Worst AI Blunders

[Riflin'Joe]

Whats the lamest thing you've ever see the AI do? In a game with JC I was beating down Asoka who had and controlled the Apostolic, expecting a "stop the war" resolution at any moment. Instead, up popped a resolution for diplomatic victory. I was one of the candidates, so I said "I vote for me" and clicked the button. Next turn the game ended with a diplo win for me. Maybe the AI was getting bored and wanted to end it all?

 

[*Svart*]

last game alexander did something seriously stupid. There were only other 2 AI beside Alex. Luis and ragnar, both buddist, both stronger than alex, both with a defensive pact with me. Alex DOWed me

 

[kochman]

The AI is pretty fond of sending seige weapons, in a stack, to attack a city... without any regular ground units to kill the units inside the city... often these attacks are intercontinental.

 

[Tristan_C]

Another type of intercontinental blunder which I put in the screenshots, way back.

 

[lymond]

Well, the AI and Human don't have control over the AP vote option

 

[Ataxerxes]

Ragnar votes for an AP proposal "Defensive Pacts with all members". Resolution passes. About 5 turns later, Ragnar attacks another AP member, thus causing all other members to be at war with him. A new strategic ploy, "How to dogpile yourself".

OP: AP and UN votes are often determined by how much the AI likes you. The AI never considers if it means someone will win. If it did consider, "hey, I might lose if I vote for X, I'll just abstain" then the AP and UN diplo victory couldn't be achieved. UN would be only for Diplomation wins and there would be not true diplo victories. UN is seldom a help in Multiplayer.

 

[jgroth1978]

I was playing as Joao, and Boudica declared on me, and sent a small stack of Gallic warriors to attack my longbows which were fortified in a nearby city. The attack, well, didn't go so well. With a large portion of her military committing suicide, I was able to send a relatively small force of knights and maces to convince her to capitulate. And by convince I mean raze and ruin til she cried "Uncle!".

 

[revengeofmakno]

I was Egypt. AI Saladin settles a city as close to my capital as possible even though it was in a very weak place (with or without other cities around). Two turns later, my border expands and Saladin immediately offers to give me that city.

 

[SouthernKing]

Im playing as Charlemagne. My neighbors are Joao and Ragnar. Ragnar decides to DOW me. Through a chain of DPs, Joao and Ragnar's other neighbors Napoleon and Churchill also declare war on Ragnar. Now everyone bordering Ragnar is at war with him. Ragnar decides to send axes and spears to attack my line of knights and muskets along my border that will form an SOD in a few turns once i get some reinforcements. Turns out Ragnar sent almost his entire army against my line and only a few outdated units against my allies. Less than 7 turns later, Ragnar is dead.

 

[IMP_AUGUSTUS]

In a Byzantium Hemispheres(with 2 continents) game of mine, I was stuck with FDR, Genghis, Elizabeth and Gandhi. Gandhi had a bad start and was attacked by Genghis(as usual ) with some 6 cities against Mongolia's 11 AND Mongolia having WE's, Catapults and Keshiks against India's Axe/Spears(NTT was enabled, and Gandhi didn't even have Mathematics researched).

However, in a span of 5 turns Genghis didn't accomplish nothing. When my scouting Warrior came to the area, I saw... One SOD with only injured WEs(most of them Flanking II ) being decimated one by one by Gandhi's Spearmen and other SOD with some 14 Catapults, 1 Axe and 4 Spears, with Keshiks scattered all over the place pillaging(and being killed). Gandhi got 3 GGs before anihillating all Mongol forces and going on the offensive, capturing one mongol city before declaring peace .

Some time afterwards, I rolled over India with Cataphracts and when I conquered Delhi, which had some 15 ocean tiles and 1 hill for , there were 3 great military instructors inside .

 

[oldskald]

TBH I find the AI habit of insisting on producing Caravel after Caravel once I've parked a stack of Privateers outside its coastal cities to be a bit daft. Thanks for the free XP and GG points... and next time spend the hammers on researching Chemistry. Once the Frigates start to appear my Privateers will beat a hasty retreat, but no, the AI insists on gifting me 3 or 4 Generals, and some Privateers to be upgraded to super Destroyers. Rule Britannia!

