Thinking about bailing on Civ V for VI...

[aboyer]

I've been playing more-or-less since 1993, and right now Civ V is kind of dragging. What's bothering me is that the AI is so bad at combat, even at Emperor level. (Haven't tried Deity yet.) Once I get a military advantage, they seem to just hold all of their forces in reserve. Dumb stuff like building a new submarine and moving it out of port right next to my naval units, but not attacking! You could have at least gotten a shot off. I really like the new system but it's just too hard for the computer to play.

I also haven't upgraded to Brave New World yet.

This got me thinking about why I've upgraded over the years:
Civ I: Civ II was so much cooler
Civ II: Upgraded to Civ III because it was too easy to bribe cities with diplomats, and annoying to have automated units get stuck on endless railroad trips
Civ III: Upgraded to Civ IV because it was annoying for corruption to make so many of your cities useless
Civ IV: Upgraded to Civ V because Apple removed 32 bit support :-(; also it was annoying to have to constantly redrill oil wells that got sabotaged every few turns
Civ V: Upgraded to Gods & Kings because of the bug where workers ask for new orders after every turn

 

[Chiss5618]

The AI does not improve per difficulty level, they only get more stat bonuses, so the difference between AI efficiency between Emperor and Deity is negligible. Mods like Vox Populi and Smart AI can really improve your experience, although I'm pretty sure they need BNW to work. Anyways, the complete DLC bundle is like 25 bucks when on sale(probably like 15 for you since you already have the base game and GK), so it's probably worth picking it up next steam sale.

The AI for 6 is as bad as 5 if not worse due to more game features and limited mod support, so it's not worth buying 6 if your only problem is the AI.

 

[billybgame]

Don't do it....Civ 6 sucks.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Civ6 is a different game. It is much more oriented towards builders, with complexity in placing districts, building wonders or improvements, collecting and arranging great works. I enjoy it for those reasons. Civ6 AI does not aggressively wage war against a human player, unless you're much weaker. In the early game, the barbarians are surprisingly strong and can raze one of your expansion cities if you're not careful.

By far, the biggest complaint in the Civ6 forums is, "why won't the AI ever fight a decent war?" For nearly a year, Civ6 had a bug in one of its config files that caused many AI to greatly prioritize science, disbanding most of its military to pay for research. That bug was finally fixed in the latest series of new leaders released this spring.

I prefer Civ6 to Civ5, although getting some of the features of BNW improved the game over G&K. The main reason I prefer 6 to 5 is number of cities. I love, love, love to expand. My Civ3 maps have dozens of cities, both self-founded and conquered. My Civ4 maps were similar. Sticking to a 3 or 4 city Tradition start in Civ5 just feels small. If you enjoy a smaller, more focused empire, then you may enjoy Civ6 less than Civ5.

 

[aieeegrunt]

If you are feeling burned out on V then ya take a break and play something else

I wouldn’t recommend VI though, it’s worse at everything except having cleaner graphics

 

[RuntyBassoon143]

It’s boring because you’re only playing G&K version on Emperor level. Wait for the next steam sale, buy Brave New World, play a few games to learn the new mechanics, then step up the difficulty level. That will effectively make Civ V a brand new game for you.

 

[Tekamthi]

VP mod is pretty good at improving the AI, but its a whole new set of rules from what you're used to. I'd go straight to VP rather than messing with BNW if the AI's your concern -- vanilla BNW AI is just as bad as what you're playing now.

 

[KayAU]

I strongly recommend getting Vox Populi, as it improves and expands just about every aspect of Civ 5, including AI. Civ VI is probably your worst option if AI is a priority. I also think it is generally a worse game than Civ 5, and with VP, it's not even close.

 

[Fluffball]

If your looking to move from civ v to civ vi for better AI you will be sorely dissapointed. Last time i actually tried a game of civ 6 i got congratualted for the size of my navy when i only had one ship for scouting and congratulated for the size of my army when i had only 4 units (this was mid game).

Only reason the AI may be 'better' in civ 6 is because they dumbed down the game to make it easier for the AI to understand but then it seems like they went cheap on the AI still so it is still rubbish and doesn't understand what it is doing most of the time.

If you want better AI and a new challenge try the vox populi mod.

 

[iammaxhailme]

Civ 6 has some advantages over Civ 5, but combat isn't one of them. The AI is even worse at fighting in 6.

 

[Licentia]

The main reason I prefer 6 to 5 is number of cities. I love, love, love to expand. My Civ3 maps have dozens of cities, both self-founded and conquered. My Civ4 maps were similar. Sticking to a 3 or 4 city Tradition start in Civ5 just feels small. If you enjoy a smaller, more focused empire, then you may enjoy Civ6 less than Civ5.

You can easily play a larger map and reduce the number of civs and city states, and then play the Liberty tree. Then you'll be able to expand as much as you like.

This is a problem with the default map settings in V - IMO - that Liberty is basically useless to the AI, because they have no room to expand. But it's a problem that can easily be fixed.

 

[Licentia]

VP mod is pretty good at improving the AI, but its a whole new set of rules from what you're used to. I'd go straight to VP rather than messing with BNW if the AI's your concern -- vanilla BNW AI is just as bad as what you're playing now.

Or he can install just the Community Patch - which improves the AI - without the need for Vox Populi and its "whole new set of rules."

