Returning to civ 5 - questions

Rnevermore1

Chieftain
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
1
Hey all! When civ 5 first came out I was glued to it for months, but for a few reasons, I stopped and moved onto other things. But I recently had that ever familiar craving to return, and so today (after work) I'm going to log back in! I'm very excited but I have some questions about the current state of the game.

When I last played the AI was HORRIBLE. Shockingly so. The computer players couldn't seem to organize any sort of offense or effective defense. They didn't seem to be able to effectively deal with ranged units like archers, and we're quite fond of suicide. Civilizations would occasionally cease any and all military action, even in war time, and had trouble organizing assaults over small bodies of water. The issue was not a matter of game difficulty, as the economics and other aspects of the game proved challenging enough but the AI felt broken and easily exploitable. This broke me out of the game last time and thus, my question is:
-has the AI improved to a significant degree to make the game more... Engaging? If not, are there any mods available that improve the lacking AI without altering any other aspects of the game? (I'm something of a purist)

When I last played, happiness was nearly impossible to manage for an expansive or warlike empire, but despite my being deep in unrest, my civilization was able to function just fine.
-has happiness management been made more managable for an expansive empire?
-is there a steeper punishment for failing to maintain this important aspect of your civilization?

And a quick question about balance.
-some empires seemed vastly stronger than others to me a long time ago. I could e wrong of course. Are the empires balanced or are some too strong/weak?
 
When I last played the AI was HORRIBLE. Shockingly so. The computer players couldn't seem to organize any sort of offense or effective defense. They didn't seem to be able to effectively deal with ranged units like archers, and we're quite fond of suicide. Civilizations would occasionally cease any and all military action, even in war time, and had trouble organizing assaults over small bodies of water. The issue was not a matter of game difficulty, as the economics and other aspects of the game proved challenging enough but the AI felt broken and easily exploitable. This broke me out of the game last time and thus, my question is:
-has the AI improved to a significant degree to make the game more... Engaging? If not, are there any mods available that improve the lacking AI without altering any other aspects of the game? (I'm something of a purist)
It depends how long it's been for you, but there's been a few patches. They made the AI likely to fortify/heal; AI recognizes some dangers better like citadels; apparently they improved some things regarding the way they muster for attacks over water and such; they hide behind their cities and counter attack a little better than they used to. My guess is that the expansion will bring more AI tactical improvements.

In general, the AI is a lot more aggressive. One of the things I've noticed recently is sometimes the number of units they can bring seems to be mathematically impossible. It's not this way with every civ and on every game. Again, I have no idea if there's been more bonuses or improvements that cause this to happen.

When I last played, happiness was nearly impossible to manage for an expansive or warlike empire, but despite my being deep in unrest, my civilization was able to function just fine.
-has happiness management been made more managable for an expansive empire?
-is there a steeper punishment for failing to maintain this important aspect of your civilization?
There was a significant patch that changed unhappiness from -3 per new city to -4, and added happiness bonuses to many new social policies and wonders. I don't know if you've played since that patch, but it did change the pace of expansion and the value of some wonders and social policies. I don't think the penalty for extreme unhappiness has changed, but I find the -50% production penalty to be pretty harsh unless you're in a position to run away with the game anyway.

And a quick question about balance.
-some empires seemed vastly stronger than others to me a long time ago. I could e wrong of course. Are the empires balanced or are some too strong/weak?
They gave Germany, the Ottomans, England, the Iroquois and the US some small bonuses. Some are still pretty strong, but I like the variety. I think mechanics like RA are more imbalanced than the civs unique abilities or units.
 
Yeah, RAs have turned out to be tricky to get right. They've been changed up a lot since release and the consensus is that they're still too powerful. Will the x pack change that? I'm hopeful but doubtful.

The game has definitely been massively improved since those early days and this expansion could complete the picture giving us the awesome game we all hoped for. It must be daunting being a developer for a civ game, we're a tough crowd.
 
just look how long it took to program the computer to win vs human at chess

multplayer is the best !
hate playing vs the ai because the computer cheats
 
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