The AI is dumb????

[Atahualpa]

Are you sure??

My first game @ Chieftain: I was badly beaten up.
My second game @ Warlord: I was beaten up.
My third game @ Chieftain: Became boring after I settled my whole island and nobody else there anymore and me not knowing any other and only having sucking navy.
My fourth game @ Warlord: Finally a great game! There are 2 continents, a large one with lots of civs on it and a small one with only the indians and me. And resources are really rare. Only 2 sources of iron and mine was far away from my borders. So I had to build a city up there. Meanwhile I tried to beat the indians without having iron and got BADLY BEATEN up!! They came with hords of swordsman I could never defeat. So I loaded again and built hords of swordsman for myself and then battled the indians again and it was a real killer battle. But I won after a long bloody fight. And only because I knew where they would amass their forces.

So what does this say? Either the AI is good or I am just not to experienced enough

Besides what everyone says here I like the game VERY VERY MUCH and feel that is fully worth the money. After what I have played of course.
The resource thing is just way too cool! It gives some real challenge and some real reason to go to war other than just imperalistic ones.


Only trouble I have is with the interface. The interface is poorly designed.
Want to request a city from a nation and you are in the diplomacy screen? Well then you have to say goodbye and check which city it was and negotiate again. Annoying. When I bring the city on the table it could be highlited in the minimap!!!

Next is with armies. I have not found a way yet to unload troops from an army???? And I have found no way that I could generate an army in a city with the Military Academy.
How do you do that?
Civilopedia is crap for such questions and the manual says nothing too.
So how does one unload troops from an army???? How do you create new troops with the Military Academy?

Next is the "change what you are currently researching" thing. I searched about 10 minutes till I found out that it is written in bolded text in the science advisor what you are currently researching. This sure is not enough marked.


But anyway despite all this I find it a great game!



Of course in my current game I am around 1600 AD and cavalries are my best offensive unit (only recently researched).


Ah yeah that was another cool thing, that you have your units for very long. In Civ2 it could be that when you were building a certain unit in the middle of the game the next turn it was already obsolete, even though it was not long ago since you discovered it.
This way it is different. You keep your units very long!! Thats good!

Except for the Chinese rider. Which gets obsoleted very fast with the Cavalry.

And I havent missed stacked movement too much for now. But I understand that it can be a problem in later games.

well,
ata

[Mongoose]

You CANNOT unload units from an army. Ever. Nor can you upgrade them once loaded. I believe armies are intended to have a relatively short useful life, having the units in them obsolete tends to accomplish this. ( Although you can almost always find some obsolete AI unit to pummel with an army of ancient units, even in the 21st century.)

Army appears as an available unit (to build!) in the city where you have built the Military Academy. Remember also that you need 4 cities to support each army.

[Sabre2th]

Just a side note:
I think the reason armies have such a limited life is because of their power. Firaxis needed a way to keep them from being too powerful.

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by Sabre2th
Just a side note:
I think the reason armies have such a limited life is because of their power. Firaxis needed a way to keep them from being too powerful.

And ended up making them totally useless... I just don't understand why anyone would build an army unless there simply aren't any wonders left to build and you've got a great leader sitting around. There simply isn't that great a difference between 3 tanks and a 3 tank army, except that the 3 tanks can attack 6 times per turn versus once with the army. There is some difference, of course, but I don't see how it can possibly compare with the benefits of a free wonder. Besides that, while armies might be somewhat useful on a tiny map, on anything bigger, their effect is so diluted by your hundreds of other units as to make them useless.

The AI is dumb????

Actually, I don't think it is dumb. I saw it do something that I thought was downright intelligent in my first game. I was at war with the Japanese and had captured one of their most northern cities. I used workers to build a fortress on a mountainous segment of the only road leading into the city and then fortified a couple of pikemen in it. The AI proceeded to strike back, wasting several swordsmen in a futile attempt to dislodge my pikemen.

Then, after a few turns, it tried again, but this time, it went around my fortifications completely. It ignored my fortified pikemen, moving around them through excellent defensive terrian until it reached the city, which it took, despite the best efforts of my pikemen. The AI seemed to have figured out that it could attack me where I had a 25% defense bonus rather than a 175% defense bonus.

[jgflg]

Originally posted by Excelsior


And ended up making them totally useless... I just don't understand why anyone would build an army unless there simply aren't any wonders left to build and you've got a great leader sitting around. There simply isn't that great a difference between 3 tanks and a 3 tank army, except that the 3 tanks can attack 6 times per turn versus once with the army. There is some difference, of course, but I don't see how it can possibly compare with the benefits of a free wonder. Besides that, while armies might be somewhat useful on a tiny map, on anything bigger, their effect is so diluted by your hundreds of other units as to make them useless.



Actually, I don't think it is dumb. I saw it do something that I thought was downright intelligent in my first game. I was at war with the Japanese and had captured one of their most northern cities. I used workers to build a fortress on a mountainous segment of the only road leading into the city and then fortified a couple of pikemen in it. The AI proceeded to strike back, wasting several swordsmen in a futile attempt to dislodge my pikemen.

Then, after a few turns, it tried again, but this time, it went around my fortifications completely. It ignored my fortified pikemen, moving around them through excellent defensive terrian until it reached the city, which it took, despite the best efforts of my pikemen. The AI seemed to have figured out that it could attack me where I had a 25% defense bonus rather than a 175% defense bonus.

That raises the question of why would it attack in the first place knowing that you have a 175% combat bonus?

[Atahualpa]

Thanks for the answers!

I thought about loading and unloading from an army because it was written this way in civilopedia IIRC.

What a pitty with armies. I guess I dont really need then that much.

Though I could not have defeated the indians without the one army I had at that time!!!

I guess army is only good to create when you are at war, but nothing for peacetime.

thanks again,
ata

[Ecthy]

It is sad how unimportant armies are in Civ3 compared to the Call to Power games, where armies are basically decisive for warfare...

[Skanky Burns]

Armies can be useful in certain circumstances. Like early period, an army of 3 swordsmen or longbowmen for instance, should allow you to take any city you want.

Or in the modern period. Once tanks are around, you will probably have dozens of obsolete cavelry on hand, with nothing to do. Make an army with 3 infantry in it (or mech inf if you have them) and send it into enemy territory, making a beeline for any resources in their territory. Bring the cavelry along and use them to pillage the enemys territory. With 6 cavelry and a defensive army, you can pillage a 3 square path through the enemy's territory, and move them back to the defending army's square after pillaging.
Very effective