Okay, it's official, the AI in vanilla sucks. But is G&K any better?

[paulcarri]

to be fair i think schafer was plugging his next project and should be taken with a pinch of salt

but yes i think the ai (diplomacy and combat) is why ive struggled to get into it, which is a shame as i am a LONG time civ fanatic

 

[Drakarska]

SMAC had an excellent AI from what I remember, especially after Apolyton got a hold of it.

 

[Socratatus]

Do you have any specific examples of tactical turn based games (and I do specifically mean TACTICAL, the combat system is where the AI is weakest and you can't really compare that to something like Age of Empires) where you felt the AI was particularly competent?

I would have answered sooner if I`d realised that i`d get this question:

Combat Mission 1,2 and 3. Try them, especially combat mission 2 & 3. Probably not your kind of thing since graphically it`s 10 years old.

Total War Shogun original. Medieval and the latest Shogun have pretty good tactical AI. Although the MODERN Shogun tactical AI isn`t actually better than the original Shogun AI made a decade before!

There are more, but that`s an example.

 

[paulcarri]

SMAC had an excellent AI from what I remember, especially after Apolyton got a hold of it.

I remember smac only vaguely if im honest.. i remember playing a faction that could use mind control worms really well?.

apparently though the answer HAS been found

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/07/13/pc-ai-sucks-at-civilization-reads-manual-starts-kicking-ass/

 

[Drakarska]

good read, my thanks.

 

[gps]

to be fair i think schafer was plugging his next project and should be taken with a pinch of salt

To be honest, I don't really care why he said it. If you consider you hardly EVER hear anyone in the industry say ANYTHING bad about their products - and also if you keep in mind that those guys usually have contracts restricting them form comenting on anything that goes on backstage - I'd say his statements are quite unexpected and remarkable: the guy actually writing several pages about what went wrong in his last effort of game design. Bold move! Usually it can't be bad enough and they still keep on boasting how great their last product was, how good the experience of creating it and whatever and how much they enjoy the great and positive feedback of the loyal and enthousiastic fanbase...

 

[paulcarri]

^^just curious which you think was the best civ?

 

[Drakarska]

My personal preference in order Civ I, Civ IV BTS, Civ II, Civ III Conquests, Civ V

 

[paulcarri]

gosh - it was amazing for its time, but wasnt I a bit primitive for todays world?

I seem to remember it had no HP system, so 'spearmen kill battleship' wasnt even that rare?

I do remember that they put a LOT of work into city screens, hand drawn changing leaders etc though

 

[gps]

^^just curious which you think was the best civ?

I keep it short because it's a bit off-topic: IV, then II/I, then III. Still can't place V - it's too different from the classic Civ gameplay.

 

[Arachnofiend]

Combat Mission 1,2 and 3. Try them, especially combat mission 2 & 3. Probably not your kind of thing since graphically it`s 10 years old.

You'd do well not to make assumptions like this, most of my favorite games are older than that.

Granted, most of them are sprites and games like Vampire Savior still look gorgeous by today's standards but still. I'll check out Combat Mission sometime.