I think the AI is cheating...

[mocca]

I have no problem on Noble setting at all but when I play Price and Monarch level, I found that AIs are either cheat or are much more agressive than in Noble settings. I tried several times now and this is basically what happen.

I play as Catherine of Russia and spam a lot of cottage early around my capital. Do the CS slingshot using the Oracle WW. Got that and at this point I'm the first or second in the list. Fine and so far so good but then out of the blue, almost all computer AI declare war on me with no reason at all (except Gandhi which I believe is a nice guy by default). I have good size army and good protection but everyone still try to declare war on me. Alexander, the worse of all, is one of the weakest and at opposite end of the continent, still declare war on me and will not back off unless I offer something. All others relent after get beated up a bit but they always declare war again soon after the peace expire.

In the mean time, Gandhi live in peace for nearly throughout the game and finally win via space race??? My research is almost always at 80-100% but because of the war, I have to spend a lot of reosurces fighting others while Gandhi finally win.

And this is not happening once or twice but four times I tried. This doesn't make any sense.

MM

 

[VeXeD]

Once you past noble. the AI's are smarter. They start with a few settlers. more. they work more together and become more human like. It is harder to beat them. you have to be able to adopt stratagies. and learn I'm still trying to win on prince.. I can survive.. But still unable to win...

thanks my two cents...

They do cheat..... They have to in order for them to win!!! Your jstu too damn good!!! LOL hehehe

 

[ownedbyakorat]

Obviously the solution is to kill off Ghandi!

 

[Krishna]

Are you allowing open borders in the early game (when asked by an AI).

When I started playing on Prince, I noticed the same thing. You really have to play the diplomatic game. When I was starting out I would try to use my cities to restrict access to unexplored areas. I would do this by not giving anyone open borders. The result would be that I always go attacked. Sometimes by multiple civilizations. Giving tribute can also be a good option. IT sucks, but alot of time on Prince I am not in the lead position, so staying on good terms allows me to develop my cities and military.

Also, try spreading missionaries if you have founded a religion, or if you have not, then consider converting to one when offered. This will greatly increase that civilizations disposition to.

Another tip. Check the relations screen frequently. If you find that you neighbors are really pissed off at someone, don't trade with them, as this will make them mad with you. I relfexivly check the relations screen before doing all trades.

 

[Hans Lemurson]

And you're right to believe that the AI is cheating, because it is.
Looking into the Civ4 directories...
.../Sid Meier's Civilization 4/Assets/XML/GameInfo/CIV4HandicapInfo.xml
This is the portion describing the handicaps on Monarch Level.
4 free units (you get 2), +15% tech rate, 70% unit construction costs...you get the picture.

