compatible with DLL Various Mod Components/Community Patch.

 

[glider1]

I'll probably run up a test version in the next few weeks once I get the motivation up.

EDIT: if I get the ok with the authors.

 

[joncnunn]

Modern Era thru conquest of Venice update. (Between turns 223 & 239):

Turn 224: That GE I used to bulb Eiffel Tower Completed.
The World Congress Welcomed city states
I adopted Freedom (food reasons for my second & third city)
I vote for myself, but Egypt has a hammer lock on this vote

Turn 226: Egypt hosts the Worlds Fair 1476.27 hammers
I get Ground Breaking Invention at 360.55 hammers
Huns, Poland, Indonesia, and Polynesia have exhibitions at 345.83, 276.75, 254.68, and 204.45 hammers
Venice wastes 134.28 hammers getting nothing.

Turn 227: Egypt completes Louvre

Turn 232: Poland & Polynesia declare war on Huns

Turn 234: I blub a natural born GS. (I had previously formed academies out of the 5 previous natural born + PT GS)

Turn 237: Venice completes Uffizini. Venice is actually down to ZERO health left! Quebec City not much better in the red.

Turn 238: Egypt captures Quebec City. Venice still alive but still with ZERO health.

Turn 239: Egypt captures Venice, removing them from the game.

With the removal of Venice, the only active war is now the Poland & Polynesia vs Huns war.

I now have a 6 tech lead over Egypt, who are still in Industrial era. The combo of me completing a RA and bulbing a GS the same turn and the very next tech I'm researched being ultra cheap (a 1 turn tech) really bumped up my tech lead. The others are falling way back.

AI blunders:
1. Building World Wonders & contributing to world projects in the middle of losing a war.

2. Egypt's tourism did NOT increase this turn, this indicates they are wasting tourism by leaving great works just captured in a city within there while its in resistance.

Edit: Rest of Modern Era thru Turn 252

Turn 244: Use second faith based GE for Broadway (Deny Egypt getting yet another tourism great wonder)

Turn 245: Egypt adopts Order and while my happiness is above 40, Egypt's is slightly higher. I add Zoos to my build queues with hopes of passing Egypt in happiness before they can adopt the tenet giving extra tourism to civs with less happiness.

Turn 246: The unwanted Arts Funding is highly likely to pass even if I vote against it so I instead vote for Natural Heritage, which will probably fail.

Turn 247: Arts Funding did indeed pass and Natural Heritage did indeed fail.

Turn 248: Egypt proposes banning Whales, a direct economic attack on Poland (and all those getting Whales from Poland including myself)
Indonesia proposes making their Hinduism the world religion.

Turn 250: GS born and bulbed.

Turn 251: Egypt declares war on Polynesia

Turn 252: I complete Rationalism and enter the Atomic Era via free Penicillin. (I had delayed this one policy since the first time I could have completed it would have been bad for tech timing. Instead I had taken the standard first level 2 Freedom tenet.)

Update: None of the AIs have reached the modern era yet. Egypt is most advanced, but is 8 techs behind.

Egypt has more happiness than me but less tourism per turn output. We are in a state of the game where if Egypt builds Hotels in Thebes, Venice, and every other city they have theming wonders present they could rocket ahead in tourism output so they remain a threat for cultural victory. I'm tempted to add Hotels to my own builds to ensure that they don't reach familiar over me before I reach familiar over them. (We are both exotic over each other)

I'm currently not seeing any cities in danger from the wars going on at the moment.

 

[glider1]

Yeah, the science buff code in your beta 6 game is off.

 

[joncnunn]

Atomic Era update of same game. (Note that I had edited it to attach the second half of the Modern era there)

Turn 253: World Congress expands infrastructure. (Egypt has hammerlock again)

Turn 254: Egypt remains host
Netherlands declare war on Huns

Tun 255: I complete Statue of Liberty. (Hand built)

Turn 257: Poland and Huns sign peace treaty.

Turn 258: Polynesia and Huns sign peace treaty.
GS born and bulbed

Turn 260: Huns and Netherlands sign peace treaty.

Turn 261: Poland completes Big Ben

Turn 263: First faith based GS purchased and bulbed.

Turn 267: GS born and bulbed

Turn 270: Huns adopt Order. They have dissents.

Turn 272: Egypt takes a city from Polynesia. It's that city that a long time back Polynesia had founded 3 hexes away from a great spot. Egypt had also founded the city I thought someone would following Polynesia doing that. As a result, my borders now touch Egypt.
I relocate my navy into position to defend against Egypt in case they "sneak attack"

Turn 274: I don't like either world congress measure being proposed, but use all my votes to vote against Whales being banned.

Turn 275: Both Hindu as a world religion & banning Whales were voted down.
I propose natural heritage as a do nothing proposal. (Not having votes for Freedom yet and also not wanting Olympics)

Turn 276: Egypt proposes Islam as the world religion.
I've reached level 3 Freedom and chose space procurement.

