Make The AI Great at Conquering Again

[Gori the Grey]

Well, then I'd put a little more stock in a claim that the AI is good.

 

[Arcaian]

If I'm remembering correctly this was fixed/improved with expansions/patches.... and most people playing V at this point are playing overhaul mods like Vox Populi anyway, which makes the AI quite formidable tactically

I don't think it was ever fixed, actually - not without mods, which isn't exactly a fair comparison. While impossible to prove one way or the other, I'd definitely doubt your claim that most players of V are using something like Vox Populi - it's easy to think that way when you're on these forums, but a huge proportion of players never use substantially gameplay-altering mods.

 

[TheGrayFox]

I don't think it was ever fixed, actually - not without mods, which isn't exactly a fair comparison. While impossible to prove one way or the other, I'd definitely doubt your claim that most players of V are using something like Vox Populi - it's easy to think that way when you're on these forums, but a huge proportion of players never use substantially gameplay-altering mods.

I think it was fixed at the end of BNW's lifecycle but again, I haven't played unmodded V in years and you may be right.

Ultimately I don't know what percentage of remaining Civ V players are playing vanilla vs modded but I'd figure that most of those who remain 15 years later are aware of the multitude of overhaul mods and/or community patches which dramatically improve the AI. If they're still playing vanilla Civ V after all these years, they only have themselves to blame.

 

[Ebon-Hawke-]

I think it was fixed at the end of BNW's lifecycle but again, I haven't played unmodded V in years and you may be right.

Ultimately I don't know what percentage of remaining Civ V players are playing vanilla vs modded but I'd figure that most of those who remain 15 years later are aware of the multitude of overhaul mods and/or community patches which dramatically improve the AI. If they're still playing vanilla Civ V after all these years, they only have themselves to blame.

Personally I just don't like modding any games, play them as intended. Custom maps or some slight UI tweaks are all I need.

 

[ThERat]

Let's be frank, Civ5 and Civ6 AI has been terrible at warfare. I played always war games extensively in civ3 and civ4 and frankly, in civ4, the AI is terrifyingly good at it. Civ5 was a joke (AI cant handle 1upt), in Civ6 it doesnt pose a real threat as well. I for one, am very skeptical and won't listen to paid content creators telling me about the AI.
The first few weeks after release we will hear plenty of 'the ai is so good' simply because people are still learning how to play. You got to give it some time to know what is really going on.

 

[Foufa131]

Several youtubers have shown AI empires conquering vast swaths of territory today.

Can you please give some examples ?

 

[Foufa131]

Let's be frank, Civ5 and Civ6 AI has been terrible at warfare. I played always war games extensively in civ3 and civ4 and frankly, in civ4, the AI is terrifyingly good at it. Civ5 was a joke (AI cant handle 1upt), in Civ6 it doesnt pose a real threat as well. I for one, am very skeptical and won't listen to paid content creators telling me about the AI.
The first few weeks after release we will hear plenty of 'the ai is so good' simply because people are still learning how to play. You got to give it some time to know what is really going on.

At least the AI in Civ 5 could conquer other AI. I had several games where the AI conquered half of the continent before losing to a coalition. I feel like the map in Civ 6 NEVER changes. I even saw an AI not taking a city after reducing its health to 0. WHY???

 

[ThERat]

At least the AI in Civ 5 could conquer other AI. I had several games where the AI conquered half of the continent before losing to a coalition. I feel like the map in Civ 6 NEVER changes. I even saw an AI not taking a city after reducing its health to 0. WHY??

In my first always war game in civ 6, the AI would stand right in front of my empty city and not attack, my guess is due to the damage the unit would take...in Civ6 barbarians would be more formidable than any civ.....let's see what Civ 7 has to offer.

 

[Foufa131]

Hello guys!

So, what do you think? Is the AI actually better at conquering or not? I haven't bought the game yet but I want your returns.

 

[uppi]

Hello guys!

So, what do you think? Is the AI actually better at conquering or not? I haven't bought the game yet but I want your returns.

Better? Yes. Good? I wouldn't call it that.

Yesterday, I lost a somewhat isolated town twice to Tecumseh in the Exploration Age (on Immortal) , although it had units defending it. But there were other towns which a really competent AI could maybe have taken while my Commanders were busy with adventures in distant lands.

