Can the AI....?

[D4everman]

My copy of CivIV won't arrive until monday or tuesday (amazon won't deliver software to APO addresses, and I can't buy it in a local store since I can't read German...my mom in law has to mail it to me from the US) but I was wondering how the AI conducts warfare.

In Civ III the AI's would almost always tip their hand by gathering a large force at my border (The persians were great for that) and attacking. Frequently a tactic like that was more annoying than anything else. (It was obvious that the AI would attack at some point so I always maintained a large force near any shared borders, but I like to build rather than fight so it got to be a pain having to maintain a large army all of the time). Is the AI any better at attacking in CivIV?

Also can the AI surrender? I always liked that in SMAC, forcing an opponent to surrender when you put a hurting on them.

sorry for all the questions. I'm just curious and eager to play the game

[snoopy369]

The AI's definitely better at *defending* than CivIII, I'm not sure I'd say it's better at attacking so far. When it gets a nice sized force to attack with, then it's actually pretty good; but when it just sends a few units in at a time, and you just say "yeah, free promotions!!!" ...

The AI can ask for peace, and can give up gold, techs, etc. for it. It can't surrender per se.

[Byelotsar]

Re: Can the AI....?

Originally posted by D4everman
Also can the AI surrender? I always liked that in SMAC, forcing an opponent to surrender when you put a hurting on them.

sorry for all the questions. I'm just curious and eager to play the game

Sadly, no, the computer can't surrender in SMAC fashion (indeed, after completing a war, even a crushing victory, your rep with the enemy civ is generally in the crapper for quite a while). I didn't expect it to be so, but now that you mention it I kind of regret that. That was always a lot of fun, since it took a fairly overwhelming victory to pull it off and I like having allies.

Fortunately, there's now a "Permanent Alliance" option which, as the name implies, creates a permanent alliance between nations. To paraphrase, the manual, they become one nation with two rulers. You control all of your cities and units, but you and the team mate can both research the same tech to get it faster, share resources and wonder effects, and are bound together through peace and war. It's pretty neat, though it requires a stultifyingly high rep with the prospective ally to pull it off, rather than an overwhelming military victory.

The AI doesn't seem to be particularly talented on the offense (which is a shame but not surprising, given the new complexities of taking a city - it's tough, but immensely rewarding and a lot of fun), but, as Snoopy said, can defend to great effect. In the late game, it can take immense armies to push forward a useful campaign against an enemy of similar economic and technological development. Pillaging becomes more important here than in previous Civ games, and the AI can be disastrously effective at that if you're ever caught with your pants down.

That said, the AI can be kind of wily. Seeing a handful of enemy transports bearing down on one's shore a few turns after one's navy has been relocated to join major fleet actions in defense of one's oil can be frightening. Or finding a neighboring enemy declare war on you after you pull forces from his border to fight the foe on your other side.

Incidentally, as far as I know all versions of CIV come out of the box with language support for English, German, Italian, French, and Spanish. The box would be pretty recognizable, and could probably just be set to English. Of course, if it's supposed to arrive on Monday or Tuesday, that means it's been in the mail system for roughly 11 years, so I guess it's too late for that.

[Saurus]

My impression is that the A.I is not that much better when attacking that it has been in earlier Civs.

More often than not, the A.I has sailed around the world (pangea) and offloaded 1-2 units near a city and declared war. I easily kill those 1-2 units and then i have plenty of time preparing for the real assault witch are coming from the continent itself pretty much in the same manner it happened in Civ3 where the A.I tries to put something togheter but simply coordinates the assaults poorly. This is my first impression.

In my latest game, I was i trouble because Alexander kept on sending those chariots in such numbers my defending city was in trouble ... then I gave Alexander a Tech and the war ended (Alexander could easily have walked over and wiped out my entire civilization at that point)

-S