Comprehensive list of AI bonuses

[cgrecu77]

I was wondering if it's possible to know what kind of bonuses the AI (or the human player on low diff. levels) gets. I'm pretty sure that the AI gets free unit upgrades for example (not to mention instant). I've seen the AI upgrading all its longbowmans to Riflemans just in the middle of my attack (when he had 10 gold in his budget the previous turn ... ).
Also it's pretty obvious that AI starts with more units, is able to build cheaper and faster. One thing I'm suspecting is that they also get a "dice" bonus, i.e. they are more likely to win an equal strength battle on higher difficulty levels. If this is true then it must be a really small advantage, maybe a few percentage points per level.

What I'm interested is in a quantification of bonuses and most of the values should be readable from the XMLs.

[VetLegion]

Yeah, the manual is terse on the exact bonuses. They probably include changed prices and a stronger start.

Only thing I doubt from your list is that the dice is rigged. The same impression was reported by people in Civ2, and after much testing it came out to be nothing but psychology. People frustrated of losing a combat tend to acuse the AI of cheating it. BTW., there was one rigged combat result in Civ2, but only one.

[sovietwaffle]

Their upgrades aren't free, but dirt cheap

[joncnunn]

If you really want to know AI advantages, take a look at the xml for it, which you can read in any browser or editor.

[Xuenay]

Originally posted by VetLegion
BTW., there was one rigged combat result in Civ2, but only one.

With that kind of a comment, you just know that we're all asking "and what was that?"

[Jaybe]

Attached is an MS Word table with most of the variables in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml. Missing are basically the goody-hut & free tech results. Should fit on one page.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by Xuenay


With that kind of a comment, you just know that we're all asking "and what was that?"

The last defender in the last city couldn't lose to barbarians. Even if he was a warror and barbarians had knights or something

That one rigged combat outcome was actually in players' interest.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by Jaybe
Attached is an MS Word table with most of the variables in the file Civ4HandicapInfo.xml. Missing are basically the goody-hut & free tech results. Should fit on one page.

Thanks, nice list.

This could be an error in the Deity column?

iAIConstructPercent 160 130 110 100 100 90 85 80 100

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by VetLegion
This could be an error in the Deity column?

Thanx!

In the lower part of the Diety column:
iAIWorldTrainPercent =100
iAIConstructPercent =60
iAIWorldConstructPercent =100
iAICreatePercent =60

[Urban Ranger]

What do these mean exactly?

[VetLegion]

I guess that "iAIConstructPercent = 60" means that AI needs 60% of the nominal number of hammers to construct something. The rest, I am not sure.