I've noticed that sometimes the AI, for whatever reason, will make some poor government type choices when better ones are available to it. I know many factors come into play, and I wonder if the AI will confuse itself due to too many factors, and make a short-sighted choice. In my mod, I'm creating some historical types of governments, that I want to be something the AI rarely (if ever) picks. For example, giving Germany the option to become the Third Reich. Typically this would be reserved for historical scenarios, or player options. However, I've seen the AI sometimes choose Feudalism instead of much better government choices, especially a much better "favored government" choice. I have yet to see how the AI reacts to shunned government types, other than rarely picking them. So I'm wondering if AI Germany will sometimes pick "Third Reich" instead of a better dictatorship-type throughout the game.
So other than economic and military factors, and marking "favored" and "shunned" types, are there ways to limit government selections or even make them obsolete? I remember even in the vanilla game, sometimes civs would choose despotism instead of another type that would've been better for its situation. Is it just AI madness or are certain civs programmed beyond just "favorite" and "shunned"? I assume the aggression level has some hidden modifiers to the vanilla government types? If so, how would this be influenced on the editor level with custom governments?
I guess my biggest concern is finding a way to balance governments to be as realistically chosen by the AI as possible. For example, Russia choosing "Soviet Union" and keeping it until it falls behind economically (though finding a way for them to not constantly cycle between "Soviet Union" and say, "Federation" is another thing altogether), and America choosing "United States" until too much civil disorder plagues it when it wants to go full-on empire. The player can always make these choices, but getting the AI to do it is another task.
One way I've found of trying to keep the AI making fresh government choices instead of getting stuck in a cycle of A for 20 turns then B for 20 turns then repeat, is making several similar government types. But this sometimes has the effect of the AI going "maybe this one" every five turns, which becomes annoying to watch and leads to the AI handicapping itself. Or it would do a series of nonsensical choices that made me rethink the entire system, for example China consistently re-establishing the "Qing Dynasty" even into modern times. It would be cool if it was rare, but it happened too often. I tried to fix this by making that particular government less attractive of a choice, but then the AI would rarely pick it. I find myself wishing the devs implemented an obsolescence function for government types so you never see a particular form of government again after a certain era/tech.
So other than economic and military factors, and marking "favored" and "shunned" types, are there ways to limit government selections or even make them obsolete? I remember even in the vanilla game, sometimes civs would choose despotism instead of another type that would've been better for its situation. Is it just AI madness or are certain civs programmed beyond just "favorite" and "shunned"? I assume the aggression level has some hidden modifiers to the vanilla government types? If so, how would this be influenced on the editor level with custom governments?
I guess my biggest concern is finding a way to balance governments to be as realistically chosen by the AI as possible. For example, Russia choosing "Soviet Union" and keeping it until it falls behind economically (though finding a way for them to not constantly cycle between "Soviet Union" and say, "Federation" is another thing altogether), and America choosing "United States" until too much civil disorder plagues it when it wants to go full-on empire. The player can always make these choices, but getting the AI to do it is another task.
One way I've found of trying to keep the AI making fresh government choices instead of getting stuck in a cycle of A for 20 turns then B for 20 turns then repeat, is making several similar government types. But this sometimes has the effect of the AI going "maybe this one" every five turns, which becomes annoying to watch and leads to the AI handicapping itself. Or it would do a series of nonsensical choices that made me rethink the entire system, for example China consistently re-establishing the "Qing Dynasty" even into modern times. It would be cool if it was rare, but it happened too often. I tried to fix this by making that particular government less attractive of a choice, but then the AI would rarely pick it. I find myself wishing the devs implemented an obsolescence function for government types so you never see a particular form of government again after a certain era/tech.
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