The official "Which AI Civs are decimating the others?" poll

[jpinard]

NOTE: Perfect balance can be boring! So this is not a criticism of balance issues, but an outing of the AI Civ's that dominate the game. Remember, this is not human control, but AI.

This poll will also help modders make some AI's more balanced for those that want it (sometimes I want perfect balance, othertimes no). So please talk about why you think a Civ is overly dominant. Your participation is greatly appreciated.

 

[jpinard]

My intitial thought was Russia (Catherine) & Persia (Darius). But I've amended that to just Darius as I'm seeing more domination by him than Catherine (early/mid game).

 

[Louis XXIV]

I voted for each one I've experienced (always a different one). The rule of thumb seems to be luck mixed with aggressiveness (or aggressiveness mixed with opportunity). It's not the most aggressive civ that dominates, it's the most successful aggressive civ. Nebuchadnezzar tried to gobble up all other Civs, but I happened to be the closest Civ, so he failed. In that game, Siam became the most successful. That was mostly because he was at war with Babylon as well and, after I weakened them, took advantage. In other words, you need a strong civ near other civs who is likely to go to war.

I figure enough votes will remove this element of random chance just through statistical sampling, so, even with my caveat, consistent results will be found.

 

[yojox]

Everytime I've played with Askia he's gone on a rampage against AI and city-states. He usually has his own continent by the time I sail over there with a caravel.

 

[Buccaneer]

It's all game situational, how can you say Civ A "always" war or Civ B "never" war?? In an Emperor game I got going on right now, India was the first to declare war against another civ...me. Didn't do anything to provoke, the AI knew I was weak on the defense and sought to take advantage of it.

 

[Mystere]

Voted for no clear dominant race. In my many playthroughs any of the races quickly fall or dominate the late game with no or very little pattern. So many different circumstances. Including but not limited to starting locations (map type and size), their tendency to anger their neighbors by settling cities all over the place (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't), tech level, human interaction/interference and general difficulty of the game.

In my eyes even just one gifted unit, one citystate or one tech agreement can make a difference. India can go on a warmonger path and Monty can stay small and happy on his island. If there was a clear dominant race throughout many playthroughs I would be VERY suprised because it has to overcome a whole lot of randomness.

 

[Me,myself,and,I]

Oda and Napoleon. Bismarck tries though. I have yet to play a game were Monty wasn't isolated. Askia talks big and beats up on the CS' a lot but when the going gets tough the "tough" sue for peace.

 

[jpinard]

It's all game situational, how can you say Civ A "always" war or Civ B "never" war?? In an Emperor game I got going on right now, India was the first to declare war against another civ...me. Didn't do anything to provoke, the AI knew I was weak on the defense and sought to take advantage of it.

Game's on higher difficulty level than King can be misleading because the AI has such massive bonus's that dwarf many unique traits that are apparent in balanced games.

Also, there are some people who have seen the same dominant race in every game. I had 5 games in a row where Catherine was one of the races I selected for competition. In each fo those she blew away everyone else. But then again, Elizabeth(England), Ghandi (India), the Ottomans (Sulieman) were not tough opponents.

 

[NewAmsterdam]

Bismark, Catherine and oddly enough Ramesses here. Bismark's Landsknecht war machine in particular seems to be very consistant throughout all my games, he builds up steam somewhat slowly but seems to emerge as a major power in the renaissance era alot more consistantly than more unstable warmongers like Ramkhamhaeng and Napoleon, who from my experience tend to get ganged up upon/implode sometime during the middle ages.