Uncle_Joe
Prince
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2005
- Messages
- 491
Hi all,
I downloaded 2/9 and played the bulk of a game out (until late Industrial). Settings were Epic, Fractal, 7 Civs, No Aggressive AI, Custom Handicaps.
Overall, the AI is starting to feel really polished. I didnt observe a lot of poor tactical behavior from the AIs. They sallied from cities to attack my troops and they nicely picked off stragglers or lightly escorted Siege weapons moving to the front. The AIs seemed to expand pretty well and a few were leading me in tech for quite a while.
On the downside, I think the AIs are still dragging each other down in endless wars. I know that players can exploit the hardcoded end dates for wars, but the AIs are staying locked in wars for a LONG time. And usually soon after finally getting peace, a handful of turns later and they declare on someone else. I dont think I saw a single turn of peace amongst the AIs from the Classical Age on. There was always SOMEONE fighting someone else and often without much actual resolution (so a lot of pillaging and the occasional city taking/retaking). There were a few instances of 'feeding frenzy' where an AI would be attacked and 2-3 others would pile on and tear them up.
But on the war front, I think the AIs are little too eager to DoW anything that moves (or doesnt move) and are a little too sullen about making peace. I didnt observe any ungodly stacks this game, although there was a LOT of fighting going on on the other side of the world that I wasnt able to see.
Another slight downside to the constant AI warfare is that it makes it easier to be opportunistic and take some easy land. I stopped playing my game when it became apparent that no one else was going to be able to keep up with me. My production and GNP far exceed those of the nearest rival (although I was in the middle of the pack or lower for quite some time). The thing that again put me on top was taking out my closest neighbor (although he attacked me first and was also later caught in a 2-front war that chewed up his army).
Prior to BetterAI, I was never really a warmonger. But I feel like I'll never keep up now unless I have more 'stuff' than the AIs so that prompts attacks. And since I have to have a large military now just to compete, there is more temptation to use it. I would like to see a win (either me or an AI) without going on the war path.
I dont know if this is within the scope of BetterAI or not, but would it be possible to reduce the number of AI requests for the player to DoW another AI? Since the AIs are spending a lot more time at war, I'm getting spammed with request for me to attack 'x' or 'y' Civ constantly. Not only is annoying after a while, it really starts to hurt relations when you build up those 'you refused to help us during wartime'...um, its ALWAYS wartime with some of these guys....
Anyways, overall I think its still moving favorably along. I want to test a few more games to see if the constant wars were more a function of the map layout this game (a long, sort of thin pangea-style map) or the ways religions formed (they seemed to alternate between Civs going down the line leading to a lot of hostile borders). On the plus side, Isabella (of all people) adopted Free Religion fairly early and that helped keep her out of some of the later 'religious wars' (and in fact, she was my closest competitor for some time until she and Mansa went to war in a mutually destructive mess).
Nice job on the build. I hope to hear other people's experiences and see if the wars are widespread or not.
Thanks!
I downloaded 2/9 and played the bulk of a game out (until late Industrial). Settings were Epic, Fractal, 7 Civs, No Aggressive AI, Custom Handicaps.
Overall, the AI is starting to feel really polished. I didnt observe a lot of poor tactical behavior from the AIs. They sallied from cities to attack my troops and they nicely picked off stragglers or lightly escorted Siege weapons moving to the front. The AIs seemed to expand pretty well and a few were leading me in tech for quite a while.
On the downside, I think the AIs are still dragging each other down in endless wars. I know that players can exploit the hardcoded end dates for wars, but the AIs are staying locked in wars for a LONG time. And usually soon after finally getting peace, a handful of turns later and they declare on someone else. I dont think I saw a single turn of peace amongst the AIs from the Classical Age on. There was always SOMEONE fighting someone else and often without much actual resolution (so a lot of pillaging and the occasional city taking/retaking). There were a few instances of 'feeding frenzy' where an AI would be attacked and 2-3 others would pile on and tear them up.
But on the war front, I think the AIs are little too eager to DoW anything that moves (or doesnt move) and are a little too sullen about making peace. I didnt observe any ungodly stacks this game, although there was a LOT of fighting going on on the other side of the world that I wasnt able to see.
Another slight downside to the constant AI warfare is that it makes it easier to be opportunistic and take some easy land. I stopped playing my game when it became apparent that no one else was going to be able to keep up with me. My production and GNP far exceed those of the nearest rival (although I was in the middle of the pack or lower for quite some time). The thing that again put me on top was taking out my closest neighbor (although he attacked me first and was also later caught in a 2-front war that chewed up his army).
Prior to BetterAI, I was never really a warmonger. But I feel like I'll never keep up now unless I have more 'stuff' than the AIs so that prompts attacks. And since I have to have a large military now just to compete, there is more temptation to use it. I would like to see a win (either me or an AI) without going on the war path.
I dont know if this is within the scope of BetterAI or not, but would it be possible to reduce the number of AI requests for the player to DoW another AI? Since the AIs are spending a lot more time at war, I'm getting spammed with request for me to attack 'x' or 'y' Civ constantly. Not only is annoying after a while, it really starts to hurt relations when you build up those 'you refused to help us during wartime'...um, its ALWAYS wartime with some of these guys....
Anyways, overall I think its still moving favorably along. I want to test a few more games to see if the constant wars were more a function of the map layout this game (a long, sort of thin pangea-style map) or the ways religions formed (they seemed to alternate between Civs going down the line leading to a lot of hostile borders). On the plus side, Isabella (of all people) adopted Free Religion fairly early and that helped keep her out of some of the later 'religious wars' (and in fact, she was my closest competitor for some time until she and Mansa went to war in a mutually destructive mess).
Nice job on the build. I hope to hear other people's experiences and see if the wars are widespread or not.
Thanks!
