Ranking the Civs for the AI?

[Abaxial]

The various threads on ranking the civs seem to be responded to from the player's point of view. What about for the AI? I rather think that some of the civ's special abilities make them very powerful for the human player, but the AI is hopeless at managing them.

So which are the toughest civs to beat and the easiest, assuming a single-player game?

 

[OmegaDestroyer]

Hmm... an interesting question.

As to the hardest? I find the Zulu a pain to take down in the later eras due to their plethora of corps and armies.
As to the easiest? That's way harder to pinpoint. Pretty much anybody who doesn't have an ancient/classical era UU.

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

Kongo can get downright nasty. They get a ton of great people, and since they ignore religion, the AI focuses on science and culture instead. They can usually run away if left unchecked.

Korea can get insane science leads, and Pericles in culture.

Interestingly, top tier player civs like Sumeria and Macedon don't seem to be that difficult to play against.

 

[Victoria]

Mongol, no golden age needed. Oh my they can be bad when the AI is feeling good.
Alex can be a right pain when they suddenly get great units half way through an attack.
Trajan just for early hate and agression. Cannot be diplomatically managed easily.

Easiest I find is Brazil, they seem to get such good jungle bonuses they do not choose dom so do not build many units.

 

[Iberian]

Kongo is typically one of the strongest AI's I see. Both Korea and Pericles dominate and will get to late game era techs/civics but then stagnate hard and do nothing with them.

The only victories I have seen the AI excel at are culture (Kongo has come within a few turns of winning a few times) and Religion. I don't know how many times I have had to go buy missionaries for some random religion I have conquered to make sure I didn't lose the game to the AI when I conquer too many of their cities and backdoor victory my opponent due to the % of his cities with his religion I have in my empire.

Brazil is another AI I have seen do well if they live to the later eras. Poundmaker can be a force as well.

 

[Socrates99]

Kongo and Korea are generally always pretty tough.

I find the Mapuche to be good opponents too. Knight rushing can get stonewalled by the Mapuche unless they're your first target because he beelines and spams his UU which crushes knights.

Mongolia and Scythia are hit and miss. They're good if they maintain tech parity and keep their armies from getting too obsolete. I think it's because the extra movement of cavalry units makes them the only units AI uses very effectively.

Robert can tech up almost as well as Seonduk sometimes but hes hit and miss. I think his best games are ones where he gets beat to religion.

 

[kaspergm]

I have to agree on Kongo and Korea, and in terms of culture, Greece under Pericles is almost always a complete culture runaway who'll be well into information era while everybody else are in industrial. Greece under Gorgo curiously seems to perform much worse in my games, although they can still do well.

 

[Socrates99]

I have to agree on Kongo and Korea, and in terms of culture, Greece under Pericles is almost always a complete culture runaway who'll be well into information era while everybody else are in industrial. Greece under Gorgo curiously seems to perform much worse in my games, although they can still do well.

Gorgo seems to antagonize everyone around her and winds up getting pummeled by her neighbors. In my current game she got wiped out by, funnily enough, Persia.

 

[Tyroq]

...Interestingly, top tier player civs like Sumeria and Macedon don't seem to be that difficult to play against.

This is certainly true. I dominate so much with Gilgamesh, it makes me sad to see the AI fall flat with him. I think part of that comes from the AI's inability to plan ahead for things like barb camp farming and executing an efficient ancient era rush. Plus if you're any good at diplomacy, you can usually get them to stay at peace with you, which can negate a lot of those early game threats. Alexander can be a pain if you start near him, but if not then you've got plenty of time to prepare a counter before you get close enough to end up at war.

 

[Socrates99]

This is certainly true. I dominate so much with Gilgamesh, it makes me sad to see the AI fall flat with him. I think part of that comes from the AI's inability to plan ahead for things like barb camp farming and executing an efficient ancient era rush. Plus if you're any good at diplomacy, you can usually get them to stay at peace with you, which can negate a lot of those early game threats. Alexander can be a pain if you start near him, but if not then you've got plenty of time to prepare a counter before you get close enough to end up at war.

I feel that way about the Aztec. I've always thought Monty was the "easy button" leader but he often just languishes in mediocrity as an AI.

 

[Jkchart]

Mongol, no golden age needed. Oh my they can be bad when the AI is feeling good.

Absolutely agree on Mongolia. Genghis can really take you down a notch if you're unprepared/he makes a surprise attack, and he can remain scary the whole game if you let him. His cavalry/diplo visibility boosts to combat are terrifying. Pretty sure he's one of the only leaders I've ever lost cities to and had to legitimately prepare for afterwards.

By that same logic, if you're doing well re: golden ages, Mapuche suck to fight against. Those have been some of the tougher wars I fought.

Kongo can get downright nasty. They get a ton of great people, and since they ignore religion, the AI focuses on science and culture instead. They can usually run away if left unchecked.

Korea can get insane science leads, and Pericles in culture.

Interestingly, top tier player civs like Sumeria and Macedon don't seem to be that difficult to play against.

Agree on these three when it comes to peaceful leads as well. Kongo is one of the best AIs, as can be Korea/Pericles. They've given me runs for my money, especially Kongo on peaceful victory paths.

 

[Loderingo]

Nubia and Cree always seem to do well in my games. Mapuche often seems solid.

Eleanor didn't do very well in the 2 games I have seen her so far.

 

[Troy Bruckner]

Mapuche because of their bonus against golden age and Nubia because of their archers. America is a pain as well.

Easiest to beat are the ones that do not build archers/ranged units.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

Mapuche because they get +10 vs. me if I'm in a golden age and Tamar because she builds walls and is more apt than other civs to be in a golden age which means she's going to be doubly tough to conquer because of loyalty. And Nubia just because the Pitati Archer is a pain to deal with.

 

[Delvi]

Greece, Kongo, Cree, Mongols and Incas have been the best AIs opponents so far.

Phoenicia, Maori and Mapuche did good as well.

I'd like to see the AI managing better civs like Aztecs, Romans, Egyptians and Sumerians.

 

[Abaxial]

Brazil I have found to be played quite strongly by the AI, and quite capable of going for a science win. Egypt tends to be consistently lame. And the last game I played in which Canada took part, they were wiped almost at once by barbarians!

 

[Disgustipated]

Mapuche because of their bonus against golden age and Nubia because of their archers. America is a pain as well.

This is a good list. Though for Mapuche I try to time it out to when I'm not in a golden age before I attack him. America you can't do much about. Nubia you can either do it very early or later in the game.

Kongo is always a tough one. I just got done wiping them out with Zulu in my current game. They spread across a pretty large chunk of Africa (I put 4 civs in Africa, and Dido in the ME, Dido hurt Egypt pretty bad though). Though interestingly the Mali managed to hold them off (they lost 1 city, but I think it culture flipped back or they conquered it back). Mali seem to do okay in AI hands if they survive the early game.

 

[pkaem]

Korea as direct neighbour, so early war against them is kind of a problem.

 

[Morningcalm]

Kongo is almost always the toughest opponent for me. It helps that they get passive bonuses I guess.

 

[AnalogWigwam]

I don’t know how many hundreds of diety games I’ve played, but never, even once, has there been a competing AI civ that started coming even remotely close to steamrolling its way to a domination victory (or another victory condition aided by domination) as a human player would (unless, essentially, roleplaying).

Some are dangerous in the first hand full of turns, but I just don’t see the AI actively or competently pursuing victory conditions. So deciding which ones are the best comes down to which ones make it the most challenging to win against. I’ll cast a vote for Russia, for when I’m trying to play a peaceful culture game.