Dumb AI's

[hoplite505]

I was playing Diety recently as the byzantines, and the aztecs demanded 22 gold from me. since my dromons could fend off all galleys i told them to leave. they sighned a militay alliance with the zulu against me, i didnt care because the zulu didn't have galleys. i stayed at war with the zulu until tanks and they never landed. I just figured out why. they built so many units before galleys that they couldn't even support 1 galley
I then sent a ton of AC after the aztec and beat them up
What dumb AI's

 

[nullspace]

Yeah, the AI is terrible on archipelago maps. They never build curraghs, and they never risk galleys at sea. So they are very bad at contacting other civs. If they're isolated, their tech advances slowly due to no trading. With nothing to build other than spearmen and archers, they build so many that unit support costs kill their economy. They often get stuck in the ancient age.

Pangea is the only way to get a real challenge. They make contact and trade, and they can get at you when they declare war.

 

[Tatran]

Yeah, the AI is terrible on archipelago maps. They never build curraghs,

At Sid level (I tried a few maps to see what's like) the sea civs do
build curraghs on archipelago maps.

 

[Khan_Asparuh]

Hi all
I guess I'm having the same situation.
On a huge pangaea, 40%, with 16 civs, i've played for a while with 14 other on the continent and recently (pré-industrial age) i've met the Aztecs stuck on an island with 7-8 cities and Ivory. Guess what. They had Zeus, plenty of AC and other ancient units and not a single galley, actualy not even a port to trade. They had mapmaking though. I guess the situation is the same...
Probably a lower agression civ then the Zulu and the Aztecs could get itself out of the hole, may be (not).
EDIT: Regarding curraghs, I saw also the Dutch building it on emperor.

 

[morchuflex]

On Emperor I routinely see enemy curraghs.
But it is true that the AI doesn't build nearly enough ships.
Also, when there are no neighbors within reach, it obviously shouldn't build uneeded units, and should rather focus on oversea expansion.

 

[nullspace]

On Emperor I routinely see enemy curraghs.

Really? I play deity and I can't remember ever seeing an AI curragh. I guess I play too much pangea. But it doesn't really matter what ships the AI builds or how many. The important thing is that they'll never risk a ship in dangerous water. If they're seperated from others by more than a few tiles of ocean or sea, they'll be totally isolated until astronomy or navigation/magnetism. And then you get the situation that hoplite505 described.

 

[morchuflex]

I play mostly archipelago maps... That's probably why I see more curraghs.

 

[hoplite505]

Really? I play deity and I can't remember ever seeing an AI curragh. I guess I play too much pangea. But it doesn't really matter what ships the AI builds or how many. The important thing is that they'll never risk a ship in dangerous water. If they're seperated from others by more than a few tiles of ocean or sea, they'll be totally isolated until astronomy or navigation/magnetism. And then you get the situation that hoplite505 described.

I only see curraghs on sid

 

[Moonsinger]

I was playing Diety recently as the byzantines, and the aztecs demanded 22 gold from me. since my dromons could fend off all galleys i told them to leave. they sighned a militay alliance with the zulu against me, i didnt care because the zulu didn't have galleys. i stayed at war with the zulu until tanks and they never landed. I just figured out why. they built so many units before galleys that they couldn't even support 1 galley
I then sent a ton of AC after the aztec and beat them up
What dumb AI's

That's not dumb! They were programmed that way so that you can have fun. Basically, they let you win!