Improved AI war ability

[Bhruic]

Has anyone else noted an improvement in the AI with regard to conquering cities in the v1.09 patch?

In the two games I've played with it, there have been very few AI wars, but the ones I noted, were fairly decisive. In the first game, France was attacking another empire (I don't recall which, possible Arabia). In the span of about 50 turns, they conquered 6 cities. I accidentally overwrote that game, so don't know how it concluded.

In the second game, the Persians attacked the Indians, and brought in 2 allies (Greeks and Americans - Americans were on another continent, so provided no troops, Greeks were pretty weak, unsure how much support they gave). In short order (10 turns or less), the Persians took over two major Indian cities. At that point, they agreed to peace. It's worth noting that they were of the same religion, so had some significant positive relationship modifiers from that.

Previously, I almost never saw the AI conquer cities. Generally just Barbarian cities, and newly settled ones that were weakly defended. In the first example, the AI took over at least 75% of the enemy's territory. And the tech levels were only slightly different.

Are these isolated experiences? Is anyone else seeing this level of competence?

Bh

[CrONoS]

the better attack from the a.i. was with the v1.09patch. But I think it was not related... I dont seen hany information on the change log of the patch, who tell me to think Firaxis programmers made some a.i. tweaking.

see ya

[PJL]

Yes, I've noticed the AI be better at taking cities. I've noticed several city captures in my current game (one of them being Pasangadae from Persia to the Mongols).

[Shaka II]

I can't tell. This is the first game I played on Emperor, and with V1.09, but I'm impressed with the AI ability. I'm not sure if this is a change from V1.00 or not, but the coordination of combined troops is done very nicely. You really have to pay close attention to the balance of your troops and exposure to AI troops. E.g., building too many tanks and having them all taken out by several artillery followed by a cleanup crew of helicopter gun ships, and not to march around with huge stacks vulnerable to collateral damage.

I was about to resign my present game, Persia/pangea/standard/normal speed as the French were way too powerful and I had fallen behind in the tech race due to early wars. But to my surprise, Julius Caesar saved the day. He marched across my empire with a vast army and proceeded to declare war on France. Not much later, he asked me to join him, so I did. So, with space race and diplomacy victory disabled, I'm now on the home stretch to a domination victory, French empire acquisition gets me there, with a major boost from Caesar. Never underestimate that guy, it seems like he can come out of nowhere to lead the game. Saved me from the dust bin, though I'll keep an eye on him as the end approaches.

Some serious animosity of Caesar toward Louis XIV. I had to follow the path of razed cities with my settlers.

The AI knows how to make overwhelming attacks and apparently calculate the strength and types of units needed to do so, like a human player would, rather than sending a steady stream of units that can be picked off one at a time. And be prepared for the surprise attack on the lightly defended home base.

[ghen]

I played a game with 1.00 with 2 major continents.. I ruled one, while louie ruled the other with Cyrus and Takagaowa (whatever)

Cyrus was feeling a bit diminutive on the other continent so he went to war with louie and asked for my help. I gave my assurance but never sent any troops Anyway, Cyrus proceded to take 3 or 4 of louie's cities before signing peace. I was pretty amazed as he was about 75% of louie's score on the scoreboard.

[Grumbold]

I've seen the AI take cities quite often in 1.00 and 1.09. The difference between the AI and the human player is more about lacking the ruthless inclination to keep rolling and take whole empires rather than settling for a couple of cities.

[Tattila the Hun]

I wonder if it's simply a lessened "value" of pillaging vs. capturing cities... As in, the AI had it in him in 1.00 to stage good invasions, but the perceived value of pillaging your improvements instead led them astray...

That said, in 1.00, I had Louie make a landing on one of my ill-defended coastal regions... A surprise, truly... I should think, that after certain city size/technology/culture value it should be impossible to raze cities... Grrr...

Also it would be nice on occasion to hear news from abroad, like "Travelers tales: A mighty army has set sail from Seatle..." To where? Maybe i should beef up my defences...

That's the problem with peacefull builder aproach. One has to have good defences practically everywhere, whereas attacker needs good attackers only in one place... Further worsened by the, hum, nerfing of railroad.

Ah, just takes getting used to, after 3 games of instant travel...