Someone is cheating here?

[Qitai]

Anyway, just one good example is this exact thread.

Tatran started this thread thinking the AI cheats in trade but quickly discovered this is due to trading after he bother to check.

 

[Tatran]

Today's games are far more difficult to beat at
the highest levels then let's say 6/7 years ago.
Better programming and the AI gets a bigger
bonus.I remember "The twilight of the Gods".
I had to restart it probably 10 times,before I
could win the final on Warcraft3.And still I think
something missing/wrong with it.I couldn't built
the Chimaera dragon.
Age of Mythology I couldn't beat level 5.I got
overrun by Troy.
C&C Generals was no problem.
Rise of Nations I beat the AI at tougher level,but
I got bored with the game.Maybe if they put all
the victory conditions in one regular game,I'll start
playing again.

Civ3 has probably the biggest addiction feeling than
any other game.So will the cheat feeling.The rules
aren't clear when first start playing.When you play a game
of risk or monopoly the rules are clear from the beginning.
Sure I don't like the AI given the World map and knowing
all the resource spots.The trading in Civ2 was more open,
than it is in Civ3.
On the other hand,sometimes the AIs don't bother you at
all.I had a game a few days ago,where I got stuck on a
island and was number 5 at the ranking list.I went for
the UN victory.I gave a lot of techs to AIs,to prevent the
biggest AIs to walk over the small ones.Even got rubber
for very small price,a luxury + some gold per turn(2 or 3 gold).
I think a lot of players facing a of trouble with the AIs simply
because they're number 1 or 2 at the ranking.Indeed the
AI is more demanding when you're bigger than they are.
Personal I don't care if I am the number 1 or the number 5
civ.A game is about winning and I go for the option every
new game is giving me.
I'm not hunting the AI for cheating,I just want to have fun.
But sometimes things don't go your way,just like in life itself.

 

[JavalTigar]

Obviously I would have an easier time of making peace in the Middle East than trying to convince you people that the computer is designed to cheat (IE not play by the same rules and logic that you the human opponent do).

So I bid you, farewell. See you around the forum.

 

[TheNiceOne]

Originally posted by JavalTigar
Qitai: "The AI trades tech with each other. Just because you do not understand doesn't mean they cheat"

So when you play and you get a tech that puts you ahead in military might you immediately trade it with everyone else for no cost what so ever?

I wouldn't do that. If the AI had done that with other AI, then it would be a cheat, but the fact is that is simply doesn't. If you think it does, then you're wrong!
This has been tested and checked, and the AI is programmed to never sell a tech for less than [calculated cost / AI trade bonus]. So if you play on a setting with AI trade bonus set to 140%, then the AI can sell a tech worth 1400 gold for 1000 to another AI. This is very far from the 2 gold you claim.

 

[CellarDweller22]

Not to make light of all the "chess" references, but this IS a "dice" game (in essence). Chess has no random number generator. Period.

As for saying "why doesn't the computer get 3 queens"? Well, simply put, the chess playing algorithm's are MUCH better than they were 15 years ago. Before then, a grandmaster could EASILY beat the computer with 2 queens (or perhaps even 3!). However, because this is a DICE game, it is MUCH more difficult to program the AI for an every case situation. Chess has 64 "territories" and only SIX different types of pieces. Last time I checked, this game had a few more than that....

Oh, and for the record, in the 19th century, Paul Morphy gave odds (usually knight, or pawn and move) in the majority of his games to make the game truly a challenge. So, were those opponents "cheating" Morphy, or was that agreed to from the start of the game?! Because his opponents' RI ("real" intelligence) weren't up to snuff, it was the only way to make those games a challenge.

-- From The Cellar

P.S. And from a 2200 rated ICCF player who plays this because it ISN'T chess (it's my break from my correspondence games).