Let me start of by saying that I like Civ III (I won't say I love it) and many things in it are far better conceptualized than in previous games (meaning new threads from me later), specially the A.I. That is why it is a great shame that the A.I. has one great flaw that seems to be carried over from SMAC, the inability to update units
I know that instituting this resource system meant that letting units become obselete( and thus forcing the A.I. to make new units) would drive people insane if they could not create the updated one without the vital resource and thus were left defenseless. So, like in SMAC and unlike in Civ II, all those weapons you have learned to make before can still be made centuries after they have never ever been used... Also imported from SMAC though wasthe ability to upgrade your units for money, and this is great
since I no longer have to use shields to make units again, and also with some deft playing, you can get new units if you controlled a rouserce only for just one turn (ask me how, but its not hard to figure out). The problem is that no one tought the A.I. why or how to do this
There are many threads out there about funky goings on when tanks battle spearmen- why has no one asked why if the enemy is in or above the industrial age you should ever be fighting spearmen? After Nationalism you can make riflemen for NO STRATEGIC RESOURCES just like spearmen. This means that even if you deprive the A.I. of iron, horses, and saltpeter they can still make a unit with attack as strong as a knight or immortal and defense twice as good as hoplite and three times better than spearmen, so again, why would the computer ever keep those spearmen around for your tanks to run afoul of? and lets be honest, if your tank got beat by a fortified riflemen far less people would complain about the math of the combat system.
I say that having the best defensive units the A.I. can make with the tech and resources it has (and after Nationalism this means riflemen or HIGHER) should be as high a priority for the A.I. as its endless drive for expansion (perhaps if it was better at keeping what it had it would not keep making those cities that eat up the edges fo my lands
This A.I. is smart enough to carry out successful naval invasions (how many human players can do that, really?) and yet it is dumb enough to have spearmen defending modern cities of 20 when it could at least have a rifleman? give me a break....