 

[Licentia]

I started a game of Civ 6, a week or two ago. I was on a continent with China, and they were expanding much more quickly than I was. Logically, I assumed that they were greedily grabbing all the prime territories for their new cities. However, to my surprise, I soon realized that they were building city after city in the tundra, leaving behind the splendid, lush, and fertile grounds for me to settle on. It was quite the revelation, and it just goes to show how bad the AI is in Civ 6!

Despite my good fortune, I lost interest in the game shortly after. I am on my third game of Civ 5 since then.

 

[Tekamthi]

Yes I forgot about CP it's probably best choice unless you have appetite for a bigger change.

Believe it requires bnw assets but not sure

 

[aieeegrunt]

I started a game of Civ 6, a week or two ago. I was on a continent with China, and they were expanding much more quickly than I was. Logically, I assumed that they were greedily grabbing all the prime territories for their new cities. However, to my surprise, I soon realized that they were building city after city in the tundra, leaving behind the splendid, lush, and fertile grounds for me to settle on. It was quite the revelation, and it just goes to show how bad the AI is in Civ 6!

Despite my good fortune, I lost interest in the game shortly after. I am on my third game of Civ 5 since then.

They were probably building there because they know aluminium or whatever will spawn there in 3000 years

Meanwhile you take all the good spots and snowball them to death way before that

The AI in this game is awful

 

[Licentia]

I'm pla

Yes I forgot about CP it's probably best choice unless you have appetite for a bigger change.

Believe it requires bnw assets but not sure

I'm playing a game with just the Community Patch right now. In this game, Poland has 6 cities, and America has 4 cities, and neither seems able to take out the Aztecs who have just 1 city remaining. All three civs are on the same continent. The war has been going on for what seems like forever. This makes me question just how good the Community Patch AI really is.

Unless the AI purposefully doesn't want to wipe him out... I wonder if that is a thing?

 

[Tekamthi]

I'm pla

I'm playing a game with just the Community Patch right now. In this game, Poland has 6 cities, and America has 4 cities, and neither seems able to take out the Aztecs who have just 1 city remaining. All three civs are on the same continent. The war has been going on for what seems like forever. This makes me question just how good the Community Patch AI really is.

Unless the AI purposefully doesn't want to wipe him out... I wonder if that is a thing?

I only play VP for the most part -- sometimes they can be clever, sometimes they still struggle. I am never sure if they are acting intentionally, but it appears they have some awareness of how their rivals are doing; possibly poland and america are intervening against one another to prevent the other from claiming the aztec prize.

For example, in a game I lost today, I was building tall, and incas were building a bit of an empire on other side of continent, though I couldn't see all of it, didn't really have a sense of the scale of their conquering. Anyway they declared my neighbor around 500 AD; I didn't think much of it, seemed like he had lots of units, and I was well-teched. Next turn a bunch of AI's called me up from the other continent, each begging with heaps of GPT that I declare on my neighbor, too; but we had been friendly for ages! -- I scoffed and declined, finding it kinda odd. Within 5 turns neighbor was toast, vassalized -- and I was overwhelmed within 50 turns after that. If I had taken the AI's bribe and declared on my friend, taken him over before Inca did, I mighta stood a chance. Probably not but the odds woulda been better. Inca were at top of scoreboard when i retired, and likely en route to snowball victory of some kind.

Its possible as well there are some aspects of VP AI that leak over to CP, as there aztecs would likely be vassalized there as well when reduced to 1 city, rather than extinguished completely

 

[Licentia]

I only play VP for the most part -- sometimes they can be clever, sometimes they still struggle. I am never sure if they are acting intentionally, but it appears they have some awareness of how their rivals are doing; possibly poland and america are intervening against one another to prevent the other from claiming the aztec prize.

For example, in a game I lost today, I was building tall, and incas were building a bit of an empire on other side of continent, though I couldn't see all of it, didn't really have a sense of the scale of their conquering. Anyway they declared my neighbor around 500 AD; I didn't think much of it, seemed like he had lots of units, and I was well-teched. Next turn a bunch of AI's called me up from the other continent, each begging with heaps of GPT that I declare on my neighbor, too; but we had been friendly for ages! -- I scoffed and declined, finding it kinda odd. Within 5 turns neighbor was toast, vassalized -- and I was overwhelmed within 50 turns after that. If I had taken the AI's bribe and declared on my friend, taken him over before Inca did, I mighta stood a chance. Probably not but the odds woulda been better. Inca were at top of scoreboard when i retired, and likely en route to snowball victory of some kind.

Its possible as well there are some aspects of VP AI that leak over to CP, as there aztecs would likely be vassalized there as well when reduced to 1 city, rather than extinguished completely

If I remember right, the advisors are not available in VP, so you can't check in to see how powerful your neighbours are...

It's great to read that VP offers a real challenge!

America took the first Aztec city furthest from the capital. Poland took the second city beside the capital. The Polish had units inside the Aztec capital's borders continually, for a long period of time. The Polish eventually made peace with the Aztecs, who only had 1 trebuchet and 2 great generals defending their city. Eventually Russia paid Poland to attack again, for who knows what dumb reason (Catherine didn't bother to move any of her own units over to attack, despite the fact she asked me to declare twice. I just sent 2 units to fulfill my obligation.)

I'm using v110 of the Community Patch. Maybe it has improved since then.