- Joined
- Aug 3, 2020
- Messages
- 850
I couldn't find a topic for this being discussed, so I thought it fitting to add here.
The most recent patch was supposed to "fix" the AI, making them more adept at high level play and having them make choices that would pressure a human opponent in a typical game.
I am of course taking about the most major way Firaxis implemented this - having the AI focus more on science through campuses.
While this can be seen initially as a good thing, in my recent (3) playthroughs however, the AI now seems to focus on science way too much.
While this is interesting from a difficulty perspective (taking down a Deity AI that focuses on science is no slouch), it currently broke the overall balance for pretty much everything else.
In my last two culture games, I've had a 100% monopoly on Great Writer/Artist/Musician generation, as the AI does not seem to go for culture anymore.
Heck, only in one of my recent (5) playthroughs, I only saw one AI go for GWAM generation, and it only did so by generating 1 Great Artist Point per turn - way insufficient to ever get a single writer as I was simply scooping up everything in that department.
Similarly, it seems the AI also goes way less for Great Merchants as well (and to some extent, Great Engineers), which allows me to have my way in those departments.
On the flip side, playing scientific now is absolutely brutal for a human.
In all of my games so far now (5), the Great Scientist generation is out of control.
With such extreme amounts of GS points being generated among all players, the available remaining pool of Great Scientists are now often 1-2 eras ahead of the current era, the supply quickly being exhausted and scientists starting to cost an obscene amount of points/faith/gold to acquire.
This makes it far less fun to pursue the science route now, as even if you do produce campuses like a madman, you can still end up getting very few scientists in total (and hardly a single one of the early ones).
Now a quick disclaimer here:
I do enjoy that the AI focuses more on campuses, as that allows the AI (especially on higher difficulties) to present a more formidable opponent that keeps its tech lead for longer before the human starts to overtake it.
Up until recently, the AI often squandered that advantage by the medieval/renaissance eras by not focusing on tech too much, instead pursuing "a little of everything", making them overall worse off when facing a human opponent who is able to focus on the factors that matter.
However, Firaxis has probably taken this too far now.
Facing only AIs that focus on science (and partly on faith), makes for some overall very boring games.
Having a monopoly on GWAM generation is nice at first, but it becomes rather boring after a while as noone else seems to be going down that route, and the competition is non-existent.
TL;DR:
While the difficulty has certainly been cranked up now (which is appreciated), the games become very monotonous as the AIs seem shoe-horned into the science role at the cost of everything else.
The most recent patch was supposed to "fix" the AI, making them more adept at high level play and having them make choices that would pressure a human opponent in a typical game.
I am of course taking about the most major way Firaxis implemented this - having the AI focus more on science through campuses.
While this can be seen initially as a good thing, in my recent (3) playthroughs however, the AI now seems to focus on science way too much.
While this is interesting from a difficulty perspective (taking down a Deity AI that focuses on science is no slouch), it currently broke the overall balance for pretty much everything else.
In my last two culture games, I've had a 100% monopoly on Great Writer/Artist/Musician generation, as the AI does not seem to go for culture anymore.
Heck, only in one of my recent (5) playthroughs, I only saw one AI go for GWAM generation, and it only did so by generating 1 Great Artist Point per turn - way insufficient to ever get a single writer as I was simply scooping up everything in that department.
Similarly, it seems the AI also goes way less for Great Merchants as well (and to some extent, Great Engineers), which allows me to have my way in those departments.
On the flip side, playing scientific now is absolutely brutal for a human.
In all of my games so far now (5), the Great Scientist generation is out of control.
With such extreme amounts of GS points being generated among all players, the available remaining pool of Great Scientists are now often 1-2 eras ahead of the current era, the supply quickly being exhausted and scientists starting to cost an obscene amount of points/faith/gold to acquire.
This makes it far less fun to pursue the science route now, as even if you do produce campuses like a madman, you can still end up getting very few scientists in total (and hardly a single one of the early ones).
Now a quick disclaimer here:
I do enjoy that the AI focuses more on campuses, as that allows the AI (especially on higher difficulties) to present a more formidable opponent that keeps its tech lead for longer before the human starts to overtake it.
Up until recently, the AI often squandered that advantage by the medieval/renaissance eras by not focusing on tech too much, instead pursuing "a little of everything", making them overall worse off when facing a human opponent who is able to focus on the factors that matter.
However, Firaxis has probably taken this too far now.
Facing only AIs that focus on science (and partly on faith), makes for some overall very boring games.
Having a monopoly on GWAM generation is nice at first, but it becomes rather boring after a while as noone else seems to be going down that route, and the competition is non-existent.
TL;DR:
While the difficulty has certainly been cranked up now (which is appreciated), the games become very monotonous as the AIs seem shoe-horned into the science role at the cost of everything else.
