[GS] Firaxis has improved AI AirPower.

[Cagarustus]

For those who have complained about lack of AI improvements and Firaxis’ non commitment to improving the AI, what are your thoughts on the Firaxis’ announcement in the livestream that they have buffed the AI use of AirPower?

I think this shows that Firaxis has been listening and is taking into consideration the views of the community. Sure, it was late and it could’ve been done earlier but it does show an attitude of improvement by Firaxis.

 

[Whiterussian]

First of all we have to wait and see for our self how the buffed AI will actually behave. Personaly i believe pretty much nothing anybody claims in any marketing video.
Firaxis has claimed better AI's many times over the past, yet i hardly noticed anything, ever.

Wait and see, and judge them by the results. Not by any marketing bs.

 

[_ViKinG_]

So improved air now and sea and land later for next expansion or patches. Takes time....

 

[Lily_Lancer]

Can AIs build air forces before they research flight now?(Maybe allowing them to build air forces on a Renaissance tech, human players still on Flight, is a good idea?)
If not then that is still nonsense for me. I never seen an AI being able to live that long.

 

[Disgustipated]

To be honest nothing in that stream looked different than my Earth TSL game against Winston Churchill a couple weeks ago against his Spitfires. The AI in the stream was still not using them offensively from what I can tell. Poland only had one off turn to counter attack, and I believe all her counter attacks were city bombardments.

 

[Naktis]

yea...you will see improvement , if you ever get to that late game.

 

[Cuneiform]

I think this shows that Firaxis has been listening and is taking into consideration the views of the community. Sure, it was late and it could’ve been done earlier but it does show an attitude of improvement by Firaxis.

I think you're reading more into that announcement than you should. All they were saying was that they had buffed the Attack Values of Aircraft to make them more useful, there was absolutely no mention of any AI improvement in their use whatsoever.

Plus there are other things in Gathering Storm that will counter balance any buff in values they get. Namely the reduction of the Aerodrome district's Aircraft capacity down from 4 to just 2, and also the Strategic resource maintenance cost of keeping a large Air Force.

 

[kryat]

It was more than just that the AI had built aircraft. They actually had them deployed!

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

It was more than just that the AI had built aircraft. They actually had them deployed!

But the AI didn't use them. Those deployed planes only came into play when they were attacked by the player.

Also, it looked like a lot of Firetuner going on, as Hungary had a horde of Fleet sized naval units lurking on Poland's border to start the save. Considering that Poland's land army was still using Cavalry, it's possible that those planes were given to Poland.

Which in itself doesn't tell us much, as we don't know how old the build is that they were playing.

I do assume that the dev team would not buff the strength of airplanes without also putting some effort into teaching the AI to use them, we just didn't see any evidence of that in yesterday's livestream.

 

[AriochIV]

I don't think they actually said that they buffed the "AI" use of airpower, rather, that they buffed airpower in general (higher strength, longer range). It's true that we did see AI-built fighters in the stream, and they were even (GASP) set to intercept... but these aren't real games we're seeing, rather carefully curated for-display saves. I'll believe it when I see it in a real game.

 

[Jkchart]

I don't think they actually said that they buffed the "AI" use of airpower, rather, that they buffed airpower in general (higher strength, longer range). It's true that we did see AI-built fighters in the stream, and they were even (GASP) set to intercept... but these aren't real games we're seeing, rather carefully curated for-display saves. I'll believe it when I see it in a real game.

This, for sure.

I've MAYBE seen an AI Biplane once or twice? It's clear they know how to build Aerodromes, I've captured several from them. But until I know the AI uses more air, just gonna use that AI Airpower Fix mod.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Let's keep in mind that the livestream game was deep into the information age. By then, even the AI should be able to build some kind of air force. The real question is can the AI build an air force earlier in the game when they first discover flight or does it take getting to the information age before the AI finally builds them?

 

[Disgustipated]

It was more than just that the AI had built aircraft. They actually had them deployed!

I'll believe it when I see it in a real game.

The AI does use fighters and actually deploy them. Provided you are playing a high enough difficulty level where they have high enough science and production to build them.

I'll refer you to my save game in another thread. Unfortunately I took the save game after my epic war with Churchill. He did have a fighter (Spitfire) deployed in nearly every single city on the British Isles. And he did shoot down a bomber of mine, and heavily damage around 7 more. You can load this save, but you'll have to enable the same exact mods.

The only reason I quit playing that game was because one of those mods (I'm not sure which one) lowered the city spacing limit, and the cities are so densely packed, it's tedious conquering that many cities. Loyalty can be a little rough as well. But I did conquer Russia, Norway, British Isles, and Spain. Maybe someday I'll finish that game. The save is in post #10. Spain didn't have the aircraft England did. Makes me wonder if the Churchill mod had something to help him build them, probably a high preference for air power, which would make sense given the leader. I also had an epic Naval battle with Churchill as well, he sunk nearly 3/4 of my fleet before my bombers sunk his fleet.

https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...ur-most-interesting-alternate-history.638965/

Anyways, until the AI uses an air force offensively, we did not see that in the stream, we cannot say air force is fixed.

 

[AriochIV]

The AI does use fighters and actually deploy them. Provided you are playing a high enough difficulty level where they have high enough science and production to build them.

I'll refer you to my save game in another thread. Unfortunately I took the save game after my epic war with Churchill. He did have a fighter (Spitfire) deployed in nearly every single city on the British Isles. And he did shoot down a bomber of mine, and heavily damage around 7 more. You can load this save, but you'll have to enable the same exact mods.

I guess that's nice to hear, but it doesn't do me any good, as it doesn't happen in any of the games I play. I usually play on King or Emperor difficulty.

I'm wondering whether your many mods may have something to do with this.

 

[Disgustipated]

Maybe, I'm just not sure which one. It was nice to see them use them defensively. Better than nothing. It made conquering them more of a challenge at least. Had to clear the sea lanes before my battleships could live long enough to bombard the cities. Bombers didn't do much damage to cities, and were getting damaged by spitfires. Battleships worked the best, but were vulnerable to enemy subs armadas.

I have yet to see one used offensively.

By the way, I did see a Russian bomber during yesterday's stream. I wouldn't think that was firetuned in because there would be no reason to since they weren't attacking Russia. Russia apparently built it on their own. Whether they would use that bomber remains to be seen.

 

[AriochIV]

I don't think I've even seen an AI-built aircraft since before R&F.

 

[Archon_Wing]

As in, they use them at all.

I don't really fixing something that should have worked in the first place to be an achievement

 

[Haig]

Before Rise and Fall, after some patch the AI started using bombers to destroy districts, but then after another patch that pattern disappeared...

 

[DemonMaster]

Poland in that save was clearly behind in tech, but they actually built fighters is a great plus. I know that the AI can build air units in civ 6 but that is rare and usually the game is long gone by then and well into the future era.
But I was impressed that Poland built an airforce that looks suitable in size for the number of cities they had and also and this is the first time I have ever seen this - they have build a flak unit. I hope when Firaxis come back in January they can also show an AI uses a fighter offensively, not just for interception.

... and also if the AI actually built a carrier would be great. This gives me hope.

 

[AriochIV]

... and also if the AI actually built a carrier would be great. This gives me hope.

Unless the AI can use carriers, I'd prefer they not waste resources on building them. The AI hasn't been able to use carriers since before Civ V... though they liked parading small fleets of empty carriers around, this did not help them much.