Hi all - been a while since I posted here, but a newborn in the family has me back into the occasional Civ game because it's a lot more compatible with interrupted gameplay 
I know it's a given that the AI is bad at actively pursuing victories from a strategy standpoint. With that said, I have been experimenting with map settings to find a sweet spot where I can feel like the AI is at least trying to make a go of it, particularly if they have a strong position. For context, I have all of the DLCs but am otherwise running unmodded, and the games I've played have mostly been on Ancient start with Emperor or Immortal difficulty (Deity can be fun, but I don't like feeling pressured to early warmonger every game). Indeed, I mostly try to play a peaceful game, perhaps with some liberation, to see how the AI responds. Here's what I'm seeing for each victory type:
What I've found so far is that the AI fares best with less water and fewer hills / terrain obstacles. They also do reasonably well when they can knock off an early city-state or two, and perhaps when they can gain an early ally rather than just going to war (AI vs. AI wars often result in a loss of both armies with very little changing hands in terms of cities). Beyond that, though, I'm at a loss for what else I can change, specifically for settings that might encourage them to pursue Culture or Religion, aside from disabling other Victory types which I don't want to do. Right now, by mid-game, it mostly boils down to me having to keep the strongest AI Civ in check so they don't default into a Science or Diplomatic victory. Same situation, different game.
Any suggestions? I'm also not completely closed off to mod suggestions, as I know there are a few that modify the AI, but I'd prefer something that keeps the AI nimble in terms of victory types rather than just a mod that improves AI military tactics (which I know is the most commonly sought type of AI mod). Thanks!
I know it's a given that the AI is bad at actively pursuing victories from a strategy standpoint. With that said, I have been experimenting with map settings to find a sweet spot where I can feel like the AI is at least trying to make a go of it, particularly if they have a strong position. For context, I have all of the DLCs but am otherwise running unmodded, and the games I've played have mostly been on Ancient start with Emperor or Immortal difficulty (Deity can be fun, but I don't like feeling pressured to early warmonger every game). Indeed, I mostly try to play a peaceful game, perhaps with some liberation, to see how the AI responds. Here's what I'm seeing for each victory type:
- Culture: AI can kind of pursue this from a building / Great Person / theming standpoint, but never really kicks it into overdrive. Actually achieving AI victory this way would take 100s more turns than the typical game. Culture Victories are also often about targeting the other high Culture civs militarily, which they don't seem to do.
- Diplomatic: I haven't had my ear to the ground for CivFanatics' opinions on Diplomatic Victory, but the AI's decisions are so predictable that I don't think it even makes sense to talk about "pursuit" of Diplomatic Victory (probably my least favorite victory type anyway).
- Domination: AI can amass units, but of course some map types are better than others when it comes to actually waging war. But the AI doesn't really seem to "pursue" it i.e. press onward for capital after capital, even if it's strong enough to do so. Huge runaway Civs feel less common in VI than in V.
- Religious: AI could do this so much better. Many games, I neglect religion, and there's a frontrunner AI generating boatloads of faith and converting maybe half the world, but then they just stop, or it would take 1000s of turns for the AI to actually accomplish this.
- Science: AI actually kind of pursues this, pretty much by default, when it's in a strong position. They don't really defend Spaceports or anything intelligent, but if you let an AI build a good economy, they'll eventually lurch over the finish line via Science.
What I've found so far is that the AI fares best with less water and fewer hills / terrain obstacles. They also do reasonably well when they can knock off an early city-state or two, and perhaps when they can gain an early ally rather than just going to war (AI vs. AI wars often result in a loss of both armies with very little changing hands in terms of cities). Beyond that, though, I'm at a loss for what else I can change, specifically for settings that might encourage them to pursue Culture or Religion, aside from disabling other Victory types which I don't want to do. Right now, by mid-game, it mostly boils down to me having to keep the strongest AI Civ in check so they don't default into a Science or Diplomatic victory. Same situation, different game.
Any suggestions? I'm also not completely closed off to mod suggestions, as I know there are a few that modify the AI, but I'd prefer something that keeps the AI nimble in terms of victory types rather than just a mod that improves AI military tactics (which I know is the most commonly sought type of AI mod). Thanks!
