Why does the AI choose orders extremely frequently, even when it is of seemingly little benefit?

[Randomized]

In my game Pacal chose orders for his religion even though he was tradition and all his other beliefs are buffs to a tall, peaceful strategy. It seems very doubtful that he intends to be warring a lot with this build, so orders seem like a poor choice. He was the first to found so he had his pick of beliefs. I've noticed this happening a lot in other games too. Anyone else notice this?

 

[SuperNoobCamper]

I'm not sure if this is part of the AI programing but sometimes i do this and get a wonder i don't need *Looking at you, Red fort* just to deny the AI it's benefit.

 

[Bromar1]

In my game Pacal chose orders for his religion even though he was tradition and all his other beliefs are buffs to a tall, peaceful strategy. It seems very doubtful that he intends to be warring a lot with this build, so orders seem like a poor choice. He was the first to found so he had his pick of beliefs. I've noticed this happening a lot in other games too. Anyone else notice this?

One time I had a game with Tall Tradition Maya with a heavy warmonger religion. God of War, Hero Worship and Orders. Maya can easily beeline Atlatist too. With tradition, you can stay tall while pumping them out. Also, they can make decent use of puppets because of their UI.

So it can definitely work on paper but I think the difficulty is with the AI making all of those strategic connections. That Pacal in my game never once declared war even though he could have easily crushed cities on his border with his Atlatist horde

 

[SpankmyMetroid]

Orders are great for defense as well as offense, they give a city a big chunk of extra health which no other faith building can do. Perfect for tall empires that don’t want to keep a large standing army around but have the gold or hammers to make one out of nowhere, as long as they can stall for a bit. The extra HP makes that easier.

Buildings that have general or multiple applications like that are very AI friendly so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was weighted a bit more heavily for choice, like goddess of protection vs terrain pantheons.

 

[Stalker0]

Tradition players rely on a small but very powerful army. Having an extra 15 XP is not too shabby. In other words, orders is perfectly viable for lots of playstyles.

 

[andersw]

There are "perfect options" coded and unless you play on diety the AI will have a chance to make incorrect picks.
Not sure if the distress reduction have any value for tall but this looks like a suboptimal choice.

 

[telelavoro]

honestly orders are by far the best religious building for p much any playstyle as they not only do so much, but deprive your enemies of that benefit as well. it's no wonder the AI always chooses them first and honestly they could use a nerf

 

[Randomized]

Interesting, I guess I'm just underestimating how good orders are. I've always considered them something only a warmonger would take, especially since they grant faith on kill. I forgot about the extra city HP they grant though. Still, personally if I'm going tradition I'd rather take a buff to culture or science.

 

[CrazyG]

I don't think orders are that good.

They are by far the worst belief if you are not at war, so if you don't expect to be at war very much they stink, generally you want them when you, yourself, plan to declare war and attack neighbors.

Taking them defense isn't crazy, but you should need a special circumstance. If you are next to Zulu and the Huns, sure, I can believe that using a religious belief for some extra defense is a good idea. But that should be an exception, not the default play. It is a mediocre belief for a lot of playstyles.

 

[SuperNoobCamper]

In my experience orders are the top-pick if you are a warmonger or close to aggressive AI, city defense is negligible to be honest but the 15 experience points (another barracks worth of XP) is strong early game and faith on kills scales pretty well into mid game especially if you are playing as Spain for spamming full XP naval units out of thin air or you took zealotry enhancers belief; it can create big armies in one turn if you have enough accumulated faith and it's not restricted by a time interval between purchases

 

[Stalker0]

I don't think orders are that good.

They are by far the worst belief if you are not at war, so if you don't expect to be at war very much they stink, generally you want them when you, yourself, plan to declare war and attack neighbors.

Taking them defense isn't crazy, but you should need a special circumstance. If you are next to Zulu and the Huns, sure, I can believe that using a religious belief for some extra defense is a good idea. But that should be an exception, not the default play. It is a mediocre belief for a lot of playstyles.

If I never declared a single war I would still build them over stupas