Aggressive AI

[Wiglaf]

Try playing the standard AI. There are almost no wars. You almost have to beg the AI to declare on you. That is not civ. Civ games have been popular since Civ1. At what point do you think people buy these games because there are no wars? Wars have been in every civ game ever made.

If people want to win, they can set the difficulty lower. That way they can easily repel AI attacks.

[Solver]

I've played on standard AI most of the time, in fact. The amount of wars increases somewhat in BtS, but is still overall low. I rather prefer that to the Civ2 or Civ3 method, though. Civ4 AIs declare war when there are possible gains, not just for the sake of it. And if you ignore your military, civs that hate you still declare war.

But yeah, Aggressive AI is better. The best part of the difference, IMO, is that Aggressive AI has much stronger warmongering civs, ones that fight a lot and just attain a mammoth size eventually.

[Wiglaf]

Do you know if, after playing a custom game, those settings become the default for future Play Now games?

[Solver]

That's actually a good question. I know that they are remembered for your next Custom Game. Hmm.... I would guess yes, but that's just a guess. Please report here if you care to try it out.

[vilemerchant]

I don't believe it's ever been the case that custom settings of previous games effect the play now games. You can easily check by starting a game and clicking the fist symbol which will show any variations from standard in the settings.

[Wiglaf]

Well I just started a play now and it seems to have had the same settings as my last custom game. How do I verify that aggressive AI is on, though?

[Wiglaf]

Yeah, just confirmed -- changing custom game settings alters the default play now settings (map, speed, etc).

It does not, however, alter options like aggressive AI, tech brokering, etc.

Bummer

[Jaybe]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
How do I verify that aggressive AI is on, though?

F8: Game Settings tab

[Fidel]

does aggressive ai in bts result in slower ai teching? people report that even wussy ai in bts results in considerably slower teching (presumably due to even more rapid ai expansion and lower bonuses)?

[Nugog]

Originally posted by Solver
Most buyers want to win all or almost all the time, not have games where they fight tooth and nail to win.

I can sort of relate to this.

When I first got civ 4 (I used to play Civ 2 at a mates house while on all weekend benders.........) I wanted to win all the time.

Then I got bored - moved up a few levels and just got spanked. Kept trying, mastered those levels, moved up another one etc.

While I am still no where near the best (or even average) civ player here - some of my most enjoyable games have been the ones where I have been swearing away at the screen while some AI civ has torn through my carefully laid plans.

Losing can be fun, in a twisted sort of way.

I am not a "hard core" player - but this new aggressive AI sounds interesting - will give it a go - then retreat back to normal...........

[Solver]

I think you're a fine example of a casual player turning hardcore. As far as I remember your early posts, you were having problems with some of the simpler game aspects and were, generally, a casual player in every sense. In this time spent on Apolyton, you've really been turning into a hardcore guy, heck, you probably are one now, with all the time you spend here (see what Apolyton does to people? )

[ghen]

Most of my games I don't plan to win in any certain strategy, this leads to me basically either losing or winning by space race.. Alot of times I just turn space race off and just lose by score I prefer to not win the world but win my continent.

[marvinkosh]

I've noticed that the non-aggressive AIs will stay out of war if they can avoid it. This is a useful tactic to keep up in technology but doesn't do any good if the human player adopts an aggressive stance. That's not to say that they can't fight, but they don't have a deep enough reserve of units when they are invaded.

I guess it can't hurt to try the Aggressive setting, especially since I've been playing for conquest only.

[=DrJambo=]

I also don't start with a specific strategy in mind since invariably the map, starting position, or which random civ I'm selected to play, doesn't lend itself to accomplishing a set goal.

Culture victories are a fine example in that sometimes they just sort of fall into place. Either you get a lot of religions spread in your cities or you might get the required GP for the culture generating corp...

[Crossfire]

Is the standard AI on BTS less aggressive than Blake's AI mod for Warlords? Heck, I have been gang attacked on more than one occasion playing Warlords and am pretty much guaranteed to be attacked by at least one civ without selecting the Aggressive AI.