Some thoughts on the AI so far

[What.Do.You.Mean.Its.3AM]

So I have been playing the game since its release in NA. Now I am 3 hrs in as Scythia on standard Prince and only have 2 more civ to conquer. Overall I think this is a fantastic game, some of the details are really good (e.g. how cavs come to a halt on a hill, I really like that). But there is still much to be desired.

I think the biggest problem is that they don't really put up a good fight. I feel like when it comes to war, they simply set a threshold for the AI and this threshold is set wayyyy to high. Something like, Only strike if you are 200% stronger than the player, otherwise GTFO. I mean it's understandable. It's just AI after all. And boy, these AI are sure good at pumping out new soldiers. But the fact that AI retreats too often kinda bothers me. For example, I was fighting Greece half way in. I had 5-6 horse archer and he had 6 hoplite. I was totally countered. It took me like 3 hit to finish off one hoplite but it only took two for them to kill me cav. Yet they just ran away, not even looking back. So I just picked them out one by one. This is pretty immersion-breaking IMO.

 

[Fede1893]

First game started with "play now" button (small map, continents, prince, standard time). I got France. Strangely enough I started in a huge island alone with 1 city state... I therefore played neglecting military, when I managed to reach through shallow waters the other continents my neighbors were Saladin, Teddy and Gandhi so no warmongers. I forward settled in their landmass (partly my same continent, partly not) escorting my settler with 2 units per city. They were annoyed by my settling but never declared war (I passed turn 200). They warred between themselves for ages but seemed afraid to go against me.

The various civs didn't play strong but were doing the things you would expect from them: Saladin went full religion and built encampments for warring against infidels; Teddy is trying to go scientific and tries to keep his continent in peace; Gandhi speaks words of peace but didn't hesitate to deploy his elephants when Saladin conquered his second city (and his second agenda, the random one, I swear is "nuclear happy" LOL!)

Barb camps spawned even in relatively late game and were far more painful than early barbs because I really didn't expect them to pillage my harbors with caravels! Scouts and captured settlers (I found 1 formerly owned by Saladin) are smart in trying to evade contact. Other units moved forward in "formations" with focus firing on my archers and scouts when possible.

TL DR: I'm having a peaceful game but also in my match I am having the impression that AI is too scared to attack the human player. For the rest instead I am very pleased with the AI in particular as this is the 1.0 day 0 release.

 

[kampori]

Playing my first game at the moment as Saladin. Victoria is right next to me. It's turn 180ish, 1200AD, I'm in the industrial era, nearly modern. Have 7 nice cities.
She has just London.. and a settler that is asleep in the city. She has waged a surprise war on me twice, and sent nothing but a spearman and horseman the first time, and a spearman and a battering ram the second time (first was about turn 50, second about turn 150. Troops never upgraded)
After that, I put her out of her misery and took London. With a free bombardier I got from a great general, and my knight replacement unit.

So, rather pathetic on her part.
Japan, however, is doing pretty well. He has 10 nice cities near me, and an absolute horde of an army. Science about where he should be for 1200 (me being near modern is a bit silly.. 2 universities built in 1000BC was all I needed for a huge tech advantage the whole game). He has annihilated Aztecs and Brazil.

On King difficulty.

Other civs are doing worse than Japan and not quite as bad as England. All together, a bit naff. The barbarians put up a hell of a lot more fight than the AI civs have.

I started with a barb camp on turn 5 next to horses. From turn 5 had an army of barb horsemen invade me constantly, killing any slinger and warrior I sent their way. I didn't stand a chance for ages.

 

[JtW]

Similar impressions here. I also started with the "play now" button and got the Norse. I got a relic very early due to a bug, and was able to found a religion quickly because of that. The AI outnumbers me militarily but they never attack. I was once attacked by Barbarossa, but he only sent one unit my way, and after 20 turns or so, gave me a lot of money to sign for peace. That was underwhelming, to say the least. My neighbor is China, who despite being unhappy with me and having a huge military, never attacks me.

Other than that, the AI performance doesn't look bad. I am only the 3rd on points - and in Civ 5, I was an Emperor player.

 

[klokwerk]

Playing on King, AI isn't that bad in my first game. Two capitals were conquered by AIs and I was sneak attacked by Russia. They didn't manage to take a city with their warriors but that was relatively close. There were a lot of wars between AIs too. I love how they have both a hidden agenda and a known agenda. China basically hates everybody because everybody built wonders.

My only gripe right now is on the continents map script. I got Norway as a random civ but I was near a big lake (an inner sea actually) not a real sea so my viking plans with longboats quickly vanished. It's a big penalty when you're Norway.

I love the game. They removed most boring things (cities being identical, workers everywhere...) and added interesting decisions everywhere. It's a very smart game design.

 

[darko82]

So, rather pathetic on her part.

It is because the AI is broken in this game. And it can't win.

I just dream about any sign of logic.