Turn 278: Egypt denounces me.
Egypt advances to Modern era
I denounce Egypt.

Turn 280: Huns denounce me.
Poland completes Brandenburg Gate
I denounce Huns.

Turn 283: Polynesia adopts Freedom

Turn 284: Huns declare war on Polynesia

Turn 287: Huns capture a city from Polynesia. Island South of Huns & NW of main Polynesia. Huns raze it, probably for happiness reasons since the site actually had a luxury.

Turn 288: I complete Cristo Redentor. (Hand built)

Turn 289: Egypt captures a city from Polynesia. This one is on Polynesia's main landmass.
I'm now influential over Netherlands.

Turn 290: Poland adopts Freedom.
GS born and bulbed.
I enter Information Era. (Via Satellites)
Egypt is now 12 techs behind, the others are even further back.

Egypt is Content with their Order. +21 happiness. Their conquests have lowered their global happiness significantly from what is was earlier. They are a possible threat to tourism victory should they host the Olympics.

Poland is Content with their Freedom. +17 happiness.

Polynesia is Content with their Freedom. +13 happiness.

Huns now have Civil Resistance with their Order. -8 happiness, the ideological unhappiness being solely responsible for them being overall unhappy.

Neither Indonesia nor Netherlands have an ideology yet.

 

[glider1]

Great that not all civs have chosen order! Some variety is nice. The Huns will still be getting a bit of buff because they are not at the unhappiness limit of -10.

I am going to be really interested to see how you fare with V18 beta 7. I think you will still win the beta 7 games, but probably through backhanded ways. For example, in my game Poland was sure to win the space race, but I beat it with a diplomatic win, when Poland did not take over my city state votes, even though it had the money. I was going to fix that in the code, but I don't want to turn Civ5 into a gamey thing too much. My win was thematically correct, and suited the story I was trying to tell in the game, even if the victory was cheesy.

 

[glider1]

Well, I think I need to make the tech funnel wider. I just found out that on a really green fertile start with rivers, a rapid Arabian liberty rush to four cities has made me 3-4 techs ahead of all my neighbours by the medieval era on emperor difficulty and that is without even building the national college. So the AI's are therefore not getting boosted by the tech funnel because in the medieval era it is only +\-2 techs wide, and so they are only getting the adaptive leak buff and the passive buffs.

Will need to think about it. Population is very important factor. If I were to leak food yield to the AI, that would make the mod really hard, but it would also mean that AI population levels don't reflect reality, but are held higher than the terrain supports to keep the AI competitive (like the base game does).

Low fertility starts in this mod are much harder than high fertility starts. I'd say at least the equivalent of one difficulty level.

All the best.

 

[joncnunn]

Perhaps the funnel should only have an upper limit on number of techs the AI can get ahead to stay in it? (No matter how many techs they fall behind they'd still get that boost to avoid falling even further behind)

Also, in case of the capital, a coastal start really makes a mockery of food fertility restrictions when you can get 3 food cargo ship routes to it, even if all cities are on the same landmass.

One idea I have to address this would be to eliminate the double food & hammer bonuses from cargo ships vs caravans.

 

[glider1]

Thanks for the suggestion Joncnunn. Will give it a break, and some thought. A lot of the problem was the map. I was playing the "shuffle" map option. I've switched player through all the other AI's on that map using live tuner and became horrified to see how bad the map generator was for that map. The game was almost unplayable for some civs, their starts were truly horrible. There is no way the adaptive buff in this mod could compensate the AI enough for starts that dreadful relative to my luxurious start. The other AI's had no hope. That will be the last time I play shuffle map ever. *Horrible*. I think I'll take a break. I guess the problem is that shuffle map is so randomised.

 

[joncnunn]

Information Era of above game

Turn 291: Netherlands, Indonesia, and Poland all declare war on Huns
WC becomes the UN
With insufficient votes to become head of UN but now having enough to oust Egypt, I vote for Polynesia.

Turn 292: Polynesia is now host of the UN
2nd faith based GS born and bulbed

Turn 293: I complete Apollo

Turn 296: Egypt captures city from Polynesia, another one on Polynesia's home landmass.

Turn 297: I add volunteer army.
I figure Islam is going down anyway and vote for Natural Heritage.

Turn 298: Islam defeated 15-4
Natural Heritage defeated 15-12

Turn 300: I complete Hubble.
Both GS bulbed

Turn 301: Netherlands adopt Freedom

Turn 304: Egypt captures a city from Polynesia. It's that 1 tile island that Polynesia had early in the game captured from the Huns. Egypt razes it instead of liberating it.

Turn 306: I complete SS Cockpit
I open Commerce for gold advantage, hoping to reach Merchalism
I'm now influential over Indonesia

Turn 308: GA born, with all slots filled, I use to trigger a golden age.
I for myself

Turn 309: No world leader chosen.
I propose Freedom
Egypt now experiencing dissents, knocking 22 happiness points off their happiness and reducing it to -12.

