The A.I.'s Achilles Heel

DaXX · February 11, 2002, 22:12

ok well i think i just stumbled across a big weakness in the A.I. today... play a map with just tiny islands.... i played a warm wet archipellago... my opponents are way behind me in expansion, their logic seems to have been designed for a land-based scenario....

with these tiny little islands the computers are wasting enormous amounts of time on everything but getting off the rocks their stuck on. building impi to prance around mightily as my boats rush settlers hither and fro. i'm colonizing chains of islands while they're focused on building wonders. at the moment zulu has 2 cities whereas i have 13 on seven different island masses.

none of my enemies even have alphabet yet so they better get onto their game quick. i'm playing emperor level

Marquis de Sodaq · February 11, 2002, 23:41

This was also a problem in CivII. If an AI civ started on a small island, it never left.

King of Rasslin · February 11, 2002, 23:50

I like Island maps with some corruption reduction going on. Otherwise they are kinda lame.

But when you can spread across the world without corruption ruining you it's fun to get at that little insignificant island that for some reason has the only aluminum in the world

If only the computer was smarter...

Skanky Burns · February 12, 2002, 03:38

In one game I was playing, I had expanded through most of the map after taking over my own island ( Aztec JWs

). Then came the point when I was actually losing money by building more cities. I had to put my science down, eventually to 0 as all the new cities not on my main island were only producing 1 gold and 1 shield.

So even though I expanded faster than the AI, it ended up giving them the advantage.

notyoueither · February 12, 2002, 04:40

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
In one game I was playing, I had expanded through most of the map after taking over my own island ( Aztec JWs

). Then came the point when I was actually losing money by building more cities. I had to put my science down, eventually to 0 as all the new cities not on my main island were only producing 1 gold and 1 shield.

So even though I expanded faster than the AI, it ended up giving them the advantage.

That's strange, since a six 6 city with total corruption can contribute 3 or 4 gold per turn to you treasury.

Salve

DrFell · February 12, 2002, 08:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Marquis de Sodaq
This was also a problem in CivII. If an AI civ started on a small island, it never left.

Hehe, it was always fun to see a civ's extremely outdated units patrolling the coastlines. The problem was even worse in civ1 though, play on a world map and see how many cities the Romans, English, Chinese, Egyptians and Americans (sometimes) build. They often got stuck with one city all game.

notyou: Yeah, taxmen/scientists are great ways of squeezing a little extra production out of those super corrupt cities. A good strat is probably to build loads pretty close together with only temples in them. Shame the taxmen aren't as good as they were in civ2 (not that you ever needed to use them).

Thrawn05 · February 12, 2002, 12:44

Quote:

Originally posted by King of Rasslin
If only the computer was smarter...

The computer is smarter. You should have said "If only the programmer was smarter..."

Dr. Nick · February 12, 2002, 14:58

Quote:

Originally posted by Marquis de Sodaq
This was also a problem in CivII. If an AI civ started on a small island, it never left.

They never fixed this? What sods!

siredgar · February 12, 2002, 16:18

That is why England and Japan are so handicapped on a real world map. I have to help them out all the time. And yet they never seem to appreciate it and always backstab me later. What loyalty...

They should go out and explore more. It's difficult to make England go to North America without a coastal connection and Japan often prefers to settle Siberia instead of Southeast Asia. Stupid.

DaXX · February 12, 2002, 19:10

yes i am playing a scenario that is jiggered for less corruption..... that's definitely aided me in my rapid expansion across the map.

the start was so unfair.... my "contininent" was about 3 square total.... the japs started on a huge chuck at least 20x bigger than me, they had room for about 8 cities on their mainland.... so unfair. the zulu's started with about 2x the land i had...

currently they're getting trounced. japan decided to explore the world about 750bc.... they moved to a nice chunk that was right next to their huge mainland.... which was the final chunk i was about to settle.... so unfair the way this game was layed out. anyways, i blew away their two cities and colonized that last chunk. Currently mounting an assault for their mainland, while the zulu's have built 0 boats, 3 wonders.

back to the front...

Pyrodrew · February 12, 2002, 22:49

The AI has SEVERAL Achilles Heels... if you read prior threads you will see how many. It is by no means the Achilles of AIs.

Skanky Burns · February 13, 2002, 19:14

Quote:

Originally posted by notyoueither
That's strange, since a six 6 city with total corruption can contribute 3 or 4 gold per turn to you treasury.

You mean converting some pop into taxmen??

Dom Pedro II · February 14, 2002, 02:35

Hmmm, I love playing on island maps. I happen to be one of those peaceful fellows. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I usually never am able to pull off early conquest. As a result, I don't like dealing with opponents on my turf. For that reason, I like a nice ocean between me and my opponents, but I have to say, I have NOT seen the AI failing on the island maps. In fact, they seem to just send out hordes of Caravels packed with settlers. In the one game I was playing, every time I settled an island city, there would surely be another power there within the next few turns. It got really annoying after a while!

King of Rasslin · February 14, 2002, 03:23

I always liked that island maps allow some naval action. Pangaea allows no naval at all and continents allow large scale, huge invasions. But these invasion forces are just ships trying to protect land units, the real important guys.

But on island maps naval warfare is more balanced with land warfare. It's really cool when you have an aircraft carrier. Unless you destroy the carrier it's like a super-artillery, destroying plenty of improvements.

My fav map is the half continent/large island maps. They have plenty of land but they still focus on naval warfare. 2-4 cities per island sound good to me, with some corruption reduction.

notyoueither · February 14, 2002, 03:37

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns

You mean converting some pop into taxmen??

Yes. Once you have rails and on grass or flood plains 2 or 3 tiles worked will feed the city (depending on bonus tiles).

City gets 1 gold if totally corrupt. Add 3 or 4 taxmen and you may get 4 or 5 gold per turn for that city. If you have enough luxeries you will not need a temple. If not, you may need a temple and maybe a marketplace. Then you get 2 to 4 gold per turn from the city.

I wouldn't see a point to building an aquaduct, would you?

Salve

Skanky Burns · February 14, 2002, 06:25

Try jungles and ancient technology

Needed harbors in at least one city on each island (average of about 2 cities per island) and on one island, needed temples to prevent cultural take-over from the Iroquois. Didnt finish colonising that island as I ran out of money

Thanks for the tip notyoueither