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Ragnar votes for an AP proposal "Defensive Pacts with all members". Resolution passes. About 5 turns later, Ragnar attacks another AP member, thus causing all other members to be at war with him. A new strategic ploy, "How to dogpile yourself".

Ragnar may be sneakier than you believe! I actually used this exact same strategy in a game!

Too many AIs were extremely Friendly with my competitor for The Apostolic Palace Resident seat--he'd built the Apostolic Palace while I had sufficient votes to vote myself as the Resident.

However, I was unable to get voted in as the Religious Leader of the World (Apostolic Palace Diplo Victory).

So, I proposed the "Defensive Pact with all members" resolution, got it to pass, then declared war on an AI that was never going to vote for me anyway. The owner of the Apostolic Palace was one of the AIs that declared war on me and I took over many of his Cities, including the one containing the Apostolic Palace, before declaring Peace. When the next Religious Leader Victory vote came up, not only was I no longer competing against the AI that used to own the Apostolic Palace, but the AI that used to own the Apostolic Palace was the one that voted me to victory! All thanks to the Defensive Pact that allowed me to steal his Cities without any negative Diplo repercussions towards him, beyond the -1 You Declared War on our Friend for having declared war on the other Defensive Pact member.

Ragnar is one of those AIs that builds sufficient units to potentially actually be able to successfully pull off such a strategy...

I was Egypt. AI Saladin settles a city as close to my capital as possible even though it was in a very weak place (with or without other cities around). Two turns later, my border expands and Saladin immediately offers to give me that city.

Be careful! It may be a trap! Was there a wooden horse stationed nearby? Perhaps Saladin already has a Spy unit Fortified in the City?

Then again, if the City was in a weak place, maybe just the act of giving you a bad City was a strategic ploy in order to get you to tank your economy...

 

[Peregrine]

After a long war w/Toku, I had taken all his cities except one.

I allowed a peace w/the idea that that would be all from him. I controlled at least 25 cities--most of the continent. Huge/Marathon btw.

After the 10 turn interval, he DoWs me again.

In short order he was gone.

WHAT was he thinking? "I'm down to a single city and very few troops, but . . . I can whip this dude."

 

[Ataxerxes]

TBH I find the AI habit of insisting on producing Caravel after Caravel once I've parked a stack of Privateers outside its coastal cities to be a bit daft. Thanks for the free XP and GG points... and next time spend the hammers on researching Chemistry. Once the Frigates start to appear my Privateers will beat a hasty retreat, but no, the AI insists on gifting me 3 or 4 Generals, and some Privateers to be upgraded to super Destroyers. Rule Britannia!

You're right, it's actually a habit of the AI. When I use Privateers I sometimes find myself with a stack of Drill IV Destroyers. With some Charismatic leaders I get Privateers that can stand up to an occasional Frigate. If you get the Chemistry and Astronomy edge Privateers are great for gold as well. Without Better AI you don't see AI Privateers - in the basic game it's a human use only unit.

 

[s.bernbaum]

In an Archipelago game last night, Zara, who's islands are located on the other side of Ghandi from me, unloaded a SOD in one of my cities. He and his pal Qin, who shares a border with me, then DoW on me. Unfortunately for Zara's carefully laid plan, the common border between Qin and me is mostly in the water and minimally on Qin's coast. My islands are all entirely mine (Sumerian). So, Zara's SOD was instantly teleported into China while his fleet was beating a hasty retreat in the other direction. I'm sure they are having a nice time having tea with the hospitable Chinese but they sure can't bother me from there. BTW, I have the larger military.

After the minimum number of "refuses to talk" turns, Qin agreed to peace. Zara still is saying "Never!". Qin, who just barely has optics has subsequently had a visitation from someone's (who, me?) Privateers and is now rather hungry, since his food was sea based, not to mention having very few ships left. Meanwhile the frigates are gathering on the edge of Mr. Never's empire. (He doesn't have chemistry either.) Tonight his time will come....

 

[A_Hamster]

After a long war w/Toku, I had taken all his cities except one.

I allowed a peace w/the idea that that would be all from him. I controlled at least 25 cities--most of the continent. Huge/Marathon btw.

