Underestimating the A.I....

gopher · November 2, 2001, 18:56

Well, I bought this game Tues Afternoon, been playing it since.
Decided to look at the forum. Yep, everyone is having the same problem I am:
Underestimating the A.I.

Holy Jeez, this seems, so far, to be a game with a DECENT A.I.!
How so? Well, look at my example of the French Democracy.
Went to war against Persia (They p*ssed me off).
This was mid-game, I was ahead by a couple techs. Suddenly, a naval bombardment hit two of my cities, followed by an INVASION!
YES, IN MY TERRITORY FROM THE SEA!
Nothing like this ever happened in Civ1/2.
5 minutes later, when my jaw got off the floor, I had to rush in every infantryman/calvary I could spare to just STOP the invasion, much less crush it.
For the first time, the A.I has hurt my pride. And outsmarted me.
Those bast#rds are going to pay.

Eli · November 2, 2001, 19:02

I think we should open a support group.
I also need some psychological help because of that AI that dared to defeat me on chieftain level.

joey703 · November 2, 2001, 19:24

Quote:

Originally posted by gopher
Well, I bought this game Tues Afternoon, been playing it since.
Decided to look at the forum. Yep, everyone is having the same problem I am:
Underestimating the A.I.

Holy Jeez, this seems, so far, to be a game with a DECENT A.I.!
How so? Well, look at my example of the French Democracy.
Went to war against Persia (They p*ssed me off).
This was mid-game, I was ahead by a couple techs. Suddenly, a naval bombardment hit two of my cities, followed by an INVASION!
YES, IN MY TERRITORY FROM THE SEA!
Nothing like this ever happened in Civ1/2.
5 minutes later, when my jaw got off the floor, I had to rush in every infantryman/calvary I could spare to just STOP the invasion, much less crush it.
For the first time, the A.I has hurt my pride. And outsmarted me.
Those bast#rds are going to pay.

i wish something like that happened in my game. see my post on ai/war weariness in general forum

HalfLotus · November 2, 2001, 19:49

I was defending a front line (border) against the persians and their damn immortals, and they always poked at the weakest link. Amazing! They would bust through and send in cavalry shortly thereafter. I had to smile.

duxup · November 3, 2001, 04:55

I had a similar experience, the AI kicked my butt the first time too. Not being familiar with the AI, I'm not sure if it will continue to surprise me (I hope it does), but it sure did the first time.

A war broke out (I think due to the fact that my culture was so high and it was upsetting my neighbors) and the first thing the AI did was march into the mountains and cut off several cities. When a sizeable force of my units hit the mountains everything stalemated. I was impressed that the AI didn't just up and attack on sight like in previous games. The AI also didn't leave the mountians and just head for the cities either, he held his ground in the mountians.

We maneuvered around for a few tense turns when finally he coaxed me into attacking. He kept destroying improvements and trying to get between me and my cities, it was quite maddening, but darned fun.

Lord Maxwell · November 3, 2001, 07:07

Well, it's better, but a far cry from good. It doesn't use bombardments in attacks. But it does use force rotation, moving wounded troops back to heal them. It's gotten alot stronger in figuring out where to strike as well.

And unfortunately only three "AIs" are good. It does good thing with it's tile improvements. It wages war alot better than before. It expands like mad. But it never really builds all the good buildings available to it in the cities. Instead it churns out unused units forever. It's like it's stuck in mobilized mode.

Libertarian · November 3, 2001, 11:14

Quote:

It doesn't use bombardments in attacks.

It used one on me. The situation was a city that I had conquered and taken from the Japanese. I decided to finish them off and headed to Kyoto with a catapult and a coupla archers. They ambushed me, stole my catapult, and then used it a few turns later to bombard Osaka. That weakened my defensive spearman, and they finished me off with a cheap warrior. It was my first game. I'll be more wary next time.

Rhuarc · November 3, 2001, 13:33

I agree, I am in desperate need of a support group!! I played my first game after I got it at Warlord level, and I was wiped off of the map within about 50 turns. I started another game at Warlord level and concentrated more on defense this time, so I am still alive, but I am dead last. It's so wonderful that we finally have an AI who can make at least semi-intelligent decisions. THank you Firaxis!!!

Madine · November 3, 2001, 18:57

Yeah I'm getting smoked too............

The AI always seems to be ahead in me in tech and have tons of military units too......

shark · November 3, 2001, 19:05

Add me to the list of victims
my VERY first game, i totally underestimated the ai
the english threatened me unless i paid them some gold
my empire was almost completely undefended down the middle, just the borders had strong defence
i'd always been able to get away with it in civ 2

well i turned them down,
they replied by sending, i swear it must have been 30+ troops right down my middle out of nowhere, cut my empire in half..in ONE turn
then they moved another 30+ on the flanks for turn TWO leaving my mighty empire in utter shambles
i haven't made that mistake again, always making sure i have ample troops in place...just in case

but the ai is a serious upgrade
if you leave it just a breath of room it'll come at you with everything it's got

Warmaker · November 3, 2001, 19:29

First post here, so:

Put me up on that AI hitlist too. In Civ II you can get away with putting a strong, defensible position with good troops and the AI will almost always attack it if it's the first thing in the way.

In Civ III, I tried that old trick in the ancient era with a walled up town on a hill with several veteran/elite spearmen. Expecting the AI to throw his men at my speartips I was quite surprised to see only some do it. The rest bypassed me and commenced to demolish the roads leading to my town and destroying the mines. Not much I could do with the defensive spearmen from the town. I had to rush in every archer I could muster from nearby towns.

Needless to say, my fortified town fell.

Transcend · November 3, 2001, 20:13

At which difficulty level is everyone playing? So far I'm playing at Regent(Prince) level and I don't think the AI has outsmarted me yet.

kittenOFchaos · November 3, 2001, 21:56

The A.I outsmarting Americans...doesn't prove anything

Admiral PJ · November 3, 2001, 22:13

Heres an idea to tackle the AI - Run away! don't even leave any cigarette ends so they know you've been

Rommel393 · November 3, 2001, 22:15

Quote:

Originally posted by kittenOFchaos
The A.I outsmarting Americans...doesn't prove anything

What are you talking about? Americans made that AI.