I think the AI will still not be able to take a heavily defended city, but you cannot skimp on defense like you could in Civ 6.

 

[Foufa131]

Better? Yes. Good? I wouldn't call it that.

Yesterday, I lost a somewhat isolated town twice to Tecumseh in the Exploration Age (on Immortal) , although it had units defending it. But there were other towns which a really competent AI could maybe have taken while my Commanders were busy with adventures in distant lands.

I think the AI will still not be able to take a heavily defended city, but you cannot skimp on defense like you could in Civ 6.

:/ so nothing changed....

 

[ProMeTheus112]

So far my impressions of the AI in general including combat are positive. They can be a threat, they manage their units quite decently, they'll bring a bunch simultaneously to make an attack, bringing a siege unit, etc. Honestly it's looking quite nice. Can't expect them to be amazing, they are AIs operating on random maps (they need their bonuses including combat bonuses), but they are rather surprisingly well made to me right now. They even manage relations, unknown info, victory conditions etc sensibly. Also gotta remember the AIs sometimes don't seem to threaten you as much as they could, but they are into a free for all game as well. As an example current game I'm playing on Deity, one AI on the other continent seems to have dominated over the others there and got a nice lead while pursing legacy points over 2 ages, and deal with my response cohesively.

The main minor negative that I see the AI do is stacking explorers when going after artifacts in modern age. They don't seem to dig any faster and of course it will slow down their reaching the next artifacts most of the time. But that can probably be improved somewhat easily, spreading their explorers some more over continents at coherent timings. Already decent, just too much stacking and waiting at some points.

As a point of comparison, in Civ6 on immortal the main way to win over AIs it seemed to me was to be very aggressive and conquer over their armies by having very high KD fights which they would suicide on a lot. I think in Civ7 they are a lot better in the fights AND you don't have to be very aggressive on high difficulty as the overall balance is also better. (they don't start with extra settlers, prob get more combat bonus or are better at it)

 

[Disgustipated]

I would say they are worse LOL. Has anyone seen the AI actually conquer a city? I did get a message in my current game about an ai player eliminated, but I'm pretty sure independent peoples eliminated them, they were really hammering the AI civs in my current game. Maybe because I upped the difficulty level.

In terms of challenge, the only challenge is they build a lot more units. I am happy the AI is actually building a Navy. I had an epic naval battle(s) in my current game. But the AI is just inept at combat. I got the deity playing god achievement just by putting one AI civ in the game and rolling over them with slingers and warriors. And I'm not normally a deity level player.

 

[ProMeTheus112]

Yes I have seen them take cities.

 

[sonicmyst]

In my last playthrough AI Rizal captured his neighboring Isabella's settlement.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Has anyone seen the AI actually conquer a city?

Yes, a few times now. AI seems much better in 7, I think Commanders help them immensely.

 

[Askia Muhammad]

My biggest wish for the Civilization 7 is this : the AI should be able to conquer other civilizations effectively again.

I enjoyed Civilization 6, but it felt more like a city-building management game than the sandbox experience I loved in Civilization 4. For me, a true Civilization game is about the stories you create as you play, and the sandbox aspect is crucial to that.

In Civilization 6, I often found myself overly focused on building districts and rushing victory conditions, neglecting what was happening across the map. Why? Because civilizations rarely conquer each other, and even when they do, there's no sound notification, making it easy to miss. This shift turned the game into more of a management experience than a dynamic sandbox strategy.

In contrast, Civilization 4 kept you on your toes. You could be racing for a science victory while maintaining a strong enough army to survive, and then—suddenly—war horns! Even if you weren't involved, the sound of cities being conquered and a quick glance at the minimap told you a dramatic story unfolding in the game.

This made Civilization 4 (and even Civilization 5) far more exciting and immersive in my opinion. Anyone else agree?

Last I saw AI on a conquering spree in V was before BNW. They seemed to have neutered the AI aggressiveness with BNW’s launch.

Agree AI was much better in Civ 4

 

[Noble Zarkon]

Agree AI was much better in Civ 4

The AI in Civ 4 is really, really dumb (watch AI Survivor from Sullla for the gory details) but they can leverage their discounts to techs and units, build a stack and come destroy you as there's no 1UPT.

 

[Foufa131]

What about now, after the latest patch ?