Mod request - AI uses horses and navy

[jahsoldier]

With absolutely no modding experience, I don't know whether it's easy or even possible to change AI behaviour. But I'm sure everybody has noticed that the AI almost *never* (I would say never, as I don't think I've actually seen it) builds mounted units or navies or air forces of any decription.

I was playing last night against Siam on Emperor - he had a huge portion of the continent and more than enough horse pastures. As soon as I started producing horsies he began spamming out archers and spearmen, but in a 100+ turn war not one horse did I see him build. I can only put this down to a massive programming hole that seems to make the AI unaware it can build one of the most powerful units in the game.

Maybe this is something that's coming in a patch, at least I'd hope so, but is there any way to mod this in?

 

[Shiggs713]

I just looked at some of the flavors of the units, and most of the horse type units have very low defensive flavors, in fact almost all their flavors are lower then their infantry counterparts, such as spears, or whatever for that era. Just for example a horseman has flavor values like so;

Defense 2
Offense 4
Mobile 4

a roman legion has these flavors;

Defense 15
Offense 15
Infrastructure 10 confused

I suspect its just a lack of balance testing by firaxis.

It would be pretty easy to raise up all their flavors, defensive, offensive, and mobile, then the AI should build them more.

 

[Evalis]

Roman legions can build roads. I picture the computer hording them to amass a sprawling trade network

 

[Shiggs713]

even still, a worker has no infrastructure flavor at all

		<Row>
			<UnitType>UNIT_WORKER</UnitType>
			<FlavorType>FLAVOR_TILE_IMPROVEMENT</FlavorType>
			<Flavor>15</Flavor>
		</Row>

I'm sorry but these goofs at firaxis really have no clue what they are doing. The deeper I dig, the more face palms I do.

 

[Djohaal]

Shiggs: That's why we can mod civ...

The AI does build navies... sometimes. Specially when you squeeze it. In a game I was doing naval war with ol' monty, when my destroyers started raping his coastal cities he finally decided it was time to build some frigates...

 

[jahsoldier]

So is it a relatively easy fix to mod? I know fixing combat tactics is a much bigger job, but I think the game would change pretty dramatically if the AI suddenly started to use the same horses you're stomping all over him with.