How to counter a cheating AI?

[dannyusmc78]

I know this has been posed a million times, maybe some fresh ideas? When at war, AI can spam infinite units, making it impossible to capture cities (or recover lost ones). Example: Lose a city, concentrate on another city to take, then go back to that city and BOOM! theres 12 swordsman ready to defend, and all have superior strength. (This is at prince level). I have ALL SIX of my cities spamming units, and its still not enough.

 

[Cleverbeans]

I recommend you read the civilopedia and take note of all the different ways to product hammers in a city. Pay specific attention to the following.

Terrain improvements
civics
specialists
great people
wonders

Once you're out producing the AI, if you're still losing then look at the makeup of your army. If you're not taking enough siege weapons or good defenders for your captured cities consider diversifying your stack, especially now that you're making units faster then the AI can handle.

 

[Gone Dark]

How did you plan the war?

Did you scout your enemy? Did you size up his army? Did you plan to pillage his copper/iron/horses/elephants as soon as you could when the war began and cripple his ability to produce more troops? Did you check the diploscreen to see if you could bribe anyone to attack him, forcing him to wage a two-front war?

How did you excecute the war?

Did you bring enough units? Enough siege? Enough counter units? Did you bring some defensive units to put in the city after capturing it? Beeing protective and sliding 2-3 longbows into the city can do wonders. One way to attack is to actually let the AI sacrifice lots of attackers on the defensive units you put in the first captured city. When he has decimated his own army, you counterattack.

If the AI has 12 swordsmen in the recaptured city, why not move on to his capital that's probably empty by now?

And by superior strength, do you mean promoted?

 

[Winston Hughes]

First, realise that the AI doesn't 'cheat'. It just has certain advantages (free units, lower WW, etc.), as do you (foresight, the ability to plan, responsiveness, flexibility).

Second, use your advantages to outsmart the AI, and arrive with an army sufficient for the task.

If that doesn't work, then post a game here (or, at the least, describe your strategy) and get some personalised advice.

You'll soon have your enemies begging for mercy.

 

[funklord]

Why do you have all your cities spamming units? They can't all be production cities. . .

If I have 6 cities, 1 of them is my unit making city. It usually pumps out a swordsman each turn and a catapult in 2. I bet it takes each of your cities 4-6 turns to make a unit.

Sounds like your major problem is not the ai cheating, but the fact that you don't specialize your cities.

Also, who did you go to war with? Shaka is gonna hit you with a counter stack even if it takes a couple of turns to stop what it was doing and come find you. Mansa, not so much.

 

[Gliese 581]

Maybe you don't build enough units BEFORE the war? Making it drag on, ruining your economy.
In a recent game I played as Willem and decided to attack my only neighbour Frederick. He didn't have any strategic resource besides horses hooked up while I had copper and iron. Berlin was placed on a hill and had 60% culture with 2 archers each with one CG promotion. I had to walk two tiles with my SOD before attacking it, giving him the chance to whip twice as well as send reinforcements from elsewhere.
For this I brought 9 swordsmen, 3 axes and 1 spear, losing about half of them before taking the city. The units were produced in my capital and one other production city, I chopped 8 forests to complement their regular production.

 

[Dan Quale]

It is possible to outproduce an AI especially if you have the larger and better specialized enemy. A certain amount of shock and awe may be required to initially start the war after which with sufficient reinforcements you simply cannot lose. If the AI kills 10 of your units per turn and you produce 15 thats still 5 new ones to the stack. Eventually in a war of attrition scenario the larger production will always take victory.

 

[CrazyCanuck87]

The fact that the AI is defending with swordsmen says it all - the AI is not smart. Yes, the AI gets production bonuses, but it does not realise that swordsmen are poor defensive units. Bombard with cats, attack with CR axemen, and you will take the city easily. You can think strategically; the AI can't. Your enemy may start with more units than you have, but if you destroy three for every one that you lose, you'll have the advantage soon enough.

 

[CivCorpse]

From the sounds of things, you are playing either agressive AI or attacked a civ that was preparing to declare war one someone. Thus the large number of swordsmen. If you scout the enemy and see a lot of swordsmen, build a lot of shock axes to bring with you. Leave a nice chunk of them in the first city you retake. About 1/2 of them. If the enemy gomes along to attack. Then attack him when he is next to the city. Even if he is on a hill. The shock cancels out the hill defense and now you are attacking with an advantage due to the axemen's natural antimelee ability. If you wait for them to attack then the swordsmen's city raider promotions come into play. I few CG2 archers should be there as well. If this is an early war when cats are not in play you should be fine. If they are in play then you want 1-2 cats in the city to soften the stack up and make them weaker on the counter attack.
As stated before it is unlikely that all six of your cities are geared towards production. Try switching the citizens off of the towns and onto mines. And use the whip like there is no tomorrow. Let the city build the unit a few turns to reduce whipping costs.