the AI an its Victory Plans

[Angmar]

Okay I am about to wrap up a huge epic Civ game and Ill probably be starting a new one in the next couple of days however I am somewhat boggled at the AI. I need to know if it has "plans" on how it is going to go and win the game.

In my current game I bumped my difficulty up a notch and found the AI building Mechanized Infantry when I was pumping out Cavalry. I did manage to catch up and I am in the process of smashing them with MA and Air Power. However this game was "lost" 150 years ago when the Americans won the UN.

I would like to turn off the UN victory and the spaceship win for my next game. However my question is this, will the AI change its tactics if I turn off these victory conditions? Will it become more warlike if I only have conquest / domination victory conditions enabled?

I have never seen the AI win by spaceship. They seem to build the parts leisurely. This victory almost seems like a way out for the player in a world filled larger AI civs.

My game plan is to play again on a large world with accelerated production as I do like to power through the earlier portions of the game and get to the meaty modern warfare era as quickly as possible. However I do feel that if the AI is more warlike ( aka it doesnt have any other way to win ) it will be very very difficult for me to survive through their industrial era when I am tinkering around in the medievil era

Cheers,

 

[Bamspeedy]

Nope. The AI doesn't really know how to 'plan' to win. It is programmed to build the UN (just like they do any other wonder), and build spaceship parts. But other than that the AI doesn't make any strategic plans to pull off a win.

Of course without having the UN or spaceship as victory conditions they won't even be allowed to build these.

I played a 'Conquest Only' game and all 29 AI civs were at peace up until about 1500 A.D., then the usual industrial age-modern age warfare kicked in. In another Conquest only game all civs seemed to always be at war with each other. It all depends on luck, resource allocation, etc..

 

[DaveMcW]

Accelerated production does not make the game go faster. You still have the same number of unit moves and build queue changes. The only difference is you have to press "end turn" less before the game ends.

If you want to be really evil, play conquest only. If you can survive to the modern age the AI doesn't know how to stop you from destroying everything.

 

[Angmar]

Accelerated production doesnt make the game end any quicker, however combine it with the build bonus the AI gets and the first three eras blur happen very quickly turn wise. In my last game the AI hit the Modern Era around 1500 ad .. I hit it around 1800 ad but still

 

[Globetrotter]

I wonder if the AI has any strategy at all.
Many times i saw the AI units turn in circles for more than a couple of turns, as if they had nothing else to do.
It seems like they are exchanging the same units between two spots, etc. (10 full hp inf. move from A to B and 10 other full hp inf. move from B to A)...
Unless the AI has the notion of relieving his units in any case...

 

[Globetrotter]

On the other hand, so far in my experience, Zulus seem always to rush towards conquest and domination, whereas other more peaceful civs tend to build the UN, and Babylon hit the cultural victory, etc.
I wonder whether it has anything to do with the civ. characteristics...

 

[GerrardCapashen]

Aggression has an effect on how often the civ goes to war, and you can check the civ's production preferences in the Civilopedia; but each civ does not have a programmed attempted way to win. Rather, they try to go for early game conquest and if they fail, they go for late-game cultural, diplomatic, or spaceship victory.

 

[Shabbaman]

Spaceship does happen. I remember a tale (the right word, actually) by zachriel where he destroyed the spaceship just in time.
The AI sure doesn't plan ahead, but sometimes they are very eager to go to war with you (without provocation).
Once, they demanded some tech from me. I denied, they declared war. I reloaded to see what happened if I first sold those techs to me! Well, they simply demanded something else!
So, when I got rid of everything (including gold, maps), they just declared war.
I think the AI is programmed to expand and build wonders and SS. If you'd try that, you'd win in the end with a SS, cultural or domination.