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Does Realism Invictus Come With an AI mod?

Cruor

Chieftain
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Oct 25, 2005
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Sorry if this has been answered, but if it has, I cannot find it. Yes, I read (skimmed, perhaps I missed it) the RI manual.pdf. I'm playing Civ 4 again after 10 years, steam said last played was like May 2014. I recall using Rise of Mankind, I read Realism Invictus and Cosmos 2 Cavemen are the current "best" mods so I went with Realism Invictus. I really like it so far, but I have a question. Does it come with it's own (good) AI mod, or should I get an AI mod to go with it? I am playing on Emperor and the AI is giving me a workout... well, like 2-3 nations are. I use world builder to look, and the AI is smart in SOME ways but dumb as ever in others. I absolutely see improvements in the AI but it still founds cities in dumb spots or doesn't expand well, or just builds nothing but units and still has no buildings by 800 AD. (Checked with world builder) Only like the top 5 Civs (myself included) are doing well, the other 15 or so are the normal cave men many tech behind and do nothing but build units. (Europe scenario included with RI) I read BAT is like an all in one graphics + AI etc. should I pair BAT with RI? or is RI all the AI I need?

So do I need an AI mod to go along with RI? Or is its own AI "the best"? I watched a guy play RI on YouTube but the video was like 4 years old and he had a different version. The AI seemed to do better though... Civs were getting wiped out like crazy and they were really building up nicely. My game (Europe map scenario) isn't like that. Only England, Hungry and me (Alexander Greece) are doing really well. Rome is doing "ok" But they just hold Italy and never expanded outward.


EDIT: Just to clarify and expand: First and Foremost: I like the mod. I don't mean any insults. Also as I said above, I absolutely do notice AI improvements. However, England is only doing well because they have a very large, very good piece of land all to themselves (Did an English guy make the Europe map? England has it a little too good IMO, hah) They get to just sit there and tech with Europe/Middle East have to fight. Everyone else is just spamming units and leaving wide swaths of good land open. Is this correct? Like Spain wont even take Southern Iberian Peninsula, it just sits with like 6 cities.
 
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Moderator Action: Moved to RI forum for better assistance to your question. -lymond
 
It uses KMod for AI, I think, with some of its own logic on top of it.
 
It uses KMod for AI, I think, with some of its own logic on top of it.
Thanks. I have not played vanilla Civ 4 since it released, so it's hard to judge. Again, I am seeing some good things, but it feels like the AI chooses like 3-4 civs and says "ok you guys will be smart" and all the others are just dumb. It's odd. As I said, I watched a playthrough from 4 years ago so maybe in was an older version, but his version seemed to play better, at least from what he showed us. I can link the video if anyone wants, but the title screen didn't have the current music (love that music BTW) and the main menu screen was different, early steam ship in front of a sailing ship.
 
The way Civ 4 mods work, you wouldn't be able to "get an AI mod" "to go with" another mod, unfortunately. I can confirm that RI AI is based off K-mod with extensive adaptation to RI specifics, and while there are definitely things to iron out still, there are simply no options when it comes to AI - it isn't as simple as just copying a file from another mod.
 
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The way Civ 4 mods work, you wouldn't be able to "get an AI mod" "to go with" another mod, unfortunately. I can confirm that RI AI is based off K-mod with extensive adaptation to RI specifics, and while there are definitely things to iron out still, there are simply no options when it comes to AI - it isn't as simple as just copying a file from another mod.
Ok, thanks for the reply. So I have noticed on the Europe map that England dominates all the time. Their land is amazing, and they have nobody to fight. Thier only opposition are 2 barb cities with a crossbowman in them so they can't take it too early. I really think the Scots needs to me added as a player to fight England so they can't just sit up there teching away. I edited it a bit myself, I made Northern Scottland a little smaller and a bit less luch, and gave all the barbs in the cities City defender 3, maybe that will slow England down a bit, I'll try next game.


Again, for clarity, this is the Europe Map Scenario: The odd thing with the AI is that some civs are competent (I explained England) but others just do nothing. Like Russia wont expand, and they are AGES behind, and they just spam units. Same with Spain (I think their poor terrain is an issue, again buffing it) I am editing the map for my own purposes to make it more balanced. I think it went a little much for realism and not for fair gameplay, just my opinion.