&#8722;<HandicapInfo>
<Type>HANDICAP_MONARCH</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_HANDICAP_MONARCH</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_HANDICAP_MONARCH_HELP</Help>
<iFreeWinsVsBarbs>0</iFreeWinsVsBarbs>
<iAnimalAttackProb>95</iAnimalAttackProb>
<iStartingLocPercent>60</iStartingLocPercent>
<iGold>0</iGold>
<iFreeUnits>4</iFreeUnits>
<iUnitCostPercent>70</iUnitCostPercent>
<iResearchPercent>115</iResearchPercent>
<iDistanceMaintenancePercent>90</iDistanceMaintenancePercent>
<iNumCitiesMaintenancePercent>85</iNumCitiesMaintenancePercent>
<iMaxNumCitiesMaintenance>6</iMaxNumCitiesMaintenance>
<iCivicUpkeepPercent>95</iCivicUpkeepPercent>
<iInflationPercent>100</iInflationPercent>
<iHealthBonus>2</iHealthBonus>
<iHappyBonus>4</iHappyBonus>
<iAttitudeChange>-1</iAttitudeChange>
<iNoTechTradeModifier>50</iNoTechTradeModifier>
<iTechTradeKnownModifier>0</iTechTradeKnownModifier>
<iUnownedTilesPerGameAnimal>35</iUnownedTilesPerGameAnimal>
<iUnownedTilesPerBarbarianUnit>40</iUnownedTilesPerBarbarianUnit>
<iUnownedWaterTilesPerBarbarianUnit>1600</iUnownedWaterTilesPerBarbarianUnit>
<iUnownedTilesPerBarbarianCity>110</iUnownedTilesPerBarbarianCity>
<iBarbarianCreationTurnsElapsed>25</iBarbarianCreationTurnsElapsed>
<iBarbarianCityCreationTurnsElapsed>30</iBarbarianCityCreationTurnsElapsed>
<iBarbarianCityCreationProb>7</iBarbarianCityCreationProb>
<iAnimalBonus>-20</iAnimalBonus>
<iBarbarianBonus>0</iBarbarianBonus>
<iAIAnimalBonus>-70</iAIAnimalBonus>
<iAIBarbarianBonus>-40</iAIBarbarianBonus>
<iStartingDefenseUnits>0</iStartingDefenseUnits>
<iStartingWorkerUnits>0</iStartingWorkerUnits>
<iStartingExploreUnits>0</iStartingExploreUnits>
<iAIStartingUnitMultiplier>0</iAIStartingUnitMultiplier>
<iAIStartingDefenseUnits>1</iAIStartingDefenseUnits>
<iAIStartingWorkerUnits>1</iAIStartingWorkerUnits>
<iAIStartingExploreUnits>0</iAIStartingExploreUnits>
<iBarbarianDefenders>3</iBarbarianDefenders>
<iAIDeclareWarProb>100</iAIDeclareWarProb>
<iAIWorkRateModifier>20</iAIWorkRateModifier>
<iAIGrowthPercent>90</iAIGrowthPercent>
<iAITrainPercent>90</iAITrainPercent>
<iAIWorldTrainPercent>100</iAIWorldTrainPercent>
<iAIConstructPercent>90</iAIConstructPercent>
<iAIWorldConstructPercent>100</iAIWorldConstructPercent>
<iAICreatePercent>90</iAICreatePercent>
<iAIWorldCreatePercent>100</iAIWorldCreatePercent>
<iAICivicUpkeepPercent>90</iAICivicUpkeepPercent>
<iAIUnitCostPercent>90</iAIUnitCostPercent>
<iAIUnitSupplyPercent>25</iAIUnitSupplyPercent>
<iAIUnitUpgradePercent>20</iAIUnitUpgradePercent>
<iAIInflationPercent>50</iAIInflationPercent>
<iAIWarWearinessPercent>50</iAIWarWearinessPercent>
<iAIPerEraModifier>-2</iAIPerEraModifier>
&#8722;
	<Goodies>
<GoodyType>GOODY_HIGH_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_MAP</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_MAP</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_WARRIOR</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_WARRIOR</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_SCOUT</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_EXPERIENCE</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_EXPERIENCE</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_HEALING</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_TECH</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_TECH</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_WEAK</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_WEAK</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_WEAK</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_STRONG</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_STRONG</GoodyType>
</Goodies>
<FreeTechs/>
&#8722;
	<AIFreeTechs>
&#8722;
	<FreeTech>
<TechType>TECH_ARCHERY</TechType>
<bFreeTech>1</bFreeTech>
</FreeTech>
</AIFreeTechs>
</HandicapInfo>

 

[Zanmato]

The AI always plays at Noble and therefore still mostly sucks at war. It just seems more aggressive and smarter because of the bounses it gets at the higher levels. It can build more units, research/build quicker, etc so you may face more advanced and large armies. Therefore, you need to be more aggressive. Only build wonders that you need or are useful to the current situation. Specialize cities. Always try to keep up with the AI in terms of military power, not easy at times but will certainly make life easier. Check the graphs/demographics to see where you are lacking. Take care of any AI that you know will cause trouble down the line if possible, trim the AI's back or heavily restrict their expansion, bottleneck them, refuse open borders unless they can offer religion and you don't have one. If two AIs go to war near you attack the losing side, grab some more cities and land. Be ruthless at every chance given to you as playing at those higher levels requires alot more aggression and be more aggressive earlier. Ask another AI to declare war on another, do everything you can to keep the AI occupied with building units and cutting back on tech research instead of putting the bounses they get to more effective usage.

