In the last few days I've set up a small game with three nations that I've rarely played actively, and I've chosen the Mongols first.
Their warfare abilities seem to be exceptionally good:
- All Skirmisher units have more movement points (5), plus double attack and the ability to move afterwards if there are any points left.
- The Khan is not only a Great General with additional "pilum" promotion (10 damage points at the beginning of each turn), but also a great medic.
- Mongolian units are stronger against city-state troops.
- When tributing city-states, in addition to the gold the Mongols receive 20% of the sum in all other yields!
That should be very powerful when used correctly. In fact, it was impressive how strong even small battle groups of three to four skirmishers can be against any target. If you add a Khan with his special abilities to the mix, which appears quite soon through diligent attacking, "Mongol Terror" absolutely deserves its name.
Ok, Korea as opponent wasn't a good choice on a map without water, but Poland didn't stand a chance either.
After about 170 turns, it was game over.
But if you look at the statistics of the AI games, the result looks completely different: The Mongols find themselves near the bottom of the table! How is that possible?
Using the ctrl-shift-L (iirc) key combination and an early save, I ran the game again as "AI alone".
Result: In the end (>T 350!) the Mongols dominated here too. But it was a very long and very rocky road.
Why? For me, two main reasons:
1. the Mongols did not use skirmishers at all! Their absolute best early weapon, imho... Instead, they used their numerous horses as horsemen, without any advantage.
(Later they had two or three "heavy skirmishers", but those stood uselessly as garrisons in cities.)
2. City-states were allied at great expense instead of having to pay the excellent tributes. Never a single angry CS...
There were other problems as well, but these may affect all AIs, not just the Mongols.
- Khans were practically not used.
- Settlers were accompanied by spears, but being afraid of even single barbarian hand axes, they made aimless evasive movements for many turns.
...
My conclusion: In their current state The Mongols are a great pleasure for the player, but practically worthless as AI.
Unfortunately I forgot where to find the other short cuts (for example to switch to other civilizations in the game) Maybe someone can tell me? Thank you
Their warfare abilities seem to be exceptionally good:
- All Skirmisher units have more movement points (5), plus double attack and the ability to move afterwards if there are any points left.
- The Khan is not only a Great General with additional "pilum" promotion (10 damage points at the beginning of each turn), but also a great medic.
- Mongolian units are stronger against city-state troops.
- When tributing city-states, in addition to the gold the Mongols receive 20% of the sum in all other yields!
That should be very powerful when used correctly. In fact, it was impressive how strong even small battle groups of three to four skirmishers can be against any target. If you add a Khan with his special abilities to the mix, which appears quite soon through diligent attacking, "Mongol Terror" absolutely deserves its name.
Ok, Korea as opponent wasn't a good choice on a map without water, but Poland didn't stand a chance either.
After about 170 turns, it was game over.
But if you look at the statistics of the AI games, the result looks completely different: The Mongols find themselves near the bottom of the table! How is that possible?
Using the ctrl-shift-L (iirc) key combination and an early save, I ran the game again as "AI alone".
Result: In the end (>T 350!) the Mongols dominated here too. But it was a very long and very rocky road.
Why? For me, two main reasons:
1. the Mongols did not use skirmishers at all! Their absolute best early weapon, imho... Instead, they used their numerous horses as horsemen, without any advantage.
(Later they had two or three "heavy skirmishers", but those stood uselessly as garrisons in cities.)
2. City-states were allied at great expense instead of having to pay the excellent tributes. Never a single angry CS...
There were other problems as well, but these may affect all AIs, not just the Mongols.
- Khans were practically not used.
- Settlers were accompanied by spears, but being afraid of even single barbarian hand axes, they made aimless evasive movements for many turns.
...
My conclusion: In their current state The Mongols are a great pleasure for the player, but practically worthless as AI.
Unfortunately I forgot where to find the other short cuts (for example to switch to other civilizations in the game) Maybe someone can tell me? Thank you