The AI is pretty interesting in some ways. I had a really hard time taking down Pericles in South Greece, I boxed him in but man he fought for his life (Emperor difficulty) The war cost me a lot of progression though. Hungey keeps attacking me. The AI is good in some ways, like they bring mixed units, bombards, knights, melee etc. They understand to stick to defensive terrain. I get there is only so much that can be done to AI< I have no clue how it works. All I can suggest is whatever line makes the AI want to build buildings, maybe up that? I don't know.

Also the barbs are no threat on emperor/Raging Barbs/AI plays to win. I watched videos from years ago where people were fighting stacks of 50 barbs. Ok, that is over the top, yes. However I would like to see maybe 5-10 stacks after 100 turns. They just sit there sending 1 unit at a time every 10 turns until you take their city defended by 3-5 guys. Has to be a middle between 4 stacks of 25 barbs each and nothing, right?

I want to say again, overall I really like the mod, it made Civ WAY better. I just like to give feedback. I know modding is a lot of work (I have done it myself for other games) I really do just mean it to help.

Oh and a question, can the AI naval invade to take a barb city? I experimented by putting a barb city on Sardinia and gave it some valuable resources. Still not taken by 1400 AD. I know they can send a settler oversea to unguarded islands, but can they send an army to take an inhabited guarded one?
 
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Ok, thanks for the reply. So I have noticed on the Europe map that England dominates all the time. Their land is amazing, and they have nobody to fight. Thier only opposition are 2 barb cities with a crossbowman in them so they can't take it too early. I really think the Scots needs to me added as a player to fight England so they can't just sit up there teching away. I edited it a bit myself, I made Northern Scottland a little smaller and a bit less luch, and gave all the barbs in the cities City defender 3, maybe that will slow England down a bit, I'll try next game.


Again, for clarity, this is the Europe Map Scenario: The odd thing with the AI is that some civs are competent (I explained England) but others just do nothing. Like Russia wont expand, and they are AGES behind, and they just spam units. Same with Spain (I think their poor terrain is an issue, again buffing it) I am editing the map for my own purposes to make it more balanced. I think it went a little much for realism and not for fair gameplay, just my opinion.
Also the barbs are no threat on emperor/Raging Barbs/AI plays to win. I watched videos from years ago where people were fighting stacks of 50 barbs. Ok, that is over the top, yes. However I would like to see maybe 5-10 stacks after 100 turns. They just sit there sending 1 unit at a time every 10 turns until you take their city defended by 3-5 guys. Has to be a middle between 4 stacks of 25 barbs each and nothing, right?
A general comment on all the above is that RI Europe is pretty extreme as far as scenarios go, as it is technically a huge Pangaea map that lies outside of some expected AI parameters and I expect a lot of dumb behaviour is due to that (preempting the question, I do try to iron it out, but all in all, AI code is complex enough to be a trial-and-error thing). Barbarians have been turned down compared to how they were in the early versions of the mod, but a lot of it also comes from your scenario choice - Europe is rather tightly packed, leaving most civs without barbarian pressure (aforementioned Russia might be one of the few exceptions, and barbarians might actually be a decent explanation for why they fail to expand and concentrate on pumping out units). Also, those huge scenarios are a pain to playtest due to long turn times - so even an AI autoplay takes forever.

I would recommend playing on a mid-sized (large) random map for a more balanced experience (and likely an AI that knows better what it's doing).
Oh and a question, can the AI naval invade to take a barb city? I experimented by putting a barb city on Sardinia and gave it some valuable resources. Still not taken by 1400 AD. I know they can send a settler oversea to unguarded islands, but can they send an army to take an inhabited guarded one?
Theoretically, yes, AI definitely does that. In practice, it often goes for more attainable land targets first. AIs will stage naval invasions, but usually if they control their own landmass or have no realistic targets there.
 
It is too true. I love the RI world maps, and would really like to bring a game on the larger of the two to completion, but the turn times... they eat into the fun eventually. But I guess that's the game code's fault, no idea to what extent even newer hardware (my computer is from 2015, which is fairly good compared to Civ 4's release time but ofc far surpassed nowadays) would help with it. The smaller of the two works really well in my experience though, enjoyed it greatly.
 
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