Which AI are actually threats rather than nuisances?

[Nebbybebbyforevvy]

I think we all like to hate on Monty and Ramalamadingdong, but who do you consider to be legitamate threats? I'd say Suleiman as an AI can be pretty dangerous, and from the games I've played in, he actually does tend to do well, both scientifically and militarily. What are your thoughts?

 

[Equilin]

It depends on the position of said AI, relative to you.
Consentient and others categorize them as Near, Middle, and Far., based on their distance from you.
Far civs are generally not a threat, Middle not usually, while Near can be a threat quickly.
Of all civs i rate Attila, Shaka and prob Genghis high.

 

[docbud]

If close--Shaka, Attila, and Greece are really dangerous. I never have a problem with Genghis.

 

[joncnunn]

Looks like the ones that if they start too close to you could be a threat to cause you to lose the game on a high enough level (either by conquest defeat but more likely costing too many resources to deal with that some distant AI wins) is already covered.

Science Victory: AI Persia starting on the other main landmass on a high difficulty level is at or near the top of this list.
Cultural Victory: There's a long list though (almost half of them) that if left alone on the other main landmass on a high difficulty level can be a threat to win culture victory if human isn't watching what's going on.
Diplomatic Victory: Prior to G&K coming out, Greece was at the top of this list, with a few other AI's that loved to give cash to city states. The introduction of spy coup of city states though pretty much eliminated the AIs chances of winning this.
Domination Victory: Since in order to do this an AI would have to conquer the human's capital this doesn't tend to actually happen; at the very least the human probably isn't going to last long enough to see which AI did and by what method.

 

[poxpower]

Attila, Montezuma and Shaka force you to bribe them to war someone else, basically. You don't have a choice if they're nearby they will attack you 100% of the time and on Deity you can't make enough units to defend against their giant army of early game swordsmen with 3-4 promotions, great general and +10% honor bonus. Usually you have only archers so that does nothing.

Some other AIs you basically have to not forward-settle. Mongols, England and China seem particularly easy to piss off if you pop a city like 5-6 tiles from their cap.

If you're next to shaka / attila / monty for the entire game you basically have to bribe them constantly or build a decent-sized army that you use to basically backstab them and thin out their herd of garbage before they mass at your border and swarm you. Usually though if you manage to set up your economy and dodge the early game zerg rush, you never actually have to be at war.

 

[murd]

I think there are two types of threats that the AI can pose: they can outright kill you or they can runaway with score/culture/science/etc. Military AI are primarily only very threatening if they are right on top of you, but sometimes they kill everyone and eventually get to you. In addition, there are AIs that are just <snip> and kind of just constantly make your life a living hell.

Military AIs are usually worst at the beginning. civdata.com lists all the AI traits, the AIs with the highest values (8 or 7) are really problematic and can make higher difficulties unwinnable. Early game Attila on Deity with a good start is honestly unbeatable sometimes. He comes at you T50 with 8 horse archers and 3 rams, nothing you could have done. Shaka can be pretty horrible too. Fortunately, some of the military AIs are really incompetent, particularly Assyria, but others kind of suck too. Genghis Khan supposedly has high bias but he's never been a problem for me personally. Montezuma is another problematic one, Dido tends to backstab in my experience, and Poland deserves an honorable mention for being very dangerous - with plains start and very high likelihood to train military they will have a good army if they attack.

For runaway AIs, pretty much any civ is capable, but there tends to be a few that are usually more problematic than others. The AI usually does better with huge empires with a ton of cities, so civs with higher expansion rates do better. Shaka is the most expansive AI by far, so he can do really well although I haven't had severe problems with him. One of the most problematic is Hiawatha, he expands a ton, and for some reason his expands work. Randomly, I've had a lot of problems with Suleimann - not a particularly good civ but he expands a lot and it seems to work for him. England does well in most games I play, not sure way. Babylon and Korea, by nature of their high affinity for science and their ridiculous UAs can be runaways. If you aren't close enough to kill them early you might have real problems with their science. I've had the same problem with China, they don't have the natural science boost but some of their strongest traits are growth and science, which leads to very tall and hard to take down empires.

AIs get very annoying when they expand aggressively, are obnoxious with city states, and generally passive aggressive with everything that happens. AI with extreme warmonger penalty are usually bad, but if you're playing peacefully they will do away with other warmongers and be your friend. Ramkhamhaeng is horrible because he hates warmongers, and will call you out any time that you do anything with a city state. Alexander is pretty similar, except he is more expansive, but hates warmongers less, and will generally be a bit less of a dick. Maria Theresa is really annoying marrying and allying city states. Backstabbing is really annoying, and for some reason I've found Carthage doesn't mind backstabbing. Been backstabbed by Denmark a few times too.

The best AI to start near are non expansive, do not build units, but build wonders. Ramesses is the best, Enrico Dandolo, Gandhi, Pacal are all very good too.

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[Herman Field]

I think we all like to hate on Monty and Ramalamadingdong, but who do you consider to be legitamate threats? I'd say Suleiman as an AI can be pretty dangerous, and from the games I've played in, he actually does tend to do well, both scientifically and militarily. What are your thoughts?

it depends, actually AI is better