The big conclusions thread

[slowjames]

It's surprisingly hard to do, especially for games with a major rock-paper-scissors aspect like Civ 5. Add in terrain and limited military intelligence and it's ever more challenging. The most gaping holes (senseless declarations of war, when the AI can't take a city, or over-generous peace offers) will be plugged. But I have yet to see a complex computer game able to change a poor AI into a good one.

Empire: Total War is a fine example of a case where this was possible. The mod community turned a really poor AI into a decent one, which I would argue is harder to do in that type of game than a turn-based hex game. It might be impossible to get a human-level tactical AI, but it should be possible at least to get the computer to block for ranged units and things of that nature. We'll see, I suppose. I am going to try my hand at it in a simplified version of Civ V when I get to the point where I'm willing to spend free time on something other than playing the game.

 

[DaviddesJ]

it should be possible at least to get the computer to block for ranged units and things of that nature.

Sure. That's not the hard part. On the other hand, it also doesn't make very much difference---playing against a better tactical AI is pretty much the same experience as playing against a somewhat weaker tactical AI that gets some extra units or combat advantages (but the difference is still important to some people).

It's at a higher strategic level that the differences between a stronger AI and just adding more handicaps matter more---and this is also the more difficult problem.