 

[Roland Johansen]

The AI does get a handicap bonus at higher difficulty levels. This is not exactly the same as cheating; the AI is actually unable to cheat as it is forced by its programming to follow the rules of the game (no reloading for the AI when something goes wrong ). The handicap bonus is the way all games increase the difficulty of AI opponents. If the AI were equally smart as humans, then we might live in a world resembling the Terminator/Matrix universe. In civ 4, you can easily look up what bonusses the AI gets at the higher difficulty levels by taking a look at the file CIV4HandicapInfo.xml as is already shown by Hans Lemurson.

You do need to know how to read it as mistakes are easily made. The value of 70 after iUnitCostPercent doesn't mean that the AI pays 70 % of the human building costs for units. It means that the human player pays 70% of the deity level upkeep costs of units. Still, you can compare the CIV4HandicapInfo.xml entries at the various difficulty levels and in that way see how the difficulty goes up. If you're unsure about the meaning of an entry, then there's always someone in this forum who knows what it means.

To remain competitive with the AI at the higher difficulty levels, you'll have to play well and be nice to the AI leaders. They tend to be rather strong at the start of the game compared to you and will take advantage of that fact unless you're being extremely nice in diplomacy.

When your neighbour with a large army ask you to change religion to his religion, then you might be well adviced to do so. When you close off a section of the map with your cities and don't allow the AI settlers to pass, then you're asking for it. There are many ways to irritate the AI and that is never wise when it is stronger or comparable in strength to you.

The AI will not attack you when you're (substantially) stronger than him and have good relations. The comparitive strength can be seen in one of the graphs of the advisors. You can always summon these advisors by pressing the associated function key, even during diplomacy. Some leaders like Alexander are more likely to attack you and will build huge armies to do so.

edit (crossposted with Zanmato): It might look as if I disagree with Zanmato. But I actually agree. You should be ruthless towards the AI's that are weaker than you. However at the same time, you should also have AI's that are your friends. You shouldn't have to battle everyone. So choose your allies and your enemies in a smart way. Make sure that your friends like eachother because otherwise you might have to choose between your friends at some point. A friend usually doesn't like it if you trade with its enemy.

 

[Desert-Fox]

Also Cyrus and Mansa Musa are almost peaceful guys. AI let one of his hands to win... and kick human player ass

 

[Nares]

Human players cheat. They have a brain. AIs need to follow prescripted routines.

 

[Cosmichail]

I don't know but sometimes a noble game feels like prince and prince game feels like noble. I think it really has a lot to do with starting location. Whether you can do CS slingshot and get GL. Science is important but so is military. I agree that if Ghandi is in the game or Mansa Musa/Cyrus I usually go for them fairly soon to stop their quick advance technology. What I have noticed is that the AI's trade techs amongst each other quite a bit especially Mansa Musa. I don't like trading too much as AI likes to get the advantage when you approach them. It seems when they approach you they are more reasonable. Sometimes it feels like cheating but as some have pointed they are only following the code.

 

[pigswill]

Prince is meant to be harder than noble, so AIs get starting boosts, bonusses through the game and are more aggressive. Are you keeping an eye on the power graph? In my limited experience that's the biggest factor in AI civs deciding to attack. It still happens that leaders like Alex, Tog and HC will dump on you for no obvious reasons while Gandhi and MM sneak a huge tech lead. But with practice it becomes easier (and lots of advice available on forum)

 

[Mutineer]

If all ai declare on you, it is not because they are cheating, they are not.
Most lickly you open border with everyone and AI scout your defence.
They see it is pathetic (You spend all this time and resources on SC shot), you are easy target = they attack.

How to avoide it.
1) do not open border with agressive AI.
2) do build some defence, and I do not mean archers, build axes.