Turn 310: Polynesia proposes Catholicism

Turn 312: GS born and bulbed
A spaceship part was built

Turn 313: Egypt captures city from Polynesia. NE Huns

Turn 314: I'm now influential over Huns

Turn 318: Egypt enters Atomic Era
First SS Booster built

Turn 319: I vote for Freedom (16 times)

Turn 320: Freedom passes 25-8
Catholicism fails 15-6.

Egypt now at Civil Resistance, the increased unhappiness penalty has knocked them all the way down to -33.

Huns now at revolutionary wave. Their overall happiness at -16.

Turn 321: Indonesia and Huns sign peace treaty

Turn 322: Egypt completes Manhattan Project. They also will have Uranium when they reach the tech since Venice had bought the only city state with it.

Turn 323: Memphis revolts and joins my empire. This is even though Egypt is still at Civil Resistance rather than Revolutionary Wave.
It looks like Egypt had built Hermitage here.
I puppet it, at 19 turns of resistance, I think the game will end before it comes out.
I'm now influential over Polynesia.

Turn 324: Second SS booster built

Turn 325: I complete Sidney. Merchanism chosen as free policy.
3rd SS booster bought with cash.

Turn 326: GE born. I rush CN Tower

Turn 328:Egypt captures Polynesia's capital.
Egypt signs a peace treaty with Polynesia, forcing them into an involuntary two city challenge.

Turn 329: Alexandria revolts to me. This is one of the cities on Venice's landmass that Egypt had built.
I puppet it. At 13 turns of resistance it will come out the same turn that Memphis does, probably after the game is over.
I'm now influential over Poland.

Turn 331: I complete Disneyland.
I propose International Space station. The game will probably be over before that gets voted on, but its popular with the AIs.

Turn 332: Polynesia proposes Science Funding. (That's actually popular with the AIs now [except for Egypt])

Turn 337: Poland advances to Atomic Era
GE born. I built the Great Firewall with it.

Turn 338: Egypt declares war on Poland.

Turn 340: Huns denounce me.
I denounce Huns
I reach tech for last space ship part, and cash rush the Engine

Turn 341: I skip ongoing vote and instead simply attach the engine for a science victory in 1921 AD.
I was 1 turn away from both cities coming out of resistance.
My score is Hammurabi level.

It looks like I might have been able to shave a few turns off my victory by proposing the International Space station on turn 309 if it includes a free Great Scientist.

Edit:
I'm thinking I'll play India next on Beta 7. (The last time I played a full game as them was back in the early Vanilla days) I'm not sure which victory I'll go after.

 

[glider1]

Thanks for the game report Joncnunn sounds like another all happening finale. Looks like you were delayed and maybe even tested in your VC more than usual? (which is good?)

Here is beta 8, feel free to try India on that one. If you do play India it will test this mod because India is great for tradition (from memory) and can be a high fertility start as well. Enjoy!

V18 beta 8:

• Adaptive tech funnel one age wider (so ancient is already +\-1 tech and in future era it will be +\- 8 techs)
• Adaptive tech funnel buff strength increased (so AI's will claw back in tech quicker)

Also gameplay change to TIME VC.
If the player selects only time VC and nothing else, the AI will play according to its preferred VC as if it were trying to win that VC. When the Apollo Program becomes available, all players can build it (and most AI's try to). When the ship is finished, the game doesn't end but instead a score is given for completing it. New graphical only feature immersion with AI's space ships launching every few turns once the first space ship is built as they fly off to colonise Beyond Earth

EDIT:
If science VC is selected as well as Time VC, Apollo behaviour is the same as the base game (unchanged)

 

[joncnunn]

Here is beta 8, feel free to try India on that one. If you do play India it will test this mod because India is great for tradition (from memory) and can be a high fertility start as well. Enjoy!

I would describe India more as extremely unsuitable for Liberty start due to already being only at global happiness 3 the moment the game starts. (The double per city counts even on the first city)

Yes, later in the game they'll make it up from decreased pop unhappiness.

Edit:

India can't eliminate pop unhappiness entirely from Monarchy though. (It multiplies instead of adding; a size 8 capital as Egypt with Monarchy causes 2 pop unhappiness instead of 0.) So India has less of a disadvantage going Piety that most civs. (It already has Monarchy's happiness boost for all cities) It's still a disadvantage though with Piety not having anything for food growth and also needing to be slow to found cities and so would get less use out of faith buildings.
My standard Tradition path is something that every single civ can do well, but it's almost required for India.

Me being 20 turns late to propose Space Station was my own fault, not the AI. I'm thinking it would have shaved 10 turns off my victory.
The rest of this is the AIs falling behind meant no good RA partners. I wasn't even friends with Egypt which was the best of the AIs.

I had already played 128 turns on Beta 7 Saturday afternoon before Beta 8 was released and me going off the grid. Looking like a cultural victory is best to seek in this one. I assume I can hot replace the dll of Beta 8?