After the 10 turn interval, he DoWs me again.

In short order he was gone.

WHAT was he thinking? "I'm down to a single city and very few troops, but . . . I can whip this dude."

It probably wasn't Toku, but really Saigo Takamori, the historical "Last Samurai". He tried to overthrown the new Meiji government of Japan that he himself had played a major part in creating ten years earlier. It wasn't purely katanas versus rifles (he wasn't that stupid), but it was still pretty foolish.

As for the Caravels versus Privateers, yes, I've seen that too. It gets pretty silly at times. I've a stack of three Privateers blockading a city with only one access point to the sea, and there are 30 Caravels floating next to me, and the AI never attacks! C'mon, "quantity has a quality all its own", and a bum rush could clear the blockade.

The BtS patch I'm using must incorporate Better AI, since I occasionally see AI privateers. It is rare, but it does happen.

 

[Ryuujin]

I got a DoW from Izzy, who happened to be pleased and the same religion as me, and roughly the same power as me (she was just slightly less.) She caught me unprepared, though, and the city she moved to attack had only an Archer and Ax in it. She moved her stack, consisting of 2 Axmen, 2 Spears, and 2 Chariots onto a nearby hill. She then proceeded to... sit there. So I built a spear, and she continued to sit there. A city wall? Nada. Another ax and spear? Well, she doubled her pile, but still did nothing.

Meanwhile, I'm building a stack of Swordsmen, with a few other units thrown in, at another nearby city. When I start moving that stack towards the original city, her units start spazzing out, moving half the stack onto the road between the two cities (a 1 tile lane between the coast and some mountains) and the stacks move back and forth between the road and the hill each turn. Mind you, the road tile is right next to the city, but she's content to wander back and forth, not even pillaging the roads or the mines. After a few turns of waiting to see if she actually does anything, I finally move my stack around the mountains, and through her territory and end up on a forested hill next to her troops. Now she finally decides to suicide against my stack.
------

Later in the same game everyone is at war with Hannibal, the lone Hindu in a Jewish world. I join the dogpile and prepare to invade by sea, as there was a narrow, but wide sea between our territories. I controlled some clams right on the cultural border with Carthage, so I parked a few Triremes on top to defend. Hannibal seems to be cranking out a Trireme at his capitol every turn or two (this is a Marathon game on a huge map) and suiciding them against my stack, which works for me as I'm playing Vicky (Imp) and had the GW. Easy GG points. I finally get my cats and macemen loaded up and shipped over the sea, only to find Carthage defended by 1 Maceman. Easy pickings at the price of a catapult, and Hannibal is already eager to capitulate.

 

[vincentz]

After a long war w/Toku, I had taken all his cities except one.

I allowed a peace w/the idea that that would be all from him. I controlled at least 25 cities--most of the continent. Huge/Marathon btw.

After the 10 turn interval, he DoWs me again.

In short order he was gone.

WHAT was he thinking? "I'm down to a single city and very few troops, but . . . I can whip this dude."

Ever heard of harakiri (AKA Seppuku)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harakiri

 

[*Svart*]

in my last game cathy did something really stupid. She was the UN boss, while the resident was hannibal. My population was bigger than cathy's. So he decided to vote for the diplo victory, choosing between me and her enemy hannibal, she voted for me. Tnx a lot for the victory cathy.

 

[yturk39]

TBH I find the AI habit of insisting on producing Caravel after Caravel once I've parked a stack of Privateers outside its coastal cities to be a bit daft. Thanks for the free XP and GG points... and next time spend the hammers on researching Chemistry. Once the Frigates start to appear my Privateers will beat a hasty retreat, but no, the AI insists on gifting me 3 or 4 Generals, and some Privateers to be upgraded to super Destroyers. Rule Britannia!

If you're careful about how far out to sea your Privateers are, you might be outside the AIs visibility range, and he or she just doesn't know you're there. The Sentry promotion gives your Privateer better visibility than a Caravel.

I think AIs can be sneaky with this, too. It can be diplomatically embarrassing to all of a sudden have a Great General born in one of your cities while your country isn't even at war! It kind of makes other players think:

"Hmmm...I wonder who's been using all those Privateers?"