AI artillery units don't bombard!

[Colwyn]

I've not seen the ai bombard me with artillery units whilst i sit ouside a city??

i even made a little scenario to test it and again the ai does nothing with art units?


why??

[Inverse Icarus]

because the AI sucks. OOPS, DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD?

[dexters]

Go to hell! AI is good enough, at least the best in any Civ game ever. :P

There was a lot of tongue in cheek suggestion by the beta community that the AI would use arty offensively. But this is simply not true. I've seen it use one arty peice offensively... once, against another AI, and I can't be sure if it was a captured peice of their own. I didn't check and it was at the limit of my 'sight' and right on edge of the fog of war.

In anycase, I'd really like to see this fixed. I've offered several suggestions, including one where an 'arty stack' is sent out to trail behind the AI's offensive stack to offer cover fire, and for the developers to use the code or solution they applied to the AI navies transport/escort thing, with arty peices being transport and defending units escort. I'm quite satisfied with how they fixed the naval aspect of the game. let's see if they can fix this one so AI will actually use them offensively instead of hiding 2 or 3 arty peices in their cities and using them peicemeal.

[Jaybe]

Yes Colwyn, that is the way it has ALWAYS been. There was a vague implication that it MIGHT change for C3C, but it hasn't (yet)!

[dexters]

Jaybe, read my post above :P like my suggesiton?

[Jaybe]

If you GIVE the AI some artillery (i.e., let them capture it), there have been occasional reports that they WILL use THOSE out in the field. I have seen it happen, though they usually take them home first.

[Colwyn]

ok thanks I am making a scenario and wanted to see the value of having mobile art for the AI, best keep it to planes then for them.

[Sarxis]

Like I was saying in the other thread, I saw the AI use Radar Artillery to help its massive army commit genocide against me. But in that game, I didn't see it use any other form of artillery.

I don't know if it just needs to know to use more artillery in ratio to standard units. Just don't know.

[Cerbykins]

I assume, for now, that the AI treats units in cities as defenders. And the AI's idea of defence is NOT to pre-emptively attack the besieging force. Oh well

(another reason why I can now play at Monarch, not still stuck at Warlord or Chieftain )

Yes, the AI is dumb. But then, it's also heavily armed later on - if it were heavily armed AND clever, I don't think -anyone- would make it past Emperor

[steven8r]

My troops were actually shot by an AI canon whilst camped-out on a mountain before taking a city. However, the AI only had that 1 canon in that city (I took them both )

As I advanced on the AI's cities I found a few more arty units in various towns and they actually took pot-shots at my units and reducing 1 unit by 1 hp in a stack of 5 or more didn't stop my impending attack.

The AI WILL use arty offensively, but not very well. It will use ships and planes to bombard offensively--just not arty.