The game is good by itself, but you need to think that the AI does not exist in this game.

 

[klokwerk]

It is because the AI is broken in this game. And it can't win.

I just dream about any sign of logic.

The game is good by itself, but you need to think that the AI does not exist in this game.

It's not broken at all in my game (King level). Which level are you playing on ? Prince or below are supposed to feature a less agressive AI.

 

[darko82]

It's not broken at all in my game (King level). Which level are you playing on ? Prince or below are supposed to feature a less agressive AI.

There are quite a few problems. One of them is that they do not attack, even though they have units and bad relations. They just stand next to borders.

BTW, is there a way to tell them to remove those troops (if not, it means war)? There should be...

 

[Plus Ultra]

You had me worried for a moment there darko82, glad to see you are still alive and as optimistic as ever.

Cheer up mate, players on Reddit and Civfanatics are finding the AI to be competent enough.

We'll probably have a similar AI to Civ V BNW, which is nothing to write home about, of course... but that never prevented most of us from enjoying the game, right?

BTW, is there a way to tell them to remove those troops (if not, it means war)? There should be...

Agreed.

 

[DSveno]

There are quite a few problems. One of them is that they do not attack, even though they have units and bad relations. They just stand next to borders.

BTW, is there a way to tell them to remove those troops (if not, it means war)? There should be...

Funny you're saying that when this happen right when I tried to expand.



Yep. They declared war right away and proceed to attacking my capital when I move my most troops away. That was on King btw.

 

[Gedemon]

There are quite a few problems. One of them is that they do not attack, even though they have units and bad relations. They just stand next to borders.

BTW, is there a way to tell them to remove those troops (if not, it means war)? There should be...

You may have a surprise in your next game if you don't build enough defense, I've started lightly on my first game (king) because everyone was saying that the AI doesn't attack and I have been wiped by one of my neighbor in a 4 turns war.

 

[klokwerk]

Same for me as the posts above, AI DID attack me when my cities weren't defended enough on King level. Multiple wars occurred between AIs and 2 capitals were taken.

AI agression level looks fine as long as you play on King or above. Well, unless the roll of the dice makes the map a special case.

 

[darko82]

OK, guys. I need to play more to give a more detailed description. It seems it depends on a few factors then. Not sure which ones yet.

You had me worried for a moment there darko82, glad to see you are still alive and as optimistic as ever.

Optimistic and realistic as always. My pleasure

 

[georgjorge]

Apart from the ability of the AI to actually deal damage via wars, how is diplomacy working out? Is it possible to guard against surprise wars from the AI with good diplomatic skills, or is it more a roll of the dice?

 

[need my speed]

I actually had a great display of AI cunning!

Around 2500 BC - perhaps a bit earlier, 2700 BC or so? - Frederick declared war on me with three warriors and a slinger. Why? Because I had built a shrine and was trying to get a religion, which he was also trying to do, as I heard earlier in the game. Before that, he had taken over a city-state on my borders too - that I will soon take back - but I do not believe this was part of his 'destroy need my speed's faith output'-plan.

He could perhaps have conquered me whole, as I only had one warrior present - and the peace deal was silly, as he gave me 160 gold (but I did destroy two of his units) - but still, this was very nice to see.

And on that note, rebuilding districts is punitively expensive.

 

[esoba]

I'm really not sure about the AI guy talking about civs not taking other capitals much. I was able to play for about 8 hours yesterday and capitals and civilizations were being taken left and right by the other AI civs.

 

[Caracal]

Awesome, thanks for the write-ups. Nice to see more aggressive Barbs.

 

[Hajee]

I like the AI. There seems to be more reason behind the AI in civ 6 compared to civ 5. Yes there are some areas for improvement.

The AI is more complex from what I see. The AI had alot more Behaviors to process each turn to find the best move.

We can see this is the game files.: C:\Users\******\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Logs/AI_Behavior_Trees

start at 7:30. this explains how new AI tech is working to find patterns to make a play.

I am not saying civ 6 use this exact tech, but it is like it

 

[Cuneiform]

Halfway through my first game as Sumeria on Prince, I must say I'm having a bit of a tough time at the moment. I'm doing a bit of experimenting with all the mechanics and I'm playing a little "idealistically" rather than cut throat win at all costs. But even so I've been pleasantly surprised so far.

 

[haphazard1]

The barbs are definitely more aggressive than I am used to. Way more trouble from them than from the AIs so far (prince). But I am seeing AI aggression -- Phillip launched a surprise war on me and moved in a pretty respectable force. The AI did not handle his ranged units well, so I drove back the attack without too much trouble. But I did lose some units and had a couple districts pillaged -- the Ai definitely went out of its way to hit those tiles. The peace deal was kind of suspect -- way too generous from the AI in gold per turn and resources. I did smash his force and had units ready to counter-invade, but would have taken a lot less than was offered for peace. So that may need some adjusting.