[GS] Firaxis has improved AI AirPower.

[Disgustipated]

Speaking of carriers, the promotion tree needs a rework as well. I love that one of the promotions is can heal after attacking. LOL. I really don't want to be attacking with my aircraft carriers Firaxis.

And I really can't get more than 1 promotion on these things anyways, maybe 2 if the Naval promotion wonder is in the game.

And please buff the movement Firaxis. Supercarriers are pretty fast. I know my ship (Enterprise) was pretty fast. Top speed is classified, but it is significant. We had over 800 MW of nuclear power on that thing. Granted some of that is for catapults and electrical generation (and inefficiency as well). The top speed listed in Wiki isn't correct, it was rated at 35+. When we had some flare up in Iraq, we actually had to slow down so some of our support ships could catch up.

 

[Leathaface]

The AI only had one aircraft though, which got promptly destroyed by the invading forces.

 

[Giskler]

The AI only had one aircraft though, which got promptly destroyed by the invading forces.

No, they had more than one.

 

[UWHabs]

No, they had more than one.

Yeah, I saw about one per city. Given in my hours of playing, I've only seen 1 AI aircraft unit, I think, this is definitely a nice change if it actually works. Sure it won't make a difference if you're an era ahead, but with the higher values, it might actually be worth it to build an airforce for some invasions.

 

[AriochIV]

The AI only had one aircraft though, which got promptly destroyed by the invading forces.

Poland had at least 2 deployed Fighters. The second one was revealed when the modern armor moved in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLdaUkRnL2Q&t=3668s

1:02:14
(Mods: This auto-MEDIA tag function is quite annoying. It makes it difficult or impossible to link to a specific timestamp.)

 

[Leathaface]

Oh, OK, I can't remember seeing the second one.

 

[Aristos]

As I wrote in another thread:

Honestly, that statement yesterday sounded, to me, like a lame excuse for the mediocre Air AI. They think we are all stupid, and would believe such a nonsense. "Yeah, we downplayed the air forces on purpose, because they were overpowered in civ 5, but now the AI blows it, we pinky swear" blablabla... complete nonsense! In civ 5, at least the AI knew how to use air units to some extent, and if you go Artillery while the AI goes Flight, you are in for a fight.

We are not stupid, FXS. Don't treat us as such. Better to remain silent if you have nothing to say about AI improvements, or else you risk showcasing yourselves as fools.

 

[Leathaface]

Honestly, that statement yesterday sounded, to me, like a lame excuse for the mediocre Air AI. They think we are all stupid, and would believe such a nonsense. "Yeah, we downplayed the air forces on purpose, because they were overpowered in civ 5, but now the AI blows it, we pinky swear" blablabla... complete nonsense! In civ 5, at least the AI knew how to use air units to some extent, and if you go Artillery while the AI goes Flight, you are in for a fight.

I can remember a city of mine getting bombarded by an enemy air unit when playing on Immortal difficulty in Civ V. I've yet to see that happen yet in Civ VI though.

 

[Sostratus]

Honestly, that statement yesterday sounded, to me, like a lame excuse for the mediocre Air AI. They think we are all stupid, and would believe such a nonsense. "Yeah, we downplayed the air forces on purpose, because they were overpowered in civ 5, but now the AI blows it, we pinky swear"

Melee units have +10 strength against anticav precisely because pikemen were better than swords in civ5 G&K onwards. They probably also put pikes on a leaf tech because in 5 they were on the prime science path.
They seem to be pretty aggressive about not repeating the criticisms of civ5's meta; whether they just traded those for new flaws is a separate argument. At least, since they are buffing air units pretty solidly, they are reducing air unit capacity as a balance.
An 8 fighter aerodrome with the new stats would be an unassailable doom fortress.

 

[Elhoim]

Sometimes I wonder if they shouldn't make a small "crutch" for the AI by changing some rules. For example, you could get a free fighter when you build an aerodrome, or a carrier. Both for the player and AI, of course, but would help it a little bit.

 

[King of Prussia]

i have seen the AI build planes in the current version in the game but it was rare. It got better when i knocked the build time down for all of the mid to late game units. but their use of said Airforce is hit and miss. I can post my recent campaign where the AI used its jet bombers against me, should anyone want to see it.

 

[Elhoim]

Maybe if we mod the strength in the current R&F version they will consider it a good investment and build more?

 

[Miravlix]

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.

I guess we didn't see the same dev comment, because the one I saw said they improved airpower, nothing about the AI.

 

[Cagarustus]

I guess we didn't see the same dev comment, because the one I saw said they improved airpower, nothing about the AI.

What’s the difference?

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

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.

Maybe their plan is to use those empty carriers as a decoy, occupying your own carrier planes while their battleships sneak up and destroy your fleet?

Not that the plan works any better for the AI in Civ 5 than it did for the IJN in WW2.

 

[CPWimmer]

What’s the difference?

Have you been reading the thread? At least half the posts spell out the difference between buffing the airpower unit strength; increasing the amount if air units the AI builds; and then actually using them.

#1 has been proven in the new stats shown
#2 has been alluded to, but there are doubts
#3 has been optimistically hoped for, but there are serious doubts

 

[AriochIV]

I guess we didn't see the same dev comment, because the one I saw said they improved airpower, nothing about the AI.

This. If I remember correctly, the word "AI" was not uttered during the conversation about the buff to airpower. The AI doesn't currently use airpower at all, so I don't see how a buff to airpower can be misconstrued as a backdoor attempt to mask the AI's weakness. Quite to the contrary, as it currently stands a buff to airpower is a buff to the player, since the AI doesn't use it.

 

[Gedemon]

Maybe if we mod the strength in the current R&F version they will consider it a good investment and build more?

That would be an interesting test, I'm not sure because I've not access to it at this moment (and it was a long time ago), but IIRC civ5 source code showed building decision based on strength/cost when flavor where equals

 

[SephiBBZ]

Just who cares, does not make sense to play with IA. Games are for humans. This is the reason why we are still playing chess when it is obvious that IA is better forever, we just don't care cause games are just here to compare humans between them.

 

[FearSunn]

I've just watched Inca video and could only confirm AI airpower is still very much broken.
Poland (AI) fighters were deployed, but instead of attacking Hungary (human) military units they just indifferently continued drawing circles in the air near Krakow and just routinely chenged deploy location near Gdansk instead of engaging with enemy ships attacking the city.
The fact that Poland (ai) actually build fighters and deployed them is of little interest for it is exactly how computer handles airpower in base game (and RF) today with buffed airpower pseudo-yield (with AirPower AI Fix mod see my signature).
Firaxis improved nothing at the moment